Disagreements Threaten Uneasy Truce Between Tribes, Maine

Eighty-one years after a neglected tribal water supply caused a devastating outbreak of typhoid fever and a century after the state outlawed spearfishing of the salmon that fed their ancestors, Native American tribes who trace their history back millennia say their trust in the government of Maine is at an all-time low. What has long been an uneasy peace between the state government and the tribes who desire sovereignty has degraded with clashes on issues ranging from fishing rights to new casinos – a dispute so vitriolic that Gov. Paul LePage withdrew an executive order that sought to promote cooperation between the two sides and some of the tribes abandoned their seats in the legislature.