http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a.../505200325/1001

Indians sue, cite abuse at Catholic elementary
20 were students at Chamberlain school

DENISE D. TUCKER
dtucker@argusleader.com

Published: 05/20/05

HOT LINE
St. Joseph's Indian School in Chamberlain has set up the Reconciliation Response Hot Line for former students who wish to report alleged incidents of abuse. The toll-free number is 888-216-7961.



Twenty Native Americans say they were subjected to years of physical, mental, psychological and sexual abuse as boarding school students at St. Joseph's Indian School in Chamberlain, according to a lawsuit filed this week.

The lawsuit, filed in Minnehaha County Circuit Court, names the school, the Congregation of Priests of the Sacred Heart and the Benedictine Sisters of Yankton as defendants.

St. Joseph's is a Catholic elementary school. The plaintiffs are all members of a recognized tribe and as children were students at St. Joseph's, according to court documents.

"We're aware the suit has been filed," said Steve Smith of Chamberlain, the school's lawyer. "We have not officially been served with a summons and complaint."

Mike Tyrell, executive director of St. Joseph's, said, "We want to be sympathetic, and we take these things very seriously."

Jeff Herman, the plaintiffs' lawyer, said the case is similar to others he has filed on behalf of Native Americans who say they were abused at Indian boarding schools.

"The nature of abuse that occurred ranged from mental to sexual and physical," Herman said from his office in Miami. "Unfortunately, for a lot of Native American children, they were traumatized from the minute they entered these schools."

In January, Orrie Harry Charger of Eagle Butte sued St. Joseph's in U.S. District Court in Sioux Falls. He was 74 at the time of the filing.

Charger, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, alleges he was physically, mentally and emotionally abused from 1937 to 1943 while a student at the school. He has requested a jury trial.

In the most recent lawsuit, the former students allege they were taken from their homes when they were about 6 years old, had their braids cut and their clothing "Americanized."

They were forced to speak English, and if they "spoke their tribal languages, they were forced to eat lye soap and typically beaten," according to court documents.

The plaintiffs live in several states, including Arizona, New Mexico, Washington, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. Some live in Minnehaha County, Herman said.

In court documents, they cite several types of abuse, including being regularly beaten and being forced to eat spoiled or moldy food, run through the belt or razor strap line, and stand in buckets of freezing water.

An official with the Congregation of Priests of the Sacred Heart, a religious community of brothers and priests, said the congregation was not aware of the lawsuit. The congregation's provincial office and headquarters are in Hales Corners, Wis.

Sacred Heart has owned and operated the school since 1927.

"This information in the lawsuit is new to us," said Sister Jennifer Kehrwald of the Benedictine Sisters of Yankton, a religious community based in the Sacred Heart Monastery in Yankton.

The Benedictine Sisters have provided teachers and staff for the school since 1933.

The defendants have 30 days to respond to the lawsuit. No trial date has been set.

Reach reporter Denise D. Tucker at 331-2335.