Councilman Garfield Steele says that his suspension is politically motivated.
Councilman Steele suspended
Impeachment hearing set
By Brandon Ecoffey
Native Sun News Managing Editor PINE RIDGE — The alleged actions of an OST councilman over the officiating of a middle school girls basketball game has landed him suspended without pay, and the family of a tribal member asking for the council to take further action. Garfield Steele a 4 term council representative from the Wounded Knee District feels that his recent suspension has more to do with politics than his alleged behavior at his daughter’s basketball game during the Big Foot Conference tournament. “I was asked to walk humble and be quiet about this whole thing by someone in my district who I respect, so I didn’t say anything. This actually hurt me though because this is politics. I am going to get my story out there,” he added. “What I want to get out is the truth, the truth about everything that led up to where I am at right now.” The difference in accounts between Garfield Steele and Amber Sierra about what happened on the night in question are dramatically different, Steele was willing to go as far as saying that Sierra and her family have actually lied to the public when recanting what took place. In the spring of 2013 during the Championship game of the Big Foot Conference girls middle school tournament Amber Sierra, an official certified by the state of South Dakota, was asked to officiate both the championship game between the Little Wound Mustangs and the Wounded Knee District School, who Steele’s daughters played for, as well as the consolation game. According to both parties there had been some history between Amber and the supporters of W.K.D.S. who felt that she had been unfair to the team in past games. Amber denies that she was ever biased against them and that her job as an official was to keep those on the court, “from hurting each other.” During the first half of the game Sierra called 2 fouls against one of Steele’s daughters playing on the WKDS team. According to Sierra, after the foul was called Steele, who she says was sitting on the Wounded Knee bench, leapt from the bench and cursed some profanities at Sierra. At that time, Sierra called a technical on the WKDS bench, issued to the head coach. Steele denies sitting on the bench and said that he was in fact “behind the bench.” Shortly after the above incident took place, according to Sierra, a player shouted a profanity at her upon which she issued a technical foul to that player. The same player was then issued an additional technical by another official on the court after he heard her curse again. Once the game was finally back underway the stories of Steele and Sierra begin to diverge drastically. According to Sierra, Steele then began to walk the sidelines with his “fists clenched and in an intimidating way.” She would say that she saw him walking angrily back and forth on the baseline for a minute or two. However according to Councilmen Steele he was only going back and forth from the bleachers to a location in the gym where he had plugged in his phone because he, “was texting with another councilman about an issue having to do with tribal government.” What happened next has been a source of much public debate and is one of the primary reasons that Sierra said she had felt the need to push her story and to demand protection from both the tribal council and tribal law enforcement. Sierra says that while she was preparing to allow for a player to inbound the basketball in to play, Steele walked up to her with his daughter and stood, “so close that his chest was about an inch or two from my shoulder and I could feel him breathing.” Sierra feels that it was in an attempt to intimidate her. She has said that she has continued to receive threats from constituents of Steele. According to Steele however, he said that he was exiting the gym with his daughter and was waiting for the ball to be entered and for Sierra to move so that he could exit the building. “What they said about me standing close to her and breathing on her was not true. There was a policeman standing five feet away, mind you,” said Steel. “The gym was small and I had to walk past where she was to get out.” Sierra says that after the half a large number of the fans who were taunting and threatening her left the building. When the game was over she said that fans of WKDS who lost the game were waiting in the parking lot and she was told by the police that they were working to have the crowd clear the premises. At that point Sierra told the police that she wanted to file charges against Steele and did so with a tribal police officer at another location. However no formal charges were served against the councilman. Several weeks later Sierra and her family filed a formal complaint with the O.S.T. Ethics Commission. At the hearing both sides were allowed to present witnesses about what took place that night. It was then that Steele feels that the law was violated and politics became more of an issue than the truth. According to him the complaints were not filed in a timely manner and his past dealings with the members of the Ethics Commission as well as the prehearing lobbying by Sierra and her family of the commission prevented him from having a fair and un-biased hearing. He also asserts that there were several procedural violations that should have forced the Ethics Commission to throw out the complaint. “This whole process was violated…in the ordinance it says that if the complaint wasn’t filed properly than the complaint will be dismissed with prejudice and given back to be re-filed.” He went on to say that the commission only interviewed Sierra’s witnesses and did not interview him or his witnesses prior and that they were continually lobbied by the Sierra family. “It was tainted from the beginning and I never had a chance with the commission this was never about the truth it was about censoring Garfield Steele. I am young I speak my mind and a lot of people in tribal politics do not like that,” he said. The Ethics Commission would return a decision recommending an impeachment of Steele. Two weeks ago Steele was suspended without pay by the OST Tribal Council by a 10-6 vote. Steele feels that their decision was also influenced by politics. “I had brought impeachment complaints against several of these councilmen before and there are some on the council who have never agreed with what I bring to the council floor. This isn’t about my behavior but this is about attempting to censor me because I am young and not afraid of them,” Steele added. Steele would issue a public apology to the council and to this newspaper for his behavior but he has said that his version of the events is accurate. In order for the council to impeach Steele 12 members of the council will have to vote in favor of it. For Sierra she feels that this is a way of finding out if the council will step forward to protect her. “In their code of ethics it says that you are a tribal council representative all the time not just when you are in meetings. I’m trusting in the laws to take care me and the council to take care of me and (assure) that my rights are not violated especially by someone in power,” she said. The impeachment hearing for Steele is set to take place on September 23. (Contact Brandon Ecoffey at staffwriter2@nsweekly.com) Copyright permission by Native Sun News
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