Regional News
Pender, business owners file complaint in tribal court
Published Tuesday, January 08, 2008 at 03:20 PM
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- The village of Pender and some business owners have filed a complaint in Omaha Tribal Court asking that the tribe be stopped from imposing its liquor laws outside the reservation.

The complaint filed Monday states that Pender does not lie within the Omaha reservation and, therefore, is not subject to the tribe's liquor regulations, which includes licenses for businesses that sell alcohol and a 10 percent tax on alcohol purchases.

The Omaha Tribe's attempt to enforce their laws on Pender and its businesses "is an act in excess of tribal authority and thus a violation of federal common law," the complaint states.

A similar lawsuit was filed in April in U.S. District Court. The tribe had argued that the lawsuit should be dismissed because Pender and the business owners should have sought a decision in tribal court before filing the federal lawsuit, as specified by tribal exhaustion doctrine.

In October, District Court Judge Richard Kopf ordered a complaint be filed in tribal court, but said that decision may not be binding.

Lyman Larsen, the attorney representing the tribe officials and members named in the complaint, said Tuesday that he was still reviewing the complaint and had no immediate comment.

A message left Tuesday for Omaha tribal attorney Maurice Johnson was not immediately returned.

The tribe has argued in court documents that the liquor regulations are legal, having been authorized by the U.S. Department of the Interior and being within the jurisdiction granted to the Omaha Tribe by Congress.

In an 1854 treaty, the United States defined the reservation as stretching from the west bank of the Missouri River across the portion of northeast Nebraska that later became part of Thurston, Cuming, Burt and Wayne counties and Iowa's Monona County.

In the 1860s, part of the Omaha Tribe's northern land was ceded to the Winnebago Tribe, and over time, some of the remaining Omaha land came to be owned by non-American Indians, resulting in a "checkerboard" pattern of land ownership that has caused confusion about tribal lines.

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