GRAND FORKS (AP) -- An opponent of the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux nickname says he and others could not persuade a judge to stop a tribal vote on the nickname next Tuesday.
Terry Morgan said he found more than 85 fraudulent signatures on the petition that led to the referendum on the Spirit Lake reservation. Morgan says the judge decided the vote should be held because the Spirit Lake Tribal Council had put the referendum on the ballot.
Mortan said Judge El Marie Conklin of the Three Affiliated Tribes was called in to hear the case. He said Spirit Lake's two judges felt they had a conflict because they or their relatives are involved in the nickname dispute.
