The battle between the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians and two Douglas County, Oregon, commissioners appears to be escalating.

Commissioners Dan Van Slyke and Marilyn Kittelman have been fighting the tribe's land into trust request. They say they don't want to lose tax revenues in downtown Roseburg for the tribe's proposed convention center.

But the tribe says Van Slyke and Kittelman have other agendas as well. Van Slyke once compared the tribe to the "Nazi regime," a remark for which he later apologized.

Now Kittelman is being accused of making disparaging statements about the tribe. When she was at a local restaurant, she allegedly pretended to be holding a shotgun and said, "I�m fighting Indians. Anyone want to join me?"

When asked whether the remark might offend Native Americans, Kittelman allegedly replied that she has "nothing against Indians but they are stealing our land." "It�s time to stop Indian growth. I�m the cowgirl to do it," she allegedly said.

Kittelman denies any derogatory statements.

Get the Story:
Tribe seeks records of county commission (The Roseburg News-Review 10/7)
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