“ There’s something happening here... What it is ain’t exactly clear …”

These are lyrics from the 1960s band Buffalo Springfield which captured the mood of a nation of college students who, through television, vicariously experienced enough injustice for a lifetime. African Americans, Native Americans, and immigrants experienced it first hand; the war; the riots; the greed. The song, to this day, frequently serves as the prelude to harsh tales of man’s ability to be compassionless, merciless, and even Machiavellian.

The song resonates apathy; the mindless approval of the status quo - the gratuitous acceptance that human suffering is unobjectionable in a capitalistic country because anyone who does not “pull themselves up by the bootstrap” and make something of themselves deserves what he or she gets.

I’m reminded of when I lived on my sailboat in Marina Del Rey, Calif. I befriended a pair of ducks: Fred and Ethyl. I named them that because the hen, Ethyl, was always hungry just like the character on the TV show “I Love Lucy.” Ethyl once ate four pieces of bread.

After she had ducklings, I soon realized she needed help. If the baby ducks didn't get out of cold Pacific water at night their body temperatures would plummet and they would die. They were too young to fly, so I built a ramp for them to walk upon the docks. There were several momma ducks that followed Ethyl's lead. They'd corral and tuck the babies under their wings. The mother's body would keep the hatchlings warm at night.

An acquaintance, Lawrence, commented that I was soft and that in this world – it is survival of the fittest. He believed that the ducks should be allowed to fend for themselves or perish.

Lawrence, a high-school drop out with a knack for making money didn’t know that the marina had formerly been the largest wetlands left in California at the time. He didn't know that the wetlands had been destroyed to make way for a set of docks so sailors and smudge potters could park their boats. It had been home to countless species, probably Ethyl’s ancestors.

My response was “so it is ok to take away their habitat: that which is needed for their survival, yet expect them to adapt?”

It seemed incomprehensible that anyone could embrace such a fallacy.

So it is with the Crow Creek South Dakota Indian Reservation. The reservation has a population of about 3,000 people. It is reported that unemployment is at or near 80%; the average yearly income - around $5,000. Most, if not all, live in government owned hovels which are inadequately insulated that allows heat to escape almost as fast as it is generated. This causes exorbitant utility bills which few can afford to pay.

Electricity is provided to the Crow Creek Reservation by Central Electric Cooperative.

North Dakota has a policy prohibiting the termination of electrical power during months when there is a threat of extremely cold weather, generally between November and the end of March. The policy also prohibits the termination of electrical power if there are electriconically operated devices used for health or medical reasons. It is the law.

The video featured in this article was shot by Peter Lenkgeek, a resident of Crow Creek. It was edited by Eric Klein, founder of CAN-DO.org, which is spearheading the effort to provide relief.

The video of workmen terminating power was shot on or about March 10, 2008 which lies within the period for which terminating electrical service is prohibited.

According to the website HPRCC News, Barb Mullins of North Dakota State Climate Office, North Dakota State University, said that, in March of 2008, “the coldest daily temperatures were between the 4th and the 9th of March in which eastern and northern areas fell to teens and twenty degrees below zero. Following this cold streak the daily average temperatures across the state were in the upper 20’s and 30’s most days with some days at near 40 degrees plus.“

The video also shows families getting their power shut off despite the worker being told that small children within the house needed nebulizers to breathe. In the video there was no evidence that the workman either investigated the claim or informed his employer, Central Electric Cooperative, that he had been told that there were people with medical problems in the house which might prohibit him from cutting power.

In my telephone interview with Ken Schlimten of Central Electric Cooperative, he said "What I remember from the video, almost every member of the house they went to, the person said that there were children in the house on nebulizers. If the person in the house was on life-support equipment, that would be different than a nebulizer."

The videographer, Lenkgeek, said the practice of cutting power during cold winter months has been going on for years. The reservation has had to endured the harshest of winters with temperatures dipping as low as fifty below zero at times.

CAN-DO said that electrical power is needed for heating and cooking. Moreover, if the heat is lost, the water pipes freeze and burst which leave the residents with no water for drinking, cooking, bathing, or for flushing toilets.

CAN-DO.org is pushing for a full investigation of the matter. The Office of U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) issued a statement this morning saying that "Issues like heating and cooling individual’s homes and negotiating with local electric cooperatives take time and work, and he applauds the efforts of those who are working for change."

For more information on Senator Tim Johnson visit his website at http://johnson.senate.gov. To contact Senator Johnson’s communications office via e-mail, write his Communications Director at Julianne_Fisher@Johnson.Senate.gov or his Deputy Communications Director at Jeff_Gohringer@Johnson.Senate.gov.

If you object to human beings being forced to live in substandard conditions, voice your objections with the senator even if you are not a North Dakota resident.