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Thank you for accepting this letter; our Colville Tribal Tribune has been censoring us for a solid year now, so we have no other choice but to write through other sources.

Our tribal leaders across the reservation are ethically and criminally challenged. We members know that, but like maybe a battered wife making excuses for her husband or boyfriend sexually assaulting children, some of our members are making excuses for these criminals on the Colville Business Council.

Thanks to the Christian missionaries and state and federal policies trying to wipe us out, some of our people are so confused we turn on ourselves, just like these oppressors wanted it to be. When we see pornography addiction played out in our tribal offices by managers and some council now, or council credit card theft, or council bail-outs for out-of-control payroll advances of former council, or sexual assaults un-reported and reported and prosecuted, we have a hard time putting our foot down and firing them.

We’re trapped. During the missionary sexual assaults and beatings and washing of our languages out of our heads and hearts, we were silenced by fear of terrorist acts by the abusers. That same terror seems to trap us now.

We have a false choice to replace Benny now too. The council just cheated us out of replacing Sneena with the runner up, Shirley Charley, because they pushed Mess 3 on us in “Richie.” Benny replaced Ferdinand Louie because Benny was runner up in that election.

But we’re trapped, remember? The members made the mistake of electing Shirley in the first place as she don’t know anything anyway.

When will we ever stop this crazy sympathy and popularity voting? We need brains, not lying, dumb, mean, bully-crooks.

Ron Zacherle

Okanogan