I wanted to speak to Omaha tribal leaders about whether they grappled with taking money from Snyder, grappled with the mascot controversy while also knowing that two-thirds of young Native American children in Thurston County grow up in abject poverty, according to the State of Nebraska.

But when I called the tribal offices late last week I kept getting transferred to voicemail or patched through to a harried government official who said he didn’t have time to talk.

I thought they were ducking me, and they may have been. But Scott Shafer, an assistant at the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, offered another potential reason to me.

They were dealing with another water main break, he told me.

The Omaha Tribe of Nebraska leaders may not have had time to talk about the backhoe Daniel Snyder had given them, because they were using the backhoe Daniel Snyder had given them to fix their ancient water pipes yet again.

If that doesn’t sum up the half-uplifting, half-disheartening gift from the owner of the Washington Redskins, I don’t know what does.