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Yakamas affirm alcohol ban by approving new resolution
Thursday, April 6, 2000
By ANGELA GALLOWAY
The Yakama Indian Nation bolstered a reservationwide alcohol ban last night in a special meeting of tribal members.
The proposal passed by a vote of 144-129, Tribal Council member Ross Sockzehigh said. The resolution orders tribal leaders to vigorously fight alcohol and illegal drugs on the 1.4 million-acre reservation.
In part, the resolution reads: "For the spiritual well-being of our children and families and for the survival of our People, the Yakama Nation declares war on Alcohol, Drug Abuse and hereby directs Yakama Tribal Council to take action to eliminate alcohol and its associated problems from the Yakama Reservation."
Last month, the Yakamas' three-member Executive Board voted to ban the sale or use of liquor within the boundaries of their Central Washington reservation, which is home to 9,000 tribal members.
The ban takes effect in September.
Jack Fiander, a Yakama councilman who sponsored the legislation, said the new resolution reflects the painful ramifications of alcohol abuse on the reservation, including crime, suicide, car accidents and fetal alcohol syndrome.
Yakama officials have said they have clear authority to regulate liquor within their boundaries. The Yakama's 145-year-old treaty with the federal government explicitly authorizes the tribe to regulate alcohol.
But some question how much authority that treaty affords the tribe over non-members. Three-quarters of those who live within the reservation boundaries are not Yakamas.
The ban supersedes a controversial tax the tribe levied on businesses that distribute liquor to the reservation. The tax, which went into effect in January, required the distributors to pay $5,000 in annual fees, plus between 40 cents and $4 for every container of beer, wine or liquor.
Gov. Gary Locke had threatened to sue the Yakamas over whether they had the right to enforce the tax, which put some liquor stores and taverns out of business. There are about 50 non-Indian taverns and stores within the reservation.
Fiander has said the ban had nothing to do with Locke's threatened suit, but was the simplest solution to the alcohol problem.
Locke's office will review both resolutions to determine how the prohibition would apply to non-Indians on private property, said Everett Billingslea, general counsel to Locke.
"How a ban would apply to non-Indian community is unclear," Billingslea said. ". . . The law (on tribal authority over non-Indian land) is very complicated.
"I don't know of any case where there had been such a strong Indian minority on the reservation," he said.
Yesterday's vote was the culmination of a two-day special session open to the entire tribe, called a General Council meeting.
At times, the session drew upward of 500 members, which is unusually high for a special meeting in a non-election year.
Although he was pleased with the vote, Fiander said he was most impressed with the opportunity to bring the tribe together on the difficult and emotional issue of alcohol.
"Most of us would have been pleased either way just because the debate was so healthy," Fiander said. "It was really pretty classy and on a high level."
Sockzehigh, a proponent of the ban, was similarly pleased with the open forum, where many members expressed concerns about members who work at bars and stores losing their jobs. "There were a lot of pros and cons," he said.
But Sockzehigh the health of the reservation for future generations supersedes all else.
"It's an issue that should have been addressed years ago," he said. "When our people died because of alcohol-related (incidents), no one really cared. And it was a tragedy.
"Now we're doing something about it, and we want to put an end to to tragedy."
P-I reporter Angela Galloway can be reached at 360-943-3990 or
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