JURRIUS, Cui Bono "To whose benefit?"

Why do I fear for the Uintah and Ouray Reservation? Because I see an immanent crisis looming on the horizon, and the vast majority are unprepared to meet it.

For over one hundred and fifty years forces have conspired to destroy the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation while, at the same time, insidiously working to undermine the capability of the average tribal member to think or to reason from cause to effect. The result is that the average tribal member of the Northern Ute nation has not the slightest inkling of the deep problems' they face or how to go about solving them because of the deep biased divisions between bands and individuals!

There is something basically counterintuitive about the viral pettiness of the partisanship that's occurring within the reservation. The diametric opponents' has been reduced to sound and fury signifying nothing…

The perpetual ‘us’ versus ‘them’ sophomoric battle of nonsense may be cool for a high school pep rally and political fund raising dinners, but it is a cancer which genuinely threatens the existence of the Reservation.

Instead of a multi-media harangue of ‘neener-neener’ the tribe needs grown ups to develop, implement and maintain policy. Instead of smart people doing dumb things the tribe needs a basic analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. And that ‘SWOT’ analysis should be focused on securing the land,its resources and economic development for the furture instead of partisan advantage.

The reasons for this situation are, at this point, best left to historians to pick at the nits. The negative consequences of extricating your fist from the tar baby needs to be addressed by reality check motivated adults, not partisan hacks.

Partisans may get a visceral rush out of throwing rocks but reality reveals ‘do overs’ are not an option. What is done is done…

"When you let someone do it for you, they'll do it to you!"