DUI arrests on the reservation
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
Editor,
I’m writing this letter regarding DUIs on the reservation.
I had my share of trouble in my life and quit because I’m older now and don’t look for trouble in my life. In my life I have seen many things that weren’t right.
Alcohol is a drug and it is a choice of who wants it in their life, not just among Native Americans as the public was lead to believe back in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s. I see many Native Americans come from Polson Courts with the same charges as non-Native Americans but they get more jail time. Why is this I wonder? I once overheard in the hallway at the county building a few attorneys say, “We’re not trying to put Native Americans in jail, we’re trying to help them.” These attorneys it seems to me are not really trying to help. The most recent arrest of Chief of Polson Police who smashed into a parked car reminds me of a time a jailer told us a District Judge was stopped for DUI around Christmas time but wasn’t arrested and was taken home. He still sat in his court room sending people away, and I’m one of them he sent away. He is gone now, but many lives were ruined. I changed my ways and tried to work but some supervisors over-stepped boundaries in order to make me leave my employment and this sent me into depression. It ruined my finances, but I am still hanging on trying to pay what I owe. I believed this reservation and community was about people and not just about the color of their skin or whether they are homeless. You shouldn’t put others down just because you aren’t down on your luck.
DUIs should be for those in authority too, not just for the common people. Prisons are too full and it does not change a person to be sent away to prison unless they have done something really terrible. People shouldn’t be in prison for petty things and second chances are a must for those that deserve it.
Harold Paul
Ronan
