Copyright © 1998 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

It is sad that the great Cherokee Nation is presently facing the 21st Century with the obstacle of a chief who refuses to obey the law, face to up to the charges against him and has put himself before the interest of Cherokee people and the tribe. A chief who has committed treason against his nation and our people.

This crisis will only end in a court of law!

Aside from all the various selfish and "provable" illegal acts committed by Byrd and cohorts over the past year the fact remains that Byrd has never faced up to the original charges against him in a court of law. Byrd has never answered for charges that were part of what led to the original search warrant to begin with.

The original charges against Byrd have been buried in and behind all the smoke and mirrors created and orchestrated in the plans and actions outlined in Byrd chief of staff, George Thomas's "conspiracy notes". The plan outlined what they could do to keep Byrd from arrest at all costs. That was the plan. The plan does not deal with the fact that Byrd had been charged with a crime; the plan never once recommended that Byrd put up his evidence to prove his innocence; the plan said that all of the "enemies" of Byrds regime must "go down", they must be "exposed"; the council members must be prodded into emotions over the search warrant to the point that they react to "get rid of the all the marshals", "impeach all three of the Cherokee Nation's judges"; engage in an orchestrated "grass roots" effort to have people "trash" the Cherokee Nation Justices, and the list of dirty deeds planned goes on. Those plans were written in April of 1997 and carried out through present time. Yet no where in those notes does it refer to the fact that Byrd should prove his case in a court of law! Nothing in those conspiracy notes recommend that the Chief of the Cherokee Nation do anything that he can to settle the charges against him in a legal and lawful way.

Nothing in those notes talks about Byrd's innocence.

There was no plan to do what was right and legal and in the best interest of the Cherokee Nation and our people... the plan only talked about what was best for Joe Byrd and what it would take to keep him from being arrested at all costs!

None of us have forgotten where this started. Until Byrd faces charges in a legitimate court of law this turmoil will never end. The longer Byrd and cohorts run from the fact that Byrd must be held accountable, the longer it will take to put this crisis behind. Those who aid and abet Byrd are guilty of harboring a fugitive from law and justice.

If Byrd and cohorts really want this turmoil to end then they have got to get honest and get straight. Byrd must face up to the charges against him in a court of law!

How many of us could get by without going to court to face charges when a court has ordered us to appear? NOT ONE OF US! Unless of course we somehow managed to get the United State's Interior Department to send in an army to prevent our arrest! But then we would have be protected all the time by a bunch of body guards, and our freedom to walk among our own people would be limited... sort of like being on a short lease, but, at least we wouldn't have to go to court or face any possibility of arrest.

The message is Byrd must face up to the charges against him in a court of law! When is he supposed to do it? NOW!

This crisis will end only where it began -- Byrd must face charges filed against him and answer questions about the incriminating evidence discovered (along with the obstruction of justice charges filed) immediately after the legitimate Cherokee Nation Marshals executed the February 25, 1997 search warrant.

Accountability is not to much to expect or demand from the elected leaders of our Nations!!!!!!!

The message that Byrd and several elected officials are leaving to our people is that the law does not matter, justice does not matter... it is a lawless society and if you can get by with your crimes by bribing the federal government and it's agencies by making a few campaign contributions to the DNC, and getting one of those "connected" D.C. lawyers to lobby those in the Justice Dept. and BIA for you, by paying a "hefty" price tag of course, to protect you from your own tribal court, then that is the game! To heck with laws, courts, justice and doing what is right... law and justice is for sale... if you got the money, or the right "connections" and preferably both then you can break the law and get by with it! Now that is a great message for our children wouldn't you say!

Looks like under the current administrations (Byrd's and Clintons") law and justice is for sale to the highest bidder!