Community Relations Service

Daryl Borgquist
202/305-2966

     WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Justice Department today announced that U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service (CRS) Director Sharee M. Freeman will be a guest speaker for the Fifth Annual Washington D.C. Indian Law Conference luncheon on October 31, 2003. The luncheon will be held at the Washington Marriott at 1221-22nd Street, NW, Washington, D.C. The luncheon is cosponsored by the Federal Bar Association, the National Native American Bar Association, and the Native American Bar Association of Washington, D.C.

     Press attending the event are requested to register at the check-in table.

     The Community Relations Service is a unique component of the U.S. Department of Justice which provides conflict resolution and prevention assistance on a wide variety of issues and disputes involving Native American tribes, communities, and federal, state, and local officials on or near reservations. Examples of CRS assistance includes defusing community conflicts over: use of reservation lands for sanitary and hazardous waste landfills, leasing of tribal lands to non-tribal members for housing and businesses, jurisdictional disputes between tribes and state and local governments, public demonstrations, hunting and fishing rights, Native American remains and artifacts, and use of religious sites on state and federal lands.

     More information about the Community Relations Service can be found on the Justice Department's website at: www.usdoj.gov/crs.

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