After 36 years of serving the Samish Nation, Ken Hansen has stepped down as chairman of the Washington tribe after leading a bitter legal fight to regain its dignity.

Due to what has been called a clerical error, the tribe was left off the list of recognized tribes in 1969. It took 30 years of litigation to get back on the list and now the tribe is seeing to restore its fishing rights and regain federal funding.

Hansen said one of his most painful memories is a 1980s meeting with former assistant secretary Ross Swimmer, now the Special Trustee. "From what my staff tells me, you�re extinct," Hansen recalled Swimmer as saying.

"We were just devastated by those words," Hansen told The Anacortes American. He had to be restrained by the tribe's lawyer from physically attacking Swimmer.

Hansen, whose health has deteriorated in recent years, has criticized other tribal leaders for trying to keep the Samish from exercising their fishing rights. The tribe is also fighting the federal government on a funding lawsuit that is advancing in the courts.

Get the Story:
Spirited leader Ken Hansen steps down after battling for the Samish for decades (The Anacortes American 2/8)

Court Decision:
Samish Indian Nation v. United States (August 19, 2005)

Relevant Links:
Samish Indian Nation - http://www.samishtribe.nsn.us

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