Insulting attitude
Response to Eloise White's letter of June 30:
You ask what were Colby's parents thinking of to (as you said yourself) "let him bugle at night, on private ground, and out of season?" You know what? They naturally, thought because he was breaking no laws and had permission to be there,
that he was safe as in his own back yard! Evidently no one is safe anywhere anymore.
You seemed to hint that Kim Rickman's mind had been affected by the deaths in his family. I don't believe it; but if that were the case, his people should have seen that he never packed a weapon! Don't you agree?
Then you say the tribal police gave him to the federal government! You ask, "What happened to the sovereignty of the Nez Perce being recognized as a union/nation?" First, don't belittle the federal government. Remember they hand out all that nice money all the time so a lot of the Nez Perces don't have to work, and they build all those new houses to live in which most of them trash in about four years! As for sovereignty, I believe that blew right out the proverbial window when most of them sold their lands back to the white people for yet more good money and the treaty and reservation were dissolved.
Your attitude is insulting to the good people of the tribe and to us.
Colby's grandmother, and very proud of it!
Belle Thomason
Craigmont
A life sentence
Response to Eloise White's letter dated June 30:
I am surprised, Eloise, that you wrote such a letter. As one of Colby's uncles on his paternal side, let me explain to you that he was on private ground, prior to hunting season. If we were to follow your form of reasoning then we all should wear reflective vests whenever we step out of our homes.
The sovereignty of the Nez Perce Tribe is nothing more than legal fiction. No nation can be a sovereign nation within a nation. Wake up.
Finally, Kim Rickman showed a blatant disregard for human life when he used marijuana, loaded a rifle, pulled the trigger on the rifle and shot at a sound, in the dead of night, through a thicket and took the life of a 17-year-old young man. Kim Rickman will serve three years. Colby's family, the Thomasons and the Presnells, will serve a life sentence. Every Christmas, every wedding, every birthday, we know we are missing a dear member of our family. In three years, Kim Rickman will rejoin his family. Colby never will.
So tell me, Eloise, if the tables were turned and it was your child, how would you feel?
Greg Thomason
Craigmont
