South Dakota's Noem asks tribes again to talk on checkpoints

South Dakota's Noem asks tribes again to talk on checkpoints

SeattlePI.com

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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem on Tuesday held off her threat to sue Native American tribes that have set up highway checkpoints intended to keep the coronavirus away from their reservations, saying instead she would like to work out an agreement.

The Republican governor gave two tribes — the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the Oglala Sioux Tribe — 48 hours from Friday afternoon to remove checkpoints from state and federal highways or face a lawsuit. She said her office has been getting complaints that the checkpoints have caused a headache for people trying to enter the reservations for ranching or store deliveries. But the tribes kept the checkpoints, citing the threat of the virus, combined with their vulnerable populations and poor medical facilities, as urgent reasons to control access.

Noem said she sent a letter Tuesday to Cheyenne River Sioux chairman Harold Frazier asking him to talk through an agreement on the checkpoints on the Cheyenne River Indian reservation in the northern part of the state. She said she planned a similar letter to Oglala Sioux president Julian Bear Runner on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in the southwest corner of the state.

She described the conflict as a “sticky situation” between federal, state and tribal authorities.

“What we're looking for is clarification,” Noem said.

In the letter, released by Noem's office Tuesday evening, she calls the checkpoints on state highways “unlawful” and writes they “could actually increase the risk of spreading the virus on the reservation” via tribal interaction with travelers. She asked Frazier to “immediately adjust your policies” to drop the state highway checkpoints.

The tribes have taken a vigilant approach to the global pandemic, at times locking down their reservations, while Noem's...

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