(Riverton, WY) – Following the recent decision by the Northern Arapaho Business Council (NABC) to not follow a resolution from the General Council that advised to terminate Tribal employees Clare Johnson (the in-house attorney) and Patrick Lekrone (Wind River Casino General Manager), members of the Northern Arapaho Tribe and the Arapaho Voice group have organized rallies in response, and drafted a letter declaring their “disappointment” in the decision.
Back in September, the General Council approved the resolution that called for the firing of Johnson and Lekrone, which prompted the NABC to release a statement stating that the directives would not be carried out.
In addition to a protest held on September 26 in response to that decision, the Arapaho Voice group recently shared the following letter, signed as “An Open Letter To The Northern Arapaho Business Council,” which can be read in full in the post below.
Arapaho Voice also held a rally in Riverton City Park on Sunday, October 6.
Elizabeth Hodge, who shared that she started the Arapaho Voice group about two years ago after her and other Tribal members began discussing the issues they felt weren’t being addressed, told County 10 at the rally that the NABC is “just not listening to the issues that people believe.”
“Lekrone, he was just not listening,” Hodge stated, and added that there are “all kinds of things” that Johnson has done that are “not good for the Tribe.”
“She interferes is pretty much what it boils down to,” Hodge said of Johnson. “She interferes in all of our business, (with) all the directors,” and “sits in on HR meetings.”
“She’s just going outside the scope of her duties,” another attendee interjected before adding that Johnson is “not even a member of our Tribe.” (Johnson has shared in the past that she is a “citizen of the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.)
“And it was never brought to General Council in the first place to even hire this woman,” Hodge added.
“The Northern Arapaho people have spoken in one voice on the decision that should have been honored by the NABC,” Business Council write-in hopeful Norman Bitsie Sr. also shared. “The General Council had honored the people’s vote and the voice was loud. They are our supreme governing party, the people, and to ignore them is to ignore the oath taken as they were going into office. Everyone needs to be held accountable, no exceptions.”
“We’re just trying to get the support of the people to, you know, uphold our resolutions,” Hodge also stated. “Because without the support of the rest of the Tribe, it’s just going to be the same thing over and over.”
Arapaho Voice member Nicole Wagon shared that another rally will be held tomorrow, October 12, from 11 AM to 1 PM, across the street from the Wind River Hotel and Casino.