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Florida Seminoles' Average Age Of Death Below 50

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The Associated Press

Published: September 29, 2008

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - The average age at death among Seminole Indians in Florida has dropped by 12 years in the past decade, according to a newspaper analysis, to below age 50.

Figures obtained by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel show 11 of the tribe's 17 recorded deaths in 2008 have been related to drugs or alcohol.

Further, the average age of a Seminole at death has dropped from nearly 60 in 1997 to 48 in 2007.

That's well below the average statewide age of 73 years old.

"I call it the 'Rez disease,' " said Jarrid Smith, a 23-year-old former Florida Atlantic University football player.

Smith said at least seven of his friends and former classmates are dead, in jail or in rehabilitation facilities.

"These things have been going on for too long. Progress is slow. I am afraid of losing more people," Smith said, acknowledging he might upset tribal leaders by publicly commenting about the issue.

Tribal leaders declined to comment for the story published Sunday, citing privacy concerns, spokesman Gary Bitner said.

Some suggested the tribe's staggering wealth, earned from its gaming operations, have left young members without life balance.

The tribe provides each member a free education, guaranteed job and an income of roughly $120,000 a year.

Zena Simmons, a 24-year-old Seminole and Florida Atlantic student, said she sees a correlation between the money and excess.

So does her sister, 29-year-old Thomasine Jumper, who is now jailed for drug and traffic offenses in Collier County.

"You use that money, so you don't have to work," Jumper said.

"Maybe the lifestyle on the rez is too easy. I have not taken advantage of the opportunities, but they are there."

There is almost an expectation, Simmons said, that loved ones will die soon.

She has lost an uncle and brother to alcohol-related crashes, and at least two friends to suicide and drugs.

"You grow numb to it, so when someone dies you already accept it," she said.

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