Original Article:
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She was the school's first teacher in 1972, and for 18 months she
worked for free in a basement classroom with no supplies, telling
stories passed down from her grandfather to eight students. When she
finally got a paycheck it was for $25, and she was happy to get it,
too.

For the next 35 years, Ona Kingbird taught the Indian kids how to
speak Ojibwa, how to make fry bread, how to hoop dance and, most
importantly, how to be proud of their heritage.

On Monday, Kingbird's former boss, Joel Pourier, was charged with
embezzling nearly $1.4 million from the Oh Day Aki/Heart of the Earth
school where Kingbird worked nearly half her life. He spent the money,
authorities say, on giant houses, a Hummer, a Cadillac Escalade and
even on dancing girls at strip bars. Meanwhile, school supplies
dwindled so much that Kingbird had to resort to selling tacos to pay
for them.

The school collapsed under the financial strain last year, and
Kingbird lost her job.

On Tuesday, Kingbird sat in the back yard of her house, which crumbles
at the foundation and has a couple of windows knocked out. Someone
recently cut the wires to her air conditioning unit. Signs out front
protest that the bank is foreclosing on her home, but she's fighting
it. Sometimes she sends the toddler who lives with her to stay with
family.

"You never know when the sheriffs will come," she said.

Kingbird moves gingerly to a plastic chair in the sun, walking on
stocking feet. She wears a purple T-shirt from the Red Lake
Reservation, where she was born. She has diabetes and a leg infection.
Kingbird seems fragile, but happy, as she talks about how the school
helped Indian kids who faced racism and neglect in public schools.

In the early days, the school moved frequently. "At one place the
bathroom didn't work so we had to take the kids to a bar to go to the
bathroom," Kingbird recalled. "We ate lunch at The Branch (for
homeless people). Baloney sandwiches."

"People called the kids savages," she said. "I told the kids don't
mind them, let's make them eat their words and do our best." While
some kids failed, "we had some lawyers, doctors, a receptionist," she
said. "They came back to see me."

Between 2003 and 2008, after Pourier became executive director, he
forged signatures on checks and put money in at least six bank
accounts, according to authorities. Pourier's lawyer, Tom Sieben, said
his client is not guilty.

Kingbird, who was on the board, noticed the Hummer and Escalade, the
nice clothes.

"I kept saying, something funny is going on," she said. "He said he
got the money from the Mdewakanton Tribe, but he wasn't even a
member." She shrugged. "Maybe he's not even Indian. Because how could
he do that to his people?

"I've learned over the years that if someone isn't telling the truth,
they won't look you in the eye," Kingbird said. "He never looked me in
the eye. Smooth talker, though."

Her home is ample proof that Kingbird was never compensated well. She
said charity groups have been helping her pay bills, bringing her
groceries and helping her fight off the bank.

When she lost her job at the school, "everything just went haywire. He
did this to me."

Kingbird knows Pourier is innocent until proven guilty, but if he's
convicted, "I hope he fries," she said.

She got up and hobbled back to the house to get dinner, but stopped and smiled.

"Well, I do know that if he goes to prison, he's going to miss his
strip joints," she said.

jtevlin@startribune.com • 612-673-1702

// posted by Arun @ 9:46 AM