The Lac Courte Oreilles tribe is dealing with what one victim calls an attack on some of their most sacred places in a string of suspected arson fires over the weekend.
Investigators are still piecing together events that began late Saturday night and continued into Sunday morning that burned down traditional Ojibwe sacred places, including two sweat lodges, two big drum site dance rings as well as two wigwams.
News From Indian Country Editor Paul DeMain says tribal, county sheriff and state Department of Justice investigators are sifting through what are now considered crime scenes on the reservation near Hayward. He says one person is in custody, although the Sawyer County Sheriff’s Department has not returned calls to confirm that. DeMain believes that person and possibly others who live on the reservation were involved, that this was not an outside group.
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DeMain says LCO has lost pieces of its history.
DeMain says there will be a community gathering at noon Tuesday to try to make sense out of what he calls hate crimes.
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