LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Editor’s note: The following is from Tribal Chairman Delores Pigsley.
Printed here, in their entirety, are four
letters from tribal members relating to
individual complaints. With the hope that I
do not lend dignity to the contents of the
correspondence, I want to explain
the situation.
The four letters were not printed only
because the letters were not available for
publication at the deadline. The letters
contain material that the general manager
thought might be slanderous. It is the policy
of the newsletter not to print such material.
Because the general manager is not
trained in law, she asked the tribal attorney
to review the letters for legally slanderous
content. The attorney’s opinion was not
received in time to meet the deadline.
The attorney suggested that the
letters may contain matters of a
slanderous nature. Because the letters are
directed primarily at me and I have heard
it all before, I have asked the general
manager to publish them in full.
To the editor:
On Aug. 1, 1998, I resigned as your
chairman for the sole purpose of assuring
you the constitutional right to vote for your
leaders. But on Aug. 3, 1998, four Tribal
Council members consciously violated our
Constitution, denied you the right to vote
and “seated” five more members to the
Council. We suffered a takeover by an
illegal dictatorship.
For the most part, I have been publicly
silent, but let me assure you that I have been
doing everything possible to restore the
democracy once enjoyed by the Siletz
Nation. My commitment to you, the
membership, has not diminished in the least.
I am speaking out now because the wheels
of justice have been slow.
This dictatorship continues to destroy
every constitutionally protected right we
have - illegally establishing a police force
without a vote of the people, controlling our
Tribal Court and elections, retaliating against
tribal members who oppose them, and
awarding payoffs totaling over $400,000 to
a handful of family and friends. (Compare
this to the $100 dividend given out to each
member.) Now, this dictatorship is trying to
sneak through constitutional amendments
that will cement their fascist government. If
these amendments pass, the results would
be devastating to our individual rights. Most
contemptible is the change from our
constitutionally required quorum of five
elected members to two “seated” Tribal
4
I respect the right of each tribal
member to express his or her opinions,
including the rights of the individuals who
filed these complaints. I am not concerned
about their characterizations of what took
place in our tribe or my role in it because I
know that the Council and I took actions
we believed to be right and proper.
We did not expect the individuals who
persist in complaining about our actions to
agree. They have filed lawsuits and
grievances and complained non-stop since
they were recalled or resigned from their
positions of tribal leadership. I expect they
will continue to do so indefinitely, which is
their right.
By insisting that their letters be
printed in their entirety, I hope to make it
clear that the more important business of
the tribe must and will go on. I intend to
devote my efforts to that end. I expect that
those efforts will be subject to debate and
criticism. That goes with the territory.
Council members taking action on
behalf of the tribe.
Our tribe is not unique in this situation.
It's happened with the Navajo Nation,
Cherokee Nation, and White Earth Band of
Chippewa - just to name a few. But the people
of each of these nations stood together,
demanded their rights be restored, and
successfully rid their tribes of corruption.
There are a number of us General
Council members who have been actively
working to restore democracy to our tribe,
but there needs to be overwhelming support
shown by at least one-third of the General
Council. Do you want to allow this
dictatorship to continue taking our tribal
resources for their own personal uses? If
not, exercise your constitutional rights
while you still have them. Demand that
these constitutional amendments not be
considered. Demand that the tribe
participate in electronic elections to eliminate
election fraud. Demand that the four Tribal
Council members and their appointees are
removed and a fair election is held to replace
them. If we stand together against the current
regime, we can restore democracy to
our tribe.
For more information on what you can
do, or if you want to review supporting
evidence of these facts, please write to
General Council News, 6820 SE Foster
Road, Suite 145, Portland, OR 97206.
Sincerely,
Pat Duncan
To the editor:
Delores Pigsley wrote in the August/
September 1999 issue of the newsletter that
she gave individuals monetary awards
because they were “successful plaintiffs” in
Tribal Court. She had repeatedly referred to
these monetary and employment payments
as “out of court settlements.” In my opinion,
this is fraud and embezzlement of tribal,
casino, and federal dollars. None of the
recipients of the large payoffs were plaintiffs
in Tribal Court cases against the Tribal
Council at the time of the “settlements,” and
there were no court orders for these
payments. These payoffs, made between
October and December 1998, were given
to family and friends who went to Delores
Pigsley’s Council with personal proposals.
Details have been kept secret;
worse than that, in one settlement, Delores
Pigsley agreed to alter tribal financial reports
by omitting settlement amounts. The
individuals who received payoffs are: Phil
Rilatos Sr., Keith Taylor, Brenda Bremner,
Kristi Martin-Bayya, Evaristo Bayya,
Nancy McCrary, and many unknown
employees. Two attorneys also were
named in the payoffs - Kent Thurber and
Leroy Wilder. The following definition is for
out of court settlements: “In civil cases, the
resolution of a dispute between parties prior
to the rendering of a final judgement by the
[tribal] court,” Barron’s Law Dictionary.
Delores Pigsley acted without
legislative or executive authority as a Tribal
Council member. First, she acted like a
judge and determined that these individuals
deserved personal awards. And then, she
acted like the tribal attorney and negotiated
the terms of the financial and
employment awards.
It was especially unethical for Delores
Pigsley to negotiate payoffs to her nieces,
Nancy McCrary and Brenda Bremner. When
questioned about how the Council could
justify giving her niece, Brenda Bremner,
monetary and employment rewards,
Delores Pigsley answered, “She earned it
because we deemed her to.” In other words,
Delores Pigsley deemed her niece the
second highest position in the tribe, along
with a year’s worth of benefits, including
replacing her retirement fund as if she had
worked for an entire year. Wow, what
adeeming!
Another niece, Nancy McCrary, was
awarded $39,413.11 as the voluntary
Election Board chairman, even though she
testified in Tribal Court about her wrongdoing
during the recall elections and took the fifth
so as not to further incriminate herself. Like
Delores’ other niece, she was given a high-
paying managerial position with the tribe.
(See Johnson on page 5)