Questionable tribe claims custody of Arizona girl

Friday, March 23, 2007  

"Steve Bison of Alabama's Cherokee River Indian Community says the war over 4-year-old Raven Laws may be traced back to the legendary Battle of Horseshoe Bend.

"It's a long story," he says.

Fought during the War of 1812, it pitted soldiers under the leadership of General Andrew Jackson and their Cherokee Indian allies against the Creeks. After his victory, Jackson forced the Creeks to cede about half of Alabama and part of Georgia. The Cherokees claimed a chunk of that land, for a time.

The connection between a cute little Apache Junction girl and the seventh president of the United States does require a certain leap of logic, or illogic.

But the issues aren't nearly so obscure to most everyone else involved in one of Maricopa County's more unusual custody battles.

Raven Laws is about 5 percent Indian, according to genetic testing that the Bessingers commissioned last year (at a cost of about $7,000, according to court records).

But the Cherokee River Indian Community isn't a recognized tribe. It explains on its Web site (www.cric.org) that it isn't "a social club or a tribe, but a community of American Indian people who desire to build a better life for themselves and their children."

That alone should have spelled the end of any legal intervention by the community in Raven's case at the Maricopa County courthouse. Also, Raven Laws' natural parents have no known connection with any Indian tribe, recognized or not.

Undaunted, the Alabama group "enrolled" the little girl on November 15, 2006, the day after Judge Flores had ordered Raven's immediate return to Walters. More important, nothing stopped the two Native American women representing the group from taking Raven.

According to Steve Bison, a former Phoenix resident who is the CRIC's director of emergency services, school superintendent, court clerk, fire chief and, yes, head horse trainer, the community numbers about 60 people who live on private land in north Alabama's Lawrence County, about 1,700 miles from Arizona."

Get the Story:
Indian Takers (The Phoenix New Times 3/22)

Relevant Links:
Cherokee River Indian Community - http://www.cric.org

Related Stories:
'Cherokee' tribe at center of bizarre kidnapping (01/26)
Cherokee group in Alabama still wants tax exemption (03/21)
Cherokee group in Alabama won't get tax exemption (02/08)
Cherokee group in Alabama claims tax exemption (11/23)