If you would like to protest the events related below, please write or fax:
1) Kendricks Bordeau - the law firm of current KBIC Tribal Prosecutor,
Gregor MacGregor. Fax: 906-226-2543
Kendricks Bordeau
128 W. Spring St.
Marquette, MI 49855-4608
2) Fred Dakota - KBIC Tribal Chair. Fax: 906-353-7540
3) U.S. Representative Bart Stupak. Fax: 202-225-4744
4) U.S. Senator Carl Levin. Fax: 202-224-1388
For background on this situation, please consult earlier postings to this
list ("http://bioc09.uthscsa.edu/natnet/archive/nl/keweenaw-bay.html").
Detailed information, including a chronology of events, can be found at
http://www.edwards1.com/rose/native/ffj/ffj.htm
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BY VANESSA DIETZ
MARQUETTE - It is a letter that concludes with a plea for a peaceful end to
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community's political division.
But Father John Hascall's attorney, Steve Pence of Marquette, also asks
many questions - and supplies answers from his perspective - in response to
an arraignment invitation to all Fight For Justice members for whom KBIC
Tribal Police have outstanding warrants.
Pence's Jan. 17 letter to KBIC Tribal Prosecutor Gregor MacGregor was
spurred by an offer of personal recognizance bonds. KBIC Tribal Judge
Douglas Gurski made the offer to FFJ members with outstanding arrest
warrants, if they agree to be arraigned Thursday.
The judge's offer, as described in a letter from MacGregor, is contingent
on bond conditions which include not entering the tribal center and not
interfering with the tribal government's access to the old tribal center
building. The compound has been held by protestors for more than a year.
MacGregor, a partner of Kendricks Bordeau of Marquette, was unavailable for
comment today, his secretary told The Gazette.
Pence sent copies of the letter to Hascall, former KBIC tribal prosecutor
and current tribal attorney Joseph O'Leary, KBIC member Timothy Shanahan
and KBIC media spokesman Rich Rossway, alleging libelous statements by
Shanahan and Rossway were made to the press about Hascall and asking that
the statements be retracted.
MacGregor sent Pence the letter, addressed to "Mr. John Hascall," which
led Pence to remind MacGregor his "client's name is FATHER John Hascall."
In response to MacGregor's letter, Pence wrote to the acting KBIC
prosecuting attorney. "Father Hascall does not recognize the current
government of the KBIC and Judge Gurski as having legitimate authority."
As Father Hascall recently wrote:
"KBIC 'does not respect the voice of the people on which democracy is
based' since, in the 1994 election, 'the same electorate voted that had
voted for 40 years, done so by custom and the will of the people,' yet the
KBIC governemnt nullified the election.
"Individuals who exercise independence from the illegally constituted
government of the KBIC are summarily dismissed from their duties," Pence
wrote to MacGregor.
Pence told The Gazette this morning the above quote refers to visiting
Judge William Thorne's dismissal more than a year ago, the firing of tribal
officers and others who claim they are no longer able to work for KBIC
because of their political opinions. The tribal government disputes such
claims.
Hascall, the Catholic priest of Most Holy Name of Jesus Church in Assinins,
does not intend to comply with KBIC Tribal Court's bond terms, Pence said
in the letter. He told MacGregor that Hascall is not a KBIC member, making
the charges invalid. Hascall is from the Sault Ste. Marie Band of Lake
Superior Chippewa.
Pence requested a copy of the complaint and search warrant said to have
resulted in the December 17, 1996 raid of the former tribal center grounds.
At that time, KBIC Tribal Police reportedly forcibly entered Most Holy Name
of Jesus rectory and Fr. Hascall's bedroom. Without a warrant, this type of
activity would not be considered legal.
Pence also questioned why police did not arrest Hascall at that time, if
they had a warrant for him. He said, the priest now "plans on going about
his business as he has in the past. He cannot and will not restrict his
activities out of fear of an illegal arrest. Should the KBIC illegally
arrest him, we will immediately file an action in federal court seeking a
writ of habeas corpus. We will also hold accountable those who have any
role in illegally arresting or incarcerating Father Hascall.
"Father Hascall will not post a bond and will not accept the conditions
that you offer as to a personal-recognizance bond. Father Hascall is on
several medications, and should he be arrested and lodged in jail, he will
do what other prisoners of conscience have done: he will refuse food and
medicine," Pence wrote.
"The reasons that Father Hascall has risked so much and is willing to risk
even more are best summed up in his own words:
'The basic rights of a people have been denied: Their right to belong to a
people, to make a choice as to their leadrers, the right to religious
freedom, the right to be free from unjust arrest, the right to protection
from the elements, the freedom to travel from place to place, and the right
to have food, medicine and security from that which would harm them.'
"Father Hascall has also stated that the KBI is 'a sick form of government,
if a government at all.'...Father Hascall notes that, in the past:
'The sacred was always respected by the people. This sacred area where the
church and the rectory lie was set aside for the spiritual needs of the
people. Throughout the 29 years that I have been here, I have lived my
traditional Christian way of life and the people have grown throughout the
years. The church stands for justice and peace and the rights of individuals
and societies to exist. What the people want, and what I want, is for this
situation to be healed in justice and peace, for the good of the people, for
the good of the children,'" Pence wrote in the letter.