Bouschor....Warning! Warning!

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NORTH COUNTRY: Shareholders Commence Derivative Suit in W.D. MI

North Country Financial Corporation shareholders filed a shareholder derivative suit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan against the Company and:

(1) Dennis Bittner,
(2) Bernard A. Bouschor,
(3) Ronald G. Ford,
(4) Sherry L. Littlejohn,
(5) Stanley J. Gerou II,
(6) John D. Lindroth,
(7) Stephen Madigan,
(8) Spencer Shunk,
(9) Michael Henrickson,
(10) Glen Tolksdorf,
(11) Wesley Hoffman

The suit was brought under Section 27 of the Exchange Act against the Company and certain of its current and former directors and senior executive officers.The Complaint, which demands a jury trial, is brought on behalf of the Company against the individual defendants.

The suit alleges that the individual defendants have caused loss and damage to the Corporation through breaches of their fiduciary duties of oversight and supervision by Failing:
(i) to adequately safeguard the assets of the Corporation,(ii) to ensure that adequate administrative, operating, and internal controls were in place and implemented,(iii) to ensure that the Corporation was operated in accordance with legally-prescribed procedures, and(iv) to oversee the audit process to ensure that the Corporation's assets were properly accounted for and preserved.

The complaint further alleges that the individual defendants violated Section 14(a) of the Exchange Act by making materially false and misleading statements in the proxy statement mailed to shareholders in connection with the annual meeting of the Corporation held May 29, 2000, and the adoption by theshareholders at that meeting of the Corporation's 2000 StockIncentive Plan.

Volume I, Issue VII
Bouschor’s Actions Suspect in North Country Financial Case

Charles Lanctot, an individual share holder of North Country Financial Corporation (NCFC), filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court against Sherry Littlejohn, Ronald Ford and NCFC on June 13, 2003. The plaintiff and others lost a considerable amount of their investment as a result of the deceitful acts of NCFC leadership. As a member of the Board of Directors of NCFC, Bernard Bouschor may be forced to testify before a jury about his interactions with NCFC on behalf of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.

Alegations against NCFC include: disseminating/approving false statements of material facts; engaging in acts of fraud and deceit in their purchases of NCFC publicly traded securities; maintaining artificially high market prices of NCFC securities; and engaging in a continuous course of conduct to conceal adverse material information about the business, operations and future prospects of NCFC.

The Tribe holds hundreds of thousands of shares of NCFC stock. Bouschor received at least 10,000 shares for being on the NCFC Board of Directors. It is unclear whether he has pocketed these shares or if they have been appropriately added to the Tribe’s holdings. Despite a cease and desist order placed on NCFC earlier this year, the Sault Tribe Board of Directors approved using the Big Bear Arena as collateral for a loan in what amounts to a bail out for the financial corporation.

Bouschor’s actions as a representative of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians on the NCFC Board of Directors are subject not only to the scrutiny of federal justice system, but are also subject to the tribal justice system. The citizenry of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians have entrusted Bouschor, through the tribal Board of Directors, to act on their behalf regarding tribal resources. As such, Bouschor may be subject to a breach of trust case within a tribal court setting. Given the inherent bias of the tribal justice system in Bouschor’s favor, however, it is doubtful that such a case could move forward unbiased. Short of external review by the Bureau of Indian Affairs or the federal justice system, the case would be suspect from the word go.