Dakota Access LLC security guard disguised as water protector who tried to ram car into Standing Rock main camp in 2016 faces drug and gun concealment charges
By C.S. Hagen
BISMARCK – The disguised DAPL security guard set free by law enforcement last year after reportedly driving crazily toward the main No DAPL camp armed with a semi-automatic AR-15, was arrested Tuesday on unrelated charges, according to police.
Kyle Thompson mugshot – Burleigh County Sheriff’s Department
Kyle James Thompson, 30, was arrested at 8:03 p.m. Tuesday for simple assault domestic violence, carrying a concealed weapon, and for possession of schedule I, II, and III drug paraphernalia, according to the Burleigh County arrest records. By Wednesday afternoon the domestic abuse charge was dropped, leaving two Class A misdemeanor charges: carrying a concealed firearm in his vehicle, and possessing drug paraphernalia, namely syringes and spoons, to consume methamphetamine, according to the Burleigh County Clerk of Court.
Bismarck Police Officer David Haswell stopped Thompson’s car on East Broadway Avenue in Bismarck for a welfare check, according to Clerk of Court records. “Police were notified by witnesses that a male subject was hitting a female subject in the car,” Haswell reported. “I made contact with the driver, Kyle Thompson, and asked him to exit the vehicle. While he exited the vehicle I noticed a handgun concealed between the driver seat and the center console.”
Thompson’s DAPL security badge taken from pickup truck – online sources
In the backseat, Thompson allegedly also had a rifle, Clerk of Court documents reported. Officers also located a small zipper case inside the vehicle with multiple syringes, spoons, a white residue, a grinder with residue, and a glass smoking device, Clerk of Court documents said.
“The capped needles field tested positive for methamphetamines,” Haswell wrote. “Thompson does not have a concealed carry permit.”
Nearly six months ago when law enforcement took over the Standing Rock’s Treaty Camp, pitched in the Dakota Access Pipeline’s route, Thompson was arrested by Bureau of Indian Affairs agents after activists slammed a vehicle into his pickup truck. He was disguised as a “water protector” in a t-shirt and bandana covering his face. A short foot pursuit ended in a pond near the camp where according to video reports and interviews with activists, Thompson fired his weapon twice.
In November 2016, Thompson and the Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation found no evidence that Thompson fired his weapon. Documents linking Thompson to Thompson-Gray LLC, a security firm, were found inside the pickup truck.
Brennon Nastacio and Kyle Thompson on October 27, 2016 – online sources
After BIA agents handed Thompson over to Morton County officials, he was released, and he was called a victim by Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier.
“Three days ago on October 27th, I was in a situation in which myself and others were faced with the difficult decision to take another’s life or not,” Thompson said on his Facebook page shortly after the ordeal. “I drew out my rifle after my vehicle was disabled and over 300 protesters were rapidly approaching my location, a few had knives and were dead set on using those knives.”
Brennon Nastacio – Facebook page
The man who stopped him, Brennon “BJ” Nastacio, a Pueblo Native American from Boulder, Colorado, was placed on Morton County Sheriff’s Department’s Most Wanted List. He turned himself in and now faces felony terrorizing charges. Nastacio has had a preliminary hearing where he said the judge already set a court date of October 5.
“I found that to be fishy,” Nastacio said. “But I pray that he [Thompson] finds help that he needs while being incarcerated. People are so quick to wish bad and talk negative, I am not one of them. I think we endured enough bad and negativity and to add more just isn’t how I was raised. So I am hopeful that this is a wake up call for him to stop walking down that path of destruction.”
Nastacio remains hopeful that his name will be cleared. “But I am aware that my case is in a county where 92 percent of the people there think that we are guilty. I can only be hopeful and pray for a good outcome.”
Two others were charged with Class C felony crimes when activists stopped Thompson: Michael Fasig of Minnesota and Israel Hernandez of New York, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department. The two “committed reckless endangerment offenses when they rammed a truck driven by another individual,” a Morton County Sheriff’s Department press release reported.
Provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
Thompson-Gray LLC is listed under Silverton Consulting International, according to the Ohio Secretary of State. The company was not authorized to work in North Dakota, the state’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation reported. Rumors at the time when trained dogs attacked activists in September 2016 reported G4S, a U.K.-based security company that often goes by nickname the “Chaos Company,” was involved as the Dakota Access Pipeline’s private security firm are unfounded, and denied by G4S staff.
G4S does have multiple companies established in North Dakota, according to the North Dakota Secretary of State.
Charles Graham Clifton with horses in 2015 – photo provided by Joshua Franke-Hyland
Charles Graham Clifton is listed as the owner of Ohio-based Silverton Consulting International, a new company reported as “shady” in online reviews. Clifton is also the owner of AMGI Global, Ltd. Co., now dissolved for tax reasons in Texas, Knightsbridge Risk Management, now dissolved for noncompliance in Colorado. He has connections to the ISSE Foundation Inc., Red Rock Ordnance LLC, and Red Rock Armory, all dissolved for tax issues in Texas, the Lodestar Services International, dissolved in Colorado in 2011, and Humanitarian Defense, dissolved for tax reasons in Wyoming 2010.
Joshua P. Franke-Hyland once worked with Clifton at AMGI Global, Ltd. Co., he said. “It was a 100 percent failure,” Franke-Hyland said. Clifton is “a scam artist with a very long history of scamming people of all types.”
Barbara Marie Colliton – photo provided by Joshua Franke-Hyland
Clifton is on the run, Franke-Hyland said, from bench warrants for felony theft and civil lawsuits. Franke-Hyland believes the use of attack dogs was issued by Barbara Colliton, Clifton’s partner and frequent registered agent. Colliton was arrested in December 2016 but released in Taylor County, Texas after restitution was paid, Franke-Hyland said.
Another company that used attack dogs on September 3 was the Ohio-based Frost Kennels, whose owner, Bob Frost, admitted to using the dogs on September 3, 2016.
“We went out there to do a job and we did it,” Frost said in September 2016. “So we just said f*ck it, and got our dogs, and tried to make a bridge between them and the workers.”
Morton County Sheriff’s Department said the companies involved as security firms for Dakota Access LLC on September 3 were not licensed to work in North Dakota, but did not file any charges against security personnel or companies involved.
Franke-Hyland sued Clifton in Bexar County, and Clifton also is listed as being sued in Bastrop, Texas.
“Clifton’s dream is to be G4S-AMGI, and was supposed to be Clifton’s answer to G4S,” Franke-Hyland said. “AMGI, like everything else Clifton touches, was complete sh*t. He is a risk in every sense in the word. His best day is as an incompetent short con that refuses to pay the bills.”
The state’s stranglehold on the anti-DAPL movement squeezes shut, veterans speak out
By C.S. Hagen CANNON BALL – Standing Rock’s fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline has all the ingredients of legend, with only the ending remaining be be told. Centuries past, bards would be tuning their lutes, preparing lyrics, in fact, modern singers such as Neil Young, Dave Matthews, the Black Eyed Peas, Trevor Hall, and many Native American talents have already immortalized Standing Rock’s resistance.
“If you are a rock, stand up like a mountain,” Hall sang about Standing Rock.
Two months ago, the story promised a happy ending for activists: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers halted the pipeline, ordered an environmental impact statement, and thousands of veterans converged into the camps. The caravan stretched for miles, cars – bumper to bumper – for a full day and a night.
Activists offering thanks of sage, fir nettles, and tobacco to the former Oceti Sakowin sacred fire – photo by C.S. Hagen
Proponents of the pipeline however, bided their time, waited on a savior. Bending to pressure from President Trump’s Administration, the Army Corps has issued the easement needed for Dakota Access, LLC to complete the pipeline, and have said nothing about the continuation of its promised environmental impact statement. The Peace Garden State’s tactics against the Standing Rock camps – pitted for an ongoing 190 days against the 1,172-mile pipeline – were nothing more than a slowly-squeezing siege, activists and veterans say, calculated and methodical. Like a medieval siege.
Activist at Highway 1806 barricade – photo by C.S. Hagen
“It started with the roadblock, which brought economic sanctions against Standing Rock,” attorney and long time activist Chase Iron Eyes said. “It was a genius move, but now the walls are definitely closing in.”
Once North Dakota’s tenth largest community with more than 10,000 people living in the floodplain along the Cannonball River, the remaining activists now number only 400, Iron Eyes said. Calls have gone out to return; some, including veterans, are heeding the cry for help.
“Numerous law enforcement and federal agencies have severely limited access to the camps at Standing Rock,” Mark Sanderson, executive director for VeteransRespond said. “They run propaganda and psy-ops against any group going to help. You can’t make it to camp without going through roadblocks or checkpoints. The situation on camp is that many necessities are very limited. Clean drinking water for one is hard to get, fuel for generators, food.”
Siege (n.) early 13th century, from Vulgar Latin ‘sedicum’ meaning ‘seat’
Militarized law enforcement began its siege by closing down Highway 1806, and then erecting a blockade on Backwater Bridge to rival Korea’s Demilitarized Zone. One of the first rules of a siege is to isolate the target, like the Arabs did against Constantinople in 717 CE, or Nazis 872-day siege against St. Petersburg in 1941, or the 1,425-day siege of Bosnian Serb’s against Sarajevo in 1992.
Law enforcement and the North Dakota National Guard toyed with closing the road down for nearly three months before making the blockade official in late October 2016.
Former Governor Jack Dalrymple set the stage. In August 2016, he declared a state of emergency. Two months later he issued an emergency evacuation order, further declaring anyone caught supplying Standing Rock with goods or equipment could face a fine of up to $1,000.
DAPL Front lines in January 2016 – photo provided by Johnny Dangers
Besieging forces are not allowed to target civilians, according to the U.S. Army field manual’s Additional Protocols of 1977, and relief agencies are authorized to provide aid to people in need. A day after the threat was issued by Dalrymple, he backtracked, saying police would not target people or close down additional roads.
Backwater Bridge is the site where Morton County Sheriff’s Department hosed activists in below freezing weather; the site where Sophia Wilanksy nearly lost her arm; the site where trucks were burned, where disguised infiltrators attempted to gain access to the main camp, and the site where dozens were maced, injured, and arrested. Instead of using trebuchets and crossbows, law enforcement used its “non-lethal” arsenal of pepper spray, water cannons, and percussion grenades.
It was also the site of prayers, burning sage, traditional dances, and colorful banners.
Surrounded on all sides
The state’s next move was to encircle the Standing Rock camps. A second rule for laying siege is to completely surround the target, preventing food, water, and supplies from assisting the besieged. Activists at Standing Rock soon found themselves trapped behind razor wire, mace, rubber bullets, and concussion grenades. The only route in or out was to take Highway 6, which easily added 40 minutes driving time.
When activists attempted to reach the DAPL drill pad in November, hundreds of police waited along Cantapeta Creek, showering activists in frigid water with pepper spray. When they marched on Backwater Bridge, they were hit with water cannons, percussion grenades, mace, and pepper spray. When activists plowed through snow and across a frozen Cannon Ball River in January, they were met, once again, with razor wire and more mace.
Activists nearing DAPL drill pad – photo provided by Johnny Dangers
Many of the actions taken by activists occurred on reserved lands the Sioux Nation agreed to during the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie, and have never relinquished, according to Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II. Lands north of the Cannon Ball River were taken from the Standing Rock Tribe after massive devastation from damning the Missouri River during the Pick-Sloan legislation.
Police sprayed mace and pepper spray intermittently at activists in Cantapeta Creek – photo by C.S. Hagen
“They’ve also encouraged the local economies to participate in the siege by denying support to those trying to secure goods for camp,” Sanderson said. Sanderson retired from the US Army in 2015 as a Sergeant First Class. He was a designated marksmen and was awarded the Purple Heart after being wounded in Baghdad, Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Riot police spray activists at Backwater Bridge – photo by Rob Wilson Photography
“They make it seem like we’re all coming with intentions of building bombs and getting into confrontations, they’ve successfully turned a large group of Americans against veterans.”
Psychological warfare
Next came psychological and according to some, biological warfare. Although Morton County denied the use of chemicals against activists near Standing Rock, more than 40,000 pounds of Rozol Prairie Dog Bait, an anticoagulant rodenticide, were purchased by a nearby rancher, David Meyer, of Flasher, according to the United State Environmental Protection Agency. A portion was spread across more than 5,408 acres of nearby pasturelands in the spring of 2016, the same time activists began gathering at Sacred Stone Camp. Investigators said the chances any of the more the 20,000 people who traveled through Standing Rock being poisoned were remote, nearly impossible, but many activists retain their doubts. Questions have arisen as to whether humans now suffering what is known as the “DAPL cough” might not have been affected.
Frozen water at Backwater Bridge – photo by Rob Wilson Photography
“There have been no substantiated clinical cases of Rozol poisoning traced back to camp exposure,” NDResponse.gov, a state information delivery platform said. “Wood-burning stoves, kerosene heaters, and other temporary forms of heat have been known to cause lung, nose, and eye irritation. An ongoing cough is not consistent with Rozol exposure.”
Sound cannons, attack dogs, and tactics causing hyperthermia, were also used against activists admittedly trespassing during their repeated marches on the pipeline.
Airplanes and helicopters surveyed the camps daily. Cyber warfare ensued, including reports of mass data seizures, electronic bugs, stolen files, according to the Lawyer’s Guild Mass Defense Committee and nonprofit Geeks Without Bounds.
Coldness of river, evident by discoloration on activist’s back – photo by C.S. Hagen
Medics battle hypothermia and hurry to warm activist – photo by C.S. Hagen
And then came Standing Rock’s victory on December 4, celebrated as joyous news to many activists. Standing Rock Tribal Council asked everyone to return home, winter was coming, and the camps’ numbers dwindled.
Some, including Iron Eyes, stayed. The December victory was an ingenious stall of time, he said. A besieging army would never dare attack a force with far superior numbers.
“December 4 was no victory at all,” Iron Eyes said. “We didn’t win. They told us to go home because ‘we won,’ ‘our prayers were answered.’”
State tactics were seemingly pulled straight from a page of Sun Tzu’s ‘Art of War.’
“It turned the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, under economic duress, against the same people they were supposed to protect.” He is currently in Canada, but plans to return to Standing Rock later this week. He faces a Class C felony charge of inciting a riot, and he’s also planning lawsuits against Morton County.
“Morton County is trying to throw me back in prison,” Iron Eyes said. In addition to being the founder of media outlet Last Real Indians, Iron Eyes ran for a congressional seat in 2016. “It seems ludicrous to me.”
Iron Eyes is worried that the Army Corps’ deadline for all camps to be evacuated by February 22 will be the government’s final assault.
“I’m afraid it will look like the Siege on Fallujah,” Iron Eyes said.
Activists hugging each other as law enforcement issue final warning to move – photo by C.S. Hagen
When pipeline proponents’ savior, President Donald Trump, ascended to the White House in January, political attacks intensified. In addition to Morton County Sheriff’s Department propaganda program entitled “Know the Truth,” which includes short videos from the law enforcement side of the controversy, the state kickstarted a website called NDResponse.gov, a “a single source of accurate and timely information.”
Veterans for Standing Rock before the former Oceti Sakowin Camp sacred fire on December 4 at – photo by C.S. Hagen
Politicians, including Representative Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, and Morton County Commissioner Cody Schulz called activists paid protesters, and blamed missing livestock in the area on activists while the case is still ongoing by the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association.
“As many as 14 dead or missing animals have been reported in the vicinity of the encampments,” NDResponse.gov reported. “Whether any of those animals were consumed illegally is part of an ongoing investigation.”
The state is further attempting to sway public opinion by depicting activists as careless by disseminating video of trash being compiled at the former Oceti Sakowin Camp. The state’s official stance is that activists are trucking garbage to one camp location and dumping it for a consolidated pick up, but at the same time report officers are digging through the trash looking for dead bodies.
“The veteran community is being targeted as they would a minority,” Sanderson said. “We feel like the supporters of the civil rights movement.”
Although more than 700 people have been arrested, Morton County Sheriff’s Department broadcasted a case on Monday saying “Leader of VeteransRespond Cited for Drug Possession.” Matthew Crane, VeteransRespond chief operations officer, who uses medical cannabis to treat PTSD, and three others were cited after they traveled beyond the road closure sign on Highway 1806 near Fort Rice.
Matthew Crane – Facebook page picture
“One of the occupants turned over a smoking device identified as a pipe used to ingest marijuana,” the North Dakota Joint Information Center reported. “At that point, all occupants and their luggage were removed from the vehicle and searched by the K-9. A bag of marijuana was located with Crane’s name on it.”
Medical Marijuana was legalized by every state district in North Dakota last November. The bill, known as the North Dakota Medical Marijuana Initiative, is currently under review after being postponed and rewritten by state legislature.
Posted on the VeteransRespond’s Facebook page, volunteers have begun to arrive at the Standing Rock camps. They’ve been chopping wood, setting up kitchens, and helping with the trash situation.
Fueled by a national wave led by “alternative facts” and President Trump’s big oil agenda, Pro DAPL supporters have stepped up their attacks – verbal and physical – against anti DAPL supporters lately, Sanderson said. Verbal attacks are hitting online, and law enforcement is hunting veterans on the roads. Some media outlets have reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s terrorism task force is aggressively monitoring people affiliated with the No DAPL movement.
“Much of this negative energy is a result of two encounters with law enforcement, one in North Dakota and another in South Dakota,” Sanderson said. “Our Chief Operations Officer, Matthew Crane, was cited for having less than a gram of medicinal cannabis on him, he took ownership that it was his and received a ticket. He was not arrested. The Morton County Sheriff’s department felt necessary to issue a press release about this citation calling our organization out by name and inaccurately attributing an arrest in South Dakota to our organization.”
Travis Biolette was traveling through Sough Dakota and was arrested for possession of hash oil, Sanderson said. Biolette is not a member of VeteransRespond, but the group picked him up when he was released from jail.
“While we respect state and federal laws we also respect the right to a veteran’s safe access to his or her medicine,” Sanderson said. “Many of our core members suffered from opioid and amphetamine addiction upon leaving the service and have found a better way forward with the help of medicinal cannabis.”
Biolette is in good spirits, and currently at the camps, he said on his Facebook page.
“As soon as the police found out I was going to Sacred Stone Camp I was placed in the police car and searched,” Biolette said. “I am currently free and have to go to court on February 27th. I am looking at five years in a state penitentiary of South Dakota for medical marijuana that the state of Michigan has determined I need. I am currently looking for legal representation to prevent that prison time.”
“It’s hard to imagine a time in America when police officers would target a veterans group for trying to help a community and support our fellow vets,” Sanderson said. “They certainly do all they can to deny support to the camp and use disinformation and propaganda against anyone who tries to help, even those like us that come in peace.”
Sanderson previously joined the December veterans at Standing Rock, and said at that time 300 cots provided by the American Red Cross were denied entry to Standing Rock by Morton County Sheriff’s Department.
In total, 705 people have been arrested since August 2016, with 92 percent of those arrested from out of state, 212 people arrested had prior criminal records, 33 arrested had a history of violence, 40 with a history of theft, robbery, or burglary, and 41 previously cited or arrested for drug possession, according to the North Dakota Joint Information Center.
The total cost to taxpayers in North Dakota so far is $32.9 million, with $25 million going to salaries, $3.6 million going toward personnel support, including travel and lodging, and $4.3 million going toward equipment and supplies to survive the winter, according to the North Dakota Joint Information Center.
The North Dakota Department of Transportation announced on Monday that Highway 1806 closure point was changed from south of Mandan to County Road 135, north of Fort Rice, allowing eight more miles of open highway.
North Dakota Legislature
The Peace Garden State’s political siege against those who openly differ in opinion has taken the frontline in the forms of proposed bills to strike fear into activists and future protesters. One of the bills hit activists in the pocketbooks, another tried to legalize the “unintentional” killing of protesters.
North Dakota Legislative ‘scoreboard’ on HB 1203 – photo provided by North Dakota Human Rights Coalition
House Bill 1203, the proposal that attempted to legalize the unintentional running down of protesters blocking public roadways died in the house on Monday. Other bills created as direct responses to the DAPL controversy have passed the house and will soon be voted on in the senate: House Bill 1304, the law that would outlaw wearing ski masks and face coverings in public, House Bill 1293, the bill that would essentially legalize shooting to death trespassers even if there was space to retreat, House Bill 1426, which stiffens laws against protesters, and House Bill 1193, which prohibits “economic harm” due to disorderly conduct.
Senate Bill 2337, a bipartisan bill that would have enacted cultural competency training for legislators was killed 26 to 20 on Tuesday.
“A ‘disease of the mind’ has set in world leaders and many members of our global community,” Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Arvol Looking Horse said. “With their belief that a solution of retaliation and destruction of peoples will bring peace. We need to understand how all these decisions affect the global nation; we will not be immune to its repercussions.”
Standing Rock activists closing in on DAPL drill pad, law enforcement bring in an Avenger weapon system
By C.S. Hagen
CANNON BALL – Inch by inch, coil by razor-tipped coil, Standing Rock activists near the Dakota Access Pipeline drill pad.
During the past week marches launched from the main camp outside of Standing Rock targeted the east side of the pipeline near the Missouri River and Backwater Bridge, which is still militarized with razor wire, cement blocks, and recently the addition of an Avenger weapon system – a lightweight surface-to-air missile unit capable of being armed with eight Stinger missiles in two missile pods, courtesy of the North Dakota Army National Guard.
Avenger weapon system on hill over main camp (Avenger at right) – photo provided by Johnny Dangers
“We are getting to them,” an activist who goes by the name of Nataanii Means said on his Facebook page. “We began exerting our treaty rights when beginning to clear the bridge of unnecessary barbed wire. We were there in peace and prayer, although we know from months of interactions with militarized police, they will get violent against us even when we are unarmed.”
Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported activists came within 700 feet of the drill pad on Tuesday. In two days time, 37 people were arrested, bringing the total arrested to 624, according to law enforcement. Law enforcement were flanked repeatedly as activists attempted to gain access to the DAPL drill pad, and “less-than-lethal force” was used, Morton County Sheriff’s Department said.
Bean bag rounds, pepper spray, impact sponge rounds, and riot control smoke was deployed. Six police officers and National Guard units were injured; one activist was hit in the face and was transported by ambulance to Sanford Medical Center in Bismarck. Charges against those arrested ranged from carrying a concealed weapon, criminal trespass, physical obstruction of a government function, and preventing arrest.
Activists nearing DAPL drill pad – photo provided by Johnny Dangers
“Last night our officers faced the same type of hostility and aggression that we have been subjected to for the past six months, “said Mandan Police Chief Jason Ziegler.
“It is unfortunate that these protesters are now engaging in nightly riots that impede law enforcement’s ability to facilitate the important clean-up efforts requested by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Morton County citizens,” said Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier.
“These front liners don’t back down,” long time activist and attorney Chase Iron Eyes said. He has spent much of the winter so far at the camps assisting and organizing survival and water protection issues. “They are considered ‘illegal trespassers’ on their own treaty land and on a public right of way, which should be open. They have heart. Our kids look up to them as role models and I’m perfectly fine with that. May we always walk without fear.”
Backwater Bridge was investigated for damage by the Department of Transportation and was considered “structurally sound” on January 12.
On Wednesday night, activists said North Dakota Army National Guard and law enforcement shot friends in the back and in the face as they were running away.
“This is not a war,” Alisha Ali Vincent said. “Somebody should tell them that.”
Snowballs, ice, and razor wire Frisbees were used to taunt law enforcement, officials said. The Morton County Sheriff’s Department verified activists were making Frisbees out of razor wire taken down by activists. Video footage filmed by law enforcement also show activists shoving at the police line after removing protective razor wire.
“Protesters cut through and removed security wire they then crafted it into circular, Frisbee shapes and were throwing it at law enforcement at the front line,” Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported. Deflating devices were also placed on Highway 1806 near Huff.
“In response to rumors that an Avenger vehicle is in place to shoot down drones, the North Dakota Army National Guard does have an Avenger system employed in support of the Dakota Access Pipeline Protest,” Morton County Sheriff’s Department said. “These systems are used strictly for observation of ungoverned encampments to help protect private property and maintain public safety in southern Morton County, ND. The systems have no munitions; further, there is no authority to arm these vehicles with munitions.”
Activists said law enforcement and military personnel ambushed activists Wednesday night. Vincent was talking on the phone with a friend standing at Backwater Bridge when the offensive began.
“After 40 minutes of peace and calm, those officers did not have to approach from both sides and from the back shooting people 500 feet away in the back, and in the back of the legs so they would fall down,” Vincent said. “Running after them and zip tying their hands and dragging them off. They didn’t deserve that.”
Activists on Backwater Bridge – photo provided by Johnny Dangers
Myron Dewey, an activist and a filmmaker from Digital Smoke Signals, saw footage of the marches.
“An ‘aha’ moment came up of many of the actions that came before,” Dewey said. “When the police start to get violent like this, something is happening in the background. Morton County is like the Pinkerton oil police, they’re distracting what’s really happening at the drill pad. They’re getting desperate and they’re trying to distract us.
“These guys are going to rely on the Trump administration, and they’re doing certain things by trying to not have an environmental impact study done.”
Dewey also told listeners through a video to be mindful of staying in prayer, and to evict anyone threatening violence.
Testimonies at the state capitol in Bismarck on Wednesday pertaining to the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy showed the state is not stopping its hardline tactics against Standing Rock and supporters. The state borrowed more money from the Bank of North Dakota, making the total used so far $25 million, Senator Ray Holmberg, R-N.D., said.
Razor wire Frisbee – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
Governor Doug Burgum urged activists to leave the area, citing potential flooding concerns and strained relationships between the tribe and state.
“The Dakota Access Pipeline protests began with a legitimate debate around issues raised by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, including protecting our valuable water resources and a desire for genuine government-to-government consultation,” Burgum said. “Those original concerns have been hijacked by those with alternative agendas.”
Due to the lack of in-state public defenders for those arrested on charges related to the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy, the North Dakota Supreme Court authorized out-of-state lawyers to represent pipeline protesters in criminal cases on Wednesday.
Additionally, this week North Dakota Legislature introduced House Bills 1203 and 1304 in what some state politicians deem a “knee-jerk” reaction to the controversy.
House Bill 1203 states: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a driver of a motor vehicle who unintentionally causes injury or death to an individual obstructing vehicular traffic on a public road, street, or highway is not guilty of an offense.”
House Bill 1304 states: “An individual, with the intent to conceal that individual’s identity, may not wear a mask, hood, or other device that covers, hides, or conceals any portion of that individual’s face while…” on a lane, walkway, alley, street, road, highway, or public highway, on public property or appearing on or within public property, and during demonstrations.
Deflating devices on Highway 1806 – Morton County Sheriff’s Department
A violation would be considered a class A misdemeanor, according to the legislative submission.
“Most outside of Morton County may think that because the cameras are gone and the celebrities have stopped showing up that everything has returned to normal here, but make no mistake, there remains a contingent of professional protesters still looking to escalate the ongoing situation in our county and make the lives of our citizens that much more difficult,” Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported.
“Due to this criminal activity, the ND Highway 1806 roadway north of the bridge will remain closed until federal law enforcement is introduced into the protest camp to restore law and order.”
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.
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
“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
“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
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
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
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
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.”
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
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
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.”
Hundreds defy DAPL in Fargo, activists march on man camps in Mandan
By C.S. Hagen FARGO – From San Francisco to Washington D.C., Maine and Massachusetts to Arizona, Mandan to Fargo, tens of thousands of activists marched against the Dakota Access Pipeline on Tuesday in a nationwide call to action initiated by the Standing Rock Sioux.
The No DAPL National Day of Action was issued before a long-awaited victory for the Peace Garden State tribe and supporters when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers temporarily denied Energy Transfer Partners the rights to drill under the Missouri River at Lake Oahe on Monday. Energy Transfer Partners has less than one week to make good on its vow made approximately eight days ago to begin drilling under the river.
The leader behind the pipeline is confident that under President-elect Donald Trump his company will finish the job, according to an interview with Kelcy Warren on CBS This Morning last week. “We will get this easement and we will complete our project,” Warren said on CBS This Morning. Trump holds minor holdings in Energy Transfer Partners, and Warren invested USD 103,000 into Trump’s presidential campaign. Warren also stated in the CBS This Morning interview that it is naïve to think Standing Rock and the tribe’s supporters will stop the Dakota Access Pipeline, and that he is ready to reimburse the state of North Dakota for the millions various agencies have spent during the controversy.
Namarie Dansuri-Keating – “When I heard something was going on in Fargo, I was like I am totally there”- photo by C.S. Hagen
In between Fargo and Moorhead, the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group or MPIRG, organized a rally against the Dakota Access Pipeline over the Red River of the North on the Veterans Memorial Bridge. Approximately 200 people from both sides of the river joined the National Day of Action rally. Many waved banners saying “No DAPL” during rush hour traffic. Cars honked in response. Only a few pickup trucks revved their engines loudly while driving by.
Police officers did not order the activists from the bridge. No streets were cordoned off to the public. No tear gas or pepper spray was used. No rubber bullets were fired. During the 90-minute rally one police car drove past.
“One of these days I would like to see us fill the whole bridge,” Willard Yellowbird said. Yellowbird is a liaison for the Native American Commission and has traveled to Standing Rock before. He’s seen the front lines, and hopes one day the tribal flags and flags from across the world will come to the Peace Garden State’s largest city to support Standing Rock.
“Here we are, just a support group in a spiritual way,” Yellowbird said. “They’re the front line people, we’re here to support them through financing, through prayer, through energy.
“We send them all our strength and spirit and energy from here.”
Activists cheering on Veterans Memorial Bridge – photo by C.S. Hagen
Elizabeth Arroyo, from Moorhead, plans on visiting Standing Rock in December to assist a Nicaraguan group with translation work. She took a stand on Veterans Memorial Bridge because she’s worried about the native heritage and their sacred sites becoming rubble, she said.
“It’s the weak who always suffer,” Arroyo said. “America should be an example for the rest of the world to follow.”
Jonathan Taylor (right) and Adam Heckathorn hold up a sign during the National Day of Solidarity with Standing Rock – photo by C.S. Hagen
Most people wanted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to shut DAPL down permanently, but they also realized if that wasn’t an option, a reroute should be considered. Some like musician and sportsman Iron Ike, hopes oil never flows through the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Everyone who gathered Tuesday evening was concerned about how the Native Americans and supporters are being treated.
“I’m just appalled at the level of unnecessary violence,” Adam Heckathorn, from Moorhead, said. “North Dakota really needs to make progress. This is what a third-world country does, and that’s what I see over there.
“If their complexion was a little paler, I doubt they would be shooting rubber bullets.” He helped friends hold up a cardboard sign that read, “Dalrymple spent $10M on DAPL Law Enforcement.”
“Look at us here today,” Heckathorn said. “Nobody is shooting at us.”
Namarie Dansuri-Keating and her friends follow the controversy in the news. Some think the pipeline should be rerouted; other friends want the pipeline gone for good, but all her friends, she said, believe Native Americans are being mistreated.
Activists on Veterans Memorial Bridge – photo by C.S. Hagen
Two hundred miles away in Mandan a very different scene unfolded along the BNSF railroad track near an oil workers’ man camp. A group calling themselves the “Black Snake Killers” and other supporters carried a message to the camp: “No more stolen sisters.”
Activists spoke from megaphones, describing how the rise of man camps in western North Dakota have coincided with a parallel increase in meth addicts, crime, murder, and human trafficking on indigenous reservations.
Men took the front lines; women formed circles to sing and pray.
“We can’t have any more of our sacred women disappearing into these perverted man camps, all they care about is making money, satisfying themselves,” said Julie Richards, founder of Mothers Against Meth Alliance, or M.A.M.A. at Pine Ridge, South Dakota.
Her war pony, or car, has been smashed. Guns have been held to her head, she said, because of her work with M.A.M.A. Before an audience of hundreds, she spoke of days when the US Army sent smallpox into native tribes, and then quickly followed with trading liquor. She called it liquid genocide. Today, Native Americans are still threatened, but this time against methamphetamines. “Our reservations are a cash crop for these cartels,” she said. “Meth is poison. Chemical genocide. We will not put up with them anymore.”
Activist holding NODAPL umbrella – photo by C.S. Hagen
Richards’ daughter became hooked on crystal meth three years ago, she said, and Richards has been fighting the cartels and drug distributors ever since. She started M.A.M.A. to help raise awareness, and as a support group for families suffering from similar circumstances.
Morton County Sheriff’s Department’s description of the scene differed from the activists’ message. Nearly 400 activists shut down the BNSF railroad by moving a pickup truck onto the tracks, then slashing its tires and placing brush under the vehicle.
“A rope attached to the vehicle was soaked in kerosene and protesters attempted to ignite the vehicle,” Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported. “State troopers used an extinguisher on the rope to stop the fire.”
Activists hindered law enforcement from making arrests, Morton County Sheriff’s Department stated, which resulted in officers using less-than-lethal force.
Activists were shot with pepper spray, sponges, and beanbags, and one activist was shot with a Taser, Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported. Law enforcement made 29 arrests in conjunction with the No DAPL National Day of Action. The total number of activists arrested is now 478, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department.
Iron Ike holding sign as sun sets – photo by C.S. Hagen
Other marches in North Dakota included a rally at the Morton County Law Enforcement Center. Additionally, 50 people marched on the local U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office, and another 100 people on the United Tribes Technical College, Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported.
One of the arrests occurred at Turtle Hill, a short distance north from Cannonball after an activist allegedly trespassed onto U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ land, Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported.
In Washington D.C., at the front doors of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers headquarters building, Standing Rock resident Ladonna Brave Bull Allard said her homeland is now a war zone. She talked of the injustices her family and others experience on a daily basis.
“The police officers who have pulled out of this engagement with Standing Rock, I honor them,” Allard said. She is the daughter of a police officer, and said the events she has witnessed at Standing Rock are not honorable. “Stereotypes are still predominant in America today. Why is that? We are all just human beings. We’re asking for a basic human right to protect the water… and we have a right to live. And so today, we ask the Army Corps to stand by that, who is supposed to be protecting the water, the people, the environment, we ask them to stand against Dakota Access Pipeline.”
Activists along Veterans Memorial Bridge cheer as cars honk horns – photo by C.S. Hagen
One Native American picked from crowd for arrest, four clergy while in prayer handcuffed on Governor’s front lawn
By C.S. Hagen BISMARCK – Nineteen clergy and activists were arrested Thursday evening in the Peace Garden State’s capital; 17 were sent to jail.
Activists said it was “just another day at Standing Rock.”
Fourteen clergy arrested at North Dakota Capitol, four more at Governor’s Mansion – Facebook photograph taken in Toronto TD Bank Building
The arrests occurred in Bismarck, 45 miles away from Oceti Sakowin, the Seven Council Fires camp near Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, at the Capitol Building, and at Governor Jack Dalrymple’s mansion.
Earlier in the day, more than 500 clergy from 20 denominations including Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, and Jews, gathered at Oceti Sakowin to support Standing Rock’s opposition to the 1,172-mile-lone Dakota Access Pipeline. By afternoon, clergy and activists traveled to the Capitol Building, where 14 members of the clergy locked themselves down after being notified the governor was not present.
“Fourteen protesters were arrested inside the North Dakota State Capitol Building,” North Dakota Highway Patrol Lt. Tom Iverson said. “A group of protesters gathered inside the judicial wing entrance, formed a circle, and protested inside the building. They were instructed multiple times to leave and after failing to obey, they were arrested for disorderly conduct and criminal trespass.”
Activist praying near Highway 1806 barricade – photo by C.S. Hagen
More than 50 activists and clergy from around the nation then traveled to the governor’s mansion. Four clergy walked across the street, knelt in prayer, and were arrested within minutes, according to videos taken at the scene. One Native American male was pulled from the crowd in a tactical attempt to disperse the crowd.
“A large group of protesters formed near the governor’s residence on the west side of Fourth Street,” Iverson said. “Three protesters walked across the roadway and gathered on the governor’s residence and failed to leave after multiple warnings.”
Four people walked on to the governor’s yard, Iverson later said, and one individual did return to the opposite side of the street.
“It was obvious they were there to be arrested,” Iverson said during a press conference. He went on to say that some of those who exercised passive resistance were childish, and acting with “extreme disgrace.”
Dalrymple made an appearance, activists reported in videos. Riot police and law enforcement surrounded those gathered, first telling them to stay on the sidewalk, then rescinding the order telling them to walk two blocks away.
A Catholic clergy asked the officer on video why out of a mostly Caucasian group standing opposite Dalrymple’s house, one Native American was singled out for arrest. The crowd began pleading with the officer to release the Native American arrested, and agreed to disperse if the individual was released.
“You guys assembled here,” said a law enforcement officer who did not give his badge number and was not wearing a visible nametag. “I want to protect your freedom of First Amendment, but I also got to protect everyone else’s freedom, but when people walked across the roadway and traffic had to be stopped, we have to do something about that.
“So I came over and I told you loudly, this is an unlawful assembly, and you have to disperse,” he said.
The officer in charge of the situation told clergy that he has been involved in protest actions for approximately 15 years. “I’m willing to compromise with you if you guys are going to compromise with me,” the officer said. “Sometimes to get people to disperse, the first person to get arrested, then the rest disperse, because they don’t want to get arrested…
“I’ll release him.”
At Cantapeta Creek – photo by C.S. Hagen
Earlier in the week oil was spilled on the Capitol Building’s front entrance, and a No DAPL sign was also left behind, according to Iverson.
Not including the arrests made Thursday, more than 416 people have been taken into custody since August 10 on resisting the Dakota Access Pipeline charges, Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported. More than USD 9 million of taxpayers money has been spent, and more than 1,245 law enforcement officials from four states, 24 counties, and 16 cities have assisted Morton County to defend the pipeline’s activities. In August, Dalrymple also called an emergency state, bringing in the North Dakota National Guard still active at checkpoints.
Clergy inside the Capitol Building rescinded the Doctrine of Discovery, and voiced apologies for hundreds of years of atrocities committed on behalf of organized religion, according to Native News Online. The Doctrine of Discovery, a claim to European legitimacy over indigenous lands, was a practice used by explorers and was a major influence in Manifest Destiny, a federal policy of taking land from Native Americans.
A rumor is circulating online that two law enforcement officers have turned in their badges after witnessing how prisoners were treated. This report remains to be verified.
Additionally, on Thursday, approximately 200 people gathered in Texas to demand the removal of Energy Transfer Partners CEO and oil tycoon Kelcy Warren from the Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission. No arrests were made. Warren was appointed commissioner for the Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission by Governor Greg Abbott in 2015. Warren recently contributed USD 455,000 to Abbott’s campaign, according to Vote Smart.
Texas demonstrators in Austin, Texas – photo provided by Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club November 3, 2016
Warren has also supported North Dakota politicians, and on Thursday was accused in a Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission meeting of disrespecting Native Americans by putting profits ahead of people, according to the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, an a national environmental advocacy organization.
Warren stated during the meeting that he didn’t believe he was digging up sacred sites along the Dakota Access Pipeline route, and that if he was, it would be “bad,” but he also agreed to meet with representatives of the Society of Native Nations over the issue, according to the Sierra Club.
On Wednesday, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department placed blame on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the day’s events at Cantapeta Creek, when dozens of activists were pepper sprayed while in the frigid creek waters. Native Americans and one journalist were also hit by rubber bullets after law enforcement destroyed a bridge activists erected crossing the creek.
“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requested the Morton County Sheriff’s Department to assist them in removing any trespassers who enter Corps land to the north of the main camp area,” Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported in a press release.
“As you are aware, this area is the location where the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) project has proposed to pace the pipeline under the Missouri River via horizontal directional drilling,” U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Colonel John Henderson said in a letter to Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier.
“The Corps of Engineers has not provided any permits or permissions for anyone to access that area of the federal property that we manage. It is an area that has not been opened for use by the public for recreational or camping purposes. As such, the Corps of Engineers would consider these individual to be trespassers.”
In the meantime, President Obama has decided his administration will wait and see how the situation at Standing Rock unfolds, but made mention that the pipeline may have to reroute.
Standing Rock and supporters march on Dakota Access, turned back by law enforcement
By C.S. Hagen
CANTAPETA CREEK – Activists defending water fought from inside a near-freezing creek Wednesday in a three-pronged attempt to gain access to Dakota Access Pipeline drill pad.
Early Wednesday morning, activists built a makeshift bridge to span a sixty-foot section of the creek, but law enforcement destroyed it, sparking another standoff.
Long shot at Cantapeta Creek – photo by C.S. Hagen
“Protesters are trying to gain access onto private property also known as the Cannon Ball Ranch,” Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported in a press release. “Law enforcement witnessed a group of protesters building a hand-made, wooden pedestrian bridge across Cantapeta Creek. Officers responded and ordered protesters to remove themselves from the bridge and notified them that if they cross the bridge they would be arrested.
Activist plunging into the creek – photo by C.S. Hagen
Activists chose to swim across, some standing in the chill waters for hours. Canoes paddled people back and forth. They formed a line along the creek’s bank, many with hands in the air, wrapped in space blankets for warmth, as law enforcement sprayed mace and pepper spray. Guns rose when anyone attempted to climb the muddy banks. The creek turned to a milky color from the amount of toxic sprays used to disperse the activists.
Activists at Oceti Sakowin, or the Seven Council Fires, are trapped; any access to the Dakota Access Pipeline has been blocked. Highway 1806 remains shut down. The police barricade and two DAPL truck skeletons block the highway on the north side of Backwater Bridge. While hundreds of activists attempted to cross Cantapeta Creek, more than 100 others faced off with police along Highway 1806.
The Cantapeta Creek, a tributary to the Missouri River, separates activists from the pipeline route. According to drone video footage, the 1,172-mile-long Dakota Access Pipeline has already reached the Missouri River banks, the United State’s longest waterway.
Activist at Highway 1806 barricade – photo by C.S. Hagen
Tristan Hartwell, an Arapaho from the Arapaho Red River Indian Reservation, said the water felt frozen. She emerged from the creek shaking. “The creator had an eye on me, and I’m doing this for all the people,” Hartwell said.
“Corporations have no right, we have the right to peacefully protest,” a Kansas schoolteacher named Lynne Hunter said. Sitting in a folding chair, umbrella in hand, she lectured law enforcement from the native side of the creek, “This is America. This is not Russia. You can back down.”
Activists doused bandanas with apple cider vinegar to ward off some of the sting from mace. Medics ushered in bottles of a milk of magnesia mix to help those hurting from the pepper spray and mace. Emergency vehicles responded to the standoff as well.
The air was pregnant with burning sage from smudging; pepper spray at times turned acrid on the tongue, leaving lips dry. Drums beat. Activists sang songs, cheering when someone volunteered to enter the cold creek. Some sat in the mud, hands folded in prayer. A third group attempted to draw law enforcement away by staging another action around the creek’s bend. One police officer fainted halfway through the standoff.
Andy Kader warming up – photo by C.S. Hagen
Andy Kader was given a hero’s ovation when he stumbled from the creek after staying in the water for more than an hour. He helped swimmers back and forth, made sure logs from the activists’ floating bridge didn’t impede progress.
Shaking wildly, wrapped in a space blanket near a roaring fire, medics reported he had a light case of hypothermia.
“I didn’t feel the cold because of the drums and the prayers of the people kept me going,” Kader said. One foot from the water, however, he couldn’t walk. Activists assisted him to a fire. Kader is a Mohawk, from the “People of the Flint” tribe. A large man, tattooed arms, he spoke quietly as he tried to sip water. His hands shook, making the sips difficult.
“Our water is so badly polluted from where I come from,” Kader said. “It’s already beyond repair. If I could do my little part to help my brothers and sisters from having their waters polluted as ours, it is the least I could do.”
As law enforcement began pepper spraying the activists in earnest, Pete Red Bear knelt along the native side and began a song on an elk flute. He didn’t play traditional songs, he played how the spirits led him, he said.
Pete Red Bear on elk flute – photo by C.S. Hagen
“They are very brave,” Red Bear said. “We’re all here to protect the water for all life.”
Adam Karls traveled from Sweden to assist Standing Rock. “For me this is like science fiction. This is another world for me, another planet.
“Here in this country they’re still talking about the history – make America great again, but for us, America was never great. You have to deal with your history. I have many white friends in the US, and they don’t care about this. They’re only talking about the drunk Indian, the lazy Indians, because they don’t know the history.
“They’re part of an organized structure that wants to divide everybody,” Karls said. “This is environmental racism.” Before his trip to the Peace Garden State, his friends said he was about to travel to the “Mississippi of the North,” he said.
Trump’s recall for the American Dream he sees as a joke. Many European nations are dealing with their racist pasts, for instance Germany, he said. “The American Dream works best for white rich people. I am so pissed off at my white American friends because they don’t care about this. They get angry when I talk about the past, the dirty past of the US.”
Kansas native Lynne Hunter lecturing law enforcement – photo by C.S. Hagen
The director general for the National Association for the Advancement of Indigenous People, United Nations Human Right IPO, Tushka Humoc, said he can only sit and wait for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and supporters to “do the right thing.
“We actually came out here to hopefully provide some remedy to this situation in an international venue,” Humoc said. For now, he can only take pictures; conduct interviews, and report back to the United Nations.
“The UN can’t do anything, because they’re US citizens by law,” Humoc said. “The moment they remove themselves from being US citizens by law, then the UN can step in and do something, because the UN has to protect the foreign nationals, whose lands are being occupied by the United States. As long as the United States has these people under BIA, they’re adhesion by Congress, so the federal government controls every aspect of their lives.”
He’s calling out for a deliberate change among indigenous people in the United States.
“They should immediately within 72 hours develop a new trust, submit it to BIA, nothing changes except the power. And now we can move these people [law enforcement] off these lands, it’s really that simple.”
Police sprayed mace and pepper spray intermittently at activists in Cantapeta Creek – photo by C.S. Hagen
Former Oklahoma Senator Enoch Kelly Haney, full-blooded Seminole and the only Native American to serve on Oklahoma Legislature, said Standing Rock’s stand against big oil has the potential to become “very dangerous.”
As an artist, he crafted a four-foot-tall bronze statue for the tribe, naming it “Standing His Ground,” and is based off the native Dog Soldier’s custom of “pinning” themselves off with sacred arrows when making a final stand, usually against greater odds.
Medics battle hypothermia and hurry to warm activist – photo by C.S. Hagen
“This is their last stand,” Haney said. “And I do hope this does start some kind of precedent in law.”
President Obama this week announced his administration was watching the Dakota Access Pipeline situation, but wanted it to “play out for several more weeks,” he said, but also stated future plans might include a reroute.
“Given the recent escalation of violence by protesters, letting the situation ‘play out’ is quite literally putting lives in danger,” Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported.
Some activists, frustrated by being trapped, said that perhaps lives is what it may take to stop the pipeline. An argument erupted among the younger generation activists after elders recalled the activists from the Cantapeta Creek.
Elderly native woman sprayed by mace, at medics – photo by C.S. Hagen
“Our warriors need to buck up,” an activist said.
“Are you scared to die?” another activist asked.
“No, I am not scared to die.”
“If they start killing innocent people you really think that the US is going to let them build that pipeline?”
“What’s your plan?”
“Let’s all go up there, let’s all go back up there.”
A bystander intervened. “If you don’t know what’s going on, go back to camp. We’re keeping them from working when we stand our ground. Let people do what they feel is right in their heart. Don’t have all this warriors fighting each other; that’s what they want. We have to keep the unity strong.”
Activist warming up after coming out of Cantapeta Creek – photo by C.S. Hagen
The Red Warrior Camp posted in an official statement said they are putting their bodies and lives on the line.
Activist praying at Cantapeta Creek – photo by C.S. Hagen
“If you live on this land, breathe the air and drink water, this is your fight too,” the Red Warriors Camp reported. The services date for the Dakota Access Pipeline is January 1, they reported.
“We are calling for two months of sustained waves of action targeting the Army Corps of Engineers, investors, pipeline companies, security firms, and elected officials who are behind this project. We need to hold these institutions, corporations, and individuals accountable and put pressure on them to stop this pipeline.
“Additionally, recognizing that we are being charged with illegal activities for simply protecting the water, we are taking back our power and charging the pipeline companies, banks, and individuals behind this project with crimes against humanity and crimes against Mother Earth. The Dakota Access Pipeline is in direct violation of the United Nation’s Declaration of Human Rights, most especially in regards to the right to security of person, the right to not be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.”
Oceti Sakowin at night – photo provided by Steve Gross
No county or state charges filed against DAPL mercenary, paper trail leads to private military security companies, prairie fire threatens Standing Rock’s main camp, and inmates locked in dog cages
By C.S. Hagen
BISMARCK – The man who dressed as a “water protector” and reportedly drove his white Chevy toward Standing Rock’s main camp, armed with a semi-automatic Colt AR15, is a mercenary for Dakota Access Pipeline.
Kyle Thompson from Facebook page
Kyle Thompson, of Bismarck, also known as “War Eagle” after a native naming ceremony ten years ago, according to a 2007 story published in the Bismarck Tribune, was arrested by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Thursday, October 27. He was an “armed agitator” who fired shots with his assault rifle, according to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Facebook page.
Thompson worked security for a company called Thompson-Gray LLC, according to paperwork found in his truck. The company’s legal trail, long and twisted, leads to private military contractors named Pathfinder Security Services/Consultant and AMGI Global Ltd. Co.
The Paper Trail
Insurance papers and an employee identification badge found in Thompson’s truck linked him to Dakota Access Pipeline, according to Dallas Goldtooth, campaign organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network. The truck was licensed to Thompson-Gray LLC doing business as Knightsbridge Risk Management, of Springfield, Ohio, according to the insurance papers. The description of operations listed at the bottom of the paperwork is to protect to Dakota Access LLC, its parent and affiliates, its officers, directors, employees, and agents.
Thompson-Gray LLC is an active company established October 27, 2015 in Cincinnati, Ohio, under Silverton Consulting International according to the Ohio Secretary of State. The company has no paperwork on file with the North Dakota Secretary of State. In Ohio, however, Thompson-Gray LLC’s business scope includes security consulting and management services for “any legal service.” The company is considered by some to be an emerging leader providing solutions to the Department of Defense.
Charles Graham Clifton is listed as the owner of Silverton Consulting International. The company is ten months old, and has an identical business scope as Thompson-Gray LLC, according to the Ohio Secretary of State. One online review of the company was that it is “very shady,” and “does not pay its employees on time.”
Knightsbridge Risk Management is a private security firm also owned by Clifton and headquartered in Dallas that primarily serves the oil and gas industry. Its registration with the Texas Department of Public Safety has expired, but it is listed as a guard, guard dog, investigation, and security consultant company. Knightsbridge Risk Management is also registered in Colorado, where it is in good standing and established by Barbara Colliton of Ohio.
Knightsbridge Risk Management is active in western North Dakota, according to 2015 media reports. Another inactive company Clifton is linked to along with Grady Emmons is Precision Risk Management Group, LLC, according to the Florida Secretary of State, however; Emmons is listed as the registered agent for Precision Risk Management Group out of Saginaw, Michigan established in 2006, according to the Michigan Secretary of State. Knightsbridge Risk Management’s Texas company license expired on June 30, 2016, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety, and it lists Clifton and Colliton as owners.
Clifton is also the owner of AMGI Global, Ltd. Co., according to the Texas Department of Public Safety, and Pathfinder Security Services LLC operates under its name. Pathfinder Security Services was dissolved in 2010 in Wyoming, and its parent company, Pathfinder Tactical Inc., was dissolved for failure to pay taxes in 2011, according to the Wyoming Secretary of State. Clifton is reported as the qualifying agent for both AMGI Global and Pathfinder Security Consulting, a company that specializes in oil and gas security, is a private military contractor reportedly active in the United Arab Emirates.
“For whatever reason, he has always used multiple companies and multiple names,” Emmons said of Clifton. “Whenever he gets a new direction, he forms a new company.”
Clifton also charged to train his employees as owner and manager of Castle Peaks Training Center – license also expired – according to Texas Department of Public Security. Clifton is further listed as the director of the Humanitarian Defense Inc., a non-profit security organization.
Emmons and Clifton have worked together in the past, Emmons said, in fact, they used to be friends. “We had a falling out about this Dakota Access debacle,” Emmons said. Emmons is the owner of Precision Risk Management Group, LLC, a security company that also provides investigative solutions. “He reached out to me when this contract came into his hands.”
They fought over tactics; Clifton’s tactics were far too heavy handed, he said.
“I could just see the writing on the wall, and once I saw the dogs and the way he was handling some things, it was one of the best decisions I made in my life.”
The security companies involved during the day of the attack dogs, and the recent DAPL security procedures on law enforcement’s flanks last week were illegal, Emmons said.
“It was an idiotic move, and way outside of standard practice.”
As private security employees they are allowed to defend themselves, establish a perimeter, ask and then direct people to leave an area. “But when it comes down to a violent encounter, you don’t have the right to get violent with them if you’re not defending yourself. The point of where you’re kidnapping people and things like that, you become the aggressor. That’s the job for the police; it’s their decision. On the security side, you’re becoming the aggressor, and generally speaking that is illegal.”
Emmons said he would have used a different approach to the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy.
“I certainly wouldn’t have used dogs, and wouldn’t have had employees out there with assault rifles and handguns. This isn’t 1955 anymore. Guns and dogs don’t have anything to do with a protest. There’s no place for dogs, and certainly untrained dogs.” He showed videos to friends pertaining to the day of the attack dogs, and noticed the dogs were not trained well.
“I’ve dealt with protests in my career, and trying to handle people like this with more and more levels of force, it’s just going to lead to more situations like this. These people have very strong beliefs, right, wrong, or indifferent,” Emmons said. “You can’t think you can hit them with hammer, or use a scare tactic and then think things will go your way.”
He has heard that G4S is active in western North Dakota. “If it’s true, it’s probably one of their umbrella companies.”
Activists on top of burned out DAPL machinery, fires still burning in gas tank – photo by C.S. Hagen
A long paper trail jumping state to state, a crooked path of registered agents, leads to the security company G4S Secure Solutions (USA) Inc., registered in Florida with Corporation Service Company listed as its registered agent list. Corporation Service Company is a worldwide leader for business, legal, and financial services, according to its website.
An employee search in the Texas Department of Public Safety shows workers jump from G4S or G4S Secure Solutions formerly known as The Wackenhut Corporation to companies such as Knightsbridge Risk Management frequently. Knightsbridge Risk Management security officers Joshua Paul Franke-Hyland and Robert Alvarado both worked for G4S in 2013 and 2009 respectively.
Standing Rock camp attorney Angela Bibens said she also has heard of G4S involvement in western North Dakota. G4S denied any of their employees are working along the DAPL line, according to the company’s communication director Monica Garcia, and technically, she may not be wrong. However, there are shadows that link the security companies involved in the Dakota Access Pipeline and G4S.
Activists on front lines facing off with law enforcement from four states – photo by C.S. Hagen
G4S, a U.K.-based security company, goes by many nicknames such as the “Chaos Company” in an April 2014 article for Vanity Fair, and as “spy for hire” in Tim Shorrock’s 2009 book Spies for Hire. Historically, G4S is hired by companies and governments to enter dangerous situations such as Nigeria, Israel, Colombia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and now, in western North Dakota, although in an extremely twisted and complicated route.
G4S has registered companies registered in North Dakota, according to the North Dakota Secretary of State:
G4S Compliance & Investigations, Inc., registered in 1997 in Bismarck
G4S Retail Solutions (USA) Inc. registered in March 2015 and located in Bismarck
G4S Secure Integration LLC, registered for protective and detective services in 2004 in Bismarck
G4S Technology Software Solutions LLC registered in 2010 in Bismarck for security and building management software and services
G4S USA, owned by G4S Secure Solutions (USA) Inc., had its license renewed in Bismarck in August 2015 and is authorized for security guard work and security systems consultation
G4S Youth Services, LLC, established in 2012 in Bismarck and authorized for juvenile facility management.
The G4S press office did not return telephone calls or emails related to whether their companies have security personnel at the Dakota Access Pipeline, or what if any is the relationship between the companies involved today and G4S.
All efforts were made to contact Clifton and the companies he owns; telephone numbers were listed as non-working numbers or had busy signals; Clifton could not be reached for comment.
The “Mercenary”
Thompson’s alleged attack against activists came to a halt on Thursday evening after he was stopped by a SUV when it smashed into the side of his car, activists and videos report. He was chased into a nearby pond waiving his weapon, and was later arrested by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Thompson’s description of events posted Sunday on his Facebook page, and his Facebook profile, raise more eyebrows than answers questions.
Mercenary Kyle Thompson, just before his arrest – photo provided by Steve Gross
“Three days ago on October 27th, I was in a situation in which myself and others were faced with the difficult decision to take another’s life or not,” Thompson said. “A decision in which most people are never faced with and I hope never will, a decision in which changes a person’s outlook on life forever.
“I’m not here to defend myself or the others who stood their ground on the opposite side, (opposite for some reason doesn’t sound like the right word to use, however it paints the picture for those who weren’t there), we both know damn well we did enough of it that day.”
Thompson was asked to take pictures of DAPL equipment on fire, he said. “So I attempted to go and do just that, nothing more nothing less.”
He primarily stayed on Highway 1806 until he was forced off the road. He said he was also attempting to leave the area “as directed by the protestors on 1806.”
“I drew out my rifle after my vehicle was disabled and over 300 protesters were rapidly approaching my location, a few had knives and were dead set on using those knives.”
He then retreated into the pond to escape being surrounded. He denied firing his weapon. “That rifle hasn’t had a single round pass through the barrel in well over three months, the FBI can confirm,” he said.
During the confrontation an activist fired a flare at him, and his truck was set on fire, he said.
“I’m not out there for the money, fame, or personal gain,” Thompson said. “I will never stop, at any cost, defending those who I care for and those who put their trust in me.”
His Facebook profile reports he works for Rock Point, a bar and grill, and he was a former “door kicker” for the U.S. Army. A December 2007 article published by the Bismarck Tribune reported Thompson returned from a 15-month tour in Iraq with the U.S. Army 1-89th, 2nd Brigade to a hero’s welcome. At a Bismarck airport former Three Affiliated Tribes Chairman Tex Hall also presented him with an eagle feather headdress, and he was previously given the name War Eagle at a naming ceremony.
“It meant a lot to me because of my heritage,” Thompson said in the article.
On Facebook, Thompson has liked pages such as Unicorn Riot, Native Lives Matter, and Young Americans for Liberty, but also liked Predator Tactics, a company that manufactures night hunting lights for outdoorsmen. He left the Army in 2013, and graduated from State University of New York at Oswego with a major in business administration, according to his Facebook Page.
But, according to documents found inside his vehicle, he also works for the Dakota Access Pipeline as private security. After activists cornered him in the pond, Bureau of Indian Affairs officers arrived and took him into custody. He was jailed in Fort Yates, bonded, and then released, according to Bibens.
Friends of his on Facebook inquired of his well-being. His reply was that he was fine, “Always, you know that.” He also thanked friends for defending him online. “I can only hope that this will open up some minds to what could happen when you push someone so far that you force them into doing something that cannot be undone. Luckily for them it was someone like me on that other end.”
“We are doing our own investigation,” Bibens, said. “It’s a little too soon to say, but there are some key witnesses who can give a truer version of what happened.” Bibens is also the ground coordinator for the Red Owl Legal Collective, and works with the National Lawyers Guild.
Bibens said there are loopholes when it comes to prosecuting such cases. Pending charges against Thompson must come from the federal government.
“White guy on the rez,” Bibens said. “This is a major crime, and reservations don’t have authority over major crimes. This is a felony; this isn’t a simple assault. Someone brandishes a killing machine, that’s a felony.
“But maybe it’s not so much of a thing if law enforcement that does have jurisdiction over this guy doesn’t pick up the case. There are predatory white men who go to the reservation and victimize… and they know they can get away with it because there is a huge loophole in the jurisdiction law. This is the same loophole in the jurisdiction of criminal offenses.”
“I’m not worried about this whole situation because I know that whatever happens will happen for a good reason,” Thompson said. “I will always be fine no matter what happens. If only this lesson reaches the ones who truly need it, then we will be able to call it a success.”
Kyle Loven, chief division counsel and media coordinator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation Minneapolis Office, was familiar with the incident, but refused to comment on Thompson’s situation, or any other aspects of the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy.
Morton County State’s Attorney Brian Grosinger did not reply to repeated requests for information on whether the county or any other state agency will be investigating or filing charges on Thompson. The North Dakota Secretary of State also did not return requests for information, and hung up the telephone halfway through a request.
Morton County Sheriff’s Department called Thompson a victim, and reported they were unable to confirm if any shots were fired. “The victim was instructed to get pictures of construction equipment,” Morton County Sheriff’s Department said in a press release. “In order to do so, the victim disguised himself so he would be able to gain access without being singled out as a construction worker.
“The man grabbed a rifle to defend himself, he retreated toward the Cannonball River and was pursued. No charges will be filed against this man as he was using the weapon to protect himself.”
Chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Harold Frazier said he will be seeking charges of attempted murder against Thompson.
Prairie fire east of Oceti Sakowin, or Big Camp – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
Prairie Fire, Numbers, and Dog Kennels
Three days after Thompson’s arrest by the BIA, when law enforcement from four states violently cleared Standing Rock’s northern Treaty Camp, a fire ravaged the grasslands west of Highway 1806.
The fire was reported at 1 a.m., near Backwater Bridge, which is separated from the main camp, Oceti Sakowin, or the Seven Fires Council camp, by the highway.
“Mandan Rural Fire responded to the fire,” Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported. “However, due to the terrain, Mandan Rural was unable to access the fire.”
Winds swept the fire east, burning a large swath of prairie land owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The land formerly belonged to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe but was taken by the Corps after it was condemned. At 8:45 a.m., North Dakota National Guard units suppressed the fire. Black Hawk helicopters with 600-gallon water buckets assisted, Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported.
“For three hours they let that fire burn,” Bibens said. Her legal team, now fully staffed, is investigating the case as arson. “The hillsides are scorched. Somebody was talking about this was a controlled burn. Who does that at 2 o’clock in the morning?
“It was to cause fear and confusion. There’s video of someone with a flashlight walking along the ridge with fire following them. What does that tell you?”
More people than she can count reported injuries from Thursday’s events, Bibens said. “The numbers are stacking up. We’re taking instant reports. People are knocking on the tent before we open, and we’re there until 6:30 at night. It’s intense. It’s really intense.”
Treatment of the 117 people arrested on Thursday was “deplorable and illegal,” Bibens said. Activists were thrown into dog kennels at Bismarck’s airport; inmates’ forearms were numbered, an action many are comparing to the Nazi’s practice of tattooing Jews and others in concentration camps during World War II.
Activists hugging each other as law enforcement issue final warning to move – photo by C.S. Hagen
“Not only illegal, but dehumanizing to put people in dog kennels,” Bibens said. “They had this all planned out. People were denied their medication; diabetics were denied food in a timely manner, denied insulin. Just the medical neglect alone is illegal.
“We have a lot of people coming out of custody who have some stories to tell.”
Since August 10, 411 people have been arrested on charges related to resisting the Dakota Access Pipeline, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department. Most, if not all of those arrested have been strip searched before incarceration, according to Bibens and activists. One woman was left naked in a cell overnight for the viewing of male guards, according to Bruce Ellison, a long-term criminal defense lawyer and legal team coordinator of the Lawyer’s Guild Mass Defense Committee.
On Monday, the Morton County States Attorney’s office charged 37-year-old Red Fawn Fallis with attempted murder, among other charges, after she allegedly fired three shots at law enforcement on October 27, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department.
Since Governor Jack Dalrymple’s emergency declaration in August, the state has spent approximately USD 9 million of taxpayer’s money, according to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department.
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II has asked for an official U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the actions of both law enforcement and Dakota Access Pipeline. His plea has been heard in Fargo and city leaders have echoed the call, asking for DOJ boots on the ground at Cannon Ball. Over the weekend, the United Nations and Amnesty International announced plans to visit the Oceti Sakowin to collect information and record testimonies, according to media outlet Indigenous American Network.
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
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
“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 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
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
“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
“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
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
“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
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
“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
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 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
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
Activists at Backwater Bridge – photo by C.S. Hagen
Dozens of Standing Rock activists undergo debasing treatment; “fake journalists” stir up trouble, and North Dakota politicians pressure Army Corps to speed the pipeline
By C.S. Hagen CANNONBALL – An ancient, bloodless war fuels the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy. It’s a war of words and aged rhetoric; a war of cultures beckoning back the “good old days” of Manifest Destiny and settlers versus the Indians.
Fear the scalp-taking Indian, North Dakota government appears to be saying; save the peaceful colonial homesteader. Little is ever mentioned by official sources about the Native Americans’ side of the story. Their version is simply not as important when compared to finishing the USD 3.8 billion, 1,172-mile Dakota Access Pipeline.
In 150 years, little has changed, according to activists, on how federal and state governments treat Native Americans. Newspapers spread fear, espoused by the law, handed down by politicians who are financially invested into the Bakken oil fields, whose campaigns this election year do those same companies fund, Chase Iron Eyes, the Democrat Party challenger for state congress, said.
The U.S. Cavalry never went away, they merely changed uniforms. More than 900 law enforcement officials from 17 counties, 12 cities, and from four states using public funds have been involved in protecting Energy Transfer Partner’s private project.
“We’re choking on hate and nobody seems to care,” camp attorney Angela Bibens said.
Law enforcement versus activists on Dakota Plains Oct. 22 – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
The battle for water and land led by the Standing Rock Sioux against DAPL is far from over, and media on both sides of the controversy have woven stories from legends, half-truths, and hearsay. Tempers flare as DAPL nears the Missouri River, and militarized law enforcement show no pity.
In the beginning there were pipe bombs, which turned out to be ceremonial peace pipes. And then law enforcement reported activists carrying guns, yet no one was arrested. DAPL security personnel from Ohio’s Frost Kennels sprayed mace and urged attack dogs into crowds, resulting in at least half a dozen bites, and yet law enforcement insists activists were the danger. Recently, 30 head of cattle were reported missing, and then three days later mysteriously resurrected by a Sioux County rancher. Two other cows have been found shot in Sioux County, one by bullets, one by arrows, and law enforcement and media are trying to link the crime to activists in the area.
Law enforcement making arrests Saturday, Oct. 22 – photo by Rob Wilson Photography
Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier repeatedly emphasizes the activists near Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Reservation are dangerous. Activists’ criminal records are being made public, yet no effort has been made to check pipeline workers’ past brushes with the law, which should be swamped with outstanding warrants if the state lives up to its man camp reputation.
Arrested on the plains near DAPL – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
Since Saturday morning, 126 more activists were arrested on riot charges along the DAPL pipeline, Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported. Two officers were injured, one by his own pepper spray. In total, 269 people have been charged with misdemeanors and felonies since early August.
“Today’s situation clearly illustrates what we have been saying for weeks,” Kirchmeier said. “That this protest is not peaceful or lawful. This is not about the pipeline. This is not about the protesters. This is about the rule of law.”
From the controversy’s start, Morton County Correctional Facility officers have been strip searching – nearly every activist arrested, no matter the charge. Simple misdemeanors to felonies, all are being treated the same.
“It’s a tactic of trying to break you down, and degrade you, make you feel shamed,” Cody Hall said. Hall is the media spokesman for the Red Warrior Camp, and was arrested in early September, held for three days without bail or bond.
Miqamwes M’teoulin being treated after police sprayed him twice in the face on October 22 – photo by Rob Wilson Photography
“They have you get naked,” Hall said. “And then he grabbed my genitals and lifted them up, then he said squat, and then he said cough. And then he was looking, when I bent down, he kind of bent down.”
A scare tactic, Hall said. Morton County Correctional Facility reported the strip searches are procedure and in the interest of security.
“The duty correctional officer(s) will conduct a complete visual assessment of prisoners being admitted to insure that the prisoner(s) does not have inadmissible/illegal items on his/her possession before entering a security cell/area of the correctional center,” Morton County Correctional Facility’s guidebook states.
The guidebook continues by stating “admissions procedures will be carried out by correctional staff in a manner which promotes mutual respect rather than one which degrades the prisoner(s) admitted.”
“That’s all I saw it as,” Hall said. “It’s a tactic they were trying to deploy on me, in a way of taking my dignity. You’ll crumble if you don’t have that… dignity.”
Furthermore, an inmate cannot be detained in the holding cell for longer than one hour, although the duty senior correctional officer can make exceptions. Inmates in the holding cell are also allowed to use cell phones, and are closely monitored by duty officers, according to the correctional facility’s guidelines.
Myron Dewey, a filmmaker, was charged with a class-A misdemeanor. Like Hall, he was stripped down, and because he has a ponytail, officers rifled through his hair. He was then put into a visitor’s holding area for three hours, he said. “It was a really small room, barely enough room for one person.”
“Leaving me in that visitor’s area didn’t seem right, they should have put me in the holding cell,” Dewey said. When he went to the courtroom, one of the officers involved in his arrest waited for him in the hallway. “The officer who stole my drone was standing in the hallway,” Dewey said. “And he was trying to look at me like he was some, I don’t know, it was the eye contact. I thought that was kind of odd. He was there to let me see him for a reason.”
Dewey’s drone was “arrested” under civil forfeiture laws after an unnamed DAPL worker filed an intimidation report. When Dewey attempted to clarify questions and gather facts, law enforcement officials refused to listen and forced him from the Morton County Sheriff Department premises.
After being strip-searched, they’re all given the orange jumpsuit.
Activists on the plains marching Oct. 22 – photo by Rob Wilson Photography
Others who have claimed they too were strip searched include: Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II, a chief of a sovereign state, Dr. Sara Jumping Eagle, a pediatrician, Divergent actress Shailene Woodley, and Dale “Happi” Americanhorse Jr., the first activist to chain his arms to machinery with a sleeping tar dragon.
Bruce Ellison, a long-term criminal defense lawyer and legal team coordinator of the Lawyer’s Guild Mass Defense Committee, said the practice is nonsensical. Ellison and his team are also not allowed direct access to clients and must discuss the dozens of cases through glass windows and telephone conversations, which are being recorded, Bibens said.
“We have a lot of questions about that,” Ellison said. “When there are strip searches for lowest grade misdemeanors on the books in North Dakota – that certainly raises questions. We had one woman who was left naked in her cell overnight for the viewing of male guards.
“This seems unusual.”
Ladonna McLaughlin claims to have been left overnight naked in a cell, according to Bibens. Her family is preparing to sue Morton County.
“Where do we live?” Ladonna Allard, McLaughlin’s mother, said. “Is this the United States? This is a police state.” She was not ready to speak about the upcoming lawsuit, not until it is filed, she said.
“We are preparing litigation to address the violations that have occurred within the Morton County Jail,” Bibens said. She is a Santee-Dakota by birth, is the ground coordinator of the Red Owl Legal Collective, and also works as the camp’s attorney.
Most of the reported 126 people arrested Saturday have been spread to jails across the Peace Garden State, Bibens said. Costs of keeping a prisoner overnight is USD 100 for the Morton County Jail, times that by 269, then multiplied by how many nights, the costs add up.
“Hardly anyone is out,” Bibens said. “Parents are calling me from everywhere because they’re not allowing their 19-year-olds to bail out.” Officials around the Peace Garden State are now requiring cash only for bonds, are instituting special rules, and most activists arrested won’t get an opportunity for release until judges arrive at work Monday morning. “There’s an equal protection due process issue, if you’re related to the camps, then you get treated this way,” Bibens said.
“They’re not in any hurry to process any of our water protectors.”
Additionally, the Red Warrior Camp, the activists’ most secure group, reported law enforcement shot down two drones with shotguns on Saturday. Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported “less-than-lethal ammunition” was used on a drone on Sunday charging a helicopter with a sheriff on board.
The helicopter pilot and passengers were “in fear of their lives” when the “drone came after us,” according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department press release. Two arrows were also fired at the helicopter, according to Kirchmeier.
On Sunday, Dewey reported nearly 700 Native Americans and activists enacted “their sovereign rights” proclaiming eminent domain along Dakota Access Pipeline route, effectively blockading Highway 1806 with hay bales, rocks, and tree stumps, on lands that once belonged to the Sioux under 18th century treaties. Tipis and tents were erected. A sacred fire was lit. The land, according to Dewey, has been desecrated, and they are returning it back to the natural and spiritual balance.
Barricade across Highway 1806 built by activists on Sunday, Oct. 23 – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
“All tribes across the country witnessed this historical day, October 23,” Dewey said. “This is a very special moment in Indian law as well, inherent rights have just been exercised. Our inherent rights to clean food, clean drinking water, medicine, clean air, all of those rights have just been practiced.”
The move is called the “Last Stand” by activists before DAPL reaches the Missouri River.
In response, Morton County Sheriff’s Department blocked off Highway 1806 “due to a large group of protesters blocking the north and south bound lanes.” The barricade was dismantled later Sunday afternoon after law enforcement asked activists to take it down.
“Individuals trespassing on private property can’t claim eminent domain to justify their actions,” Kirchmeier said.
“Thirty Minutes of Terror”
Phelim McAleer, who identified himself as an Irish journalist to Morton County emergency personnel, is the director of the film FrackNation, a movie some say is part of the big oil campaign to debunk the harmful affects of fracking. McAleer traveled to the Standing Rock area last week to “get the truth about the story on both sides,” he said.
The first day he and two others received permission from Seven Council Fires Camp, or Big Camp personnel to conduct interviews, McAleer said. He waited until the second day to pull out the big questions.
Phelim McAleer and camp security scuffling over microphone – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
“I asked them if they were being hypocritical,” McAleer said. “Because they were using automobiles to arrive at camp. And then a gentleman grabbed my microphone and dragged me across the field.”
His self-described “thirty minutes of terror” began.
Video of the incident taken primarily from inside a vehicle shows no violence, and yet McAleer insists that his life and property were threatened.
“I was scared, I really was,” McAleer said. He said he has reported news in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, and also in Eastern Europe when communism fell. “I’ve been around the block, a journalist for 30 years. It was very scary. There was a sense of lawlessness and anger that led to the unpredictability, feeding off their own energy, getting angrier and angrier. Blowing the horn seemed to excite them, it was escalating and that was the problem. There was no calming voice.
“I could see this getting ridiculously out of control.”
Their vehicle was surrounded. The driver, Magdalena Segieda, another producer of FrackNation, was afraid to put the car in park because the doors would unlock, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department. Segieda called 911, and law enforcement arrived. McAleer, Segieda, and one other were eventually allowed to leave.
“They’re attacking us for asking questions,” McAleer said in the video.
“This is scary,” Segieda said in the video. “We want to leave.”
“It was a threatening and terrifying situation for the three journalists that were down there,” Kirchmeier said during a press conference. The video was taken from a low vantage point, and shows little outside activity.
McAleer retreated to Ireland after the incident, and isn’t pressing charges. He said Morton County Sheriff’s Department will investigate, and the department has already posted pictures of people involved in the incident on their Facebook page, asking for help identifying those involved. McAleer believes the video footage will speak for itself. “All I want to get is the truth of what’s happening, and I found that truth and it’s an ugly truth,” he said.
Camp authorities report that McAleer was read the rules of the area “one by one,” when he checked in. He was caught documenting children without permission from a parent or guardian, documenting the sacred fire that was off limits, and asking offensive questions of community members. When confronted, McAleer said he did not have a press pass, and that he did not need one, and when he pulled away in his vehicle he hit an unnamed activist.
In YouTube videos, McAleer described water contamination victims due to fracking practices are like bank robbers. “Why do you rob banks? Because, that’s where the money is. Why do you sue oil and gas companies? Because, that’s where the money is.”
McAleer, who has been called a “fake journalist” on big oil’s payroll, denied being supported by big oil companies. He is also known as a “professional character assassin,” and has been documented harassing movie stars and homeowners affected by Cabot Oil & Gas drilling in Pennsylvania. In a question and answer session after a showing of FrackNation in Pennsylvania, McAleer reported that the people with poisoned water, toxic enough to light on fire coming out of their taps, were lying.
“You can call it this, you can call it that, and maybe the truth is somewhere in between,” McAleer said. “And I know to use the word liar is a very strong statement, but they are liars. These are not stupid people, although they do a good job at looking like it. But they lied…
“Sorry. Where is the scientific evidence of your water being contaminated? If you don’t have any, how do you know you have any, you don’t know, you’re lying. You’re making it up, you’re scaring people.”
Closer to home, an April 27, 2016 study released by Duke University, funded by the National Science Foundation, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, and published in the Environmental Science & Technology magazine shows that accidental wastewater spills from “unconventional oil production in North Dakota have caused widespread water and soil contamination.” More than 9,700 wells have been drilled in the Bakken region of North Dakota in the past decade, which led to more than 3,900 brine spills, primarily from faulty pipes, the report states.
The water studied in some spill sites was unsafe to drink, the study reported.
Political Pressure to Finish the Race
Senator John Hoeven R-N.D., met with the US Army Corps of Engineers last week to pressure the Corps to allow the final easement, a three-mile stretch of land leading up to the Missouri River, which would give DAPL the access it needs to send the pipeline under Lake Oahe.
“That means getting the Corps to approve the easement so construction can be complete and life can return to normal for our farmer and ranchers in the region, and for our law enforcement who are working very hard to protect lives and property,” Hoeven said in a press release. “We need to have this situation resolved.”
Last week, the U.S. Corps of Engineers, representatives from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, state archeologists, and DAPL environmental team members coordinated a walk-through of a portion of the pipeline project, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department.
The walk through along the pipeline – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
“Morton County has been making an effort to bring representatives from the tribe, DAPL, and the state historical society for weeks,” Kirchmeier said. “This is very positive to see that all interested parties could together look at the sites in which they have had differing opinions of the historical significance. While there still may be differences, the conversation was positive and allowed all parties to better understand each other.”
Congressman Kevin Cramer R-N.D., participated. “I believe those of us on all sides of the Dakota Access Pipeline issue benefitted from walking together and sharing our expertise, experiences, and expectations,” Cramer said. “I hope this can help us establish a better understanding going forward. And, I am certain that after today the Corps of Engineers will feel confident it has the adequate affirmation to issue the final easement to complete the pipeline construction across the Missouri River at Lake Oahe.”
While Standing Rock Sioux leaders contemplate whether to move the winter camp to their own lands, one aspect of their fight has not changed. Their fight is not only today against DAPL, but it is a growing global resistance to big oil, and in many activists’ opinions, they are winning.
Even if the pipeline crosses the Missouri River.
“As an activist I never cared about voting,” Iron Eyes said in a Facebook post. “I can see now how apathy about the political process allows establishment paid for politicians to stay in power like a revolving door. Big money pays for their campaigns, the politicians pave the way for their benefactors, the people feel disconnected, nobody cares, and we end up with politicians who suppress votes, militarize and embarrass our state…
“This is a great test for us. We need to be committed to peace on all sides.”
“We remain vigilant and organized,” Red Warrior Camp leaders posted on Facebook. “We’ll see you on the prairie.”
“I have the firm belief that we will stop a pipeline that carries 500,000 barrels of oil a day, and is 60 percent complete… we will stop it in its tracks,” Dallas Goldtooth, a campaign organizer of the Indigenous Environmental Network, said in a speech.
Barricade across Highway 1806 built by activists on Sunday, Oct. 23, later torn down at request – photo provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department
