Northern Cheyenne political standoff escalates with trespassing notice for ousted president Gene Small
BIA notifies council that Small and supporters must vacate Capitol building or face criminal charges
For more than a month, the Little Wolf Capitol Building in Lame Deer, Montana, has been at the center of the political dispute between two factions fighting for power over the Northern Cheyenne Tribe’s government. Former tribal president Gene Small and his supporters commandeered the building after he was removed from office by the council on Sept. 30.
Yesterday federal agents with the Bureau of Indian Affairs stepped in with a trespassing notice, ordering Small’s group to vacate it, according to the tribe’s council.
If Small and others remain in the building after 8 a.m. MST Thursday, they could face criminal trespassing charges, according to Ryhal Rowland, a spokesperson for the tribe who was present when BIA officers informed council about the trespassing notice.
By 9 a.m., Rowland said people remained in the building and that BIA officers from Billings were responding.
She shared with Buffalo’s Fire a photo she took of people she identified as BIA agents standing outside the building. She said they have been walking in and out of the building. Small did not return calls from Buffalo’s Fire. The BIA said it does not make comments to the media but that officers do provide law enforcement services to Northern Cheyenne.
Rowland said the tribal council had moved all government business, including Tuesday’s election operations, to another building in Lame Deer as a result of Small and his supporters barricading entrances to the Capitol building.
On Oct. 5 surveillance video inside the building showed Small and other supporters putting tape over and spray painting cameras. Several boxes from the tribe’s finance office were seen being removed before cameras were covered.
Rowland said the council, whose election results were acknowledged by the BIA, is concerned about what may have been taken from the Capitol building. She said they have observed people take boxes and computers through the building’s loading dock.
She said several tribal vehicles used for the Northern Cheyenne buffalo restoration program are also missing. Rowland said those vehicles were likely taken by people who were acting under Small’s directives.
“We don’t know where they are but they must be returned,” she said.
She said council members arrived at the building at 9 a.m. to assess damage and begin cleanup. However, as of 9:30 a.m., they were still outside.
“We’ll have so much to do after what Gene Small and his supporters did, and we don’t even know all of it,” she said Wednesday night.
Corrections
This story originally identified Gene Small as one of the people seen in a photo outside the Capitol building. Small is not in the photo. The people in the photo have been identified as federal agents.
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