Narconon
®
Tries Defense On Indian Sovereignty - 5 March 92
Lawyers for an unlicensed drug and alcohol treatment center
argued Thursday that it is exempt from state regulations under
the cloak of Indian sovereignty.
Narconon Chilocco New Life Center is on the campus of the old
Chilocco Indian school north of Newkirk and as a result is exempt
from state efforts to shut it down, lawyer Harry Woods Jr., said.
But state lawyers, in a hearing in which the Oklahoma State
Department of Health is seeking a court injunction to shut down
Narconon Chilocco, said the facility's location is not enough to
claim Indian sovereignty.
Narconon Chilocco is a non-Indian entity that treats
non-Indians, Robert Cole, a lawyer for the health department
said.
Henry Hartsell, Jr., a public health administrator with the
health department, said to claim sovereignty a facility must be
owned by Indians, on Indian land, and treat only Indians.
Hartsell noted that the state recognizes sovereignty for a
Cherokee Indian treatment center and a Choctaw Indian drug and
alcohol treatment center because each meets those three
requirements.
District Judge Neal Beekman presided over the five-hour
hearing and took the matter under advisement.
He asked lawyers on both sides to prepare written arguments
within three weeks. He said he could make a ruling by the end of
next month.
Woods said the state should back away from regulating the
center.
He showed a letter sent earlier this week from the U.S. Bureau
of Indian Affairs to Narconon Chilocco to show that the federal
government is taking on jurisdiction.
But the letter, from L.W. Collier, Jr., area director of the
BIA office in Anadarko, tells Narconon Chilocco it has a month to
get its program certified by the state or it will be violating
its leas with the Chilocco Development Authority, an Indian board
that manages the Chilocco campus. Collier's letter says Narconon
Chilocco agreed to comply with Oklahoma laws in the lease, which
includes getting its program certified by the Oklahoma Board of
Mental health and Substance Abuse Services.
Collier also told Narconon Chilocco to make arrangements to
move its patients to licensed facilities.
Marcellus Chouteau, a former Kaw tribal chairman and former
chairman of the Chilocco Development Authority, testified that
the BIA made a mistake in giving the state of Oklahoma any
authority in the Narconon Chilocco lease. "That land is
Indian land," he said. "The state has no part in it. We
had governments even before this state became a state. Now the
state of Oklahoma is trying to cram it down our throats."
Narconon Chilocco started accepting patients in February 1990.
State officials sought an injunction to close it, and an
application for certification filed with the state mental health
board has been rejected.
The name "Narconon"® is trademarked to the Scientology
organization through one of their many front groups. The name
"Scientology"® is also trademarked to the "Church"
of Scientology. Neither this web page, nor this web site, nor any of the
individuals mentioned herein assisting to educate the public about the
dangers of the Narconon scam are members of or representitives of the
Scientology organization.
If you or a loved one needs help -- real help -- there are
a number of rehabilitation programs you can contact. The real
Narcotics Anonymous organization
can get you in touch with real people who can help you.
Click [HERE] to visit Narcotics
Anonymous's web site. Narcotics Anonymous's telephone number is
1 (818) 773-9999.
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Forward: For a systematic, detailed, professional exposure of
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Narconon Exposed web site.
By Michael McNutt, Enid Bureau
The Daily Oklahoman
March 5, 1992
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