Some members of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe and the Northern Arapaho Tribe are still waiting on their share of the $3.4 billion Cobell trust fund settlement.

The first round of payments went out in December 2012. Beneficiaries received $1,000 to settle historical accounting claims but not everyone who believes they are qualified has gotten a check.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Harrison Shoyo Jr., the vice chairman of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe, told The Casper Star-Tribune.

Payments for minors are being held until they turn 18. That's made it hard for Mary Alice Addison, an elder of the Northern Arapaho Tribe, to care for her five grandchildren.

“They need the money now,” Addison, who sits on her tribe's credit committee, told the paper.

A second round of payments, to settle trust administration claims, is expected later this year.

Get the Story:
New problems emerge on Wind River Reservation after Cobell settlement (The Casper Star-Tribune 4/4)