MOTION TO APPOINT TABLED

At a regular meeting of the Sault Tribe Board of Directors held at Kewadin Casinos in Sault Ste. Marie, a motion was made by Tom Miller to appoint Joe Eitrem to step in as Chairman of the Sault Tribe.

For whatever Deb Pine's reason to make the motion to table it, the remaining directors agreed. Joan Carr Anderson, Unit 5 director,was absent from the meeting and would have left that Unit short a vote. All in all, it was a good decision to table, but on the other hand it is not good for the tribe's stability to continue this for much longer.

A rumor has been circulating that there will be a motion to appoint DJ Hoffman to fill Joe Eitrem's empty director's chair if Eitrem is appointed to fill the chairman's seat for the next year. Tribal members have mixed feelings because of Hoffman's record while on the board. He did, after all, go out of his way to protect and support Fred Paquin, the former police chief who is now serving time in federal prison for a number of crimes including embezzlement of tribal funds.

He was also a walking nightmare for many tribal employees who were threatened with the loss of their jobs should they not please the former director and he threatened tribal members with lawsuits who spoke out in disagreement against his actions.

But what was also interesting is that he seemed to have fallen out of favor with Bouschor and his close supporters.  It would be interesting to know the reason behind that but it is not likely we will ever know....unless DJ Hoffman himself chooses to tell us. Either way, Hoffman might have a chance to make amends with tribal members and employees if he is appointed, doesn't allow the position to go to his head and does the right thing this time around.

Maybe the next scheduled meeting will start the tribe on another path....hopefully a better one that will allow some positive actions to take place for a change.