Tag: Dakota Access Pipeline (page 2 of 3)

“The Wiindigo Comes in the Winter”

February 8, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Rumors threaten Standing Rock and activist unity against the Dakota Access Pipeline

By C.S. Hagen 
CANNON BALL – Rumors, like the Wiindigo, are never full. They prey on the weak, devouring their kill, always hungry, gluttonous yet emaciated. 

The legendary, cannibalistic being strikes mainly during lonely winters. According to Algonquian lore it stalks the northern forests around the Great Lakes. Like rumors, the Wiindigo is difficult to kill, as its powers rise with every victim it devours. 

The rumors surrounding Standing Rock’s fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline are not unlike the Wiindigo legends, Winona Laduke, a long time activist said. Laduke is an economist, and two-time vice presidential candidate for Ralph Nader’s Green Party. She is also the executive director for Honor the Earth, a non-profit advocate for indigenous environmental support.

“The winter of the North Country is unforgiving, and here on my own Round Lake, the Winndigo once came and ate a man and his family,” Laduke said. “That man became the Wiindigo. That is the time now, crazy actions occur. A man on my reservation starves his three horses to death, despite many friends. At the Oceti Sakowin Camp, a woman ties her dementia plagued mother onto a chair, and leaves her, without help. It is a time when we do things we regret.” 

No excuses for such strange behaviors, Laduke said, but part of being human is to be weak. 

“In the midst of this there is no question that there is chaos, there is no question that some people are infiltrators and some are profiting off the backs of this on the front line. And who is best served by all this? The answer: North Dakota’s energy empire, the Trump Administration, and, of course, Energy Transfer Partners.”

“Not afraid to look” sculpture overlooking Oceti Sakowin by Charles Rencountre (with Charles Rencountre and LaDonna Allard)- photo provided by Winona Laduke

From the beginning of Standing Rock’s fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline, much emphasis has been given to remaining peaceful. Those arrested for civil disobedience such as disobeying police orders or trespassing, are forms of free speech, activists say. Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault encouraged civil disobedience from the beginning, and was himself arrested after trespassing on August 12, 2016. 

While the majority of activists have been peacefully protesting, even while under constant threat from Morton County’s militarized police force armed with pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets, concussion grenades, some have fought back using taunts, razor wire, stones, and fire, according to authorities. Supporters attribute violent actions to agitators and federal infiltrators; the authorities use the violence as propaganda and make more arrests.

“When you are standing up against a billion dollar corporation, this is how they work,” LaDonna Tamakawastewin Allard, who owns land the Sacred Stone Camp is on, said in an interview with The Young Turks. “They go into the communities and spread gossip and rumor. That’s what I am worried about. For me I will stand with anybody who stands with the water.”

Since early August, tens of thousands of people from across the world have travelled to Standing Rock, and a total of 696 arrests have been made. 

Some of the rumors include monies donated to Standing Rock’s fight. Others have used isolated actions by people inside the camps, such as the case of Kathleen Bennett, who allegedly restrained and abused her 82-year-old mother at Oceti Sakowin, as a reflection on the movement and the tribe as a whole. 

“For years, the dearth of infrastructure and poverty of Standing Rock have made it a poster child for what’s messed up in the US,” Laduke said. More than 80 percent of people in Standing Rock live below the poverty level, she said. 

“Every year it seems, people freeze to death on Standing Rock, and frankly no one noticed until now.” 

As of January 25, 2017, more than 300 GoFundMe accounts raised a total of $8,061,614 for activists and the camps. Suspicions have been raised by Morton County Sheriff’s Department on how the monies have been spent. State and county officials have made threats in the past saying those donating funds are supporting terrorist causes. 

Standing Rock issued a statement late December 2016 saying that monies it received have gone toward funding legal fees, camp infrastructure, waste management, and outdoor restrooms. 

Standing Rock supporters point to approximately $6 million donated to the tribe that is unaccountable, and are demanding that all expenditures need to be documented and made public so not to tarnish the movement. 

“The stench of malfeasance doesn’t smell any better just because it emanates from an ally,” activist Joshua Smith, from Iowa, said. “I do have to say they are still on the forefront of the legal battle challenging DAPL in court. Lateral violence is when two different factions within a given movement criticize the other in a manner which creates division and also provides those opposed to the movement reasoning to criticize us.” 

Monies have been used to bail people out, and with nearly 700 arrested, “that’s a lot of cash bail,” Laduke said. “There were drones purchased, each time the police shot down a drone, we purchased another one because someone has to keep an eye from the air. 

“A lot of people had to be fed.” 

Unity

Competing narratives exist now at what remains of the camps at Standing Rock. Archambault has asked activists to leave since shortly after December 4, 2016, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ordered Energy Transfer Partners to halt work on the Dakota Access Pipeline, concurrently ordering an environmental impact statement to be done along parts of the pipeline’s route. 

Some say the Standing Rock Tribal Council sold the activists, or water protectors, out. Others say Archambault is looking out for the safety of his tribe. Either way, Archambault’s tone has changed since the warmer, summer months. The fight is no longer at Standing Rock, but in Washington D.C., he says.

“This pipeline is not going to kill our nation, this pipeline is not going to destroy America,” Archambault said recently on The Rock Report. “This one pipeline where people refuse to leave is not going to be detrimental to our nation.”

Water protectors’ job at Standing Rock is done, he said. The tribe has stopped supporting activists camped near the reservation, along the north side of the Cannon Ball River near to the Missouri River where the Dakota Access Pipeline plans to dig under Lake Oahe. 

“I’m not asking it to end, I’m saying that the fight is not here.” 

On February 2, Archambault posted to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s Facebook page, saying that he had met with Governor Doug Burgum, whose stance against the tribe is much different than his predecessor, Jack Dalrymple. 

“There is great contrast to the previous state leaderships, these visits show that he is willing to work for all citizens of North Dakota, including tribal communities. I commend the governor for his efforts and look forward to finding solutions with him.” 

“You are a betrayer of your people,” a netizen said said on the tribe’s Facebook page. “Hang your head low. We all know you sold yourself out for money. May the demise of clean water haunt your conscience.” 

The fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline is just one of many fights across the nation and Canada, Archambault said. The DAPL controversy became high profile for a simple reason. 

“Standing Rock. Water is Life. Taglines. It’s easy. We can have all the water in the world and we’re not creating a better future for our kids. Water is a source of life. It is not life.” 

Allard feels betrayed, she said on her Facebook page. She said that she is not a leader, but began her fight against the pipeline because her son, Philip Levon, is buried near the Dakota Access Pipeline. 

“It has been a hard night. All I can say is we must pray hard. How do we find that unity again? How do we stand together against the Black Snake? We must stand together. I don’t have the answers. All I have is prayer.” 

Allard has been suffering from ill health, and on the day police officers and agents from the Bureau of Indian Affairs entered her land at the Sacred Stone Camp, along the south side of Cannon Ball River, she was en route to a hospital with her husband, also in poor health. 

News that agents entered her land on February 2, after she denied them entry, surprised her, she said in an interview with The Young Turks. Allard and family own more than 300 acres on the south side of Cannon Ball River, where her Sacred Stone Camp is still set up. She heard rumors that Archambault authorized the federal incursion onto her lands because he said he also is a land owner there. 

“At no time did Chairman Archambault own any portion of this land,” Allard said. “What are they talking about, the Archambaults own land here? They do not.” Archambault’s wife, Nicole, is Allard’s cousin, who owns land to graze horses nearby, but not on the Sacred Stone Camp.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe disagreed. “There are two tracts of land: Army Corps of Engineers holds title to one, and the Tribe holds majority ownership of the other. Sacred Stone Camp leaders were made aware of the need for an assessment earlier this week and agreed to a site visit.” 

Allard went home and rifled through land leases, of which she personally owns three acres. The rest of the land is owned by family members, and a tribal trust – held in trust by the United States government. 

“The Archambaults hold no trust here. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe holds trust here, that does not mean the Archambaults hold land here.” Without warrants, Archambault had no right to authorize the “raid” into Sacred Stone Camp, she said. 

“The chairman did not become Trump, and Trump still does not understand his position. I am still trying to figure out how to make peace with this. There should have never been the tribe against the water protectors. We should be standing together in a unified front. What we have is gossip and rumor dividing the people. It’s like when the fur traders were here, and the fur traders again started to gossip and rumor to divide the people. And that is where we are again.” 

She sleeps little at night, stays up worrying and praying.

Another rumor circulating around Sacred Stone Camp include a pending threat of forced removal by federal officers.

The fight is growing, Allard said, and it is not only about water or sacred lands any longer. North Dakota politicians have submitted legislation to give state government more control over reservation land and mineral rights, to run over protesters on public roads, to lessen the responsibilities of corporations to report oil spills, and to criminalize ski masks in public places. 

“I will stand, and I will not back down.” 

This summer, Allard plans to start a summer camp for youth to teach history, how to live responsibly, and how to heal. 

“I don’t need any people to come and defend me, I need people to come and defend the water. I also need people to support the tribe hoping the tribe makes better decisions, and that the tribe will stand in a unified fashion with the people.

“I must stand because my son stands with me. I have no choice.” 

Last Child’s Camp 

When attorney Chase Iron Eyes moved with approximately 80 people to a western hill forming Last Child’s Camp, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Morton County condemned the group as rogue. He was arrested along with 76 others, and was released on February 3. 

He was charged with a Class C felony, inciting a riot, and his legal team is looking into the validity of the charge. Iron Eyes came out of the Morton County Correctional Facility looking tired; months at the camps and it’s apparent he has lost weight. 

“It’s no secret that Morton County, that the North Dakota law enforcement, National Guard, North Dakota media, even the governor of North Dakota, going back to Mr. Dalrymple to Burgum, and the North Dakota legislature, are colluding to villainize, dehumanize, and present the narrative that the water protectors are unlawfully camped in the area north of the Cannon Ball River, and that we are violent, that we are unruly, and indeed they are charging me with inciting a riot. But it’s clear to America, I feel, that Donald Trump is inciting a riot.” 

“Last night, a group of campers moved materials onto private land,” the Standing Rock Tribal Council said. “This group’s actions do not represent the tribe nor the original intent of the water protectors.” 

The tribe still leads the fight, but their opposition has widened to include water rights, hunting, land rights, treaty rights, not just for Standing Rock, but for all tribes, the council said. 

“It is this tribe, the Standing Rock Sioux, whose land is most at risk,” Archambault said. “It is also our court case at risk, but in reality, all our treaty rights are at risk. If we want to be treated as nations then we must behave as such. In the past few weeks at camp, I see no reflection of our earlier unity, and without unity we lose.” 

Last Child’s Camp was cleared; its tipis handed over to Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. 

“We will fight these charges,” Iron Eyes said. “We will hold accountable Morton County and all who have brutally violated our rights. This is an SOS. Vets, warriors, and others who can stand with us in peace and dignity to exercise our inherent, treaty, constitutional, and other birthrights. Come stand with us.” 

Veterans, once again, are hearing the call. VeteransRespond, an organizer and advocator of healing to communities impacted by social injustice, is planning to return to Standing Rock. 

“VeteransRespond is in the process of organizing a return mission to Standing Rock at the wishes of LaDonna Brave Bull Allard,” the group’s GoFundMe page said. “All funds will go directly towards a rental van to transport Texas and Colorado veterans to Standing Rock to help with cleanup efforts as well as serve as a de-escalation and medical response force if needed.” 

VeteransStand also created a second GoFundMe account, and plans to return. 

“In the past two weeks the turmoil and uncertainty at Standing Rock has increased significantly,” the group said on its Facebook page. “We have had thousands of volunteers reconfirm their dedication to the cause, and readiness to help. The success of our fundraising campaign will ultimately dictate our overall potential for a boots-on-the-ground presence, but our learnings from the first mission in December have allowed us to create the right infrastructure to move quickly.” 

The time of the Wiindigo creates confusion, difficult to keep eyes on the more important issues of Native American treaty rights and stopping the Dakota Access Pipeline, Laduke said. 

Signs in the snow outside of the Standing Rock camps – photo by C.S. Hagen

“In the time of the Wiindigo, confusion, and fear prey on us all,” Laduke said. “We forget who are the enemies and who are our friends and families. Let us pray for clear minds. I plan to live through the time of the Wiindigo, and when I look back at the time of Standing Rock, I want to remember the unity, the courage, the outpouring of love for our Mother Earth, our Mni Wiconi, and how we faced the enemy.” 

“An Act of War”

February 8, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Department of the Army to issue final DAPL easement by Wednesday afternoon 

By C.S. Hagen 
CANNON BALL – A digital wail resounded across the Internet Tuesday afternoon after the Department of the Army announced it would be authorizing the final easement needed for the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross the Missouri River at Lake Oahe. 

Claiming rights under the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, the Army issued an intent to grant an easement on 7.37 acres of land to Dakota Access LLC for 30 years, the letter stated. 

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is not mentioned once in the letter from the Department of the Army, nor in a January 24 letter written by President Trump to the Secretary of the Army. 

The issuance of the easement was influenced by the letter of expedition from the White House concerning the Dakota Access Pipeline, saying that completion of the pipeline served national interest.

“The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) under development by Dakota Access, LLC, represents a substantial, multi-billion-dollar private investment in our Nation’s energy infrastructure,” Trump wrote. 

Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army Paul Cramer referred to Trump’s letter, waiving its policy to wait 14 days after Congressional notification to grant the easement. 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers map of pipeline crossing Missouri River

The easement is expected to be officially granted within 24 hours. Energy Transfer Partners is allowed to begin horizontal drilling across the Missouri River at Lake Oahe, approximately one mile from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, as soon as the easement is granted. 

Despite the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers January 18 filing with the Federal Register that its department would conduct an environmental impact study on the Dakota Access Pipeline’s route and easement to cross Lake Oahe, no mention was made about either the continuing testimonial session, which was announced to end February 20, or if the study would continue. 

Energy Transfer Partners, a parent company of the Dakota Access Pipeline, reported its stock surged 0.8 percent after receiving news of the impending approval, according to Bloomberg.

The announcement sent shock waves through Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. 

“Today, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Headquarters has announced their decision to complete the Dakota Access Pipeline,” the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe said on their Facebook page. “We will admit that we are disappointed, but we are not defeated. We will take this to the highest court. The battle is not over and we will not be silenced.” 

The tribe plans to challenge the easement decision on the grounds that the environmental impact study was wrongfully terminated. It has asked Dakota Access LLC to disclose its oil spill and risk assessment records, and if construction continues the tribe will seek to shut down pipeline operations. 

On March 10, Standing Rock also plans to hold a Native Nations March on Washington D.C.

“As native peoples, we have been knocked down again,” Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II said. “But we will get back up, we will rise above the greed and corruption that has plagued our peoples since first contact. We call on the Native Nations of the United States to stand together, unite and fight back. Under this administration, all of our rights, everything that makes us who we are is at risk.”  

“December 4 was no victory at all,” attorney and long time activist Chase Iron Eyes said. Iron Eyes ran for congress in North Dakota in 2016, and since November has been spending much of his time at the camps outside of Cannon Ball. 

“Trump’s Army corps approved the death of our river,” Iron Eyes said. “We didn’t win. They told us to go home because ‘we won,’ ‘our prayers were answered.’ My daughter cried tears of joy in a false, hollow, meaningless ‘victory.’ Where is your heart at? 

“Mine is going to be on the frontline on behalf of my children.” 

Sacred Stone Camp announced a Last Stand against the Dakota Access Pipeline set to begin Wednesday. 

Facebook posts expressed sorrow at the news. 

“Where are you Standing Rock?” a person by the name of Che Jim posted from Indianapolis. “Where are you Tribal Council? Where are you chairman? We were just sentenced of failure.” 

“We only have a 24-hour window that we’re going to proceed with more legal action, and people are coming back from all over,” Phyllis Young, a former councilwoman for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Central Oceti Sakowin camp organizer, said in an interview made public by Digital Smoke Signals. “We are all in challenging spirit, more challenging than ever. But we are who we are, and we will do whatever we have to do to protect our homeland and our water.

“We knew this was coming. We knew the giant America is when they want their pipeline. We have experience when they built their dams, they came rushing in – the waters – and it was January. Now for them to take our water is an act of genocide, an act of war.” 

North Dakota politicians expressed support for the Army Corps’ decision. 

“As we’ve said before, the issue of the Dakota Access Pipeline has been at a standstill for far too long, causing uncertainty and confusion in our communities, and exacerbating tensions surrounding the pipeline’s construction,” House Democratic-NPL Leader Corey Mock said in a press release.

 “With today’s news that the Army Corps will approve the easement for the pipeline’s completion, North Dakotans finally have a measure of certainty that this process will move forward. In the immediate future, for the safety of everyone involved, all parties must heed the calls of the Standing Rock Sioux and our governor for the remaining protesters to leave the camp north of Cannonball River before flood season sets in.”

“As this issue moves toward a final resolution, we must remain committed to repairing and rebuilding relationships within our communities and with our tribal neighbors,” said Senate Dem-NPL Leader Joan Heckaman said in a press release. 

“Rebuilding trust was a priority that Governor Burgum emphasized in his State of the State address, and we continue to believe this is absolutely necessary, especially as steps are taken to complete construction of the pipeline and as flood season approaches, potentially endangering those who remain at the camps. Our highest priority must continue to be the safety of everyone involved – protesters, law enforcement, construction workers and members of the surrounding communities.”      

Police preparing to march on Last Child's Camp - photo by Ryan Vizzions

Dozens Arrested at Last Child’s Camp 

February 2, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Police, National Guard dismantle militarized roadblock to clear newest camp near Standing Rock

By C.S. Hagen
CANNON BALL – Dozens of police and National Guard swarmed Last Child’s Camp Wednesday afternoon, arresting approximately 76 activists including attorney Chase Iron Eyes. 

Officials called those who moved to Last Child’s Camp a “rogue camp,” and that they refused to move from the hilltop south of Backwater Bridge after repeated warnings. 

“The group was told they were committing criminal trespassing on private property and needed to leave,” Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said. “The group was given a period of time to start dismantling the camp and leave. They did not show signs of starting to leave even after multiple warnings… this led to the law enforcement decision to take action to enforce the law and evict the rogue group of protesters.” 

Representative from Standing Rock Sioux Tribe coordinated with Morton County Sheriff’s Department, according to Kirchmeier, and collected the tipis from the camp site. Some media were reporting police burned tipis posting a picture from the movie “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee” Wednesday night. 

No tipis were burned; police did not enter the main camp area, and military vehicles were turned around at dusk. Morton County Sheriff’s Department took down the militarized barrier on Highway 1806 to make the incursion, and then replaced barriers on the north and south sides of the bridge after the operation was finished. 

Those arrested were taken to Morton County Correctional Center, Mercer County Jail in Stanton, Cass County Jail in Fargo, Stutsman County Correctional Center in Jamestown, and the Barnes County Correctional Center in Valley City. 

Iron Eyes was anticipating a move by police earlier Wednesday morning when coals were taken from Oceti Oayte Camp’s fire and moved up the hill to start a new sacred fire at Last Child’s Camp. He is an attorney, and ran for Congress against Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., in 2016. Iron Eyes has spent the bitter winter months since November primarily at the camps pitched against the Dakota Access Pipeline. 

“I won’t diminish anyone’s struggle,” Iron Eyes said. “I will be honored to stand next to them. They gave up their lives, their families, their comforts, jobs, college, they traveled thousands of miles with the clothes on their backs, they have sacrificed and they are ready to face the enemy. 

“This is an unarmed revolution.” 

Iron Eyes’ wife, Dr. Sara Jumping Eagle, was found guilty on the misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct in Morton County District Court around the same time her husband was arrested Wednesday. Her charge stemmed from early August when Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II was also arrested. Motions to consider free speech rights and change of venue were denied. 

“I think we did not really expect much from Morton County trial, but we gave it our best,” Jumping Eagle said. Jumping Eagle is a pediatrician and the clinical director at Fort Yates Hospital. “A lot of us are feeling a bit of relief that this is over for now. We all have suspended sentences, some people received fines.” 

Since August, a total of 696 arrests have been made, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department. 

On Tuesday, the Acting Secretary of the Army, Robert Speer, directed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with the easement needed under the Missouri River at Lake Oahe despite the pending environmental impact study, according to Senator John Hoeven, R-N.D. 

DAPl front lines - photo provided by Johnny Dangers

Rodent Poison Spread by North Dakota Rancher Not Cause for “DAPL Cough” 

January 24, 2017 / / 0 Comments

President Trump signs executive orders authorizing DAPL and other US oil pipelines

By C.S. Hagen
CANNON BALL – Around the time Standing Rock’s first camp was pitched against the Dakota Access Pipeline, a deadly poison was spread across thousands of acres in the area by a rancher intent on killing prairie dogs. 

Six eagles, a buffalo, prairie dogs, and an antelope may have died because of the poison, investigators from the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe report. Questions have arisen as to whether humans who traveled to the area last year, now suffering from what is known as the “DAPL cough,” also were affected. 

More than 40,000 pounds of the poison Rozol Prairie Dog Bait, an anticoagulant rodenticide, were purchased by rancher David Meyer, of Flasher, North Dakota, and a portion was spread across more than 5,408 acres of pasturelands, including the Wilder Ranch and the Cannonball Ranch, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. 

In early April 2016, investigators spotted the bright bluish poison spread across large areas of pastureland, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Rozol is manufactured by Liphatech Inc., and has as its most active ingredient chlorophacinone, which if ingested or inhaled causes a slow, painful by internal bleeding, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The poison is also deadly to humans if consumed. 

More than 20,000 people from 350 indigenous tribes from across the world passed though the camps setup by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe against the Dakota Access Pipeline since August 2016. Some environmental watchdogs are concerned the poison was spread to people through ingestion of bison meat, as many activists complain of bloody noses, fatigue, and in some cases coughing up blood. The symptoms are referred to colloquially as the “DAPL cough,” according to a January 23 press release from Save the Buffalo Nation, the operating arm of the nonprofit environment advocate Mother Earth Trust.

Standing Rock’s first camp, the Sacred Stone Camp, began April 1, and the poison was spread approximately the same time, Standing Rock Sioux Director of Environmental Development Allyson Two Bears said. 

“But not anywhere near any of the camps,” Two Bears said. “There was some acreage that was applied on the Cannonball Ranch.” Two Bears wasn’t sure if the poison was spread across 20 parcels of the ranch land sold to Energy Transfer Partners last October, and which was also the location where private security hired by Frost Kennels illegally used dogs to attack activists. 

“It was misapplication, so there was a cleanup that was done, and it was remediated before the main camp was setup,” Two Bears said.

“There are some misconstrued facts. There was 40,000 pounds of purchased by the Meyer Ranch, but not all of it was applied.” Most of the poison was spread in areas in South Dakota, with a smaller portion on the Cannonball Ranch. 

The closest activists came to the poison was on September 3, the day of the attack dogs. Two Bears said it would be nearly impossible for any humans to have been affected by the poison. 

“You would literally have to eat it in order for it to be a lethal dose to you. I imagine you would have to eat a large quantity of it and it would probably have had to die from the poison itself.”

Many nearby ranches donated bison and other meat to the camp last year, Two Bears said. 

“By no means, there are no connections between any of the bison that were donated or provided to the camp throughout the summer. None of the animals that were involved… were exposed to any of the sites. 

“I want to squash that fear now, none of the bison that were donated to the people at the camps were from any of these ranches.”

State investigators and politicians including Congressman Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., have also pointed fingers at Standing Rock and the tribe’s supporters over the disappearance of cattle and buffalo from the area. 

“I know some of the information about cattle disappearance,” Two Bears said. “And I question the integrity of those reports. It’s all been a part of the story that they are trying to write out to paint the picture of protectors being bad people. 

“There are planes flying over daily. If this many bison were killed at the camp, it would not go unnoticed.” The case of missing cattle and bison is still under investigation by the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association.

The narrative local authorities and state politicians are trying to paint stems from recent corruption at the state’s highest ranks, Two Bears said. 

“It goes completely against North Dakota values. We have been corrupt for several years now just because of the oil development here in North Dakota and what that brings.”

Meyers faces hefty fines for the misapplication of the poison, but the case is still in litigation, Two Bears said. Meyer could not be reached for comment. 

Welcome to the Peace Garden State – DAPL front lines – photo provided by Johnny Dangers

Standing Rock’s other issues 

On Tuesday, President Trump signed three executive orders pertaining to oil pipeline infrastructure. 

“Something that has been in dispute,” Trump said before signing the Keystone Pipeline executive order. “We’re going to renegotiate some of the terms, and if they like, we’ll see if we can get that pipeline built. A lot of jobs, 28,000 jobs, great construction jobs.” 

He signed the order, and then turned to the Dakota Access Pipeline executive order. “Again, subject to terms and conditions to be negotiated by us,” Trump said. 

Attorney Chase Iron Eyes spoke on CBS News pertaining to President Trump’s executive orders. 

“It’s clear that Donald Trump is going to represent some of the corporate interests that are seeking to privatize and further stratify the economic injustice that is happening right now on the ground in the state North Dakota in the most significant struggle we feel since the Civil Rights era, since the armed Wounded Knee occupation, since the Occupy Movement. Now he’s signaling that he’s willing to take it to the next level. 

“It’s something that we on the ground anticipated, but it’s going to become a stark and harsh reality, and we are prepared for the fight because we feel that Americans need to stand up for clean water and to determine our own destiny. Standing Rock is going to become a focal point for all of these struggles.” 

Two Bears is concerned about President Trump’s projected policies pertaining to energy infrastructure and environmental issues, including a possible freeze on environmental protection grants. 

“There’s a big fight coming,” Two Bears said. “With this and the administration that’s coming in, we could very well be looking at cuts in essential programs like pesticides that work with applicators that could avoid situations like misapplications. We have to ensure programs are still there and this administration keeps these programs and regulations in order like the US EPA so we can ensure we have the health and safety of everybody. Had we not had the EPA and the pesticide program, we would not have had the route to perform an investigation and ensure that there would not be further exposure.”

Although Standing Rock won victories on December 4 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers halted Energy Transfer Partners’ drilling under the Missouri River at Lake Oahe and then registered its Environmental Assessment Impact study on January 18, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II issued a deadline for all activists to leave the Standing Rock area by January 30. Services, including ports potties, have been cancelled. 

“Yesterday the tribe passed a resolution brought forward by the Cannon Ball District which asked that no camps remain in the Cannonball District,” Archambault said. “For this reason, we ask the protectors to vacate the camps and head home with our most heartfelt thanks. Much work will be required to clean up before the spring thaw, which will flood the area. It is imperative we clean the camps and restore them to their original state before this flooding occurs.”

LaDonna Tamakawastewin Allard, an owner of the Sacred Stone Camp lands, refused to move. 

“The DAPL supporters betrayed by our own people,” she said in a Facebook post.

Iron Eyes, who ran for congress against Cramer last year, said people at the camps are “on edge.  

“If you can, come out here,” Iron Eyes said on Tuesday. “We need you. It’s much easier to fight the most powerful empire on earth without a war chest, than your own people with all the money in the world.” 

There are still up to 500 remaining people in the camps, Iron Eyes said. “Out there in pop media it appears the struggle is over, the tribe has asked people to leave, but hundreds of us have vowed to stay.” 

Funds raised by Standing Rock Tribe over the past six months have been spent on rebuilding the tribe’s economy, particularly with investments focused on jobs, youth, and elder programs, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Council reported. 

“Due to Morton County’s blocking of the bridge and the significant drop in tribal business revenues, as well as incurred expenses, we are facing a difficult time financially. While this movement benefits native rights nationwide especially regarding infrastructure projects, at this time, our Tribe has borne the brunt of the cost.” 

Although Archambault and Governor Doug Burgum have met to discuss issues, Archambault said that the state’s true agenda is clear. 

“The state claims they want to work closely with the tribe on repairing our relationship with them,” Archambault said. “Clearly that is not happening when legislation that impacts us is being drafted without consultation, consent or even basic communication.”

During the state’s legislative assembly in January, the Peace Garden State postponed House Bill 2154, or North Dakota Medical Marijuana Initiative, and introduced other bills including House Bill 1203, hoping to legalize the unintentional running down and killing of individuals obstructing vehicular traffic on public roads, House Bill 1151, which would exempt oil companies from reporting spills less than 420 gallons, House Bill 1304, which attempted to make illegal the wearing of ski masks on public roads in North Dakota, and Senate Bill 2315, an act that proposes the legalization of killing a violent intruder even if escape was possible or when trying to escape arrest after committing a violent felony.  

Sophie Linda Landin - "Tolerance by Oppression" - wet plate by Shane Balkowitsch

US Senator Calls on BIA to Clear Anti-DAPL Camps

January 12, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Standing Rock supporters living with record snowfalls and freezing temperatures remain undaunted

By C.S. Hagen
BISMARCK – North Dakota National Guard units, 1,300 law enforcement officers,  585 arrests, and 22 million dollars apparently isn’t enough for the Peace Garden State to stop Standing Rock’s fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline, politicians report. 

State politicians are now calling on the Bureau of Indian Affairs to help remove activists from camps along the Cannonball River.

“We want more BIA law enforcement officers working with our state and local law enforcement to move protestors off the Corps land in an orderly way,” Senator John Hoeven R-N.D., said. 

All of Hoeven’s guns are blazing as in the same breath he admitted to “working forward” with President-elect Donald Trump’s Administration on the pipeline project, with the US Department of Interior nominee Ryan Zinke R-Mont., and with the BIA’s new director Bruce Loudermilk to discuss the quick dispersal of activists against the Dakota Access Pipeline. 

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is a federal agency established in 1824 under the jurisdiction of the US Department of the Interior. 

Hoeven’s petition to add more officers to the standoff between law enforcement and anti-DAPL activists is in preparation for potential spring floods, which according to National Weather Service Meteorologist Michael Mathews is still months away. Snowfalls have reached record depths of 55.3 inches this winter for the Bismarck area, Mathews said, and old man winter shows no signs of slowing down.

The State Water Commission reported a growing potential for spring floods of the main Dakota Access Pipeline camp location, putting the activists camped there at risk, State Engineer Garland Erbele said.  

Mathews could make no predictions about spring flooding. “It’s too early to tell,” Mathews said. “We don’t have much in the way of snowfall for the next couple of days. February stays pretty cold, and usually that goes through March or April, sometimes even May. It’s just too early to tell.” 

“It would be a pretty big hardship to take that on right now,” Winona Laduke said of Hoeven’s petition to clear the camps. Laduke is a longtime environmentalist, economist, and two-time vice presidential candidate for Ralph Nader’s Green Party. She is also the executive director for Honor the Earth, a non-profit advocate for indigenous environmental support.“Most of the native people have a long understanding of weather patterns, and wise decisions will be made by people who have lived there for thousands of years.”

“I think this is just a total inappropriate overreaction of our US government and military, it continues the mismanagement that started with Governor Dalrymple in calling out the National Guard,” Barry Nelson said. He is an organizer for the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition. “The tradition continues.” 

Although Standing Rock Chairman Dave Archambault II has asked for activists to return home, hundreds remain at the camps along the Cannonball River in below freezing temperatures.

“It appears that the new management at the camp have it under control, why not trust them?” Nelson said. “They’re demonstrating some realistic and reasonable approaches to this, we should trust their instincts. Why not going down and show some concern? No, let’s just lob something from Washington DC. 

“A threat.”

Like a much anticipated prize fight, heavyweight North Dakota, pitted against welterweight Standing Rock, has delivered blow after crushing blow, and yet the tribe refuses to go down. 

From the beginning of the controversy, former Governor Jack Dalrymple has lied to HPR Magazine about meeting with Archambault on a regular basis. The former governor also declared a state of emergency in August 2016, utilizing approximately 1,300 officers from 25 North Dakota counties, 20 cities, and nine states have been used to keep anti-DAPL activists in check. Half truths, falsehoods, and some truths have been reported on both sides of the front lines. An unarmed activist was placed on Morton County’s Most Wanted List and later arrested for disarming a fully-armed infiltrator in November. 

Sophie Linda Landin – “Tolerance by Oppression” – wet plate by Shane Balkowitsch

Activists have been torn from prayer circles, maced, pepper sprayed, shot with rubber bullets, bean bags, beaten with clubs, on lands the Standing Rock Sioux still claim as their own. Men and women have been arrested, “branded” with numbers using magic markers like cattle, or Nazi inmates during World War II, and then thrown into dog cages. Hundreds have been injured. Many more lack proper legal counsel. 

The list continues. Another uppercut was delivered to Standing Rock on January 5 when Hoeven was elected chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, according to a Senate Committee on Indian Affairs press release. After attempting to thwart Native American voices from the DAPL controversy’s beginning, the blow was called a cheap shot by many. 

Hoeven, a former North Dakota governor, an active supporter of the Keystone Pipeline and the 1,172-mile Dakota Access Pipeline, said he was honored to serve on the committee, but added two of his top priorities were to address job creation and natural resource management issues on native lands. 

“One would assume with Indian affairs you would have someone who would have genuine concern of Indian people,” Laduke said. 

Despite Standing Rock’s win on December 4 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of Dakota Access Pipeline, the easement needed to drill across the Missouri River at Lake Oahe, the tribe has had few legal victories to celebrate.

As Trump prepares to take office on January 20, threatening to dismantle President Obama’s work, and reactivating pipelines across the nation, few activists appear worried. 

“It’s happening fam,” attorney and long term activist Chase Iron Eyes said. “We’re going to defeat an empire. We have nothing to lose but the poverty imposed on us. We have nothing to gain but our dignity.” 

As Trump promises a better tomorrow by nominating white supremacists and oil tycoons, Senator Heidi Heitkamp R-N.D., issued a statement asking for North Dakotans input. 

“Any president should be able to nominate those who he feels will best serve in his administration,” Heitkamp said. “It’s critical for me to hear from North Dakotans and I encourage folks to visit my website to share their comments and offer questions they have to help make sure the nominees are prepared to lead our country.” 

Cover of HPR Magazine - December 21, 2016

More Than News is Fake News

December 22, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Fake news is on the rampage across the nation, including inside the Peace Garden State

By C.S. Hagen
FARGO – The time-honored Fourth Estate, governments’ watchdog for centuries, faces an enemy more brutal than any dictator.

Fake news.

Governments, police departments, and corporations all spread their versions of truth, propaganda, that many in the Peace Garden State accept as irrefutable truth. Their reports must be scrutinized at least as much as private reports if journalists are to live up to the title first given by British politician Edmund Burke in 1797.

A new group, recently recognized as the Fifth Estate, consisting of bloggers, non-mainstream journalists, and social media, received steroids with the Internet’s birth. Some argue the Fifth Estate was conceived in 1975 with the birth of a periodical by the same name in Detroit, Michigan.

Their information is fast, sometimes live; the reporters savvy, willing to go where few mainstream journalists dare. They’re typically biased, covering only one side of a story, and their reports are clicked on social media platforms such as Facebook.

Comet Ping Pong pizzeria – online sources

Fake news reports on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram led to the December 5 arrest of Edgar Welch after he read that Comet Ping Pong, a pizzeria in northwest Washington, was harboring young children as sex slaves as part of a child-abuse ring led by Hillary Clinton.

Fact-checker Snopes.com recently unveiled what they believe is a hoax about a terminally ill child dying in Santa Claus’ lap, first printed by the Knoxville News-Sentinel and later by USA Today.

Closer to home, information disseminated by both sides of the Dakota Access Pipeline contains far less humor, but is on a par nationwide for conspiracy theories, retired rancher and former candidate for the North Dakota House of Representative Tom Asbridge said.

Misinformation is “to a very large extent at the state and county level here,” Asbridge said. “I don’t think the protesters have figured out how to do it very well. I would suggest that Morton County is well organized, and they’re getting their press releases way far away from Morton County.

“That’s right here at home,” Asbridge said. “It is so easy today apparently to do fake news. Partly because it is so easy to disseminate stuff, and it goes around the public in an eye blink, and I really don’t know what our defenses are against it when you have a population incapable of thinking.”

Asbridge is a baby boomer, and remembers grade school’s atomic bomb drills and threats of Soviet communist invasion. He believes the CIA’s claim that Russia assisted President-elect Donald Trump’s election is fake news, partly because the CIA is well known to be a campaign influencer.

The Fifth Estate’s rise heralds a paradigm shift that is altering informational sources, newly elected Governor Doug Burgum said during his first day speech to cabinet members and press.

“There’s a whole battle going on around abundance of information and that’s the world all our agencies in the state have to learn to play in,” Burgum said. “We have to become more sophisticated in how we think about communicating not only with our constituents here, but how do we communicate to the world.” He also called upon the government to “stop defending institutions, and start reinventing them.”

Burgum said the paradigm shift for information is altering the need for brick and mortar schools and universities. Information today can be obtained anywhere, which effectively questions the use behind future houses of learning. “We have to look at everything through a new lens.”

In his first-day message Burgum plans to organize the information and misinformation pertaining to DAPL, and begin meeting with tribal leaders immediately. He further called upon the White House to authorize the easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline. “Failing to finish it will send a chilling statement to those in any industry who wish to invest in our state and play by the rules… If the current administration will not act then I will ask the Trump administration for the same thing.”

 

The official version

Morton County Sheriff’s Department and the Peace Garden State claim they are following rule of law, and have stated repeatedly no one but police officers have been injured during confrontations because the injuries have not been verified by their own agencies. Activists using live video streams and posted mostly on Facebook heatedly condemn the state’s tactics and their reports on many issues.

To counter the information coming against them, former Lieutenant Governor Drew Wrigley stated before Fargo’s City Commissioners and Mayor Tim Mahoney that there are no verified reports of injured activists. Additionally, Morton County has begun posting video footage primarily featuring Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney describing the situation to viewers. The videos are entitled “Know the Truth,” and are reports coming from what both sides call the frontlines a short distance from the Standing Rock Sioux reservation.

“Protesters are using social media to get their agitator message to the public,” Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said. “‘Know the Truth’ is a series of videos to provide the public with accurate and factual information coming directly from my agency. These are short narratives that will tell you the real story of what’s occurring in our communities.”

The Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported on its Facebook page that false social media accounts have been claiming to be their department, and is working with Facebook and Twitter to disperse accurate information.

“Both organization have been working closely with us to shut down these sites that are promoting false rumors and hatred.”

On November 12, Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerburg said his company’s goal is to give everyone a voice.

“After the election, many people are asking whether fake news contributed to the result, and what our responsibility is to prevent fake news from spreading,” Zuckerburg said. “These are very important questions and I care deeply about getting them right.

“We don’t want any hoaxes on Facebook.”

Mark Zuckerburg – Facebook profile

Facebook has begun flagging hoaxes and fake news. “Identifying truth is complicated. While some hoaxes can be completely debunked, a greater amount of content, including from mainstream sources, often gets the basic idea right but some details wrong or omitted.”

On December 15, Facebook announced they’re making the process of reporting hoaxes easier, by clicking the upper right hand corner of a post. They’ve also initiated a program to work with third-party fact checking organizations that are signatories to the Poynter’s International Fact Checking Code of Principles.

Poynter, a journalistic training and strengthening organization, said it will base its assessments on five principles: commitments to nonpartisanship and fairness, transparency of sources, transparency of funding and organization, transparency of methodology, and open and honest corrections.

 

A wanted man

One DAPL controversy that has been the target of polarized reports is the October 27 arrest of Kyle Thompson, a Bismarck man who worked security for Thompson-Gray LLC, according to paperwork found in his truck. Brandishing a semi-automatic AR-15, he was run off the road while speeding toward Oceti Sakowin or the Seven Council Fires camp, was disarmed by activists, and arrested by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Brennon Nastacio – Facebook

Law enforcement released him soon after his arrest calling him a victim; activists said Thompson was an agitator and a terroristic threat. The man who initially disarmed Thompson has made the Morton County Sheriff’s Department’s Top Ten Most Wanted List. Brennon Nastacio, a Pueblo Native American, is the man officials want to arrest. He faces charges of felony terrorizing.

“To be on Morton County’s most wanted list sends me a message that Morton County doesn’t care about the people at the camp,” Nastacio said. “They would have rather let Kyle Thompson come in and shoot everybody at camp than for me to disarm him. I hope they realize that I saved lives that day, and drop this arrest warrant that they have out for me. You know, I approached Kyle Thompson to disarm him because I was concerned about the safety of the camp.”

 

An injured women

A more recent incident involved New Yorker Sohpia Wilansky, 21, who was hauling water to the front line when a concussion grenade thrown by police nearly took her arm off, Standing Rock Medic Healer Council reported.

Sophia Wilansky – Facebook page photo

Morton County and the Peace Garden State deny the accusation, saying they reported no incidents of activists harmed by law enforcement’s less-than-lethal armaments. Wilansky was injured by an explosion from the activists’ side, Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported, even after many eyewitnesses came forward saying that Wilansky was first struck with a rubber bullet, and then targeted by a compression grenade while she was on the ground. Another eyewitness said she was hit first by a rubber bullet, and then by the grenade as she crossed the guardrail south of Backwater Bridge, approximately 30 feet from the frontline.

Bismarck Police Sgt. Noah Lindlow attempted to counter the statements on Morton County Sheriff’s Department “Know the Truth” campaign.

“We’re here today to attempt to dispel some of the misinformation that’s been on social media about the less lethal munitions out at the North Dakota DAPL protest site,” Lindlow said.

He fired a rubber bullet, tear gas, which he called CS gas, threw a flash sound diversionary device, called a concussion grenade. He tossed the grenade 15 feet away, the metal canister exploded, but did not shatter.

Sophia Wilansky’s injured arm on December 13, 2016, 22 days after being hit by non-lethal weapons – Facebook page photo

Many posts on social media and legitimate news sources claimed that Wilansky lost her left arm.

Wilansky posted a picture of her arm on December 13, pointing out the bullet wound from where she was shot “right before I was hit with the grenade,” she said. She has undergone intensive surgeries, black rods are screwed into her bones to hold them in place, she was on blood thinners to halt clots, and veins and skin from across her body has been used to replace and repair tissues in her arm.

 

You decide

Law enforcement involved in Morton County began preparing for riot control long before many of the arrests began.

According to August 18, 2016 invoices from Streicher’s in Minneapolis, the Bismarck Police Department ordered 255 riot-control ammunition rounds including military-style canister max-smoke grenades, 40mm exact impact sponge rounds, continuous discharge CS gas for riot control – many of which the department ordered as “need a rush for protest.” Streicher’s has been providing gear and tactical products for law enforcement and public safety officials since 1953, according to its website.

Morton County has stated activists are making pipe bombs, and using horses to charge police lines.

Activists stated they were smoking sacred pipes, not making pipe bombs, and the horse show was a traditional ceremony for introducing their horses.

Morton County stated their use of water cannons were to put out fires at Backwater Bridge. Activists stated they made fires to keep warm.

Morton County stated Backwater Bridge is unsafe, and activists are dangerous.

Activists said they’re peacefully protesting and protecting water rights among other issues.

Activists are butchering buffalo; buffaloes, once an endangered species, are deemed sacred beasts by Native Americans. State politicians primarily Congressman Kevin Cramer R-N.D., made implications that activists were responsible for the butchered buffalo, but the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association reported the case is still under investigation.

Former Governor Jack Dalrymple published an editorial in the StarTribune on December 15 saying mob rule triumphed over law and common sense and a “weak-kneed Army Corps” days after praising the US Army Corps of Engineers and law enforcement agencies during an address before state legislature.

“The Dakota Access Pipeline… has been marred by a steady stream of misinformation and rumor,” Dalrymple stated. He stated that “not one person from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe attended any meetings or public hearings during the 13-month review process.

Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II refuted the argument after posting audio feed of a meeting the tribe attended. He has also been accused of “selling out” the movement by asking people to go home in the face of deadly Dakota blizzards, and for accepting monies from Energy Transfer Partner’s CEO Kelcy Warren, according to the Billings Gazette.

Supplies were being stored in a warehouse belonging to the tribe, but the goods were stored due to the first blizzard when UPS and FedEx delivery semis were unable to make drop offs at the former Oceti Sakowin, now known as the All Nations Camp.

Dalrymple’s office also stated they are in constant contact with the tribe, but after requests for records made by HPR Magazine the governor’s office reported they have had no contact with Archambault during the most intense weeks of the standoff.

 

Truth

Satirical news websites such as The Onion and the China Daily Show have had their reports circulated across the world, and in at least two cases plagiarized by credible newspapers such as China’s central government’s mouthpiece, the China Daily.

At a glance, websites like the China Daily Show appear legitimate, headlining stories such as “Japan halts porn exports to China over Diaoyu controversy” and “Tainted milk causes Chinese women to ‘grow breasts.’” The design is professional, like any other online news source. A short dig into the site reveals the content is witty satire, and that its office is located in a Ukrainian warship.

In the same light pictures can easily be mistaken for truth. Tampered pictures create rumors. Rumors spark fear. Fear spreads lies, and if enough half-truths are told, people begin to believe, attorney Chase Iron eyes said. Iron Eyes is from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, he ran for congress in 2016, and has recently immersed himself in the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

“Ignore all the rumors and fear,” Iron Eyes said. “Someone died at camp. They’re flooding the camp. The tribe dropped its lawsuit. The tribe is closing the camp. They’re not letting anyone into camp.”

The only way to truly know what is going on inside the frontlines is to have boots on the ground – something the Peace Garden State has not attempted once since the controversy began, other than to form militarized lines to force activists back from the pipeline route.

What is factual is that to date, law enforcement has arrested 571 individuals since August 10. Only 6.8 percent of all arrested are from the Peace Garden State, 53 percent or all arrested are white and 41 percent are Native American, Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported.

Also true is that the No DAPL movement initiated by Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has gathered more tribes from across the world than any other time in history. The majority of the activists gathered are peaceful, but believe that civil disobedience is necessary to halt the Dakota Access Pipeline. Disagreements between activists and tribes have arisen, mostly between the elders and the youth. Some want to take more aggressive steps against police and pipeline workers; most want peaceful resolutions.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has denied the final easement for DAPL to cross the Missouri River at Lake Oahe, and has initiated a full environmental impact assessment along the pipeline’s entire route.

Energy Transfer Partners has invested heavily into North Dakota’s politicians electoral campaigns; many state politicians have invested personally into Bakken oil and Bakken oil projects. Failure of the pipeline would hurt future infrastructure investments, politicians say, and for some their own pocketbooks.

To combat the spread of fake news, or at the very least, control the inner rumormonger, nonprofit consumer advocate FactCheck suggested a few tips:

  • Consider the source
  • Read beyond the headlines
  • Check the author
  • Check the date
  • Check your biases
  • Consult the experts
  • Ask yourself: is this some kind of joke?

While the United States battles an addiction to fake news and defamatory information, Canada has laws that protect both sides, but adds importance to “responsible communication on matters of public interest,” a law that does not only apply to journalists, but also to bloggers, and anyone communicating with the public, Julian Porter, Q.C. a specialist in civil litigation stated.

“The best investigative reporting often takes a trenchant or adversarial position on pressing issues of the day,” the Supreme Court of Canada stated in Grant v. Torstar Corporation. “An otherwise responsible article should not be denied the protection of the defense simply because of its critical tone.”

Basically, in Canada, if a journalist reports responsibly, covering both sides to any controversy, they are protected with “qualified immunity” even if they report incorrect information, according to the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression.

 

 

“Staying Ahead of the Game”

December 14, 2016 / / 0 Comments

“Please, please, please be confident” in Dakota Access Pipeline, company leader says

By C.S. Hagen 
ALL NATIONS CAMP – While Arctic winds and near-record snows pummel the prairies, all is not quiet on the pipeline front.

The camp that drew tens of thousands of supporters from across the world, Oceti Sakowin, or the Seven Council Fires Camp, has been shut down. The sacred fire lit continuously since July has been extinguished, but a new fire has taken its place. The former camp is now known as All Nations Camp, according to attorney Chase Iron Eyes. Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II has asked everyone to leave, but more than a thousand remain, both at All Nations Camp and at the Sacred Stone Camp.

Across Cannonball River at the Sacred Stone Camp, owner of the land LaDonna Tamakawastewin Allard said she plans to stay.

LaDonna Tamakawastewin Allard and her husband Miles Allard

“We want the world to know that we at sacred stone are still standing,” Allard said. “We will still be here, we still have our sacred fire, it is still burning, and we want the world to know that we stand in prayer… we stand with Chase Iron Eyes and the new All Nations Camp, and we will be here until the black snake is dead.”

She calls for help to survive the bitter Dakota winter ahead. Firewood is needed, as are plumbers, electricians, welders, and carpenters to make Sacred Stone Camp a more permanent community, she said.

“The camp is strong,” Iron Eyes said. “One fire has been put out, a new fire has been relit. No more glory here, only hard work.”

There is no one chief, Iron Eyes said, everyone is working during daylight hours to help each other survive the winter.

Chase Iron Eyes

“Some people have left camp because of the deadly weather,” Iron Eyes said. “More have arrived… I can’t abandon those in need. Some of you won’t leave, and the world is blessed with your courage. It’s our job to help you stay warm, lodged and fed. Trump takes office in 41 days. DAPL will die if we keep the fight and shift the battlefield…”

 

Oil spills and a second “black snake”

Approximately 200 miles from Standing Rock, another pipeline leak on December 5 sent 4,200 barrels of oil into the Billings County Ash Coulee Creek, which drains into the Little Missouri River, and then into the Missouri River, the North Dakota Department of Health reported. Belle Fourche Pipeline Company manages the pipeline, and it has had a total of 14 leaks in their history in North Dakota.

The sacred fire at Oceti Sakowin before it was extinguished – photo by C.S. Hagen

“Any time we have oil released into water we view that as significant, we’re taking it seriously,” Spill Investigation Program Manager Bill Seuss said. The cold weather has its drawbacks and benefits, he said. Ice slows mobility, but has also trapped much of the oil on top of the creek. “The freezing river slows things down,” Seuss said.

While Standing Rock restructures, activists shut down a meeting held by Enbridge, Inc. at the Doubletree in Bemidji, Minnesota. Bemidji Police Department arrived and threatened nearly 150 people present to leave. Enbridge personnel expected a questions and answer session, but activists suspect they changed their “game plan” after too many activists arrived and started asking questions.

Oil spill at Ash Coulee Creek – photo provided by ND Department of Health

“It was not a forum, it was standing room only, like a buffet,” Winona Laduke, a longtime environmentalist, economist, and two-time vice presidential candidate for Ralph Nader’s Green Party, said. She is also the executive director for Honor the Earth, a non-profit advocate for indigenous environmental support.

“They whited out the Sandpiper and put in Line 3,” Laduke said. “They’re in the process of doing their environmental impact statement, and the public utilities is doing the statement and they don’t have the capacity for it.”

Laduke asked questions directly to Enbridge personnel. She was ignored, and they walked out, she said. “They thought there would be a few county commissioners and a few white guys, and they wouldn’t answer any questions. A lot of people wanted to know about North Dakota.

“If you’re going to bring tanks here into northern Minnesota,” Laduke said during the meeting. She was met with silence. “You’re going to bring tanks? That’s what we want to know.”

A police officer told her it was time to go. Friends grabbed her arms in support, making it clear they were not going anywhere, Laduke said. Activists yelled at police they should go apply to Morton County.

“As soon as Winona Laduke started asking questions a police officer came in and said she needed to leave for no reason at all,” activist Thomas Barrett. “Because of that, people started getting upset because they’re targeting Winona Laduke. She’s one of the women who has ignited the fire that is in us now, the fire to care for Mother Earth. We demanded to know something and the majority of the Enbridge walked out, because we started asking questions they don’t want to answer,” Barrett said.

Barrett planned to ask questions about abandoned pipelines, still leaking.

The Enbridge pipeline, formerly known as the Sandpiper was routed to cut through Chippewa and Ojibwe treaty territory.

“Now Enbridge is turning its focus on the proposed Line 3 project, which would carry tar sands oil from Alberta to Superior Wisconsin, some of the best lakes and wild rice beds of Northern Minnesota, and the heart of Ojibwe treaty territory,” Laduke said.

“As Enbridge kicks off a renewed public relations campaign for Line 3, they owe us all an explanation of how this project is any different from Dakota Access. And they need to account for the hundreds of injuries…”

Lieutenant Governor Drew Wrigley said before Fargo’s City Commissioners and Mayor Tim Mahoney last week that no injuries at Standing Rock had been validated.

“So, what’s up Enbridge?” Laduke said. “Are you going to bring those tanks to Ojibwe territory now? And, when are you going to repair the damage you have caused us?”

“We have to stay ahead of the game,” Barrett said during Tuesday’s meeting. “We have to get our legal ready. We have to support our frontrunners. This is where we mobilize. This is where we continue the fight. Standing Rock is not over, this is now Standing Rock right here.”

“Enbridge’s Line 3 Opening Party in Bemidji did not go well,” Laduke said. “We want to know why Enbridge let all those people get hurt out there in North Dakota when we asked them to stop the violence… They were one-third owners of the Dakota Excess Pipeline and they could have said something. This is not Morton County… that ain’t gonna fly here.”

“This isn’t North Dakota, this is Minnesota where the government might care a little bit about our concerns,” Barrett said to the crowd. News of an Enbridge meeting scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in Clearwater was announced to the activists present.

DAPL drill pad – photo provided by Digital Smoke Signals

Energy Transfer Partners meeting secretly taped

A secret recording of a corporate Energy Transfer Partners meeting led by President and COO Matthew Ramsey was given anonymously to Shaun King, the senior justice writer for the New York Daily News, who made the audio public, and he states the recording is authentic. A person at the end of the speech thanks the main speaker, naming him Matt.

“We have been in quite a fight here on DAPL…” Ramsey said in the recording. “Make no mistake about it, the pipeline is going through and it’s going through exactly where…” The audio is interrupted.

“We have not stopped for one second on construction of this pipeline, unless we were ordered to stop by court, which we were then ordered to stop twice but ultimately both of those courts that did order us to stop went and looked at the facts, which are very hard to come by in this process.” 

The Dakota Access Pipeline has been built on both sides of Lake Oahe up to the point where Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of the Dakota Access Pipeline, lacks approximately 1,100 feet from the federal government, and about 4,000 feet planned to go under the Missouri River at Lake Oahe.

“The politics of this thing has been unbelievable,” Ramsey said. “Never in my lifetime…” The audio is interrupted. “I think I would be having an argument with regulators where we’ve done nothing except play by the rules. We always, always play by the rules. It was evidenced that when we came under attack here, there was never anything, not one thing that came out…” audio is interrupted again. “It was a confirmation that we did it by the book.

“But I gotta tell you one thing in this room, election night changed everything,” Ramsey said. “We’re now going through a transition where we will have a new President of the United States. And he gets it. We fully expect as soon as he is inaugurated his team is going to move to get the final approvals done and DAPL will cross the lake.”

A 65-day drilling schedule remains to complete the 1,172-mile pipeline, depending on the weather.

“People in North Dakota… people are tired of this. The tide has turned, and people are understanding what a great project this will be for the state of North Dakota, and that came right out of the governor’s mouthpiece that he’s very much in favor of this thing, so, I think we’re off and running on DAPL.”

The pipeline plans to move up to 570,000 of sweet crude Bakken oil through a public utility. Much of the oil will be exported, according to analysts, and will not benefit American consumers. North Dakota politicians including Senator Heidi Heitkamp D-N.D., helped lead efforts to legalize increased exports of liquefied gas and crude oil in 2015.

“I know everyone in this room has had to deal with protesters, and everyone in this room has had to read on social media the misinformation that’s out there,” Ramsey said. “It’s not fair. We feel like keeping our head down and doing what we do best, which is put this pipeline in the ground is the best thing we can do. We’ve never stopped doing that.”

Ramsey attacked live video feeds on social media websites such as Facebook as rumor mills. Earlier this week Governor Jack Dalrymple blamed Energy Transfer Partners for not standing up for themselves and defending their positions.

“Why don’t we just immediately answer back every time something is stated wrong about the company and what we’re doing?” Ramsey said. “You have to understand, and I didn’t understand this until I got kinda deep into it, this is not really about water and this is not about… it’s about environmental activism, and it’s nothing more than that. These are people who are pushing the all-fossil fuels in the ground at every angle. Make no mistake, this is an event that they’re using to raise lots and lots of money. If they can create a cause and if they can create a lot of publicity, which they’ve clearly done here, it’s an avenue for that to raise money, not only to fight us on this project, but to fight all the projects.

“So we’ll continue to fight for this thing, but please, please, please be confident in this company. We’re gonna get this through in short order.”

Route 6 – photo provided by Digital Smoke Signals

 

Fargo Wants Peace, State Wants More Help, Energy Transfer Partners Will Carry On

December 6, 2016 / / 0 Comments

As Veterans for Standing Rock bow in an apology to Native Americans, Energy Transfer Partners said their plans will not be changed

By C.S. Hagen 
FARGO – Fargo city leaders asked the state for a peaceful resolution Monday, while veterans from across the nation apologized for colonialist behavior, bowing before Native Americans in Standing Rock.

Energy Transfer Partners reported it didn’t care what the US Army Corps of Engineers said. The Dakota Access Pipeline will carry on.

More than 2,000 veterans travelled to Standing Rock over the weekend, according to Veterans for Standing Rock’s Facebook page. Their arrival assisted Standing Rock and the tribe’s supporters in its fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline, according to activists, and an apology made by the veterans to Native Americans helped heal old wounds.

Veterans asking for forgiveness in a ceremony led Wesley Clark Jr. and Chief Arvol Looking Horse, Faith Spotted Eagle, Chief Leonard Crow Dog, Phyllis Young, and Ivan Looking Horse, among others. Wesley Clark Jr. is in front - photo provided by Redhawk

In a ceremony led by Wesley Clark Jr. asking forgiveness for atrocities committed on behalf of the US military to Chief Arvol Looking Horse, Faith Spotted Eagle, Chief Leonard Crow Dog, Phyllis Young, and Ivan Looking Horse, among others. Wesley Clark Jr. is in front – photo provided by Redhawk

“We came, we fought you, we took your land,” Wesley Clark Jr., son of retired General Wesley Clark Sr., said. Clark Jr. is one of the organizers of the Veterans for Standing Rock. “We signed treaties that we broke. We stole minerals from your sacred hills. We blasted the faces of our presidents onto your sacred mountain… and then we took your children, we tried to take your language. We didn’t respect you. We polluted your earth. We hurt you in so many ways, and we’ve come to say we are sorry. We are at your service.”

The group then took a knee, bowing before Native Americans. Some kneeling choked back sobs. The hall was silent when Chief Leonard Crow Dog placed a hand on top of Clark’s head, saying all was forgiven.

“World peace,” Crow Dog said. “We will take a step, we are Lakota sovereign nation. We were a nation and we’re still a nation. We have our language to speak. We have preserved the caretaker position. We do not own the land. The land owns us.”

According to some estimates more than 12,000 people are currently at Oceti Sakowin, or in nearby shelters as the second snow storm in as many weeks hit the area.

Dr. Cornel West at Standing Rock. West is an American philosopher, political activist, social critic, author, public intellectual, and prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America - photo by C.S. Hagen

Dr. Cornel West at Standing Rock. West is an American philosopher, political activist, social critic, author, public intellectual, and prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America – photo by C.S. Hagen

On Monday, one person was arrested and charged with criminal trespass after he allegedly crossed Backwater Bridge. The arrest total is now 566, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department.

“This is the kind of stuff that re-escalates things, and then he brings the attitude right along with it,” Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney said. Laney has been working as operations chief for Morton County since August.

Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco Logistics said the decision made by the US Army Corps of Engineers on Sunday to reject the easement proposal for crossing the Missouri River at Lake Oahe was a “purely political action.

“For more than three years now, Dakota Access Pipeline has done nothing but play by the rules,” a press release made available by Energy Transfer Partners reported. “The White House’s directive to the Corps for further delay is just the latest in a series of overt and transparent political actions by an administration which has abandoned the rule of law in favor of currying favor with a narrow and extreme political constituency.

“As stated all along, [we] are fully committed to ensuring that this vital project is brought to completion and fully expect to complete construction of the pipeline without any additional rerouting in and around Lake Oahe. Nothing this administration has done today changes that in any way.”

Politicians around the Peace Garden State echoed Energy Transfer Partners condemnation. Few congratulated Standing Rock on its win.

Congressman Kevin Cramer R-ND., called President Obama lawless.

Morton County Chairman Cody Schulz hopes the federal government sends in troops to clear out the camps after President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office.

Lieutenant Governor Drew Wrigley, a frequent naysayer against Standing Rock and its supporters has also spoken on radio shows such as the Flag and on Rob Port’s SayAnything blog damning the protests and reporting activists have nobody to blame but themselves for injuries or hardship.

Wrigley dropped hints to the Fargo City Commissioners on Monday that Morton County still needed Fargo’s police support against No DAPL activities.

“Let’s not kid ourselves, it is not a protest,” Wrigley said. Assaults on police, illegal activities, illegal camping on lands owned by the Army Corps do not constitute a protest, he said. “The protest has now gone up to about 7,000 people, the state of the situation remains very tense, and I don’t see it being resolved anytime soon.

“Nobody wants there to be a humanitarian disaster out there. They’re in tents, in yurts… It’s cold, it’s snowing.”

Allegations against excessive use of force by law enforcement, are only on social media have not been substantiated, Wrigley said. He made no reference to the dozens of lawsuits filed by the Lawyer’s Guild Mass Defense Committee and other law firms. All reports of activists injured have not been substantiated, Wrigley said. He praised law enforcement for holding their ground.

“Law and order has to be maintained,” Wrigley said. “There have been more than 500 arrests, the reason there are not four times that amount of arrests is that we are so outnumbered. We have a 3.8 billion dollar infrastructure project, and it is critical, not only to our economy, but to our way of life.”

Fargo Police Chief David Todd said all city police officers are now home in Fargo.

“Before we send out any more assistance we’re going to see how the decision [Army Corps easement denial] plays out,” Todd said.

At no time during confrontations did Fargo police, the state’s largest police force, use pepper spray, rubber bullets, or water cannons on activists, Todd said.

Fargo Police Chief David Todd speaking before mayor and city commissioners about Fargo Police involvement in No DAPL controversy in Morton County - photo by C.S. Hagen

Fargo Police Chief David Todd and Lieutenant Governor Drew Wrigley speaking before mayor and city commissioners about Fargo’s involvement in No DAPL controversy in Morton County – photo by C.S. Hagen

Morton County asked every department and police chief in the Peace Garden State for help, Todd said, and nearly every department responded.

Every Fargo police officer who went to Morton County volunteered to go, Todd said. “I did not force anyone to go. I have been to Morton County twice… and at times I’ve stood with them on the line as the protests occurred. Many of the protesters are peaceful, and we have supported their First Amendment rights.”

Todd also asked Wrigley for prompt reimbursement of Fargo’s costs during the controversy.

Few voices spoke in defense of the Native Americans: City Commissioner John Strand was one.

“We are very proud of our law enforcement here in town,” Strand said. He is in his third year on the Native American Commission, and said to his knowledge, he knows of no one who advocates violence against police. “The folks I know do not endorse or support unlawful behavior. They stand in prayer and they stand peacefully. To my knowledge it is as spiritual as it is anything else.”

He didn’t divulge into the politics behind the project, but said the public deserves transparency, Fargo police deserved honor and respect, as well as Native Americans. He asked members of the Native American Commission to stand, and he thanked them. A round of applause filled the city commissioners’ room.

“I join in thanking the law enforcement and thanking the Native American leadership for being Americans, and participating, and being engaged, and standing for what you believe in, and for advocating for peace for prayer, and advocating for a higher consciousness for all of us as we move through this.

“I am an eternal optimist – that we will come out of this better for it. There will be an opportunity after this is all done to step up our relationship with our native communities and with each other.”

Mayor Tim Mahoney agreed, saying that Fargo would support peaceful means in the future.

“We on the commission support the fact that we have a strong Native American Commission, and we listen to them, we listen to their thoughts, and we listen to any of their suggestions in our community,” Mahoney told Wrigley. “We know that you and the governor have a tough task before you, we’re all concerned that somebody might get hurt.”

More than 7,000 people against North Dakota’s forces is “just asking for a disaster,” Mahoney said.

“If there’s some way we can help with a resolution, we would be happy to do that. We would like a peaceful resolution, and we will support that 100 percent.”

 

Former Cass County Sergeant Accuses Sheriff of “Double Standards”

December 6, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Retired employee of Cass County Sheriff’s Office goes before County Commissioners to accuse the sheriff of favoritism and sexism

By C.S. Hagen
FARGO – A recently retired employee of the Cass County Sheriff’s Office criticized Sheriff Paul Laney before the Cass County Commissioners meeting Monday, threatening lawsuits on the horizon due to the sheriff’s favoritism, sexism, and double standards.

Gail Wischmann, a 34-year-employee of Cass County Sheriff’s Office, left the career she loved early and retired due to Laney, she said, after presenting a list of allegations attacking the Sheriff’s Department.

Retired Cass County Sgt. Gail Wischmann speaks before Cass County Commissioners Board - photo by C.S. Hagen

Retired Cass County Sgt. Gail Wischmann speaks before Cass County Commissioners Board – photo by C.S. Hagen

“I could not continue to work under the leadership of Sheriff Laney,” Wischmann said. “To do so would compromise my values of fairness and honesty. What I find amazing is that no one before has done this, I can’t walk around with this on my shoulders.”

She said Laney’s management style is dictatorial, micromanaging irrelevant issues while ignoring more important problems.

Wischmann knew she made the correct choice to retire after her final meeting with Laney. “I was blindsided by a verbal assault, it was just him and I, in which he threatened me with reprisals if I dared say anything negative about him or the department. He informed me, ‘people don’t like me, they actually even hate me.’

“It makes me angry that someone like him threatens me or any other employee should I come and speak. With his finger pounding on the table, he wanted me to know he had documentation on me.

“I view that as a threat.”

Wischmann didn’t know what documentation the sheriff was referring to, she said. She used to have a sign hanging in her office that read, “Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes.” Wischmann’s voice shook as she strongly criticized the Cass County Sheriff’s Office before the Cass County Commissioners.

She accused the office of not performing an internal investigation after a jail officer addressed male and female staff as “penises and vaginas.” The sheriff’s office acknowledged the incident, saying they took action and used it as a learning experience of inappropriate behavior, Cass County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Sgt. Kim Briggeman said.

“It is inappropriate, but we dealt with it as a learning experience,” Briggeman said. “Not every incident needs to be turned over to OPS, but there was action and it was dealt with swiftly. And to my knowledge it has not happened with that officer again.”

Wischmann also stated that Office of Professional Standards, or OPS reports, are frequently not performed. When a deputy once came to work smelling of alcohol, the sheriff did not perform a breath test, she said. Instead, Laney denied the captain had been drinking, she said.

Briggeman heard about the drinking incident for the first time yesterday, but said that any officer under the influence of a controlled substance would be dealt with accordingly. “It would be something that we would absolutely review and look at it immediately.”

Current proper procedures for in-house management are in the process of changing over from general orders to a program called Lexipol, he said. Lexipol is a provider of risk management policies and training for public safety organizations, according to Lexipol’s website.

“The liability of a law enforcement officer being under the influence at work is completely unacceptable and it would be an intolerable act to allow them to continue to work,” Briggeman said. “There would 100 percent absolutely be an intervention.”

Laney has created an office where sexism abounds, Wischmann said.

“There are double standards within our department, favoritism, sexism, within the sheriff’s office, such as females not allowed to be a roller derby girl, yet allowing a male employee to practice amateur boxing.” Female deputies are also overlooked for assignments because male supervisors believe that males perform better, she said.

Briggeman said the incident was true, but that the sport was hindering the female officer’s work performance.

“As far as that roller derby stuff goes, he’ll absolutely acknowledge the fact the female deputy did hold a conversation with him, and the reason why that conversation took place was because that female deputy was getting hurt and she was missing work, it was obviously having an effect on her professional life. The male deputy was cautioned just the same about the dangers of boxing.”

The male-to-female ratio in the department’s command office is approximately fifty-fifty, Briggeman said.

“If you’re not the right fit you’re not it, if you’re the right fit, you’re it,” Briggeman said. “At one point four out of seven of his command officers were females. There isn’t any merit behind it.”

Wischmann admits she was a challenging employee. “I speak my mind, and sometimes, most times, it’s not well filtered. I don’t ever sugar coat anything, good or bad, I believe honesty is my strongest value.”

Wischmann also stated she was appalled that the meritorious award was given out to everyone in the department, approximately 160 employees, even if the deputies were on sick leave or on vacation the night Office Jason Moszer was killed by Marcus Schumacher. “As long as you were employed by a certain date you received this award. And to me this is a disservice to those people who were actually on the line being fired at that night. Those are the deputies that should have been recognized. You don’t give me a meritorious award because I worked the night shift that week.”

The awards were given because during that time nearly everyone in the sheriff’s department, no matter their roles, was called upon for extra duties, Briggeman said.

“He took it upon himself, when Chief Todd reached out to us that it would be an absolute honor to ensure that Fargo police department would be able to honor and pay respects to an officer who fell in the line of duty,” Briggeman said. Administrative assistants during that time answered more phone calls, patrol staff worked longer hours to assist the Fargo Police Department.

“To be honest, I, on the other hand, am upset that a former sergeant would have felt appalled to the fact that a majority if not all the sheriff’s office personnel stepped up to ensure the police department had that opportunity. It was an undertaking, it was absolutely an undertaking, it was something I hope I never have to do again, but I would do again tomorrow if called upon.

“I wear that meritorious award on my shirt.”

Staffing inside the county jail is an ongoing problem, Wischmann said, but the department does not need more patrol officers. “I know he has given you some numbers and I don’t… let me just say they are not truly what they are,” she said to the county commissioners. “They’ve come up with a system to inflate a documentation to look, to inflate the numbers larger than what they are for service of calls.

“I don’t appreciate his comments to administrative and a command staff that a request for another school officer is a good way to back door another patrol officer into the budget.”

Briggeman stated it is no secret that there is necessity for more patrol officers in the sheriff’s department. He has gone alone on assignments numerous times when a second car should have been involved. Doctoring paperwork, however, is impossible, he said.

“Everything is documented, every call for service, every run, whatever it may be it is clearly documented,” Briggeman said. “How you would doctor those reports? I don’t know.”

Wischmann said she has no other agenda other than to alert the public and the Cass County Commissioners on “what he [Laney] truly is,” she said. “They don’t see behind the scenes.”

Laney’s treatment of private citizens was also recorded on November 21, when Laney and Mandan Police Chief Jason Ziegler called Dakota Access Pipeline activists Liz George and Kana Newell over to their table while eating at the Rice Bowl. Within minutes during the conversation, both chiefs told the women to leave the restaurant, threatening arrest.

The sheriff’s department had no response to the video, according to Briggeman.

Wischmann also accused the sheriff’s department for paying two commanders to attend Laney’s graduation ceremony from the Federal Bureau of Investigation Academy in Virginia.

The department said the accusation was true, but that the two commanders were former FBI academy graduates, and the bureau encourages co-workers to attend graduation ceremonies.

Laney is a Cass County hero, according to his police biography. Originally from rural Cass County, near Horace, he served four years in the Marine Corps before becoming a Fargo police officer. He served as a lieutenant and commander of the Red River Valley SWAT Team, and was sworn in as Cass County Sheriff in 2007. He is president of the North Dakota Sheriff’s and Deputies Association, serves on the board of directors for the North Dakota Association of Counties. Laney is decorated, heavily, including the 2011 winner of the “Government Leader of the Year” award and in 2012 the “National Sheriff of the Year” award.

Laney has also been serving as Morton County Sheriff’s Department operations chief since mid August.

Wischmann served 34 years in the sheriff’s department starting in 1982 in the jail. She then moved into the warrants division, and became a sergeant working the streets, she said. When Laney took office, she created an office of internal affairs where she worked for seven years. Two years before retiring she became an administrative assistant, and continued working with the sex offenders’ office.

“I’d like to suggest that Cass County Commission, that you consider more vigilance on monitoring the sheriff’s office,” Wischmann said. “There are serious problems going on in the Cass County Sheriff’s office.

“I have no reason to make this up. One of these days Cass County is going to get hit hard with a lawsuit, and more than one lawsuit, not only from employees but from the public as well.”

A VICTORY! At Standing Rock

December 5, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Standing Rock takes a win, prepares for DAPL response

By C.S. Hagen 
OCETI SAKOWIN – Rexx Brady rose Sunday morning knowing it was going to be a good day for the fighters against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

“It was a spiritual feeling,” Brady, a Cheyenne from Washington State, said. “Calm. I knew something good was going to happen today.”

His first clue was sunshine. After a week of storms and snow, the clouds parted, warming the prairies. Tension lifted, he said. A caravan of cars filled with Veterans for Standing Rock supporters stretched a mile south on Highway 1806. Police barricades disappeared en route to the camps, and Morton County Sheriff’s Department backed away from the militarized zone north of Backwater Bridge.

Activists offering thanks of sage, fir nettles, and tobacco to the sacred fire - photo by C.S. Hagen

Activists offering thanks of sage, fir nettles, and tobacco to the sacred fire – photo by C.S. Hagen

“This is what hope looks like, regardless of the color of your skin,” Brady said. “All these prayers are being answered. This is a big turning point for America.”

News on Sunday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of Dakota Access Pipeline, the easement needed to drill across the Missouri River at Lake Oahe, took many by surprise. The Army Corps further stated a full environmental impact statement must be made and a new route must be explored.

DAPL is leaving - photo by C.S. Hagen

DAPL is leaving – photo by C.S. Hagen

“Although we have had continuing discussion and exchanges of new information with the Standing Rock Sioux and Dakota Access, it’s clear that there’s more work to do,” Army Assistant Secretary for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy said. The pipeline stretches 1,172 miles to Illinois and is projected to transport as much as 570,000 of crude oil per day, according to the Army Corps. Most, if not all of the oil transported eventually to Texas is for export and not for national consumption, activists and analysts say.

Activists hug each other during celebration of Standing Rock victory - photo by C.S. Hagen

Activists hug each other during celebration of Standing Rock victory – photo by C.S. Hagen

“It’s good news, this is a victory,” attorney Chase Iron Eyes said. He ran for congress in North Dakota this year, and has become active in the DAPL fight since his loss in November. “We were not ready for this, everything here has been so tense, so this comes as a sigh of relief.”

“We wholeheartedly support the decision of the administration and commend with the utmost gratitude the courage it took on the part of President Obama, the Army Corps, the Department of Justice, and the Department of the Interior to take steps to correct the course of history and to do the right thing,” Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II said.

Archambault further said more peaceful prayer is needed, but hinted that it may be time to return home. Activists on the loud speakers also began talking about how the area of Oceti Sakowin, which is in a floodplain, needed to be cleaned of all debris, tents, tipis, and equipment soon.

“With this decision we look forward to being able to return home and spend the winter with our families and loved ones, many of whom sacrificed as well,” Archambault said. “We look forward to celebrating in wopila, in thanks, in the coming days.”

As hundreds of veterans with Veterans for Standing Rock slowly caravanned into the camps, Kenny Frost, who works with federal agencies on indigenous training said the day was historically important.

“It would never have happened if the veterans didn’t come here,” Frost said. “First time in history, with 350 tribes together, this is the first time on all our lives for something like this to happen. But more than 500 people have faced a lot of trauma, and right now we just need to move forward and on to a federal level.”

Veterans for Standing Rock before sacred fire - photo by C.S. Hagen

Veterans for Standing Rock before sacred fire – photo by C.S. Hagen

“We’ll take this as a win,” Tom Goldtooth said. Goldooth is the director of the Indigenous Environmental Network. “But we are going to wait and see what DAPL does.”

The decision by the Army Corps, while welcome to activists was President Obama’s attempt to secure his legacy before he steps down from office, Goldtooth said. The real fight has only just begun.

Few people are preparing to leave the camps off Highway 1806. After a brief celebration of fireworks, dancing, and singing around the sacred fire, activists resumed their work on sturdier housing. The Cannonball River is quickly freezing, and more snow and lower temperatures are predicted for the week.

John Bolenbaugh, a former oil company employee turned whistleblower after witnessing firsthand oil companies’ tactics behind constructing pipelines and cleaning oil spills, spoke to thousands gathered in an ever-widening circle.

“I’ve wanted to piss them off so much that they killed me, I wanted to be a martyr to start a movement that would bring something like Standing Rock to this world,” Bolenbaugh said. “For some reason God wanted me to stick around. I’ve had many attempts on my life, I’ve had death threats. I’ve been hit over the head. Bullets have been taken out of my wheels from my vehicles, tires have been slashed, brakes cut.

“For some reason, I’m still here. Maybe God wanted me to see this amazing time in history. This is a revolution.”

Bolenbaugh knows the fight isn’t over.

“I don’t believe them when they say they’re going to stop drilling,” Bolenbaugh said. “The National Guard should go and arrest them now.”

Night traffic inside Oceti Sakowin - photo by C.S. Hagen

Night traffic inside Oceti Sakowin – photo by C.S. Hagen

As the area’s second winter storm in as many weeks hit the camps on Monday, an announcement made by the Lakota People’s Law Project reported DAPL is currently digging under the river. “They are not going to listen to the Army Corps denying the easement. They don’t care about that. They’re still going to go ahead. All the people think this fight is over, but it is not over.

“To get the acknowledgement is noteworthy, however; the fight lingers on.”

Iron eyes and others reiterated the fight is only beginning, and now, more than ever, the camps must not be emptied.

“They are hard to beat,” Iron Eyes said. “This is not the end. The Army Corps denial of the easement means nothing until all law enforcement is gone, until DAPL is gone. Let us strengthen our presence.”

Iron Eyes is further calling for renewed talks with the federal government over treaty rights. “The US has been less than honorable when it comes to the treaties.”

Governor Jack Dalrymple stated last week that all work along the Dakota Access Pipeline has stopped, pending US Army Corps of Engineers’ issuance of an easement. Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said Army Corps decision has little to do with his office.

“I have stated from the beginning that the easement is a federal decision and local law enforcement does not have an opinion on it,” Kirchmeier said. “Our role is to enforce the law and that is what we will continue to do.”

Children sledding down Media Hill - photo by C.S. Hagen

Children sledding down Media Hill – photo by C.S. Hagen

North Dakota Highway Patrol Lt. Tom Iverson said if DAPL begins drilling illegally, he ensures their work will be shut down.

“We are not in DAPL’s corner,” Iverson said. “We absolutely would not allow something unlawful to continue. If that can provide a peace of mind to protesters out there, I am on record right now saying that will not be happening, so without the proper permits and easements, we would not allow that to happen.”

Congressman Kevin Cramer R-ND., called the Obama administration lawless. “Today’s unfortunate decision sends a very chilling response to others who want to build infrastructure in this country. I feel badly for the Corps of Engineers because of the diligent work it did on this project, only to have their Commander-in-Chief throw them under the bus.”

Carvan to Standing Rock, from early morning until late night, the thousands of vehicles streetched for more than a mile - photo by C.S. Hagen

Carvan to Standing Rock, from early morning until late night, the thousands of vehicles streetched for more than a mile – photo by C.S. Hagen

Morton County Chairman Cody Schulz reiterated that the federal government should send financial resources and the necessary troops to deal with the situation outside of Standing Rock, and is placing his hopes in the President-elect Donald J. Trump.

“It appears the federal government let the citizens of Morton County, law enforcement, and protesters suffer for months while making a political decision that is likely to be overturned when the new administration takes office next month,” Schulz said.

“We still don’t have finality.”

Tribal leaders hope the new administration will respect the Army Corps stance, Archambault said. “When it comes to infrastructure development in Indian Country and with respect to treaty lands, we must strive to work together to reach decisions that reflect the multifaceted consideration of the tribes.”

Activists rejoicing at Army Corps news denying DAPL easement - photo by C.S. Hagen.JPG

Activists rejoicing at Army Corps news denying DAPL easement – photo by C.S. Hagen

Police in Riot Gear Welcome Native Winter Gifts

December 3, 2016 / / 0 Comments

“They seemed pretty caught off guard”

By C.S. Hagen 
MANDAN – Sheriff’s deputies in riot gear welcomed gifts donated by Oceti Sakowin and International Indigenous Youth Council Friday when the No DAPL activists delivered boxes filled from the department’s winter donation list.

Transparent tote boxes filled with batteries, granola bars, thick socks, trail mix, and hand warmers, were brought to Morton County Sheriff’s Department by Native Americans, including three veterans involved in Iraq Veterans Against the War. Before bringing the gifts inside the department, activists, known as water protectors, spoke and prayed on the public sidewalk.

Thomas Lopez speaks before activists give winter gifts to Morton County Sheriff's Department - photo by Chad Nodland

Activists speaking before bringing winter gifts to Morton County Sheriff’s Department – photo by Chad Nodland

Leonard Crow Dog led the activists in prayers, which were also on the sheriff department’s wish list – at the top.

Morton County Sheriff's Department - photo by Corey Carson Elevate Studios

Morton County Sheriff’s Department – photo by Corey Carson Elevate Studios

“What we’re doing here is offering them this water of life, to show the Morton County Sheriff’s Office, to show the people who believe that we’re here to hurt them that we’re actually here fighting for your rights to clean water, for your rights to clean air,” member of the International Indigenous Youth Council Thomas Lopez said.

“Thank you to the members of the International Indigenous Youth Council who stopped by with gifts and supplies and snacks for our employees,” Morton County Sheriff’s Department said on its Facebook page, which is now running again. “Your kindness and support is very much appreciated.”

Activists who brought the supplies hoped for a reciprocation of compassion and respect, LZ Amsterdam said.

Activists cheer after speeches are given - photo by Chad Nodland

Activists cheer after speeches are given – photo by Chad Nodland

“They seemed pretty caught off guard,” Amsterdam said. “They wouldn’t let us inside, even though they have asked the public to bring supplies to them. We showed compassion and humanity today and they had the opportunity to do the same, which they did not.”

Morton County Sheriff's Department welcoming committee - photo by Corey Carson Elevate Sutdios

Morton County Sheriff’s Department welcoming committee – photo by Corey Carson Elevate Sutdios

The gifts were brought two days before the expected arrival of more than 2,500 veterans coming from around the United States and with Veterans for Standing Rock. The veterans en route have promised to show solidarity with Standing Rock, and to surround them in a human shield during any actions that may take place.

“We hold no hatred in our hearts,” Lopez said. “We don’t want to see you hurt. You are our brothers and sisters and we will treat you as such.”

Morton County Sheriff's Department winter donation list

Morton County Sheriff’s Department winter donation list

Chairman of the North Dakota Veterans Coordinating Council Russel Stabler during press conference - photo by C.S. Hagen

North Dakota Veterans Oppose Veterans for Standing Rock

December 1, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Chairman says law enforcement and locals are victims, hopes to influence nationwide veterans movement

By C.S. Hagen
FARGO – As thousands of US veterans prepare to converge on Standing Rock, North Dakota Veterans took a step back.

They’re remaining neutral. Their stance nationally is not popular, Chairman of the North Dakota Veterans Coordinating Council Russel Stabler said during a press conference. And they’re adamantly opposed to any North Dakota veteran joining Veterans for Standing Rock movement set to arrive on December 4. The North Dakota Veterans organization also refuses to take a stance on the Dakota Access Pipeline.

“The one thing we’ve fought for all our lives is the right for someone to have an opinion, and we do not want to step on anyone’s rights,” Stabler said. “We’re not standing in support of either side, everyone has the right to protest peacefully and not to attack law enforcement,”

Chairman of the North Dakota Veterans Coordinating Council Russel Stabler during press conference - photo by C.S. Hagen

Chairman of the North Dakota Veterans Coordinating Council Russel Stabler during press conference – photo by C.S. Hagen

Bolstered with a total membership of approximately 60,000, the North Dakota Veterans organization said DAPL protesters have cost the state USD 10 million, and wreaked millions of dollars in damages to vehicles, equipment, property, and livestock owned by private corporations, citizens, family farms, and government agencies.

“Slaughtering livestock, throwing Molotov cocktails, and assaulting law enforcement officers is not the military manner in which our veterans behave and not the kind of assembly and actions veterans should be a part of,” Stabler said.

North Dakota Stockmen’s Association Executive Vice President Julie Ellingson said several cases involving stolen cows and butchered buffalo are still under investigation, and the agency is still accepting tips, and offering a reward up to USD 14,000 for information that leads to arrest and conviction.

Attorney Chase Iron Eyes, who ran for Congress this year, said media and law enforcement agencies are misinforming many across the state. “They are trying to instill fear, confusion, and doubt,” Iron Eyes said. “We are the new Ghost Dancers, only this time others of all origins are in this vision with us.”

Since the beginning, tribal leaders have called for prayers and peace. More than 130 charges against the 561 arrested have already been dropped by Morton County, according to court records. Some charges have been combined and changed from misdemeanors to felonies; one case has gone federal.

“Natives are peaceful and passive right now because of a very deliberate process of de-arming us, destroying our economy, imposing poverty cultures and values to turn us into begging dependents, forcefully colonizing us via boarding school, spiritual invasion, emasculation, and capturing methods,” Iron Eyes said. “Our natural state as human being is to be liberated; it’s not to be passive. Peace requires action.”

Approximately 2,500 veterans plan to arrive at Standing Rock December 4, according to Michael A. Woods Jr., an organizer for Veterans for Standing Rock. They are coming to take a stand against what they call police militarized aggression. There are thousands more who want to come to Standing Rock, but finances, which have come in the form of donations now exceeding USD 250,000, will limit the numbers, Woods said. The organization’s goal is to reach USD 500,000 in donations.

“If the cops there want to be state sanctioned agents to brutally beat non-violent veterans that have served their country honorably, if they’re going to beat us, then that should be the signal to the rest of the world what our country is doing,” Woods said.

The North Dakota Veterans would prefer out-of-state veterans didn’t come at all, Stabler said.

“We don’t need that many coming, and as we said, putting disrespect on veterans, because as a veteran they have sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution, and to fight against all enemies foreign and domestic,” Stabler said. “I for one, and these gentlemen behind me, will not violate that oath.

“We’re hoping to influence them… and everything, and hope that if they do come they will be respectful. If not, we want it understood, these are not North Dakota veterans, and they do not represent the veterans of North Dakota, and we are encouraging all of our people not to go out there.

“Please don’t punish the North Dakota veteran for what someone from outside this state does.” 

The Veterans for Standing Rock organization is proud to be standing with Standing Rock. “We are a support mission,” Woods said. “We’re there to protect the water protectors and to get in front of them. We are veterans, we are trained, we have resources, and we will be guided by the locals that know exactly what they’re doing.”

The stand could become a “battle of attrition,” Woods said. As a former police officer, Woods said law enforcement do not want to be out in the cold, and a battle of “who wants it more” could ensue.

“And I think we want it a hell of a lot more than the cops do.”

Logistics for the endeavor are massive, Woods said, but necessary. He is constantly reminding veterans to be respectful toward local culture, native traditions, and to remember that many natives also are veterans. Police, he added, are not to be considered enemies, as the Veterans for Standing Rock should not be considered an enemy of the state. Officers are simply caught up in a system directed by an “oligarchy” that writes their paychecks, and they should understand the organization’s goals.

“Native American people in this country have served at a higher percentage in the United States military than any group in this entire country,” Woods said. “The Navajo saved us through code talking and being able to pass intelligence around. If there was one group in this country that adequately and thoroughly represents the military it is the Native American people.”

Oceti Sakowin - wintry wonderland - photo by Terry Wiklund

Oceti Sakowin – wintry wonderland – photo by Terry Wiklund

The Peace Garden State and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have recently begun a type of modern siege against the camps outside of Standing Rock by first issuing emergency evacuation orders, then announcing anyone supplying Standing Rock with goods or equipment could face up to USD 1,000 in fines. Highway 1806, the main road leading to the camps and Cannonball, has been closed for weeks, increasing trip duration from Mandan by at least 30 minutes.

Both Governor Jack Dalrymple and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District Colonel John Henderson later backtracked their statements, saying law enforcement will not be shutting down any additional roads, or hunting out-of-state activists, but anyone left on Army Corps lands after December 5 may still be subject to arrest.

More than 95 percent of the pipeline in North Dakota is finished, Dalrymple said. The only part that remains is the section under the Missouri River at Lake Oahe, and which Energy Transfer Partners, Dakota Access Pipeline’s parent company, lacks the easements for. On behalf of Energy Transfer Partners, North Dakota politicians have been increasing the pressure on President Obama’s administration and on the Army Corps for weeks in attempts to obtain the necessary permission.

“National Guard is mobilized, the governor keeps posturing, first responders are filling up Bismarck,” Iron Eyes said. “If the Army Corps grants this easement to drill under the river, it’s going to be unpredictable. December 5th draws neigh. It’s scary as hell, not going to lie. What’s scarier is watching your children die because we didn’t stop this pipeline.”

 

Oceti Sakowin - wintry wonderland - photo by Terry Wiklund

Standing Rock’s Invisible Enemy

November 30, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Cyber warfare and misinformation directed at No DAPL activists creates real damage

By C.S. Hagen
OCETI SAKOWIN – An invisible enemy – streaming the airwaves – haunts Standing Rock’s supporters. The nemesis’ presence has long been felt inside the camps opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline, but few had proof of its existence until recently.

Cell phone and live streaming problems were jokes, hidden behind nervous chuckles. Then people began pointing to the ubiquitous airplane circling on the hour, nearly every hour, wondering if their sudden connection issues were created by someone inside. The reports were rumors, conspiracy theories. Soon, few among the thousands could say their devices were not being affected.

The difficulties spring partly from the area’s remoteness and the rugged terrain, but more-so now from what can only be psychological-driven digital attacks. Sudden signal loss, computer files disappearing, fried fiber optic cables, sudden battery deaths from a near full charge, are common. At least one person’s PayPal account was emptied of all monies, according to activists.

“There is an invisible antagonist winking at us, but no one knows exactly what that means, but we know how it feels,” Ari Herman said. He’s from northern California and is daily at the front lines facing heavily protected law enforcement with tear gas, pepper spray, water cannons, and percussion grenades.

Herman discovered this “antagonist” when he received an email from Google on November 9, reverse traced the email through an IP search and discovered it was sent by a technical department of North Dakota from Fort Totten, approximately 200 miles to the north.

“It’s egregious, and it’s terrifying,” Herman said. “It’s a very sound approach when you think about it. It’s subversion. Less violent. Less costly. I felt it. I felt it was like an emotional waterboarding, it was happening to me and a lot of people. It was creating a very strange aura of suspicion.

“People who announce they are coming to Standing Rock start to have issues even before coming to the state. The precedence this sets is disturbing to say the least.”

A non-profit organization savvy about online setups in conflict zones, was alerted to Standing Rock’s situation. Geeks Without Bounds, a Washington state organization established in 2010, is an accelerator for humanitarian projects. They’ve been working with the Oceti Sakowin camp since September, setting up Internet and Intranet accesses in specific spots by using a “network hop” to catch the signal from Standing Rock Telecom. A giant geodesic dome, known as the big white dome, donated by participants from Burning Man, became the camp’s first Internet café. Power to run the equipment comes from the sun, and a mini tower called “the stick in the ground on Hop Hill” has been erected to boost signals.

The organization reports many people’s cell phones are acting strangely, and legal observers are documenting and investigating the real threats that come from digital surveillance and communication interference.

Files from long-term criminal defense attorney Bruce Ellison’s computers have disappeared, he said. Ellison is working pro bono as legal team coordinator for the Lawyer’s Guild Mass Defense Committee.

“I know we’ve been investigating a lot of claims of mass data seizure,” Ellison said.

An electronics bug was found inside the Prairie Knights Casino. The device fell from under a table during a meeting inside the Indigenous Environmental Network’s suite, Ellison said. The bug wasn’t sophisticated enough to come from government; he suspects DAPL security teams.

Cyber warfare isn’t the only subversive threat, Ellison said, he knows from experience that agitators and infiltrators posing as activists try to blend in, especially during times of chaos, such as the case of DAPL security employee Kyle Thompson who was apprehended by the Bureau of Indian Affairs on October 27. Police and state’s attorneys called Thompson a victim, and did not file charges against Thompson.

Or the instance when an unknown person came up behind an activist at the front line, pointed at her to police, and then shoved her forward, Ellison said.

“There’s all kinds of stuff going on there that isn’t good, and certainly isn’t democratic. Historically, company security really takes the lead. They provide information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies. We suspect that this comes down to corporate security.”

Additionally, video footage shows an FBI agent with the Joint-Terrorism Task Force waiting outside Sophia Wilansky’s hospital door, he said. Wilansky nearly had her arm blown off by a percussion grenade after she was hit, and knocked to the ground by a rubber bullet on November 20, medics and activists said.

“There’s a lot of unknowns going on, and we’re trying to keep our eyes and our ears open.”

After Ellison returned home from Standing Rock approximately three weeks ago, one of his telephone lines connected to the Internet – the only line he used while at the camp – was completely destroyed.

A complete new line had to be installed, Ellison said.

Many at Oceti Sakowin have felt “lost in the wind,” Herman said, without access to their digital worlds. He’s also a writer on The Lego Box Travelogue, and some of his stories have been featured on the Oceti Sakowin webpage. Movements such as Standing Rock’s opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline need social media and Internet access to grow.

“Living out here under the security apparatus, it’s terrifying,” he said. To a small extent, the experience has taught him as a white person, what it might feel like living as a native person, or black person, or as a LGBT person, he said.

Herman arrived at the camps in early November. “I heard the calling, a little whisper,” he said. “I was ashamed of our treatment of Native Americans, and I wanted to come out here on the ground with my beliefs. This is an important frontier for our relationship with native communities, but setting an important precedent for climate issues… and the climate of surveillance in the occupation camps.” He’s an American, and he’s not against corporations making money, but recognizes the need for change.

“The intimidation is strongly reminiscent of the motto used by the Air Force’s Special Operations Wing in charge of Psy-Ops, “Never Seen, Always Heard,” Herman wrote in his article. He is currently helping out at Oceti Sakowin, he said.

“No one knows for sure who is behind the attacks, but the top suspects include a collusion between Morton County Sheriff’s Department, Energy Transfer Partners’ security and intelligence contractor TigerSwan or another military contractor, the National Guard, and/or the North Dakota Police,” Herman wrote.

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier has repeatedly denied that his agency is involved in cyber warfare against Standing Rock and its supporters. The FBI refuses to answer questions to its involvement in the DAPL controversy, and spokespeople from Energy Transfer Partners and its subsidiary, Dakota Access Pipeline, would not return telephone calls or emails for comment.  

Lisha Sterling, the Geeks Without Bounds executive director, said she can’t solve hackers, and she can’t hack back against DAPL or law enforcement as that is illegal and dangerous to Standing Rock.

“What we can do is teach people how to be safer,” Sterling said. “We’ve got encrypted comms options in camp, something called a Mumble server, that anyone can connect to over the Wi-Fi Mesh Intranet if they use that instead of calling each other over the phones their conversations will not be listened in on.”

Encryption is one of the keys to help protect laptops, cell phones, and even personal banking accounts. Also, downloading “Signal” to use for text messaging and for voice calls, turning off automatic updates in Settings, backing up phone data to computer, and being careful to update operating systems, are other ways to help limit hackers’ success rates.

Herman says that another media blackout is currently underway – once again – at the camps, and fears that a police plan is in the works. The FAA has issued another no-fly zone at Standing Rock until December 2, and the “siege” tactics declared by Governor Jack Dalrymple against Standing Rock, authorizing police to fine anyone hauling supplies to Standing Rock up to USD 1,000, and threatening to take away emergency response teams is only part of the state’s strategy.

The legal repercussions are not known, even more ethereal are legal strategies to combat these digital wraiths. “I can tell you I was really pissed off when I found out who did it, I was surprised…” Herman said.

His voice scrambled on the phone, like listening to an AM radio station halfway tuned in. And then the line went dead.

Tipis with snow at Oceti Sakowin - photo provided by Terry Wiklund

Tipis with snow at Oceti Sakowin – photo provided by Terry Wiklund

Radio, Facebook, and hacks

Last week, Anonymous, the international network of activists and hacktivists, threatened Morton County Sheriff’s Department, and allegedly destroyed its website and Facebook pages. On Wednesday, a new Morton County Sheriff’s Department Facebook page, followed by more than 600 people, reported the following:

“Greetings, everyone. We’d like to formally apologize for being ignorant f*cks. We know no better. We are privileged and do not understand the importance of water and its connection to the essence of life. We do not believe in science, climate change, or sustainability. Sincerely. The Pipeline Pigs.”

On Tuesday, the Facebook page posted: “On this white and snowy day in North Dakota, we’d like to announce that our pig heads are so bloated, we think we have the authority to illegally interfere with interstate commerce. We think we can trample over the constitution with our cloven hooves. We are looking to hire lawyers as we can face jail time for violating the Constitution and people’s civil rights.”

A different Morton County Sheriff’s Department Facebook page has cultivated approximately 30 followers, and appears to be Pro DAPL, or at least supportive of government decisions to restrict emergency services to Standing Rock, and to fine anyone carrying supplies up to USD 1,000.

“Soon there will be nothing to keep those crybaby anarchists fed and warm but peace signs and prayer,” the alternative Facebook page reports. “It’s been fun terrorizing them, but all good things must come to an end. Us boys in blue are starting to get chilly, even in full combat gear we’re wearing. Time for you hippies to give up and move on. No more supplies, no more emergency services, take the hint already… Love being evil.”

There is also two more Facebook pages, one called Morton County Sheriff Department, which appears to be a venting platform.

Scott Hennen, a partner at Flag Family Media, who broadcasts on stations such as KFYR 55 AM Bismarck and WZFG 1100 AM Fargo, called the activists at Standing Rock “sick,” “a group of lawless thugs,” and “eco-terrorists” on his Facebook page. He believes North Dakota should sue the federal government, according to Facebook posts.

On Monday, Hennen interviewed Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, reporting 110 days had passed since the beginning of the “siege,” as Hennen described the situation outside of Cannonball.

Kirchmeier won’t send law enforcement to clear Oceti Sakowin, and doesn’t expect federal assistance, “as long as the current administration is there,” the sheriff said during the interview.

“I’ve heard stories of rampant drug use and rapes, I don’t know, they’re just stories,” Hennen said. “Do we know what’s happening in the way of lawless behavior in the camp?”

“There is definitely, the alcohol, the drug use, the sexual assault, we do have reports of that.” Kirchmeier said, adding that such reports are forwarded to the Army Corps.

Henner praised Dalrymple’s decision to stop emergency responses to the camps. He called a lawsuit against Kirchmeier and the Morton County Sheriff’s Department’s use of excessive force “bunk.”

“Law officers have been shot at, spit on, had feces thrown at them, had their families terrorized – and now they’re being sued. Throw it out of court – along with the violent extremists invading Morton County.”

Hennen’s claims have been called lies by people supporting Standing Rock.

Cannonball Sacred Stone Camp - photo provided by Terry Wiklund

Cannonball Sacred Stone Camp – photo provided by Terry Wiklund

Dalrymple’s orders

On Wednesday, the governor backtracked the seriousness of his emergency evacuation message, saying that law enforcement will not be hunting Standing Rock suppliers, or arbitrarily stopping people. He also petitioned for a meeting with Standing Rock leaders, he said, and wants to discuss how to rebuild the relationship between the tribe and the state.

“We want the entire public to know that this is not a safe place,” Dalrymple said. During a press conference reporters asked Dalrymple why call the emergency evacuation if he wasn’t planning on cleaning the camps out.

“We get that question every time there is a flood too, what purpose does it serve. It is an official notice from the state, from the National Guard, from law enforcement that we may not be able to help you in an emergency situation. No, we are not going to be having roadblocks or stopping vehicles.”

Dalrymple’s assurances did not ease activists’ fears near Standing Rock late Wednesday afternoon, especially after an online report that a Red Cross shipment was stopped by North Dakota National Guard.

Lynn Speral, chief executive officer for American Red Cross Dakotas Region, said she was aware of the online reports, but that the American Red Cross is a neutral organization and is not assisting anyone involved in the DAPL controversy at this time.

“If things would warrant a disaster type relief response, such as cars stranded because of a storm,” then her organization would respond. “But the situation there is not one that requires the American Red Cross’ assistance, Speral said. If Standing Rock required blood then the supplies would not come from the American Red Cross.

Dalrymple also said he has never contemplated using National Guard or federal or state officers to forcibly remove activists from Army Corps lands. The pipeline is finished everywhere in North Dakota, 95 percent complete, with one exception: under the Missouri River at Lake Oahe.

“To change the route now is probably not feasible,” Dalrymple said.

Lieutenant Governor Drew Wrigley said the state will not be held responsible if serious injury or death occurs at Oceti Sakowin. “They’re there without a permit… they’ve stayed through many seasons. This snowstorm was predicted several days in advance, all of it was out in the media. At some point there’s an assumption of risk, there’s a lot that’s involved and I don’t mean to make light of any of it. There are some people there who probably don’t know anything about this weather.”

Emergency response crews will attempt to respond to calls, Dalrymple said, but arrivals will not be guaranteed.

Dalrymple further mentioned that he has had no official offers from Kelcy Warren, CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, to pay government costs, which are expected to reach a total USD 17 million.

“I don’t even know if it’s possible,” Dalrymple said.

A decision for Morton County to accept any official offer would not rest in the governor’s lap, he said.

Dalrymple also stated during a press conference that his office has been in constant contact with Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II, however; according to an official request for information filed with the governor’s office approximately six weeks ago, the governor had no contact with Archambault’s office during a two-week period when tensions were heightening between the state and the tribe.

Ladonna Tamakawastewin Allard, a historian and owner of the Sacred Stone Camp lands, said the governor’s office doesn’t understand the tenacity of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and its supporters.

“We have been here for thousands of years,” Allard said. “We understand North Dakota winter. When they first issued the order to cow the Indian people, to get back to the reservation, there was a blizzard. And the winter was hard. And the Indian said, ‘Who moves in a blizzard?’ Now we come to 2016 we’re saying the same thing, ‘Who moves in a blizzard?’

“We are not going to back down. We are not in anyone’s home, we are in our own home. Awake. We are in our own home, from the Heart River, to the Platte River, to the plateaus, to the Missouri, 1851 is the supreme law of the land.”

She believes in the rule of law, but says that it is no longer working.

“What do you do against injustice? You stand up, you stand in prayer, you stand in the best way you can. So the governor doesn’t understand prayer. The governor doesn’t understand that the real power is the people, and the real power has always been the people, not a corporation. I think we are seeing that today, where the people are saying ‘We need to change.’ We are not standing down. We are in our home. We are strong, and we have prayer. The governor has no idea what he’s facing.”

Ocet Sakowin on November 28- photo by Leland B Benoist

State Drops Attempted Murder Charge Against No DAPL Activist

November 29, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Federal prosecutors pick up first DAPL-related case with new charge; governor orders emergency evacuation of Oceti Sakowin

By C.S. Hagen
BISMARCK – State charges were dropped against Red Fawn Fallis Monday, but felony charges were filed against the No DAPL activist in federal court.

“This is the first DAPL-related case we’ve had in federal court,” Head Federal Public Defender for North and South Dakota Neil Fulton said.

The state dropped the attempted murder charge against Fallis, according to Morton County Clerk of Court. Instead, she will be tried for possession of a firearm as a convicted felon in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota, according to Fulton. Fallis faces a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment if proven guilty.

Chris Bellmore, of the Federal Public Defender’s Office, was assigned to Fallis’ case.

Red Fawn Fallis - online sources

Red Fawn Fallis – online sources

Fallis, 47, still faces misdemeanor charges in Morton County, which include disorderly conduct, criminal trespass, and maintaining a public nuisance, according to Morton County Clerk of Court. She is being held by U.S. Marshals, and under no bond at this time, Fulton said.

Friends, family, and supporters maintain the Denver woman’s innocence, and her name has become a rallying cry during many protests inside Bismarck and Mandan. Signs demanding her release are stretched out along the fence surrounding Oceti Sakowin, or the Seven Council Fires camp.

Some supporters online stated her case should be moved out of state. Many called her “their hero,” while others declared they would wear red in support of Fallis.

Fallis allegedly fired three shots at law enforcement officers after they tackled her while she resisted arrest, according to affidavits released by the South Central Judicial Court.

Pennington County Sheriff’s Department deputies Rusty and Thad Schmit stated in an affidavit they saw a female, later identified as Fallis, acting disorderly, and when she walked away from the group the two deputies approached her and “took Red Fawn Fallis to the ground.”

During the struggle, deputies gave no indication as to where the handgun came from. Fallis did not have the gun in her hand when she was tackled, and the officers involved believe that Fallis was able to retrieve the gun when one of the deputies stopped pulling on her left arm, according to the affidavit.

Activists and freinds of Red Fawn Fallis say she is innocent - photo by C.S. Hagen

Activists and freinds of Red Fawn Fallis say she is innocent – photo by C.S. Hagen

Two gunshots were fired quickly, one bullet striking the ground close to a deputy’s knee, according to the affidavit. One of the deputies saw the handgun in her left hand and struggled with her over the gun, according to the affidavit. A third shot was fired, and the weapon was retrieved after assistance from other officers.

According to the affidavit, Fallis said she “was trying to pull the gun out of her pocket and the deputies jumped her and the gun went off.” During transport, she also allegedly said law enforcement was lucky she didn’t shoot them all, according to the affidavit.

Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported on October 27 that the northern Treaty Camp was emptied because activists refused to leave after repeated requests. A total of 561 people have been arrested since early August. Morton County Sheriff’s Department has spent in excess of USD 10 million, and approximately 1,300 officers have assisted from 25 North Dakota counties, 20 cities, and nine states.

Snow at Oceti Sakowin - photo by Leland B Benoist

Snow at Oceti Sakowin – photo by Leland B Benoist

The day after Thanksgiving, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a 10-day warning to Standing Rock tribal leaders to evacuate Oceti Sakowin, which is currently on federal lands. Eight days remain before those remaining on federal lands may be subject to arrest.

Despite repeated requests by state leaders, including Governor Jack Dalrymple, Congressman Kevin Cramer R-N.D., senators John Hoeven R-N.D., and Heidi Heitkamp R-N.D., the Army Corps has relaxed its stance saying that it has no plans to use force to evacuate Army Corps lands, including activist and DAPL employees, after December 5. The Dakota Access Pipeline runs along Army Corps lands its entire length in North Dakota, according to Julie Fedorchak, the public service commissioner.

Dalrymple is “frustrated at every level,” he said at a press conference, and on Monday issued an emergency “mandatory evacuation” order to safeguard against harsh winter conditions of all persons residing on Army Corps lands.

“These persons are ordered to leave the evacuation area immediately, and are further ordered not to return to the evacuation area,” Dalrymple said. “The definition of the evacuation area shall remain in effect even if the United States Army Corps of Engineers redefines or removes these prohibited areas.

“All persons in the evacuation area shall take all their possessions with them upon their evacuation. Any action or inaction taken by any party which encourages persons to enter, reenter, or remain in the evacuation area will be subject to penalties as defined in law.”

Dalrymple further added his office has the executive power to issue the warning on Army Corps lands in order to avert a possible disaster, and that anyone who chooses to disregard the order will stay at their own risk.

“I direct state agencies, emergency service officials, and nongovernmental organizations to reduce threats to public safety by not guaranteeing the provision of emergency and other governmental and nongovernmental services in the evacuation area, unless otherwise approved by a case by case basis by the Morton County Sheriff or Superintendent of the Highway Patrol.

“The general public is hereby notified that emergency services probably will not be available under current winter conditions.”

Cecily Fong, of the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services, said no law enforcement or National Guard will be used to enforce the governor’s order. DAPL employees are not subject to the order, according to Fong, as they are not camping in the elements.

Standing Rock and supporters have stated they’re not going anywhere. The land in question falls under the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie and was taken away by the Army Corps after it was condemned due to the devastating effects of the Pick-Sloan legislation.

“The Army Corps of Engineers is seeking a peaceful and orderly transition to a safer location, and has no plans for forcible removal,” U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District Commander John W. Henderson said in press release. “But those who choose to stay do so at their own risk as emergency, fire, medical, and law enforcement response cannot be adequately provided in these areas.”

Additionally, more than 1,500 veterans with Veterans for Standing Rock are planning to arrive at Oceti Sakowin on December 4, according to the Veterans for Standing Rock’s Facebook page.

 

 

“Cavalry of Peace” is Coming

November 26, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Thousands of US veterans plan to converge on Standing Rock, elected officials praise Army Corps deadline, and Morton County Sheriff’s Department uses Craigslist as vetted intelligence

By C.S. Hagen
CANNONBALL – A flurry of activity followed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers threat to Standing Rock that the tribe has 9 days left to evacuate camps situated against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

“The letter means nothing to us,” Nick Tilsen, co-founder of the Indigenous People’s Power Project, said. “Indigenous people are here to stay, and we’re not going to move unless it’s on our own terms, because this is our treaty land, this is our ancestral land, and this is where our people have been for thousands of years.”

No one at the camp is fearful, Tilsen said. Months of ceremony and training have eradicated all fear, leaving only a deep love for their people and their land. “Our purpose here is to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline.”

“Any person found to be on the Corps lands north of the Cannonball River after December 5, 2016, will be considered trespassing and may be subject to prosecution under federal, state, and local laws… any person who chooses to stay on these Corps’ lands… does so at their own risk,” U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District Commander John W. Henderson stated in Friday’s letter.

Despite the deadline, Standing Rock spokesperson Sue Evans said the tribe is determined as ever to protect its land and water.

“The timing of this latest action by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers is demoralizing and disrespectful for Native Americans and the millions of peaceful water protectors and supporters in America and across the globe who are standing with Standing Rock to protect the water and 17 million Americans downstream on the river,” Evans said.

The chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Harold Frazier, condemned the deadline, saying the Army Corps “dangerously and profoundly misunderstands the basic function and status of a tribal government and its elected leaders.”

Veterans from around the nation are signing up to travel to Standing Rock on December 5, the final day Oceti Sakowin, or the Seven Council Fires camp is allowed to stand on Army Corps lands.

Governor Jack Dalrymple praised the Army Corps decision, but insisted federal agencies must be responsible for clearing the camps.

“Our state and local law enforcement agencies continue to do all they can to keep private property and public infrastructure free from unpermitted protest activities, and its past time that the federal government provides the law enforcement resources needed to support public safety and to enforce their own order to vacate,” Dalrymple said. “For more than 100 days now, the federal government has allowed protesters to illegally entrench themselves on Corps land and it is the federal government’s responsibility to lead the camp’s peaceful closure.”

The land Dalrymple described is Army Corps land, where Oceti Sakowin was setup. It was originally included in the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty as the tribal land, and taken from the Standing Rock Sioux without consent when it was condemned after devastation from the Pick-Sloan legislation.

Senator Heidi Heitkamp R-N.D., said the Army Corps decision is a relief after more than four months of violence. “The decision by the Army Corps is a needed step to support the safety of residents, workers, protesters, and law enforcement,” Heitkamp said in a press release. “For too long, we have waited in limbo as the decision is put off. This issue needs to be put to rest once and for all for the sake of the safety of our communities.”

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers map of the area surrounding Oceti Sakowin

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers map of the area surrounding Oceti Sakowin

Eryn Wise, of the Indigenous Youth Council and niece of Ladonna Allard, the woman who began the movement on Sacred Stone Camp, said sanctioned harm against Mother Earth will not be allowed. “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers need to realize that these are children we are protecting… and we will continue to make our stand,” Wise said during a press conference.

She questioned the Army Corps creation of a free speech zone. “I just wanted to clarify for everyone, and you guys correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought the United States was a free speech zone.”

Dallas Goldtooth, of the Indigenous Environmental Network, said the Army Corps letter was a “disgusting continuation” of 500 years of colonization.

“It’s absurd for us to see such a declaration the day after Thanksgiving, but that’s the state of affairs we are in,” Goldtooth said. “This is the land where our ancestors come from, this is the land where our ancestors dreamed of our existence, of our songs, and of our future lives. In defense of our dreams and in defense of our ancestors we stand strong. We stand strong to protect the sacredness of Mother Earth. We stand strong to defend our rights as indigenous peoples, we stand strong to defend our territorial treaty rights.

“We got this,” Goldtooth said. “This is nothing new to us as native people. We’ve been here before and we’ve gotten through this. These are just intimidation statements, things to put us into a reactionary space, and we refuse to be put into a reactionary space.”

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II said the foremost action the Army Corps can take to ensure peace is to permanently deny the easement needed for Dakota Access Pipeline to cross the Missouri River at Lake Oahe. Additionally, the Army Corps sent its letter to all tribes involved at Standing Rock, and is trying to pressure the tribe, Archambault said.

“We have an escalating situation where safety is a concern for everybody,” Archambault said. “They’ve given us notice, because they want to reduce their liability when something serious happens.”

The main camp, Oceti Sakowin, is on a floodplain, Archambault said, and leadership is currently planning its next steps. “We’re trying to be proactive for when a situation comes. I don’t think the Army Corps of Engineers will come on the fifth. I don’t think anybody is going to come. The Morton County police would have jurisdiction over these lands if ever there are any crimes taking place. We’re not committing any crimes. If Morton County wanted to, they would be able to come in and move us. I don’t think that will happen.

“What they gave us is a notice that these public lands are no long available for hunting, for fishing, and for recreation, recreation can include camping, but what we’re doing here is exercising our First Amendment right, and we’re not breaking any laws.”

The Army Corps does not have an armed force, so they would have to call in other agencies to forcibly evict. “If it was to happen, we need to be given notice, so we can ensure a lot of the property is not damaged. I don’t think it will be an eviction where forces will come and push people off.”

Tribal leaders reported a total of 748 tribal nations are currently at Standing Rock.

No DAPL sign along Highway 1806 - photo by C.S. Hagen

No DAPL sign along Highway 1806 – photo by C.S. Hagen

Paid Protesters

Citing Craigslist as a vetted source for information, Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier called the activists at Standing Rock, “paid protesters.”

“The energy these paid agitators and protesters exerted to try and draw our law enforcement into confrontations did not work,” Kirchmeier said. “We will respond in kind to any advances protesters make on our line. It’s their decision and they can bring an end to this.”

His department added they know the protesters are paid from information on Craigslist in New York and Fargo.

“This is from intel that has come into us from people saying they were paid to Craigslist ads in NY and Fargo asking for people to give up their job and get paid to come to Standing Rock,” Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported.

Many activists, journalists, photographers, and even the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe have asked for donations to assist actions and basic survival against the Dakota Access Pipeline, but such solicitations do not fit the definition of hiring for protest.

Fargo Police Department reported no actions taken at West Acres Shopping Center on November 18, the day an ad in Craigslist appeared calling for people to quit their jobs, be paid USD 1,000, and converge at the shopping mall. Valley News Live Chris Berg reported on the anonymous advertisement on November 16.

“Someone is soliciting to pay #NoDAPL protesters in Fargo via Craigslist,” Berg wrote. “He is inviting people to show up at West Acres Mall…”

The advertisement gave no indication if a male or female posted the advertisement on Craigslist.

Additionally on November 25, a pro DAPL protest advertisement hit Craigslist. “Let’s support DAPL by shutting down the Main Avenue McDonalds on Friday,” the advertisement read. “I will pay $50 to any adults who show up. Come on oil protectors. This is not a hoax this is real.”

The Fargo Police Department had no records of any responses for a pro DAPL protest at McDonalds on Friday.

Morton County has spent more than 10 million tax dollars in its actions against Standing Rock and Supporters, soliciting assistance from nearly 1,300 officers from 25 North Dakota counties, 20 cities, and nine states.

 

Veterans for Standing Rock

Michael James, an Absentee Shawnee, the warrior clan of the Shawnee tribe, is a veteran with the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard. He’s planning to travel to Oceti Sakowin with Veterans for Standing Rock on December 5.

“Mother Earth is calling her children to help,” James said.

One of the group’s organizers, Michael A Wood Jr., is a retired Baltimore police officer and a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. On his Twitter account, Wood posted, “We with #VeteranStandingRock are deploying to prevent this state sanctioned violence on peaceful protectors… We look to be 2,000 strong and need to transition into a continuous operation.

“The Cavalry of Peace is coming.”

Veterans for Standing Rock include the U.S. Army, United States Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Coast Guard, and are planning to assemble as a “peaceful, unarmed militia” at Standing Rock from December 4 through December 7, according to the group’s Facebook page.

They have a roster of 2,100 people, and told its members to prepare for mace, sound cannons, sniper guns, rubber bullets, attack dogs, concussion grenades, and the effects of hyperthermia. “Bring body armor, gas masks, earplugs, and shooting mufflers (we may be facing a sound cannon) but no drugs, alcohol or weapons.

“Let’s stop this savage injustice being committed right here at home,” the group’s introduction states. “If not us, who? If not now, when? Are you a hero? Are you honorable? Not if you allow this to be the United States.”

Tribal leadership reported at least 1,500 veterans are scheduled to arrive on December 4.

Rolls of razor wire between police and activists - photo by Liz George

“Go Home”

November 24, 2016 / / 0 Comments

City leaders, law enforcement, state residents have had enough; Standing Rock and supporters say they’re already home

By C.S. Hagen
BISMARCK – The day before President Obama pardoned the Thanksgiving Turkey, Peace Garden State leaders told Standing Rock and the tribe’s supporters that North Dakota has had enough.

“It’s time for them to go home,” Bismarck Mayor Mike Seminary said to the activists camped outside of Standing Rock. “I thank the visitors for coming, making their message known. It’s loud and clear… It has been profound, and we understand. No more productive messaging can really be done, you’ve said everything that needs to be said…

“It’s now time for them to go home.”

Seminary added that law enforcement involved in the DAPL controversy was doing an “incredible job,” and thanked those that make the city of Bismarck run.

“I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday,” Seminary said. “God bless you.”

Those camped out at Oceti Sakowin are frightened. Many come from across the nation to protect the Missouri River against the USD 3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline. Arrests are mounting, totaling 528 by Wednesday afternoon. Local anger against Standing Rock and its stance against the pipeline is spilling into metropolitan streets as pro-DAPL protesters gather wherever activists go. The capitol building has been repeatedly shut down. Roads have been closed. Alerts follow activists’ movements on resident cell phones.

Activists say they’re being harassed. Law enforcement say they’re experiencing “doxing,” a practice of identifying and releasing police identities to the public.

Law enforcement reported they felt threatened Sunday night, standing behind cement blocks and multiple rolls of razor wire, and were forced to use water cannons and hoses on activists. Supporters of Standing Rock said they were gathered in prayer, that they started no fires except for those made to keep warm.

Anger is rising across the area, fierce and cold as the north winter wind. Despite tribal elders call for peaceful demonstration and civil disobedience, violence is escalating.

 

Kicked out

Monday night, Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney and Mandan Police Chief Jason Ziegler called activists Liz George, 26, and Kana Newell, 23, over to their table while they were eating at the Chinese restaurant Rice Bowl, according to George.

After a brief conversation, both Laney and Ziegler ordered the two women out of the restaurant, and threatened to arrest them both for disorderly conduct, according to video footage.

Liz George

Liz George

George wasn’t worried when she approached the two police chiefs, she said. “We thought we’d say hi, show them that we are peaceful and not the image they have and then leave,” George said. “But they also called out to us on our way out so it would have been rude for me to just ignore and walk out.”

George’s ancestry is from India, and she is from Michigan, and Newell is from Japan. They’re proud women of color, and have become friends at Oceti Sakowin, frequently going on actions together. They both were on the front lines Sunday night when law enforcement turned water cannons on the activists in sub-freezing temperatures.

Newell was hit by the water, and by a percussion grenade, which exploded in the air above her, knocking her to the ground. Both breathed in CS gas, and Newell is still coughing.

“I didn’t think so much about the water, all I thought about was holding up this line,” Newell said. “We had to hold that line to protect the people behind us.” Eventually, the cold numbed her fingers and toes; her hair froze. Friends had to help her change out of her clothes.

Kana Newell

Kana Newell

And then she returned to the front line.

The next night, Newell and George traveled into Mandan to eat Chinese food.

“We didn’t go into that restaurant to pick a fight,” Newell said. “We went in to have a meal, and heal and laugh a little bit.”

Laney called out to them as they were leaving, George said, and he was friendly, at first. His tone changed quickly. Two gentlemen at a nearby table were called over to join the conversation, but the two women could not talk above Laney’s voice, George said.

“He was trying to make an example out of us,” George said. “I think the reason we were mistreated was because, yes, we are women of color, but also because of the Water is Life badge. And that made me think, yes, I can take that badge off, but native men and black men cannot ever take theirs off.”

“If we had not worn that badge we probably would not have been targeted,” Newell said. “It’s a lot to process.”

Neither woman had experienced police intimidation before coming to Standing Rock, they said. Now, it’s difficult to sleep. George jumps whenever she hears a loud noise. She pulls out her cell phone as protocol when police approach.

“It’s an unjust use of power, and the law sort of allows it,” Newell said. “What does disorderly conduct really mean? The police get to decide, and that leaves us powerless.”

Both women are frightened, and they’re not going to wear their Water is Life badges when going into town in the future. On Wednesday, during an action in Bismarck, different police confronted the two women when the vehicle they were riding in failed to properly signal a right turn.

George was sitting in the back seat and took her seat belt off after the car was put in park, she said. Officers then threatened to arrest her for failure to wear a seatbelt, she said.

“They’re basically intimidating us, they’re forcing me to give them my ID, which I didn’t want to give to him,” George said. “I asked them to bring a couple more officers over. We’re surrounded by cops, and they are indiscriminately pulling people over for nothing, and basically fabricating charges.”

North Dakota’s seat belt laws say that all front seat occupants must be buckled up; anyone younger than 18 must be properly restrained no matter where they sit, according to the North Dakota Highway Patrol, but the law states no requirement for those older than 18 in the backseat.

“They’re using pure intimidation tactics on us,” Newell said. She sat in the backseat of the car with George.

“It’s only against us,” George said. “There are a lot of pro DAPL protesters out here, and none of them are affected by anything. This is the second day in a row that we’ve been harassed and intimidated by police in Bismarck and Mandan. I’m just kind of shaken up; it’s the second time this has happened to us. It’s ridiculous, but it’s almost funny what they’re doing out here. The charges they’re putting against us are humorous because of how false there are.”

“We know our rights,” Newell said.

An officer returned and issued three citations: failure to use proper turn signal, failure to use seatbelts, and failure to have a clean license plate. Fines for the citations totaled USD 60.

Case County Sheriff Paul Laney

Case County Sheriff Paul Laney

Laney is a Cass County hero, according to his police biography. Originally from rural Cass County, near Horace, he served four years in the Marine Corps before becoming a Fargo police officer. He served as a lieutenant and commander of the Red River Valley SWAT Team, and was sworn in as Cass County Sheriff in 2007. He is president of the North Dakota Sheriff’s and Deputies Association, serves on the board of directors for the North Dakota Association of Counties. Laney is decorated, heavily, including the 2011 winner of the “Government Leader of the Year” award and in 2012 the “National Sheriff of the Year” award.

He has also been serving as Morton County Sheriff’s Department operations chief since mid August.

Mandan Police Chief Jason Ziegler

Mandan Police Chief Jason Ziegler

Ziegler is not from North Dakota, but is also a former Marine who served during the Gulf War. While in the Marine Corps he earned the rank of a corporal, and later became a lieutenant in the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office in Florida He was named Mandan’s police chief in 2015.

Both Laney and Ziegler, their offices, the departments’ public information officers were contacted for comment.

“This is the absolute first I’ve ever heard of this,” Cass County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Kim Briggeman said.

“There’s another underlying story here and it goes further than the racism,” Tom Asbridge, a Morton County resident said. “If the two ladies at the Rice Bowl in Mandan were doing something out of line, then that’s a whole different thing, but there is no evidence of that. There is evidence that those two cops were abusive. Don’t you think it would have been much more prudent and wise to make friends of them and try to smile and say ‘hey, what can we do?’ Then it puts the onus on the two ladies. We don’t need to have people on police force acting like jerks.”

Asbridge ran for representative of District 30 this year, but lost, as he feels his viewpoints on issues including DAPL are in the minority in the Peace Garden State. He grew up near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, knows the area well, including Backwater Bridge, which authorities have deemed unsafe.

“Its subhuman, and there’s some profit motive going on, because there’s some other corruption beneath this, and nobody will touch it. It seems to me that if someone would lance this boil… I think there would be an element of goodness here in North Dakota that would just say ‘No, we don’t believe in this, we won’t put up with this kind of treatment by the people who are working for us.’

“But if there’s no story, if there’s no journalism here to report this, it will remain secret.”

Asbridge has been an “advocate for justice” for many years, he said, and he fears for Standing Rock.

“I think there is way more baiting by Morton County to induce bad stuff than one can imagine. Things don’t quite add up.”

Police spraying mace - photo by Liz George

Police spraying mace – photo by Liz George

Punishing Standing Rock

Asbridge says he calls Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier’s bluff that Backwater Bridge, the epicenter of much of the recent violence, is unsafe.

Tom Asbridge

Tom Asbridge

“That’s a really great concrete bridge and it’s not very old. You’re not going to hurt that bridge by burning a few tires, some trash and logs on the bridge. They made that up. If it is unsafe why hasn’t the Department of Transportation been there with some people observing them? I would want to cover my proverbial butt; the bridge is not unsafe… I think it contains the natives where they are.”

Kirchmeier disagrees.

“North Dakota Department of Transportation has closed the Backwater Bridge due to damage caused after protesters set numerous fires on the bridge October 27,” Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported. Department of Transportation cannot inspect the bridge until law enforcement knows the area is safe, Kirchmeier said in a press conference.

Additionally, the best way to “punish Standing Rock is to shut down their economy,” Asbridge said. Shutting down Highway 1806 is putting the financial clamp on the tribe’s casino, Prairie Knights. “That’s their big source of revenue, and they’ve accomplished that.”

Once again, Morton County officials disagree. Shutting down Highway 1806, effectively turning Backwater Bridge into a war zone, was to protect against confrontations between activists and DAPL workers, Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported.

“This is some sophisticated people that are maneuvering, and manipulating, there are strings coming from higher up, and I think the governor is being manipulated by those same strings,” Asbridge said.

If someone challenged Governor Jack Dalrymple’s emergency declaration in court, Asbridge believes they would win. “There is no emergency. The linchpin was the use of the emergency, the use of the National Guard, the excessive use of the police, the law enforcement from all over the country. This is a feeding frenzy. This isn’t healthy to have a militarized police force doing this.”

Asbridge calls for federal intervention, because the state is biased.

“Take it out of the hands of the local people who are obviously biased and settle this dispute.”

In the meantime, Standing Rock and supporters have the right to be upset, Asbridge said. When the pipeline’s route was moved north of Bismarck to its current location less than a mile away from Standing Rock Sioux reservation, it was the spark that lit the native fire that has gathered thousands of supporters and more than 400 tribes from around the world.

“This is the eruption of 500 years of abuse, and they’ve finally taken a stand and said this is it. Whether they’re right in everything or not, I’m not sure it is as important. If you check, not one treaty with Standing Rock has ever been kept. Not one. And as a white American, that’s shameful.

“I don’t anticipate that this is not going to come to a very good end. The natives have lost the public sentiment. The media and the police have done such a good job of spreading disinformation, they’re very organized, and they’re good at it. And that’s too bad.”

Activist on the front lines - photo by Liz George

Activist on the front lines – photo by Liz George

The pipeline

Asbridge stood with attorney Chase Iron Eyes and others in Bismarck in September before elections to make a plea to move the pipeline, and create an oil refinery west of Mandan. Bakken oil, utilizing a public utility – which is what the Dakota Access Pipeline is supposed to be – must benefit the American people, and not line the deep pockets of an out-of-state company and executives.

“We should discuss whether one drop of that oil will be burned in the United States,” Asbridge said. “It’s all for export. If this was about American energy independence, I would be on the side of the pipeline. But it’s not. It actually makes us more dependent on Saudi oil, and causes more bloodshed by Americans to protect Saudi oil. Our sons and daughters are going to war over there, and we’re going to ship that oil to China. That’s bad policy.”

The necessity of the pipeline is a moot point; local railroad companies can ship all the oil coming out of the Bakken, Asbridge said.

The Dakota Access Pipeline is 1,172 miles long, and is supposed to finish before the end of 2016, according to Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren. The drill pad to cross the Missouri River at Lake Oahe is ready; horizontal drilling equipment has been brought in, but the company lacks the easement it needs from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Dakota Access LLC is the subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners, which combined with Sunoco Logistics Partners on Monday. Energy Transfer Equity controls both companies, according to media outlet Fortune.

On Wednesday, the North Dakota Industrial Commission called for better monitoring and higher standards of pipelines that cross major bodies of waters after nearly 3 million gallons of brine spilled north of Williston. A newly-introduced Senate bill also states that the legislative management must consider studying technology that may be used on pipelines to detect or prevent leaks.

While the state legislature decides on a bill that may prove too little too late, George and Newell worry that law enforcement may sometime soon use live ammunition against activists.

“We’re scared for our people,” Newell said. She recently obtained a bachelors degree in zoology and marine science. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, this is just us processing all this.”

“I can’t even imagine what it is like to be an indigenous person in this community, regardless to what happens with the pipeline,” George said. “All we’ve heard in camp is the message of peace, and non-violence. It feels like home.”

Front line Sunday night - photo by Liz George

Front line Sunday night – photo by Liz George

North Dakota Nice: Police Chiefs Kick Women Out of Restaurant

November 23, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Actively defending the Dakota Access Pipeline, police force two activists from restaurant after asking them to come to their table

By C.S. Hagen
MANDAN – Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney and Mandan Police Chief Jason Ziegler called Liz George and Kana Newell over to their table while they were eating at the Chinese restaurant Rice Bowl.

And then, in true “North Dakota nice” spirit, they kicked them from the premises. Before kicking the two women out, they threatened arrest. George was wearing her “Water is Life” badge on the back of her clothing.

“We were eating dinner and on our way out of Mandan when two police officers, the sheriff and one other called us over to talk,” George reported. According to George’s Facebook page, she is from Michigan.

Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney - still shot of video feed

Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney – still shot of video feed

“His [Laney] first question was, ‘How long are you going to be here for?’ To which we replied, ‘As long as the pipeline is proceeding,’” Newell reported. Newell’s Facebook page reports she is from Australia. “He immediately replied with ‘Well, that’s just not going to happen.’

“We asked why he thought that, and we were genuinely curious to the police perspective and want to bridge the gap between the two sides,” Newell said.

“We tried to have a polite conversation with them listening to their side and when they didn’t like what we were saying they ordered us to leave the restaurant saying that we had two minutes to leave before we would be arrested,” George said.

Recent events were brought up during the discussion, including Sunday night’s conflict when law enforcement used rubber bullets, concussion grenades, tear gas, pepper spray and a high-powered water cannon against activists.

“Things got heated and we asked them to hold space for us to speak, as the conversation was basically his voice speaking over ours,” Newell said. “We tried to tell him our perspective, but he wasn’t open to listen and ordered us to leave as soon as the conversation wasn’t going his way.”

And then, Laney threatened arrest, Newell said.

“What are you going to arrest us for?” George said on the video.

“Disorderly conduct,” Ziegler said.

“We asked you to leave so that these gentlemen can enjoy their meals and we can enjoy our meals,” Ziegler said. “This is a private restaurant.”

“We tried to have a conversation and it’s not going anywhere,” Laney said.

Mandan Police Chief Jason Ziegler confronting women at dining restaurant - still shot of video feed

Mandan Police Chief Jason Ziegler confronting women at dining restaurant – still shot of video feed

“Okay, can I just say that you guys called us over to talk to us?” George said. “So you have authority…?”

She was interrupted when Ziegler stood and confronted her, forcing her back.

“I’m going to tell you one more time to leave this restaurant. Go ahead, video tape me,” Ziegler said.

“Now you got about two seconds to go, okay guys,” Laney said. “Let us eat our dinner in peace. Have a good night.”

An elderly woman watching nearby told the two women to go home.

“We are home.”

The women are known as water protectors by the Standing Rock Sioux, and as protesters by law enforcement. They’re part of the months-long controversy surrounding the USD 3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline, which is slated to run less than a mile away from the Standing Rock’s reservation. Dakota Access LLC is the subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners, which combined with Sunoco Logistics Partners on Monday. Energy Transfer Equity controls both companies, according to media outlet Fortune.

Both Laney and Ziegler were contacted for comment late Tuesday evening in this developing story. The Rice Bowl was also contacted for comment, but the restaurant had already closed for the evening.

No DAPL activists marching toward Capitol of Peace Garden State - photo by Rob Wilson Photography

Bismarck Under Soft Lockdown, Army Corps Halts DAPL Construction

November 15, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Hundreds march on Peace Garden State’s Capitol, no arrests, Army Corps says DAPL construction “cannot occur”

By C.S. Hagen
BISMARCK – The Peace Garden State’s capital city was partially locked down Monday as Standing Rock and approximately 500 supporters hit the city’s streets in defiance of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Some schools closed. Roads closed. The North Dakota State Capitol Building partly closed. At least one school’s students were put into shelters, Bismarck resident Shane Balkowitsch reported, because activists marched down an adjacent street.

Balkowitsch, a wet plate photographer, watched his son’s choir concert later Monday evening sing “This Land is Your Land,” and could only feel sadness during the performance.

Activists at Capitol - photo provided by Rob Wilson Photography

Activists at Capitol – photo provided by Rob Wilson Photography

“You see, just four hours before at this same school there was a mandatory ‘shelter lockdown,’” Balkowitsch said. He received warning text messages on his cell phone about the action. “It turned out a peaceful group of DAPL protesters were walking down the street executing their First Amendment rights. The school felt this action was warranted to ‘protect the safety of the students.’”

Instead of sheltering the students, Balkowitsch said the school his child attends should have taken the opportunity for discussion.

“I was told that this ‘was not a political statement’ and I told them that is exactly what it was, and that fear-mongering should not be tolerated,” Balkowitsch said. The school had an opportunity to teach the children about the First Amendment and what it means, and that maybe someday they will want to exercise this God-given right.”

The First Amendment states: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

“Doing a lockdown tells the children that there is something to fear and worry about, that what is happening is bad. It is not.”

No DAPL activists in Bismarck - photo provided by Rob Wilson Photography

No DAPL activists in Bismarck – photo provided by Rob Wilson Photography

“It was put in place to keep the large group from demonstrating in the capital,” North Dakota Highway Patrol Lt. Tom Iverson said. “The North Dakota State Capitol building was placed on ‘soft lockdown’ this morning after pipeline protesters converged on the Capitol from all directions. Approximately 500 protesters carrying signs, placards and chanting converged on the Capitol with several attempting to enter the Capitol building.”

The North Dakota State Capitol building was placed on “soft lockdown” around 11:30 a.m. Monday, with all exterior doors to the building locked and monitored by North Dakota Highway Patrol officers, Iverson said.

Activists gathered at the north and west entrances, and the south mall area of the Capitol, Iverson said. After 1 p.m. activists marched down Third Street toward the William Guy Federal Building.

“Law enforcement blocked off the roadway from traffic and lined up along the grass area next to the Federal Building. Protesters were notified that their actions of blocking the roadway were unlawful and they needed to return to their vehicles. The protesters slowly made their way back to the Capitol after approximately two hours.”

No arrests were made on Monday at the Capitol or closer to St. Anthony where approximately 50 activists marched on a Dakota Access Pipeline construction site, Iverson said.

“They proceeded onto the DAPL easement locked arm in arm, but were confronted by DAPL security personnel who gave them orders to vacate the private property.”

DAPL pipeline and drillpad at Missouri River at Lake Oahe - photo provided by Myron Dewey

DAPL pipeline and drillpad at Missouri River at Lake Oahe – photo provided by Myron Dewey

In what activists describe as good and welcome news, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reported Monday that it informed the Standing Rock Sioux, Energy Transfer Partners, and Dakota Access LLC that it completed its review launched on September 9.

“The Army has determined that additional discussion and analysis are warranted in light of the history of the Great Sioux Nation’s dispossessions of lands, the importance of Lake Oahe to the tribe, our government-to-government relationship, and the statute governing easements through government property,” the statement reported.

Furthermore, the Corps invited the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to engage in discussions regarding potential conditions on a new easement for pipeline crossing that would reduce the risk of a spill or rupture, or “hasten detection and response to any possible spill, or otherwise enhance the protection of Lake Oahe and the tribe’s water supplies.

“While these discussions are ongoing, construction on or under Corps land bordering Lake Oahe cannot occur because the Army has not made a final decision on whether to grant an easement.”

Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of Dakota Access Pipeline, said one week ago that within 14 days it would be drilling under the Missouri River at Lake Oahe. Energy Transfer Partners personnel could not be reached for comment; neither media personnel or the company’s CEO, Kelcy Warren, have returned emails or telephone calls since early August.

Buffalo behind fences - Indigenous Rising Media

Buffalo behind fences – Indigenous Rising Media

Last week, video footage taken by Indigenous Rising Media near the Dakota Access Pipeline drill pad route revealed hundreds of buffalo trapped behind fencing, and apparently without access to proper grazing areas or water, which prompted the Animal Legal Defense Fund to investigate.

“There have been threats of killing the buffalo by the construction company. The Animal Legal Defense Fund is confirming reports, collecting information, and investigating the legality of the treatment of these buffalo,” Animal Legal Defense Fund reported.

Morton County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that buffalo were fenced in near the DAPL pathway. “The owner wanted them moved to a different pasture,” Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported. “They were corralled to transport.”

Additionally, Morton County Sheriff’s Department has begun an investigation into the case of a DAPL worker who allegedly brandished a handgun and drove a Four Square Concrete truck and excavation equipment into a crowd of activists. At least one woman was injured during the incident, activists and law enforcement reported. As he drove away, the driver allegedly fired his pistol multiple times into the air, according to video footage.

“The case construction worker is under investigation. The woman was offered medical assistance bur refused treatment.”

DAPL employee brandishes handgun before driving truck through crowd - online sources

DAPL employee brandishes handgun before driving truck through crowd – online sources

Four Square Concrete LLC is a Mandan company registered in June 2013, according to the North Dakota Secretary of State, and is a “family owned and operated business,” according to the Four Square Concrete LLC website. The North Dakota Secretary of State lists Leonard Leingang as the registered agent.

Morton County Sheriff’s Department would not release the name of the DAPL worker involved, but a Facebook page entitled “Leonard Leingang is a Hero” has attracted national attention.

Facebook posts on the Leingang page denounce the man allegedly involved is a hero, among other various insults. Attempts to reach Leingang at the telephone number provided on the company’s website were unsuccessful.

dapl-drill-pad-less-than-a-quarter-of-a-mile-from-missouri-river-photo-provided-by-myron-dewey

DAPL drill pad less than a mile from Standing Rock Sioux reservation, and nearly on Missouri River’s banks – photo provided by Myron Dewey

No Rest for Police and Standing Rock on Veterans Day

November 11, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Standing Rock activists march on Veterans Day, halt DAPL construction, 33 arrested, total arrested nears 450

By C.S. Hagen
CANNONBALL – Standing Rock activists marched on three locations early Friday morning Veterans Day, shutting down highways and rural roads, law enforcement report. A fourth march shut down Highway 6 north of St. Anthony Friday afternoon.

Approximately 30 activists were arrested, North Dakota Highway Patrol Lt. Tom Iverson said. Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported a total of 33 arrested. Work along the Dakota Access Pipeline was halted.

Law enforcement responded to reports at Backwater Bridge, where two burned-out DAPL trucks remain blocking Highway 1806, to a second location where the pipeline crosses Highway 6 south of Mandan, and to a barricade at the intersection of county roads 135 and 81, Iverson said.

“There’s a lot of things going on today,” Iverson said. “To be honest, I don’t know why they chose today, other than the fact that they do these things quite often. I do think it is quite embarrassing for them to do such things on Veterans Day, and quite frankly, they are criminal acts today, a slap in the face to all veterans. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”

Iverson reported six law enforcement vehicle tires were slashed, Dakota Access Pipeline equipment was vandalized – windows were smashed, engine lines cut, graffiti was spray-painted.

DAPL equipment spray-painted - photo provided by Morton County Sheriff's Department

DAPL equipment spray-painted – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department

“Protesters also attempted to attack an officer with a stake, slashed tires on law enforcement vehicles, and caused damage to construction equipment,” Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported. Highway 6 was closed, 12 vehicles belonging to activists and law enforcement were towed.

“One man, wearing goggles, approached officers in a threatening manner,” Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said in a press release. “The individual had a stake and started to swing it at an officer. The officer responded using pepper spray to keep the individual from the police line. That individual was arrested.”

A November 1, 2016 report made public by the United Nations Chief Edward John, an expert member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, says the situation is quickly resembling a war zone.

“The United States, as a demonstration of its recent commitments to protect against human rights violations, must live up to its international human rights commitments with respect to indigenous peoples and swiftly reverse its current approach of criminalizing indigenous human rights defenders – those standing up for their solemn treaty rights to lands, territories and resources and their inalienable human rights,” the report stated.

“The US must fulfill its trust responsibility and fiduciary obligations. The United States has a legal obligation and “has charged itself with moral obligations of the highest responsibility and trust’ toward Indian tribes in the United States, including the Standing Rock Sioux… especially when their lives and their cultural integrity is at stake.

“Clearly, US laws and international instruments recognize and must assure their survival as indigenous peoples and their dignity and well-being. No one should ignore, be indifferent nor run roughshod over these.”

Cut wires on DAPL equipment - photo provided by Morton County Sheriff's Department

Cut wires on DAPL equipment – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department

Most of the arrests stemmed from a blockade created at the intersection of county roads 135 and 81, Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported. “Officers believe this roadblock was set up to prevent law enforcement’s response to Highway 6. Officers ordered the individuals to remove the barricade, they refused, and approximately 30 people were arrested.”

“Some people need to look up the word peaceful in the dictionary,” Iverson said. “You can’t break the law and engage in criminal acts and claim it’s peaceful.”

DAPL workers were spotted covering up pipeline already laid east of Highway 6 early Friday morning, according to the Indigenous Environmental Network. Approximately 100 activists hurried to the scene and stopped two backhoes before the rest of the workers retreated east, toward Highway 1806, along the pipeline route.

Sheriff's vehicles slashed tires - photo provided by Morton County Sheriff's Department

Sheriff’s vehicles slashed tires – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department

“It’s just stopping them, stalling them, when they’ve already been asked by the Obama Administration, by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and they’re just disregarding everything,” the Indigenous Environmental Network reported.

One DAPL backhoe spun circles as activists approached from Highway 6, video footage revealed. A radio tuned into the DAPL workers frequency caught snippets of conversation between the pipeline employees.

“They ain’t shuttin’ me down, somebody is fixing to get hurt,” a DAPL worker said.

“We need to go up there and slash every one of them damn tires up there,” another DAPL employee said.

“We’re just trying to put Mother Earth back.”

“They don’t care about that.”

“Those dumb sh*ts are trying to jump on a moving tractor.”

“Let ‘em do it, let ‘em do it.”

Backwater Bridge and two burned out DAPL trucks - photo by C.S. Hagen

Backwater Bridge and two burned out DAPL trucks – photo by C.S. Hagen

The marches came days after Energy Transfer Partners was requested by President Obama’s Administration, and by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to cease construction. The Dakota Access Pipeline, nearly finished, lacks an easement to cross the Missouri River at Lake Oahe.

Recently, Energy Transfer Partners, Dakota Access LLC’s parent company, and North Dakota’s politicians whose campaigns have been supported by Bakken oil interested parties, Senator John Hoeven R-N.D., and Congressman Kevin Cramer R-N.D., have been applying pressure to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to authorize the easement needed to dig under the Missouri River at Lake Oahe.

Earlier this week, Energy Transfer Partners issued a statement saying in two weeks time, now approximately 10 days, the company will be drilling under the Missouri River. Already, horizontal drilling equipment is being hauled to the drill pad north of Oceti Sakowin, or Seven Council Fires camp, less than a quarter mile from the river. Energy Transfer Partners also reprimanded the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers demanding it rescind a statement that Dakota Access Pipeline had agreed to halt construction.

On Thursday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers struck back, saying a winter camp for Standing Rock and its supporters will be provided. The Corps asked DAPL a second time to voluntarily cease operations, but the company did not listen, the report stated.

As the numbers of arrested activists defending Standing Rock, its lands, and its waters, nears 450 in total, politicians, the military, and tribal leaders are attempting to find a solution. Last week, President Obama said a reroute of the pipeline should be on the table for discussion.

Most of Friday’s arrested were charged with obstruction of a government function, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department. The situation on Highway 6 was reported as ongoing late Friday afternoon.

Activists at Cantapeta Creek - photo by C.S. Hagen

Activists at Cantapeta Creek – photo by C.S. Hagen

 

“Battle” for Backwater Bridge Ends Peacefully

October 29, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Law enforcement marches toward activist’s line, quarter mile from main camp; Sioux tribal chairmans speak out against DAPL and Energy Transfer Partners 

By C.S. Hagen
CANNON BALL – The battle for Backwater Bridge erupted hours after law enforcement cleared “Treaty Camp,” arresting 142 people and pushing activists back two miles making room for Dakota Access Pipeline construction. Two Dakota Access trucks and one vehicle were set on fire near the bridge; an electronic billboard sat charred between them making the road impassable.

“It was a very active and tense evening as law enforcement worked through the evening to clear protesters from the north camp,” Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported in a press release.

Front line activists at Backwater Bridge - photo by C.S. Hagen

Front line activists at Backwater Bridge – photo by C.S. Hagen

The conflict lasted all night Thursday and by mid-morning Friday tensions were high, activists reported. They were tired, hungry, frustrated, and feeling trapped as DAPL construction crews hurriedly plowed the earth toward the three-mile easement. Between the activists and the DAPL construction crews, at least 10 Humvees, two bearcats, and hundreds of police formed a roadblock.

Activists preparing for armed police - photos by C.S. Hagen

Activists preparing for armed police – photos by C.S. Hagen

“You’re on treaty land,” an activist said to the law enforcement line.

“You are not peaceful,” an officer said through a megaphone. “Look behind you at the DAPL truck.”

“You are not peaceful,” activists said back.

The conversation, yelled back and forth, became taunts.

“Why do you hide behind your bandanas?” the officer asked.

“Because of the pepper spray you use on us,” an activist said. “You aren’t tough. You are disobeying natural law.”

smudging-on-front-lines-photo-by-c-s-hagen

Smudging ceremony at the front line – photo by C.S. Hagen

Smudging ceremonies began. Activists moved particleboard shields into a line north of the bridge. Law enforcement used DAPL workers to begin stringing razor wire across their cement barricade, but stopped, citing the situation was becoming dangerous.

“Drop your guns and come here and fight like men,” an activist said.

Law enforcement said they saw weapons; activists said it was an agitator. One white person was seen sitting in the back of a pickup truck holding a broken toy gun with batteries before the vehicle sped south.

“You must move south,” the officer said. “Everyone, you must understand your decision, if you continue to move forward we will be forced to move you back. Does everyone understand that?”

Law enforcement closing in - photo by C.S. Hagen

Law enforcement closing in – photo by C.S. Hagen

The activists whooped in response, and moved the line forward three steps. Hundreds of law enforcement took formation and began marching downward toward the bridge. Snipers protruding from Humvee tops pointed weapons at the activists. The officer on the megaphone issued a final warning.

And then, a Standing Rock elder, white hair, dressed in a running suit, pipe in hand, stepped between the activists and the police. His sudden appearance quieted both sides.

Elder Miles Allard of Standing Rock approaches police line to negotiate - photo by C.S. Hagen

Elder Miles Allard of Standing Rock approaches police line to negotiate – photo by C.S. Hagen

“We went to ceremony, the medicine people told us, the spirits told us the only way we can win this thing is through prayer and non-violence,” the elder, Miles Allard, owner of the Camp of the Sacred Stone land, said. “We have to be respectful to these people.”

“They need to be respectful to us,” an activist said.

Miles Allard, 25-year-long resident of Standing Rock - photo by C.S. Hagen

Miles Allard, 25-year-long resident of Standing Rock – photo by C.S. Hagen

“That’s true,” Allard said. “Listen, one heart, one mind, one spirit, is what they told us. You’re doing your job by standing here, be non-violent please. The spirits told us we will not win if we do this with violence. The violence comes from them; we have to be able to be brave enough and strong enough in prayer to resist that.

“I talk to you because I love you all, I love this water, that’s what we’re here for, the Mni Wiconi. We stand in solidarity. But we cannot create violence, if we do we’re going to lose.”

An eagle flew overhead and the activists cheered. Police beckoned Allard to their line to parley. He negotiated a deal where both sides could back away, personal property from the Treaty Camp returned to activists, and the county could clear the highway. Treaty Camp was built on land tribal council members reclaimed under their own eminent domain declaration, and on private land formerly owned by Cannon Ball Ranch and sold to Dakota Access LLC on September 23, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department.

Backwater Bridge - photos by C.S. Hagen

Backwater Bridge – photos by C.S. Hagen

Although the activists were still effectively trapped at Backwater Bridge as they could not proceed to the DAPL construction pathway two miles north, Allard said the deal did not deter their determination to stop the “black snake.”

Activists shouting back at law enforcement on top of burned out DAPL truck - photo by C.S. Hagen

Activists shouting back at law enforcement on top of burned out DAPL truck – photo by C.S. Hagen

“It has no effect at all, we’re just opening up the highway, our determination, our drive, our prayers to save our river, our Missouri River,” Allard said. “I told them we will never back down from that because that’s life and death to us. Our water is very important to us, we cannot live, nothing can live, without water, let alone those that are in the water, the animals that go there, the insects, the land if it gets polluted. My major concern was nobody needed to get hurt here.

“I’ve never before stepped up, because I always pray in the background. That’s my job. I was concerned when I heard what was going on… so I came up here to talk to the people and that’s what I did.”

The decision disappointed some within the activist’s crowd, who had spent the night running, defending themselves and other activists. According to some who were present, activists at times counted coup with law enforcement. Counting coup is a winning prestige tradition against an enemy where the most prestigious acts included touching an enemy warrior with the hand and escaping unharmed.

Activists calling for prayer form human chain to prevent others from marching on law enforcement - photo by C.S. Hagen

Activists calling for prayer form human chain to prevent others from marching on law enforcement – photo by C.S. Hagen

One DAPL security employee armed with an automatic AR-15 was surrounded by activists and then arrested by the Bureau of Indian Affairs after he attempted to drive into the main camp, Dallas Goldtooth said. Goldtooth is a campaign organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network.

He said he was pepper sprayed on Thursday. Tribal leaders from across the United States were arrested, he said. “They were rounded up and arrested. It was really, really chaotic… Dakota Access is still trying to move ahead with construction.”

Noah Morris, a front line medic, said more than 50 people were treated for pepper spray injuries on Thursday. Twelve people suffered blunt-force injuries from nightsticks and percussion grenades, and another activist had a Taser barb imbedded in his cheek.

Law enforcement also targeted medics on Thursday, Morris said.

Medics waiting at front line - by C.S. Hagen

Medics waiting at front line – by C.S. Hagen

“They arrested two of our medics, forcibly removed myself and my partner by hitting us from the back of our medical vehicle, and the driver was pulled out while the car was still in drive and arrested. So any reports of restraint on behalf of law enforcement from medics’ perspective were completely false and those folks came as instigators, those folks are the problem, they caused the problem.”

Law enforcement also used “stingballs,” he said, projectiles the size of tennis balls used mostly in prison uprisings, packed with hard rubber pellets. When detonated the projectiles release a “large bang” and send pellets in 360 degrees, hitting and stinging anyone nearby. “They were using their whole arsenal of “less-than-lethal” weapons, Morris said.

One woman fired multiple shots at police officers, and two officers received minor injuries after being hit by logs and debris, Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported. At least nine vehicles plus construction equipment were torched, sixty activists’ vehicles were impounded, and seven activists used sleeping dragons to attach themselves to DAPL equipment. Most activists arrested were charged with conspiracy to endanger by fire/explosion, engaging in a riot, and maintaining a public nuisance. Those arrested for using sleeping dragons were arrested for reckless endangerment. Since August 10, 411 people have been arrested with charges related to resisting the Dakota Access Pipeline, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department. 

Activist woman being arrested - photo provided by Steve Gross

Activist woman being arrested – photo provided by Steve Gross

The arrests included one elder was taken while praying in a sweat lodge, Harold Frazier, chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe said. He met with President Obama this week and said he “was a little disappointed” with the results.

“There are no weapons on our side,” Goldtooth said. “The only things we had were our bodies and prayer. At a moment that police were pushing us south, a herd of bison came running over the hills, stampeding, and everyone was ‘wooh,’ letting it out.” Several hundred bison stampeded behind the police line, creating panic, and spurred on by activists on horseback. Police helicopters swooped low, scaring the buffalo away, and the horsemen escaped, Goldtooth said.

The DAPL worker, activists name as Kyle Thompson, just before his arrest - photo provided by Steve Gross

The DAPL worker, activists name as Kyle Thompson, just before his arrest – photo provided by Steve Gross

The armed DAPL security employee was in his vehicle driving toward main camp when activists smashed his car off the road and tracked him into a nearby pond within sight of the main camp. The Bureau of Indian Affairs arrived and arrested the DAPL worker. The incident is under investigation by the Morton County Sheriff’s Department.

“This is just another part of 500 years of colonization and aggression that is predicated upon our oppression,” Goldtooth said. “The question I have to ask… is what’s it going to take for you to take accountability for your law enforcement officers? We’ve seen the lengths they’re willing to go support and back up a multi-billion dollar oil company in the face of peaceful protesters and protectors. We ask for prayers, we ask for thoughts, we ask for guided action from each and every one of you to help us stop this pipeline.”

“We request individuals here to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline to remain at the Seven Councils Fire Camp if they wish to continue lawful and peaceful activities,” Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said in a press release. “We thank also the Standing Rock tribal members and members of the Seven Council Fires Camp for assisting with de-escalating the situation at the Backwater Bridge.”

The north camp, or the Treaty Camp, was turned over to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department.

“There were things that were wrong,” Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II said.

“It seems that Energy Transfer Partners is getting protection. We’re standing up for water, and not just for us, we’re standing up for water for everybody. We have the state officials supporting oil protection, we have elected state officials accepting contributions from oil companies. We have police who are militarized… we have unions who are trying to say we’re trying to take jobs away from them.

“Look at Trump who has direct interest in Dakota Access. This is a powerful conglomerate. And what do we have? Who are we? All we have is support, all we have is unity, all we have is our prayers. And it’s strong. We still have a chance. Everyone can still benefit, and everyone can still be happy. It can be done, and everyone will be happy.”

Pipeline route and razor wire off Highway 6 - photo by C.S. Hagen

Pipeline route and razor wire off Highway 6 – photo by C.S. Hagen

Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of Dakota Access LLC run by oil tycoon Kelcy Warren, is being sued for illegally using dogs that attacked people, and for buying land [Cannon Ball Ranch] they should not have, Archambault said. Archambault also said that the individual arrested by the Bureau of Indian Affairs was an infiltrator, sent by Energy Transfer Partners, and that they have proof he was an employee of Energy Transfer Partners. “These agitators are put there for a reason, to make us look like villains… He had an assault rifle, and he fired it. We are not villains. This is the type of company everyone is protecting. What is driving this company is money and greed.”

Frazier added that he will be seeking charges of attempted murder against the infiltrator as there is video of the individual pointing a weapon at activists. Additionally, when asked for information about the individual he was told he would have to follow regular information protocol.

The U.S. Department of Justice has been to Standing Rock, and will assist in negotiation, according to Archambault. “But no matter how much we come together the company continues to construct… and everyone is protecting them. So they want us to sit down and talk while this company continues construction, and that’s difficult.

“This is not about protectors, not about state law enforcement, it’s about this company. It’s a bad company. Nobody should be protecting this company. We all should be focused on what we can do to protect water, and if we don’t do that, life is no more.”

Helicopter pushing stampeding bison away from police line - photo provided by Standing Rock

Helicopter pushing stampeding bison away from police line – photo provided by Standing Rock

Activists remained unmoved for hours - photo by C.S. Hagen

Activists at Backwater Bridge  – photo by C.S. Hagen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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