Judge denies access to frozen Cheyenne and Arapaho funds

ARAPAHO, Okla. – A Custer County District Court judge denied an application Monday to access frozen Cheyenne and Arapaho tribal funds.

Citing an appeal pending before the Oklahoma Supreme Court, judge Doug Haught declined to allow three tribal programs access to frozen contract funds.

“I don’t know how long it will be until the (Oklahoma) Supreme Court rules, but I will not grant any requests until then,” Haught said during Monday morning’s hearing. “When and if they take action, then that will obviously change.”

The appeal comes on a previous decision by Haught to place the tribes’ bank accounts under the supervision of the Custer County District Court due to an ongoing leadership dispute between Janice Prairie Chief-Boswell and Leslie Wandrie-Harjo. Officials from either government attempting to withdraw funds must contact the court and the other government in writing before any removals are allowed. Prairie Chief-Boswell’s administration has filed the Supreme Court appeal and maintains that the district court does not have the jurisdiction to hear the bank’s suit since it involves as sovereign nation.

Using figures from the tribes’ 2008 budget, Thomas Ivester, a Sayre, Okla.-based attorney representing the Wandrie-Harjo recognized legislature, filed the request last month to access federal contract funds for the tribes’ elder nutrition program, emergency youth shelter and Indian Child Welfare office using figures from the tribes’ 2008 budget.

“These three programs were chosen in part because we thought they would be universally accepted,” he said. “The 2008 budget was chosen because that was the last universally accepted budget.

“These are all programs funded by federal contracts and are monitored by the BIA.”

Had the application been allowed, Ivester also asked that the Western Oklahoma regional office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Anadarko, Okla., be notified so the office can closely monitor the drawdowns.

Although Haught acknowledged that he opened the door for the legislature’s appeal through comments in a previous hearing, he also declined to take action on whether the legislature from either administration has the legal standing to request access to the funds. In the lawsuit, filed by the Clinton, Okla.-based First Bank and Trust, the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, Wandrie-Harjo and Prairie Chief-Boswell are all named as defendants, but neither legislature is specifically listed.

“I know we need to set a hearing to determine whether either legislature has legal standing,” Haught said. “However, I won’t just yet until the Supreme Court gets a look at this case.”

Excluding the workers at their five western Oklahoma casinos, the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes employ about 500 people. More than 12,000 people are enrolled in the constitutionally-bound tribes, including about 5,000 who live within the tribes’ nine-county jurisdictional area.