Pender (Nebraska)
| Pender | |
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 Downtown pender |
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| Location in the state and county | |
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| Basic data | |
| Foundation : | 1885 |
| State : | United States |
| State : | Nebraska |
| County : | Thurston County |
| Coordinates : | 42 ° 7 ′ N , 96 ° 43 ′ W |
| Time zone : | Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 ) |
| Residents : | 1,113 (as of: 2018) |
| Population density : | 608.2 inhabitants per km 2 |
| Area : | 1.83 km 2 (approx. 1 mi 2 ) of which 1.83 km 2 (approx. 1 mi 2 ) is land |
| Height : | 409 m |
| Postal code : | 68047 |
| Area code : | +1 402 |
| FIPS : | 31-38750 |
| GNIS ID : | 832034 |
Pender is a municipality in Thurston County in the US state of Nebraska . The community of Pender is located on the Indian reservation of the Omaha tribe , although it is mostly white populated. For decades, there were legal disputes about the membership of the community on the Indian reservation. The community has called on the United States Supreme Court to resolve this issue. In a landmark decision, the court ruled that Pender is still part of the reserve, even though the area was sold to white settlers in 1882 and is inhabited by whites and the tribe has not developed any activity in the area for over 100 years. The judgment went under the name of Nebraska v. Parker entered the history of the United States. In the proceedings, the state of Nebraska took the view of the community of Pender. The tribe was represented by the federal government. The ruling tremendously strengthened the claims and rights of the indigenous peoples of the United States and also strengthened the rights of the federal government against the states.
Surname
The parish is named after the Scottish businessman and policeman John Pender (1816-1896), a pioneer in the field of telegraphs and telephone services. He was one of the founders of the Eastern Telegraph Company, later Cable & Wireless , and President of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railroad .
history
In the late 17th century, the Omaha Indians immigrated to what is now Nebraska. Originally, the Omaha were based in Virginia , North Carolina, and South Carolina . The Omaha were hunters and farmers. They lived in permanent villages. They only became nomads during the hunting season. In 1856 the Omaha sold much of their land to the US government and agreed to move to what is now the Missouri River reservation . They reserved 300,000 acres of land for their own use. The borders of the reserve were secured by a treaty between the US and the tribe. In 1865 they sold parts of their land to the Winnebago , who received their own reservation north of the Omaha. This sale was also secured by a treaty between the United States and the tribes, the Omaha Treaty . In 1869 a railway was built through the reserve area. In 1872 the tribe tried to sell 50,000 acres of land west of the new railway line. After the American Congress in 1871 prevented the passage of new treaties between the Indian tribes and the US government, the sale was approved by a law prepared by the Home Office and passed in 1882 by Congress. In the same year, businessman WE Peebles bought a piece of land from the US government west of the railroad and founded the community of Pender in 1885. Other white settlers bought more pieces of land west of the railroad.
In 1895 there were two banks in Pender, the Peebles Hotel, a pharmacy, several general stores, a furniture and a coal shop. There was also a racecourse and an opera house. A cinema was built in 1912. Due to the separation by the railway line, the Omaha tribe did not undertake any activity in the area. Tribal members did not live there. The state and county of Nebraska were in charge of administration, police and the judiciary. Organizationally, the area originally belonged to Dakota County, then later to the newly established Thurston County. Pender was the county’s first ward to become its administrative center. The tribal government was based in Macy, Missouri, and concentrated its activities east of the railroad.
That changed in 2006. That year, the Omaha Tribe decided to apply a 10% tax to Pender businesses as well. In addition, he asked for a license to sell alcohol on reservation areas. Depending on the type of sale, it should be $ 500, $ 1,000, or $ 1,500 per year. Failure to pay was threatened with a $ 10,000 fine. This regulation affected 10 shops, clubs and bars in Pender. The owners resisted the fees and taxes. Federal laws allowed Indian nations to prohibit, restrict, or tax the sale of alcohol on reservation areas. The introduction of such rules must be approved by the United States Department of the Interior. The Omaha tribe has received such approval from the Minister of the Interior. The regulation of the sale of alcohol by the tribe was legal. The community of Pender showed solidarity with the business owners, as did the state of Nebraska. They went to court on the grounds that Pender was neither part of an Indian territory nor part of the Omaha reservation.
On January 20, 2016, the case was heard in the Supreme Court. On one side were the alcohol sellers and the Pender community, represented by the state of Nebraska, and on the other, the Omaha nation, represented by the federal government. Indian reservations are areas officially owned by the federal government, or more precisely the Bureau of Indian Affairs . It was about the issue of where the border between the state of Nebraska and federal territory runs. The Nebraska Supreme Court had ruled in the past that the railway line formed the western boundary of the Indian reservation. The Supreme Court saw it differently and pronounced its verdict on March 22, 2016. The ownership structure would have changed due to the purchase by the federal government in 1882. But that would have had no influence on the sovereignty rights of the Indian tribe. Only a treaty between the two nations would have changed the frontier. Pender remains under the legal control of the Omaha nation, not the state of Nebraska. The federal government's sale of tribal land to white settlers did not result in a transfer of rights to the state of Nebraska. The states are also not authorized to make border corrections between state and nations. Only the federal government and the tribes are mutually entitled to do this.
This decision was groundbreaking. In 2020, a federal court in Washington ruled that the eastern half of Oklahoma was a tribal and reservation area based on that ruling. A large part of the city of Tulsa was declared a tribal area.
The verdict came as a shock to many residents of the United States. The Washington Post summarized it as follows: “People may still be in a bit of a shock trying to wrap their minds around the implications of this,” said Lindsay Robertson of the University of Oklahoma's Center for the Study of American Indian Law and Policy . "People are thinking of who has the power to tax, who is the zoning authority now, and if I'm going to sue somebody, do I file in tribal court or state court?"
Citizens worry about who has the right to levy taxes in the future and who is planning the further development of the areas. Who should I go to to sue someone, in a state court or in a tribal court?
Individual evidence
- ^ Nebraska v. Parker, 14-1406 PDF Supreme Court Decision
- ↑ jdsupra.com Supreme Court Unanimously Holds that Omaha Tribe's Reservation Not Diminished by 1882 Statute
- ↑ netnebraska.org Century-Old Boundary Dispute Brings Omaha Tribe Before US Supreme Court
- ↑ Star Times Connection: The name was changed to Pender in honor of John Pender, an Englishman who was noted as a cable builder and who was a director of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha railroad.
- ↑ The Omaha, in the hopes of collecting much needed funds at the time, wished to sell land west of a railroad right-of-way that divided the reservation.
- ↑ Washington Post: Supreme Court says nearly half of Oklahoma is an Indian reservation. What's next?
- ^ The New York Times: Landmark Supreme Court Ruling Affirms Native American Rights in Oklahoma
