Leech Lake Tribal Council
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Chairman: Pete White
Sec/Treas: Archie LaRose
District 1 Rep:
Lyman "DeeDee" Losh
District 2 Rep: Luke Wilson
District 3 Rep: Richard Robinson
Chairman: George Goggleye
Sec/Treas: Archie LaRose
District 1 Rep:
Lyman "DeeDee" Losh
District 2 Rep: Luke Wilson
District 3 Rep:Mick Finn
Terry was the only one that had a college degree and experiance in journalism. She was the managing editor for the tribal newspaper, Debahjimon.
Judy Hanks, Division Director, her education was is still is one year of college courses.
Patsy Gordan, Director's Assistant, her education is High School.
Richard Jones, Government Specialist, his education is High School and some courses in a Secretarial I knew Terry from working in Minneapolis and she is a intelligent woman. We were able to pull the newspaper from its three month lag and bring it back into schedule. Then one day, Terry never showed up for work. Judy appoints me to managing editor. I ask for a pay raise and she says it wasn't in the budget. She then adds on web design responsibilities and later makes it a position title. So, now I am the Graphic Designer, Managing Editor and Web Designer.
I start to focus on the newspaper's budget and bring it from 185 thousand a year to 65 thousand a year. I start to look at the mailing list and know that some people have passed away, so I start to go over the 4000 addresses and 2000 names are people who have passed away. So, I update the mailing list. I then start to utilize the bulk mailing permit. It was costing $2.75 to send out the newspaper. I was able to bring it down to .19 cents.
I establish the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe website that includes the newspaper online, wildrice vendor page, bulletin board, event's board, job posting, all interactive. Meanwhile, Pete White resigns as District Rep. Judy is promoted to Executive Director. I have been promoted to Public Relations Director.
Pete White and Archie LaRose appoint Pete White's brother Gerald White as Executive Director. They also appoint Richard Jones as planning comittee chair.
On March 10, 2003, I come into work and Gerald White calls me into his office and he has Rocky Pasadora, Tribal Police Chief and he hands me a letter that eliminates the tribal newspaper and my position as managing editor. I guess, they thought I would go ballistic on them or something. I find out that Gerald and Pete White were going around and saying that I was emotionally unstable!!
So, I take the letter to the rest of the tribal council and my district rep. Rich Robinson reads my letter and says, "You can get your leave time." In the letter Gerald states that I don't get my 300 hours of leave or vacation pay. Even when the whole thing is against policy, my district rep says he will fight for my leave pay, which told me he knew of the elimination and was in with them.
The first thing the tribe did was hire Patsy Gordan as Managing Editor for the newspaper and 25 thousand more then my salary. The reason they eliminated the newspaper and the managing editor position was budget cuts. Patsy does not have ANY experiance in journalism, graphic design or web design.
I filed an appeal and followed the policies and NOTHING. Even when the tribal council was voted out and a new chairman and district representative for the district I reside in was elected in, they said they wouild give me a fair appeal hearing. Human Resource Director pulled up my status and I was still shown as employed as the Graphic Designer, which was my actual position. The tribal council denied any fairness or justice toward the injustice that happened to me.
This is when I found out that Equaywug women were dirty and stabbed me in the back. Click here for my story on them and Pasty Gordan.