March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Takeover attempt quickly thwarted > 3 protesters arrested in Indian Township

INDIAN TOWNSHIP — An attempt by three dissidents to take over the administrative offices of the Passamaquoddy Indian tribe ended within minutes Monday when tribal employees opened their office windows to allow police to enter the building and arrest the protesters.

Anthony Best, 40, Roger Socobasin, 30, and Samuel Sockabasin, 25, all of Indian Township, were arrested on charges of obstructing government administration and criminal trespass, and taken to the Washington County Jail.

Tribal Clerk Denise Polches said Socobasin and Best entered tribal headquarters within minutes after she and several other employees arrived for work at approximately 7:15 a.m.

“Roger and Anthony came in and started padlocking the doors,” Polches said. “They let Sam in the back door.”

Polches said her husband had planned to paint the building that day, but was refused entry. The men asked her if she was going or staying, and when Polches told them she was there to work, Best told her it was going to be a “long day,” the clerk said.

Both Polches and Alberta White, the director of the tribe’s child welfare program, called police, and receptionist Patricia Sockabasin told the protesters she was going to untie the rope they’d used to secure the back door, Polches said.

White and Polches opened the windows in their office and four Indian Township police officers climbed through the windows. None of the protesters offered any resistance and the entire incident was over before 8 a.m., Polches said.

Polches said the men didn’t give a reason for the attempted takeover, although she knew they were involved in last month’s unsuccessful petition to recall Passamaquoddy Gov. Richard Stevens.

Stevens was elected governor in September 1998 when he bested his uncle, former Gov. John Stevens, by just two votes. John Stevens requested a recount, which increased the margin to three votes. The Joint Tribal Council, the governing body for the Indian Township and Pleasant Point Indian reservations, scheduled another election for Oct. 10.

But John Stevens stepped down, saying he wanted to put an end to the controversy that had divided families and friends on the 700-person reservation.

Richard Stevens began his four-year term of office on Oct. 1, 1998.

In September, petitioners began gathering signatures to recall Stevens, alleging that he had downsized the tribal work force without just cause, demoted employees who had good evaluations and laid people off.

In a follow-up interview, Stevens said he was “mystified” by the petition. Stevens said the work force actually had increased during his first year in office.

Although petitioners believed they had gathered the required 157 signatures, the petition fell short of that number when 11 signatures were ruled invalid because they were illegible, undated or gathered prior to the beginning of the 45-day petition period spelled out in the tribe’s constitution. Another 22 people asked that their names be removed from the petition, leaving it far short of the required number of signatures.

Monday’s failed takeover was not the first time tribal members have expressed dissatisfaction with tribal leadership by taking control of the headquarters building.

In 1995, 30 people held the building for 72 hours. Many of the protesters were members of the Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy Youth Council and were upset because the tribe had borrowed funds earmarked for a youth center to construct the new headquarters. Despite promises, tribal leaders failed to pay the money back, the protesers claimed.

The young people agreed to leave the building after former Gov. Cliv Dorr promised to begin constructing the center.

In 1993, six people, including Best, took over the headquarters for 19 hours protesting the financial condition of the tribe under the leadership of former Gov. Robert Newell and Lt. Gov. Basil LaCoote.

They vacated the headquarters when Newell and LaCoote agreed to a referendum election. Both Newell and LaCoote were voted out of office.


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