|
Martin protest could
cost city Impact Aid Lakota Journal July 18 - July 23 2003
Martin protesters promise to boycott businesses, Rapid City Journal
Indians protest, call for boycott, Argus Leader
Photo from the Rapid City Journal. By Don Polovich
By Heidi Bell Gease, Journal Staff Writer
MARTIN -- Almost nobody in Martin wants to be quoted, even if he has something to say.
On Wednesday, marchers gathered here to protest what they say is a city council "end run" to circumvent voters' choice of an American Indian sheriff in Bennett County.
They also announced a boycott of local businesses, hoping to pressure city officials to scrap plans to form a separate city police department after years of joint city/county law enforcement.
Bennett County straddles the border of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, and Indians and non-Indians live and work together here. Their lives are intertwined. Many people are afraid to speak out about the current conflict for fear their comments might somehow label them or alienate neighbors, relatives and customers who see things differently.
"You're danged if you do and danged if you don't," one business owner said who spoke openly with a reporter for 20 minutes - then asked, an hour later, to recant everything he had said.
An Allen man who came to support the marchers said his family shops in Martin. They will support the boycott, which lists all but four local businesses. He, too, refused to give his name.
So did a Martin woman, who is Indian. "They (protesters) are not talking for me," she said.
Another Martin businessman said he had no comment until he knew what the issues were, but did say that business owners weren't the ones who decided to separate law enforcement. Then, he added, "And there'd better not be anything written about this store."
The 200 to 300 marchers did speak openly. They walked peacefully from the four directions to converge under Martin's lone stoplight for prayers and speeches, then walked to city hall to present a list of demands for change that includes the resignation of six city council members, the city finance officer and the state's attorney.
Speakers told how, one year ago, marchers protested what they said was unfair treatment of Indian residents by then Sheriff Russ Waterbury. Elected officials said they couldn't do anything because Waterbury was an elected official and suggested that protesters go to the polls if they wanted change.
They did, in record numbers, electing Charlie Cummings sheriff by a vote of 837 to 765. Now, barely six months after Cummings took office, the Martin City Council has decided to dissolve its law enforcement contract with Bennett County. Council members said they have been considering the change for two years. They also said their decision was based on complaints from city residents that city ordinances are not being enforced.
Cummings and others say city ordinances have never been strictly enforced. People are cited, not arrested, for ordinance violations, Cummings said, and his understanding of the law is that city officials handle code violations unless law enforcement is specifically needed.
With just one or two deputies on duty at a time, Cummings said law enforcement can't respond to calls 20 miles from Martin and still be around to tell kids not to ride their bikes on Martin's downtown sidewalks.
Meanwhile, county commissioners say they don't know what the split might do to law enforcement or to their budget. Currently, the city and county each pays half of the roughly $310,000 law enforcement budget.
"Charlie's the sheriff, and we're backing Charlie, as far as I know," Bennett County Commissioner Gerald Goetzinger, said. The contract has worked for years, and city and county officials should revisit what's not working.
County Commissioner Gerald Bettelyoun and Cummings both said they tried repeatedly to meet with city officials to discuss the issues, without success.
Craig Dillon, an Oglala Sioux Tribal Council member and member of the Bennett County Civil Rights Commission, said he, too, would have liked to see problems solved through discussion. He opposed a boycott, he said, as did many of his constituents.
"It's the last thing I wanted," he said. "There's good people in this community that are going to suffer."
But Dillon and other protest organizers, including Civil Rights Commission Spokesman Jesse Claussen, say they have no other choice.
"We've been struggling with these people for about two years now. ... We're not going to take it anymore," Dillon told marchers Wednesday. "We will bring this community to its knees. The only thing they understand is dollars."
Oglala Sioux Tribal President John Steele said the tribe will support the boycott and urged tribal members to do the same. Months after another group of protesters urged the boycott of some Rapid City businesses, Steele told marchers to shop in Gordon, Pine Ridge or Rapid City, rather than Martin.
Organizers said they will ask the Rosebud Sioux Tribe to support the boycott.
One business owner, Ron Wheeler of Ron's Market, did speak on the record. "I don't know what to think," he said. "Everybody's got their side of the story. Being a businessman, I'm just kind of staying neutral, hoping to hang in there and pay the bills another month."
In a small town, Wheeler said, "It doesn't make any difference who you have (as sheriff). Somebody's not going to be happy."
As a former Martin city police officer, Dillon questions the wisdom of splitting the law enforcement duties. It was too expensive before, he said.
A former Martin City Councilman, Dan Laabs of Enning, said the commission looked at separating law enforcement several times when he was on the board but could never figure out how to make it pay.
Donna LaMont, a Martin resident and dispatcher for the Bennett County Sheriff's Office, said that politically, she doesn't care if the departments are divided. She would dispatch for either. Financially, though, she does object.
"What bothers me is the financial part of it. I know a lot of people in this town can't afford to pay more taxes," she said. "I really think they should have put it to a public vote."
City officials say cost is a concern, but they believe a city department is needed even if it's more expensive. "We're doing it in the best interest of the people in the city," council member Brad Otte said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
Jennifer Ring, executive director of the ACLU of the Dakotas, also marched.
"Our culture says if you don't like what's going on, go vote. The people down there went out and worked their fannies off (to register voters) under some pretty threatening conditions," she said. "And now, essentially, the white business and mainstream community, who are the minority there, are trying to overturn the results of that election."
Not everyone agrees with that assessment. Many say the bottom line is making sure Martin is a safe place to live, even if it costs more.
"It's basically just two opinions. They're making it racist, but it's not," said one teen-aged boy, who initially gave his name. Soon after, he asked that his name not be used.
Peter Harriman
Argus Leader
published: 7/10/2003
Cuts may affect Lakota sheriff's employees
MARTIN - About 300 people marched Wednesday to
Martin's City Hall to protest the city's decision to
end its funding agreement with the Bennett County
Sheriff's Department for law enforcement services.
As a result of that decision, which protest organizers
say is racially motivated, they also are calling for a
boycott of Martin businesses by the Oglala Sioux Tribe
and tribal members who live here.
Earlier this spring, Martin City Council members told
Sheriff Charlie Cummings that they were considering a
separate city police department because they want law
enforcement officers in Martin to be accountable to
city officials. Organizers of Wednesday's march and
Cummings think the city is making the move because he
is a Lakota and an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux
Tribe.
The LaCreek Civil Rights Committee organized the
protest march. Four groups behind a pair of American
Indian Movement flags, two Oglala Sioux Tribe flags,
an eagle feather staff and a drum marched from the
four directions, beginning at the outskirts of town.
They all met at the intersection of highways 18 and 73
and, from there, joined forces and marched to the
Martin City Hall, which was locked at 2 p.m.
As the group crowded the street in front of the city
offices, civil rights committee head Jesse Claussen
and others called for the council and city officials
to resign. They said the city's move to form its own
municipal police department will force Cummings to lay
off at least three people from a force of four patrol
deputies, four full-time dispatcher-jailers and two
part-time employees.
His department already is taxed by patrolling an
expansive, sparsely populated county, by providing
court security and by running a jail, Cummings said.
Earlier in the afternoon, shortly after going over
traffic control procedures for the march with 30
Oglala Sioux tribal police, South Dakota Highway
Patrol troopers and his own staff, Cummings said he
would not participate in the event.
But in a spur-of-the-moment decision, he grabbed a
public address microphone at the highway intersection.
"The reason I ran for sheriff is because I saw what
was happening in Bennett County," Cummings said,
recounting several anecdotes of Indian people
allegedly searched without warrants and detained for
hours in the summer sun by deputies of former sheriff
Russ Waterbury, whom Cummings defeated last November.
"I want to treat everybody in this community fair and
equal," Cummings said. "I think the white people in
this community can't appreciate this. They don't know
how to handle it."
Claussen said the civil rights committee decided to
organize Indian voters and back Cummings for sheriff
after several years of complaining fruitlessly to the
Bennett County Commission about Waterbury.
Claussen and other march organizers see the city's
decision to form its own police department as an
attempt to wreck the sheriff's office and undo
Cummings' election. So they called for the boycott.
"We know a boycott will harm some innocent people.
There are some store owners in this town we like and
respect. But when we are boycotted, it is time to
stand up and boycott them," Claussen said.
The Pine Ridge Reservation is in neighboring Shannon
County. But tribal President John Yellow Bird Steele
said the tribe is supporting the Martin boycott
because so many tribal members live in Bennett County.
Steele said the tribe "has bought tens of cars" from
the local Ford dealer. "The police and ambulance gas
up whenever they are here," he added, and the tribe
arranges transportation for many members to shop in
Martin. That will all cease, he said.
A Martin boycott could catch Claussen in its backlash.
He owns a construction and gravel business here.
But Claussen claimed that he has been paying a price
for years "because white people won't do business with
me. I've been paying for it on a daily basis."
He predicted that a boycott would succeed in its aim
of unseating the City Council and city officials
because "this town survives on $20 million a year, and
(Indians) provide two-thirds of that economy. I think
our chances are excellent."
No council members or city officials emerged from the
locked City Hall to meet with the crowd of mostly
Indian demonstrators. Claussen said they told him
Wednesday morning that they would be out of town.
Before the march, Cummings acknowledged that the
transition to his administration from Waterbury's had
been somewhat rocky. He missed the deadline for a
quarterly sheriff's report specified in the agreement
between the city and county for law enforcement
services because he did not know it was required, he
said.
For 15 years before running for sheriff, Cummings
headed a highway patrol for the Oglala Sioux Tribal
Police Department. He said he only met with Waterbury
for 45 minutes after the election, and in that meeting
learned virtually nothing about running the sheriff's
department. "Hardly anything was said to make it a
smooth transition," Cummings said.
He said city officials had complained about the fact
that no current sheriff deputies have received
training or have been certified by the state as law
enforcement officers. But he said he is working to
correct that and has two candidates for training.
Jennifer Ring of the American Civil Liberties Union
took part in the march and dismissed claims that the
city only has problems with the way Cummings is
running the sheriff's office and not with the fact he
is an Indian.
"If they were just concerned about competency, they
would be planning for the next election and voting him
out," she said. "The only reason they are doing this
is to overturn the results of the last sheriff's
election."
Reach Peter Harriman at 575-3615 or
pharrima@argusleader.com
Ruth Steinberger
Lakota Journal Correspondent
From the Lakota Journal
MARTIN — More than 600 people attended a rally here on Wednesday, July 9, to protest a decision by the Martin City Council to withdraw from the city/ county law enforcement partnership that has been in effect since 1993.
A highly successful voter registration drive in Bennett County brought unprecedented numbers of Indian voters to the polls during the 2002 general election. In that election, Native American Charlie Cummings, was chosen to serve as sheriff, replacing former sheriff, "Rus" Waterbury.
The decision by the Martin City Council to separate the law enforcement offices of the city and the county directly undermined the outcome of the 2002 general election. That decision was made quietly at an unannounced meeting on the evening of June 16th. The unannounced meeting took place while Cummings was in Sioux Falls picking up his wife from a bus trip. City Council Chairman Brad Otte delivered a letter to him the following morning.
The Martin City Council alleged that there had been complaints against Cummings but have never furnished any copies of the alleged complaints nor given him any way to resolve those complaints. That council refused to respond to complaints against former sheriff Waterbury despite extensive testimony offered throughout over two years and Justice Department hearings that were alleged to have brought more complaints per capita than any other town of similar population.
The July 9 rally and march signaled the beginning of a boycott of Martin, population 1,078. The town relies heavily on Indian purchasing. The LaCreek and Pass Creek Districts voted to support the boycott. On the morning of July 9 the executive committee of the Oglala Sioux Tribe passed a resolution declaring full tribal support for the action. Purchases by the Oglala Sioux Tribe total around one third of the purchases made in Martin, and around another third are made by tribal members.
Meetings by city officials to undermine Cummings were held without notice, and without the inclusion of any representative for that office, the severing of the law enforcement offices ignored the sixty day dissolution term stated in the original contract and in June 2003, City of Martin Building Inspector Scott Larsen attempted to intimidate exit poll workers at the Martin polling place. The investigation of that incident is still pending.
Bennett County and the City of Martin are currently facing federal voting rights lawsuits.
Organizers demand that all six city councilmen, as well as the States Attorney Pam Ireland and the City Finance Officer, Janet Speidel resign their jobs. Rumors have abounded that the city intended to bring former sheriff Waterbury, along with former deputy Shane Valandra back to the city as law enforcement and the boycott includes demands that neither be returned to the municipality in that capacity.
The City of Martin responded to the rally by closing down portions of streets and all town offices, thereby refusing to accept signed petitions. The City of Martin Library, located at the municipal building, had a sign on the door saying that the library was closed for the day. Additionally, streets in Martin were suddenly scheduled for resurfacing. Bennett County Human Rights Committee Chairman Jesse Clausen noted, "There was supposed to be a little carnival uptown. They had even roped the road off. When the march materialized and they realized we really going to do it, all of a sudden they had to resurface Main Street." Clausen continued, "We got a lot of support from the tribe and from the two districts here. The boycott is a harsh measure and people on both sides are going to get hurt. The white community and their businesses are going to get hit hard. Our people are going to have to suffer with this too, and we should not have to suffer in order to address the unfairness toward Indian people. When you have done everything you can, this is the next step you have to take." He said that while the boycott will not be easy, "Strong people will find ways to shop in Pine Ridge, weak people will continue to shop here."
Clausen noted that if the situation is not resolved by early fall, many Indians in Martin plan to begin bussing their children to Indian schools in surrounding communities, thereby removing them from the Bennett County school system. The impact of that move could cost the county a substantial portion of the school budget. Indian youth make up over half of the children attending schools in Bennett County. Last year Bennett County received $1,946,005 in Impact Aid, a federal subsidy based on the number of children living in housing that does not generate a portion of the local tax base. This figure could be cut by the percentage of Indian children removed from the Bennett County schools. If enough youth were removed the system could become ineligible for Impact Aid altogether, loosing the entire amount.
Clausen said that bussing children out of the county system, "May not be a bad idea. Indian children will not be looked down on in Allen, in Batesland, in Wanbli." Referring to verbal abuse and targeting that drives well over half of Indian children out of Bennett County schools, Clausen said, "Not very many of our children make it through school here in Bennett County. It’s time for that stuff to stop, too."
The resistance to allowing Indian candidates to effectively hold office was noted by many people at the rally. Splits in law enforcement and other measures including pressure and exclusion from municipal decisions to remove elected candidates that are unpopular to a small number of people who have served as city officials have occurred before.
Bennett County Sheriff Charlie Cummings said, "I ran for sheriff because I saw what was happening. I witnessed Indian people who were stopped for going one mile over the speed limit being stopped and searched with a drug dog. I ran because I wanted everyone to be treated fairly. I don’t think some people can handle that." Cummings concluded, "We’re not going to be pushed around." He thanked those who are supporting him in this issue.
Frank LaMeer, a member of the Democratic National Committee, explained that the Democratic Party helped fund voter registration activity in 2002. LaMeer addressed the rally, noting that allegations of beatings of Indians by former law enforcement were ignored by the city officials now undermining the sheriff who was elected with popular support from the Indian community.
LaMeer said, "I express my best wishes to all of you who took the time to come here to make things a little better in your community. I want to tell you that many watch what is going to happen in Martin, South Dakota." LaMeer noted that Martin, South Dakota has been the subject of articles in the New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. He said, "You were acknowledged by tribes around the country for the resolve and the heart that you showed in the election last year. I see the good feelings that many of our relatives around the country have for you in Martin and in Bennett County because you sought to change things. It was very disheartening when I found out recently that you have a council that wishes to end run that Democratic process. I implore do not let them do this."
LaMeer said that the efforts have, "Fallen on deaf ears by the business people in this community and I dare say that the only thing they understand is the business and the dollars that you bring them."
Last year the Four Directions project of the Democratic Party raised money from tribes throughout the country to help voting rights activities in Martin. LaMeer said, "You have leaders here who wanted to change things and play by the rules. I was here over the fourth of July and I watched the flags up and own this street unfurled, and I could not help but think of how it seems we love the trappings of a democracy but we ignore democracy itself."
Alfred Bone shirt, "I want to thank the elders and I want to thank the LaCreek District Human Rights Committee as well as all the officers who are here. The situation here, the racism, the white people, the white kids, making remarks and actions against our Lakota people, this has to stop. This is the second time we’ve been here and we will come back again. We were called to Sisseton this week also because of racist acts; racial profiling, harassing in the jails and on the street." He said, "The good white people of Martin could stop this boycott. They need to remove the racist council people within the city and county governments. Wherever you see it; deal with it, stop it. Get rid of the racist cancer." Bone Shirt called the activities in Martin, "Aggressive white racism." He questioned, "We deal with this in a peaceful and spiritual way, but why do some white people present this racial hatred?"
Albert Sharp, District Chairman from the Pass Creek District, said, "Last November we worked really hard to elect a new sheriff here in Bennett County. We went out and registered voters and did all we could and got 308 votes out of Pass Creek for Charlie Cummings. And now we turn around and the city council tells us they’re going to split the police department. The people in Pass Creek disagree with that. We are in full support of this boycott. There are times to say if we’re Indians, we’re Indians and if we are not then make that choice."
Sharp noted that assistance in getting transportation to other cities and towns for shopping will be available through the CAP office in Pass Creek.
Sharp said that many people have asked why this was not organized as a partial boycott, with people continuing to shop at "Indian friendly businesses." He said, "A partial boycott would not work because it would not affect the tax base in Martin. If the business is transferred all to one business, the City of Martin still gets the money."
John Steele, President of Oglala Sioux Tribe said that the OST stands firmly in support of the Indian community involved in this struggle. He said, "Mitakuye oyasin. You marched a year ago and at that time I promised that the tribe would do what the human rights committee wanted. You exercised your right to vote-you did it. The city could put their money to better use, but they have chosen to use it to go against the Lakota people who voted."
Steele said that if another march took place tribal people from reservations throughout South Dakota would come to support the human rights committee there. He said, "We will fill this town, each and every street with marchers if the time comes."
Information on travel assistance in order to honor the boycott is available at the CAP offices. City Council Chairman Otte has never returned our Lakota Journal request for comment.
home : mission statement : contact : site map : search : store : links
DLN coalition : DLN issues : DLN nation : related issues Any reprints are under the Fair Use doctrine of international copyright law : See http://www.dlncoalition.org/fair_use.htm.
|
Photograph--Alfred Bone Shirt Sr. wearing a peace medal.