Page 20 - Flathead Beacon // 3.30.16

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LAKESIDE
1. Authorities Identify Body Found on Flathead Lake Barge
The Flathead County Sheri ’s O ce is investigating the death of a Lakeside woman whose body was found on a barge on Flathead Lake earlier this week.
Sheri Chuck Curry identi ed the woman as 38-year-old Shawntal Johnston.
Curry said the cause of death has not yet been determined and detectives are still awaiting the results of an autopsy and toxicology results from the State Medical Examiner’s O ce and the Mon- tana State Crime Lab. Curry said there were not immediate indications of homi- cide, but the investigation is still looking at all possibilities.
911 call logs indicate the body was found at 9:30 a.m., March 21 when workers began loading the barge that was docked near Lakeside. The barge owner told dispatchers that the woman appeared “beaten up,” but the sheri ’s o ce did not con rm that information.
The death is considered suspicious.
BROWNING
2. Tester Recommends Cobell for
Nation’s Highest Honor
To honor her signi cant contributions to Indian Country, U.S. Sen. Jon Tes- ter, D-Mont., is recommending Elouise Cobell for the Presidential Medal of Free- dom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
In a letter to President Obama, Tes- ter endorsed Cobell’s leadership and her ght for justice for Native American fam- ilies. Cobell was a Blackfeet tribal mem- ber who led the landmark lawsuit Cobell v. Salazar, which led to the compensation of $3.4 billion to hundreds of thousands of Native Americans for the mismanage- ment of Indian trust land.
“Throughout her life, Elouise Cobell brought about real change in Indian Country and her story continues to serve as an inspiration and reminder to every- one that one person can truly make a di erence,” Tester wrote. “I urge you to honor Elouise Cobell’s legacy of ghting for the rights of Native Americans with
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the Presidential Medal of Freedom.” Cobell’s case against the federal gov- ernment was settled in 2009, 13 years after it was originally led in U.S. District Court. Cobell passed away two years later
in 2011. Tester attended her funeral. The rst distribution of Cobell pay- ments was made to Native American families in 2013. Additional payments through the Department of the Interi- or’s Land Buy-Back Program are ongoing, and to date, nearly $750 million in pay- ments through the Buy-Back Program have been made to tens of thousands of Native Americans for selling their frac-
tional interests in land to their Tribe. As treasurer of the Blackfeet Tribe, Cobell also founded the rst tribal- ly-owned national bank located on an Indian reservation. The Blackfeet National Bank is now the Native Amer- ican Bank and provides access to capital and nancial services to more than 20
tribes across the nation.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom
is the highest civilian award that can be presented by the United States. Accord- ing to the White House, the award may be presented “to any person who has made an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, or world peace, or cul- tural or other signi cant public or private endeavors.”
BROWNING
3. Bison Coming ‘Home’ to Blackfeet
Indian Reservation
Descendants of a bison herd captured and sent to Canada more than a century ago will be relocated to an Indian reser- vation next month, in what tribal lead- ers bill as a homecoming for a species emblematic of their traditions.
The shipment of animals from Alber- ta’s Elk Island National Park to the Black- feet Indian Reservation follows a 2014 treaty among tribes in the United States and Canada. That agreement aims to restore bison to areas of the Rocky Moun- tains and Great Plains where millions once roamed.
“For thousands of years the Blackfeet
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MARCH 30, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM