Paiute court to decide if 14 can be reinstated with tribe

Jace Radke

Monday, March 10, 2003 | 9:23 a.m.

Fourteen people who were kicked out of the Las Vegas Paiute tribe are awaiting a decision by a tribal appeals court that could determine if they are allowed back into the tribe.

A three-judge panel heard arguments Friday from the disenrolled members' attorney, Michael Stuhff, and from tribal attorney Skip Durocher, and the panel is expected to render a written decision within the next month.

The case focuses on a 1999 mandate by the Las Vegas Paiute tribal council that banned people from the tribe if they do not have one-quarter Southern Paiute blood heritage.

Fourteen members were removed from the tribe in July 1999, and have not been able to collect annual disbursements of about $100,000 that go to tribal members.

Disenrolled members have alleged that they were kicked out of the tribe for personal reasons, and so that others could collect their annual disbursements.

The case was appealed when Tribal Court Judge Terry Coffing ruled against the removed tribe members after a hearing last fall.

Judge Robert Clinton asked several questions of the attorneys during Friday's hearing, and indicated that the case could be remanded back to Coffing's court for an evidentiary hearing.

The case is complicated by 60-year-old records that do not clearly delineate if ancestors that were a part of the tribe were actually Southern Paiutes. A 1940 census of the tribe lists some members as simply Paiutes, but there are two distinct ethnic groups in the area, the Southern and Northern Paiutes.

"We don't know what Paiute means on that list," Durocher said. "Experts from both sides have said that everyone on that list has some Southern Paiute blood, but we don't know how much."

Marriages and movement by splintered tribes over the years make it difficult to determine if all the members on the roll meet the council's requirements, Stuhff said.

Debra Faria, one of the disenrolled members, said she hopes that the three-judge panel serving as the appeals court renders a decision in the case and does not remand it back to Coffing.

"I think these judges can see the bigger issue and why these disenrollments really took place," Faria said. "It's been a long battle, so I just try not to get my hopes up too high."