September 5, 2011 in Idaho

Federal officials giving tribal police more authority

By The Spokesman-Review
 
Colin Mulvany photoBuy this photo

Coeur d’Alene Tribal Police Officer John Dressler hands Renae Stentz the paperwork after her boat passed a safety inspection on Aug. 26 at Mowry State Park on Lake Coeur d’Alene.
(Full-size photo)

Working model

Federal authorities have an existing process for handling petty offenses on “federal enclaves” within states, like national forests, Air Force bases, and Veterans Administration facilities. A Central Violations Bureau in San Antonio, Texas, processes all those citations, and then they’re handled through the federal court in each state.

BOISE – Law enforcement is being hampered in Indian Country by what federal authorities describe as jurisdictional gaps.

So they’re working with three Idaho tribes, including the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, to federalize tribal police, giving officers the authority to issue citations to non-Indians on the reservation for some minor offenses - with the backing of federal courts.

Once the lengthy process is completed – likely in time for next summer’s boating season – non-tribal members who violate boating laws on the southern third of Lake Coeur d’Alene could be issued federal citations by tribal officers. The southern third of the lake belongs to the tribe; the U.S. Supreme Court decided that in 2001.

“The lake is obviously an area of contention … that a lot of folks are concerned about, and certainly the tribe is,” said Coeur d’Alene tribal legislative director Helo Hancock. “It’s something we’ve fought hard for and we want to protect, and we certainly want law and order on the lake too.”

Law enforcement in Indian Country is a complicated web, with tribal courts handling minor crimes by tribal members on reservations, state authorities prosecuting non-Indians, and federal authorities prosecuting major crimes by Indians on reservations and areas where the other jurisdictions overlap.

The Coeur d’Alenes unsuccessfully pushed legislation for the past two years to establish cross-deputization for tribal officers with counties. After the latest bill failed by one vote in the Idaho House of Representatives, the Benewah County Sheriff’s Office agreed in April to cross-deputize five Coeur d’Alene officers, which allows them to cite non-tribal members into state court.

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe has long had a cross-deputization agreement with Kootenai County, and it had one with Benewah County until the sheriff there revoked it in October 2007. Relations between the county and the tribe deteriorated further in July 2008 after tribal police marine officers pulled over Benewah County Commission Chairman Jack Buell and his wife, Eleanor, for violating a no-wake zone on Lake Coeur d’Alene. A confrontation ensued in which Buell and his wife vociferously questioned the tribal officers’ authority, according to police reports, asking questions such as, “Do you Indians know where you are?” Eleanor Buell was accused of striking one of the officers.

This spring, the St. Maries Police Department cross-deputized five tribal officers, and the tribe cross-deputized four St. Maries police officers. “Most people, when they need a police officer, they just need a police officer that’ll handle the situation – they don’t care the color of their shirt,” said St. Maries Mayor Tami Holdahl, who is also a Coeur d’Alene tribal police officer.

But the limited cross-deputization didn’t fill all the gaps in jurisdictions, Hancock said. Plus, he said, “There is not a formal cross-deputization agreement with Benewah County, and as such, the sheriff could pull those officers’ deputization at any time for any reason he wants. We need a reliable backup to provide continuity in law enforcement regardless of who the sheriff may be now or down the road.”

Federal authorities have an existing process for handling petty offenses on “federal enclaves” within states, such as national forests, Air Force bases, and Veterans Administration facilities. A Central Violations Bureau, or CVB, in San Antonio, Texas, processes all those citations, and then they’re handled through the federal court in each state.

That’s the process tribes would tap into with their federalized officers, said U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale, who is coordinating the effort for the federal court in Idaho.

“It is ultimately to try to help fill in some of those gaps,” she said.

Dale travels to Coeur d’Alene once a month to hear North Idaho CVB cases, which typically consist of citations for off-road vehicle violations, littering or underage drinking at campgrounds, overstaying camping limits, unsafe campfires and timber thefts.

Dale and the U.S. attorney’s office for Idaho are looking into bringing certain reservation offenses under that CVB program, including boating and dock violations on Lake Coeur d’Alene within the Coeur d’Alene reservation, and possibly natural resource violations, trespassing or other offenses on the Nez Perce and Shoshone-Bannock reservations.

“It was an option we made each of the tribes aware of,” said Wendy Olson, U.S. attorney for Idaho. Half a dozen states already use the process for infractions on tribal reservations.

“It operates in many instances like any sort of traffic infraction or parking infraction would – if you just want to pay the fine, you don’t have to come to court,” Olson said. But people do have a right to demand a trial, or to contest their fines in court, and that’s what the monthly docket at the federal courthouse in Coeur d’Alene addresses. Similar sessions also are held in Boise, Moscow and Pocatello every other month.

“The advantage is there’s an enforcement mechanism for the tribe,” Olson said. “The non-tribal members, once they leave the reservation, if they are cited into tribal court – there’s nothing the tribe can do to enforce its violation.”

That’s because tribal courts don’t have jurisdiction over non-tribal members – but federal courts do.

“The ultimate goal is really to have community safety, public safety, be as similar in terms of enforcement mechanisms in Indian Country as they are in other parts of the state of Idaho with federal jurisdiction,” Olson said.

46 comments on this story so far. Add yours!
  • schleufer on September 05 at 9:08 a.m.

    im a indian and i dont drink. just a reminder…alcohol wasnt a indian invention. and i challenge you to go over there and find one drunk officer or anyone in the court system. while you are at it stop by our casino and see if any of the management of the areas biggest employer is drunk or any of the employees. you obviously have a skewed view of history. i will say like so many other tribes around this nation they faced mass murder by our government and hundreds of years of being ripped off racisim and being treated worst than any other race in this nation. look what the coeur d alenes have done with that business in the last 15 years.

    prior to tribal casinos even the CDA tribe had unemployment rates in the 80% area. some of the young and brightest tried going to college and found racisim then went home to a place they didn fit in anymore and ended up as a suicide statistic. you oneanddone strike me as the sort of person who would hand one of those young a gun or a rope.

    you are stuck in one of histories ruts. this country should be embarassed for what they have done to the indian people. the CDA tribe has flourished to be the biggest employers in the entire area yet there you are with your “a bunch of drunken indians” comments. i feel sorry for people like you but at the same time i just wish you would just go away.

  • lewis8457 on September 05 at 9:30 a.m.

    oneonone i don’t read anything about of the tribal police killing people like our fine SPD does. Or driving drunk like many of our white SPD an SVPD officers have done in the past year in fact i have never heard of a tribal policeman hitting a car while drunk then running like a coward, only to sue the city for 4 million because he is a drunk.

    why don’t you take your foot out of your mouth and give some examples of your racist hate towards Indian officers..

  • lewis8457 on September 05 at 9:32 a.m.

    drunk judges compared to the ones in Spokane that look the other way if you put enough cash in their hands. I will take the drunk judge any day.

  • Julia72 on September 05 at 9:52 a.m.

    I am offended by the racist comments that have been published in the Spokesman Review. I am Native American and I am not a drunk. I am Shoshone and my Great Great Grandfather , Jim Bridger married the daughter of Chief Washakie, Little Fawn. Little Fawn and her father were not drunks. I grew up on the Quapaw Indian reservation, and if you want to see a real tragedy visit the Picher, Oklahoma website and see what the mining companies did to the land owned by the Quapaw tribe, it is one of the worst toxic sites in the US. See the documentary by Independent Lens, “The Creek Runs Red.” My mother was sent to the Seneca Indian school, where abuse of Native American Children was common and in those days, and acceptable. They were beaten if they spoke their native language. The CDA tribe has done a lot for the State of Idaho. Your (oneanddone)reference to Natives Americans as Drunken Indians is totally unacceptable and I would suggest that you look into mental health counselling to help you understand that we are all children of the Grand Creator. Racism is a personal prison that you have locked yourself into, the only person that can free you is you. See this website for a visit with Quapaws. http://www.nativeamericanresearch.org/137th-o-gah-pah-tribe-pow-wow.html

  • The_Seer on September 05 at 9:58 a.m.

    oneanddone: Thanks for providing the Tea Party response to this article.

    schleufer: You’d be better off just getting the money of the “oneanddone’s” of the world one slot machine arm pull at a time than changing their minds about anything other than white, English speaking Christians. If the trend continues, they’ll all be working for you one day anyway!

    While I don’t gamble, I appreciate and welcome the industry/business tribal casinos have provided for our region. Airway Heights on the West Plains is an excellent example of tribe rescuing a community.

    Today marks the 153’rd anniversary of the Battle of the Spokane Plains, which interestingly enough was waged near or on the site of the Northen Quest Casino. The natives escaped sure annihilation by the artillery armed U.S. Army contingent led by Colonel George Wright by setting fire to the bunch grass and disappearing in the smoke. The Army made camp where Ft. George Wright now sits and later pursued the confederation of CDA, Spokane and Palouse tribes up the Spokane River where they skirmishes began four days earlier near Four Lakes were ended by the Army troops. The Army rounded up all the horses from each tribe at a site near Plantes Ferry State park and shot them all, a task that took days for several soldiers armed with carbine rifles. The estimated number was over 10,000 stock (certainly not the 800 the Army reported) and the corpses were stacked to rot in the sun. You’ll still find horse bones on the property if you know where to look.

    http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?displaypage=output.cfm&file_id=5144

  • idahocity on September 05 at 10:03 a.m.

    the feds love to team up with tribes for unconstitutional checkpoints since they are their own nation with different rules. the feds pay the police force a bunch of money to look the other way, so when you get detained for no reason, roughed up or have property stolen from you such as guns, you can’t sue the feds for answers because it was tribal jurisdiction.

  • greyhound2 on September 05 at 10:39 a.m.

    Another revenue stream for the tribe setting up speed traps to nail suckers on their way to the rigged casino. And boaters on the south end of the lake would be another target, maybe even boarded by the CDA Tribal Navy and thrown in the brig.

  • D Statler on September 05 at 10:46 a.m.

    http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/oct/22/police-divvy-drugs-to-catch-dealers/

    Lets hope the tribal police don’t follow the white mans lead here. Smokin the peacepipe ain’t got nothin on passing out crack. I commend the Feds for finally doing something that will help.

  • D Statler on September 05 at 10:52 a.m.

    Obey the law and you won’t be pulled over in the first place. Can’t be any worse than Spokane’s own drug and gang taskforce confiscating and misappropriating. I’ll take the Indians justice anyday!!

  • liberal_in_right_wing_land on September 05 at 10:55 a.m.

    Wow, oneanddone, typical rightwing tea bagging response to anything not done by white, christian males. I am part Indian and I can’t even think of the last time I was drunk let alone had even a sip of alcohol. Yet, I was just at Pig out in the Park last night and I cannot tell you how many dumb, drunk WHITE people I saw stumbling around.

    You are a disgusting hateful little man. I would love you to try and say what you typed hiding behind your computer to someones face you stupid hateful pathetic disgusting little man.

    All tea baggers might not be racist, but as oneanddone just proved, all racists are tea baggers.

  • D Statler on September 05 at 10:58 a.m.

    Indians moral justice V. whitemans legal justice

  • cryssT on September 05 at 11:11 a.m.

    Does matter what color some folks are or what sex - they are truly Trolls in disguise.

    The Federal Government is very slowly doing the correct things after years of stealing land, money and culture from the Tribes.

    When I need a police officer I only care that there’s a badge and a pistol and some handcuffs.

  • Bruce (aka thatoneguy) on September 05 at 11:32 a.m.

    I’m starting to think oneanddone must be a joke, trying to do the soccermomsusie thing only not funny.

  • The_Seer on September 05 at 12:08 p.m.

    thatoneguy: I don’t think so. Read other material has has posted and you might come to the same conclusion. He’s pretty much the bitter, hate-filled person liberalinrightwingland described.

  • brianrbreen on September 05 at 12:12 p.m.

    Notice he was smart enough to leave us Irish Folk alone, likely realizing the ramifications.

  • woamike on September 05 at 2:49 p.m.

    “You are a disgusting hateful little man. I would love you to try and say what you typed hiding behind your computer to someones face you stupid hateful pathetic disgusting little man.

    All tea baggers might not be racist, but as oneanddone just proved, all racists are tea baggers.”

    Lib,

    You are prolific when in comes to calling out people for being “hateful”. Yet, you dish it out with the best of them, like your rant above. Do you expect people to take you seriously?

    Also, you and Spotucky/Eagle Producer/Seer frequently and repeatedly slander Tea Party people with misinformation and lies. Tea Party people are not racists and racists are not Tea Party people. The constant racism charge is a pathetic attempt to diminish a group of people who are merely trying get our out of control federal government under control. Of course, you ALREADY know that, don’t you!

    Stop projecting, please.

  • The_Seer on September 05 at 3:03 p.m.

    wormlike: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

  • The_Seer on September 05 at 3:15 p.m.

    wormlike: Nice defense of oneanddone, btw…

    The Tea Party isn’t only interested in national politics. The Koch brothers funded organization has targeted every level of governance in the U.S., aided and abetted by the SCOTUS’s Citizen United ruling.

    School Board elections. Fire District elections. P.U.D. elections. Water District elections. All with the intent of privatizing (and reducing efficacy in the pursuit of profit) every aspect of public concern.

    Costa Mea, California, provides a great example of Tea Party economics. Take heed, communities….

    http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/09/05/110905fa_fact_friend

  • dataxman on September 05 at 3:29 p.m.

    As long as the citation can be appealed in federal (not tribal) court I don’t see a problem

    and Seer — I hope your outrage extends to Soros and the Secretary of State project he funds, which is a blatant attempt to disenfranchise those non-‘progressives’

  • Liberty_Bell on September 05 at 3:32 p.m.

    All “teabaggers” are racist?

    And George Washingtons Favorite Tribe, in the French v. British conflict, known best as King Phillips War?
    I suppose his Non Intercourse Act of 1789, and the new Democratic Party of Andrew Jacksons small pox blanket brigade used in the Trail of Tears campaign, was what we all remember…

    The indian abuses in this nation, had nothing to do with a Tea Party, but actually the usual racist democratic party.

    The Iroquois Nation’s also used a republican form of government, a sophisticated political structure that served as a model for some of Ben Franklins(R) proposals for the new United States Government.

    The “nightmare” as predicted by a Republican explaining the new democratic party.

    “I feel much alarmed at the prospect of seeing General Jackson(D), President. He is one of the most unfit men, I know for such a place. He has had very little respect for Laws or Constitutions,-& is in fact an able military chief. His passions are terrible. When I was President of the Senate, he was a Senaor; & he could never speak from the rashness of his feelings. I have seen him attempt it repeatedly, & as often choke with rage. His passions are no doubt cooler now; he has been much much tried since I knew him- but he is a dangerous man…”
    Thomas Jefferson with Daniel Webster 1824

  • Liberty_Bell on September 05 at 3:39 p.m.

    And even a local Great Chief knew well of Thomas Jefferson’s (R) Tea Party.

    The first white men of your people who came to our country were named Lewis and Clark. They brought many things that our people had never seen. They talked straight. These men were very kind.
    Chief Joseph

  • woamike on September 05 at 3:40 p.m.

    So says the self-proclaimed Marxist “seer” who claims to be a teacher of your children in the public schools. Consider the source.

    He wouldn’t know a Tea Party person if he saw one, but he can sure build a straw man.

    Only an idiot or a propagandist would even attempt to say what I wrote earlier was a defense of what oneanddone wrote.

    Which is it Mr. Seer?

  • Liberty_Bell on September 05 at 3:42 p.m.

    Even the Chief met a few democrats long ago.

    A chief called Lawyer, because he was a great talker, took the lead in the council, and sold nearly all the Nez Perce country.
    Chief Joseph

  • Liberty_Bell on September 05 at 3:48 p.m.

    Most of the Chiefs knew the democratic party all to well!

    Thats (D)runk for short!

    What white man has ever seen me drunk? Who has ever come to me hungry and left me unfed? Who has seen me beat my wives or abuse my children? What law have I broken?
    Sitting Bull

  • Liberty_Bell on September 05 at 3:57 p.m.

    The party (D), Day 1, and proud of it.

    March 4 1829

    The White House was opened to all for a post-inaugural reception, and was filled by the public even before Jackson arrived on horseback. Soon afterward, Jackson left by a window or a side entrance,and proceeded to Gadsby’s Hotel in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. The crowd continued to descend into a drunken mob, only dispersed when bowls of liquor and punch were placed on the front lawn of the White House. “I never saw such a mixture,” said Joseph Story, then a justice on the Supreme Court: “The reign of King Mob seemed triumphant.”The White House was left a mess, including several thousand dollars worth of broken china.

  • Squid on September 05 at 5:57 p.m.

    <<<<^^^^^ This Tea Bagger has been dating a Lakota Sioux Tribal member for many moons. A great grandchild of Chief Crow Eagle, which makes her a true Indian princess. Might make an honest girl of her someday. She is a Tea Bagger as well. Can you call her a racist? What is prejudice? Branding an entire group, by the actions and character of a few of it’s members that the group doesn’t want? Use your powers wisely.

    You want to see our Government has treated Natives? Research her tribe, Standing Rock Reservation, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Custer, and Black Hills gold mining. Watch the movie “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.” Great movie that will entertain and infuriate you. She gets no money from the Government, due to the fact that the Sioux killed the blond boy and his troops, and the Government unknowingly gave them a gold mine and oil fields. Custer discovered the gold and tried to fix that mistake at Little Big Horn. Oops! The Standing Rock Rez wasn’t worthless enough for the tribe, so the Government still wants it back. The Tribe is not allowed to mine their gold, or drill for their oil. A war that has been going on for over 140 years.

    Some good reading: http://www.standingrock.org/communityProfile/

    Must be frustrating to some, that we gave the CDA Tribe land that now has great value. Who saw that coming, back in the 1800’s? Imagine that they want to control their own land and enforce their own laws on their own land. How rude! Who would ever imagine that they could find a way to make their own living from white eyes, on relatively inaccessible land. The hundred or more years of struggling and starving didn’t bother anyone.

    Democrats and Republicans both should love Casinos. Gambling is a tax on the stupid. Democrats are pro tax, and Republicans are anti stupid and pro self sufficiency. A win-win that brings us all together. Of course, there is that jealousy thing that infects and fuels the Libs. 8^)

  • nslopeofw on September 05 at 9:52 p.m.

    Racist=Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson. Neither one is a teabagger.

  • mdriftmeyer on September 05 at 11:29 p.m.

    Thomas Jefferson would be no more a member of the Tea Party or the Republican Party.

    His Republican Democrat party he founded was followed up after he was disgusted with the first party with the Democrat Party and then later he left politics all together.

    He wouldn’t touch the GOP today, period. Neither would Lincoln.

    The last decent Republican was TR and he fractured the Republican Party with the first Progressive Bull Moose Party. You now, the guy who created the National Forest/Parks conservation programs that we all take for granted.

  • nslopeofw on September 06 at 12:11 a.m.

    In all likelihood, he would have nothing to do with the Democrats, and especially the “progressives”. Nor would Lincoln. So, what is your point?

  • The_Seer on September 06 at 9:44 a.m.

    libertybell: Why did the original Tea Baggers disguise themselves as Native Americans prior to engaging in their symbolic dumping of Tea? It was a racist act and they haven’t changed a bit in that regard.

    wormlike: Don’t worry. I’ve got another 180 school days this year to correct the nonsense your children learn at home. It’s exhausting at times, but someone has to do it!

  • woamike on September 06 at 11:03 a.m.

    Seer,

    IF you had any stones, you’d let the people know where/what you (allegedly) teach so they could keep their kids out of your classroom if they desired - or alternatively, put their kids in your class if that’s what they wanted. I, for one, would not want my kids taught by a Marxist propagandist. That you do your dirty work in the shadows is simply vile. If your special brand of Marxism is so wonderful, why don’t you step into the light so we can all see?

  • Julia72 on September 06 at 12:05 p.m.

    Native Americans were rounded up and put in death camps, just like the Nazi’s did. Read your history, Start with the Trail of Tears by Dee Alexander Brown. Many indians died of starvation. Yes, Seer is right , the tea party is nothing but a racist movement because they cannot stand to see a African American as President of the United States. Racism if it’s agenda is offensive to any race, then it’s racism. Thank God we have teachers that are brave enough to teach the truth, not some right wing fascist agenda.

  • Squid on September 06 at 12:17 p.m.

    Sadly, most teachers have those same views. It’s a struggle to deprogram your kids. In this day and age, the economy requires dual incomes to run a house, so the teachers have the upper hand, since the time spent with the kids is less for parents, and more for the teachers.

    I have spent many hours trying to undo what the teacher said, while trying to keep the teacher’s credibility at the same time. How do you do that, without saying not to listen, respect, or believe that teacher? It’s a battle that no one wins, and the rules constantly change to the teacher’s advantage.

    I have to wonder how bad things must get, to prove that Socialism doesn’t work, and fairness isn’t fair.

  • brianrbreen on September 06 at 12:26 p.m.

    @The_Seer

    As usual you stole some of my good stuff. But you have to evaluate whether or not it was racist (dressing as Native Americans during the Boston Tea Party and yelling war hoops)or just some people who were afraid to be identified so they decided to blame it on the “Indians”. I’ll take the term “racism”, only from the stand point that if someone attempts to blame someone else for something they were responsible for and tries to blame it on someone else that’s human nature. But if you try to blame things on a particular group of people that’s “racism”.

    Not that I’m a particularly tough guy, I’m not, but if “oneanddone” had said the two things that have now been removed, I might have resorted to my old stand by “But I’m old and he’s young and I was afraid so I didn’t want him to get up”.

    @Squid

    BTW, I’ve got one of those “ Drunken Indians” staying with me, a Colville member. She has to do that Chemotherapy thing along with the Radiation Therapy(They don’t have that on the Res nor do they have a lot of other things). Her only hope is that she does have some Irish in her so she will likely be okay. When she hands the member health care card to the receptionist who has no clue what it is and I have to intercede and force the calls, I just attribute it to, not racism, but stupidity. If I were to walk in hand them my card, nothing would be said.

    At the risk of not maintaining my ability to show restraint, I’m wondering if there might be a chance that “oneandone” might be willing to meet me somewhere, he can even have a second, broken foot and all.

  • Squid on September 06 at 12:36 p.m.

    Julia, I think the Tea Party was starving to have a black president, as much as any American. His hope and change were very motivating, but some saw through it. Some saw Obama’s past record of nothing. Who would have guessed he would screw things up as bad as he did?

    The Tea Party is nothing more than a response to changes that are putting your children and their children in modern day death camps. How many generations will be slaves to their own government, or a Communist country?

    The Tea Party is an extreme answer to extreme problems. I don’t see any other group that has ways to fix anything that won’t bankrupt our country, or those who provide the majority of jobs that pay the majority of taxes.

  • Squid on September 06 at 1:18 p.m.

    Brian, my little squaw is very proud, and denies her Native roots. Half Sioux, half Norwegian, but claims the Norway side. She is self employed, and has no insurance, except her Native insurance. Recently, she broke her leg, and is paying out of pocket for that, when she could have it for free. Soon, she will go to school for her career change, but will pay out of pocket. She refuses to update her Native ID to a picture ID, which apparently is required for any assistance. It’s beyond my understanding, since I am a single white guy with no kids, and am qualified for nothing.

    The Natives on the Rez say she is a white eye or yellow skin, and don’t accept her as one of them. She does not accept her Native roots. Kinda sad, when she has so much opportunity for an easier life. I am as right wing as they get, but not compared to her.

    It was kinda entertaining when she had to update information with her tribe, to get her annual $150 payment from grazing on her scattered and useless acreage. Had to be on the phone for a long time with Nancy Threelegs and John Manwithhorsethatrunsfast. They were very helpful.

    My thoughts are that Oneanddone may have had too much firewater when he posted what he did. Anyone who has ever spent time on any Rez, knows that it doesn’t work that way. I have never seen any Tribal cop or any other Tribal employee that had any BAC, whatsoever. Used to deal with the Tribal cops quite a bit…. On the good side, fortunately. Even know a Tribal Judge, who has a cattle ranch on Lake Roosevelt. I also know some of the Mattheson’s, and you don’t get where they are, by being drunk. It’s not possible to create a World class casino and golf course, and run several other businesses, when you are sauced up.

  • Julia72 on September 06 at 1:32 p.m.

    Please note the correct to my entry above, Dee Alexander Brown’s book is Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, not the Trail of tears, which is what the the Cherokee, Muscogee, Semimnole and Choctaws called the forced removal from their land, resulting in the disease and starvation of many.

  • brianrbreen on September 06 at 3:04 p.m.

    @squid

    Please forgive me, and don’t think for one second think I’m “racist”, but I have to protect those young folks primarily because it’s just me. The East Central Community Center just took a big hit. The director approved payments to someone not showing up for work and was asked to resign as was the employee. The issue is how the Mayor will handle it, criminal or internal, I suspect internal,. Based upon what I’ve seen. and her call for a state audit, which will primarily count beans and only say you got problems, something a lot of us knew, the question will always remain how do you be fair about this.

    When I was younger, I actually got to be Santa at the ECCC.and I loved it for a number of reasons and still do.

    My question to you Mayor, and as you know you are forwarded my comments; What route are you going to take is up to you, but keep this in mind there is a big difference between trying to be a good cop, and someone who for one reason or another takes my money.

    BTW, I’ve got a great recommendation for a director.

  • Squid on September 06 at 3:42 p.m.

    Brian, I never thought for a second that you were. Sorry if it came across that way. That was not what I meant.

    The ECCC is going to be tough on Mary. I’m going to remain silent on that story. To be honest, I thought they were all volunteers, and everything was donated. Hard for me to get worked up about it, since it’s pennies compared to other controversies. You gotta wonder who they pissed off enough to snitch. That’s probably an interesting story.

  • brianrbreen on September 06 at 3:51 p.m.

    @Squid

    As much as I like some of the things Verner has done, she is going to take a hit on that from me.

  • misjustice on September 06 at 6:19 p.m.

    “your little squaw”…. ???? REALLY???

    What a stoopid thing to post/say/think.

  • brianrbreen on September 06 at 6:32 p.m.

    @misjustice

    Actually that isn’t bad, I’m told. Now if he were to refer to her as his Siwash, that would be something different. I won’t get into the particulars, but I knda like “squaws”.

  • Squid on September 06 at 8:41 p.m.

    From what I was told, squaw means woman or wife. I was also told that it is very acceptable, especially because Native languages are basically gone, but some words, like squaw remain. Of course. it’s not OK, if it is used as an insult, which I didn’t intend to do. Her family and friends call her that. Sort of a pet name, and I call her that out of habit, I guess. This is the second time I have been scolded for it, but never from a Native, unless MisJ is Native. I suppose it is best not to use it in print, on a blog. Believe it or not, she has a lot better reasons to kick my butt than that.

  • Julia72 on September 07 at 11:59 a.m.

    The majority of the people that pay the taxes are the working class, The Tea Party looks the other way when you ask the rich corporations to pay taxes, Hell no they don’t pay taxes, they get those little tax breaks so jobs will be created, Well Tea Baggers, where are the jobs, GE paid 0 taxes last year, how much did the working class pay. We paid it all, Tea bagger always talkin’ about people on welfare, what is really disgusting is Corporate Welfare, I see they still drive on the streets we pay for, use our Fire Department and Police Departments, go visit our National Parks, Tax the rich and get rid of this Marie Antonette Tax system we have in this country, The workin’ class pays and it all and the rich says, Oh Well Let them eat Cake, well, I’m tired of their brand of cake.

  • Julia72 on September 07 at 12:04 p.m.

    The majority of the people that pay the taxes are the working class, The Tea Party looks the other way when you ask the rich corporations to pay taxes, Hell no they don’t pay taxes, they get those little tax breaks so jobs will be created, Well Tea Baggers, where are the jobs, GE paid 0 taxes last year, how much did the workin’ class pay. We paid it all, Tea baggers always talkin’ about people on welfare, what is really disgusting is Corporate Welfare, I see they still drive on the streets we pay for, use our Fire Department and Police Departments, go visit our National Parks, Tax the rich and get rid of this Marie Antonette Tax system we have in this country, The workin’ class pays and it all and the rich says, Oh Well Let them eat Cake, well, I’m tired of their brand of cake. A 2 class system (that;s the tea baggers fix) the very very rich and the very very poor is not fixin’ our country. Remember the French Revolution.

  • Squid on September 07 at 12:56 p.m.

    You’re right. We should have a flat tax. Have everyone pay the same percentage of income tax. I agree. Fairness for all.

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