Rocky relations in Shiprock Chapter

The date is set for an Ethics and Rules Committee hearing on a chapter official who allegedly used $8,500 to buy a motorcycle.

The hearing for Shiprock Chapter President William Lee is slated for Wednesday, Feb. 24, at the Ethics & Rules Office in Window Rock, according to Ron Largo, investigator assigned to the case.

Lee allegedly used chapter funds to buy a motorcycle in September and listed the expenditure as being for "dirt removal."

Someone in the chapter house reported it to the ethics office, triggering an investigation leading to the hearing.

It also triggered retaliatory complaints by Lee against several chapter officials including his niece, Chapter Services Coordinator Loretta John.

Lee claims the other misspent $25,000, acknowledging at the same time that he doesn't have much in the way of documents to support the claim.

"There are a lot of financial documents I haven't received," he said.

However, Largo said he isn't aware of a formal complaint involving $25,000 and the Shiprock Chapter. He referred the question to Ethics Director Lawrence John, who was out of the office and could not be reached for comment prior to press time Wednesday.

Loretta John said she could verify that the $25,000 in question was spent according to chapter protocols and went for legitimate travel expenses of three chapter officials including herself.

"Everything is accounted for," she said, adding that she recently submitted the documentation to the Local Governance Support Center in Shiprock.

Calls to LGSC to verify the information were unreturned by press time.

However, the allegations of inappropriate spending sparked events at the chapter house Jan. 28 that eventually led one official to call Shiprock police, John said.

The incident occurred when John and Lula Jackson, chapter secretary-treasurer, were conversing in John's office and Patricia Whitehorse, LGSC accountant, arrived and stated an urgent need to speak privately with John.

When Jackson did not make a move to leave, Whitehorse physically pushed her out of the office, John recounted, and Jackson, highly affronted, then called the police. She later filed a request for a court protection order to keep Whitehorse away from her, according to records in the case.

John added that Whitehorse was seeking documents to corroborate expenditures claimed by the chapter officials, money that Lee alleges was misspent.

Whitehorse didn't return calls to the Navajo Times by press time.

As a result of the incident, John was placed on leave Jan. 28 by Rodger Joe, senior program and project specialist at the LGSC in Shiprock. Joe did not return calls seeking comment.

Chapter service coordinators are appointed by the Local Governance Support Centers, which are part of the Division of Community Development.

John was reinstated less than a week later by Joe's superior, DCD Deputy Director Stanley Yazzie. Yazzie stated in a Feb. 3 memo that the situation could've been handled with verbal and written warnings, but was not. He also noted that Jackson had been granted a restraining order against Whitehorse.

By Friday, the chapter officials and Yazzie had met for nearly three hours in an effort to resolve the problems.

"There is a need for the officials to work together," Yazzie said after the meeting.

Lee said he is going to do his best to work with other officials.

Chapter Vice President Donald Benally declined to comment about the situation.

Lee said as a result of the conflict, the Local Governance Support Center has taken over handling of the chapter's money for now.

But John disputed that, saying the chapter is in control of its money. She added that she is still trying to account for the money that was spent while she was suspended from her job.

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