Fish and game violators owe more than $22,000 in unpaid fines

By Maggie Plummer

PABLO - Tribal officials are in the process of trying to resolve more than 200 pending Tribal Fish and Game cases in which violators still owe more than $22,000 in fines.

Some of the unpaid fines are from cases dating back to the late 1990s.

As of mid-September, a total of 21 tribal member violators owed $3,980 in fish and game civil judgments, according to Deputy Clerk of Tribal Court Karen Fisher.

A much longer list of non-member pending cases totals 179 - which translates to some $17,940 in unpaid fines.

According to Fisher, additional pending cases may have already been sent to collection agencies.

The current Tribal Court and Char-Koosta News policy is to print all fish and game sentencings, as ordered by the Tribal Council.

Cases that are dismissed don't appear in the Char-Koosta News.

Also, deferred prosecutions and deferred sentencings are not printed in the newspaper, Fisher explained. A deferred prosecution means that the prosecutor doesn't press the charge due to circumstances of each individual case.

The violator in a deferred prosecution is given a chance to meet specific conditions within a time limit, which is usually six months, Fisher said. If the violator doesn't meet those conditions, the case is brought back to Tribal Court for prosecution. If that violator is sentenced, the sentencing is then published in the Char-Koosta News.

Fisher explained that a typical deferred prosecution is based on the violator's background and the marginal aspects of the violation in question.

According to CSKT Fish and Game officials, tribal wardens investigated thousands of calls reporting violations last year, but only 137 of those resulted in actual cases with substantiated evidence.

The number one citation issued, by far, is no Tribal Recreation Permit.

CSKT Fish and Game Program Manager Frank Gillin reported that during 2005 a total of 138 fish and game cases went to court. In 2004 the number was also 138; during 2003 there were 135; and in 2002 there were 199.

According to Gillin's reports to the Tribal Council, during 2006 the program's wardens did a total 632 hours of hiking.

They also responded to reports of shooting in various areas around the reservation, conducted patrols due to mountain lion reports, captured an injured bald eagle near Valley View and another near Niarada, trapped problem beaver in an irrigation ditch, investigated a bighorn ram head found on the shore of Wild Horse Island, and helped with the recovery of a drowning victim who fell through the ice on Lower Crow Reservoir.

The wardens also recovered a hawk that had been shot along the Hot Springs cutoff road, trapped and relocated black bears, disposed of an injured deer, found a stolen snowmobile, helped state officials with an antler theft case, put down an injured fox, captured a juvenile bobcat, removed an injured elk, helped police investigate a drug case, captured an injured Tundra Swan, helped Tribal Wildlife Biologists fit radio collars on grizzly bears, removed deer from a concrete-lined canal, and worked with a Mission Valley Power crew to release an osprey from a power pole.