Marine, tribal leader: Ernie Stensgar steps down after 45 years

Ernie Stensgar, 81, has retired from the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's council after 45 years, the Spokesman-Review reported for Veterans Day.

Stensgar enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1966 at 20, served in Vietnam, was wounded and received the Purple Heart, the paper reported. He was honorably discharged.

He chaired the tribal council from 1986 to 2004. In that time the tribe opened the Coeur d'Alene Casino and won a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court case securing its rights to the lower third of Lake Coeur d'Alene. He also led the council through a legal fight that kept the state from taxing tribal businesses on tribal land, according to the Spokesman-Review.

In 1990 the tribe opened the Marimn Health Center in Plummer, which serves Native and non-Native patients regardless of ability to pay.

Coeur d'Alene Mayor Dan Gookin told the paper the resort and casino bring about $300 million a year to the region's economy.

In September the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations gave Stensgar its Humanitarian Award. Current council chairman Chief Allan, who has served 23 years, called Stensgar his mentor.

The Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian estimates about 42,000 Native Americans served in Vietnam, about 1 in 4 of those eligible, the paper reported.