EDITOR'S NOTE: In June 2004 I began a new venture as managing editor of both Northfield News and Faribault Daily News. This column originally appeared in the Northfield News on Dec. 2, 2005.
Seven years ago, I played basketball with a young Louis Jourdain in a spartan cinder block gymnasium on a poor reservation in remote northern Minnesota. On Tuesday, 17-year-old Louis Jourdain pleaded guilty to a federal crime in connection with last March's Red Lake school shooting that left 10 people dead. I can't say that in the years that have passed I knew Jourdain well. In fact, I haven't talked to him since I left a job on the reservation in early 1998. But Jourdain's guilty plea Tuesday nonetheless left me with a heavy heart and a lot of unanswered questions. Unlike the families of the shooting victims of the March 21 school shooting who wanted to see a trial and wanted Jourdain to pay for the sins of 16-year-old Jeff Weise who walked into Red Lake High School and opened fire on students and employees, I really wanted to believe that Louis was innocent. I wanted him to be innocent so that a good-hearted young man wouldn't be charged as a felon and locked up. But most of all, I wanted him to be found innocent because I liked Louis and still admire his father, Red Lake Tribal Chairman Floyd Jourdain Jr., a man I still consider a friend. Seven years ago I worked for the Red Lake School District and had an office in the very school in which Weise committed his heinous shootings. I was hired to do a variety of communication work -- everything from public relations to producing a school district newspaper -- for a school district that was beleaguered by bad news. Five feet away, in the next closet-sized office, sat Floyd Jourdain Jr. "Buck," as he was known around the school, was a guidance counselor, charged with helping troubled teens get in touch with their native traditions and culture. It was hoped the intervention would help Red Lake's teens find a new, constructive path. Buck was hired because of his background in chemical dependency counseling and because everyone knew he loved the kids. He was good at what he did and it was noticed by everyone. Over the course of the school year, Buck and I became good friends. And he gradually got me involved in the kids' pickup games of basketball during the noon hour. To the introverted, shy Red Lake children, not just anyone got to play ball on their courts. But I did, and that was only because of Buck. Eventually, I began to see more of Buck's son, Louis, who was a middle-schooler at the time, because he would stop into his dad's office after school to wait for him. Sometimes Buck was busy, so I would entertain Louis; often times we'd go to the gym where there was always a basketball game in progress. So I knew Louis as a rambunctious young boy who idolized the older boys who played on the varsity basketball team ... because at Red Lake High School, the basketball players are on a level with the gods. Obviously, he didn't grow up to be one of Red Lake's basketball stars. And it seems maybe in his teen years he fell into hanging out with a dark crowd of friends as Tuesday he pleaded guilty to a federal crime of transmitting threatening communications via the Internet in the months leading up to last March's shootings. Now that Louis has agreed to a plea agreement, the world may never truly know how integrally involved in the school shooting he was. But I don't think that I want to know anymore: It's just difficult for me to comprehend how the 9- or 10-year-old Louis I knew became the teenager who is thought to be somehow connected to second worst school shooting in U.S. history. The plea agreement maybe is the best for all involved because the deal will bring closure to the traumatic shooting for the entire reservation, and it will allow the Jourdain family to move forward, with Louis most likely retaining the majority if his adult life to put this unfortunate episode behind him. However my heart still aches for Buck, Louis and all of Red Lake. Even though Louis will now be charged for his crime, it doesn't bring back the shooting victims and a young man full of potential most likely will never shake the reputation of being connected to the killings. I haven't talked to Buck or Louis since I left Red Lake seven years ago, and of course I now feel badly about that. However, I hope somehow they can sense that there are friends not only on the reservation supporting them and the entire tribe because the healing is just beginning. There'll be a long road to recovery for Red Lake which only began on Tuesday. -- Devlyn Brooks is managing editor of the Northfield News.
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