Tribal members are tired of drug dealers getting away with crimes on the reservation, but tribal police can do little because of overlapping and confusing federal, state and tribal laws. Tribal police can arrest American Indian offenders, but not always non-Indians. As a result, non-Indian drug dealers move to the reservation to dodge police. “The word is, if you’re non-tribal, then this is a safe haven,” said Councilman Chiarpah Matheson, a former tribal narcotics officer. American Indians who are arrested can only be charged in tribal court with misdemeanors. Federal law requires that felonies committed on reservations be heard in federal court, and the decision is up to federal authorities. “We hear it from our tribal community: ‘Here are these guys selling drugs and you’re not doing anything about it,”‘ tribal Police Chief Harold Scott said. Federal officials insist they treat tribal crimes the same as any others. Tribal Judge David Harding said tribal members who commit felonies sometimes wind up being tried for misdemeanors. “The evidence is no different. The crime is no different. It’s a felony, but it is not prosecuted as such if the FBI won’t take it. And there is always a different reason why they won’t take it.”
Don Ho, 70, the man who made “Tiny Bubbles” synonymous with Hawaii performed one show June 2 at the tribal casino in Worley. The native Hawaiian got his start in a cocktail lounge called Honey’s in Honolulu and became popular in the early 1960s when he began playing at Duke’s in Waikiki. His laid-back singing and storytelling made him a hit on the mainland as well. By the mid-’60s, Ho was playing in Hollywood, Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, Chicago and New York. He wooed audiences with his trademark tune “Tiny Bubbles,” and he told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin two years ago that “We’ve been playing that song every night for 39 years. I really, really hate that song.” He still performs most days of the week at the Waikiki Beachcomber Hotel, and his daughter, Hoku, is a singer who performed last summer at Riverfront Park in Coeur d’Alene.
