Chapter 3- Open letter from Bob Foreman (cont.)
The injustice my family would receive in our disenrollment was apparent early on. Just a few days prior to me receiving a letter from Enrollment Director/Vice Chairwoman Hope Wilkes requesting my family bring in a birth certificate for my deceased mother, Ms. Wilkes' brother Suntana Potter, who is *Win River Casino's Gaming Compliance Officer and also a convicted felon, is caught on surveillance cameras removing tribal council pictures of me and my family from the lobby wall of the tribal office.
< Hope Wilkes Suntana Potter >
"As
some of you may have noticed the Tribal Council pictures are missing in the
Tribal Administration Lobby. On Monday afternoon Jack noticed that a *select few
pictures were missing from the wall. After checking with a few departments that
would have had a reason to take the pictures down it appears that the pictures
were taken by someone else for an unknown reason." (Jack Potter Jr. is Hope Wilkes other
convicted felon brother would soon be elected to the Tribal Council and
appointed to the Enrollment Committee.) July 16, 2002 email from Tribal member and
COO Stacy Hayward-Carman to Redding Rancheria Employees.
< Stacy Hayward-Carman
A further indication of the injustice my family was about to receive was when my two daughters were approached in the same Tribal Office lobby by convicted felon and Tribal Councilman Virgil Baker Sr after they had attended a "Relay for Life" meeting. According to a May 29, 2003 incident report filed by my daughter, who was also on tribal council, Tribal Councilman Virgil Baker Sr. demanded to know who from the Foreman family had sent him a letter a few days earlier and how they get his address. My daughter explained to Virgil Baker Sr. that she did not write the letter, but that only seemed to escalate his anger. He became so agitated that he started cussing and yelling. Finally, after my daughter Carla repeatedly asked the security guard witnessing the incident to intervene, Virgil Baker Sr. was told to leave.
< Tribal Councilman Virgil
Baker Sr.'s behavior caused my daughters to fear for their safety. Virgil Baker's past behavior gave them good reason to feel threatened. Just three months earlier in the same Tribal Office
lobby, Tribal Councilman Virgil Baker Sr., as a Tribal employee,
was party to another incident involving himself, Substance Abuse
Counselor Edward Prado and current Tribal Vice-Chairman James Hayward Sr.
Current Vice-Chairman Jim Hayward, a convicted felon and the brother of Tribal Chairwoman Barbara Hayward-Murphy, sought out Substance Abuse Counselor Edward Prado in theTribal office lobby wanting to know what Edward Prado was going to do to help get his son out of police custody. Edward Prado explained that as a Substance Abuse Counselor it was out of his hands. It was not the answer James Hayward Sr. wanted to hear, so he assaulted Edward Prado, breaking his nose and causing it to bleed profusely.
At that point, Tribal Councilman/ Tribal employee Virgil Baker Sr. started to taunt Edward Prado, who then ran away. Worried about retaliation, Edward Prado made a mistake that day that changed his life forever. Edward didn't dial 911. (Had there been a policy in place to exclude felons on Tribal Council, most likely this incident could have been avoided.)
In the March 5, 2003 Tribal Council executive session minutes, COO Stacey Hayward-Carman "explained to Council an incident involving a tribal member striking an employee in the face and issues regarding the investigation. She stated that Redding Rancheria would follow the Federal OSHA rules and requirements for violence in the workforce. HR (Human Resources) will be interviewing witnesses and a Restraining Order will be in place."
CEO Barbara Hayward-Murphy would also inform the staff that a restraining order would be placed against her brother James Hayward Sr. According to Edward Prado's supervisor, the CEO failed to mention that Edward Prado would not sign the restraining order because he was scared of retaliation from James Hayward Sr. and his family.
Two weeks later,
James Hayward Sr. was walking the halls at the Tribal Office as if nothing
happened. Edward Prado did seek out the help of an attorney, but the local
attorneys he contacted would not take his case because of the tribe's
sovereignty. Current Tribal Vice-Chairman James Hayward Sr. is Redding
Rancheria's new *Spiritual Leader. Edward Prado died on June 27, 2003.
< Jim Hayward Sr., right, shaking hands with former CILS Attorney Michael Golden, the new Chief Judge of Redding Rancheria tribal court. "He is looking forward to meeting with the tribal membership and sees the new tribal court as an important step in *defending the Rancheria's sovereignty." Redding Rancheria's April-June, 2006 Sounds in the Winds newsletter article title Tribal Court Judge Hired.
The letter my family sent out to the General Membership that angered Tribal Councilman Virgil Baker Sr. was in response to an earlier letter sent out by Tribal Chairwoman Tracy Edwards notifying the membership that a scheduled meeting requested by my family to review the newly passed Reconsideration Resolution was canceled. That letter stated in part,
"..This resolution allows anyone to write a letter questioning one's membership without any supporting documentation. It then puts the burden of proof on an existing member. If this resolution is allowed to stand it will encourage other letters for reconsidering a member solely on the basis of dislikes. Worst of all it will create a Government where our members will live in fear and be afraid to come forward knowing that they could be questioned and in turn have to put out the expense of legal representation to protect their membership."
< Human Resources
Director/tribal member Don Benner
responded to my daughter's incident report in a June 09, 2003 memo.
"I have completed the investigation
regarding the incident occurring on Thursday, May 29, 2003, at approximately
4:00 p.m. The individual that was involved in this incident, Virgil Baker, Sr.,
has received appropriate discipline and warned not to make any further attempts
to discuss issues with you in a raised voice. If he is any further problem,
please contact Human Resources."
My daughter Carla responded back to Donny Benner's memo. "In reply to your memo dated June 9, 2003, regarding the incident involving employee and Tribal Council member, Virgil Baker, Sr., your memo is incomplete. I would like to clarify that the incident was more than Virgil having a "raised voice." I have no problem if people have issues and raise their voice on occasion. But this person was very intimidating, cursing and in ******'s personal space with his anger escalating. I am grateful that the security guard that was at the front reception area intervened.
I dealt with this same type of incident the previous morning at the Win-River Casino in Bobby Foreman's office, which you were there just minutes prior to the incident. This occurred the morning of the *Workplace Violence Training. (training a result of the Edward Prado incident)
I hope that you are doing what needs to be done to correct the problem so that in the future other employees feel safe in their working environment throughout the organization. It is not fair to the employee who is allowed to "bully" others as he will only learn that this type of behavior is permissible. It also goes against the role of a Tribal Council member, who is to set an example and is held to a higher standard in that role."
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