Rapid City, SD — Journalist Paul Richardson was fired Friday (April 10, 1998) from his position with Indian Country Today in Rapid City, South Dakota. Indian Country Today is the nation's largest Native American newspaper with a weekly readership of 125,000.
The firing of Paul Richardson, according to our source, who spoke with Richardson earlier today, was linked to an internal dispute within the newspaper regarding a series of articles Richardson had written targeting corruption in Montana.
Earlier this year Richardson had traveled to the Fort Peck Reservation and had interviewed several tribal members who claimed that a massive drug conspiracy from Canada involved area law enforcement and tribal officers. Upon leaving an attorney's office in Circle, Montana, Richardson was followed by law enforcement, stopped, and his vehicle was searched. During the search a camera and film were destroyed. After returning to his home in Rapid City the next day, Richardson awoke to find that four tires had been slashed during the night.
As Richardson investigated the Montana drug allegations he contacted the Canadian RCMP in Regina, Saskatchewan to verify background on a Canadian national, Mike Huxtable, who was believed to be involved in the smuggling operation. RCMP sources confirmed that both Huxtable and an American FBI agent, Terry Nelson of Miami, had been indicted in a conspiracy to smuggle drugs from Canada. The Huxtable and Nelson indictments were also subsequently confirmed to at least one Montana law enforcement source as well.
The firing of Richardson came as a total surprise to him, as legal counsel for Indian Country Today, had researched the Montana articles for libel potential and had approved the series for publication.
According to our source, Richardson relied on sensitive materials obtained from a local Montana attorney, as well as interviews with several individuals, including convicted killer Lloyd Wilson, now in Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge. Wilson is said to have given statements to Richardson which tie a former Blaine County Attorney to drug-related murders-for-hire of Richard Cowan and his wife in Havre, in 1986. Chinook, the Blaine County seat, along with Sidney, Havre, and the Fort Peck Reservation, are said to be major drug smuggling depots into the US.
An internal office struggle with management emerged behind the scenes at Indian Country Today. The editor wanted to publish the material and approved of the series. The publisher however, insisted that the Montana series would not be published in Indian Country Today, and refused to allow Richardson to publish the articles through another source.
Our source further says that the publisher of Indian Country Today had been in contact with federal officials shortly before the decision was made to terminate Richardson's employment.
Paul Richardson advised our source that he intended to publish the Montana series and is seeking another publisher.
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