your homegrown newspaper December 21, 2022
Merry Christmas!
$1.25 Vol. 19, No. 14
Ronan Council pg. 6
Sports pg. 15
SUMMER GODDARD / VALLEY JOURNAL
Lake County Commissioners to vote on PL280 withdrawal By Taylor Davison / Valley Journal
Whitebark Pine pg. 22
LAKE COUNTY — On Jan. 3, the Lake County Commissioners will vote on whether or not to withdraw the county from Public Law 280. In a Dec. 9 meeting, the commission passed their intent to potentially withdraw from
PL280, an agreement with the State of Montana passed in 1964 to conduct law enforcement and provide other services on the Flathead Reservation. Withdrawal is a two-part process and won’t be complete until after a vote in favor in January. The county filed a lawsuit
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against the State of Montana back in July seeking relief from the state for the costs incurred by the county for this agreement. According to a statement put out by Lake County, although the state bound itself to assume criminal jurisdiction under PL280, it has effectively shifted the cost of this obli-
gation onto the county, which costs Lake County taxpayers over $4 million per year. According to the lawsuit, the bill as passed stated that, “Unless the confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes or Lake County withdraws consent to enforcement … the state shall
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