Roosevelt city has filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City to remove an injunction that prohibits the city from exercising jurisdiction over American Indians.
The 4-year-old injunction prohibits Roosevelt city from arresting any member of a federally recognized Indian tribe suspected of misdemeanor crimes and exempts enrolled Ute Tribe members from having to pay sales tax. Officials with the Utah Attorney General's Office say those two issues are expected to be the key to the state's negotiations with the tribe.The state, like Duchesne and Uintah counties, wants the tribe's assurance that non-Indians living on fee lands within the reservation's boundaries won't be subject to "a lot of regulation or interference by the tribe," explained Phil Pugsley, assistant Utah attorney general over Indian affairs.
The state is also seeking the tribe's cooperation when it comes to access to state school and institutional trust lands located within the Uncompahgre Reservation.
In return for these guarantees, tribal officials have let the Attorney General's Office know they want their members to remain tax exempt on homestead lands such as Roosevelt, and they want to continue to retain misdemeanor jurisdiction over their members in criminal cases on homestead lands that the court ruling removed from the reservation.
"We would have a hard time opposing Roosevelt's motion," Pugs-ley stated. "It's entirely consistent with what the court decided, but it involves some of the issues we'd like to resolve."
Roosevelt and Duchesne and Uintah counties have been banned from exercising jurisdiction over American Indians since 1986 when the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals declared the original boundaries of the Uintah Valley Reservation still existed. All of Duchesne County and the west side of Uintah County fall within those boundaries.
District Court Judge Bruce S. Jenkins issued his injunction on the heels of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Hagen that sparked new controversy. The Ute Tribe contended the high court decision left the reservation boundaries intact. The city, counties and state maintained the ruling dissolved the reservation boundaries. The dispute sent the 22-year-old boundary case back to court once again.
Last May the appeals court sided with the tribe, saying the reservation boundaries were not diminished by the Supreme Court in Hagen. At the same time, their ruling concluded the Supreme Court did remove homestead land - such as Roosevelt - from the reservation.
Although Duchesne and Uintah counties are considering appealing the 10th Circuit Court ruling to the Supreme Court because it left about 50 percent of the county and many non-Indians under tribal jurisdiction, Roosevelt and the state of Utah will not appeal.
"It's our position that case law with Hagen and with the 10th Circuit Court confirmed we're not on the reservation. We want Roosevelt City to be able to get back to normal procedure," said Clark Allred, Roosevelt City attorney.
Allred said legally the city's position for removal of the injunction appears to be pretty well defined, noting that even the tribe agrees that homestead lands are off the reservation.
"We still want to be good neighbors with the counties and tribe, but our preference is to proceed."
It will be up to Jenkins to decide if he will simply lift the injunction or hold a hearing on the city's motion. All the entities involved in the boundary dispute will also be given the chance to object to Roosevelt's motion.
If the counties do pursue their appeal to the Supreme Court Allred said more than likely the judge will defer any decision until the appeal is resolved.