The media and political spotlight has shifted from the raucous July 14 state police raid on tribal land in Charlestown to the orderly quiet of a Providence courtroom, but Smith says his aim is to turn down the media volume.

He told me yesterday the panel does not have to confine itself to what went wrong in the planning or execution of the exercise; it can also probe whether it would have been better to lean on court action or perhaps stage a blockade.

The raid escalated into a melee between state police officers and members of the tribe. Video of the incident stirred criticism from civil-rights groups.

Carcieri, who came under criticism following the raid, pledged to have an independent panel review the incident. He announced the names of the five panel members, including Simmons, today.

From the you-gotta-know-somebody marble corridors of the State House, to the hushed reverence of federal court, to the noisy Babel of talk radio, Dufault, a 51-year-old veteran political consultant and lobbyist, is behind tribal Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas at every step.

The governor on Friday announced that Sanford Cloud Jr., president and CEO of the National Conference for Community and Justice, had agreed to be the lead consultant for an "independent review panel" Carcieri intends to appoint to study the July 14 clash between the state police and the Narragansett Indian tribe.

The state will delay the criminal prosecution of tribal members involved in last week's melee at the Narragansetts' smoke shop in Charlestown. The tribe's shop, in turn, will remain closed for the duration of the case, under terms announced from the bench by U.S. District Court Judge William Smith.

The youngest of 11 children, he grew up poor in homes later bulldozed for urban renewal. His first job was mopping floors for the Narragansett School Department.

Mid-May: The Narragansett Indians say they will open a tax-free smoke shop on their lands, along Route 2 in Charlestown. State officials call the tribe's plan illegal.

Standing in front of the Narragansett Smoke Shop, Noka saw the state troopers rush toward her and a group of other Indians including her husband, son and daughter.

1524: Italian navigator Giovanni de Verrazzano visits Narragansett Bay and describes a large native population.

For three decades and more, the jagged history of the American Indian has moved past landmarks with names like Alcatraz and Wounded Knee toward sovereignty and political power.

Allowing the Narragansett Indian tribe to sell tax-free cigarettes from its South County reservation could siphon money from one of the state's most significant revenue streams.

In Washington, Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., chairman of the House committee in charge of Indian affairs, has asked Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft to examine the melee between state police and the Narragansetts, which injured at least eight people.

After a peace pipe ceremony last night, and between the traditional dancing and Native American drumming, Narragansett Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas told his tribe, "Please start your healing."

Televised images of the violent confrontation between members of the Narragansett tribe and Rhode Island State Police officers ``have outraged Native American leaders nationwide, who have expressed strong concerns that the civil rights of Native Americans, and the sovereign rights of the Narragansett Tribe, may have been violated,'' Rep. Richard W. Pombo, R-Cal., wrote in a letter to Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft late last night.

Yesterday morning, the governor met with tribal Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas in Providence, and in the afternoon he went to state police headquarters to meet with state police Col. Steven M. Pare and his top command.

Atty. Gen. Patrick C. Lynch yesterday assailed Governor Carcieri and accused him of scapegoating the state police over Monday's melee at the Narragansett Indian tax-free smoke shop.

In a closed conference in his chambers, according to the summary, U.S. District Judge William Smith asked the parties to get together to discuss holding off on criminal prosecutions and "reaching an agreement as to status of smoke shop."

"What we are both trying to do is calm things down right now," Carcieri said today. " A lot of people feel wounded -- all of us -- and so we're trying to calm things down."

Members of Rhode Island's minority community yesterday condemned the state police raid of the Narragansett Indian smoke shop, calling it racist and excessive.

It started with an e-mail, sent to the governor's office on Saturday morning when no one was around to read it.

"The settlement lands shall be subject to the civil and criminal laws and jurisdiction of the State of Rhode Island."

With the exception of Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee -- who said be believes it is unlawful for the tribe to sell tax-free cigarettes -- the legislators also declined to offer views about whether tribal sovereignty entitles the Narragansetts to operate a smoke shop without state approval.

A hearing on a complaint by the tribe, filed in the wake of a violent raid at the shop on tribal lands in Charlestown, was postponed until Monday at 2 p.m.

Col. Steven M. Pare, in an interview yesterday at state police headquarters, said that shortly after 1 p.m. on Monday about 20 troopers entered the parking lot outside the trailer where the tribe had sold cigarettes since Saturday.

Last night's debate, in contrast to Monday's confrontation in Charlestown, was a cordial and low-key affair. Noka debated the merits of gambling -- both specific and general -- with North Kingstown Town Council member Robin Porter, a long-time opponent of gambling.

With national attention on the melee between state police and the Narragansett Indians, Governor Carcieri yesterday backed away from wholly blaming the tribe and ordered two investigations into the state's actions.

The state closed the shop, located on tribal land along Route 2 in Charlestown, in a raid yesterday that turned violent, leading to several arrests and minor injuries.

The police burst through the woods in a northeast corner of the tribe's land in Route 2 shortly after 1 p.m., only to meet with a line of tribal members prepared to stand their ground.

Yesterday's melee at the Narragansetts' smoke shop was the latest skirmish in four centuries of misundertanding and lost opportunities between Rhode Island's government and its Native Americans.

In a dramatic news conference at T.F. Green Airport last night, hours after an ugly, violent state police confrontation that shut down the Narragansett Indians' tax-free smoke shop and brought arrests of Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas and several other tribe members, Governor Carcieri came across as decisive and reasonable.

CHARLESTOWN -- The chief of the Narragansett Indian Tribe and at least four others were arrested today by state police in what onlookers called a "violent" raid of the tribe's new tax-free tobacco shop.