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Noem Reverts to Nice Letters; Tribes Stand Firm on Wisdom of Coronavirus Checkpoints

140 hours ago, Governor Kristi Noem gave the Cheyenne River Sioux and Oglala Sioux tribes 48 hours to remove their coronavirus-control checkpoints from highways on their reservations or face legal action.

Evidently Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg is still looking for his crayons. Instead of a lawsuit, Governor Noem has now sent a nice letter to Oglala Sioux President Julian Bear Runner reiterating her call for closure of the contentious checkpoints but dropping all mention of legal action.

Noe to Bear Runner, 2020.05.13
Gov. Kristi Noem, letter to President Julian Bear Runner, 2020.05.13, p. 1.
Gov. Kristi Noem, letter to President Julian Bear Runner, 2020.05.13, p. 2.
Gov. Kristi Noem, letter to President Julian Bear Runner, 2020.05.13, p. 2.

Noem has sent a similar gentle letter to Cheyenne River Sioux Chairman Harold Frazier, who apparently recognizes Noem’s letter as a sign that he holds the winning hand, says the checkpoints will remain in operation for as long as needed to protect his people:

“Thank you for your letter we received yesterday offering comments on consultation for a potential “pathway forward” regarding the CRST COVID-19 health safety checkpoints. We appreciate your concern about preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation and our taking action for the good of all people on the reservation. We will take your three-part plan into consideration. In the meantime, please forward any complains you have received regarding the operation of our healthy safety checkpoints to the CRST COVID-19 Command Center,” responded Chairman Frazier.

The tribal leader told West River Eagle today, “The checkpoints will continue until they are no longer a necessary part of our pandemic response team” [Alaina Beautiful Bald Eagle, “Frazier Responds to Noem, Update: The Checkpoints Will Continue,” West River Eagle, 2020.05.13].

Fran Carr offers an excellent firsthand report of operations at one of the Cheyenne River Sioux checkpoints to belie the lies Governor Noem has been telling about Indians blocking ambulances and other essential services:

When a driver arrives at a checkpoint, they are cheerfully greeted by the deputies. The conversation is light and informational. Workers ask, have you been through one of our checkpoints before? They welcome the visitor to the Cheyenne River Lakota nation and inform them that, due to the underlying medical conditions faced by the population here, and the risk of COVID-19, the Tribe has tasked the deputies to compile a database to track individuals as they move around the reservation so that, should a exposure be identified, the authorities will know who to notify to take precautions and where to direct their very limited medical resources.

On May 11 the checkpoint at Timber Lake was able to watch the live press conference by Governor Kristi Noem. As she spoke on camera about her concerns that essential services were being denied access to the reservation, delivery trucks were allowed through the checkpoint from UPS and USPS. Agricultural workers came through headed to mend fences on ranches. Each vehicle was logged and allowed to continue.

…Masks and gloves are always worn by checkpoint workers. Many people coming through wear masks or have them in the car. Near the borders there are fewer masks and people have more opinions about wearing them. David Castle, a worker at one of the smaller checkpoints, said, “I wish people should really think about whether their right to move is as important as someone else’s right to live” [Fran Carr, “What Actually Happens at a Tribal Checkpoint?West River Eagle, 2020.05.13].

Some have suggested Governor Noem should visit a tribal checkpoint herself to see what’s really going on and perhaps learn that her fears of Native sovereignty and public health measures are unnecessary. But Governor Noem can do us all a favor by staying home (as we all should be doing) and leaving the tribes alone.

Related Flip-Flop: In another sign Governor Noem is following the example of Donald Trump in making things up as she goes along, Bob Mercer reports that the state is putting up warning signs on the state side of reservation boundaries warning of Indian checkpoints ahead, after the Governor said on Tuesday that “No, we haven’t considered putting up any kind of warning system or using the DOT to let travelers know that would be checkpoints ahead.” Dang it, Bob! Don’t go putting idears in the Governor’s head!

Correction 2020.12.29: I originally cited Alaina Beautiful Bald Eagle as the author of Fran Carr’s article. The author was actually Fran Carr. I apologize for not giving credit to the originator of the text!

18 Comments

  1. marvin kammerer 2020-05-14 10:06

    i will brake my fast here & say welcome & success to the reservation people & their leaders. i would hope & wish that the gov. & the pipelaying people will finally get some sense & understand that crossing waterways endangering the water so many fish, animals & especially we the people depend on for survival .

  2. W R Old Guy 2020-05-14 10:15

    The Rosebud Sioux Tribe is going on a “lock down” Thursday night until Sunday. It will include highway checkpoints.

    Bourdeaux’s message can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFHBkA3TsNc

  3. Eve Fisher 2020-05-14 10:19

    (1) Kristi is backing off because someone told her this might be a losing battle, and the news media are coming after it.
    (2) Kristi won’t go to look at the checkpoints because Kristi isn’t setting foot outside of her fortress of solitude until the pandemic is over.
    (3) Meanwhile, Sioux Falls is almost at 2% of the population confirmed with COVID-19. And to those who point out how many recovered, I respond, “asymptomatic carriers”. There’s probably a lot more out there.

  4. jerry 2020-05-14 10:28

    Corey Lewandowski spits into the ground and curses the fact that there is no fight that Queen NOem can bring as the Natives are correct in their own fight. Now, the evil Queen NOem has to accept the blood on her hands for her inept response to this pandemic, All of those out of state, highly paid advisors (maybe even Lewandowski), are now working on a Queen NOem fight that would be a whole lot easier, fighting with her local staff and hair dresser.

    Meanwhile, where the hell are those tests for all of South Dakota citizens?

  5. kj trailer trash 2020-05-14 12:42

    I love her pity-party on the news this morning: (paraphrasing here) “It’s really the federal government’s problem; I don’t know why I have to get in the middle of it, but I sure will.” Spare us, Kristi. You’ll just spout some platitudes and some rightwing silliness and continue to do nothing and take credit for the fact that our low population density has kept the Covid numbers down outside of SF despite, not because of, her policies (or lack of). Her PSAs are even stinking up my ME TV old people tv channel. And radio, every day: “This is a marathon, not a sprint.” Please be quiet, guv.

  6. cibvet 2020-05-14 18:50

    Got some groceries today and took some time in the parking lot to check on the responsible people of SD. I counted 53 people going and coming from the store, exactly 9 wearing masks counting myself. Kudos to the store owner as the help were wearing masks. Bars were open as usual.

  7. Scott 2020-05-14 18:58

    We can all go back 3 weeks I think it was. She was telling people not to go to the car races in Jefferson SD. By the following Monday she reversed course 180 degrees. Somebody pulled her strings to change course.

    I’m guessing somebody pulled her strings so she tried to get rid of the checkpoints.

    There is a reason she is on FOX TV so much since she tried opening up SD. National media does not care about a governor from a small state like SD. She is being rewarded with national media appearances because she is drinking that Trump Kool-aid and a loyal Trump servant(puppet).

  8. grudznick 2020-05-14 20:51

    At least Mr. H begrudgingly admits young Governor Noem was nice. For now. You know…velvet glove.

  9. grudznick 2020-05-14 21:13

    And in further related reading, it seems the Sicanjou Lakota are going to institute some check points. But much like those people who cry and blame the Governor for not ordering a lockdown, despite her inability to order that in another soveriegn nation, now we have the president of the Sicanjou saying:

    “Unfortunately, there were too many people in our community who refused to take precautions of social distancing and the wearing of masks in public and also refused to self-quarantine or take any of this seriously,” Bordeaux said.

    So. In the words of Samuel Jackson, “Stay the bejeebermonkeybutts at home, or shut up and quit whining.”

    Sounds like Mr. Bordeaux is going to look to the mote in his own eye for a while. Meanwhile, in Rapid City, grudznick is considering moving the Zooming of the Conservatives with Common Sense weekly breakfast to an outdoor setting, with plenty of room for you to spread out, and I think we have a good caterer lined up. Stay tuned.

  10. Debbo 2020-05-14 22:53

    I enjoy watching the tribes stick up for themselves while Kruel Kristi crumbles. 😆 😆 😆

  11. 96Tears 2020-05-14 23:44

    Is that really COVID Kristi’s signature? I mean, really, what letters are in there? Does it really start with a G? It looks downright manic. How does that train wreck say “Kristi Noem?” What does a psychologist say about that manic scribble? Does anybody have examples of her signature before she got so stuck up on herself?

  12. Loren 2020-05-15 08:17

    96, I was wondering the same thing. I saw that signature and chuckled to myself. Hard to say if that is her real signature or if she is just trying to emulate the trumpster. Probably done in Sharpie, too. ;-)

  13. Jeff Barth 2020-05-15 10:21

    I think it is an attempt to mimic Trump’s.

  14. mike from iowa 2020-05-15 12:48

    “Unfortunately, there were too many people in our community who refused to take precautions of social distancing and the wearing of masks in public and also refused to self-quarantine or take any of this seriously,” Bordeaux said.

    Must be the Fake Noize watching segment of the Rez population. Whitey sets a bad example for them.

  15. grudznick 2020-05-15 12:59

    Apparently, Mr. Mike, much like there in Iowa where you live, there are “too many” of those sorts. According to their own tribal president.

    Shame. Shame. Shame.

  16. Donald Pay 2020-05-15 16:25

    96 Tears comment on Noem’s signature interests me, though it’s off topic. I’m going to stick up a bit for COVID Kristi. My grandfather had a very unique, unreadable signature, while my father had just a normal cursive signature. They were both named Milton Pay. I asked my grandfather why his signature was that way. He told me a unique signature presents more difficulty for those who might want to forge a signature. I was about 16 when he told me that, so I started working out how I wanted my signature to look. I had already invented by own way to write so it was easy. I used that signature from then until I switched it up when I moved from Pierre to Rapid City, when I changed it up a little.

    Most women, at least in my experience, don’t have a signature like Noem’s. They tend to write it all out in nice cursive letters, perfectly readable and forgeable.

  17. 96Tears 2020-05-15 17:44

    I’m just glad to see you call her COVID Kristi! Has a nice ring, kinda like Moscow Mitch. Thanks, Don!

  18. Donald Pay 2020-05-15 21:34

    96 Tears: I picked COVID Kristi up from you. It certainly fits.

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