Leelanau County Family Court Judge Joseph E. Deegan last week ordered that the parents of three children who are members of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians must refrain from giving their children hallucinogenic peyote as part of Native American religious rituals.

One of the parents – the father – has long held that federal law allows “all Indians” regardless of age to ingest peyote as part of rites associated with the Native American Church, of which he is a member. In 2002, a judge in Newaygo County issued a similar order to Deegan’s that barred the same father from giving his son peyote.

One of the mothers in the current Leelanau County case, also a GTB member, has also allegedly given the substance to her children. Another mother involved in the case has strongly opposed such practices, however, and this year helped initiate child protective proceedings against the others.

The Enterprise is continuing to leave out the names of the parents involved in the case so that the children cannot be publicly identified.

Deegan last week also signed an order in the case of three other children who were believed to have been given peyote by an overlapping set of parents and others associated with the Native American Church. The order transferred jurisdiction in the case from Deegan’s court to the Tribal Court of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, based in Manistee.

The children in both cases may be eligible for membership in either the Little River Band or the Grand Traverse Band.

In July, however, the Grand Traverse Band Tribal Court declined to take jurisdiction in the case. Tribal Court associate judge Wilson Brott – who at the time was also working as an assistant Leelanau County prosecutor – sent a letter to Deegan explaining the Tribal Council’s rationale for the Tribal Court not taking the case. An attorney for the tribe had argued that taking the case would not be in “the best interests of the tribe.”

Similar to the Tribal Court, the tribe’s prosecuting attorney did not play a role in the case. Former Leelanau County prosecutor Sara Brubaker currently works as the tribal prosecutor. Current Leelanau County Prosecutor Joseph Hubbell handled the peyote case in Leelanau County Family Court.

This month, Brott was appointed by the Tribal Council as chief judge to replace Katherine Scotta, who resigned abruptly in January following a highly contentious Tribal Council election last year.

Tribal judges as well as the tribal prosecutor and the tribal police captain are all political appointees by the Tribal Council. The tribal police captain, Chris Bailey, is an enrolled GTB member. Neither Brott nor Brubaker are known to be members of an Indian tribe.

Several hundred tribal members recently signed a petition calling for an amendment to the Tribal Constitution that would allow tribal voters – rather than the Tribal Council – to elect tribal judges, the prosecutor and the chief of police.

The petition drive was initiated by two tribal members who were among the top vote-getters in last year’s Tribal Council election – but who were subsequently disqualified from the race following hearings in Tribal Court after allegations were made against them by an incumbent Tribal Council member running for re-election.

According to former Tribal Council candidate Brian Napont, decisions made by political appointees such as tribal judges, the prosecutor and the police captain sometimes seem more like “political decisions” rather than well-reasoned legal decisions.

“Tribal members need to have the same power that every other citizen has to elect their own judges, prosecutor and chief of police,” Napont said.

“It’s important to note that we still have concerns about our Tribal Police,” added Desmond L. Berry, another tribal member involved in circulating the petition for a constitutional amendment.

Last year, dozens of tribal members picketed along M-22 across from the Leelanau Sands Casino to protest what they called an “overzealous” and “bloated” tribal police force that they said receives far more money than it needs from federal grants and the tribal government budget.