Efforts are underway to obtain DNA samples as part of a disenrollment case working its way through the Osage Nation trial court.
During a status conference Wednesday afternoon regarding Osage Nation v. Reta Marie Lintner, Assistant Attorney General Clint Patterson said a contract has been signed with Bio-Gene DNA Testing LLC, an Oregon-based company that specializes in DNA testing to determine familial relationships.
Additionally, initial contact has been made with all 19 people who will be subject to testing. However, the company relies on email addresses for communicating with test subjects, something several of the involved parties in the Lintner case do not have.
“Some of these people do not have email,” Patterson said. “It’s possible that could delay the process.”
Noting the membership office’s use of DNA testing in paternity cases, Judge Lee Stout ordered the Attorney General’s office in December to collect samples from 11 known descendants of Paschal Canville, an original allottee from whom Lintner and her family claims descent and via the Osage Nation Membership Act, eligibility for tribal citizenship.
“We’ve made more progress,” Judge Stout said. “That’s encouraging. Surely there’s a way to get around the lack of email addresses, though.”
A petition for Lintner’s removal was first filed in April 2016 after the membership department staff reviewed a file directly connected to Lintner and noticed a notation that said the person was not eligible for a CDIB.
Lintner’s family claims that they are Canville’s descendants through an illegitimate daughter, Lola Brown.
If Lintner is found not to be a legitimate tribal citizen, she and her relatives could be ordered to repay any Osage Nation financial benefits received while enrolled with the tribe, such as scholarship money from the Higher Education Department, services paid for by the tribe’s Health Benefit Card or Financial Services’ crisis assistance money.
The next court date is scheduled for June 20 at 1:30 p.m.
By
Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton
Original Publish Date: 2018-04-19 00:00:00
