Somehow I doubt that it was to provide benefits to all 37,000 Sault Tribe members. There is a very small percentage that can say that being a member of the Sault Tribe has been advantageous to them. Medical and dental facilities were not accessible to most of the members and now recently, tribal health centers outside the eastern U.P. are being shut down, effectively eliminating health care costs to the tribe but not to those members who are now without health services.
Elder checks have already been cut, Elder meals on wheels often look like yesterday's leftovers, children's programs have been eliminated, termination of tribal members employment seems endless and now the tribal board has gone into hiding.
The Sault Tribe website contains very little up to date information. The meetings are no longer videotaped or televised. It is understandable that they would not want to be televised so that the non-Indian community can no longer watch disaster in action but with no current meeting minutes or resolutions on the website, tribal members are left in the dark about the state of their own tribe.
I spoke to someone from the Detroit area earlier today who was outraged that the tribal board has chosen to operate under a veil of secrecy. They felt that all members have a right to know what the board is up to and I certainly agree with them.
Not one to keep my opinions to myself, I told them that the day for disenrollment is probably on the horizon.
They cleaned up at the expense of all the tribal members who now have become a liability and are probably looking at cutting everyone outside of Units 1, 2, and 3, loose.
Think about it....they closed most of the health centers outside of the eastern U.P...might as well get rid of those members too.
Without the Elders, the tribe would be nothing, zero, zilch but yet their food and itty bitty checks were one of the first things to be cut.
Against everybody else's better judgement, the Big Bear arena now has a sleazy bar so that Chairman McCoy and his advisor, Bernard Bouschor, won't suffer withdrawal symptoms from being too far removed from the nearest alcoholic beverage.
And to top it all off, The properly filled out & signed petitions demanding the failed board take a pay cut, have mysteriously disappeared?
With so much secrecy, will the majority of the members suddenly find out some day that the Sault Tribe disappeared into thin air? The tribal members elect representatives to look out for their best interests and therefore have a right to access to tribal meetings, minutes,resolutions,
and decisions made on behalf of the members of the tribe, but none are posted anymore?
Demand that the board respect your rights!
