oopsy daisy...
Posted on 04/05/2007 2:31:43 PM PDT by Daffynition
PINE RIDGE, S.D. -- In July 1999, President Bill Clinton honored Geraldine Blue Bird for taking in anyone who needed a meal or a place to stay, despite her own poverty.
Twenty-eight adults and children lived in her four-room, dilapidated house and in a trailer out back when Clinton's presidential visit made her a symbol of conditions on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, one of the nation's poorest areas.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier in Rapid City sentenced Blue Bird, 51, to what might be a life prison sentence -- 34 years -- for being a leader in another dire reality of this place where unemployment hovers near 80 percent: drug dealing.
A jury convicted Blue Bird last fall of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession of a firearm in relation to drug trafficking and conspiracy to distribute marijuana.
In short, she was found to host a conspiracy that trafficked an estimated $2 million worth of cocaine from Denver to Nebraska and South Dakota over three years, according to prosecutors.
Twenty-eight people, including family members, have been indicted in the investigation. Most have pleaded guilty and several testified against the leaders, including Blue Bird.
In court Wednesday, Blue Bird minimized her role.
"I'm being held responsible for a lot of things I wasn't involved with," she said. "There are things that I've been accused of and convicted of that I really didn't do."
The evidence suggests otherwise, said U.S. Attorney Marty Jackley.
"She's pretty much the ringleader. It was based out of her home," he told The Associated Press.
Blue Bird's sentencing was delayed several times because she has been in the hospital.
Her 26-year-old son, Colin Spotted Elk, was sentenced in February to 29 years for his part.
At his sentencing, a 15-year-old boy who shot and killed another teenager at Blue Bird's home testified that he and other juveniles held money and distributed drugs for Blue Bird and Spotted Elk.
The boy testified that teenagers packaged drugs with their parents, users traded firearms and sexual favors for cocaine, and toddlers had access to handguns.
He said he helped break up marijuana that Spotted Elk sold and that he cut papers out of magazines that Blue Bird used to repackage cocaine for sale on the street.
Jackley said Blue Bird's 410-month sentence was the culmination of the work of federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement officers and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mara Kohn, who prosecuted Blue Bird.
After Clinton's visit, donations came in from around the country -- and Blue Bird got a new doublewide trailer as a result of all the attention.
The light blue house in the Igloo housing area of Pine Ridge, seized by federal agents, now sits unoccupied and boarded up, next to the smaller place Blue Bird lived in when the president came.
"Clinton gave that (trailer) to her. She didn't use drug money," her granddaughter, Antonia Blue Bird, 26, said last week.
She said she remembers having popcorn, oatmeal and Kool-Aid for meals, and that her grandmother still invited people in if they had no other place to go.
"She gave everybody food. She had a really big heart. She was a really nice person," she said, describing the conditions as dire poverty.
"Maybe that's what triggered it -- not having enough money."
Antonia Blue Bird said she lived in the older house as a child but moved back after her grandmother was arrested.
"I left and she started dealing drugs and became rich," she said.
Jackley, the prosecutor, said poverty is no excuse.
"A financial situation doesn't justify involving oneself and teenagers in a drug conspiracy," he said.
It seems to me, that if we hold that kind of ridiculous standard for others, it will do nothing but bite us in the butt in the end—and that is just from a selfish point of view.
“Clinton gave that (trailer) to her. She didn’t use drug money,” her granddaughter, Antonia Blue Bird, 26, said last
What’s that all about. Clinton giving away trailers? If Clinton gave it to her ,did the American public pay for it?. I would bet Bubba didnt.
And the point of this article was?
Just where my mindset is.
HA! I had noticed the blankets covering him up and missed the hand position. What a laugh!
oopsy daisy...
Wait until tomorrow for another chapter in the Clinton's Legacy.
Or should we call it The Clinton's Soap Opera?
Why is this not a surprise?
Yes, that's true, BUT, He didn't honor them. BIG difference!
And his right one is thinkin oh my god her arm is almost as big as hillarys cankle
Clinton and Blue Bird does not compute....
No thanks, much prefer the R. Betts song “Blue Sky”, written about his Native American wife, performed by the ABB.
Live in Germany, 1991
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1jpQu6qR1E
Walk along the river, sweet lullaby, it just keeps on flowing,
It don’t worry bout where its going, no, no.
Don’t fly, mister blue bird, I’m just walking down the road,
Early morning sunshine tell me all I need to know
Chorus
Youre my blue sky, youre my sunny day.
Lord, you know it makes me high when you turn your love my way,
Turn your love my way, yeah.
Good old Sunday morning, bells are ringing everywhere.
Going to Carolina, it wont be long and Ill be there
Chorus
Sweet sounds. Thank you. [But do they still dress like that?] LOL
“Sweet sounds. Thank you. [But do they still dress like that?] LOL”
I am guessing that they still do. They looked a lot better on live teevee, a few moons back.......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMAHQAtUB58
"Its not really a double wide, its just the scale model of my presidential lieberry...
now get over here and rub my leg"
I have nothing but contempt for the Clintons, but this is petty and indicative of Clinton derangement syndrome. It only weakens our case.
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