Utah town's anger mounts over artifact arrests

Bill Smith wrote:

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You might want to check your own grammar and spelling before you try to "correct" someone else. It makes you look foolish.

I believe that was the point, thanks for playing Bill.

So are saying because people are arrested they are automatically guilty. Inoccent until proven guilty its the law. And I think Blanding was recenltly voted safest place in America. And I don't see why everyone is calling these people "grave robbers" Like these people load up their trucks with shovels and dig up bodies. If you want to find indian artifacts in this area just drive five minutes out of town and start walking you will probably trip over something if you pick it up your a "grave robber." I have 4 guns in my house and i know lots of people with a lot more guns. They are not wackos they are Americans enjoying a right to bear arms. Yes there are a few wackos that own guns and unfortunatley they give the majority of law abiding gun owners a bad name. If I stuck a sign in my yard which said "I own a gun my neighbor doesn't" who do think will get robbed first? I do agree that law enforcement must take precautions and it is sometimes viewed as "overkill" these people have families they need to return to also.

Hilsto wrote:

Law enforcement did their jobs. Not their fault that part of the county has a bunch of wackos with gun stashes and other considerations they have to make when arresting people. And being humiliated when arrested...being arrested IS humiliating. That is why you don't do the crime. It sucks when you are publicly outed. Law enforcement doesn't have to make considerations to your reputation when arresting you. If they send only two guys over with no support they can get killed. When you are connected to smugglers the cops have to assume there is a lot of danger involved. A smuggling ring often has a lot of firepower. If you don't want to be arrested in that way don't work with smugglers!

cjones wrote:

So are saying because people are arrested they are automatically guilty. Inoccent until proven guilty its the law. And I think Blanding was recenltly voted safest place in America. And I don't see why everyone is calling these people "grave robbers" Like these people load up their trucks with shovels and dig up bodies. If you want to find indian artifacts in this area just drive five minutes out of town and start walking you will probably trip over something if you pick it up your a "grave robber." I have 4 guns in my house and i know lots of people with a lot more guns. They are not wackos they are Americans enjoying a right to bear arms. Yes there are a few wackos that own guns and unfortunatley they give the majority of law abiding gun owners a bad name. If I stuck a sign in my yard which said "I own a gun my neighbor doesn't" who do think will get robbed first? I do agree that law enforcement must take precautions and it is sometimes viewed as "overkill" these people have families they need to return to also.
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Um, did you even read any articles about this??

Yes "grave robbers" --- according to the Feds over 16000 American Indian graves have been robbed over the decades it's been going on. Human remains tossed as burial items are collected for market. According to a 1919 front page article in the Deseret Evening News the grave of Ute leader Black Hawk was looted, his remains put on public display in the front window of a hardware store and latter publically displayed at the LDS church museum on Temple Square in Salt Lake for nearly 60 years. It's long been a disgusting and demoralizing cultural tradition that needs to stop. I applaud the FBI for doing what they did in Blanding. You don't see American Indians going around digging up white man's graves, do you? No matter how much you flatten the pancake there is always two sides to the story.

Good Grief,Blanding, Utah, you all stop whinning. Us Native American were mistreated from day one when the white people set foot on this country. You hear us whinning? So, what that a doctor killed himself over violation of Federal Statues pertaining to Laws set forth by your congress and senators and the US Government. Some locals are blaming the Native Americans and the Federal Law Enforcement. Sure, people who live in this part of the country have distrubed almost every ancient sites in this county.Yes, digging in ruins, not stumbling over pottery and artifacts.If you come out here and see for youselves, you will know. It's a long time coming for the raids in these so called peaceful towns. Sure, the local law enforcement would have alerted everybody involved if they were involved. Why? Because,these local law enforcement, sheriff's office not enforcing these laws anyway. I am sure there is Federal Funds given to law enforcement to enforce the Laws pertaining to Natural Resources. What do they do? If you are monority, out of stater you will be frist to be pulled over in Blanding. While the law abiding citizens drive thru town with their children on their laps, running stop signs, speeding thru the school zones and many more to list. Get over it. Just leave the expensive trash left behind by the ancient people and we will get along just fine!

Go get yourself a job with the law enforcement before you bash anymore on the people who put their lives on the line every day.

Rachel wrote:

I know its not just me when I notice how horrible Law Enforcement is these days. I question with every report, on a daily basis, whatever happened to the cops that used some judgement? What happened to the warning? What happened to the lecture and the slap on the wrist? What happened to the ride home and the humiliation of what could happen if you ever did it again?
Now days, cops are out tazering children. Cops are treating everyone guilty before reading them their rights. Cops have the right of way over an occupied ambulance? What ever happened to extenuating circumstances?
What the hell happened to our country?

Well folks, the good doctors wife Jeane Redd has pleaded guilty to charges of robbing gravesites. Plus she and her husband have been charged with running a ponzi scheme.(Salt Lake Tribune) According to the article there were 151 federal charges against the 22 who were arrested. Personally I think the guilty grave robbers should be made to pay for the building of museums on Indian reservations in both labor and funds. And all of the sacred items should be returned to the Native peoples so they can care for them. It would provide education, jobs, and an income for them. Not to mention restor some of their dignity that has been stolen from them too.

Hey we non-Indians need to stand with our Native brothers and sisters and at last put and end to the injustices.

I have kicked around down there in the four corners, for spiritual reasons, I can tell you there are no pots laying around everywhere. Maybe a hundred years ago after white vigilanties rounded the Indian people up like cattle and forced them to leave their homes and put them on reservations, that were in truth concentration camps. They were not allowed to take anything with them at all, just what clothes they had on their backs.

Just one last thing, folks, here in Utah everyone knows the bias. The first stories to hit the media were all one sided. The only complaint I would have against the FBI is they didn't act sooner, say 70 or more years ago. And that the culture here needs to walk their talk and be respectful, have honor and integrity. Then we wouldn't need the FBI. But this is not a perfect world, and there are people down here that still believe the gun is the law in the west. Don't kid yourselves, the FBI knew what they were doing.

I grew up in that small town. Before many of you comment you should get facts. Facts about the community, the people involved and the so=called criminalactivities. Only a fraction of the "artifacts" were obtained illegally and by those who knew better and indeed should pay the consequences. The majorty of items in people's homes were handed down through several generations of farmers and ranchers who settled the area in the late 1800's. Many times there were so many arrowheads or pottery pieces lying about, as children we would take picnic lunches to Westwqter and fill our pockets with them.

The majority of citizen's arrested were set-up and arrested for something as simple as selling their personal property. The government had simply created a law forbidding them to own and sell what had been found on their property and/or been in their families for generations.

An exceptional author of histrical fiction, Gerald N. Lund, has recently had a book published entitled "The Undaunted". This is an histprically correct rendition of a the amazing entrance into the Blanding/Bluff area and the settling of these communities. The story includes fictional characters and the names and factual stories of real people. The ancestors of the families whose lives have been so callously torn apart by a government agency whose responsibility is is to serve and protect. I would like to invite you to read this book. Acquaint yourselves with the history of the area. Take the time to know who you are judging.

Disgusted from Chicago Ill, posted this comment in June:Judged:
"Looters rarely receive the maximum penalties under the law. If the good doctor had availed himself of an attorney and had any basic common sense he would have realized that, not to mention his apparently extensive contacts within the illegal artifact market.
Blaming the charges for his suicide is ridiculous.
And the remaining townspeople whining over the charges need to get over themselves. They knowingly, blatantly, and repeatedly broke the law.
I have to wonder how they would like it if a bunch of strangers started tearing up the local cemetery to find items to tear off of bodies and out of coffins to sell."
Ms. Anderberg,
I too was raised in a farm/ranching community. please do not try to put a clean wash on the crimes commited by those who were stealing and selling artifacts. I am offended by your post as it puts an ignorant, false and pretentious face on ag communities.
This is not to say we do not have some bad apples.
But I do know about Federal Investigations as my late father in law was a target of an FBI investigation in the mid-70's.
Not to offend the Native population but the feds will not waste money or effort on anything that is not what it seems to be. The feds would not take action if someone had a few indian items laying around.
The government would not make an effort into what happened in the four corners area if it was nothing more than having a few artifacts your grandpa found while colonizing the area etc.,....
Like many agricultural areas that border reservations I have to honestly say that the view non-Indians have towards Indians is that Indians are sub-human. That somehow because of whatever rule of the universe that (in some peoples minds)exist the general rule is and has always been that Indians are not the same and therefore subject to having their graves robbed.

"Like many agricultural areas that border reservations I have to honestly say that the view non-Indians have towards Indians is that Indians are sub-human. That somehow because of whatever rule of the universe that (in some peoples minds)exist the general rule is and has always been that Indians are not the same and therefore subject to having their graves robbed."

I absolutely agree with Manic Cursor in his above comment. What people are really upset about is that they are being punished for being disrespectful toward what they believe to be "sub-human" people. As several people here have used the scenario "if it had been white graves" the story would very much different. The FBI would be heroes and the use of force wouldn't have been enough.

Racism is very real in Utah, and the Indian people are kept away from main stream society. Even those Indians who are members of the dominate religion (Mormons) are told "you are Mormon first and Indian second." It's been this way since the Mormons came into the valley in 1847 and began looting Indian land. So it was ok for the Church to loot graves, and grandpa, and so forth, why is not ok now, they argue.

Welcome to Utah.

Omar wrote:

Could they not have picked these people up in town or at their regular jobs if they worked ? The doctor did not sound like some one they had to arrest the way it was hanndled. I understand that anytime the police have to do this sort of arrest there is danger, but no where in the article did it state that any of the arrested people were violent, dangerous criminals. Maybe the feds could have worked with the local law enforcement and this could have been handled a lot better than it was, with a lot less bad publicity that the police do not need. These people broke are presumed to have broken the law, if found guilty they need to pay for their crimes, but to have their doors kicked down in the middle of the night and dragged from their homes is way over the top. The feds need to use a little common sense with the type of crime and people they are dealing with.

The FEDS have worked with local law enforcement and have gotten cover ups because these people were their "brothers and sisters". What makes it right for them and not everyone else, and why on earth would you think these people who have weapons and have broke the law wouldnt use their arms and retaliate? Just because its a small town doesnt make them any less dangerous. Yes I live here and I know most of these people. If I broke the law the way they have I know what judgement they would have passed on me.