Charges against Hays-LP school chairman dismissed

Seven misdemeanor official misconduct charges against Hays-Lodge Pole former school board chairman John Doney have been dismissed.

District Judge John C. McKeon said state courts have no authority to hear the case, and the matter should be transferred to federal or tribal prosecutors.

The school is on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, he said, where tribal and federal courts have authority.

Doney celebrated the decision as a vindication of the allegations made against him, and said he would return to preside at Tuesday’s school board meeting.

“I believe this clears me,” he said. “A lot of things have been said against me — that I’m a tyrant and a dictator — and this has hurt me and my family.”

But county officials said Doney would not be allowed to return to office.

Deputy Blaine County Attorney Kelsie Harwood said she has turned the paperwork on the charges against Doney to the U.S. attorney’s office in Great Falls. Federal prosecutors would have the option of prosecuting the case, dropping the matter or turning it over to Fort Belknap authorities.

In any event, Harwood said, the county’s position is that the county commissioners’ suspension from the school board remains in effect, and he would be barred from returning to office.

County School Superintendent Lisa Stroh said it was important to realize that the charges “have not gone away.”

“They are now being heard in federal court,” she said.

Even if the commissioners’ suspension were lifted, Doney would not return to the board as chairman, she said.

At the board's organizational meeting in July, the other board members elected George Horse Capture of Hays as the new chairman.

Doney said his understanding was that he could return as chairman, and would comment further after discussing the matter with his attorney.

Horse Capture and County Commissioner Delores Plumage, who sponsored the resolution to suspend Doney, were not available for comment this morning.

The school district was thrown into disarray last year because it was unclear just who was in charge of school operations.