Stories miscast complex tribal issues

By Phillip T. Doe

Recently, the Rocky ran a front page story concerning "runaway" violent crime on the two small Ute Indian reservations in the southwest part of our state ("Ute homicide rate soars," Nov. 25). In a follow-up commentary ("Colorado's Indian reservations in need of more policing, judges," Dec. 2), newly minted U.S. Attorney Troy Eid repeated some of those errors.

This misuse of statistics confuses causes and solutions, while robbing the situation of its true complexity.

Eid's op-ed noted that there are approximately 1,300 people on the Southern Ute tribal rolls, not 8,000 as claimed in the news story.

Thus, the combined population of the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes is 3,300 people, not 10,000, as the news story reported. These figures still vary considerably from population figures reported in the 2000 Census, which set the combined population for the two tribes at about 2,500 people.

The Indian income figures used in the news story seem even more suspicious. The claim that the Southern Ute income is about $5,000 per person - well below the poverty level - runs counter to almost everything known about the tribe's assets and income.

For example, the Southern Utes are the largest gas producers in the state. They are also the largest employer in La Plata County. They distribute annually between $11,000 and $20,000 to every tribal member over 25. At age 65, tribal members receive annual payments of $50,000, or $100,000 for husband and wife.

Several years ago the Southern Utes' investment portfolio, leaving out their water, land, timber, gas, and mineral resources, was valued in excess of $1.5 billion.

In a 2000 report published to support the AAA bond rating they sought, the Southern Utes reported an income in that year of $175 million, $131 million from gas revenues alone.

Since then, natural gas wholesale prices have risen about 500 percent, even as the tribe has wisely extended its gas production and processing empire.

The financial status of the Ute Mountain Utes is certainly not as awe-inspiring. For one thing, less is known about their finances, and as a sovereign nation, they do not welcome inquiries.

This is what little we can piece together. Like the Southern Utes, the Ute Mountain Utes own and operate a casino and have gas wells. They are the largest employer in Montezuma County.

The Ute Mountain Utes are also the largest recipients of farm subsidies in the state, having received $8.2 million in federal payments between 1995 and 2004 for a tribal operation managed by a Kansas firm. That operation may employ up to 14 people, some of whom are Ute.

The tribe also owns the Weeminuche Construction Company, which is the general contractor for the controversial Animas-La Plata project, the construction costs for which are presently estimated to be $550 million.

These costs will be paid for by American taxpayers, thanks to the efforts of former Colorado Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell. It is fitting, perhaps, that the project reservoir was recently renamed Nighthorse Reservoir.

About 60 percent of the 300 people directly employed on the project are thought to be Indian.

The Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes have also shared about $100 million in cash payments from the United States as part of the Animas-La Plata project settlement agreement. And between them they control over 150,000 acre-feet of water, making them second only to Denver Water in terms of water wealth in the state.

Eid certainly had access to some of these facts, for he had been employed in Colorado as a lobbyist for Indian gaming interests since he left Gov. Bill Owens' office as legal counsel. Eid's former law firm also employed convicted felon and Indian gaming kingpin Jack Abramoff as a lobbyist.

Moreover, Eid ought to be aware of the extent of the federal law enforcement effort on Indian reservations, since that is part of his job as top federal prosecutor in Colorado.

Between 2000 and 2003 the Office of Indian Justice, a division of Eid's employer, the U.S. Department of Justice, had a budget of $18.8 billion, with $424.2 million awarded directly to tribal governments.

This money may not be enough to curb violence on Indian reservations, but it is not nothing.

Sure, if another federal agent and federal judge in Durango will transform the two reservations, as Eid urged, then do it - tomorrow.

But the causes of unrest on Indian reservations seem complex, defying the wisdom that one more cop and one more judge will prove the magic elixir.