Few things are more tragic than the unnecessary loss of life, especially when involving young people and most especially when involving accidents that otherwise could and should have been prevented.
In recent months, two young individuals lost their lives in vehicle-livestock collisions. Both Nick Demontiney and Courtney Hugs left this world much too soon and there are many others who have also died or suffered serious injuries as a result of vehicle-livestock collisions on the Crow Reservation in the past several years.
It is long overdue time to finally correct this ridiculous problem once and for all.
I understand there may be jurisdictional issues concerning the tribe’s ability to regulate highway travel on the reservation. However, where a public right-of-way exists on a heavily-traveled roadway, tribal lawmakers, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the state of Montana should all take joint responsibility in enforcing adequate safety standards.
I believe such standards should give drivers confidence that livestock will not be on the road, especially at night. Of the many ways to address this problem, I think it best in the short-term to provide for civil or criminal liability imposed upon livestock owners found to be negligent in maintaining fencing adjacent to a roadway or who knowingly allow their animals to stray onto the roadway.
Ask anybody who travels the Saint Xavier to Lodge Grass BIA highway about the need for enforceable regulations or liability-creating legal duties upon livestock owners.
Ask the same question of anybody who travels between Pryor and Saint Xavier, between Wyola and Lodge Grass or between Lodge Grass and Crow Agency.
This is a reservation-wide problem and it is a problem that has probably affected every tribal member in some way and has the potential to harm or affect anyone at any time.
Ultimately, I hope that Congress requires public fencing along all U.S. right of ways and that the Montana legislature does the same for state right of ways so as to preclude the need for regulation and litigation to protect life, limb and property.
Both will happen if made a priority and this issue will be made a priority with enough citizens, such as myself, voicing their concern.
This fall's tragedies have simply reinforced the fact that landowners and livestock operators cannot be depended upon to ensure safe roadways.
Editor's note: Jay Harris, Big Lodge Clan, is a law student at the University of Colorado and originally from Lodge Grass. In 2006, he founded the Apsaalooke Citizens Leadership Network. Click here to read content in the Billings Gazette that touches on the topic of Harris' article.
