Tuesday, November 5, 1985/The Battalion/Page 5
SHOE
by Jeff MacNelly
Jeopardy
Alabama-Coushaitas facing bankruptcy
Associated Press
LIVINGSTON — Alabama-Gou-
shaita Indians living on a 4,bOO-acre
reservation near tins Polk County
community say they are on the verge
of bankruptcy now that the state has
dropped its guardianship of' their
tribe.
Another Texas tribe, the Tiguas,
says it may soon be headed in the
same direction.
Both tribes have been under the
auspices of the state since 1954,
when the federal government relin-
uuished its protection of about a
dozen tribes across the country.
But Texas Attorney General Jim
Mattox recently ruled the trust
relationship is improper and that the
reservation should be treated no dif
ferently f rom ‘‘an Elk lodge.”
Alabama-Coushatta Chief Fulton
Battise, 76, says the new policy leaves
his 130-year-old tribe in jeopardy.
“If it’s going to happen, it’s going
to happen,” he said.
The Alabama-Coushattas have
filed a federal lawsuit over Mattox’s
B olicy, and the case is pending in
LS. District Court in Austin.
Mattox said the reservation
should not be treated as a “benefi
ciary of the gratuitous trust
relationship with the state.” Such
treatment, the attorney general said,
would violate the state’s 1972 equal
rights amendment, which prohioits
discrimination on the basis of na
tional origin.
Since September, the. Afabama-
Coushatta tribe has been forced to
pay tax royalties from oil and gas
production on the reservation and
could soon face taxes on other prop
erties.
The tribe already has lost
$148,GOO in state funding and
$100,800 in mineral royalty taxes
from which it was previously
exempt. And the tourist trade,
which once poured substantial funds
into the tribe’s coffers — has fallen
into a slump, resulting in a $260,000
loss.
Now, the tribe is nearly broke.
“I’m frustrated as hell,” said Rus
sell DaMetz, the tribe’s finance offi
cer, and one of only two non-indian
staff members. “Something has got
to happen quick.”
DaMetz said the tribe has enough
money to remain solvent until next
J[une and predicted it will be short
$2.3 million by August.
‘President needs power to limit spending’
(continued from page 1)
should be and came in the post-Wa
tergate sentiment toward limiting
the chief executive’s power.
“The only thing tnat went wrong
was that Congress didn’t get control
of itself,” Bust) said. “And Congress
found a whole series of procedural
tricks to get around tne self-re
straints built into the act.”
Bush said Congress’ ability to cre
ate a “crazy-quilt" of spending bills
tacked on to unrelated budget items
hindered the president’s ability to
excise special interest spending from
the budget.
“The result is that all of the paro
chial impulses of Congress have
been let loose to run wild,” Bush
said.
Some form of the Gramm-Rud-
man amendment, which would re
quire Congress to meet deficit re
duction targets leading to a balanced
budget in the next six years, cotn-
bined with a line-item veto allowing
the president to cut special interest
spending from otherwise vital
spending bills, would allow the presi-
cfent to say “enough is enougn” by
determining the ultimate limits of
federal spending, Bush said.
In addition, a constitutional
amendment requiring a balanced
budget would seal the deal, he said.
“Let me repeat this, I am not seek
ing — nor is tne president seeking —
to diminish Congress’ proper rede,”
Bush said. “We want to restore a bal
ance in the system, not upset the bal
ance.”
Two friends
raised under
one roof.
Bryon saw the
future coming.
Mark never knew
what hit him.
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Members of the Tigua tribe, who
live on a reservation near El Paso,
fear they will meet a similar fate.
Tourism and pottery sales kept
both the Tiguas and the Alabama-
Coushattas self-sufficient until the
industry dipped two years ago.
The state has been giving the
tribes up to $260,000 a year to pay
for state employees, many of them
Indians, to oversee reservation oper
ations.
But the fund cutoff may mean the
tribes could one day lose tneir land.
“The land is our base, our home.
If not for the reservation, where
would we be?” asked Carol Battise,
34, a bookkeeper who grew up on
the Tigua reservation. ‘ ? If you met
me on the sidewalks of Houston, you
would probably think I was a Mexi-
can-American because of my dark
skin. But here I have an identity.
Don’t destroy our tribe and separate
our people.”
“Think what it would be like if
one day you read in the newspaper
that the city of Houston had been
dissolved — it no longer exists,” said
Raymond Apodaca, a Tigua and ex
ecutive director of the Texas Indian
Commission.
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