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Interior Department Sending Personnel To Reservation

Conrad on Thursday called Spirit Lake a ``rudderless ship'' where children suffer because of a lack of leadership.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) - Sen. Kent Conrad says the U.S. Interior Department has dispatched additional personnel to help the Spirit Lake Tribe deal with child protection on the North Dakota reservation.

Conrad on Thursday called Spirit Lake a ``rudderless ship'' where children suffer because of a lack of leadership. He says tribal leaders have not returned his calls and a member of his staff who visited the reservation to investigate the child protection situation there was upset by what she saw and heard.

Tribal officials have said most problems developed before the current tribal administration took office.