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Letter Re: Indian Reservation Boundaries a Determining Factor for Retreat Locales?
James,
In your posted list of 'Recommended
Retreat Areas' you address Indian tribal
government as a 'minus' because of an extra layer of bureaucracy only for
Oklahoma. Doesn't this apply to each and every state which contains reservations?
Your top 12 recommended states all have reservations on them. Might not that
Indian Nation independence be a benefit? Or, since my knowledge on Indian
Tribal Lands and their political position being quite slim, might I just
be missing some very basic information which would lend one to see the true
position? I have been doing some research but haven't uncovered anything
which I would call reliable. But I never give up! :-) Thanks, - Ken
JWR Replies: I have mixed feelings about owning land inside
the boundaries of a tribal reservation. I generally recommend against
it unless you are of American Indian descent. If nothing else, living "on
the res" means an extra layer of bureaucracy and certainly an extra jurisdictional
layer, including
Tribal
Police law enforcement and a tribal court system with its own sovereignty.
There is no way to predict in which ways the tribes might assert their sovereignty
in the future. At present, this is relatively unobtrusive. For example, inside
some reservations non-Indians have to buy a one day tribal fishing license
in
addition to an annual
state fishing
license. Indian tribal courts generally have a good reputation, but why subject
yourself to an additional jurisdiction, with its own peculiar set of laws,
when it can be avoided by simply buying land that is outside of the reservation
boundary?
