Dear Supporters:
A brief review:
In 1979 Peltier claimed that a government assassination plot
followed him from Leavenworth to Lompoc penitentiary in California and that he
had no alternative but to escape, which he did, with shots fired at prison
guards, only to be captured five days later, disoriented, in the woods.
Flash back to February 1976; Peltier fled to Canada after
the murders of FBI Agents Coler and Williams in June 1975, narrowly escaping
being caught, (and was slightly wounded), by an Oregon State Trooper, but
eventually made it to Small Boy’s camp near Hinton, Alberta where he was ‘snitched-out’
by the old man “Yellow Bird” and arrested by the RCMP. Peltier was housed in
the ‘observation ward’ at Oakalla Prison, Burnaby, British Columbia where he
tried desperately, and did get the attention of, Amnesty International, which
was gaining some traction in an effort to be moved into general population to
make an escape more feasible. (Please see previous Blogs dated, February 5th,
19th, & March 12th.)
Peltier has not responded to requests to answer a few simple
and straightforward questions about his first escape plan, so we’ll continue from
here:
Peltier hatched a plan, neatly writing out the details in a
small note; he needed a jeweler’s wire snuck into the prison, maybe through “some good Indian brothers who get open
visits,” and added some codes; that if successful with obtaining the escape
tool, “your baby has got a new tooth,”
and when someone was found who could get the jewelers saw into the prison, “your baby has two new teeth,” and
finally when the escape plan was in place a final message that Peltier was “going to buy me a pizza tonight.” He
also needed a “car (placed) south of the
parking lot on a residential street, just in case.”
Presumably, some of the ‘coded’ messages would be sent with
the regular mail. Imagine the mailroom screening personnel seeing that Peltier
would be buying a pizza? Like that
wouldn’t raise a flag or two? Inmates generally don’t have pizzas delivered. Anyway…great
secret code.
The next problem was how to sneak the note out of Oakalla to
someone he trusted.
AIM at that point, and with what’s left of that motley crew
still to this day, are a paranoid lot and suspected many in their ranks as being
‘agent provocateurs’ (informants). AIM justice was simple; suspicion, put a gun
in her mouth as a polygraph substitute; still not convinced, a ‘trial’ of
opinionated guilt, a fatal sentence and then getting shot in the head and
dumped in a ditch on the Reservation. They suspected Anna Mae Aquash as such
only to find out she remained loyal to her AIM brothers and was not an
informant. Too late though.
Now, how to get the escape plan note out of Oakalla to
someone he trusted, a brother perhaps, a real family member, yes, maybe,
Russell Peltier.
Actually, this had been Peltier’s second attempt to get word
to conspirators on the outside. Peltier added a request to contact the other
person with the first note to make sure it didn’t get into the wrong hands.
Prison inmates are being transferred in and out all the
time, and Oakalla was no exception. Peltier found a willing courier and the
neatly handwritten note was slipped to a fellow ‘observation ward’ cellmate.
Maybe the guy was a “little mental(ly)
disturbed, (but) slip him a $5.00
bill so he’ll have some pocket change,” the note suggested.
Another question for Leonard Peltier:
Is any of this starting to sound vaguely familiar?
And the best part is yet to come…
“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods
P.S.
In a 4/2/13 release Peltier and the LPDOC are showing
exactly how desperate they’ve become:
“We are asking for something special. We want you to HAND-write a letter
or postcard, put your voice, your prayer, your demand in physical evidence
form. The electric petition medium has not proven very successful, for Leonard,
and in some ways easier to ignore.”
Very special…handwritten notes…making demands? Physical
evidence? The evidence of Peltier’s guilt is already well documented in the
public record and it’s not easy to ignore.
