From gars@netcom.com Wed Nov 5 20:20:07 1997 Date: Tue, 4 Nov 1997 20:14:25 -0800 (PST) From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews05.045 _ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' O ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ O o O / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' O o O / /-< / /--/ /-- VOLUME 05, ISSUE 045 O o o o o O __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 8 November 1997 O o O KANOHEDA ANIYVWIYA Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin O o O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min Aunchemokauhettittea O ( N A T I V E A M E R I C A N N E W S ) This issue contains articles from NAT-FILM, Triballaw & Innu-L lists; Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty; NASC News; UUCP email; Newsgroup: alt.native; www.wintercount.org; www.YvwiiUsdinvnohii.net Articles appearing have been previously posted for public dissemination and/or permission for inclusion has been secured. Letters of authorization are on file. A list of those granting permission to repost their words in this issue are listed at the end of part A. I thank each of you for allowing your words to be shared with the people. <----<<<< >>>>----> This newsletter is a way of keeping the brothers and sisters who share our Spirit informed about current events within the lives of those who walk the Red Road. ++ It may be subscribed to via email by sending a request from your own internet addressable account to gars@netcom.com ++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org Thanks to Borries Demeler all _Wotanging_Ikche_ (part a) submissions to AISESnet are archived under AISESnet and can be accessed easily by World Wide Web: 1994: http://aises.uthscsa.edu/94_dis.html 1995: http://aises.uthscsa.edu/95_dis.html 1996: http://aises.uthscsa.edu/96_dis.html 1997: http://aises.uthscsa.edu/97_dis.html This is a searchable index to the AISESnet Discussion mailing list database archive, and the keyword "Wotanging" will retrieve all issues for that year. "Brothers, our seats were once large, and yours were small. You have now become a great people, and we have scarcely a place left to spread our blankets. You have got our country, but you are not satisfied; you want to force your religion upon us." __ Chief Sa-o-Ye-Wat-Ha (Red Jacket), Seneca +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Indian Pledge of Allegiance | The Indian Pledge of Alleg- | | iance was first presented | I pledge allegiance to my Tribe,| on 2 December '93 during the | to the democratic principles | opening address of the Nat- | of the Republic | ional Congress of American | and to the individual freedoms | Indian Tribal-States Relat- | borrowed from the Iroquois and | ions Panel in Reno, NV. NCAI | Choctaw Confederacies, | plans distribution of the | as incorporated in the United | Indian Pledge to all Indian | States Constitution, | Nations. | so that my forefathers | | shall not have died in vain | Walk in Beauty! Night Owl +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ O'siyo Brothers and Sisters! My heart was lifted this week by a letter from someone who does walk as strong as he talks. I have been granted permission to share his trip report with you. Please take this into your heart as an example of what can be done, and do not make the terrible mistake of believing someone else will do what you fail to. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Date: Sat, 1 Nov 1997 14:22:31 EST From: Pioquark Subj: Last trip to the Rez Gary, Rather than send you a vague concept of what I do, I thought the following would be more appropriate. It is a summary of what, who, where and when. My 17 year old daughter goes with me because I feel I must teach her to do what I do. One never knows when they are called to a greater need. 23 Oct 97 Got back about 8PM last nite. This was a good trip to say the least... First stop was at Al Dreamer's soup kitchen in Pine Ridge where we dropped of about 800 lbs. dried and non perishable food and a big bag of Garlic Loaves. He and his family treat us like family and it is in fact like going home each time I stop by his place. His cook stove, which was on it's last leg (one burner worked) finally gave up and in just a short while I found a replacement that I had brought on the previous trip. Mona Waters who needed the stove for an elder discovered that the stove the elder already had been repaired. She graciously said yes to giving it to Al. Sometimes things just seem to work out.. It's nice to network efficiently. We then headed for Rosebud and got to Parmelee at about 8PM at nite where we unloaded about three tons of clothing, construction materials, washers, dryers, food, house wares, a stereo console, furniture, shoes, carpet, books, wood stove, counter tops, school supplies, curtains an atari game and a lot of misc. little stuff. George Guerue who is starting a youth group and works with the community had quite a crew to help unload into the old community hall. It makes me happy to see so many people pitch in as a community and help. I made special effort to find something lightweight for the little kids to carry so they would understand that "every little bit helps" . When I jumped off the truck, or should I say I crawled off the truck, I went in and there must have been 40 people sorting and arranging. One girl about 10-11 years old found a dress she liked and put it on over her street clothes so no one else would get it.....Once I have taken sufficient resources to Parmelee, everything will be neatly hung on hangars and displayed so that people won't have to worry about someone else getting it. George is also starting a soup kitchen and some of the dried foods, spuds, and canned goods I left will help get that started. Some of the food will also go to elders and children who are in the greatest in need and what is left will go to the youth group for when they are hungry. I did find a case of Mac n Cheese. (kids love that stuff) George made a phone call for me and then I recorded what I had brought. When I was done, I noticed a little girl was not participating with going through through the goodies but was plinking on the old piano and for a six year old, she was doing pretty good. I went over and asked if I could try it and played a couple tunes for her. I showed her a couple basic things and in my mind hoped I was sitting to a future concert pianist. Music and culture is yet another great need for the children. Many want to learn but don't have the means. (another project for me) At about this time Marian Wind Star showed up and after a quick huddle with George, invited us to spend the nite at her place. We said our goodbyes to George and friends and headed for Rosebud. We unloaded about 1800 lbs of food for her soup kitchen, a microwave, toaster, table, soap, personal care items, diapers, coffee cups and more misc. stuff. We then sat up till 2AM discussing the unsurmountable needs of Rosebud. She, like myself, pays for all that she does out of her pocket at great sacrifice. It's tough... The next morning we followed her to St. Francis where I unloaded the remaining thousand lbs. of stuff at the Elder residence. They got a Stereo AM/FM Record Player, clothes, books and misc. stuff. The fifteen residents need a lot of stuff for their rooms. They have to make their own meals, and need games, curtains, radios, a TV, shower curtains, dish wares, pots n pans, coffee cups, personal care items paint, lamps. If anyone wants to send anything forward to: Bill McCloskey Box 28, St. Francis, S.D. 57572 (605-747-2495 Call him!!! We then departed back to Pine Ridge for two final deliveries. When we arrived at the Kyle Senior Center at Pine Ridge, they had been discussing whether my daughter and I would return with some of the stuff we said we would try to get or just not come back like so many other outsiders have done in the past. This discussion was going on as we pulled up.... No we are not like the others.... We dropped off a wheelchair, a walker, a four footed cane, and three shelf serving table with wheels and electrical hook up for warming food. It would break my heart to let someone down..We then left for the Lakota Fund where I dropped off a international trade book that may help in getting Native American hand made goods into the global market. On the way back I stopped at KILI Radio and made contact there. I hope to increase my service with their help in the future.... The numbers: 1,046 miles driven 20 hours driving time 7,000 lbs. plus delivered $135.76 fuel costs. no meals or other fringe bennies purchased. We left home at five in the morning and got back at 8PM the next day. I slept for 12 hours and my daughter slept for 14 hours. Winter storms and weather will most likely double the time and costs. I will update you after our next trip Clay Watson Pioneer Ind. 1100 E. 24th St. Cheyenne, Wy. 82001 (307)778-7860 pioquark@aol.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I am asking readers of this newsletter to continue to respond as a caring community, not as the apathetic, uncaring empty beings the dominant society so often is. We do not warehouse our elders. Our ancestors taught us that every single member of our community is too valuable to forsake. We do not shoot our wounded. The tragic plight of our elders on the various reservations is so great, their peril so real, their walk so close to the edge that I will continue to feature contact addresses where you can send donations of clothing, food, blankets, money to purchase fuel and repair throughout the winter. As new contacts are received they will be added to the list. PLEASE help the elders. PLEASE help grow this list and help ALL the elders. For the Red Shirt Community: Marvin Helper P.O. Box 312 Hermosa, SD 57744 For Porcupine, Oglala and Wounded Knee: David Swallow or Gerald Ice % Gerald ice P.O. Box 199 Wounded Knee, SD 57794 Or... Joe Chasing Horse % P.O. Box 8392 Rapid City, S.D. 57709 For Truck loads & UPS Shipments: Joe Chasing Horse 714 Paha Sapa Drive Rapid City, SD 57701 From: Lora Czarnowsky Adi Defender Project New Dawn PO Box 616 McLaughlin, SD 57642 This is for the various communities on the Standing Rock Reservation. From: tusweca Darlene Cross PO Box 52 Kyle SD 577075 From: yona@infi.net Toy drive going on for the Cheyenne River Reservation in Eagle Butte If you would like to donate a toy or more information, you may contact me by email: yona@infi.net or phone me 757-425-7992..you may also drop off a toy if you are in the vicinity of our store Na-va'kee 618 Hilltop West. biah yazzie From: DORSEY.THOMAS_J+@ALBANY.VA.GOV Norma Grassrope Lower Brule Reservation Lower Brule, South Dakota 57028 (605) 473-5594 She is the chair of a charitable group called the Womens Support Group. From: Pioquark@aol.com Clay Watson Pioneer Industries 1100 E. 24th St. Cheyenne, Wy. 82001 (307)778-7860 pioquark@aol.com These donations will be gifted to the Rose Bud and Pine Ridge Reservations in South Dakota and the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. I'm on the road a lot, out back loading the truck etc. PLEASE leave a message if there is no answer.. From: ALBERT SUN BUTLER Ti Ospaye PO Box 200 Wanblee SD 57577 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If any of you have addresses/contacts to add to this list for other Rez's PLEASE email me with them soon. Winter winds have already brought snow. email to gars@netcom.com ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 05:54:36 -0800 From: David Yohn Subj: Sad passing Newsgroup: alt.native I am saddened to inform any who may have known John Abalone Walsh that he passed on October 28 after a long fight with cancer. Abalone was an activist for Native rights, beginning at Wounded Knee and lasting until his death working for Big Mountain. He was husband to Pat Whitehorse and father to five children. His loss will be felt by many. ***************************************************************** * Ableza, a Native American Arts and Film Institute * * 1279 Mildred Ave. * * San Jose, CA 95125 * * David&Diane@ableza.org http://www.ableza.org * ***************************************************************** ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks to Mike Wicks for the following reminder: In Memory (with Respect and Honor) 11.16.1974 Delphine Crow Dog - sister of AIM spiritual leader Leonard Crow Dog. Beaten by BIA police and left lying in a field. Died from "exposure." No investigation. Peace! Night Owl , , Gary Night Owl gars@netcom.com (*,*) P. O. Box 672168 gars@nanews.org (`-') Marietta, GA 30067, U.S.A. gars@igc.apc.org ===w=w=== gars@bellsouth.net Fax: 770-528-9643 gars@juno.com ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ---------- - America's Political Prisoner - Crazy Horse Malt Liquor - Peltier Lobby - Why the Crazy Horse Malt Liquor - Buffalo Hunt In Wyoming Case is Important - Kahnawake Women's Council - Hopi Center Designed as - Mohawk Band Council Backs Down on ADM Educational Tool - Reporter Challenges Constitutionality - Timucua Legend of Arrest - Katherine Archuleta Nomination - Statement Regarding UN Rights Draft - Interview with Ts'Peten Defender - Passamaquoddys Press Claims - Native Prisoner - Innu Regional News - A Hundred Years Ago - Cherokee Housing Authority Problems - Poem: Quiet Night - New Moon Prayer - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - History of the Keetoowah Cherokees - Conferences and Powwows --------- "RE: America's Political Prisoner" --------- Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 09:19:41 -0400 From: ishgooda Subj: NASC NEWS: L E O N A R D P E L T I E R <><><><><><><>NASC NEWS MAILING<><><><><><><> Subj: America's Political Prisoner - Leonard Peltier Date: 97-10-23 19:48:11 EDT From: TsalagiWmn Leonard Peltier was charged along with three other men in the 1975 slayings of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Two of the men, Dean Butler and Bob Robideou, were acquitted of these charges. Jimmy Eagle, the fourth man arrested, was released even though he admitted that he was involved in the shootings. The prosecutor stated this was done so the "full prosecutive weight of the Federal Government could be directed against Leonard Peltier." The FBI, BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) and a good portion of the rest of the alphabet, wanted Peltier because they believed he was one of the leaders of the American Indian Movement. ("They couldn't even get this right...he was not a leader...just a member" Clyde Bellecourt) Because of the activities of AIM to educate and elicit support of the public for Indian people, the FBI placed AIM and its members at the top of its list of key extremists. Butler and Robideau were acquitted of these charges because they were allowed to bring in witnesses and other proof that showed that the prosecution's "eye-witnesses" and the FBI agents were lying. They were also able to show that certain evidence and much of the rest of the testimony was questionable, at best. They were able to show that many of the prosecution witnesses had been threatened (among other things) by the FBI. One of the witnesses, Anna Mae Aquash, was unable to testify because she had a bullet in the back of her head, yet, her death was ruled "natural causes" by the FBI and BIA. Many things were different when it came time for Peltier's trial. He was extradited from Canada on an affidavit given by a woman who was 60 miles away from where the shootings occurred. Myrtle Poor Bear gave 4 different affidavits...the first 3 were not to the FBI's liking...so they showed her photos of Anna Mae's corpse and told her she could end up like that too. She finally gave them what they wanted with the 4th affidavit. Peltier was allowed to use only evidence from the day of the shootings and three-fourths of that was thrown out. They were not allowed to present evidence on the affidavit by Myrtle Poor Bear, the violence on Pine Ridge, the extensive persecution of AIM by the FBI, the verdict or the testimony from the Butler-Robideau trial. Basically, this meant that if someone took the stand and told a different story than they had during a deposition or during the Butler-Robideou trial, there was nothing the defense could do. There were many other things that were very strange about this case. The rifle supposedly used by Peltier in the shootings was found on a Kansas Turnpike in extremely bad condition (there were reports that the gun was unfirable); casings found on the scene were not seen by five FBI agents and not mentioned in reports done by Agent Cunningham, who was head of the FBI firearms division and who inspected the sight personally, yet these casings were used as "evidence"; two ballistics reports (one says the casing came from the rifle, the other says the firing pin could not be fired and that it was "highly unlikely" that the casing was from that particular gun) from the same man only a few months apart; agents involved in the case have stepped forward and admitted that most of the evidence in the case was manufactured. They have admitted that witnesses were intimidated and threatened. In a November 1992 interview on national television, Lynn Crook, the prosecutor in the Peltier case, admitted that they had no idea who killed the agents. There have been many documents, teletypes and statements that have come into light since Peltier's conviction in 1977. There are stacks of evidence that should, at the very least, have afforded him a new trial. That has not happened. He has been denied parole, and at his last parole hearing he was denied even though the parole officer assigned to the case recommended parole. That parole officer has since lost his job. Leonard Peltier is considered by many to be a political prisoner just like Nelson Mandela and Andrei Sakharov were. He has the backing of nearly 50 million people worldwide including 55 members of the U.S. Congress, 50 members of the Canadian Parliament, 48 members of the Netherlands parliament, 312 French municipalities and communities, 165 presidents of tribal councils in the United States, U.S. Senators Daniel Inouye and Paul Wellstone, former Appellant Court Judge Gerald Heaney, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, Nobel Peace Prize winners Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Nelson Mandella and Desmond Tutu and Amnesty International. People world wide recognize Leonard Peltier's name...except for most in this country. United State citizens know Nelson Mandella and know that he was a political prisoner...yet, they do not recognize the name of a man being held right in their own back yard. With all of this support, why does the U.S. Government refuse to agree, at the very least, to a new trial? Doesn't that sound a little strange? What are they trying to hide? Could it be that this "great honest and fair" government isn't quite what they want the world to believe they are? Is it possible that racism is flowing through the veins of our "great leaders?" The outcry over the verdict in the Simpson trial was heard worldwide. Why is there no outcry over this verdict? Why is a man allowed to rot in prison while the government sweeps its illegal and racist actions under the rug? How much longer are we going to allow our country to be represented by people who will stoop to force, threats, lies and murder to get what they want? (copyrighted 1996. Editorial article done by Tina Holder in the Arizona State Press)FREE LEONARD PELTIER -- RALLY FOR CLEMENCY Sunday Nov. 16, 1997 2 - 6 p.m. Mission High School 3750 18th St., at Dolores St. San Francisco, Ca. This rally is co-sponsored by: National People's Campaign American Indian Movement Bring Peltier Home Campaign The case of Leonard Peltier is an outstanding case of human rights violation by the U.S. government. Jailed for 21 years, more than 50 million people from around the world have petitioned for his release. Even the U.S. prosecutor declared there is no convincing evidence against Peltier in the 1975 killing of FBI agents during a raid on the Pine Ridge, South Dakota reservation. He is the victim of a well documented FBI frame-up. Leonard Peltier remains a political prisoner for being a Native American activist and fighter. There is a worldwide effort to win his freedom. Leonard has repeatedly been denied appeals, retrials, and parole. With all appeals exhausted, this campaign calls upon President Clinton to grant executive clemency. We cannot count on the "justice" system for his freedom, but rather the power of a people's movement! This is the power that has won a stay of execution for Mumia Abu-Jamal, and the freedom of Geronimo Ji Jaga. Featured speakers include: Ramsey Clark -- Lead Defense Attorney Dennis Banks -- American Indian Movement Bear Lincoln -- Recently Acquitted Native American Political Prisoner Cora Lee Simmons -- Round Valley Indians for Justice Gloria La Riva -- National People's Campaign and others Volunteers and Donations are needed. If you wish to involved with this Free Leonard Peltier Rally, list yourself or organization as an endorser, volunteer or make a donation, please contact: NPC 2489 Mission #28 San Francisco, Ca 94110 tel: (415) 821-6545 fax: (415) 821-5782 email: npcsf@igc.org This rally is endorsed by the following: Nat'l Lawyers Guild; SEIU Local 535; NALC Branch 214; Mario Obledo, former California Secretary of Health and Human Services; NW Leonard Peltier Support Network; California Coalition for Women Prisoners; HIV & AIDS in Prison Project; California Prison Focus; Arnoldo Garcia, Urban Habitat Program; Nuremberg Actions Education Fund; Santa Cruz Peace & Freedom Party; Legal Services for Prisoners with Children; Ann Weller, Open Circle Distributors; Cascadia Forest Alliance, Portland, OR; Speak Out; N. California Committees of Correspondence; Workers World Party. Leonard Peltier: AIM Call for email letters to parole commission Leonard Peltier: FBI Misconduct Leonard Peltier: FBI Files Leonard Peltier: New Music C.D. Compilation Release Songs For Leonard Peltier GENOCIDE URGENT- Peltier's Health Peltier: AIMAZ's Home Page 2 Leonard Peltier Information Peltier's Early Years --------- "RE: Peltier Lobby" --------- Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 09:34:22 -0800 From: SISIS@envirolink.org (S.I.S.I.S.) Subj: Peltier Lobby TOLL FREE followup calls needed (fwd) :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:Forwarded message:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: From: bear@epix.net To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Peltier Lobby TOLL FREE followup calls needed Sago! When I was in DC this past Tues/Wednesday, we distributed info to all Senate and Congressional offices, and the task we requested of them was to review the info, and would they write to support clemency, commutation, and/or judicial hearings as soon as possible. As I understand it, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee is rumored to be thinking of asking for Judicial hearings. The Senate Judicial Committee, who would have the authority to approve and schedule, or disapprove the request, is rumored to be willing to schedule hearings "sometime next session". Next session could be anytime next year. And per some Congressional staffers I spoke with, if the Senate heard enough Congressional interest, that could help push the request and approval sooner. Also per some of those staffers, regardless of how much email the President gets, if the other politicians don't hear from their own constituents (and they're NOT hearing enough), they don't recognize the issue as important, so don't voice the kind of support Clinton would need to hear to take action. So, the followup calls are needed to your Congresspersons and Senators; and to make it really easy, something for our taxes finally, a toll free number to the Capitol Switchboard: 1-888-723-5246 Ask for the Congressperson or Senator of your choice (then do it again, and again, and again...) If you want to follow up your call with a fax, (which usually costs LESS than a stamp) ask the receptionist or the staffer for the correct fax number. A few congress persons are listed below, those of the offices I myself visited. The second name is the contact person who received the info I delivered, "*" indicates those I got an actual meeting with (saves you asking the receptionist for the contact person, ask directly for the staffer named here...) For those not listed, you'll have to ask the receptionist, I didn't get a list from the rest of the group that turned out to lobby. PA Congressman McDade, Sr. Legislative Assistant = John Ormasa PA Senator Santorum, Leg. Asst = Dave Hall* (appeared sincerely interested in the info, promised to look into it and follow up...) PA Senator Spector, Exec. Assist = Skip Maupau NJ Congressman Chris Smith, Leg Assist = Jerome Bishop* (Chris was an old friend of mine, but maybe since I've moved out of NJ, perhaps he thinks my concerns are not something he needs to answer? If he's your congressman, let him hear from you!) NY Congressman James Walsh, Admin Assist = Art Jutton* NY Congressman John LaFalce, Michelle Radecki* OH Congressman Ralph Regula, Leg. Counsel = Karen Buttaro OH Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, Sr. Leg. Assist = George Wilson* (seemed bored. Needs to hear a wake up call from own constituents, okay?) OH Congressman Stokes, Paul Chatalas* (was news to him, and just taking over for someone else, needs help getting up to speed. Met another staffer from same office in the hall, who wanted his own copy of our info handouts and sounded supportive) CA Congressman Robert T. Matsui, Leg. Correspondent = Howard Moon CA Congressman George Brown, Leg. Assist = Dana DuBose OK Congressman Wes Watkins, Leg. Dir. = K. Scott Raab MN Congressman James Oberstar, Leg. Dir = Chip Gardiner, Jr* (said Mr. Oberstar is on traffic subcommittee, therefore not directly involved. So what? If he's YOUR congressperson, at your request it's his job to get involved...) MN Congressman Bruce Vento, Ilka Couto IN Congressman Pete Visclosky, Leg. Corre. = Jon Ablett WV Congressman Nich Rahall II, Craig Clapper WV Congressman Robert Wise Jr, Leg. Assist = (mr) Casey De Shong For those who need a calling script, try something along these lines: You received info last week regarding Leonard Peltier, could you tell me who the staff person is who that would have been given to? (Get the name. If they don't know, get a name of who might handle human rights or judiciary issues. One way or another, get a staff person name, so you have a contact to refer to now and/or in future calls) May I speak to that person please? (If they aren't available now, try again till you catch them or ask for someone else so you get a live contact beyond the receptionist. Make some ONE accountable to you, especially if you are their "constituent".) I'd like _______________________ (name the Congressperson/Senator) to write a letter of support for commutation of Leonard's sentence, or at least hearings EARLY in the next session, could you send me a copy of that letter? (If they hedge, tell 'em why you want it done now, and ask why they won't support.) Get the results of your call back to LPDC so they can follow up on your followup: either looking for the letter that was promised to you, or answering their questions or overcoming their objections... We need to push, and keep pushing, in an organized way. We got the info to their offices, please let them hear enough voices to know it's important! Thanks for your help... -- >>>>>>>get involved-learn the truth-spread the truth<<<<<<< >>>>JUSTICE FOR PELTIER-http://www.unicom.net/peltier/<<<< >>>>>>>http://www.dickshovel.com/Aim.Pine.html<<<<<<<<< :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2 EMAIL: SISIS@envirolink.org WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html SOVERNET-L is a news-only listserv concerned with indigenous sovereigntist struggles around the world. To subscribe, send "subscribe sovernet-l" in the body of an email message to For more information on sovernet-l, contact S.I.S.I.S. --------- "RE: Buffalo Hunt In Wyoming" --------- Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 14:36:29 -0500 From: Buffalo Nations Subj: Buffalo Hunt In Wyoming UUCP email A Buffalo Hunt In Wyoming - Wyoming Game and Fish Commission Approves Unanimously A Hunting Season for Jackson Herd. Hunters in Wyoming will be aiming their guns at wild buffalo after Wyoming's Fish and Game Dept. approved the hunt for this year. The reason they cite is population control. The Jackson herd numbers about 350 wild buffalo. Ironically, the number of buffalo the land can sustain (according to human beings' science) was recently increased to 450. Ask yourself, why are they hunting these buffalo? Commission member Tracy Hunt of Newcastle wondered why the commission was concerned about fair chase with a game animal that holds its ground. " It's sort of like shooting the old milk cow," he said. "They stand there and ignore you. What the hell do you do to imbue fair chase to an animal that doesn't run?" Let Wyoming know that you want the buffalo reintroduced to reservations and public lands verse elitists trophy hunter's wall mounts. Please contact : Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Wildlife Division, ATTN: Regulations, 3030 Energy Lane, Suite 100, Casper, WY 82604 and voice your outrage. Buffalo Nations would like to thank all of the new warriors who have recently pledged their presents here this winter. Traditional Natives, outfitters, farmers, ranchers, locals, college students, front line activists from around the world and, yes, even the Indigo Girls. One person from Rome, Ga., is having the local media do a story about him coming out here and why. The local media is already planning to do another story upon his return. So don't forget to bug your local media before you come out. Anyone wishing to also get food and gear donations in their local communities please send us your mailing address. We can then send you our newsletters and donation request letter. Help open your communities awareness and hearts toward the buffalo. Buffalo Nations would also like to thank the 20 hard working University of Montana's student group( Environmental Action Community) members for all of their hard work this past weekend. Everyday we have a fire, we will be thinking of you all. The main items the campaign is lacking are video cameras and 35mm cameras (still cameras). Due to the extreme cold weather out here, batteries have little to no life span, so please send extra if you can. If anyone would care to donate, please send them to our West Yellowstone address. It takes all of us to make change occur and judging from all of the support the buffalo have received, a change will come this winter. For the Buffalo, Michael S. Mease Buffalo Nations PO Box 957 West Yellowstone, MT 59758 406-646-0070 phone 406-646-0071 fax buffalo@wildrockies.org --------- "RE: Kahnawake Women's Council" --------- Date: Wed, 29 Oct 1997 11:23:15 -0500 From: "Mohawk Nation Office" Subj: URGENT***URGENT***URGENT UUCP email Kahnawake Women's Council Position Concerning the Archer Daniels Midland Grain Storage Facility in Kahnawake As women of the Mohawk Nation and as progenitors of future generations of the Haudenosaunee, it is our duty and responsibility to ensure that the lands are secured for future generations. As our women dance the Women's Dance, we are constantly reminded of our connection to the land as our feet quietly shuffle across the earth. As Onkwehonwe, we are told through oral tradition that the reasons we are placed here on this earth is to be caretakers of the land. We are again reminded of this in the Ohenton Karihwentekwa, the opening Thanksgiving Address to the Natural World, and in the ceremonies that follow the natural cycle of seasons. Contrary to popular rhetoric, that there is a portion of the community of Kahnawake that is against any economic development, the Women of the Longhouse in 1989 adopted certain principles for economic planning, which are as follows: Future Generations Come First Whereas there are many pressing issues of an economic nature that face the Kanienkehaka, short-term solutions are not enough. The People have the immediate responsibility of preserving what there is today. When they seek opportunities and resources, they do so for the future. The agreement signed with Archer Daniels Midland is for fifty years, our future generations will be left with serious environmental and health consequences as a result of this decision. We must take into consideration the concerns of our youth today and listen to them, they are the ones who will still be here in fifty years. Planning for Sovereignty The Kanienkehaka are building a nation. In order to function as such, they must attain substantive economic independence. They must plan for and acquire resources that will sustain their people in this endeavor. Leasing our land is not sovereignty. Mohawk sovereignty includes the development of an economic plan based on certain principles which encompass who we are as Onkwehonwe People. In providing this land base adjacent to the Kahnawake Survival School, we are promoting the wealth of multi-national companies at the expense of our health and future generations. This is a high price to pay. Environmental Conservation The People know the value of their land. Only those initiatives that will preserve or enhance the environment will be acceptable to them. The Archer Daniels Midland project completely violates this principle. No Drugs - No Alcohol The Kanienkehaka also know the worth of each person amongst them. The abuse of drugs and alcohol by any member weakens the community as a whole. No initiative based on addictive substances will be acceptable to the People. This principle would ensure a better future for our Nation. Balancing Individual Rights with Those of Collective Each member of the community is to be respected for what he or she contributes to it, so the opinions and rights of the individual are very important. Progress towards an economic plan for Kahnawake must be made by consensus. However, no individual can come before the community as a whole. Dissenting opinions are of value when they contribute alternatives to flawed proposals, but the majority must rule in order for the chosen project to have the support it will need to work. The collective rights of the People have been violated by the Kahnawake Mohawk Band Council in assuming jurisdiction and signing the Agreement in Principle in April of 1997. Contrary to the Band Council's insistence that a final document has not been signed, an agreement in principle means it is a done deal. The only document that is left to be signed is the agreement concerning the final details between Archer Daniels Midland and the Kahnawake Band Council. The Importance of Cooperative Enterprise The People have made the equitable distribution of collective wealth a fundamental goal of their economic planning. This leads to the priority that will be given the consideration of cooperative community development proposals in this exercise. In this deal the collective wealth will be allotted to the shareholders of Archer Daniels Midland and the Kahnawake Mohawk Band Council. This does not necessarily mean the collective majority of Kahnawakeronon will directly benefit from such an agreement. Up to this point, there has been no report made by the Kahnawake Mohawk Band Council on monies received from Archer Daniels Midland in preparation for this project. The success of cooperative enterprise is based on accountability. Communications For both the children and the nation, the Kanienkehaka must preserve their language as an expression of their culture and values. In publicizing this planning process, every effort will be made to use native names and if possible, to present materials in Mohawk as well as English. This principle enhances the survival of our culture through the language. The Women's Council has come to the decision that based on these Economic Development Principles, the Archer Daniels Midland Grain Storage Facility is a totally unacceptable project. No one has the right to give away our land, therefore it must be stopped immediately. As caretakers of the land, we are responding to the threat of non-Indian encroachment onto our territory and we are prepared to protect our land for the future generations. We invite all women to support our position. Passed and Sealed: October 28, 1997 By The Women's Council, Kahnawake Mohawk Territory --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mohawk Nation Office - Kahnawake Branch Visit our site! http://www.cyberglobe.net/users/mnation --------- "RE: Mohawk Band Council Backs Down on ADM" --------- Date: Sat, 1 Nov 1997 12:51:22 -0700 From: "S.I.S.I.S." Subj: Mohawk band council backs down on ADM :-:-:-:-:-:-:-Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty-:-:-:-:-:-:-: [S.I.S.I.S. note: the following release was sent to us for distribution. Inquiries should go to , not S.I.S.I.S.] MOHAWK BAND COUNCIL BACKS DOWN: ADM MULTINATIONAL CORPORATION TOLD TO "GET OUT OF TOWN" BY THE PEOPLE Demands for Norton's "impeachment" MNN Mohawk Nation News. 31-Oct-97. Joe Norton, band council chief, signed a permit leasing 24 acres of waterfront to food giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) to build a grain-storage facility right next to a school and to start the corporate occupation of Kahnawake Mohawk Territory. From the start the people overwhelmingly said "No" to Joe Norton. The staff, students and parents of the Kahnawake Survival School launched a community awareness project, convinced that ADM would pollute the school with dust, pesticides, invite hordes of rats and sea gull, as well as put them in danger of explosions and dangerous heavy truck traffic. They marched from the school to the band council office and presented chief Norton and the band council with a petition against the project which they ignored. Then a community meeting was held where every person stood up and loudly said they absolutely did not want the ADM project in Kahnawake. Finally when revelations about ADM's questionable past, the biased controversial environmental report and Norton's connections with shadowy development advisors such as Apikan Consultants were coming out, the band council back down. On October 30th, in a band council press release the band council put the project "on hold" for now. In the meantime, they will continue to try persuade their "silent majority" to come forward and support them. One opposition group is still occupying the entrance to the ADM site until their trailers, equipment and staff are physically removed. ADM WHEELING AND DEALING. ADM chose Kahnawake because there are no federal and provincial environmental, shipping and storage regulations on the territory. ADM recently plea bargained and paid a $100 million dollar fine in the United States for multiple counts of fraud and price fixing, which was brokered by none other than ADM Director Brian Mulroney, the same man who sent the Army into Kahnawake in 1990 to attack the Mohawks. ADM also gave over $1 million to both parties in the 1996 U.S. presidential campaign to keep their huge subsidies and tariff protections coming from the U.S. government putting small farmers out of business. The ADM environmental impact study reviewed by a a professional found the section on pesticides "grossly insufficient", that the report underestimates the impact of increased traffic, noise and dust on the students. APIKAN. The biased environmental report. ADM's past and the band council's secrecy touched a deep nerve in Kahnawake, made worse by the involvement of Pat Apikan, a development consultant who acts as the liaison between ADM and the band council and Norton's "right hand man". Apikan Indigenous Network has a troubled past, including involvement in the development of questionable mining, agriculture and forestry projects in Latin America. Apikan has carried out work for the Inter-American Development Bank, a division of the World Bank, taking a lead role in opening up indigenous territories and economies to foreign interests. They facilitated the Highway Seven construction project in Belize, funded by development donors in Kuwait, Taiwan and the UK. The road passes through Mayan lands, rich in minerals. Once completed, the road will serve as a vital artery to transport goods out of the area to foreign markets, as well as allow the army to enter into once forbidden territory. In Panama Apikan worked with the Canadian mining firm Rio Tinto Zinc and Canadian natives to develop "a good working relationship with indigenous groups". Since the late 1980s indigenous groups such as the Ngobes have tried to stop the Panamanian government from giving away their land to foreign interests. Their protests have been met with jail and sometimes death at the hands of the police. Apikan proposed a better working relationship since the Indigenous protests were "costing the mining industry millions of dollars". WORLD BANK. Apikan has received funding and praise from Indian Affairs, Foreign Affairs and Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Apikan's project are usually detrimental to indigenous groups, opening their territory to exploitation by foreign multinationals, through expanded market power, roads and political links. The World Bank and foreign corporations have taken over native lands, removed or killed indigenous people in order to exploit their oil, forests and other resources. Apikan puts a brown face in those destructive projects abroad and now in Kahnawake. IMPEACHMENT. Many people in Kahnawake are now talking about "impeachment" of Joe Norton and others responsible for bringing in such shady groups as ADM and Apikan This is not the first time that Norton tried to bring in nefarious economic initiatives. In 1994 Norton tried to bring in a shifty casino group from the United States until the people voted in a referendum to stop him. Then his advisor was attacked and had his finger cut off by unknown persons. No police report was ever made and the man moved from the territory. A year ago Norton gave permission without consulting the people for a group who were found to have ties to "organized crime" to set up a casino on Kahnawake Territory. They were arrested, charged and are presently in court facing criminal charges. The People of Kahnawake have continuously asked the band council and the Department of Indian Affairs for the Agreement in Principle between the band council and ADM to no avail. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. The People are in favour of economic development but where each man, woman and child in Kahnawake owns and controls the business and has a share. Due to the band council's past record they cannot be trust. Other questions arise such as why is the band council hiring a casino consultant firm to plan the proposed dinner theatre-hotel complex (Robert Hathaway) when the people already said "no" to them being involved in a casino? What are we to expect from the agreement to invest the people's money in the Grifiss Air Force Base in the United States when the people were only told after the deal was made? Even though the answer on ADM is "no", the band council persists in meeting with the Survival School students only, asking the parents to stay away. The students, however, want their parents with them. The time has come for the band council to step down and let the original government of the Mohawk People enforce the Iroquois Constitution, the Great Law of Peace. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2 EMAIL : WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html SOVERNET-L is a news-only listserv concerned with indigenous sovereigntist struggles around the world. To subscribe, send "subscribe sovernet-l" in the body of an email message to For more information on sovernet-l, contact S.I.S.I.S. --------- "RE: Reporter Challenges Constitutionality of Arrest" --------- Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 10:51:17 -0600 From: "Bill Lawrence" Subj: reporter challenges constitutionality of tribal arrest UUCP email Press Release 10/31/97 ffi: Jeff Armstrong 218/751-1655 Reporter challenges constitutionality of arrest at Minnesota Chippewa Tribe meeting The following petition for a writ of Habeas Corpus was filed by NAP/ON reporter Jeff Armstrong in federal district court on October 29, 1997. In it, Armstrong contends that neither the Mille Lacs Tribal Police nor the Mille Lacs County Sheriff had jurisdiction to arrest, detain or charge him for what he contends was an unconstitutional order by the Tribal Executive Committee at an Oct. 22 TEC meeting on tribal land claims, and that by so doing, they deprived him, the Press, and MCT members of their constitutional rights. Armstrong further challenges the legitimacy of the Mille Lacs law enforcement system under the tribal constitution and federal law and maintains that state trespassing statutes cannot be enforced on the reservation. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA SIXTH DIVISION Civil File No. ____________ Jeffrey David Armstrong, Petitioner, vs. Mille Lacs County Attorney; Mille Lacs County Sheriff; Mille Lacs Reservation Tribal Police, Respondents. PETITIONER'S MEMORANDUM The Petitioner is before the Court to determine the validity of his arrest by tribal police and subsequent detention and charges filed by the County of Mille Lacs, Minnesota pursuant to said arrest, which took place on the Mille Lacs Reservation of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. I. FACTS: On October 22, 1997, Petitioner attended a meeting of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe (M CT) called by its 12-member Tribal Executive Committee (TEC). Petitioner was invited by several tribal members to attend the meeting, and was, as at many previous such meetings, the only reporter in attendance. Had Petitioner not been notified by tribal members, he would not have known of the meeting, which was originally set for that date at the Bois Forte Reservation. It was moved at the last minute to Mille Lacs, a common tactic used by the TEC to discourage tribal participation by MCT members. As at several recent TEC meetings, armed officers were stationed by the door, apparently to intimidate tribal members present. Petitioner arrived before the scheduled meeting time of 10 a.m. and quickly found a seat. At this time, TEC President Norman Deschampe asked Petitioner if he was "Indian." Petitioner replied that his racial origin was none of Deschampe's business, that Deschampe knew who Petitioner was and that he was "just doing [his] job" as a reporter for the Native American Press/Ojibwe News (NAP/ON). A Mille Lacs Tribal Police officer then informed Petitioner that he had one chance to leave voluntarily or be arrested. Petitioner said he would not willingly comply with an illegal order, but submitted to arrest and voluntarily accompanied the tribal officer out of the meeting room in the Grand Casino Hotel without incident. In the hotel lobby, Petitioner was frisked, tightly handcuffed and escorted outside to a squad car. The arresting Tribal officer informed Mille Lacs County by radio that he was bringing Petitioner into custody on charges of trespassing and obstructing legal process. While on the 30+ mile trip to Milaca, outside reservation boundaries, Petitioner persuaded the Tribal officer that the obstruction charge was unfounded, as Petitioner had in no way resisted his arrest, which took place in front of perhaps 75 people. Arriving at the County Jail in Milaca, Petitioner was booked on charges of trespassing (exhibit 1) and set for a court appearance at 11 am. Petitioner notified jail staff that he intended to file for a writ of Habeas Corpus, but was told that such petitions can only be filed by attorneys. The arresting officer then told Petitioner that he would be released at 2 p.m., at the conclusion of the TEC meeting, and could not see a judge until the following Monday. Petitioner then requested a pencil and paper with which to draft a Habeas Corpus petition. Receiving same, Petitioner prepared the petition for writ (exhibit 2) and attempted to submit it to the jail administrator. Respondent County refused to accept said petition and similarly denied access to the telephone that Petitioner could contact an attorney to assist him in the filing. Respondent County then informed Petitioner that he was being released, at which time the Jail Administrator accepted copy of said petition and allowed a reproduction to be made for Petitioner. Refusing to sign the petition, the Jail Administrator read it and passed it along to Respondent Sheriff Dennis Boser. Sheriff Boser stated that he and his deputies and jailers only carried out Tribal orders and contracted to hold their prisoners; that they had no ability or jurisdiction to independently assess the legality or lack thereof of such orders. Boser then suggested Petitioner take his claim to tribal court, but could not explain why, if that court had jurisdiction, that Petitioner was being held by and ordered to appear in Mille Lacs County Court. II. ARGUMENT: INDIAN CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1968: Section 1303 of the Indian Civil Rights Act states, in its entirety, the following: The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall be available to any person, in a court of the United States, to test the legality of his detention by order of an Indian tribe. Petitioner was detained by order of an Indian tribe, an order given legal force by the Sheriff and County Attorney of Mille Lacs County, Minnesota. The threshold question in this case is, does the State of Minnesota have jurisdiction to enforce state statutes on an Indian reservation arising from the unconstitutional order of a tribal governing body lacking a foundation in tribal law? As the federal courts have long held, and state courts such as Minnesota's grudgingly acknowledged (see State v. Stone, MN Ct. of Appeals), the U.S. government's cession of its alleged criminal and civil jurisdiction over Indian reservations through passage of Public Law 280 was far from a blanket grant of authority for states to police reservations. As the U.S. Supreme Court established in Bryan v. Itasca County and others, even tribes subjected to PL-280 without their consent through the plenary authority of the U.S. Congress retain exclusive jurisdiction to establish and enforce, or by extension to refrain from establishing or enforcing, laws governing the regulation of activities such as driving, taxation, alcohol consumption, internal governmental affairs, etc. Undeniably, Petitioner consented by implication to tribal jurisdiction by entering an official governmental meeting of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe on land held in trust for the Tribe within the exterior boundaries of the Mille Lacs Reservation. However, tribal sovereignty and inherent rights belong exclusively to the tribe as a collective, except to the extent such powers are delegated to the tribal governing body. The MCT Constitution is a rigid, organic document with a specified means of amending said document. Upon taking office, members of the Tribal Executive Committee pledge to uphold the constitutions of both the United States and Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. No authority exists within the MCT Constitution conferring authority on the president, any individual members, or the TEC as a whole to deny entrance to any racial group or members of the press, and the U.S. Constitution, incorporated by reference into the MCT Constitution, prohibits discrimination on the basis of race. While it is petitioner's belief that the race issue was used as a pretext to exclude the press from the meeting, such exclusion is in violation of 25 USC 1302(1). Had the TEC brought a motion to exclude Petitioner on any grounds whatsoever to a floor vote of tribal members, Petitioner would have willingly acceded to their decision. In the absence of such vote, however, Petitioner felt obliged to defend the principle of a free press in the interest of the members of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. Although the paper is committed to the principle of Indian preference, if the NAP/ON were to consent to de facto requirements as to the racial or tribal composition of reporters covering the more than 500 governing bodies of tribes within the U.S., our readers would be the ones to suffer. Furthermore, consent to tribal jurisdiction does not imply subservience to the governing body of a tribe. On the contrary, it demands that one defend tribal law as one's own, even if it means standing up to illegitimate, dictatorial rule. Consent to tribal jurisdiction does not imply obeisance to unlawful orders any more than consent to obey U.S. law suggests a willingness to have a plunger inserted into one's rectum as a proper interrogative device. From 1980 to 1994, the U.S. Department of the Interior maintained that the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe and its six member reservation lacked the authority to establish a legal system, which authority belonged to the members of the tribe (exhibit 3), in the absence of a constitutional grant of powers. On the verge of a federal indictment on dozens of federal felony counts, however, then TEC President Darrell Wadena was able to parlay his political influence (exhibit 4) into eliciting the support of five key U.S. Senators to strongarm the Interior Department into reversing itself, despite increasingly less evidence to support such a position. Such influence peddling by non-Native tribal employees is currently under investigation by the United States Justice Department, and even here, in a determination by Michael Anderson (exhibit 5), a relative of an attorney with a law firm with clear conflicts of interest which has dominated MCT politics in recent years, the decision is not so clear. While Anderson stated that the TEC has the authority to create tribal courts, he did not find that individual reservations have such powers. Furthermore, nothing is said in the Anderson decision on the issue of the establishment of tribal or reservation police. But the final question is one of state, not tribal jurisdiction. Section 1326 of the Indian Civil Rights Act establishes a procedure by which tribes can accept jurisdiction by a state, one which has not been followed by the Mille Lacs RBC. The charges against Petitioner have been brought, if not initiated, by the State of Minnesota, which lacks jurisdiction in the matter. According to Section 1326, jurisdiction can only be conferred to the state by means of a tribal referendum administered by the Interior Secretary, a law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Kennerly v. District Court of Montana, which determined that even a pre-ICRA tribal ordinance consenting to state jurisdiction was legally insufficient to accomplish its end. The Mille Lacs Tribal Police operate under state statute 626.90 establishing this entity's arrest powers over tribal members in Mille Lacs County within the 1855 Treaty boundaries and over all people on tribal trust lands within the county, violators of whom will be prosecuted in state courts. Yet the State of Minnesota's "grant" of arrest powers to the RBC-created police does not somehow imbue state courts with jurisdiction they otherwise lack. Since no tribal referendum consent has been granted in regard to the state statute, either before or after the fact, one can thus view the Mille Lacs law enforcement law as an extra-legal assumption of state jurisdiction in violation of the 1855 Treaty, the aforementioned federal laws, and of the constitutional rights of tribal members and non-members alike. The RBC lacks authority to consent to state jurisdiction on behalf of its members, just as it lacks the authority to sell tribal land under federal law. These powers belong to the people alone, until such time as they delegate such authority. Furthermore, even if the Mille Lacs RBC legally consented to the law enforcement agreement, and if it does in fact have the constitutional authority to create a police and judicial system in cooperation with the state, state courts lack jurisdiction to bring charges of trespassing on tribal trust lands. 28 USC 1360 states that "Nothing in this section shall.. confer jurisdiction on the State to adjudicate.. the ownership or right to possession of [trust] property or any interest therein." In virtually all the subsections of the state trespassing statute, 609.605, exemption is made for those with a "claim of right." Since federal law precludes the state from making a determination of a "claim of right" or a "right to possession," trespassing cases originating in Indian Country cannot be heard in state court without denying defendants right to a claim under the state statute. III CONCLUSION: Based upon the foregoing, Petitioner hereby seeks redress of these grievances in federal district court by the granting of a Writ of Habeas Corpus under 25 USC 1303 or 28 USC 2254(4) and moves for a Stay of State Court Proceedings in Mille Lacs County, Minnesota pursuant to 28 USC 2251. Sincerely submitted, (signed) Jeffrey David Armstrong Pro Se c/o Native American Press/ Ojibwe News 1106 Paul Bunyan Dr. Bemidji, MN 56601 218/751-1655 --------- "RE: Statement Regarding UN Rights Draft" --------- Date: Sat, 1 Nov 1997 10:39:16 -0700 From: Teton Sioux Nation Subj: Statement Regarding UN Rights Draft http://www.wintercount.org Black Hills Teton Sioux Nation MEMBER RESERVATIONS Pine Ridge Lower Brule Cheyenne River Standing Rock Rosebud Fort Peck Crow Creek Santee Canadian Sioux Once again the traditional leaders of the Lakota (Sioux) Nation are attending the Inter-Sessional Working Group on the Draft Declaration of the Rights of the World's Indigenous Peoples at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The meetings are held at the Palais des Nations from October 27th through November 7th, 1997. The Teton Sioux Nation Treaty Council is made up of descendants of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 between the Lakota Nation and the United States. The organization does not recognize the United States federal system of tribal council governments. Instead, the Lakota leaders who speak on behalf of the Tetuwan Oyate (Lakota Nation, people), rely on traditional Lakota law, government, language and culture as their authority and heritage. Through [United States Federal Policy], the exercise of power and administration of programs, domestic law and policy have come to ensure that every effort by Indigenous Peoples, in this case Dakota/Lakota, to achieve self-realization is frustrated and penalized. Dakota/Lakota are kept in a state of permanent dependency as the price of survival . . . Intervention of the Tetuwan Nation of Dakota and Lakota Oyate, 31st October 1997, United Nations, Geneva The Inter-Sessional Working Group is now in its third annual session and is charged with an examination of the Draft Declaration on the Rights of the Worlds Indigenous Peoples which was contributed to and crafted by Indigenous groups and nations from around the world. Many nation states, including the United States, are opposed to the Draft Declaration's favorable provisions on self-determination and treaty issues. Most Indigenous delegates are, however, urging the Inter-Sessional Working Group to approve the Declaration as drafted. The Lakota representatives of the Teton Sioux Nation Treaty Council, including Tony Black Feather (Oglala Lakota), Germaine Tremmel (Hunkpapa Lakota), and Melvin Grey Owl (Crow Creek Dakota), have stated that the Lakota Nation could accept no compromises in the language of the Draft Declaration. We, the Tetuwan Nation of Dakota/Lakota request immediate adoption of the Draft Declaration on the Rights of the World's Indigenous Peoples as presently drafted without changes, amendments or deletions. We will not negotiate or compromise that depends on the continued survival of our seven generations to come. The traditional leaders of the Tetuwan Oyate believe that international law and the natural law of the Creator are the ultimate guarantee of human rights. The Draft Declaration, as prepared in consultation with Indigenous peoples, is one tool in the international legal protection of the Tetuwan Oyate. We are a Nation. We have always been a Nation. We will always be a Nation. We treated with the colonizer of North America on a nation to nation basis. . . The Black Hills are not sacred to us because of the gold there. It is sacred to us because our Creator gave us the Black Hills. When something is stolen and the stealer or thief is caught, what has been stolen should be returned. The goal of all international efforts by the Teton Sioux Nation Treaty Council is always the preservation of a culture and a way of life for the generations to come while ensuring that the world can live in peace. Because many of the rights guaranteed to us by the colonizer's system are not at times honored, this Draft Declaration in its entirety is all the more important to us as it is to all Indigenous People in the World. We encourage finalization of this Draft Declaration in its entirety. We are sure the world wants world peace. Adopting this Draft could be a step in that direction. The Creator made us peaceful People. The Creator did this for a reason. Let us put our mind and energies together to return to this reason. Only then can we achieve a measure of world peace. --------- "RE: Passamaquoddys Press Claims" --------- Date: Wed, 29 Oct 1997 23:33:31 -0800 From: FireSpeak Subj: Passamaquoddys press claims to St. Andrews land <><><><><><><>NASC NEWS MAILING<><><><><><><> BDN News Frame (Keyword to: http://www.bangornews.com/News/NewsFrame.html) The Bangor Daily News for Thursday, October 23, 1997 Passamaquoddys press tribal claims to St. Andrews land ST. ANDREWS, New Brunswick - Passamaquoddy Indians from Maine say because officials in this wealthy community have refused to discuss the tribe's ancestral land claims, the nearly 1,700 residents henceforth will be considered trespassers and the tribe will take legal action to regain its property. Rep. Fred Moore III, the Passamaquoddys' tribal representative in Maine's Legislature, said Wednesday that one of the tribe's options is to sue in federal or international court. Moore said the tribe might seek compensation for the years the land was not available to them, a claim that could reach $3.5 billion. St. Andrews Mayor Nancy Aiken said Wednesday the town did not have any evidence to suggest residents are trespassing on Passamaquoddy land. She said the matter is a federal issue, not something the town could handle. She said she was aware tribal officials had met with federal Canadian officials from the Department of Indian Affairs. "We have indicated repeatedly our willingness to discuss ancestral burial grounds and commemorate such burial grounds if they can be authenticated. We have a process that we have to go through," the mayor said. Moore said the tribe, which has reservations at Pleasant Point and Indian Township in Maine, is determined to pursue the matter. "All we have done here is wasted two years in giving St. Andrews the opportunity to resolve this in a manner that would promote our mutual best interests," he said. In a letter to town officials dated Oct. 13, the tribe said it had made offers that had been ignored. They had asked the town to turn over all undeveloped and unoccupied portions of land at Indian Point, the 100-acre plot near downtown St. Andrews that is at the center of the controversy. The tribe proposed that if land at Indian Point was returned to the tribe, it would relinquish its claims to the entire town. The tribe also said it would not lay claim to the town's sewage lagoon and would assure community access to the Little League field. Tribal officials also said they would honor the lease the Kiwanis Club has for a campground it operates at Indian Point. The tribe's effort to regain the land began more than a century ago. In 1785, loyalists fleeing the United States agreed to rent land from the tribe where they could spend the winter. Tribal officials say the settlers reneged on the agreement and never left. The tribe has a copy of a petition concerning the lease agreement that the descendants of the original Passamaquoddy residents at St. Andrews presented to the New Brunswick House of Assembly on Feb. 14, 1854, in an effort to collect compensation for the land. The assembly neither accepted nor rejected the petition. It has been tabled for the past 143 years. Tribal officials maintain that at a conservative 7 percent interest, the money still owed to the Passamaquoddys has grown to $3.5 billion. Hugh Akagi, a Canadian Passamaquoddy, has a two-story home at Indian Point overlooking the bay. Akagi won a court settlement in 1993 against the town, guaranteeing him 4.9 acres of the property where his family has lived for many years. He alerted the Passamaquoddys at their Pleasant Point reservation in Maine when the town of St. Andrews decided to sell the land to developers. The Maine Passamaquoddys showed up in force two years ago with Moore in the lead, vowing to fight the effort to sell the land to developers. --------- "RE: Innu Regional News" --------- Date: Mon, 3 Nov 1997 09:48:55 -0330 From: Larry Innes Subj: Regional News Mailing List: Innu People Forum list CBC Radio Regional News - Thursday, October 30, 1997 PM NEWS ================= There's been a major breakthrough in land claims talks with the Labrador Inuit Association. Premier Tobin says in the last few days, negotiators for the L-I-A and the federal and provincial governments have agreed on the framework for an agreement. Tobin held a news conference this afternoon to announce the deal. Philip Daniel reports. DANIEL REPORT: It's not an agreement-in-principle yet...what the three sides have done is to agree on a set of principles governing the tough issues, such as self-government, royalties, the size of the claim, and so on. Premier Tobin says the breakthrough was the result of hard work by all the negotiators...and he's made it pretty clear the provincial and federal cabinet will ratify this agreement. Tobin says the recent court actions against the Voisey's bay project didn't really spur the deal...but he says all sides clearly wanted to negotiate a deal, rather than fight things out in court. TOBIN CLIP: <> Tobin says the L-I-A board of directors will meet early next week to examine the deal....he says if all three parties ratify it, the details will be announced next Wednesday. The president of the Labrador Inuit Association, William Barbour says the talks have been long and difficult. But he feels good about these latest developments. BARBOUR CLIP: <> Premier Tobin says if the deal is ratified, he expects to see a full agreement-in-principle ready by Christmas. ------------------------ The President of the Innu Nation has resigned. Katie Rich handed in her letter of resignation after a dispute with the organizations Board of directors. Rich says the board members voted to pay themselves honoraria of a thousand dollars each for two meetings that had been cancelled. She calls the board unethical and greedy. Meanwhile, the Innu Nation's Vice President says he's polled the board members, and they are willing to give up the payments. Daniel Ashini he will try to convince Rich to withdraw her resignation. He says the board will be meeting again this weekend, and he hopes the board will formally rescind the decision. [Ed note: The Board rescinded its decision this weekend, and Katie is expected to announce that she has reconsidered her resignation shortly.] ----------------------- CBC Radio AM 31 October 1997 A potential Labrador Inuit land claims agreement is playing to mixed reviews. For Labrador's Innu, the announcement is a bit unnerving. That group's vice president doesn't know what the Inuit have agreed to. But Daniel Ashini knows that whatever it is, the federal and provincial governments will try to make his group sign a similar agreement. Ashini says despite the government's expectations, the Innu will negotiate their own settlement...and it may not look anything like the Inuit agreement. The news of a possible land claims agreement was greeted with a lot more enthusiasm by the local business community. The President of the Labrador North Chamber of Commerce has been pressing government to deal with land claims. John Fleet sees yesterday's announcement as very positive. ----------------------------- Meanwhile, yesterday's announcement is also being greeted with enthusiasm at the Voisey's Bay Nickel Company. A land claims agreement would help clear the way for mining in northern Labrador. Rick Gill is a vice president with the company. GILL CLIP: <> Gill says his company sees yesterday's announcement as a big step forward. --------------------- for Sunday, November 02, 1997 Land claims a step closer 10/31/97 () By BERNIE BENNETT The Evening Telegram Ottawa, Newfoundland and the Labrador Inuit Association have reached an agreement-in-principle - to negotiate an agreement-in-principle. The initial deal, hammered out after 12 days of intensive negotiations in Ottawa, is subject to ratification by the three principals involved. "It's sort of clearing the brush" before they get at the big timber, said LIA spokesman Winston White. Premier Brian Tobin said Thursday his cabinet has given it the thumbs up and he is confident the feeling is mutual in Ottawa. Now, all that's needed to start working on the final document is the ratification by the LIA. That process won't start until Monday when the LIA board of directors gets together in Nain. Both Tobin and LIA president William Barbour said they have agreed not to reveal any details of the deal to start negotiations until all parties have been fully informed on the issues. Tobin said they hope to have the land claims agreement-in-principle inked before Christmas. He said they are looking at Dec. 19 at the latest. "It will take several more years after that to complete the legally binding details of the settlement," said Tobin. He and Barbour will release details of the negotiation agreement next Wednesday. The premier said he and top executives of Inco will meet next Tuesday to discuss matters to be resolved so the development of the Voisey's Bay nickel mine can proceed. He said they also want to fast-track negotiations between the company and the LIA on an impact benefit agreement. Barbour said he is optimistic about the proposed deal, but the information he will be releasing to board members Monday is still very sensitive. "This latest achievement increases our confidence that the next steps of reaching an agreement-in-principle on a land claims agreement and on an Inuit impact and benefit agreement with Inco and Voisey's Bay Nickel Co. are better than they ever have been." With one high hurdle on aboriginal land claims appearing to be cleared, Tobin acknowledged there is still another before the finish line - the Innu. Tobin said he intends to contact Innu leaders during the next few days to set up fast-track negotiations on land claims, but an agreement with the Inuit is the much larger of the two. The premier said the negotiating teams found a way to make progress with the Inuit to avoid years of delay in the courts, and he is confident they can achieve the same with the Innu. -------------- for Sunday, November 02, 1997 Innu leader resigns in protest over funds 10/31/97 () By GARY HEBBARD The Evening Telegram Katie Rich has resigned as chief and as a member of the Innu Nation board to protest board members voting to pay themselves for two days of meetings that did not take place. Rich made the announcement Thursday after submitting her resignation the day before. Each of the 16 board members receives a $500-a-day honorarium for attending meetings. But when the two-day gathering was postponed earlier this week, board members decided to pay themselves anyway. The vote was 7-5 in favor with four members not available to vote. "I don't think that's right," said Rich. She doesn't think members should even be voting on the issue. That's why she's taking a stand, Rich said. If the board members refuse to reverse their decision, she will decline to serve even if the board doesn't accept her resignation. "I don't think that's leadership, that's fraud, that's stealing from the communities and I don't think that's right," she said. Rich said she's talked to two or three board members from Davis Inlet and they are taking the same position she is. But she hasn't spoken to anybody >from the other Innu community in Labrador, Sheshatshiu. "When it comes to money, when people ... know that the money is there but there hasn't been any board meeting, why should they (get paid)? Why should they get $1,000 for nothing?" An Innu Nation board meeting is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in Sheshatshiu to consider Rich's resignation. The funding for the honorariums comes from the federal government under land claims discussion agreements. [Ed note: The Board rescinded its decision this weekend, and Katie is expected to announce that she has reconsidered her resignation shortly.] --------------------------- for Sunday, November 02, 1997 First step to land claims deal 11/1/97 (The Evening Telegram) A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. If that is the case, then a first significant step toward a new era of development in Labrador and a new level of equity for the native people of the region was taken in Ottawa this week. Without seeing the details it is impossible to endorse the tentative deal initialled between the Labrador Inuit Association and the federal and provincial governments, but it is heartening to see the progress that has been accomplished. The three parties' negotiating teams have now agreed on a set of principles that could eventually form the basis of the land claims settlement. These principles have to be ratified by the LIA's board of directors, and later by their membership, and these same terms will have to be ratified by both cabinets in Ottawa and St. John's. Assuming the negotiating teams have done their homework and the deal holds together, the biggest obstacle to the development of Voisey's Bay and the other Labrador mega-projects has been overcome. But there are other hurdles ahead. The biggest is a land claims deal with the Innu. The Innu's land claim overlaps the Inuit one, but their claim to the area around Voisey's Bay is considered the weaker of the two. However, the government still has to negotiate with the Innu since the alternative would be a long, drawn-out process in the courts - a process that might hold up developments for many years. In addition to the land claims, there are two other procedures that could also hold up the works. The environmental assessment of the Voisey's Bay project has been underway since the spring, and the most optimistic estimate has it taking at least another year to complete. A more realistic scenario has the entire process winding up at the end of 1999. And the Voisey's Bay Nickel Company must also conclude an impact agreement with both the Innu and the Inuit. Given the posturing that went on earlier this fall, there is little agreement in place as yet. The biggest obstacle seems to be the little matter of several hundred million dollars. Nevertheless, the progress of this past week is the most encouraging sign yet. With a comprehensive land claims agreement in effect, the way is open to not only proceed with the mine at Voisey's Bay, but with the critical Trans-Labrador highway, and with possible hydroelectric development on other Labrador rivers. This week a first, and perhaps the most important step, was taken. ------------------- Letter for Sunday, November 02, 1997 Argentia smelter 10/30/97 () Recently I read with great interest an article in the Sept. 26 edition of The Evening Telegram entitled "Don't cry for Voisey's Bay" by Owen Myers. Mr. Myers is a former resident of this area and like all of us has great concern for the environmental issues in Argentia. As a newly elected councillor of the Town of Placentia I have been appointed to the Voisey's Bay Nickel Company liaison committee and have received instructions by council to keep an eye on the environmental work that is going on in Argentia. I have always contended that I was born on a beach rock and wished to die on a beach rock at a fine old age. I have family, neighbors and friends whose health is of utmost concern to me and I intend to keep that foremost in my mind when dealing with environmental issues. At present the council is being briefed by public works and government services Canada on the extensive environmental work that is presently on going in Argentia. We have every confidence that every effort will be made to make the smelter refining complex environmentally friendly and that the clean up of Argentia will meet every specification required by law. For this reason we do not see any reason why any environmental impact study done in Argentia should be tied to any assessment studies that are required in Voisey's Bay. Ian Walsh, councillor Placentia --------- "RE: Cherokee Housing Authority Problems" --------- Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 09:25:10 -0600 From: Summerfield/Marvin&Linda Subj: Still problems in the Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation Newsgroups: alt.native,soc.culture.native For the very latest news in the Cherokee Controversy and News, stop by the official Cherokee Observer web pages. http://www.cherokeeobserver.org You will find the latest in the news as well as a link to the official Cherokee Observer web bbs. Come and join in on the bbs and chat line. [Chat lines are open all the time, Tonight come join in at 6PM-CST.] The Cherokee Observer obtained a copy of the following letter United States Attorney Eastern District of Oklahoma 1200 West Okmulgee Muskogee, Oklahoma 74401 October 28, 1997 Mr. Nathan H. Young, III Attorney at Law 239 W. Keetoowah St. Tahlequah, OK 74464 Re: Cherokee Nation Housing Authority Dear Mr. Young: I have received your invitation to attend the emergency meeting of the Cherokee Nation Housing Authority Board of Directors scheduled for October 28, 1997. I do not believe that it would be appropriate, at this time, for the lead criminal prosecutor conducting the investigation into the Cherokee Nation Housing Authority to attend the meeting. I am sure that the board would have many questions of me that I would not be able to answer at this time due to the grand jury secrecy requirement. As we have discussed, I am not pleased over the production of records to the HUD auditor this past week. The HUD auditor stated that she had never had such problems getting records and has never had an armed guard restricting her access as she experienced at the Cherokee Nation Housing Authority. The less than subtle methods of intimidation used by Joel Thompson were not appreciated and will not be successful in deterring the investigation of the United States of America. The one item that I would like the board to address at the October 28, 1997, meeting would be the issue raised by Mr. Thompson that an attorney- client privilege exists with regard to certain records produced by the Washington, D.C., law firm of Patton, Boggs and Blow. The government views the board as the legal head of the Cherokee Nation Housing Authority and as such wishes to determine if the board asserts any attorney-client privilege concerning the Patton, Boggs and Blow law firm or whether the board waives any such privilege. Please let me know as soon as possible the board's position concerning this issue. Sincerely yours, BRUCE GREEN United States Attorney DOUGLAS A. HORN Asst. United States Attorney --------- "RE: New Moon Prayer" --------- Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 22:37:30 -0500 From: "elaine flattery" Subj: New Moon Prayer - October 31, 1997 UUCP email Every new moon in 1997 at 5 am in Ashland, Oregon and other parts of the U.S. and world (8 est, 7 cst, etc), we will be praying for Unity. All are asked to join in this prayer time, and share this information with others in your local communities as we hope this will be a growing prayer circle for the sake of the Sacred Hoop and all our Relations. We will continue praying for the Elders, Buffaloes, Sun Dancers, Respect, Sobriety, Sovereignty, Children, Grandmother Earth and Grandmothers and protection of our Sacred Sites. We want to pray for clarity this new moon so that when we take a stand, it will be the right stand. To focus clearly on the issues and not the personalities. It is 'what' is right that is important, not 'who' is right. This is a mature way of looking at things. I was honored on this last trip to South Dakota to be asked to give a name to one of our 7th Generation. So I now have a new three year old Grandson who's name was that of my Greatgrandfather and brother's - Sniyala. I see this as an answer to the Sun Dance prayers, this is a sign of Hope. Sniyala, meaning the ripples in the water where the circle grows. My Greatgrandpa's name was sacred, there is hope for the People. Mitakuye oyasi', Dave Chief Oglala Lakota Elder _________ ___/ / / / / \_ \ _\__\__/\__ / *********************************** Native American Information Service is planning a Teach-In on Indian Rights in early 1998. We plan on exposing the fact that Indians, are the only group that is systematically denied rights guaranteed to other citizens by the Bill of Rights. This we call - The Invisible Racism. We hope to draw the very finest Native American Scholars to speak and/or present papers at this teach in. Your support, financial or otherwise, would be greatly appreciated. For further information contact: Dorothy Robbins Native American Information Service 1875 Hwy 99, N Suite 4 Ashland, Oregon 97540 541-482-7647 --------- "RE: History of the Keetoowah Cherokees" --------- Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 09:25:28 -0500 (EST) From: SbrWarrior Subj: NASC NEWS: Keetoowah <><><><><><><>NASC NEWS MAILING<><><><><><><> OctIssue97 FOOTSTEPS-HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: HISTORY OF THE KEETOOWAH CHEROKEES by David A. Cornsilk Managing Editor For many years a battle has been brewing in the Cherokee Nation. This battle isn't one you will see on television or watch outside the local bar. This battle isn't between two diverse groups of people who don't like each other for ridiculous reasons, such as skin color, religion, creed or national origin. No, this battle is between members of the same household, the Cherokees. The Cherokees, from the beginning of our recorded history in the 1700's, have been a divided people. Natural lines or fractures exist in our society which with external pressure, open into wide fissures. These fissures create what appear to be irreparable wounds which prevent unity and sap the strength of our Nation. The old adage, "Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it", is appropriate for a Nation so rich in history and lessons from the past as the Cherokees. Described by outsiders as a single Nation under the title of Cherokees, we called ourselves the Principal People (A-ni-yuh-wee-yuh) and KEETOOWAH people (A-ni-kee-too-wah-gee). The former was used in conversations with or about other Nations of Indians to show the Cherokee superiority. The term in now commonly used to refer to all Indians. The latter term was more spiritual in nature and was used among Cherokee speakers to refer to themselves. Kituhwa was the mother town or original settlement of the Cherokees. The town served as a spiritual center and capitol for the Cherokee people until the development of a new capitol at Chota. The town of Kituhwa has long since faded into the annals of Cherokee history and even its true location is a mystery. Some scholars believe the town is located in western North Carolina near the present reservation of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The Cherokee Nation, from the earliest records, was divided into several bands separate from each other by geographic features and language dialects. Each band functioned politically separate from all others and within each band, the towns functioned as separate political entities. In times of warfare, each band and town made a choice to join together for defense, remain neutral or even fight against each other. The situation was much like the city-state politics of early Greece and medieval Italy. The Cherokees did not unify under a single government until the English, weary from dealing with so many "heads of state", withheld vital trade goods until the Cherokees selected an "Emperor", through whom the British could deal. Clearly, the novel concept of a single, all-powerful monarch was foreign to the democratic Cherokees and subchiefs continued to play a vital role in the development of the tribe and its foreign policy. Warfare broke out frequently in the Cherokee country during the 1700's, mainly due to the machinations of the agents of France, Spain, or England. Most of the Cherokee towns were strongly in favor of British trade. This was not true of the five Chickamauga towns under the leadership of Dragging Canoe and later, The Bench, ancestor of the Benge family. Runningwater, Nickajack, Chickamauga, Tinsawatie, and Elijay were closely aligned with the Spanish in Florida and their English spy, John McDonald, who ran a trading post at Pensacola and was the grandfather of Chief John Ross. The Chickamauga Cherokees fought against the settlement of lands ceded by the pro-English Cherokee government to the British colonies. Dragging Canoe stated, "The settlement of this land shall be dark and bloody", and he made it so. The names of Dragging Canoe, The Bench and the Chickamauga Cherokees became the most feared in the territory. The fighting couldn't go on forever and upon the assassination of the Bench, the Chickamauga laid down their arms, and the Cherokees would wage no further wars with the European and American powers. 1790 saw great changes taking place in the Cherokee Nation and in its relationship to the new nation, the United States. Prideful from their victory over Britain and hungry for land, the Americans were eager to punish the Cherokees for siding with the British during the Revolutionary War. Land cessions became the order of the day. With a single head of state, the only formality in obtaining more was the correct amount of rum and trinkets. Many subchiefs, dissatisfied with the Nation's politics and their own diminishing power, chose to separate from the Cherokee Nation and become a separate political entity. This was accomplished by leaving the eastern homeland and finding suitable territory west of the Mississippi. A small group of Cherokees settled in the Arkansas territory, established their own government and requested recognition from the United States. In the treaties of 1817, 1819, 1828 and 1833, the Western Cherokees were recognized as a separate Nation. Once again we can see that outside pressures of white emigration, cultural genocide and political change drove the Cherokees to fracture into two separate Nation's. At the same time, the Eastern Cherokees were struggling to hold on to their ancestral homeland which had been reduced to about one-fifth (1/5) its original size. Pressure was being placed on the Cherokees to emigrate west and join the Western Cherokees in Arkansas Territory, and after 1828, in Indian Territory. The Spanish and the French continued to put pressure on the Southern Cherokees and the now sovereign states of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina were harassing the Cherokee Nation. All of these pressures combined to create an explosive atmosphere for the Cherokee people to begin drawing lines and creating fissures. The Western Cherokees, prospering in their new homes, sent letters and messages to the Eastern Cherokees of a land of milk and honey. They talked of the abundance of nature, the fruit of one's labor and the absence of the ruinous influence of the white man. In a letter to the Eastern Cherokees, Chief George Lowrey begged his eastern brethren to join him in his happiness in the west. He signed his letter in the Cherokee Syllabary developed by his cousin Sequoyah, and followed his name with the heading Kituhwa-gi. The A-ni-ki-tu-wa-gi had established themselves as a separate government in the west. During the period of turmoil in the east, factions developed and merged and redeveloped almost on a daily basis. The Cherokees living in North Carolina long the Oconaluftee River, under the leadership of their chief Junaluska (Drowning Bear), severed their ties with the Cherokee Nation East, relinquished their Cherokee citizenship and became citizens of the state of North Carolina. During the Cherokee Removal of 1838-39, Junaluska's band of Cherokees were not required to leave and remained unmolested as their brethren were driven west over the Trail Where They Cried, Junaluska's band became the nucleus of what is known today as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, a separate political entity. The Cherokees who lost their homes in the east came west in two very distinct factions. Between 1835 and 1837, members of the Treaty Party included signers of the now infamous Treaty of New Echota and other supporters of removal who voluntarily relinquished their homes and lands in the east. The years of 1838-39 saw the forced mass migration of the Cherokees opposed to removal and the treaty which had caused it. Bitter hatred seethed in the hearts of families who had lost everything, including family members to the removal. Of course, the U. S. Government was the true force behind the removal and the treaty which had caused it. The Treaty Party, its members fearful of being murdered, sided with the Old Settlers for protection or fled to Texas where many of their descendants continue to reside today. The emigrant or Ross faction of the Cherokee Nation, with members to their advantage, decided to overpower the Western Cherokee's government and install their Chief, John Ross, as the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Even the title "Principal Chief", speaks to the factionalism common to our Nation. Many subchiefs continued to wield great power in the Nation. Principal Chief was used to distinguish Ross from the numerous subchiefs. In June 1839, an Act of Union was written by William Shorey Coody, an Old Settler, uniting the warring factions of the Cherokee tribes into one Nation under the control of the Principal Chief, John Ross. The Act of Union brought together, by mutual agreement, the Ross Party, the Treaty Party, and the Old Settlers. The Act, however, was just a piece of paper and only as good as Ross' leadership. Fighting and bloodshed continued among the Cherokees for seven years. It was not until 1846 that John Ross successfully negotiated a new treaty and was able to soothe the torn and weary Cherokee people. The wounds were deep and merely awaited new pressures to split open anew. Mixed-bloods such as the Ross, Adair, Vann, McNair, Bushyhead, Sanders and Downing families dominated the Cherokee Nation political scene. A new fissure was developing which, although near the surface, had not been seen before. The full-bloods were becoming outnumbered by their mixed-blood brethren. The full-bloods, dominated by thinkers from the A-ni-ki-tu-wa-gi, were losing power in the Cherokee Nation. Pig Smith, Creek Sam, and other traditionalists joined forces with Evan and John Jones, white baptist Missionaries, to create a political and spiritual body to empower the full-bloods in Cherokee politics. In 1859, this faction of Cherokees lead by Old Settlers, incorporated as the Keetoowah Society. Favoring traditional Cherokee ways, values and religion, this group was opposed to mixed-blood domination of Cherokee affairs, land cessions, and slavery. The winter of 1859-60 saw the issue of slavery take on the national attention of both full-blood and mixed-bloods alike. .....Fueled by the Baptist Jones' opposition to slavery and ignited by the full-blown disfranchisement, the Keetoowah Society became Northern sympathizers and abolitionist among the slave-owning mixed-bloods. Principal Chief John Ross, ever aware of his full blood power base, resolved to remain neutral in the American Civil War, then looming on the horizon. Through the pressures of Stand Watie, a Cherokee Confederate General and Treaty party leader, and the almost total abandonment of the Cherokee Nation by Federal troops, Ross signed a treaty with the Confederacy and joined the war. Almost immediately after signing the Confederate treaty, Ross denounced it as a fraud. With such great pressures from the outside, the Cherokee Nation fractured along many lines. The old hatreds from the removal broke to the surface with a fury. Many murders were committed in the name of warfare that were really nothing more than revenge killings. Stand Watie and his troops rampaged through the Cherokee country killing and pillaging his OWN people and burning the homes of those he blamed for the deaths of his relatives, Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot, all signers of the removal treaty. Full bloods fled north into Kansas, while mixed-bloods, with their slaves, fled south into Texas, leaving the Cherokee Nation ripe for the picking. The Cherokees returned home after the war to a scene of total devastation. The Cherokee Nation was now totally divided along blood lines and political sympathies. Full bloods controlled the government under acting Principal Chief, Watt Pegg. The mixed-bloods demanded consideration and recognition of their chief, Stand Watie. The full bloods wanted the National government turned back over to John Ross and abhorred the thought of Stand Watie as chief. To keep what they had gained the full bloods used the Keetoowah Society as a vehicle for political power. The spiritualist of the Society did not want to be involved in tribal politics and the Society spilt into two distinct branches, the Keetoowah Society and the National Party. The National Party, dominated by full bloods, elected the Principal Chiefs of the Cherokee Nation until the election of Joel Mayes. The era of domination of the Cherokee Nation by mixed-bloods began again. The Keetoowah Society became a secret society before the opening of the Civil War and due to pressures from missionaries and mixed-bloods, settled back to gain the strength that would be necessary to fight the Dawes Commission and the mixed-bloods over the allotment of tribal lands. Under the remarkable leadership of the great Keetoowah Chief, Redbird Smith, son of Pig Smith, the Society gained the following of nearly every full-blood Cherokee in the Nation. Known as Nighthawks because of their nighttime ceremonies and secretive habits, the Keetoowahs embraced Cherokee culture and prevented its spiraling decline. The Keetoowahs even became involved in the manhunts staged by the U.S. Marshalls in the 1890's for the so-called outlaws, Ned Christie and the Wickliffe boys. Fierce nationalist, the Keetoowahs were opposed to any incursion of Cherokee sovereignty by the U S. or the states. Land cessions were unthinkable among them. Treaties were sacred vows made in the sight of God, to be honored to the letter by the United States and the Cherokees. When the threat of land allotment came, the Keetoowahs and Chief Redbird Smith rallied every ounce of strength to fight for Cherokee rights. The Dawes Commission responded to the Keetoowah tactics to avoid enrollment by hiring Cherokee spies, usually mixed-bloods, to sniff out the fullbloods and testify on their behalf and enroll them against their will. The tactic was so successful that not more than a handful of Cherokee citizens escaped enrollment. Redbird Smith himself was imprisoned and forced to enroll. Upon his release he issued an order to his Nighthawk followers to stop resistance and, if required, to be passive about enrollment. He did, however, manage to slow down the actual division of land by having his followers refuse to choose allotments or refuse allotment certificates if land had been chosen for them. In 1905 the remnant of the National Party and the Keetoowah Society incorporated under federal law and began what was to prove to be a 46 year struggle to regain the separate government they had before the Act of Union in June of 1839. Convinced of the abrogation of the Act of Union, Redbird Smith set out to gain separate tribal status for the fullbloods through the Keetoowah Society. By incorporating, the Society would be an organized political entity, even though they continued to function under the original Keetoowah Constitution of 1859. Redbird Smith accepted his allotment, as well as that of his wife and children around 1914. During the time between 1906 and 1914, many Keetoowah leaders began to suspect Redbird Smith of selling out. He had accepted his allotment and had even sold some acreage of one minor son to finance home improvements! Keetoowah leaders, such as Ned Blackfox, James Hilderbrand and Eli Pumpkin broke away from the Keetoowah Society and organized their own societies. Names such as the "The Eastern and Western Cherokee Keetoowah", began to appear. These organizations operated independently of each other in their attempts to continue avoiding allotment, restoration of the old order and enforce the treaties or gain some measure of protection for the fullbloods who had accepted their allotments A branch of the Keetoowah Society sprang up in nearly every full-blood community as Redbird Smith's influence among them began to fail. After Redbird's death in 1919, there were 22 separate Keetoowah organizations functioning independently in the Cherokee Nation. Each organization carried out its own political agenda and continued to practice the old ceremonies. Bitter rivalries began to develop between the older sons of Redbird following his death, with each attempting to take charge of the Keetoowah Society and accusing the others of different wrongs. The youngest son of Redbird, Stoke Smith, grasped the helm and took charge of the Keetoowah Society, the mother society of all other branches. Disturbed by the lack of unity of the twenty-one other ceremonial grounds and by the desecration of the original ground on Blackgum, Stoke Smith moved the ceremonial grounds to its present location a few miles west of Blackgum. To consolidate his authority over the diverging Keetoowah branches, Stoke visited each ground and ceremonially killed their fires and brought them home to the new mother ground at Buffalo town near his home. The last to go home were at Sugar Mountain and Chewey. The leaders of the Keetoowah organizations were not to be thwarted so easily. Although many Keetoowahs followed the fires to the new mother ground, many continued to follow the old dethroned ground chiefs. These chiefs led their people for several years, acting as nearly as possible as despot mayors of the several communities. Under the leadership of James Hilderbrand, Dick Pickup and Ned Blackfox, a new organization was begun. It functioned under the title of Keetoowah Society and relied heavily upon the 1905 charter of incorporation, even though the Keetoowah Society proper continued to function as a non-political, spiritual society in Sequoyah County with Stoke Smith as chief. After the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934 and subsequently, the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act in 1936, Dick Pickup brought together the leaders of the numerous Keetoowah branches at Tahlequah. After lengthy discussion, a vote was taken to unite the fractured society under one chief and officially petition Congress for Tribal recognition under the laws. Only one chief refused to participate. Stoke Smith, leader of the Keetoowah Society proper, refused because the new organization had politics as its main concern. Stoke Smith did not, however prevent members of his society from joining the new organization. Duly organized and ready to ask for federal recognition, a debate ensued over what to call the organization. All present were Keetoowah and wanted the name to reflect that. It was decided that because the group had been brought together and in effect united, the name United Keetoowah Society was selected. The Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington D.C. had some problem with extending federal recognition to a "society" and proposed the present name of United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma. The name was accepted and application was made for formal recognition of the UKB. Recognition of the UKB did not come easily. There was some difficulty with the re-establishing a government for the Cherokees because of residual recognition of the old Cherokee Nation government through the appointment of the Principal Chiefs by the President of the United States. Congress, however, was able to overcome any reservations it had and extended federal recognition to the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma in 1949. The rest is history. --------- "RE: Crazy Horse Malt Liquor" --------- Date: 3 Nov 1997 01:18:26 GMT From: rpwgough@aol.com (Rpwgough) Subj: CRAZY HORSE MALT LIQUOR Newsgroup: alt.native SUMMARY AND UPDATE The Original CRAZY HORSE MALT LIQUOR Case In the ROSEBUD SIOUX TRIBAL COURT Jurisdiction on Appeal to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals HORNELL BREWING CO., INC., D/B/A, FEROLITO, VULTAGGIO & SONS; THE G. HEILEMAN BREWING CO., INC., AND JOHN FEROLITO AND DON VULTAGGIO, INDIVIDUALLY,PLAINTIFFS/APPELLEES, VS. THE ROSEBUD SIOUX TRIBAL COURT; STANLEY WHITING, PRO-TEM TRIBUNAL JUDGE; SETH H. BIG CROW, SR. AS ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF TASUNKE WITKO, A.K.A CRAZY HORSE, ET AL.DEFENDANTS/APPELLANTS. [8 USCA No. 97-1242SDP/1243SDP//Cross Appeal No. 97-1244SDP] BACKGROUND On March 17, 1992, the makers of AriZona Iced Tea (Ferolito, Vultaggio & Sons, dba Hornell Brewing Company, and the G. Heileman Brewing Company), produced a fortified alcohol beverage called: "The Original Crazy Horse Malt Liquor" that has been primarily marketed to young urban men of color. Despite some 18 months of protests by Indian Tribes, churches, activists, and a failed federal attempt prohibiting the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms from issuing a Certificate Of Label Approval, the Brewers expanded sales -- reportedly selling over one million cases of the malt liquor in the first year alone -- from 14 to over 40 states. Several states, including Washington, Nebraska and Minnesota, have taken action to oppose the use of this patently offensive label within their borders. The Washington State Liquor Control Board's prohibition was not challenged, Nebraska sought and received voluntary compliance from liquor distributors, and Minnesota's legislation was overturned by the state's appellate court on an appeal from the Minnesota chapter of the ACLU. In The ROSEBUD SIOUX TRIBAL COURT In August 1993, Estate of Tasunke Witko (representing descendant families from Rosebud, Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River Reservations in South Dakota) filed a complaint with affidavits in Rosebud Sioux Tribal Court entitled: IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF TASUNKE WITKO (Crazy Horse) vs. Heileman, Hornell, Ferolito, Vultaggio & Sons, and John Ferolito and Don Vultaggio, citing five causes of action: 1) Defamation of the spirit under Lakota law, 2) Negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and violations of 3) Estate's publicity rights under Lakota law, 2) the federal Indian Arts and Crafts Act and 5) the federal Lanham Act. In October, 1993, the Brewers filed a motion to dismiss filed in Tribal Court for lack of personal and subject matter jurisdiction. After a hearing in July, 1994, in which affidavits and arguments were submitted, the Tribal Court recognized the Estate's tribal right of publicity, but held that it lacked jurisdiction in this matter, under Montana v. United States. In January 1995, Estate appealed the dismissal to the Rosebud Sioux Supreme Court. In the ROSEBUD SIOUX SUPREME COURT In June 1996, the Rosebud Sioux Supreme Court issued a preliminary ruling on Estate's appeal of decision on motion to dismiss. It held that the Estate had established a prima facie case for jurisdiction and remanded the case back to the Tribal Court for a "prompt trial on the merits" acknowledging that proper jurisdiction, of course, would have to be established, perhaps in an evidentiary hearing in the Tribal Court. The Rosebud Sioux Supreme Court also denied the Estate standing to bring any claims under the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, interpreting the federal law as providing standing only to the U.S. Attorney General or a federally recognized Indian tribe to bring suit under the statute. On Remand to the TRIBAL TRIAL COURT In July 1996, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe petitioned to join the lawsuit as a co-plaintiff on behalf of itself and the Estate in the bringing of causes of action under the Indian Arts and Crafts Act. Into FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT In July 1996, Breweries claimed to have exhausted their tribal court remedies as required under federal law, and filed for "judicial review" of the Rosebud Sioux Supreme Court decision in the Federal District Court in Pierre, SD, [CIV. No. 96-3028]. The Breweries also asked the District Court to restrain and enjoin the Tribal Court from proceeding in this matter. The Breweries sought a federal determination that the Tribal Court has NO JURISDICTION to hear the case, and a preliminary injunction, claiming likelihood of the success on the issue of lack of jurisdiction. They maintained that simply by proceeding in a Tribal Court trial they would suffer irreparable harm in the nature of unrecoverable litigation costs and unspecified constitutional harms. The Breweries filed against the Estate, the Tribal Court and the Tribal Trial Court Judge, but did not include the Rosebud Sioux Tribe which had been granted status as a co-plaintiff in the Tribal Court. DISTRICT COURT'S ORDER: In November 1996, the Federal District Court held a telephonic hearing, and in December 1996 issued an order which: 1) Found that the Brewers did NOT EXHAUST tribal court remedies; 2) Remanded the case back to the Tribal Court for an evidentiary hearing on jurisdiction. 3) Restrained the Tribal Court from holding anything but an evidentiary hearing on jurisdiction, i.e. NO FULL TRIAL ON THE MERITS. 4) Held that Brewers had shown a LIKELIHOOD OF SUCCESS on lack of subject matter jurisdiction, even though the Court erroneously failed to addressed the "valid tribal interests" of the Indian parties and never addressed the DIRECT involvement of the Rosebud Tribe as a PARTY. 5) Reasoned that subjecting the Brewers to a Tribal Court trial would amount to irreparable harm, in that, should they ultimately win in Tribal Court or have the federal court overturn a Tribal Court decision in favor of the Estate, the Brewers would likely face unrecoverable litigation costs, along with unspecified violations of their constitutional rights. ON APPEAL TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE 8TH CIRCUIT Each side has appealed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. ESTATE AND TRIBAL COURT Argue: The Estate and Tribal Court appealed the Federal District Court's restraining order and injunction, arguing: First, the District Court's ruling violated the law of the 8th Circuit with regard to the proper federal/tribal procedural interface, in that once "lack of exhaustion of tribal court remedies" is found, the Federal Court must "stay its hand" and, therefore, should not restrain the Tribal Court from proceeding to a full trial on the merits. Second, even if the 8th Circuit finds no such violation, the District Court erred in granting a preliminary injunction, particularly in this case because it erroneously held there was a likelihood of success of the Brewers proving a lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The Estate and the Tribal Court maintain that the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Court has adequate, if not exclusive, subject matter jurisdiction in a case involving the descent and appropriation of cultural property rights belonging to an Indian person's estate located on an Indian Reservation. Finally, the District Court erroneously held that the Brewers would be irreparably harmed, through supposedly unrecoverable litigation costs and unspecified violation of their Constitutional rights, by the allowance of even concurrent proceedings in Tribal Court. 1) The mere costs of litigation, even if unrecoverable, clearly do not amount to irreparable harm. 2) To date, the Breweries have simply not suffered any real or imagined violations of their constitutional rights. Further, they always would have full opportunity to seek federal review of a Tribal Court judgment as to any violation of constitutional rights prior to any enforcement action taken on a Tribal Court judgment. BREWING COMPANIES Argue: The Brewers contend that having gone to the Rosebud Sioux Supreme Court on a preliminary procedural appeal of their motion to dismiss exhausts their tribal court remedies. They insist that the Federal District Court was wrong in finding that Tribal Court remedies were not exhausted. Further, the Brewers contend that under State v. A-1 Contractors (a U.S. Supreme Court decision denying tribal court jurisdiction to hear a civil tort claims case between two non-Indian parties arising from an automobile accident on a state highway in a reservation), that the Rosebud Tribal Court has no jurisdiction over them or their appropriation of intangible Indian property rights and thus it should be barred from ever hearing this case. ROSEBUD SIOUX TRIBE Files as Amicus: The Rosebud Sioux Tribe, which is a co-plaintiff in the Tribal Court action but has been ignored by the Brewers in their federal lawsuit, has filed as an Amicus in the 8th Circuit appeal. The Tribe argues the proper reach of Montana v. U.S. and underscores both the valid tribal interests and adequate subject matter jurisdiction in this case under both tribal law and federal law. ORAL ARGUMENT in the 8TH CIRCUIT Set for November The issues have been fully briefed and oral argument is set for November 17th in St. Paul, MN. The argument is open to the public at the Federal Court House in St. Paul, Minnesota. For More Information Contact: Phyllis Tousey Frederick or Yolanda Maya Crazy Horse Defense Project (CHDP) c/o Neighborhood Justice Center Phone: 612-222-4703 500 Laurel Avenue FAX: 612-222-0931 St. Paul, MN 55102 e-mail: CHDP MN@aol.com --------- "RE: Why the Crazy Horse Malt Liquor Case is Important" --------- Date: Mon, 3 Nov 1997 16:18:42 -0800 (PST) From: CHDPMN@aol.com Subj: Implications of Crazy Horse Case Mailing List: TRIBALLAW (triballaw@thecity.sfsu.edu) WHY IS THE "CRAZY HORSE MALT LIQUOR" CASE IMPORTANT FOR INDIAN TRIBES AROUND THE COUNTRY? On November 17, 1997, in the federal courthouse in St. Paul, Minnesota, attorneys for the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Court, the Estate of Tasunke Witko [Crazy Horse] and the AriZona Beverage companies [Hornell Brewing Company, G. Heileman Brewing Company, and Ferolito,Vultaggio and Sons] will argue whether or not the Estate's lawsuit against the brewers should be heard in the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Court. The oral arguments will begin at 9:00 A.M. For one hour, these parties will argue the meaning of exhaustion of tribal court remedies, the jurisdiction of a tribal court to establish and abide by its own procedure, the extent to which a District Court may restrain a tribal court's actions, and why it is appropriate for the Rosebud Court to hear this case. Since filing its complaint in August 25, 1993, the Estate of Tasunke Witko has sought to hold the makers of "The Original Crazy Horse Malt Liquor" accountable for their outrageous conduct in the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Court. For the past four years, the Estate has battled the AriZona Beverage companies over whether the Tribal Court has adjudicatory jurisdiction in this matter. Tribal court adjudicatory jurisdiction is the power or authority of the tribal court to hear a case. Tribal Court jurisdiction over this case is important both for this case, in particular, and for the more general authority of tribal courts nationwide. As we have seen in recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court has begun to narrow the jurisdiction of tribal courts with respect to non- Indians. Most recently in State v. A-1 Contractors, the U.S. Supreme Court took its holding in Montana v. U.S., which limited tribal regulatory jurisdiction over non-Indians, and directly applied it to tribal adjudicatory jurisdiction. What is the Estate's lawsuit about? In this case, the Estate of Tasunke Witko opposes the taking of the Crazy Horse name for use by non-Indian brewers off the reservation. The right to control the use a person's name or image in commerce is called the "right of publicity". The publicity right is an intangible property right held by the person, or by his estate on behalf of his descendants or relations, for the exclusive control of the name or image in commerce. The Rosebud Sioux Tribal Court has ruled that the Estate holds the publicity right in this case. Valid tribal and Indian interests are at stake in here in setting precedent in Indian Country for the location of such intangible intellectual property rights on the reservation. Why should the Tribal Court hear this case? The Estate's lawsuit raises several causes of action specific to and dependent upon interpretations of tribal customary law (Lakol Wo'ope) which have not been previously decided. Only a tribal court, and not a state or federal court, should make determinations on the laws of the tribe in a case of first impression. Further, the Rosebud Sioux Tribal law provides for "long arm" jurisdiction to the fullest extent of due process, so it has legal authority to pursue non-Indians located off the reservation for cause of action arising or committed on the reservation. What would a favorable decision do for tribe's nationwide? A favorable decision in this case will allow tribal courts nationwide to serve as the appropriate court to protect the intangible property rights of their tribes and their members from being used without permission of those involved. Why is having the trial on the Rosebud Reservation important? The Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation is the home of the Sicangu or Brule Band of Lakota. This is the band of Spotted Tail, who was Crazy Horse's maternal uncle. In 1877, Crazy Horse had gone to live with his mother's relatives among Spotted Tail's band when he was killed at Fort Robinson. Holding the trial of the brewers who are abusing his name at Rosebud will maximize the participation of family and tribal members in the proceedings at the least expense. Family members on the Rosebud, Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, and elsewhere in South Dakota, would have convenient access to Rosebud and could stay with relatives and friends, rather than have to travel to more distant courts in New York or elsewhere. Widespread interest and the participation and testimony of tribal elders with regard to the tribal customary laws (Lakol Wo'ope) is an important part of the Estate's lawsuit. Holding the trial in the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Court would be far more comfortable and convenient for such participation, and far less costly than holding the trial outside of Lakota country. How does this case bring respect for Tribal Court procedures? The District Court in South Dakota has found that the brewing companies have failed to exhaust their tribal court remedies. This means that the brewers must first go through the appropriate tribal court procedures. However, the District Court placed an injunction and restraining order on the Rosebud Tribal Court itself to prevent the court from following its own procedures in determining whether there should be a trial. A favorable decision from the 8th Circuit would order the District Court to respect the tribal court's authority over its own procedure. What happens if the Tribal Court is not permitted to hear the case? If the federal courts prohibit a tribal court from hearing this case, the Estate would need to bring lawsuits in either a federal or state court where the defendant brewer companies are conducting business. This will require additional delays and extensive travel for the attorneys, the family, and expert witnesses, along with additional legal fees and costs to associate with local counsel in distant jurisdictions and the refiling of new lawsuits. Clearly, this case can be won with the least expense possible by having the trial in the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Court. How does this case proceed in spirit of Crazy Horse? From the very beginning, the Lakota relations descendant of Crazy Horse's family have wanted to proceed with respect for the Spirit of Crazy Horse in the protection of his name, reputation and spirit. One of the causes of action in this case is defamation of the spirit under Lakota law. Further, recognizing that Crazy Horse himself never fought outside of this Lakota homeland and that he only fought in defense of his Lakota people and culture, the Estate has proceeded in a tribal court on a Lakota reservation and has moved under Lakota customary law, as well as appropriate federal law. The public is welcome to come and listen to the oral argument in this precedent-setting Indian law case at 9:00 A.M. on Monday, November 17th, in the federal courthouse on Roberts Street, St Paul, MN. Show your support for the Spirit of Crazy Horse. Contact the Crazy Horse Defense Project: 612/222-4703 --------- "RE: Hopi Center Designed as Educational Tool" --------- Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 13:10:56 -0500 (EST) From: MIKETBEN@TOTAL.NET Subj: Educational Tool--Hopi Cntr UUCP email Hopi center designed as education tool Resort offers Southwest history 101 Mona Reeder/The Arizona Republic Dolls like this one made by Rod Tsongomoki Davis (right) for his children are on display at the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale's new Hopi Learning Center. By Ken Western The Arizona Republic Oct. 26, 1997 Bill Eider-Orley delights in promoting his resort's star attractions:fine restaurants, a championship golf course and a 2 1/2-acre water playground with a sand beach. But his pride and joy as general manager of the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale isn't any of these big-ticket amenities. It's a combination museum, library and learning center - something not ordinarily found at a luxury resort. Just off the lobby, the Hyatt has quietly opened the Hopi Learning Center to help visitors better understand Hopi history, culture and teachings. The undertaking reflects Eider-Orley's long interest in Native American cultures and a desire to bring more of the Southwest to his guests - 20 percent of whom are foreigners - and other visitors. Mona Reeder/The Arizona Republic Rod Tsongomoki Davis' family members also create traditional Hopi crafts, such as this not-yet-finished wood carving on display at the Hopi Learning Center. The small learning center provides the Hopi a way to tell their story without it being interpreted by outsiders, Eider-Orley said. Staffed by three Hopi cultural interpreters, the center features photographs of Hopi life and display cases with pottery, baskets, Kachina dolls, clothing, silver jewelry, toys and other items. The interpreters are on hand from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily to talk about the Hopi life and answer questions. "This is for people who don't have time to visit a museum or take a trip to the reservation to see some of the ancient ruins and sites," said Rod Tsongomoki Davis, a 34-year-old Hopi who serves as a cultural interpreter at the learning center. "It's also to give inspiration to those who didn't know they might want to see these places and learn more." The Hopi traditionally have lived in 12 villages on three mesas, called First, Second and Third Mesas, in the high arid desert of northeastern Arizona. The Old Oraibi community lays claim to being the oldest continuously inhabited community in America, having been established 300 years before Columbus arrived. Nearly 70 percent of the 10,000 Hopi live on the reservation, where many still pursue traditional ways and grow corn. The reservation is worlds apart from Scottsdale, an affluent, fast- growing city that Eider-Orley and many others in the tourism industry fear is losing its southwestern flavor. "This is a vanishing story," Eider-Orley said. The community has "never embraced something that is so important to the visitor." Scottsdale losing allure As subdivision after subdivision with red-tile roofs spring up and the city's main streets become more congested, Scottsdale loses a little more of its allure to visitors who want to experience the West and enjoy the pristine desert and blue sky, tourism advocates say. They fear that more and more potential visitors will opt to vacation in New Mexico or some other, less-developed part of the West. Mona Reeder/The Arizona Republic Lance Polingyouma will be giving tours, seminars and classes as part of the offerings of the new Hopi Learning Center. Rachel Sacco, director of Scottsdale's tourism bureau, said there is increasing concern about the impact of growth on the Valley's multibillion dollar tourism industry and whether the area can still deliver the western experience that many visitors are seeking. "Visitors, by and large, are very pleased with the experience they have," Sacco said. "But we really want to make sure we're taking care of what's important about our destination. One thing that has everybody in this industry concerned, and perhaps united, is a fear of what the future will hold if we're not able to deliver what has made us special." Better serving tourists Beyond working to preserve the best of the Southwest, resorts and other tourism businesses also need to look at ways their properties can better serve tourists, Eider-Orley said. "Resorts always think a good swimming pool complex is what makes them successful," he said. "I can't deny that I like my pools, but if we concentrate on the pools and forget the story of the destination, we lose the very thing that made people want to come in the first place." The role of Native Americans is also an important of the program at Enchantment Resort near Sedona. For the past seven years, Uqualla, a Havasupai, has been a "cultural ambassador" for Enchantment, leading nature walks and recounting traditional Havasupai stories. The 162-room resort is tucked away in the red rock walls of Boynton Canyon, where numerous hiking trails lead to Indian ruins and caves. The area is considered sacred ground by the Navajo, the Hopi, Yavapai-Apache and other Native Americans. Development of the Hopi Learning Center at the Hyatt grew out of a meeting a few years ago between Eider-Orley and Vernon Masayesva, Hopi tribal chairman from 1990 to 1994. Connecting old, modern "His thoughts were that maybe we could do something together, so that the old ways could connect to some modern things," Eider-Orley said. "I promised we would never compromise their culture. Commercial enterprises are fine, but what you risk is trivializing the culture." Although the Hyatt contacted the Heard Museum and Museum of