Money from federal lawsuit distributed among Sho-Ban members

Every member of the Sho-Ban tribe is getting close to $10,000 Thursday because of a settlement with the federal government.

You would think that would be good news for the local economy, but our reporter Jake Taylor is asked to leave the reservation.

Earlier this year, the tribe won a $60-million settlement from the federal government. The tribal council decided they would split it up evenly among every tribal member

We heard the distribution of the money might be happening Thursday, but when we called Fort Hall officials, they said, “definitely wasn’t happening today.”

Jake went to Fort Hall and found the disbursements were being handed out.

Hundreds of tribal members were lined up, to pick up their share.

Within a minute of setting up his camera, Jake was politely, but firmly, told to pack up and get out.

“You have to stop. You have to cut your film. Why’s that? Council put a hold on any type of filming for TV for this. It’s just because we’re getting to much negativity from the outside about what’s going on. So we’re trying to control it.”

This large settlement comes from money the tribes said was mismanaged by the federal government going back to the early 1900’s.

In previous stories we have done, Sho-ban officials have said they would hold financial workshops to give tribal members help on how to wisely use this money.