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BRIGID SHEA: It's a bit of an understatement to say the Indian land rights issue is extremely complicated, but it's also an extremely emotional issue because the ownership of land is such an integral part of the American way of life. Very basically, what has happened is that through a confusing series of congressional amendments and court cases, Indian land has been sold illegally to non-Indians. Most people acknowledge that, but the disagreements began when you discuss how the matter should be settled.

The state of Maine has begun the process of getting Congress to appropriate funds in order to pay back the Indians for land illegally taken from them. Other states are working on similar remedies. In Minnesota, Attorney General Warren Spannaus has recently wrote to the state's congressional delegation, urging that Congress come up with solutions for Minnesota and other states to the whole Indian land claims problem.

Although Spannaus didn't specify any solutions, a spokesperson for the attorney general's office said the obvious settlement that comes to everyone's mind is to pay back the Indians for the land. But that's not what comes to the minds of Indians according to Vernon Bellecourt, the secretary treasurer at White Earth and an AIM leader.

VERNON BELLECOURT: Our position would be that, yes, Congress, in violation of the trust responsibility, not only exploited us, but they also caused harm to those people who have come in and bought land. And so what Congress should do then is, through some remedies, should appropriate enough money to buy out the interest of the non-Indians within the reservation, pay the heirs to those transaction, the heirs who live today, for their damages.

In other words, pay both parties their damages but with the final restoring the land to the heirs, which would really be restored to the tribe as a whole. And I can tell you this, that where I'm coming from, particularly as a member of the Central Council of the American Indian Movement, there can be no compromise. The land must be restored where it was taken illegally.

BRIGID SHEA: Bellecourt said that some non-indian land holders side with the Indians and feel that they have also been victimized by the US government. But that doesn't necessarily mean they feel the land should be returned to the Indians. According to Becker County Commissioner James [INAUDIBLE] most residents in his county, which borders White Earth, do not favor returning the land to the Indians.

If the issue is an emotional one for non-Indian land owners, it's just as emotional for the Indians as AIM leader John Trudell indicates. He along with other Indians believe that the United States should honor its original treaties with the Indians.

JOHN TRUDELL: And America is never going to be a nation of laws, of respect, of integrity, of honor. It will be nothing of that nature. It will always be an exploitive, racist, sexist organization until it obeys and honors its laws.

BRIGID SHEA: American Indian Movement leader John Trudell. In an attempt to settle the land claims, Congress appropriated money and has now extended the deadline for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to research land claims and begin legal action where the land was transferred illegally. But the process has had the effect of freezing the real estate market and ending bank financing on any lands that are in question.

And solutions that are being attempted around the country are far from easy. In the state of Maine, Attorney General Richard S. Cohen has been negotiating with Indians for the past 14 months and has reached a solution that seems agreeable to Indians and non-Indians in Maine but may not sit well with Congress.

The agreement calls for Congress to appropriate a total of $81.5 million for the Indians to buy back 300,000 acres of land in Maine and to set up a trust fund. Cohen is not optimistic that Congress will agree to the package, but he's even less optimistic about the outcome if the matter is taken to court.

RICHARD COHEN: It certainly is a possibility all along that I've realized that this matter, until Congress does act and pass a bill, that the matter could go into court at any time and get into actual ongoing litigation. And so that could happen. I hope it doesn't happen. I've indicated and outlined the risks over the last few weeks to the Maine legislature and to the public.

But if in fact, that does happen, as attorney general, I'm ready for that contingency to represent the state in that event.

BRIGID SHEA: Maine Attorney General Richard S. Cohen about the only thing that can be said with certainty is that the problems won't be solved quickly or easily. This is Brigid Shea in Moorhead.