Eastern Pequot tribal member says state should not bill him for son's health care costs
Eastern Pequot tribal member Ronald "Wolf" Jackson says he's not a deadbeat dad, but he doesn't think he should have to reimburse the state for his 13-year-old son's coverage under the HUSKY Children's Health Care Program.
Jackson, a 53-year-old former tribal councilor and lifelong activist in Indian affairs, said he is living on the Eastern Pequot's North Stonington reservation in a small building where he operated a bait and tackle shop until the state came after him for taxes. Jackson is married to Marjorie Colebut Jackson, secretary of the neighboring Mashantucket Pequot's Tribal Council, but said they are currently not living together.
He said he is working, but not steadily, and is managing to make ends meet by bartering for goods and services. He said he gives his son's mother money when he can but could not afford to pay the teen's health care costs. Things would have been different if the state had not opposed his tribe's bid for federal recognition, Jackson said.
"I'm not trying to skirt my responsibility," Jackson said, "But because of the state blocking us, it's now hurting our children."
The tribe is recognized by the state but does not enjoy any of the benefits conferred on the neighboring Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans, who are recognized by the federal government. The Bureau of Indian Affairs granted the Eastern Pequots federal recognition status in 2002 but rescinded it in 2005 following an appeal by local towns and the state. Jackson said about a dozen families live on what the tribe says is the oldest continuously occupied reservation.
"I don't believe they (the state) have the jurisdiction to come on the reservation and enforce this," he said of the state Support Enforcement Service's attempts to collect $8,073 for his son's medical expenses.
On Wednesday, Jackson thought he might be going to prison for his refusal to pay. He appeared in Superior Court in Norwich with $2,500 he said he had scraped up, and gave it to the court for past-due child support only after he was assured it would go directly to the child's mother, Angela Pires, rather than to the state.
The teen lives in Norwich with Pires, who accompanied Jackson to Wednesday's hearing and confirmed to officials that Jackson provides what money he can and takes his son to doctor's appointments and sports events. It's a big help, Pires said, since she is unemployed and has no car.
"What is my son going to do with no father if he (Jackson) is locked up?" she said.
Family Magistrate Frederic Gilman agreed to continue the health care matter until a lawyer from the state Attorney General's Office was present. Reached later by phone, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Office said the office has not been involved in the Jackson case and referred questions to the state's Support Enforcement Services division.
For about 20 years, Jackson said he, his older children and all of the members of the Eastern Pequots were eligible for basic health care services through the Indian Health Services program located on the Mashantucket reservation. But two years ago, the Mashantuckets, who receive funding from the federal government for the program, notified members of the Eastern Pequots that IHS had informed them only members of federally recognized tribes would be receiving services.
Connecticut has an Indian Affairs Council that oversees matters involving the state-recognized tribe. Nobody responded to a voice message left at its office Wednesday.
Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.