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Separating Ute funds began with Jurrius

The story on Bob Zahradnik (Herald, May 23) skipped over an important chapter in the history of the Southern Ute Growth Fund, namely its very beginning. Without taking anything from Zahradnik’s service to the Southern Ute Tribe, I would like to set the record straight.

The current financial structure of the Southern Ute Tribe, separating the Growth Fund from the Permanent Fund and diversifying the tribe’s income structure away from exclusive reliance on oil and gas, was the brainchild of John Jurrius, who was hired as the tribe’s finanial planner and adviser in 1997. At that time, Zahradnik was working in the tribe’s energy department. Jurrius, acting as the interim chief financial officer of the Growth Fund, invited Zahradnik in 2000 to become the Fund’s Chief Operations Director. In 2000, Jurrius yielded his interim position at the Growth Fund, but remained a financial adviser to the tribe, a position from which he finally resigned in August 2001.

Jurrius’ role as the Southern Ute Tribe’s financial planner has also been reviewed in the Wall Street Journal and Indian County Today. With such a wealth of documentation, most of it available in the Herald’s own archives, it is puzzling how the Herald has somehow managed to write John Jurrius’ visionary role out of its history of the Growth Fund. In the same vein, the seminal role of the late Leonard C. Burch, long-time chairman of the Southern Ute Tribal Council, receives no mention in the Herald’s article.

The Herald’s revisionist history of the Growth Fund is alas reminiscent of previous reporting on the Southern Ute Language Program (in existence since 1976), as well as recent reporting on the Southern Ute Museum. One wonders why the Herald cannot do its homework and, just for once, get its facts straight.

Pearl Casias

Ignacio



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