By 10:00 AM, we were back at my kitchen table. The tribe’s attorney drafted a formal 30-day notice of termination of encroachment. It was addressed to the Bitterroot Ridge Estates HOA, care of Corrine Ashburn.
It stated that the new fee simple owner of the land was a sovereign Indian nation. It gave the HOA thirty days to vacate the road entirely or enter into a negotiated license agreement.
A Wallowa County Sheriff’s Deputy and a Sergeant from the Nez Perce Tribal Police delivered the notice together.
Personal service by a tribal officer in full uniform is not a piece of mail you can throw away. The Sergeant reported back that Corrine opened her door in a bathrobe, holding a glass of rosé. She read the notice and said, “This has to be a joke.”
The Sergeant replied, “Ma’am, it is not.”
The local news had the story by 6:00 PM. By 8:00 PM, news vans were parked at the subdivision gates.
Corrine lost her mind. She called an emergency HOA meeting, crying on Instagram Live that they were being attacked by vindictive outside forces.
But Francis Abernathy had done her homework. Francis organized a counter-meeting one hour before Corrine’s. She showed 41 homeowners the truth: the 14 years of receipts Corrine ignored, the failed state petition Corrine hid, and the massive federal fines Corrine had triggered at the creek.
Francis asked for a show of hands to bypass Corrine and negotiate peacefully with the tribe. Thirty-eight hands went up. Corrine’s meeting was attended by twelve people, and seven of them walked out.
Corrine tried calling the state Attorney General. The AG told her tribal sovereignty is protected by federal treaty. She tried calling the Bureau of Indian Affairs. They told her to have a nice afternoon. She even filed a false police report claiming my son threatened her. The Idaho fire department informed her that filing a false report is a misdemeanor, and the sheriff added it to her growing file.
