TEB Member Resigns
In May, TEB member AT Stafnie resigned from the tribal executive board for health reasons. The Fort Peck Tribal constitution states that when a TEB seat is open, it is to be filled with the next highest vote getter, which was Rick Kirn. Morales refused to allow Kirn to fill the seat because of personal differences.
The Journal covered the story fairly, while the Wotanin treated it like it was nothing important. Coverage they did give of the issue told only the chairmans side of the story.
All of the events that followed resulted in months of coverage leading up to a general council, which acts like a supreme court on the Fort Peck Reservation.
During a general council, all enrolled tribal members gather and they will vote on issues that can't be decided by the TEB. Though the constitution says that the seat has to be filled with the next highest vote getter, Morales refused to allow Kirn to fill the seat and the TEB were afraid of him and didn't speak up to defend the constitution.
Every front page from the time Stafne retired had stories about the constitutional crisis on Fort Peck. Each issue had at least one mention of a general council that was called for by Morales and his supporters.
Read more about this topic: Fort Peck Journal
Famous quotes containing the words member and/or resigns:
“Neighboring farmers and visitors at White Sulphur drove out occasionally to watch ‘those funny Scotchmen’ with amused superiority; when one member imported clubs from Scotland, they were held for three weeks by customs officials who could not believe that any game could be played with ‘such elongated blackjacks or implements of murder.’”
—For the State of West Virginia, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself.”
—Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982)