Sidney says he's not going to back down
Hopi chair defends himself after recent alcohol allegations

By Kathy Helms
Staff Writer

KYKOTSMOVI, Ariz. — Hopi Chairman Ivan Sidney is defending his actions stemming from a June 27 incident at the Adobe Inn in Winslow. Police originally were dispatched on a report of Sidney being "very intoxicated and disorderly." The caller also said Sidney had "urinated all over the hall and would not return to his room."

"I can stand the heat. Words alone can't hurt me. I spent 16 years as a police officer. I've been beaten, spit at, I've been shoved around," he said. "I'm here for the best interests of everyone, and this can make me a better person."

Though Winslow Police officers reported in great detail what they saw when they arrived on the scene, there were no references in the police narratives of the chairman being either disorderly or urinating in the hallway.

"I'm not personally happy with what happened," Sidney said. "I know that for most cases, you extend an apology in anything you do, and I'm certainly one that will apologize for whatever. But I believe that I'm faced with individuals who have found an issue to use against me.

"Any time you're a political person, or elected individual, some of these issues come with the territory. I believe there's a favorite saying, 'If you can't stand the heat in the kitchen, get out.'

"I respect people's opinion and their opposition. As a political individual, I don't satisfy everybody. But when it comes to where it becomes very personal, where people have to dig below garbage to throw at you, that's a whole different issue."

Aside from his willingness to admit to what he has done rent a motel room and consume two beers "this is an invasion of my privacy and an invasion of my character. Now, it's elevating to outright harassment, including my family."

Sidney has filed a complaint against the Bureau of Indian Affairs after learning that the issue started as a leak from the Hopi Police Department.

"Being a former police chief, I know they operate under a law enforcement code of ethics as well as confidentiality. This was admitted by a staff assistant to the vice chairman, that they received a call from the Hopi Police Department that I was arrested for DUI in Winslow," he said.

"Obviously, when I was asked that, I said 'No, I wasn't arrested for DUI.' It was not a question: 'Were you drinking in Winslow? Or, 'Were you intoxicated in a hotel?' The question was, 'Was I arrested in Winslow?'

"Also, the rumor from the police department was that I was relayed by Hopi Police Department and I was given preferential treatment. That is absolutely false. It bothers me when rumor is started from a police department, which we all look to, to protect our rights," he said.

Chairman Sidney reported the incident to the tribe's legal counsel as required by the Hopi Code of Conduct. Attorney Scott Canty informed him of his rights and gave him a copy of the police report. Sidney said a question regarding the incident was raised in a special meeting of the council July 17.

In the interim, he contacted a law firm to represent him. "I want this to be very clear: My need for lawyers was not to fight against the tribal council or the Hopi people," but rather to look into how the incident was reported in some newspapers, how the incident was disclosed by a confidential leak from the police department, and how the Hopi vice chairman was able to receive the incident report from Winslow.

"I read the incident report, and I was very I can't find the word right now I was very confused, maybe, of how the report was so damaging as the result of a mere incident of someone intoxicated in a hotel.

"In this case, they responded and found me in the condition I was, supposedly. I was lawfully there. I had a room there. The fact that I stepped out without my key, which caused this, I think certain people thought I was someone who walked in from the streets, because that's how some of the nearby towns look at Indians, like in Gallup and Farmington.

"Here's a vagrant Indian walking into this hotel and bothering tourists. I think I was put in that category. Later on, they found out that I was there lawfully. As far as the hotel was concerned, it was taken care of. To have a police report detail how I looked, to include urinating in the hallway, to include how I was dressed, is, in my opinion, beyond the normal procedure of most departments," Sidney said.

The Hopi chairman, who has undergone cancer treatment for the last three years and who was pronounced cancer-free Tuesday, was on sick leave and had rented a room at the inn when the incident occurred.

"I'm still suffering from the effects of chemo. I'm constantly in pain. No one wants to listen to that and what it does to me. I know alcohol became part of me when I could not accept 'why me?' being affected by cancer. But people don't want to listen to it. So I'm not using that."

The chairman was transported by ambulance to the emergency room at Winslow hospital, where his blood was checked. The hospital later told police the chairman had a blood alcohol content of .311 percent.

Sidney said his blood often "goes out of balance. Also, certain medication, alcohol will react to, to increase whatever there is. No one has asked me that question yet: 'What were you taking?' The police didn't ask me. If they had asked me I would have shown them.

"I was sick Sunday. I called in Monday morning and called in sick leave. It's on record here. I took sick leave Monday. Tuesday I went to Winslow because I have a doctor there, Dr. Lee. I wanted to be closer to him because he gives me antibiotics where Indian Health Service sometimes doesn't give me that.

"I was planning Tuesday to spend the night, and Wednesday I would go see the city mayor because of plans with the industrial park. So I was on my own time. Granted, anyone can say I'm the chairman 24/7, but in this case, does it mean that I don't get sick too?"

When he gave his consent to have the hospital lab perform blood work, he said, it was for medical purposes, not for public record. "If police want that information, they have to subpoena that," he said.

"If they say my blood alcohol is .311, then why are they going according to my consent, because at that level, I'm not accountable for my actions. It seems to me that another member of my family, my wife, should have been asked to sign that release."

"The manager of Adobe Inn where this incident occurred has already relayed to me that he apologized that this occurred in his hotel and he hopes not to lose my business. ... If I urinated all over his hallway and all that the police report is saying, why would he be inviting me back?

"It has become almost like I'm subject now to a lynch mob ... and I haven't even been arrested. I have to say this is the worst I've seen of Hopi politics," Sidney said.

"I believe that what I have done so far as the chairman, the accomplishments that I feel I have done, far outweigh what individuals are now saying. Some of the critics that I have known have always been my political opposition.

"If they should remove me, if they should have an election, I'm very interested in who they're going to replace me with because I want to meet a person who doesn't make mistakes," he said.