Late in the day of October 20, 2002: Nothing turned up on Russ Turcotte -- the 19 year old Turtle Mountain Chippewa youth missing for more than three months.
So we are asking all persons such as farmers and ranchers and hunters and hikers to keep their eyes peeled -- especially off Highway 2, west from Grand Forks Air Force Base and well beyond. The horseback and vehicular search this weekend -- at and around Grand Forks, North Dakota -- turned up nothing at all. That particular effort is now over. Regrettably, it basically ignored what we feel was by far the most promising search area in the whole region. The whole process of getting the search going and underway -- and certainly very much the massive e-mail campaigns we all mounted to very successfully secure and maintain local and state government support for it -- have certainly developed a focus both broad and intense on the problematic little city and its setting. That scrutiny will very definitely continue. The e-mail messages to Governor Hoeven and others -- sent by so many of you -- are all part of mounting pressure on Grand Forks and environs. Your help has been critical. The three September 2001 murders of Native men at Grand Forks remain unsolved. And Russ Turcotte is still missing. The search this weekend -- starting on Friday and concluding at Sunday -- was conducted by Texas EquuSearch Mounted Search and Recovery. This is a not for profit group headed by Tim Miller of Houston who came up to Dakota with several of his people. About sixty good and committed volunteers from North Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana made up a core group. >From the beginning, it was clear that Miller -- not at all familiar with the Dakota setting -- intended things to go his way. As several in the area put it, "He's doing it the way it's done down in the Houston area." Although from Northern Arizona and now living in Eastern Idaho, I worked and lived in the Grand Forks region for almost seventeen years -- actively involved in Native rights, civil rights, and union labor campaigns in the whole general Dakota region. We have been much involved in the situation concerning the three Native murders right from the beginning. And we've certainly been early-on involved in the Russ Turcotte situation. When the Search for Russ was announced, we moved -- keeping members of the Turcotte family closely posted -- to set up a major newspaper story on the Grand Forks murders, Russ' disappearance, and local law enforcement problems. Rather than try to do this via the Grand Forks Herald -- which has been dragging its feet on all of these issues -- we endeavored to accomplish this via a major state-wide newspaper with much circulation in the towns along the travel route Russ might well have taken: Highway 2, through North Dakota -- the road to Montana. But, as this was all being worked out, Tim Miller of the Texas search group, sent his obviously organizational press release to the Herald. And that newspaper ran a predictably mediocre story -- sans any mention of the three unsolved Native murders and related matters. And that became for the time being the basic story -- which was then followed by several other quite less than full Herald pieces. [We pulled back on our proposed state-wide, Highway2-focused piece -- but only temporarily. We'll definitely be back to it in due course.] We were among those who vigorously and consistently encouraged volunteers to assist Tim Miller and his organization in the search process. At about this same time, Turcotte family members asked us what we felt would be the most appropriate search area. Here is my public message response at that point -- which was also augmented by some off-list detail to the family members. But, as it turned out, this advice of ours was not taken by Tim Miller. =========================================================== >From an early October Hunterbear post: Russell Turcotte, living in Eastern Montana, had gone briefly into the Midwest and, via hitch-hike on Highway 2, was returning from his last stop at Brainerd, Minnesota. At Grand Forks at night, and tired of thumbing, he called his mother for train-ticket money. He did this from a Mini-Mart on Gateway Drive -- in the Forks and right on Highway 2 -- and a routine surveillance camera in the store documents his presence. His mother immediately wired $100 via Western Union, available for pickup when WU opened next morning. But the train to Montana and westward -- which I've taken many times -- passes through Grand Forks at 5 a.m. It's possible that Russell, recognizing that he couldn't get the travel funds from WU until after the train had left town, decided not to wait another day and night -- and hooked a ride that July 12 night westward from Grand Forks -- on Highway 2 -- toward Montana. The $100 was never picked up at Western Union next morning. There are two Mini-Marts on that side of Grand Forks. My oldest son, John, now in the Fargo area and a writer, worked at the "other" Mini-Mart for a long time. That one is about half a mile south of that on Gateway where Russell was last seen. Although the one John was at is also off the Interstate [I-29], it's not a highway crossroads like the one at Gateway where Highway 2 and I-29 intersect. John's Mini-Mart drew a large number of UND people -- was much a favorite with Native students -- and had few highway travelers. On the other hand, the Gateway Drive Mini-Mart -- at I-29 and Highway 2 -- always draws a large number of highway people of all kinds, attracted also by the very close-by MacDonald's. These are two different situations, sociologically. The family of Russell Turcotte scheduled the search by the horseback team for the Grand Forks region for October 19 and 20. They have asked our advice on possible target locations and related matters. In part, this is what we've suggested: John and I talked extensively. At one point, eight years or so ago, he lived in the very small, dying town of Niagara -- about 40 miles or so west of Grand Forks on Highway 2 -- making the trip into the Forks and back each day. He knows the lay of that land. It is our feeling that a promising search area would be on or around Highway 2 -- again, the road to Montana. Specifically, we're thinking of the area west of Grand Forks Air Force Base and beyond. The Air Force Base lies 13 miles west of Grand Forks on Highway 2. That short stretch, even at night, is very heavily traveled. But, again, what we're suggesting is the Highway 2 country west of the Base for some many miles. There, things are hillier, rougher, stretches of timber. A family connection motoring along the highway recently saw a bear in that general setting. And at night, that's a very lonely stretch. Very lonely indeed. ===================================================== And back to late in the day of October 20: It's obvious that Russ Turcotte, on that fateful Grand Forks night of July 12, 2002 simply wanted to get back to Eastern Montana as quickly as possible. The only road there is Highway 2 westward. With train ticket funds coming to Grand Forks from his mother via Western Union, it is highly probable that he would only have accepted an ostensible ride that night which would have promised a one-shot all-night trip that would have gotten him home early the next morning. The search Tim Miller of Texas EquuSearch organized and ran in the Grand Forks area this weekend went scarcely if at all into the relatively isolated Highway 2 setting west of Grand Forks Air Force Base as we suggested -- the increasingly remote and lonely turf on the road to Montana. Instead, Miller concentrated the search forces in much shorter stretches within the Forks and in the four directions beyond the city. All of this is relatively well settled and traveled turf. And the searchers found nothing. At various points, Miller did indicate some satisfaction. "We don't have anything new," he said. "But we can truly say we gave it 110 per cent. . . and that we've made progress because we know where he's not." The search for Russ Turcotte will certainly continue in other ways -- and we shall do everything we can. The search effort just completed has certainly not been in vain. Many, many more good people now know of missing 19 year old Russ Turcotte. And, again, one of the things we are doing is asking farmers, ranchers, hunters, and hikers to look sharp -- especially off Highway 2 and west of the Air Base and well beyond -- in these coming weeks before the very heavy North Dakota winter descends in full. We may be seeking your e-mail assistance once again -- so critically helpful in the very recent past -- in securing appropriate public statements to this effect from North Dakota public officials. And on Friday, October 18, this note came from a very well established old friend in Grand Forks regarding the three unsolved murders: "Good morning Hunter. I was told by a very good source in city government that they have a suspect for the double murder outside of GF and a suspect for the murder of the gentleman in his apartment. I don't know when there would be an arrest but I was told it may be soon. J " We shall hope and we shall see. But we will certainly continue our efforts in the matter of these three unsolved Native murders. And we will certainly keep on, keeping on doing everything we can to help prevent these tragedies -- wherever, whenever. See this page on our large Lair of Hunterbear website for regular updates on the Russ Turcotte efforts -- and immediately previous pages for the three unsolved Native murders: http://www.hunterbear.org/NATIVE%20AMERICAN%20COMMISSION%20PAGE%204.htm Hunter Gray [Hunterbear] www.hunterbear.org Protected by NaŽshdoŽiŽbaŽiŽ and Ohkwari' _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
