memory of the six children who were killed in the
unwarranted attack.
1983Yakama activist David Sohappy Sr. is
convicted of violating fishing regulations.
Working undercover, federal agents buy 317 fish
caught out of season from David Sohappy Sr. Long
active in the campaign for Indian fishing rights,
Sohappy is best known for using the courts to chal-
lenge regulations on fishing in the Columbia River
in the case Sohappy v. Smith. After the U.S. Supreme
Court refuses to hear his appeal, Sohappy will serve
18 months in prison before his release in May
1988.
The Office of Intergovernmental Affairs is
charged with dealings with Indians.
President Ronald Reagan transfers responsibility
for the White House’s dealings with Indians from
the Office of Liaison to the Office of Intergovern-
mental Affairs. Through the change, the Reagan
administration implies a shift in attitude toward
Indian tribes: Instead of considering them as mi-
nority groups, the White House will treat them as
sovereign nations.
The Samish erect the “Maiden of Deception.”
In 1979 the Samish, a small group of Coast Salish
Indians in northwestern Washington State, filed a
petition for federal recognition as a tribe. When, four
years later, the government decides to deny them
recognition, the Samish protest the decision by com-
missioning a sculpture of the “maiden of deception,”
an important figure in Samish legends. To show their
solidarity despite their “unrecognized” status, they
erect the statue by holding a traditional potlatch
feast, with neighboring tribes as their guests.
The Fool’s Crow v. Gullett court decision
threatens the sacred site of Bear Butte.
When the federal government makes plans to build
roads and parking lots in the Bear Butte area of
South Dakota, several Plains tribes object in federal
court. They hold that, by facilitating non-Indian
tourism in the region, the government’s projects
will destroy a site the Indians regard as sacred. In
Fool’s Crow v. Gullett, the tribes claim that the gov-
ernment is violating their First Amendment rights
to religious freedom, but the court finds for the
government, allowing it to proceed with the pro-
posed construction.
Activists will continue to fight development
in the area. In 2004, they will force a company to
abandon plans to construct a shooting range nearby,
and in 2005 they will compel a bar owner to relo-
cate his establishment farther away from the sacred
site. (See also entry for JULY 4, 2006.)January 14The Indian Tribal Governmental Tax Status
Act is passed.
Through the Indian Tribal Governmental Tax Status
Act, Congress confirms that tribes are not taxable
entities. The act also gives tribes many of the tax
benefits available to state and local governments.
For instance, it allows tribes to finance commercial
and governmental ventures by issuing tax-exempt
bonds.January 18Jim Thorpe’s Olympic records and medals
are restored.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) re-
instates Jim Thorpe’s amateur status 30 years after
his death and gives his children duplicates of the
two gold medals he won in the Olympics (see entry
for SUMMER 1912). The IOC’s reversal is largely
due to the urging of the Jim Thorpe Foundation,
led by Thorpe’s daughters Grace and Charlotte,
and the U.S. Olympic Committee. A Sac and Fox
Indian, Thorpe had been stripped of his medals
when it was discovered that he had played semipro-
fessional baseball in the summer of 1910 (see entry
for JANUARY 1913).