Reznet

The rumors are true.

The Fort Peck Journal is indebt, but not to any company or collection agency.

We owe certain people everything because of what they have done for us.

Without the sacrifices of our beloved soldiers, I would not be here writing this, in English, nor would I have a job for a newspaper. Reznet would not exist, nor would the American Indian Journalism Institute, or the Native American Journalist Association. 

True journalism must be free, and it is because of the soldiers who gave their lives for us that we are free.

This past weekend, the Fort Peck Journal's editor, Bonnie Red Elk, was awarded the Montana Free Press award.

Bonnie had no idea what was going on, but my J-school peeps called me and told me that they were going to give her the award and that they wanted it to be secret.

Minutes ago our news staffers were threatened with violence, again.

Someone called and threatened to kill our office manager at the Fort Peck Journal, an independent newspaper that covers the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana. What sucks is that she's not into the news part of this business, but they knew her name and they told her they were going to get her and that she better watch her back.

Journalism is becoming very hard, especially here on the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana. People in positions of authority don't respect or care for freedom of the press, or freedom of speech.

When I was a young journalist at the Native American Journalists Association's 2001 conference in Buffalo, N.Y., I wondered why all of the professional journalists at the biggest papers drank so much. It really made me wonder, because my daddy, God rest his soul, was an alcoholic from past trauma. I used to wonder how hard journalism can really be and why they drank so much.

Two weeks ago I got called to an assignment over at the Combs apartments. The call came from the Follette family, who has gone through Hell this past year. They said that the FBI was going to come over there to tell them something about the case of one of their children who was murdered last year.

The Fort Peck Tribal elections are getting closer, and with each day there is always dirt about people coming out of the woodwork.

It's also a time to see the best and worst of people.

What does that mean for journalism? This election will show if our news coverage made a difference with people. If the current administration is replaced, then freedom of the press can flourish without fear.

So I was going over my list of stories with my editor this week, and I have several stories, two of which involve assaults on pregnant women.

The first story is about an attempted murder, some woman flipped out and stabbed a pregnant woman four times with a huge knife, really deep too. She was rushed to a Billings Hospital and is in stable conditon. By chance I happened to be at the arraignments that day and seen her being being arraigned for attempted murder. Judge Headdress said she can get out if she comes up with a $5000 cash bond.

Well howdy do all. Nice to see reznet again after so long.

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Louis Montclair and I'm a graduate of the University of Montana School of Journalism (finally got that degree in photojournalism). I used to edit the photos on reznet when I was still in school.

Anywho, now I'm working full time for the Fort Peck Journal, a relativly new newspaper on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. We're not the official tribal newspaper, but we do get more news then the offical paper, the Wotanin Wowapi.