YANKTON, S.D. (KELO.com) — Seventeen South Dakota legislators have sent a letter to Governor Kristi Noem saying the state has no jurisdiction over the highways running through Indian lands without tribal consent.
The issue came up due to highway checkpoints put in place by the Cheyenne River and Ogalala Sioux Tribes.
Senator Craig Kennedy of Yankton was one of the legislators signing on to the letter. He says tribal sovereignty is only an issue if a lawsuit is filed.
Kennedy says the legislators want both sides to sit down and talk through the issues.
The Governor sent another letter to the tribes asking them to remove the checkpoints and to let the state help them with any checkpoints on BIA roads on the reservations.
(Jerry Oster, WNAX, contributed this report.)
