From gars@netcom.com Wed Oct  6 16:14:03 1999
Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1999 17:53:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Gary Night Owl <gars@netcom.com>
To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche <gars@netcom.com>
Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews07.041

    _       __  _____  __   _ __    ___    ____  _ __    ___         O
   ' )   / / ')  /    /  ) ' )  )  /   )    /   ' )  )  /   )    O   o   O
    / / / /  /  /    /--/   /  /  / ___    /     /  /  / ___   O     o     O
   (_(_/ (__/  (    /  (_  /  (_ (___/ '__/_    /  (_ (___/ ' O o o     o o O
      ____   _    ,  ___   _    , ___  VOLUME 07, ISSUE 041    O     o     O
       /    ' )  /  /   ) ' )  / /   '   October 9, 1999         O   o   O
      /      /-<   /       /--/ /--    Klamath leaves full moon      O
   __/_     /   ) (___/   /  ( (___,   Potawatomi moon of the first frost
 KANOHEDA ANIYVWIYA  Ha-Sah-Sliltha  Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin  Un Chota
   Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse    ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min     Aunchemokauhettittea
                Ximopanolti tehuatzin, inin Mexika tlahtolli
                ( N A T I V E    A M E R I C A N   N E W S )
       This issue contains articles from Paths-L & Big Mountain Lists;
             Newsgroup:alt.native;   UUCP email;   KOLA Newslist;
                http://www.dickshovel.com/annalay.html
                http://www.dickshovel.com/bhpress.html
                http://www.nps.gov/plants/index.htm
                http://www.doi.gov/bia/aitoday/q_and_a.html
 
 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.
 
 IMPORTANT!!
 -----------
   To all who send copywrite protected articles, make very sure you have
 permission from the copywrite holder (a newspaper, the AP, a magazine, an
 author) because a new law is now in effect that says you can be prosecuted
 even if there is no monetary gain.  Just because a newspaper has a website
 where it posts some or all of its editions does not grant permission for
 their redistribution.  Be careful and be sure you pass on the items you do
 with full permission.
   In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, all material appearing in
 this newsletter is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a
 prior interest in receiving this information for educational purposes.
               <----<<<<                           >>>>---->
   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
  ++ There is also a hyperlinked version of the Current Issue at
     http://bearvisions.com/NativeNews/NEWS.html
 
 Borries Demeler advises AISESnet doesn't exist anymore, instead there is now
 NativeNet where people can search for archives of Wotanging Ikche issues:
   _ All past AISESnet archives (1992-1998) can now be found in:
     http://aises.uthscsa.edu/discussion/
   _ All new messages will be archived in:
     http://nativenet.uthscsa.edu/archive/nn-dialogue/archive.html
  The mailing address for AISESnet/NativeNet the lists have changed.
   Please make a note of the new address.
   The old address aisesnet_discussion@listserv.umt.edu should *NOT*
   be used any longer. Instead please use:
         nn-dialogue@nativenet.uthscsa.edu
 
 Downloading Wotanging Ikche on AOL  From: MAANG1419@aol.com <Valentina>
 Just thought I would share some info.  I could not download on to a  .txt
 because I kept getting the message (when I tried to retrieve it) that the
 text editor could not handle the volume.  This time I downloaded it on to
 a .doc and when I retrieved it out of file manager,  IT WORKED.
 
      "Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents,
       it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the
       Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children."
      __ Ancient Proverb
 
 +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+
 |   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
 +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+
 +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+
 |               Journey                 | In the summer and early fall
 |            The Bloodline              | of 1998 the Treaty Unity Riders
 |                                       | rode a thousand miles on horse-
 | For all that live and live by law     | back, carrying a staff and
 | We Stand, we Call, We Ride            | praying each step of the way.
 | For All that fear and fear by sight   |
 | We Hear, we Listen, we Ride           | These prayers were offered for
 | For all that pray and pray by strength| each of us, and that the Unity
 | We Feel, we Move, we Ride             | of all Peoples might happen.
 | For all that die and die by greed     |
 | We Hurt, we Cry, we Ride              | Tatanka Cante forwarded this
 | For all that birth and birth by right | poem on behalf of all the Unity
 | We Smile, we Hold, we Ride            | Riders that we might stop and
 | For all that need and need by heart   | ask if the next words we say, the
 | We Came, we Went, we Rode.            | next act we make is for the good
 |                                       | of the People or is it from ego
 | Treaty Unity Riders                   | for self.
 +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+
 
 O'siyo Brothers and Sisters!
 
   Two issues of great importance to each of us have arisen like a two
 headed snake.  We must face these issues.  Running from either will only
 allow the serpent to grow.
 
   The first, withdrawal of funding and support for TNAT/The Native American
 Tobacco education program headed by Joseph Winter, may not seem that
 critical to many.  It is, and I ask that you allow me to explain why it is.
 The explanation is actually by my wife, Janet, in response to a question on a
 list.  Since I cannot say it better, I offer her words.
 
   TNAT had multiple missions/functions, all connected to the idea of
 preserving the Native American cultural heritage where tobacco (and some
 other sacred herbs) were concerned.  This included identifying AND
 cultivating the original tobaccos and such herbs as were normally used in
 purification ceremonies (e.g. sage, cedar, sweetgrass, etc.), growing
 quantities that were provided at no charge to Native American healers and
 elders for use in ceremony only (this included quantities sent to for use in
 prisons, powwows, etc.), printing and distributing information about the
 appropriate ceremonial use of tobacco AND distributing information to
 schools and other centers for young people about the problems both in terms
 of health and cultural abuse surrounding the recreational use of tobacco.
 And finally, Joe went to schools and powwows to talk about what tobacco was,
 what it was supposed to be, what it was NOT supposed to be and the
 difference between the original ceremonial tobaccos and the commercial kind.
 He was and is a wonderful educator who not only teaches his subject, but
 knows it from working on the land and directly with the people involved.
 
   So yes, it was partly about seeds -- the identification and propagation of
 as close a replication of the original tobaccos used in pre-contact tribal
 ceremonies as possible.  But it was also about cultivation and distribution
 at no charge to a selected group of Native Americans for a specific
 spiritual purpose.  And it was about educating Native and non-Native
 populations, especially young people, learning about and reinforcing the
 traditional uses, and discouraging non-traditional use.
 
   The federal government has instituted so many laws surrounding the growing
 and distributing of tobacco (especially in terms of taxation and thus the
 regulation of production) that it's hard to keep track of them.  Often in
 similar cases, exceptions have been made when uses were clearly within the
 spiritual arena.  An example would be the use of wine in Christian
 sacraments, where exceptions have been made in the normal laws regarding
 permits, licensing, taxation, and age of those allowed to participate.  So
 it was reasonable for Joe (and the University) to believe that because all
 his distribution was for religious purposes, there would be exceptions to
 the usual panapoly of laws, just as there is for the Christian use of wine.
 I suppose because this is about a religion that is NOT Christian, we should
 have known... <I'm sorry -- I just cannot resist a bit of cynicism here>
 
   I have no special knowledge about what Joe is doing about all this beyond
 that which has been posted by others.  I would think it possible for him to
 revise his program in some way unconnected to the University so that it
 conforms with the federal cultivation and distribution laws, and perhaps
 that is exactly what he is doing.  I would also think that whatever was
 involved, it would require more contribution and commitment from the
 community than the original project did to achieve the same ends.  <shrug>
 Perhaps when all is said and done, that would not be a bad thing.  The point
 (or at least my point) is that TNAT should not HAVE to wiggle around laws.
 The program SHOULD fall under the same sort of exclusions granted the local
 Catholic priest when he serves communion, or the local diocese when it
 purchases wine for communion.  I don't know whether Joe intends to pursue
 legal actions that would certify that TNAT does have rights to be separate
 from government regulation because it IS religious.  So far as I know, there
 is nothing in the history that would weaken TNAT's position as a spiritual
 program--I believe it to be squeaky clean and well documented (hey, Joe IS a
 professor, so if anything, it's overdocumented)--so it would be an ideal
 case.  The "pro's" of pursuing such a legal case go beyond Joe's or TNAT's
 rights and extend into the "certification" of all Native spiritual practices
 as legitimate "religions" protected in the same ways as the local Baptist or
 Methodist or Catholic church.  Among the "con's" is one bureaucrats always
 depend on -- litigation isn't cheap and spending the money to litigate will,
 by itself, weaken the program.  By taking this route, there would be less
 money for seeds, for tobacco for elders, for flyers educating youth about
 the dangers of abusing a ceremonial herb, etc.  At some point when deciding
 to go to court to press for rights that should never have been questioned,
 there has to be a decision made as to whether the price of litigating is
 worth the goal achieved (assuming a win, which is never safe, but I think
 TNAT has a pretty good chance).  There's always a risk that by litigating,
 the project will be so financially depleted that it will be destroyed in the
 process of obtaining the right to exist.
 
   This is one way our rights are eroded.  A law is passed and applied as it
 should not have been to a people that are not financially able to pursue
 legal challenges, so they either drop the practice in question entirely, or
 find loopholes that allow them to pursue similar ends in a different way, or
 they go underground and accept legal risks.  And the oppressive law stands
 and become stronger by the lack of challenge.
 
   Remember something here.  Tobacco was GIVEN by our people to the settlers.
 Our people did not teach them to abuse this substance or suggest they make a
 giant industry and tax revenue base out of it.  This was done in complete
 disregard for our practices or traditions.  Now we need to spend our time
 and resources protecting OUR right to use it in our own ways?  Whatever Joe
 decides to do, he has my support.
 Janet
 
  =/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=
 
   If taking yet another way of life from us were not enough threat to the
 Native community, the next threatens to polarize and separate us as never
 before.  Trust me on this.  Many, including the U. S. government, have a
 vested interest in our collective confusion and division.
 
   I've been following this for a couple of years on several forums.  Anna
 Mae was killed a long time ago -- nearly 30 years.  The story resurfaces now
 because a cousin, Robert Branscome-Pictou and her two daughters, who were
 babies when she was killed, have spent the past 9 years pushing authorities
 to investigate and investigating on their own. They now finally think they
 have enough evidence to identify, arrest and convict the
 guilty parties.  Hence the press conference in Canada on September 18th. The
 story isn't simple or brief.  You can find bits and pieces in alt.native or
 the Anna Mae section on Jordan Dill's site (www.dickshovel.com) or
 http://members.aol.com/ANNAinc/Foundation.html.  Most of the story has been
 reposted in Wotanging Ikche in the past.
 
   Here's what I understand of the story about Anna (and I mostly got it from
 those places listed above).  She was part of the American Indian Movement
 when it was a young group, back then a loose association of young, dirt-poor
 unknown activists who wanted to be traditional warriors in the 1970s. It was
 a different entity from the high-profile incorporated bureaucracy that
 exists today. The federal authorities, including the FBI, supported Dick
 Wilson (the BIA-supported chief of the Oglala Sioux) and his GOON squad in
 their management of the Oglala nation's affairs. (Definition: GOON:
 Guardians of the Oglala Nation.  They were a special police force
 appointed by Wilson who were reportedly given a free hand to do whatever it
 took to see to it that Ogalala folks "behaved."  Some traditionals claim they
 abused the authority and nobody reined them in.)
 
   During the 1970s (and for that matter, really since the old Chief Red
 Cloud's time, and up to the present), there were two vastly divergent
 schools of thought about how the Oglala people should develop.  Wilson's
 supporters followed the BIA plan, which was that the Indian people should
 assimilate and simply become darker-skinned versions of white-dominated
 society.  They would speak English, forget Lakota, finish trade school, with
 a maybe a lucky one or two going on to college, and settle down in low-end
 suburban homes, 9 to 5 weekly jobs and Church on Sunday _OFF the
 reservation__.
 
   Opposing this plan were the traditionalists, people who wanted to return
 to the ways of the Sacred Pipe, the Lodge and the Sun Dance.  People who
 believed Medicine came from Creator rather than a doctor's needle.  People
 who wanted their land and buffalo back so they could return to the
 traditional ways of living in harmony with the earth, rather than an
 adversary to it, as much as possible.  People who wanted their children and
 grandchildren to remember their language, songs and history, and protect
 their sacred places.
 
   Under Wilson's leadership, a disproportionate number of the traditional
 folks met untimely and violent ends.  Others were terrorized, beaten up or
 vandalized, they said by Wilson's GOONs.   That's when young people who
 called themselves warriors with the Native American Movement started
 arriving to counter the attacks of the GOONS (since the FBI and federal
 marshalls didn't seem inclined to investigate or intervene).  Of course
 those federal cops did take notice of these "outside agitators" who came to
 stir up the locals and interfere with the elimination of "nonprogressive"
 influences.  There were direct and indirect attacks on the activists and
 continuing attacks on the traditionals they tried to protect.   As you might
 imagine, tempers ran hot, and with people shooting at old folks who were
 doing nothing but teaching their grandchildren how to  pray properly, you
 can imagine that occasionally one of the young warriors did more than duck
 the flying bullets.  One of them shot back and killed two FBI agents.
 Leonard Peltier was accused and eventually convicted after awhile, but
 during the time between the agents death and his arrest, the FBI was
 aggressively working to round up anybody they could blame.
 
   Anna Mae was apparently one of those who had seen or heard enough that
 people on both sides believed she knew more than was safe for her or for
 them.  The FBI say they believed she could identify the FBI agents' killer.
 AIM leaders believed she knew and could identify the FBI undercover agents
 they believed had infiltrated their group -- some even said they believed
 she was one of those agents.  The story her family tells is that the FBI was
 bringing her in and questioning her so publicly that it was bound to spook
 her AIM friends.  In any case, she got scared and ran to a safe house in
 Denver, but some Lakota people were said to have taken her back to a Lakota
 woman's house in Rapid City.  From there, the stories go every which way,
 depending on who you're listening to.  Her family says there's evidence the
 three who came to get her beat her and raped her and ultimately killed her
 so that she wouldn't talk, at the instruction of AIM leadership, one of whom
 was allegedly an undercover FBI infiltrator. Others claim she was just
 questioned and left of her own accord, and nobody knows who ultimately
 killed her.
 
   Everybody agrees that Anna was part of AIM, reputedly a hard and dedicated
 worker.  Did people in the AIM leadership kill her because she knew some of
 them were turncoats or otherwise not what they seemed?  That's what her
 family claims, and there's supposed to be documented (including DNA) proof.
 Did the FBI set her up so that it was inevitable that she would be killed by
 her own former friends?  Were BOTH the FBI and some in AIM in collusion
 together to kill her and cover it up?  Again, that's one story being put
 about.  Were none of these people involved?  Was this just an isolated
 violent crime in bad times that can't be solved now, so should be put behind
 us?  That's another suggestion out there.
 
   For those who do not know the events of the early 70's that culminated
 in the second siege at Wounded Knee and the deaths of many Native Peoples,
 including Anna Mae you need to keep this in mind.  AIM was not a club.  AIM
 was not an organization.  AIM was not Incorporated.  AIM was a group of
 warriors doing their best to protect a way of being. It was, as the name
 clearly implies, a Movement.  Remember this, also.  There were, and still
 are many dedicated people associated with AIM whose entire purpose is to
 help Native Peoples.
 
   Meanwhile, everybody who's been accused is pointing fingers at others,
 and accusing them, including the FBI.
 
   It is no surprise to me to read  in one paper the quote "let's forget
 about it" from the woman who allegedly provided the house where Anna Mae
 was beaten and raped, and ultimately from where she was taken to her death.
 It's no surprise to me that others of the accused aren't simply admitting
 involvement, regardless of what they did or didn't do.  The FBI spent years
 telling their own bosses that they hadn't tossed anything incendiary at
 Waco -- and they didn't come clean until somebody put physical evidence out
 there for everybody to see.  So are they going to admit to anything here
 unless physical evidence is put out there where it can't be denied?
 
   Even if there IS proof of who killed her, there's no guarantee it will
 ever see the light of day now, let alone persuade a jury.  There are clearly
 people trying to bring evidence before prosecutors and courts, but it's
 still a long way from over.  Among the accused are some high-profile,
 high-powered people.  Among the accused are a very powerful agency of the
 U.S. government.  They will not submit without a very hard struggle.  It
 won't be pretty.  Meanwhile, I'm seeing those of us who were nowhere near
 this taking sides and pointing fingers, too.  We're polarizing.  And we're
 doing those who are our worst enemies the biggest favor we can.
 
   Indian people do not win by fighting each other. Dividing us against
 ourselves was the invaders best, most effective tactic to defeat us and
 sadly, IT STILL WORKS.  There may be corruption among our people. No shock
 there.  I don't know a society free of it.  Those who see it should excise
 it without waiting to gather a bandwagon.  We WILL be pressured to take
 sides and fight each other.  Already Leonard Peltier has been persuaded to
 react. I would be the MOST wary of those who appeared to be the most eager
 to draw us into that activity.  Right now there's plenty to do just taking
 care of our elders and our needy.  Winter's coming and there's already been
 snow in South Dakota, I'm told.  Remember all those people whose houses were
 blown apart on Pine Ridge this summer?  Do we know whether they now have
 warm homes?  There's plenty for us to do that is positive.
 
   The traditional way to deal with harm to another is to have those involved
 sit together in council and one after another, present their story.  The
 matter is resolved by consensus between those who were harmed, not by a
 parliamentary vote.  I have a feeling if this matter had been taken to a
 traditional council long ago, Anna Mae might even be alive.  If she had been
 killed, there would be no 30 year-old questions remaining about the guilty
 or what was to become of them and no old issue to be dredged up to distract
 us from taking care of ourselves and our people today.

  =/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=

 Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999 17:24:38 -0700
 From: Nancy Thomas <nlthomas@YvwiiUsdinvnohii.net>
 Subj: CNN - Leonard Peltier
 Mail List:     LeonardPeltier List <LeonardPeltier@YvwiiUsdinvnohii.net>

 CNN&TIME - The Weekly News Magazine
 URL: http://www.cnn.com/CNNPromos/cnntime/

 October 10, 1999

 In 1977, Leonard Peltier, a member of the American
 Indian Movement, was convicted of murdering two FBI
 agents. CNN & TIME examines why some consider  him
 a political prisoner.  Sunday, October 10, 1999 at 9:00
 p.m. eastern time.

 The program will be repeated Monday, October 11, 1999
 at midnight eastern time. Check your local listings.

 Kila,
 Nancy

 Peace!  Night Owl
          , ,        Gary Night Owl                   gars@netcom.com
         (*,*)       P. O. Box 672168                 gars@nanews.org
         (`-')       Marietta, GA 30417, U.S.A.       gars@crl.com
       ===w=w==      Fax: 770-528-9643
 
 ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ----------
 - Peltier Response/                    - Blackfeet/Glacier Border Dispute
   Anna Mae Investigation               - Wannabe-ism and the BIA
 - Open Letter Response                 - Buffalo News/Racicot
 - Oyate Press Release                  - Native Prisoner
 - Anna Mae, My Questions               - Are There Good Hearts...
 - About AnnaMae, My Opinion            - Poem: We Gave Him His First Drink
 - Anna Mae, Peltier, & the Old Man     - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days
 - Native Plant Initiative              - DC Demonstration Guidelines
 - About the Navajo Hopi Land Dispute   - Upcoming Events
 
 --------- "RE: Peltier Response/Anna Mae Investigation" ---------
 
 Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999 10:52:19 -0500
 From: "bobby" <lpdc@idir.net>
 Subj: Open letter-Peltier response-Anna Mae investigation
 
   Newsgroup: alt.native
 
 Open letter from Leonard Peltier in response to reports from the recent
 press conference regarding Anna Mae Aquash:
   I have just received and read a report written by Chris Nicholas about
 the recent press conference held in Canada in regard to Anna Mae.   I am
 very shocked and saddened by what is being said and the misinformation and
 outright lies that are being spread about what happened to her and what has
 happened to me.  I have not said anything up until now because I do not want
 to be involved in an investigation carried out in part, by Robert Ecoffey
 and the RCMP.  Ecoffey was  responsible for much of the terror and
 corruption that existed on Pine Ridge in the early 70's.  The RCMP, working
 with the FBI, submitted a fabricated statement against me over a year after
 I was arrested by them in Canada.  This statement has been used to justify
 my continued incarceration.  Who would trust such sources to carry out an
 investigation into one of the many, many, people who were murdered in
 conjunction with the FBI on Pine Ridge during that era?  I did not want to
 be involved in this, but now it looks like I must submit a public statement
 documenting my stance because I very much fear that innocent people will be
 railroaded as I have, into prison, and the governments of Canada and the
 U.S. will be happy to have given AIM the image of a vicious and corrupt
 terrorist organization which we absolutely were not.  Am I saying that
 everyone who was in AIM was perfect? No.  Am I saying that AIM is today what
 it was back then? No.  But, what I am seeing is a clear attempt to destroy a
 very valid civil rights movement in order for those involved to both benefit
 and profit from Anna Mae's death.  Future movements for the rights of our
 people would always have to fight this unjustified image and work extra hard
 to be given any validity at all.
   First off, I would like to start by offering my condolences to the
 family of Anna Mae and by expressing my strong desire to have her murder,
 along with all of the other murders that took place during that era, solved.
 I have been pushing for this since the beginning.  And, though I am aware
 that her death was possibly carried out by an informer, a pawn of the FBI, I
 am convinced that justice will not be done until a complete investigation
 into the FBI's involvement on Pine Ridge at that time is carried out.
   Bob Branscombe, who is leading this investigation, cannot be trusted for
 several reasons.  He says he is Anna Mae's cousin and this is the reason why
 he has committed himself to finding out who killed her.  However, he only
 found out about his Indian blood two years ago.  Most importantly, he
 visited me in the fall of 1998 claiming to have a way to get me out.  He
 came in to see me and offered me a deal saying that if I helped them to get
 a conviction against John Boy Patton, he could assure me the government
 would look upon this favorably and I would be granted parole.  I asked how
 he knew they would do this.  He said that he spoke with the DA in Colorado
 and she said she was willing to help get me out of prison.  I replied that I
 could not help because I did not know anything.  He said that it didn't
 matter as long as I was willing to help.  I then replied, "Are you telling
 me you want me to be a Myrtle Poor Bear?"  He said, "well, you would be
 released within ten days if you would sign an affidavit against John Boy
 Patton."  I told him that I could not believe he was sitting there asking me
 to be the same type of person who lied against me and cost me my life.  I am
 ready and willing to testify to this in court, under oath and after taking a
 lie detector test.
   Furthermore, Chris Nicholas, who is also involved in this, did not know
 Anna Mae, yet he is trying to portray himself as being her close friend.  He
 told me that he had only seen her once, briefly.  I ask all Native people
 and the Pictou family to beware of these two men.  I am sure they are in
 this to profit off of Anna Mae's tragedy.  Bob Branscombe's new book about
 all of this is clear evidence.  What angers me the most is that these men
 are now trying to force me into being involved in this - they are dragging
 me into something that I am against and something I know Anna Mae would have
 been against.  They are even trying to use me as some sort of bargaining
 device against my will, stating that I will be released because of all of
 this.  I would never accept being released in return for imprisoning someone
 unfairly convicted. Please know, I have seen the tactics they are using and
 I would refuse my release as a result.
   Nicholas is saying that Anna Mae was murdered by AIM members because she
 was going to announce who killed the agents on Pine Ridge.  She was not
 there and did not know.  She signed an affidavit clearly stating this.  Anna
 Mae was murdered because she was a skilled organizer and leader for our
 people.  Independent investigators testified, right after her body was
 recovered, that there was absolutely no sign of rope burns on Anna Mae's
 wrists and that she had gone willingly, either with the police or with
 someone she knew.  They also testified that there was no evidence of rape.
   So I ask you to look critically upon this latest controversy and to keep
 in mind what I have told you.  Yes, we want justice for Anna Mae.  We want
 justice for all of the people who died at the hands of Dick Wilson, the BIA
 and the FBI.  It is not justice when people need to be coerced into pointing
 fingers as was attempted with me.  It is not justice if a full investigation
 into the FBI's role in all of the deaths is not carried out.
 In the Spirit Of  Crazy Horse,
 Leonard Peltier
 USPL
 #89637-132
 Leonard Peltier
 PO Box 1000
 Leavenworth, KS 66048
 
 --------- "RE: Open Letter Response" ---------
 
 Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999 12:39:53 -0500
 From: not@inthe.game (justanoldman)
 Subj: Re: Open letter-Peltier response-Anna Mae investigation
 
   Newsgroup: alt.native
 
 In article <2vqI3.778$Yn5.5759@newsfeed.slurp.net>, "bobby"
 <lpdc@idir.net> wrote:
 
 >Open letter from Leonard Peltier in response to reports from the recent
 >press conference regarding Anna Mae Aquash:
 > 
 >  I have just received and read a report written by Chris Nicholas about
 >the recent press conference held in Canada in regard to Anna Mae.
 <snip>
 >  Furthermore, Chris Nicholas, who is also involved in this, did not know
 >Anna Mae, yet he is trying to portray himself as being her close friend.
 >He told me that he had only seen her once, briefly.  I ask all Native
 >people and the Pictou family to beware of these two men.  I am sure they
 >are in this to profit off of Anna Mae's tragedy.  Bob Branscombe's new book
 >about all of this is clear evidence.  What angers me the most is that these
 >men are now trying to force me into being involved in this - they are
 >dragging me into something that I am against and something I know Anna Mae
 >would have been against.  They are even trying to use me as some sort of
 >bargaining device against my will, stating that I will be released because
 >of all of this.  I would never accept being released in return for
 >imprisoning someone unfairly convicted. Please know, I have seen the
 >tactics they are using and I would refuse my release as a result.
 >
 ><snip>
 
 d'laan'te'..
   The report was written by me, not by Nicholas. He just passed it on.
 And while I do not know Bob Branscombe, having spent my time at the news
 conference with AnnaMae's daughters, I was told that there was no book or
 profit motive in his work by Annamae's daughters. If they trust him, &
 they know him, who am I to say different. The Pictou family is the only
 authority I listen to in all of this.
   As for Nicholas, who I've known a long time, there is zero profit in any
 of his motives in this or any other cause he fights for. He isn't going to
 write any book, make a movie or give any lectures on AnnaMae or anything
 else. He's semi-retired & talks of vegetable garden as his sole ambition.
 He is poor still after giving years of his life to his people, & continues
 to give, constantly quoting Willy Nelson's old saying, "All you get to
 take with you is what you gave away." He has always been up front with me
 saying he knew AnnaMae but only met her once, & she is with him close as
 Leonard himself is close to each of us. When someone is in your thoughts &
 prayers each & every day, is that not someone close?
   As for this being some kind of anti-AIM campaign, that doesn't wash.
 Everyone who knows what's going on has expressed admiration for AIM. It's
 just a few rotten apples in the barrel. And the death-dealing bastards
 still in the FBI still remain the prime targets of any investigation into
 the killing of AnnaMae. 
   While I appreciate with Leonard's position, there is little truth that
 can come through prison walls. Leonard is being told what people want him
 to hear. Anna Mae was going to testify as to what was said to her by people
 who were at the Jumping Bull compound on 26 June 1975, not on what she
 saw, & there was corroboration for that conversation in the wings from
 someone who was killed 2 years later. As further example of what doesn't
 make it through those prison walls, the fact is that AnnaMae was raped
 before she was killed, & there is DNA evidence of the rapist on file, just
 waiting to be matched.
 with respect..
 jaom/e'ne'thekwe'
 
 --------- "RE: Oyate Press Release" ---------
 
 Date: Sun, 3 Oct 1999 18:32:56 -0400
 From: "Janet Smith" <jansatlcom.net@mindspring.com>
 Subj: full text of the Oyate press release
 
   http://www.dickshovel.com/annalay.html
   http://www.dickshovel.com/bhpress.html
 
 The Lakota Oyate speaks regarding Anna Mae and the American Indian Movement
 September 28, 1999
 
 H'e Sapa Wakan Inyan
   Traditional elders of the Lakota Nation have drafted a press  release, in
 response to the recent information from the elders of the Mi'qmaw Nation
 about the involvement of the American Indian Movement (AIM) leadership, in
 collaboration with the FBI and other US governmental agencies, in the murder
 of Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash in 1975 on the sacred and ancient lands of H'e
 Sapa (Black Hills). This is in response to a press conference in Ottawa,
 Canada held September 16 by the Pictou family, and sanctioned by the
 Assembly of First Nations.
   This is a draft from the only legal and spiritual Government of the Lakota
 Oyate, in Alliance with the Mato Paha Okolokiciye and the Dakota/Nakota
 traditional Oyates, as well as the signatories of the 1851 Ft. Laramie/Dog
 Creek Treaty; as well as the Looking Horse family who are keeping the
 Canumpa Wakan, and our many humble Sundancers and Pipe-Carriers. These
 include the 8 district Itanscan and many tiyospayes and their leaders and
 spokesmen and women, who declared Independence on Mato Paha (Bear Butte),
 where only the truth can be told, on July 14, 1991 from the illegal colonial
 US-Canadian government(s). Akicita Director Bernard Peoples read the
 following Statement, after extensive Counsels for a week, and Ceremonies:
   "We demand that the leadership of AIM come forward and tell the full
 detailed story of what happened here in the 1970s, and especially the events
 of 1975 surrounding the firefight on the Jumping Bull property, and the
 events and people involved in the murder of Anna Mae, whose mutilated body
 was found in February, 1976.
   "The time for secrecy is over. The time for the manipulations of the US
 oppressors on our People is over, killing us, imprisoning us, starving us,
 poisoning us with alcohol, and making us too afraid to talk and reveal the
 truth. We want to know everything Dennis Banks did on June 26, 1975, and
 exactly where he was that day - for we have the transcript of his Trial in
 Custer and he was not there that day, so he has no alibi, as he and his
 apologists have always claimed.
   "Exactly what does Leonard Peltier know, and why does he refuse to
 this day to reveal the full story, even though he has been rotting in
 American prisons all these years? The People feel betrayed, and we do not
 feel it is honorable for Peltier and Banks to cover up the truth, especially
 when so many of our people have been killed and are still dying because of
 this paranoia, distrust, deceit, greed, and egotism of the AIM leaders.
 Their silence only looks like arrogance to us, and the elders, while they
 exploit our cultures and fly around the world acting like chiefs. They are
 the Wannabes, not the many sincere non-Natives who know and love our people
 and come here to help us.
   "If you are innocent, Dennis, say so to the world, and give us the
 exact names, places, dates, and all the details of these terrible tragedies
 we are still suffering from. It means nothing to show up for marches at
 White Clay and Mobridge and Rapid City if you have lost the trust of the
 grassroots oyates and tiyospayes, which you have. AIM is not trusted on our
 Reservations-Concentration Camps anymore, because of the deceit and
 double-dealing, and the many stories of your corruption with our young
 girls, violence to our men, millions of dollars of donations that have never
 trickled down to the People.
   "AIM has been discredited in South Dakota for at least 20 years, and
 still a handful of urban Indians claim to be leaders, and talk the big talk
 of Warriors. No. We do not even know charlatans like Ward Churchill around
 here. This has nothing to do with partisanship, or whether we are
 pro-Minneapolis AIM or Denver AIM, Inc.
   "As a Canadian elder said in a dispatch to us, '...when Anna Mae's name
 is cleared, AIM will lose the cancer that has polluted it and tried to turn
 it into AIM INC.'
   "We support the heroic efforts of the Mi'qmaw elders and the Pictou
 family, especially Robert Branscombe-Pictou, to expose these facts and
 document the case against the accused killers, and to provide convincing
 evidence. We know it was dangerous for him to go public and announce the
 truth, as there are still many violent and unprincipled people loose on our
 homelands, Native and non-Native alike, doing the dirty work of the
 Pigs-for-Hire. We honor you, Brother!
   "We demand the accused participants in the heinous Tribunal of Anna Mae
 to come forward and clear their names with the facts - if they can. We know
 of the implications of Thelma Rios and Bruce Ellison, who still reside in
 Rapid City, in this case as well as the Peltier case, and their direct
 connection with Dennis Banks and his associates, including Kevin McKiernan
 who supplied Banks' false alibi (and which was repeated stupidly by Peter
 Matthiessen in his deeply flawed book 'In The Spirit of Crazy Horse') while
 he was 100 miles away in Oglala taping and photographing the Firefight. He
 could not be in 2 places at once, Dennis. Bruce has played the tapes and
 bragged that he knew who the "real killers" were, but has arrogantly refused
 to talk all these years. Why? If you are clean, please prove it. Otherwise,
 you are playing into the FBI's hands and they are surely laughing at all of
 us, like they laughed when they murdered women and children at Waco and
 Ruby Ridge and many places on Pine Ridge.
   "As far as we know, only Vernon Bellecourt has issued an official
 denial in a Canadian newspaper. Quote: 'We believe very strongly that the
 FBI and other government agencies on the periphery, were using extremist
 informants to set up what has been characterized as the execution death of
 Anna Mae Aquash.' Unquote. Is that all, Vernon? WHO exactly are those
 'extremist informants'? Enough of the generic rhetoric.
   "To John Trudell - please end your silence. We know your paranoia is
 awful, but you MUST tell us everything and clear yourself before the
 Spirits. It's the only way.
   "Wakan Inyan will forgive you, even if men do not. AIM is nothing.
 Truth is everything. Hau."
 Anna's Archive
 AIM
 This site is maintained by JS Dill.
 
 --------- "RE: Anna Mae, My Questions" ---------
 
 Date: Fri, 01 Oct 1999 10:11:02 -0500
 From: Ilze Choi <brinumi@earthlink.net>
 Subj: My Questions
 
   The charges made by the Lakota Oyate in their press statement are very
 serious and shocking.  I do not think such charges should be made to the
 public without specifics.  It is doubtful that many people know what is
 being referred to here but the consequences are bound to be damaging to
 the accused.  This is particularly harmful to Leonard Peltier who is in
 such a vulnerable position.
   This press statement is grossly unfair.  If a crime has been committed
 by any persons this should be handled in a court of law, not in a public
 forum on the internet.  I don't think that anyone, innocent or guilty, 
 would or should submit themselves to trial by unknown persons in such a
 public way. Those making these charges ought to know that.  All that is
 achieved here is to slander the accused.  Is this the objective?
   I have some questions about the statement itself.  I will quote parts
 of the statement and follow that with my questions. The quote from the
 statement will be enclosed with << >> marks and my questions will be
 designated with "Question."
 
 <<<Traditional elders of the Lakota Nation have drafted a press release,
 in response to the recent information from the elders of the Mi'qmaw
 Nation about the>>>>
 
 QUESTION: Who are these elders?  What are their names?  I think the
 accused should know who their accusers are and the public should know
 that people support the statement by giving their names.  We all put our
 names to protests or statements when we support something.  Names give
 statements legitimacy.  On the other hand, nameless accusations are
 un-democratic and medieval.     
 
 <<<involvement of the American Indian Movement (AIM) leadership, in
 collaboration with the FBI and other US governmental agencies, in the
 murder of Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash>>>
 
 QUESTION: Specifically, how was AIM involved with or in collaboration
 with the FBI in the murder of Anna May Aquash?  Most importantly WHY?
 The FBI, from all accounts in numerous books and articles, was after AIM
 to destroy it. This charge seems bizarre.
 
 <<<<This is in response to a press conference in Ottawa, Canada held
 September 16 by the Pictou family, and sanctioned by the Assembly of
 First Nations. >>>> 
 
 QUESTION: Has Philip Fontaine, the head of the Assembly of First
 Nations, endorsed this statement?
 
 <<<This is a draft from the only legal and spiritual Government of the
 Lakota Oyate, in Alliance with the Mato Paha Okolokiciye and the
 Dakota/Nakota traditional Oyates, as well as the signatories of the 1851
 Ft. Laramie/Dog Creek Treaty These include the 8 district Itanscan and
 many tiyospayes and their leaders and spokesmen and women, who declared
 Independence on Mato Paha (Bear Butte), where only the truth can be told,
 on>>>
 
 QUESTION: Again, for the benefit of non Indians such as myself and many
 others not familiar with the Pine Ridge community, can these
 organizations be described?  Who are the members?  As mentioned,
 nameless accusers can say anything because no one can challenge them,
 especially when the accusations are also vague.
 
 <<"We demand that the leadership of AIM come forward and tell the full
 detailed story of what happened here in the 1970s, and especially the
 events of 1975 surrounding the firefight on the Jumping Bull property,
 and the>>>>
 
 QUESTION: How come the accusers, people supposedly living on Pine Ridge,
 do not know what happened in the 1970's?  What is implied here is that
 there was some criminal activity not described in the many books and
 other accounts of the tragic happenings of the 1970's.  If so, the
 accusers should state what they suspect. What, specifically, do the
 accusers know that leads them to make this demand of the accused? And,
 do they expect the accused to answer them here on the internet?  Do they
 expect answers when no specific charges have been made? This is like
 saying we know you have done something wrong but we won't say what but
 tell us everything.  Is this a wise way to deal with this?
 
 <<<We want to know everything Dennis Banks did on June 26, 1975, and
 exactly where he was that day - for we have the transcript of his Trial in
 Custer and he was not there that day, so he has no alibi, as he and his
 apologists have always claimed.>>>>
 
 He was not where?  At the Jumping Bull compound?  Alibi for which time?
 Again, what is he SPECIFICALLY suspected of doing at what time? What is
 he suspected of?  It is unfair to make vague accusations that do not
 clarify anything but yet cast suspicion on a person.
 
 <<<"Exactly what does Leonard Peltier know, and why does he refuse to this
 day to reveal the full story, even though he has been rotting in American
 prisons all these years?>>>>
 
 QUESTION: Again, what is being indirectly said here? Why would Leonard
 Peltier do this?
  
 <<<<when so many of our people have been killed and are still dying because
 of this paranoia, distrust, deceit, greed, and egotism of the AIM leaders.<<
 
 QUESTION: Is this referring to the many deaths in the 1970's?  Weren't the
 majority of the victims AIM members or supporters who were killed by the
 GOONS?  Is AIM responsible for what the GOONS did?  And what is
 meant by people still dying?  Who has been killed and who is suspected?
 How SPECIFICALLY is AIM responsible for the deaths and which deaths and
 when?  This is a thoroughly mysterious statement.
 
 <<<<"If you are innocent, Dennis, say so to the world, and give us the exact
 names, places, dates, and all the details of these terrible tragedies we are
 still suffering from.>>>
 
 QUESTION: Innocent of what?  Is he accused of murdering Anna Mae Aquash?
 What "names, places and dates"?  From when?  And what terrible tragedies
 "we are still suffering from"?  What details, what "tragedies we are still
 suffering from"?  This is one of the most cryptic of the statements.
 
 <<<<AIM is not trusted on our Reservations-Concentration Camps anymore,
 because of the deceit and double-dealing, and the many stories of your
 corruption with our young girls, violence to our men, millions of
 dollars of donations that have never trickled down to the People.>>>>
 
 QUESTION: "Reservation-Concentration Camps"?  Do the people making this
 statement want to abolish the reservation?  From what I understand,
 reservations are treaty lands, the homelands of the  Indian nations and
 the reason they are such hard places to live in is because of the
 colonialist policies of the US government.  Unlike real concentration
 camps, people are free to leave which is precisely what the government
 has mostly wanted and therefore has never been interested in helping
 Indian communities to thrive on their land.
 What violence has AIM done to the men?  What is the specific charge here?
 And what millions of dollars of donations?  Does anyone have records to
 prove that millions of dollars have been donated?  During which dates?
 What were the donations for and how is AIM suspected of using them?
 
 <<<<<We do not even know charlatans like Ward Churchill around here.>>>>>
 
 What does Ward Churchill have to do with this?  And specifically
 how is he a charlatan?  This is another example of an unspecified
 accusation.  And considering what he has written and how his writings
 have pointed out the immorality of US policy towards Indian nations,
 denigrating him seems senseless.  
 
 <<<Peter Matthiessen in his deeply flawed book 'In The Spirit of Crazy
 Horse'>>>>.
 
 Deeply flawed?  Give specifics on the flaws.  Deeply flawed is a serious
 charge meaning that most of the book is not to be believed.  It is
 grossly unfair to make such sweeping judgements without  providing a
 list of specific examples - all of them - to prove where it is deeply
 flawed. How many mistakes are there?  On what page?  Or do you question
 Mr. Matthiessen's point of view?  If so where, in your opinion, is he
 wrong?
 
 <<<<you are playing into the FBI's hands and they are surely laughing at
 all of us, like they laughed when they murdered women and children at Waco
 and Ruby Ridge and many places on Pine Ridge.>>>>
 
 Here the statement is inconsistent.  Previously, AIM is accused of
 causing the murders.  Now it is the FBI. Also, it is so obvious that the
 FBI will be greatly pleased and gratified by this press statement since
 this press statement condemns its old enemy, AIM, and indirectly
 discredits Leonard Peltier. 
 
 <<<<"To John Trudell - please end your silence. We know your paranoia is
 awful, but you MUST tell us everything and clear yourself before the
 Spirits. It's the only way. "Wakan Inyan will forgive you, even if men do
 not. AIM is nothing. Truth is everything. Hau.">>>>.
 
 QUESTION: Silence about what?  What is he accused of?  Clear himself of
 what?  This is grossly unfair and unjust to make such insinuations of
 serious wrong-doing without specifying and yet demanding to tell
 "everything and clear yourself."  Also, since Mr. Trudell lost his
 entire family to a suspicious fire shortly after challenging the
 authority of the US government, it is vicious to accuse him of "awful
 paranoia."
 
   I pose my questions without expecting an answer.  I also do not expect
 the accused people to answer.  The internet cannot serve as a courtroom.
 No matter what the truth is, we will not learn it here and I repeat my
 belief that is is very unjust to accuse people of terrible things
 knowing they cannot prove or disprove anything on a forum such as this.
 All this accomplishes is to to slander the accused.  Unnamed accusers
 making generalized, vague, unspecified charges is a frightening thing. 
 I would not want it done to me and I don't think the accusers would want
 it done to them.
   This is an example of the dark aspect of the internet.  How do you know
 who to trust?
 Ilze Choi
 
 --------- "RE: About AnnaMae, My Opinion" ---------
 
 Date: Fri, 01 Oct 1999 00:13:55 -0500
 From: not@inthe.game (justanoldman)
 Subj: About AnnaMae - My opinion
 
   Newsgroup: alt.native
 
 d'laan'te'...
   I have given a lot of thought & much prayer to the post by Leonard about
 his read on the AnnaMae press conference posting I put up on this ng a
 while ago. My commitment to do the right thing is unwavering, as is my
 commitment to do whatever I can to help Leonard be free. I realize what he
 is saying has weight & out of my feelings of great respect for him, which
 is also unwavering, I want to say the following about this matter.
   First of all, my involvement in AnnaMae's story from 1975-1997 was limited
 to hoping & praying that AnnaMae's killers would be found out. In February
 of 98 I was told to look at the AnnaMae archive on Jordan Dill's site, &
 found Bob Pictou-Branscombe's shattering allegations. I contacted the
 Pictou family & offered to take care of those named. My offer was refused,
 the family asking instead that I help move the investigation forward here
 in Canada. This I solemnly promised to them & have done so to the best of
 my ability, using all of my political & other contacts - AT THE REQUEST OF
 THE PICTOU FAMILY.
   In my entire life I have never, ever talked to any cop or badge, other
 than giving my name & d.o.b. while wearing handcuffs and/or leg-irons or
 getting a traffic ticket, except for ONE time in Feb of 1998 when I
 brought the information from the Pictou family to the RCMP as was
 requested of me, & I made sure to bring a neutral witness from a christian
 church with her own tape recorder along. I know how the cops twist things
 so this was my protection. (Those tapes are in the custody of that church
 & are also available in written transcript, along with the coordinates of
 that neutral witness, to anyone who may need to hear them).
   My ONLY condition throughout this gut-wrenching work has always been that
 if this turned out to be ANY kind of campaign to "get AIM" or especially
 if ANY part of this process even hinted at any wrongdoing by Leonard
 Peltier in any way, then I would immediately not only withdraw my support
 & assistance but also do whatever I could to sink the whole campaign. I am
 1000% certain that Leonard had absolutely nothing to do with what was done
 to AnnaMae. (I have copies of letters I exchanged with the family on that
 point that I can & will share with anyone if/when necessary).
   If anyone thinks that I or anyone else working to bring out the truth in
 AnnaMae's kidnapping, rape & murder is doing so for profit or glory or as
 part of some fantastic COINTELPRO plot, it would mean that the entire
 Pictou family & dozens of 'witnesses' who have given depositions &
 testimony to date are ALL in on such a conspiracy, a premise that is too
 wild to consider seriously. As for glory, what glory is there in having
 the dirty laundry of the Nations displayed in public, where we know every
 right-wingnut is going to use the all-too human tragedy to paint every
 Indian black with it for weeks? But what choice is left, since those of
 the Nations who know the truth won't step forward & tell the truth?
   Months ago I suggested to Leonard to take legal precautions when I heard
 that there was the possibility that Bob would be writing a book on the
 investigation of AnnaMae's murder. He told me that he'd already heard
 about it & taken such precautions. (My correspondence to that effect is
 also on file & I can share it all if/when necessary). I do not know if
 this was just talk or if there is really a book in the works, & quite
 honestly at this point I don't care as long as the truth comes out before
 it is written, so that any such writing can be based on proven facts & not
 just allegations or rumors.
   Leonard had also told me of Bob Pictou Branscombe's asking him to snitch &
 lie. I agreed with him that such behavior was & remains revolting. The
 Pictou family, as I & thousands of others want the real truth to come out,
 not more fabrications or lies. Bob responded by telling me that Leonard
 misunderstood what he was saying, so I dropped the matter.
   I have spoken with Bob about 20-25 times regarding the efforts I made &
 continue to make to get the political & popular support up here in Canada
 that seems necessary to break this case open. I repeat that this is what
 the Pictou family asks of me; that I coordinate any & all action with Bob
 Pictou-Branscombe. I do not know him well enough yet to say more than he
 is very committed & brave. I trust the Pictou family to be the best judge
 of Bob's trustworthiness, & they tell me they trust him & want me to work
 with him as well as others who are helping the family with this. If it was
 strictly a "Bob Pictou-Branscombe" effort I would have pulled away from
 all this long ago because there are things he says that don't make much
 sense to me, that make me 'uncomfortable'. I have been 100% up front with
 him about my discomfort & shared it with a few others I trust, even at
 LPDC. (My correspondence to that effect is also on file & I can share it
 all if/when necessary).
   Throughout the whole ordeal to date, there has been one and only one major
 target in my own sights, & that has been SA David Price, the spider who is
 at the center of the web of evil for Leonard's conviction as well as the
 death of AnnaMae & hundreds of other First Nation people, mostly Lakotas.
 FBI SA's Woods, Stoldt, Coward & at least 3 others are also in all of this
 death-dealing up to their necks. The actual rapist/killers of AnnaMae &
 their 'directors' inside the movement were & still are nothing but pawns
 being moved by Price to do his dirty work & then to cover it up. I believe
 this with my whole heart.
 
 Now on to the nitty-gritty...
   My post on the Ottawa press conference called by the Pictou family & the
 Assembly of First Nations was clearly stated to be a report. I reported on
 what was said, clearly indicating ".. as told to me and to the world.." &
 "I am told". Although I have never hidden my passion for the truth, that
 AnnaMae's name be finally cleared & that she finally have the dignity &
 honor due to her that was smeared by her killers, & how much anger I have
 for the way they betrayed her & hurt her, I have never stated my own
 opinions of who the guilty might be. So I will share my own personal
 opinion on this now. I emphasize that this is strictly my own opinion.
   Of those named in the report, I personally do not believe that either
 John Trudell or Leonard Crow Dog were involved in the killing of AnnaMae,
 although I am confident that they each could bring light to the darkness
 surrounding the case. Dennis Banks, as far as I know, heard about AnnaMae
 being "questioned" before she was killed, yet he either didn't realize
 what was about to happen or was scared away from acting to stop it by
 'bigger people'. He too could shed much light on the darkness. I am
 baffled by his silence, unless he too is scared for his life, or scared of
 the truth. I do not know which.
   Of the others named that day of the Ottawa press conference, I believe
 that AnnaMae was tied up at Troy Lynn Yellow Wood's house in Denver. I
 believe that Theda Nelson Clark, Arlo Looking Cloud & JohnBoy Patten
 picked up AnnaMae from the house of Troy Lynn Yellow Wood in Denver, drove
 her to Rapid City, to the apartment of Thelma Rios where she was (still
 tied up) slapped around to get her to "confess" to being a snitch, & that
 both Arlo & later JohnBoy raped her while she was there. I believe that
 Clyde Bellecourt visited that apartment while AnnaMae was being held there
 (10-11 Dec 1975) & that Bruce Ellison, Ted Means & Herb Powless did too. I
 believe that during the still-dark morning hours of 12 December, 1975,
 Theda, Arlo & JohnBoy took AnnaMae to that ravine out by Wanblee & killed
 her in cold blood. And, to date, that is all I believe about the people
 named the day of the press conference in Ottawa. Now it is for these
 people to answer to the allegations made with statements telling the world
 otherwise.
   I also believe that AnnaMae was tied up & raped because the second
 autopsy (report by Dr. Garry Peterson) definitely found evidence that
 "sexual activity" with marks compatible with rape was present (& samples
 were taken & are currently being used to match DNA), & b) Dr. Peterson's
 report also clearly states that there were marks of rope having been tightly
 bound at the precise location on both wrists where they had been severed
 during the previous autopsy. Which is also the logical explanation as to
 why AnnaMae's entire hands were cut off (at FBI agent David Price's order)
 rather than just the normal practice of severing fingertips to get a
 fingerprint ID.
   I have also had shared with me (but do not have copies of) over 60 pages
 containing the statements made in secret Grand Jury testimony by Arlo
 Looking Cloud wherein he testifies that he participated in the kidnapping,
 rape & murder of AnnaMae Pictou-Aquash & that she was "ordered" killed
 because she was about to give testimony or make public statements ".. that
 would free Leonard Peltier" & would have "blown the cover" of two
 "highly-placed FBI informers in AIM leadership" at the time. Arlo's
 testimony also stated that he was at the Jumping Bull compound on 26 June
 1975 & he names two individuals who he says actually killed the two FBI
 agents for which Leonard stands convicted. (And no matter who did the
 point-blank shooting, I also believe that the deaths of those two agents
 was 100% self-defense, no matter who did it.) I believe that this
 testimony by Arlo is the reason he says he has immunity from prosecution &
 also why that Grand Jury hearing into Annamae's death was stayed & the
 transcripts sealed into secrecy. Leonard was already convicted & in a cell
 when this Grand Jury was convened.
   And that is what I believe. This is all -I repeat - my entirely personal
 opinion based on what I have been told & shown by many over the past 25
 years, especially during the past 2 years.
   I also repeat that I will never do anything that may bring harm to
 Leonard Peltier & that I will continue to do whatever I can, whenever I
 can to push for his freedom even if he doesn't want me to do so. Just as I
 have been doing for almost a quarter century.  I take no orders from anyone
 on how I should act & what is right or wrong. As "an army of one" I am my
 own general. I have done nothing to feel the least bit of shame about in
 all of this, & if I am killed tomorrow then I die with head held high, with
 the knowledge that I have lived true to my pipe & to those that have
 guided me every day for decades.
   AIM will grow & thrive no matter how this mess unfolds, no matter who
 is found to be the guilty parties "beyond any shadow of doubt"  in the
 kidnapping, rape & murder of AnnaMae Pictou-Aquash. AIM will not be
 destroyed because the thousands that are AIM had nothing to do with the
 acts of a few scumbags, whoever those scumbags are found to be other than
 the three who have confessed. And I am sure that the "producers/directors"
 of this entire tragic episode in the lands of the Lakota in 1972-1977 -
 the death-dealers in the FBI offices at Minneapolis & Rapid City - will be
 uncovered & will finally pay for their heinous crimes as a result. And I
 remain 100% convinced that the evidence brought out at the trials of the
 guilty WILL definitely show that Leonard Peltier is entirely innocent of
 the crime for which he was railroaded.
   In closing, I will tell you that I have prayed long & hard after reading
 Leonard's words. His words & opinions mean very much to me, & to have him
 attack me tore my heart out. So after praying I have decided that I am
 going to try & meet in council with as many of the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota
 elders as possible in the next few weeks. I will put all I have been told
 & shown in front of them, as well as letting them judge my character for
 themselves. I will abide by what they tell me they feel is the best course
 of action, even if that means breaking my promise of help & support to the
 Pictou family. I wish that all of this could have been taken care 24 years
 ago by the traditions handed down to the Nations concerned by their
 grandfathers. There are no "winners" in any court of law, & it saddens me
 much that the laws & "legal systems" that served for thousands of years
 are being ignored. Maybe with the elders of the Nations concerned, the
 elders of the families that make up each Nation & the guidance & help of
 the grandfathers, the truth will finally come out. As it should have 24
 years ago.
 That is all I have to say.
 masi:cho for listening...
 jaom/e'ne'thekwe'
 
 --------- "RE: Anna Mae, Peltier, & the Old Man" ---------
 
 Date: Fri, 01 Oct 1999 19:45:49 -0500
 From: Suyeta <evb@vallnet.com>
 Subj: Anna Mae, Peltier, & the Old Man
 
   Newsgroup: alt.native
 
   This is hard to say.  But I'm bound to say it.  I know the old man.  I
 trust him & I love him.  I'm painfully aware of what every word has cost
 him -- and I'm referring to just the cost within.  I knew beforehand what
 was to be said & I can assure you that no one would've even dreamed of this
 turn of events, especially Old Flint.
   Let me tell you something -- this sort of unsubstantive blanket
 condemnation has gotten more than a few Indians shot & you can start that
 list with Anna Mae. I'm having a very hard time understanding why Peltier
 would have anything to do with such flailing invective.  I find nothing
 about the statement characteristic of Leonard Peltier.
   To consider that Anna Mae was murdered because she was a skilled
 organizer & a good leader is just silly.  It's also demeaning of her
 sacrifice.  Continued secrecy about what happened to Anna Mae is no longer
 justifiable.  It never was justifiable because the motive for it was a lie.
  A generation was led to believe that (a) Anna Mae was killed by well-
 intentioned loyalists acting on bad (planted) information or (b) she was
 killed by loyalists because she was a traitor & it was therefore important
 for political & supportive reasons to cover that up.  Both of these are
 lies, which means that the premise for the secrecy is & was always the
 protection of the personal reputation & integrity of certain individuals. 
 Trotting out the ubiquitous spook, the goon/fed spy, can't be good enough
 anymore.  Maintaining the secrecy won't do anymore.  Many others were
 murdered in those days, that's true, and I don't believe the first case
 will be solved until we solve this one, until we know about Anna Mae.  The
 movement is not guilty of the crime, but we're guilty of the time.  The
 movement did not kill Anna Mae, but the movement has protected the truth
 about those who did for these many years due to this self-referring
 infection of paranoia which cripples us.  This one -- this single case of
 murder out of hundreds -- is Our responsibility.  If we aren't finally
 willing to do this for Anna Mae, for this woman who was loyal to YOU & to
 ME & to the movement, for this woman who was loyal to death, then
 nothing's changed & bygod nothing ever will.  This one's ours alone. 
 Maybe the biggest snag is the fear that we'll find Anna Mae's murder was
 not necessarily unique, as we've also been lead to believe.  That's an
 inflammatory thing to say, right there -- but can we deny it?  How can we
 deny it?  We can't.  Nobody's going to clear this one up for us because
 nobody can. We either want to know ... or not.
   Branscombe's allegations are right there -- rather specific & open on
 the table.  My brother the old man reported these to Peltier (& the rest
 of us) because he believes in Peltier (& us) & accepted the responsibility
 to report them.  If anyone can specifically refute the charges, refute
 them.  If anyone knows the truth, tell the truth.  But the old smoke &
 ill-defined spooks are no longer acceptable.  If these things are not the
 truth, then convince us to not believe them ... & you won't find anyone
 more eager to hear the truth than the old man.
 Koga Suyeta
 
 --------- "RE: Native Plant Initiative" ---------
 
 Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 12:42:58 -0600
 From: CSKT Preservation Office <sktpo@ronan.net>
 Subj: Native Plant Initiative
 
 Gary, I was wondering if you knew about this Initiative.
   [Editorial comment: The goals outlined in these proposals read very
                       much like the things Joseph Winter was doing at
                       TNAT before the University of New Mexico shut him
                       down.  I suggest there is a reason to explore these
                       similarities, and invite Professor Winter's
                       participation before re-inventing the project.]
 
   http://www.nps.gov/plants/index.htm
   I became aware of this Initiative a few years ago, and had some concerns
 because there was no Tribal representation among the involved parties. When
 I was notified by the Tribal College that tele conferencing was going to
 occur, I contacted Mary Maruca and Julie Lyke. There have been some delays
 and minor obstacles to getting more tribes and tribal people involved.I
 mailed out packets of information to the Montana Tribes and the Umatilla
 Tribe, but haven't received any responses.
   I am sending two drafts of the evolving strategy for your consideration.
 If you have any questions, comments, or referrals you can contact me here at
 the Preservation Office email or home
 <dxn3353@montana.com>
 Sincerely, Joanne Bigcrane
 
 > Native Plant Conservation Initiative
 > Medicinal Plants Working Group
 > 
 > Evolving Strategy
 >                                                               
 > *  *  *  DRAFT (5/13/99)  *  *  *
 > 
 > Recognizing that commercial demands may cause overharvesting from the
 wild, the Medicinal Plants Working Group, including representatives from
 industry, government, academia, and environmental organizations, aims to
 create a framework for discussion and action on behalf of medicinal plants.
 The group's primary focus is to facilitate action on behalf of species of
 particular conservation concern as a means to balance biological and
 commercial needs and, in the long term, avoid regulatory intervention.
 The Working Group intends to raise awareness of native medicinal plant
 issues and needs among partner agencies and to:
 >
 > GENERATE AND SHARE INFORMATION REGARDING SPECIES OF MEDICINAL AND ECONOMIC
 IMPORTANCE AND CONSERVATION CONCERN     Develop a list of all such plants
 >  Assess currently available information
 >  Conduct inventory and monitoring of native medicinal plants
 >  Quantify and monitor production, consumption, and international
    trade in selected species
 >  Assess the volume, intensity, and ecological impact of harvesting
    from the wild for selected species
 >  Identify additional threats to native medicinal plants
 >  Identify native medicinal plants of particular conservation concern
    by ecoregion
 > 
 > PROMOTE APPROPRIATE CONSERVATION MEASURES FOR NATIVE MEDICINAL PLANTS
 >  Develop consensus regarding conservation priorities
 >  Develop and implement conservation strategies for species of
    particular concern
 >  Incorporate native medicinal plants into land management plans
 >  Encourage information sharing regarding selected medicinals to
    better enable decision-makers to make informed decisions
 >  Support law enforcement and the development of new methods of law
    enforcement
 >  Work closely with the Public Outreach and Education Working Group
 >  Develop a web page at NPCI on this working group
 >  Define methods of harvesting selected species from the wild sustainably
 >  Facilitate the articulation and use of a wild-crafting ethic
 >
 > PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION OF NATIVE MEDICINAL PLANT PRODUCTS
 >  Identify non-native invasive medicinals for wild harvesting
 >  Promote research to support commercial-scale artificial propagation of
    native medicinals
 >  Encourage artificial propagation of native medicinal plants as appropriate
 >  Identify and promote market-based incentives for consumption of products
    from sustainable sources
 >  Identify target audiences and partners for information sharing (e.g.,
    farmers and rural development experts)
 >  Identify commercial-scale artificial propagation techniques for selected
    species
 > 
 > INCREASE PARTICIPATION IN NATIVE MEDICINAL PLANT CONSERVATION
 >  Educate policy-makers, consumers, and the general public regarding the
    status and importance of native medicinal plants to focus attention on
    this issue and increase its profile
 >  Identify, quantify, and publicize trends in the status of native
    medicinal plants, including cases of unsustainable use, and the benefits
    of conservation
 >  Promote policy reforms and alternative consumer behaviors as appropriate
 >  Create a database of experts with knowledge of specific medicinal plant
    species
 > 
 > GENERATE FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR NATIVE MEDICINAL PLANT CONSERVATION PROJECTS
 >  Identify potential funding sources for coordinated projects
 >  Develop and present project proposals
 >  Promote the establishment of a conservation trust fund for non-timber
    forest products, including medicinal plants
 > 
 > primary contact:
 > Julie Lyke
 > Plant Conservation Biologist
 > U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Office of Scientific Authority
 > ph: (703) 358-1708 x5054
 > fax: (703) 358-2276
 > e-mail: Julie_Lyke@fws.gov
 > 
 > next meeting:
 > conference call on Wednesday, June 2, 1999
 >       10am-noon EST
 >       
 > call: (703) 358-1915 or
 > 
 > come to:
 >       US FWS
 >       Arlington Square Building
 >       4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Room 205
 >       (near the Ballston Metro stop)
 
 > Native Plant Conservation Initiative
 > Medicinal Plants Working Group
 > 
 > Evolving Strategy
 > 
 > *  *  *  DRAFT (7/16/99)  *  *  *
 > 
 > Recognizing that commercial demands may cause overharvesting from the
 wild, the Medicinal Plants Working Group, including representatives from
 industry, government, academia, and environmental organizations, aims to
 create a framework for discussion and action on behalf of medicinal plants.
 The group's primary focus is to facilitate action on behalf of species of
 particular conservation concern as a means to balance biological and
 commercial needs and, in the long term, avoid regulatory intervention.
 The Working Group intends to raise awareness of native medicinal plant
 issues and needs among partner agencies and to:
 > 
 > GENERATE AND SHARE INFORMATION REGARDING SPECIES OF MEDICINAL AND ECONOMIC
 IMPORTANCE AND CONSERVATION CONCERN
 > - Develop a list of all such plants
 > - Assess currently available information as appropriate to the objective
 > - Conduct inventory and monitoring of native medicinal plants
 > - Quantify and monitor production, consumption, and international trade
     in selected species
 > - Assess the volume, intensity, and ecological impact of harvesting from
     the wild for selected species
 > - Identify additional threats to native medicinal plants
 > - Identify native medicinal plants of particular conservation concern by
     ecoregion
 > - Promote research to increase understanding of the reproductive biology
     and genetic diversity of native medicinal plants
 > - Promote awareness of Tribal concerns and policies as these pertain to
 confidentiality of information
 > 
 > PROMOTE APPROPRIATE CONSERVATION MEASURES FOR NATIVE MEDICINAL PLANTS
 > - Develop consensus regarding in situ and ex situ conservation priorities
     for native medicinal plants
 > - Develop and implement conservation strategies for species of particular
     concern
 > - Incorporate native medicinal plants into land management plans
 > - Encourage information sharing regarding selected medicinals to better
     enable decision-makers to make informed decisions
 > - Support law enforcement and the development of new methods of law
     enforcement
 > - Work closely with the Public Outreach and Education Working Group
 > - Develop a web page at NPCI on this working group
 > - Define methods of harvesting selected species from the wild sustainably
 > - Facilitate the articulation and use of a wild-crafting ethic
 > - Access current and planned ex situ conservation activities for native
     medicinal plants by federal agencies, botanical gardens, Center for
     Plant Conservation, etc.
 > 
 > PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION OF NATIVE MEDICINAL PLANT PRODUCTS
 > - Promote research in support of commercial-scale cultivation and
     propagation of native medicinals
 > - Encourage sustainable cultivation and propagation of native medicinal
     plants as appropriate
 > - Identify and promote market-based incentives for consumption of products
     from sustainable sources
 > - Identify non-native invasive medicinals for wild harvesting
 > - Identify target audiences and partners for information sharing (e.g.,
     farmers and rural development experts)
 > 
 > INCREASE PARTICIPATION IN NATIVE MEDICINAL PLANT CONSERVATION
 > - Educate policy-makers, consumers, and the general public regarding the
     conservation status and importance of native medicinal plants to focus
     attention on this issue and increase its profile
 > - Identify, quantify, and publicize trends in the conservation status of
     native medicinal plants, including cases of unsustainable use, and the
     benefits of conservation
 > - Promote policy reforms and alternative consumer behaviors as appropriate
 > - Create a database of experts with knowledge of specific medicinal plant
     species
 > 
 > ENCOURAGE ACTIVE PARTICIPATION BY TRIBES AND OTHER GROUPS THAT SAFEGUARD
 TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE PERTAINING TO NATIVE MEDICINAL PLANTS
 > Ethnobotany is multi-disciplinary. To discover the practical potential of
 native plants not only requires knowledge of plants, but an understanding
 and sensitivity to the dynamics of how cultures work. By observing the
 intimate and harmonious relationship of indigenous cultures to their
 environment, their accumulated knowledge of the biodynamics of the natural
 world, and their traditions of stewardship that sustain fragile ecological
 balance, scientists, ethnobotanists, and others can gain insight into the
 management of land reserves, plant communities, and the biodiversity they
 sustain, so as to help maintain a balanced ecosystem for future generations.
 > 
 > - Conserve indigenous plants used in traditional medicine, ceremony and
     ethnobotany
 > - Preserve indigenous knowledge, culture and biodiversity.
 > - Support sovereignty through the Convention on Biological Diversity
 > - Establish medicinal plant reserves dedicated to conserving the plants,
     providing information about their uses, and ensuring a sustainable
     supply for future extraction
 > - Establish a ethnobotanical/ethnomedicinal seed bank and cooperative seed
     bank programs for exchange
 > 
 > GENERATE FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR NATIVE MEDICINAL PLANT CONSERVATION PROJECTS
 > - Identify potential funding sources for coordinated projects
 > - Develop and present project proposals
 > - Promote the establishment of a conservation trust fund for non-timber
     forest products, including medicinal plants
 
 --------- "RE: About the Navajo Hopi Land Dispute" ---------
 
 Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 13:47:28 -0700
 From: Nancy Thomas <nlthomas@YvwiiUsdinvnohii.net>
 Subj: About the Navajo - Hopi Land Dispute
 
 Mailing List:    Paths-L <paths-l@YvwiiUsdinvnohii.net>
 
 Information forwarded by "H.F.C. Buma" <hfcbuma@xs4all.nl>
 BIA Propaganda (verbatim)
 Rebuttal by Al Swilling, SENAA.
 
                              The 10 Most Asked Questions
                        About the Navajo - Hopi Land Dispute
 
           Question: What exactly is this so-called dispute about?
 
           Answer. The history of the dispute spans more than 100 years 
 and involves numerous pieces of Congressional legislation and court
 cases. In essence, it the 1880's the federal government set aside 2.2
 million acres, or roughly 3,450 square miles of an area larger than the
 State of Delaware, for the Hopi Indians and such other Indians as the
 government might settle thereon. At that time, the Navajo Reservation
 was many miles to the east. Over the years, Navajos moved westward 
 and the Navajo Reservation was enlarged several time until it surrounded
 the Hopi Reservation and encompassed more than 15 million acres, or
 23,500 square miles or and area the size of West Virginia or Ireland.
 (The Navajo Reservation is larger than many European countries such 
 as Switzerland, Belgium and Denmark.) 
   The Navajos began to use the Hopi Reservation almost to the total
 exclusion of the Hopi Tribe. Beginning in 1958, Congress passed
 legislation authorizing the Hopi Tribe to adjudicate its rights in the
 land in the federal courts. Ultimately, the courts determined both 
 tribes had rights in the land and that the best solution to the competing
 claims was to "partition" or divide the land between the two tribes. The
 land was divided into the Hopi Partitioned Land (HPL) and the Navajo
 Partitioned Land (NPL). Thus, the dispute over ownership to the land 
 has been resolved. The remaining dispute is how to move the Navajos
 living on the HPL onto Navajo lands. (Few Hopis lived on the NPL and
 those that did voluntarily move to the HPL after the land was partitioned.)
            
           REBUTTAL:
           Here, the BIA is counting on those who read its response not
 knowing the history of the Dine'h, because they are not telling the
 whole story. Important key information has been omitted from their
 version of the story. Refuting this response requires a brief look at
 history. Once the history is known, it becomes obvious that the BIA
 response above is a half truth, not a lie, but clearly a deception 
 geared at portraying the BIA as benevolent and kind and the Dine'h 
 and Hopi as being ungrateful and childish. When all the facts are
 known, a completely different picture emerges.  
   The truth is, when explorers first encountered the Hopi and Dine'h
 (Navajo), they were living at the four corners area and occupied much 
 of what is now New Mexico and Arizona, extending into what is now
 Colorado and Utah. From the 1500s to the 1800s, the Hopi and Dine'h
 coexisted peacefully in the area that the BIA says is now the center 
 of conflict between the two tribes.
   The first discord in Dine'h and Hopi territory was with the Spanish,
 who tried to take over the area but were driven out by the Hopi and
 Dine'h. The subsequent U.S. Mexican War concluded with the Treaty 
 of Guadeloupe Hidalgo, in which Mexico ceded the Southwest, which 
 it did not rightfully own to cede, to the U.S., which agreed never to
 remove the Native peoples.
   The next crisis for the Hopi and Dine'h came with the California Gold
 Rush, when the U.S. declared war on the Navajo because they were,
 in essence, in the way of the greedy prospectors and settlers hoping 
 to strike it rich in California. On the heels of the Civil War, in 1863-64,
 Colonel Kit Carson, on contract with the U.S., destroyed Dine'h crops
 and livestock and forced all captured Dine'h on the infamous 400 mile
 trek known as "The Long Walk" to Fort Sumner in New Mexico. Thousands
 died in on the walk and the survivors were held in captivity in concentration
 camps whence Hitler received his inspiration for the Nazi concentration
 camps where so many Jews were tortured and murdered.
   It was Carson's intention to annihilate the Hopi and Dine'h, but
 starvation and intolerable conditions forced the Dine'h to agree to the
 1868 Navajo Treaty, whereby the Dine'h were released and "given" a 3.5
 million acre reservation in northwestern New Mexico--a fraction of the size
 of their original homeland.
   Afterward, in 1871, the U.S. moved the department of "Indian
 Affairs" from the War Department to the Department of the Interior 
 and changed its tactics of dealing with Indigenous Americans from
 worthless treaties and open genocide to education. The logic was to
 educate the culture out of the First Americans. Dine'h and children 
 of other Indigenous Nations were forcibly removed from their homes 
 and placed in "Indian Schools," where they were forbidden to speak 
 their native language, wear their hair as they pleased, practice their
 religion, or do anything connected with their traditional culture. If
 the U.S. government could not kill the Dine'h physically, then it 
 would kill them spiritually. The Dine'h resisted.
   Between 1878 and 1882, the Dine'h gained back a portion of their
 original homeland when the U.S. government, to accommodate the 
 growth of the tribe and respond to their grazing needs, expanded 
 the Navajo reservation into Arizona. However, as the Navajo were
 expanding and gaining back some of their traditional homeland, 
 the Hopi, who had never signed a treaty with nor surrendered to 
 the U.S. government, were beginning to suffer at the hands of the 
 U.S. government.
   In 1882, President Chester A. Arthur signed an Executive Order
 proclaiming that an area of one degree latitude by one degree 
 longitude in northeastern Arizona would be the Hopi Reservation 
 of approximately 3.5 million acres, which did not correlate with Hopi
 occupancy. In 1884,  Hopi religious leaders wrote to the President
 challenging his authority to prescribe any boundaries on the Hopi. 
 This action placed many of the Hopi sacred sites outside the U.S.
 government imposed Hopi boundaries. Likewise, it put many Dine'h 
 sacred sites inside Hopi boundaries, making them, by U.S. standards,
 inaccessible. Dine'h and Hopi ignored, to some extent, the U.S. 
 government imposed boundaries which had resulted in many Dine'h 
 living on what the U.S. government considered Hopi land and many 
 Hopi living on Navajo land.
   As the Dine'h and Hopi were dealing with this newest twist of the
 knife, the search for oil, gas, and other natural resources began.
 Between 1905 and 1923, geological surveys revealed the wealth 
 of natural resources on Dine'h and Hopi land. Mining companies 
 pressured the U.S. government to grant them the authority to 
 negotiate contracts and leases with the Dine'h and Hopi so they 
 could exploit the vast resources. In 1923, at Standard Oil Company's
 bidding, the United States government, through the Department of 
 the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and against the will of
 the Dine'h people, formed the first "Navajo Tribal Council." The only
 action that the council was allowed to take was to authorize an Indian
 Agent to sign mineral leases in the Navajo Tribal Council's name.
   Thus begins plans by the BIA and mining companies to create a
 diversion and fabricate a "land dispute" between the Hopi and Dine'h 
 in order to give the government an excuse to step in and settle a
 conflict that only existed between the Hopi and Dine'h on the Tribal
 Council level, not among the Hopi and Dine'h people. The Hopi and 
 Dine'h were crying out in protest; but the protests of the people were
 directed at the BIA and the mining companies, not among themselves. 
 They had always shared the area as their home and sacred lands,  it 
 was no different at this time; but the gears of the U.S. government 
 and the mining companies were in motion, and there would be no 
 stopping them.
   In response to the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, Secretary
 of the Interior Harold Ickes formed the Hopi Tribal Council amid the
 strong resistance of traditional people. With Ickes' establishment 
 of nineteen grazing districts on the Hopi and Navajo reservations, 
 he declared that District 6, an area immediately surrounding Hopi
 villages, was exclusively Hopi. Seven years later, in 1943, District 6
 was enlarged to 631,000 acres, and Dine'h within the new boundaries 
 were forced to move.
   Between 1946 and 1951, the Hopi people had boycotted the puppet
 Hopi Tribal Council out of existence; but it was reinstated in 1951 
 by Peabody attorney, Hopi Tribal Councilman, and former Mormon 
 Archbishop, John Boyden. From 1952 to 1957, attorneys Boyden 
 and Normal Littell (Navajo Tribal Council attorney) petitioned the
 Secretary of the Interior to partition lands outside District 6.  In 
 the meantime, Kerr-McGee opened a uranium mill on Dine'h land.
   In 1962, a federal court upheld the 1943 Hopi boundaries, saying
 that only Congress has the power to partition land. The court ruled 
 that the balance of the reservation established in 1882 had to be 
 shared equally by the Hopi and Dine'h. This became the Joint Use 
 Area (JUA).
   In 1963, Vanadium Corporation bought the uranium mill from
 Kerr-McGee. Approximately 1.5 million tons of ore were processed 
 and left in contaminated waste piles covering 72 acres next to the 
 San Juan River near Shiprock, NM. Two years later, Secretary of 
 the Interior Stewart Udall begins work on a plan to develop water 
 and mineral resources in the Southwest.
   In 1966, ignoring the objections of Hopi traditional and spiritual
 leaders, the Hopi Tribal Council grants 35 year lease to Peabody 
 Coal Company to develop Black Mesa.
   Between 1971 and 1974, the Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act
 (PL93-531) became law. Several Arizona Congressmen and Lawyers 
 convinced the rest of Congress that the "Land Dispute" had become 
 a bloody "Range War." This came as a shock to Navajo and Hopi on 
 the JUA, but Congress trusted its Western Colleagues and they signed
 into Law the Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act, dividing the JUA into
 Navajo and Hopi halves and ostensibly, solving the problem.
   There followed a 50/50 partition of the lands, with the boundary
 to be confirmed by District Court, 90% livestock reduction; and a 
 Relocation Commission to implement removal of Indians living on 
 the "wrong side of the fence" was established. This also represented 
 the beginning of home repair and home construction freeze.
   It is a widely held belief that the Dispute was contrived by
 Government sponsored and styled tribal council and influential 
 energy interests whose sole intent was to clear up coal and 
 water rights on the JUA, and open the way for more rapid energy 
 development. Vast quantities of oil, uranium and coal were involved.
      For the timeline of these developments, see the chronology:
       URL: http://www.applicom.com/vbm/Chron.htm
 
           Question: I have heard that there really is no dispute, that the
 Navajos and Hopis get along just fine with each other. Is this true? 
 
           Answer. There are individual Navajos and Hopis that get 
 along with each other just as there are Irish Catholics and Protestants
 and Palestinians and Israelis that get along. Such isolated personal
 relationships, however, don not mean that there is no dispute in
 Northern Ireland or that there is no Arab/Israeli dispute or that this
 is no dispute between the Navajo and the Hopis. The tribes have 
 profound religious, political and legal differences.
 
           REBUTTAL:
         I am unfamiliar with the religious beliefs of either the Hopi or
 the Dine'h nation. However, I do know that both tribes are, by nature,
 peaceful people. I also know that, for hundreds of years before the 
 U.S. government or the BIA existed, and for hundreds of years prior 
 to European contact, the Hopi and Dine'h lived together in peace in 
 the Southwest, in and around the four corners area. The rather lame
 argument that the reason for the so-called "land dispute" is that "The
 tribes have profound political and legal differences" does not stand up
 under close scrutiny. In fact, though there probably are some differences
 in the spiritual beliefs of the Hopi and Dine'h, there are as many 
 similarities. For example, almost every Indigenous American nation on
 the continent believes that the earth is our Mother and Creator is our
 Divine Father. We share the belief that Creator put each of our nations
 on this Turtle Island in the particular places that were best suited for
 each of us. We share the belief that we were put in our particular
 homeland to be caretakers of that land, and that is the way Creator
 intended for it to be. Those common beliefs, no matter how their other
 beliefs may differ, are exactly why the Hopi and Dine'h were able and
 willing to co-exist in the same area for so many centuries.
   The beliefs of the Lakota probably differ from the Hopi and Dine'h
 beliefs far more than the Hopi and Dine'h beliefs differ from each other;
 yet each year since it began, the Lakota and other tribes have been allowed
 to come to Hopi and Dine'h land and perform the Sundance ritual. In spite
 of the vast differences among the three cultures, the Hopi and Dine'h 
 recognize the profound spiritual commitment and power that are involved.
 They realize and accept that the differences among them fade into 
 insignificance compared to the faith and commitment to Creator that the
 rituals demonstrate. To each person, truth is revealed in a way that he or
 she can best understand it and in ways that are best suited to his or her
 nature. The Dine'h and the Hopi understand that. If, then, they are tolerant
 of a people who are as different from them as the Lakota are, how much
 more tolerant would they be toward each other who have so much in common.
 Among their common religious beliefs is the recognition that certain places
 in their homeland are sacred. The Hopi and Dine'h respect each other's holy
 places and, from what I have learned from various sources, even hold some
 sacred sites in common.
   The only "land dispute" is that illusion of dispute that was created
 by the U.S. government through puppet tribal councils that the U.S. itself
 created. The Hopi and Navajo Tribal Councils were not created by or in
 the interests of the Hopi or Dine'h people, as my earlier rebuttal
 clearly explains.
   This matter is one of common sense more than documentation.
 The entire BIA comment is ludicrous.
 
           Question: Isn't this merely another attempt by the government 
 to take land from the Indians? 
 
           Answer. The United States was not a party to the litigation to
 partition the land. The litigation was brought by the Hopi Tribe against
 the Navajo Nation and the land was divided between the two tribes. 
 The federal government gained no land from the litigation. In fact, the
 federal government has given the Navajo Nation 250,000 acres of "new 
 land" and provided funding to the Hopi Tribe to acquire up to 150,000
 additional acres of land.
            
           REBUTTAL:
           Black Mesa Coal Mine (URL: http://www.solcommunications.com/)
 This Is What The U.S. Government Wanted With the Land At Black Mesa
   The petition for partitioning of the land was not a matter of Hopi
 vs. Navajo. In 1947, attorneys Boyden and Littell were hired as claims
 attorneys for the Hopi and Navajo Tribal Councils respectively. Boyden,
 at the time, was also an attorney for Peabody Coal Company. It should 
 be noted that Boyden first sought employment with the Navajo Tribal
 Council; but Littell was chosen for that position, so Boyden was hired 
 as the Hopi Tribal Council's attorney. It was the two attorneys together
 who petitioned federal courts to partition the Hopi land. Together, they
 convinced Congress that the Hopi and Navajo were engaged in a bloody
 range war and that partitioning (fencing) the land was the only solution
 to the problem. It was the BIA, remember, who was formulating strategies
 and  pulling the strings. There was no range war, and the only protests
 were those raised by both Hopi and Dine'h against the BIA and the two
 tribal councils for displacing them. The hidden agenda was to give
 Congress the illusion of a conflict over the JUA, get control of the area
 turned over to the BIA and the Tribal Councils, then, on the ruse that
 it was in the best interest of both tribes, sign the mineral rights over
 to Peabody Coal Company. It worked, and the Hopi and Dine'h people 
 have been paying  the price ever since.
   If the United States is not a party to the litigation to partition
 the land, then where did PL93-531 in 1974 and the Navajo-Hopi Land
 Dispute Settlement Act of 1996 come from?
   The facts of the matter are that the Congress of the United States
 created both the Hopi and Navajo Tribal Councils and they were created
 for ONE purpose only: to sign over mineral rights to the Hopi and Dine'h
 lands, not for the land itself, but for the mineral deposits in the land.
 It was also the United States Congress that formulated and passed the
 Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act (PL93-531) in 1974 and the Navajo-Hopi
 Land Dispute Settlement Act of 1996. It was United States Presidents who
 signed both bills into law. It was the BIA and rangers from the puppet Hopi
 Tribal Council who ordered the fencing off of the HPL. It is the BIA, a
 department of the United States government, that is trying to force the
 Dine'h off their land and onto the "new land," which the BIA fails to mention
 is contaminated with uranium waste that is giving off radiation at levels
 up to 100 times maximum safe levels.
 
           Question: If the Navajos have to move off Hopi lands, where are
 they supposed to go and what provisions have been made to assist them? 
 
           Answer. The Navajo Nation is more than 15 million acres and the
 federal government has provided an additional 250,000 acres specifically
 for relocation purposes. Many Navajos have chosen to relocate to the
 main Navajo Reservation and many have moved to the "new lands." Some
 Navajos has chosen not to move to the "new land" and have been relocated
 to communities in the surrounding area or out of state. Before any Navajo
 moves, the federal government provides them with water, electricity and
 a new home. Thus, far, the federal government has spent over One-half
 billion dollars to assist Navajos in relocating.
            
           REBUTTAL:
   The "new lands," as I have pointed out, are contaminated by
 uranium tailings, "one of the most toxic substances known to man," as
 the narrator points out in the video VANISHING PRAYER Genocide of 
 the Dineh. Levels of contamination have been measured at 100 times 
 the maximum safe level. Not only is the land itself contaminated, the
 water of nearby streams is contaminated, as well. Of those who were
 first relocated to "new lands," 25 percent died within the first six years.
 Since moving to "new lands," the birth defect rate among those people
 has risen to twice the national average.
   The Dine'h at Big Mountain are not just being told to move.
 They are being told to move from their sacred ancestral homeland 
 onto land that is so polluted from uranium waste that it will literally
 kill them. Death by radiation related disease is sometimes slow, but 
 it is always fatal and always agonizing. If the Dine'h do not move, 
 they are denied water and electricity, and are forbidden to repair or
 rebuild their homes. So much for the BIA's benevolence.
 
        Question: What happens to those Navajos that don't want to relocate?
 
         Answer. The Hopi and Navajo residents of the HPL have spent years
 in federal court ordered mediation negotiating "Accommodation Agreements,"
 whereby the Hopi Tribe has agreed to accommodate the continued residence
 by Navajos on the HPL. In essence, these Accommodation Agreements are
 long term leases (75 years) with an option to renew at the end of the 75
 years.
 
           REBUTTAL:
   The "Accommodation Agreements" were created by the BIA run
 Tribal Councils, not by the Hopi people. The Dine'h are being told to
 sign leases to allow them to remain on ancestral sacred land given to
 them by the Creator. The question is, how can the U.S. government,
 through its puppet tribal council, impose a lease on land that was given
 to them by the Creator?
 
           Question: I have heard that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) 
 is stealing or impounding Navajo sheep. Why is the BIA doing this? 
 
           Answer. As part of the litigation in the Navajo-Hopi dispute, the
 BIA was ordered by the courts to maintain the range and ensure that 
 it is not being over grazed. Many Navajos had historically over grazed
 the range and severely damaged it. Several years ago, the BIA initiated
 a purchase program whereby it purchased excess Navajo animals. 
 Thereafter, on an annual basis, the BIA has issued grazing permits to
 the Navajo HPL residents. These permits specify how many animals 
 each Navajo family can graze on the HPL. If a family is grazing animals
 in excess of their permit they are notified of this fact and asked to
 remove the excess animals. If they are not removed with a reasonable time,
 the BIA must  impound excess animals in order to ensure that the range
 is not over grazed and to comply with the orders of the court. 
            
           REBUTTAL:
   Isn't it odd that, for hundreds of years before coal, oil, uranium,
 and other exploitable natural resources were discovered and Peabody 
 Coal Company and the U.S. government came into the picture, the 
 Dine'h have grazed sheep on that land and have done very well at
 it all by themselves. Then, when the mining companies wanted the land
 and the U.S. government created the Hopi and Navajo Tribal Councils, 
 the Dineh suddenly forgot everything they ever knew about caring for
 their flocks and the land that sustains them, making it necessary for 
 the U.S. government to step in and take over range management. You 
 must remember, too, that the BIA's reference to Hopi is in reference to
 the Hopi Tribal Council, not to the Hopi people themselves. The Hopi
 successfully boycotted and dismantled the Hopi Tribal Council once. 
 It was the BIA who resurrected it to protect the mining interests, not 
 to help the Hopi people.
   The first question that comes to mind in regard to impoundment is:
 If Dine'h livestock are being impounded because of overgrazing, then why
 does the BIA turn around, after the impoundment, and offer to sell the
 animals back to the rightful owners? These practices are tantamount to
 kidnapping and extortion and bear little resemblance to range management.
 
           Question: Are Navajos allowed to graze animals if they have
 signed an Accommodation Agreement?
 
           Answer. Yes. After years of negotiations the Hopi Tribe and the
 HPL Navajos agreed that the HPL Navajos were entitled to graze 2,800
 sheep units on the HPL, which is approximately 2 times the number
 previously permitted. (Sheep units are a way to measure use of the range.
 For example, a cow eats approximately 5 times as much as a sheep. Thus,
 one cow equals five sheep units. Navajos can graze a variety of animals
 as long as the total does not exceed 2,800 sheep units.) The HPL Navajos
 decide among themselves how to allocate their grazing rights.
            
           REBUTTAL:
   The fact is, the entire concept of range management was created
 and implemented by the BIA controlled Hopi Tribal Council. The BIA is
 being deliberately misleading in referring to the actions of the Tribal
 Council as being those of the "Hopi Tribe." As document upon document
 written by eyewitnesses to the unfolding saga will attest, there is no
 conflict between the traditional Hopi and the Dine'h traditional people.
 A look at the history of the Hopi and Navajo Tribal Councils; the protests
 of the people at the BIA's creation of these puppet, nonrepresentative
 councils; and the chain of events that followed the results of geological
 surveys will make clear just who is controlling the situation, what the
 ulterior motives of the BIA are, and the truth about why the Dine'h 
 livestock are being impounded, mistreated, starved, and held for ransom
 at the BIA impoundment yards.
 
           Question: If the Navajos have signed Accommodation Agreements 
 why is the BIA presently impounding Navajo animals? 
 
           Answer. The Accommodation Agreements authorize the HPL Navajos 
 to graze 2,800 sheep units. They were, however, at the beginning of the
 year grazing in excess of 3,600 sheep units. In addition, the HPL is an
 arid area and is currently experiencing a dryer than normal year. As a
 consequence the carrying capacity of the range has been reduced to 2,300
 sheep units. In dry times, prudent range management requires a reduction
 in the number of livestock grazed. In this case, there has been a pro rata
 reduction in the number of animals that both the HPL Navajos and members
 of the Hopi Tribe can graze on the HPL.
            
          REBUTTAL:
   The Black Mesa area is, indeed, an arid area. There is little
 water to be had and every drop is precious to all flora and fauna living
 in the area. Situations such as these are why federal laws, on paper 
 at least, forbid mining companies from using nonreplenishable water
 sources for mining purposes unless the mining company has the ability 
 to replace the water that it uses.
   The reason that the Black Mesa area is experiencing dryer than
 normal seasons is because Peabody Coal Company continues to run its 
 270 mile slurry line to the Mojave Generating Station, draining billions
 of gallons of pristine water from the aquifer that lies beneath Black Mesa,
 the only source of water for the Hopi and Dine'h living at Black Mesa.
   Rather than punish Peabody Coal Company and demand restitution
 for violating federal mining laws, the U.S. government has responded by
 capping the wells of the Dine'h at Black Mesa and forbidding them to draw
 water from them. Without water, the ability to maintain their sheep is
 diminished dramatically. Water in the nearest streams is contaminated by
 toxins from the mining process, which has killed many of the Dine'h sheep.
   In the grand scheme of things, the U.S. government has no
 intention of punishing Peabody Coal Company or stopping it from using
 the nonreplenishable water from the aquifer. Peabody's mining operation
 is closing in on the Big Mountain area, where the Dine'h live. It wants
 to clear the way so it can strip mine Big Mountain and destroy yet another
 Dine'h sacred site. It is the BIA operated Hopi Tribal Council, and NOT 
 the Hopi people who are trying to remove the Dine'h, whether they have
 signed an Accommodation Agreement or not. To accomplish this task, the
 BIA has begun harassing them, threatening them, and confiscating their
 livestock, saying that they are overgrazing when they are not.
 
      For testimony about livestock impoundments, visit L.I.S.N.
       URL: http://www.lisn.net/bigmountain3.htm
 
           Question: Is it true the Navajos have been threatened and
 assaulted in order to try and make them sign an Accommodation 
 Agreement or move from the HPL?
 
           Answer. There are no documented instances of Navajos having 
 been threatened or assaulted. Some non-Indian supports of the HPL
 Navajos allege that explaining the law to the HPL Navajos constitutes
 threats and intimidation. In recognition of the sensitive nature of
 relocation, as part of the mediation process leading to the Accommodation
 Agreement process Navajo tribal members agreed to make contact with the
 HPL Navajos to explain the terms of the Accommodation Agreements and to
 answer questions. The process has been very successful as the majority
 of the HPL Navajos have signed the Accommodation Agreement. The only
 people that have, in fact, been assaulted and injured have been BIA and
 Hopi tribal employees.
            
           REBUTTAL:
   Rena Babbitt Lane, who lost livestock in a confiscation on Monday,
 February 22, had her hand broken when she tried to stop a previous
 impoundment.
   As the photo clearly shows, there have, indeed, been assaults
 on the Dine'h, and a policy of terrorism and threats is very real and 
 it continues today. Aside from assaults on Dine'h,  those who try to
 prevent the impoundment of their livestock, the Dine'h have been 
 terrorized and mistreated in a number of other ways:
   Wells have been capped, firewood and wood cutting tools have
 been confiscated and the Dine'h have been forbidden to gather firewood
 or even break a green twig. The Dine'h have also been threatened with
 exclusion orders, had eviction notices nailed to their doors, forbidden to
 repair their homes or build any shelter. One Dine'h had his hogan
 bulldozed to the ground by the BIA. Assault and threats can take many
 forms, and the Dine'h have experienced most of them at the hands of the
 BIA, aka the "Hopi Tribal Council," aka the "Navajo Tribal Council."
   For in-depth articles, written by eyewitnesses to the BIA's
 brutality and underhanded tactics against the Dine'h at Big Mountain,
 click the "BACK" button below to go back to SENAA's Newsletter page.
 Click on the links to the various articles and see what eyewitnesses saw.
 Learn for yourself the truth about the BIA's part in this tragedy and
 what they don't want you to know about what is REALLY going on at 
 Black Mesa at the BIA's hands.
 
      Rebuttal by Al Swilling, SENAA.
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  126 days to the final solution for the Dine'h at Big
  Mountain, AZ, USA. See the video "Vanishing Prayers"
  URL: http://www.freespeach.org/senaa
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 --------- "RE: Blackfeet/Glacier Border Dispute" ---------
 
 Date: 10/2/99 3:04:23 PM Eastern Daylight Time
 From: kolahq@skynet.be
 Subj: Blackfeet/Glacier border dispute
 
 <+>=<+>KOLA Newslist<+>=<+>
 
 Fri, October 1st 1999
 Tribe, Glacier break off talks over border dispute 
 http://www.billingsgazette.com/region/991001_reg17.html
 
 BROWNING - Tribal leaders from the Blackfeet Nation called 
 off talks with Glacier National Park officials Tuesday, 
 saying they would not negotiate century-old treaty issues 
 until a border dispute could be resolved. The tribe and 
 the park have been meeting since the first of the year, 
 trying to come to terms on interpretation of a 1895 
 agreement in which the Blackfeet gave up a portion of 
 their historic lands. In that deal, the tribe maintained 
 the right to access the forfeited lands, as well as the 
 right to hunt, fish and gather wood. 
 
 --------- "RE: Wannabe-ism and the BIA" ---------
 
 Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999 11:43:56 +0100
 From: etowah <etowah@swbell.net>
 Subj: Wannabe-ism and the BIA
 
   Newsgroup: alt.native
 
 Straight from a lying horse's mouth, the BIA lays it out in detail as to
 "benefits".
 
   http://www.doi.gov/bia/aitoday/q_and_a.html
 
 INDEX 
 Who is an
 Indian?............................................................. AI-2
 What is an Indian Tribe?............................................ AI-2
 What is a Federally recognized tribe?............................... AI-2
 How does an Indian become a member of a Tribe?...................... AI-2
 What is a reservation?.............................................. AI-3
 Do all Indians live on reservations?................................ AI-3
 Are Indians required to stay on reservations?....................... AI-3
 Do Indians have the right to own land?.............................. AI-3
 What does tribal sovereignty mean to Indians?....................... AI-3
 Are Indians wards of the government?................................ AI-3
 Do Indians get payments from the government?........................ AI-3
 Are Indians entitled to a free college education?................... AI-4
 Are Indians U.S. citizens?.......................................... AI-4
 Can Indians Vote?................................................... AI-4
 Do Indians have the right to hold Federal, State and local
 government offices?.................................................. AI-4
 Do Indians pay taxes?............................................... AI-5
 Do laws that apply to non-Indians also apply to Indians?............ AI-5
 How is Indian gaming regulated?..................................... AI-5
 Does the United States still make treaties with Indians?............ AI-5
 How do Indian tribes govern themselves?............................. AI-6
 Do Indians have special rights different from other citizens?....... AI-6
 Did all Indians speak one language?................................. AI-6
 Do Indians serve in the Armed Forces?............................... AI-7
 How does one trace Indian ancestry and become a member of a tribe?.. AI-7
 Why are Indians sometimes referred to as Native Americans?.......... AI-7
 
 Who is an Indian?
 
 No single Federal or tribal criterion establishes a person's identity as
 an Indian. Government agencies use differing criteria to determine who is
 an Indian eligible to participate in their programs. Tribes also have
 varying eligibility criteria for membership. To determine what the
 criteria might be for agencies or Tribes, you must contact each entity
 directly.
 
 To be eligible for Bureau of Indian Affairs services, an Indian must (1)
 be a member of a Tribe recognized by the Federal Government, (2) one-half
 or more Indian blood of tribes indigenous to the United States (25 USC
 479) ; or (3) must, for some purposes, be of one-fourth or more Indian
 ancestry. By legislative and administrative decision, the Aleuts, Eskimos
 and Indians of Alaska are eligible for BIA services. Most of the BIA's
 services and programs, however, are limited to Indians living on or near
 Indian reservations.
 
 The Bureau of the Census counts anyone an Indian who declares himself or
 herself to be an Indian. In 1990 the Census figures showed there were 1,
 959,234 American Indians and Alaska Natives living in the United States (1,
 878,285 American Indians, 57,152 Eskimos, and 23,797 Aleuts). This is a 37.
 9 percent increase over the 1980 recorded total of 1,420,000. The increase
 is attributed to improved census taking and more self- identification
 during the 1990 count.
 
 The BIA's 1993 estimate is that about 1.2 million of this total population
 live on or adjacent to Federal Indian reservations. This is the segment of
 the U.S. Indian and Alaska Native population served by the BIA through
 formal, on-going relations.
 
 What is an Indian Tribe?
 
 Originally, an Indian Tribe was a body of people bound together by blood
 ties who were socially, politically, and religiously organized, who lived
 together in a defined territory and who spoke a common language or dialect.
 The establishment of the reservation system created some new tribal
 groupings when two or three tribes were placed on one reservation, or when
 members of one tribe were spread over two or three reservations.
 
 What is a Federally recognized tribe?
 
 There are more than 550 Federally recognized Tribes in the United States,
 including 223 village groups in Alaska. "Federally recognized" means these
 tribes and groups have a special, legal relationship with the U.S.
 government. This relationship is referred to as a government-to-government
 relationship. Members of Federally recognized Tribes who do not reside on
 their reservations have limited relations with the BIA and IHS, since BIA
 and IHS programs are primarily administered for members of Federally
 recognized tribes who live on or near reservations.
 
 A number of Indian Tribes and groups in the U.S. do not have a Federally
 recognized status, although some are State recognized. This means they
 have no relations with the BIA or the programs it operates. A special
 program of the BIA, however, works with those groups seeking Federal
 recognition status. Of the 150 petitions for Federal recognition received
 by the BIA since 1978, 12 have received acknowledgment through the BIA
 process, two groups had their status clarified by the Department of the
 Interior through other means, and seven were restored or recognized by
 Congress.
 
 How does an Indian become a member of a Tribe?
 
 A Tribe sets up its own membership criteria, although the U.S. Congress
 can also establish tribal membership criteria. Becoming a member of a
 particular Tribe requires meeting its membership rules, including adoption.
 Except for adoption, the amount of blood quantum needed varies, with some
 Tribes requiring only proof of descent from an Indian ancestor, while
 others may require as much as one-half.
 
 What is a reservation?
 
 In the U.S. there are only two kinds of reserved lands that are well-
 known: military and Indian. An Indian reservation is land a Tribe reserved
 for itself when it relinquished its other land areas to the U.S. through
 treaties. More recently, Congressional acts, Executive Orders and
 administrative acts have created reservations. Today some reservations
 have non-Indian residents and land owners living within the boundaries of
 reservations.
 
 There are approximately 275 Indian land areas in the U.S. administered as
 Indian reservations (reservations, pueblos, rancherias, communities, etc.).
 The largest is the Navajo Reservation of some 16-million acres of land in
 Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Many of the smaller reservations are less
 than 1,000 acres with the smallest less than 100 acres. On each
 reservation, the local governing authority is the tribal government.
 
 Approximately 56.2-million acres of land are held in trust by the United
 States for various Indian Tribes and individuals. Much of this is
 reservation land; however, not all reservation land is trust land. On
 behalf of the United States, the Secretary of the Interior serves as
 trustee for such lands with many routine trustee responsibilities
 delegated to BIA officials.
 
 The States in which reservations are located have limited powers over them,
 and only as provided by Federal law. On some reservations, however, a high
 percentage of the land is owned and occupied by non-Indians. Some 140
 reservations have entirely tribally owned land.
 
 Do all Indians live on reservations?
 
 No. Indians can and do live anywhere in the United States that they wish.
 Many leave their home reservations for educational and employment purposes.
 Over half of the total U.S. Indian and Alaska Native population now lives
 away from reservations. Most return home often to participate in family
 and tribal life and sometimes to retire.
 
 Are Indians required to stay on reservations?
 
 No. Indians are free to move about like all other Americans. Contrary to
 popular belief, Indians are not required to acquire passports to leave or
 enter reservations.
 
 Do Indians have the right to own land?
 
 Yes. As U.S. citizens, Indians can buy and hold title to land purchased
 with their own funds. Nearly all lands of Indian Tribes, however, are held
 in trust for them by the United States. There is no general law that
 permits a tribe to sell its land. Individual Indians also own trust land,
 which they can sell, but only upon the approval of the Secretary of the
 Interior or his representative. If an Indian wants to extinguish the trust
 title to his land and hold title like any other citizen (with all the
 attendant responsibilities such as paying taxes), he can do so if the
 Secretary of the Interior or his authorized representative determines that
 he is able to manage his own affairs. This is a protection for the
 individual.
 
 What does tribal sovereignty mean to Indians?
 
 When Indian Tribes first encountered Europeans, they were dealt with
 because of their strength in numbers and were treated as sovereign
 governments with whom treaties were made. When tribes gave up their lands
 to the U.S., they retained certain sovereignty over the lands they kept.
 While such sovereignty is limited today, it is nevertheless jealously
 guarded by the tribes against encroachments by other sovereign entities
 such as States. Tribes enjoy a direct government-to-government
 relationship with the U.S. government wherein no decisions about their
 lands and people are made without their consent.
 
 Are Indians wards of the government?
 
 No. The Federal Government is a trustee of Indian property, it is not a
 guardian of individual Indians. The Secretary of the Interior is
 authorized by law, in many instances, to protect the interests of minors
 and incompetents, but this protection does not confer a guardian-ward
 relationship.
 
 Do Indians get payments from the government?
 
 No individual is automatically paid for being an Indian. The Federal
 Government may pay a Tribe or an individual in compensation for damages
 for losses resulting from treaty violations, for encroachments on Indian
 lands, or for other past or present wrongs. A Tribe or an individual may
 also receive a government check for payment of income from their lands and
 resources. This occurs because their resources are held in trust by the
 Secretary of the Interior and payment for their use has been collected
 from users by the Federal Government in their behalf. Fees collected from
 oil or grazing leases are an example of this situation.
 
 Are Indians entitled to a free college education?
 
 No. An individual does not automatically receive funding because of Indian
 ancestry. The Indian higher education program provides financial aid to
 eligible students, based on demonstrated financial need, who have plans to
 attend an accredited institution of higher education. A student must
 obtain an application packet and other financial aid information form
 their tribe, home BIA Agency, or Area Office of Indian Education Programs.
 The Higher Education Grant Program is available to an individual who is a
 member of a federally Recognized Indian tribe.
 
 Are Indians U.S. citizens?
 
 Yes. Before the U.S. Congress extended American citizenship in 1924 to all
 Indians born in the territorial limits of the United States, citizenship
 had been conferred upon approximately two-thirds of the Indian population
 through treaty agreements, statutes, naturalization proceedings, and by
 "service in the Armed Forces with an honorable discharge" in World War I.
 Indians also are members of their respective Tribes and thus have dual
 citizenship.
 
 Can Indians Vote?
 
 Yes. Indians have the same right to vote as other U.S. citizens. In 1948,
 the Arizona Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional disenfranchising
 interpretation of the State constitution. Thus Indians were permitted to
 vote as in most other States. A 1953 Utah State law stated that persons
 living on Indian reservations were not residents of the State and could
 not vote. That law was subsequently repealed. In 1954, Indians in Maine
 who were not then Federally recognized were given the right to vote, and
 in 1962, New Mexico extended the right to vote to Indians. Indians also
 vote in State and local elections and in their affiliated tribal elections.
 Each tribe, however, determines which of its members are eligible to vote
 in its elections. This qualification to do so is not related to the
 individual Indian's right to vote in national, State or local (non-Indian)
 elections.
 
 Do Indians have the right to hold Federal, State and local government
 offices?
 
 Yes. Indians have the same rights as other citizens to hold public office.
 Indian men and women have held elective and appointive offices at all
 levels of government. Charles Curtis, a Kaw Indian from Kansas, served as
 Vice President of the United States under President Herbert Hoover.
 
 Indians have been elected to the U.S. Congress from time to time for more
 than 80 years. Ben Reifel, a Sioux Indian from South Dakota, served five
 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a
 member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of Montana, was elected to the U.S.
 House of Representatives in 1986 from the Third District of Colorado, and
 is currently serving in the United States Senate. He is the only American
 Indian currently serving in Congress. Other Indians who have served in the
 U.S. Congress include- -
 
 U.S. Senate:
 
 Hiram R. Revels, Lumbee from Mississippi, 1870-1871
 
 Mathew Stanley Quay, Abenaki or Delaware from Pennsylvania, 1887-1899 and
 1901-1904
 
 Charles Curtis, Kaw from Kansas, 1907-1912 and 1915-1929 (Vice-President
 from 1929-1933)
 
 Robert L. Owens, Cherokee from Oklahoma, 1907-1925
 
 U.S. House of Representatives:
 
 Charles Curtis, Kaw from Kansas, 1893-1907
 
 Charles D. Carter, Choctaw from Oklahoma, 1907-1927
 
 W.W. Hastings, Cherokee from Oklahoma, 1915-1921 and 1923-1935
 
 Will Rogers, Jr., Cherokee from California, 1943-1944
 
 William G. Stigler, Chocktaw from Oklahoma, 1944-1952
 
 Benjamin Reifel, Rosebud Sioux from South Dakota, 1961-1971
 
 Clem Rogers McSpadden, Cherokee from Oklahoma, 1972-1975
 
 Indians also served in and now hold office in a number of State
 legislatures. Others currently hold or have held elected or appointive
 positions in State judiciary systems and in county and city governments
 including local school boards. Larry Echo Hawk, an enrolled member of the
 Pawnee Tribe, served as attorney general of Idaho from 1992 to 1994.
 
 Do Indians pay taxes?
 
 Yes. They pay the same taxes as other citizens with the following
 exceptions:
  - Federal income taxes are not levied on income from trust lands held for
 them by the United States;
  - State income taxes are not paid on income earned on a Indian
 reservation;
   - State sales taxes are not paid by Indians on transactions made on an
 Indian reservation; and
   - Local property taxes are not paid on reservation or trust land.
 
 Do laws that apply to non-Indians also apply to Indians?
 
 Yes. As U.S. citizens, Indians are generally subject to Federal, State,
 and local laws. On Indian reservations, however, only Federal and tribal
 laws apply to members of the Tribe unless the Congress provides otherwise.
 In Federal law, the Assimilative Crimes Act makes any violation of State
 criminal law a Federal offense on reservations. Most Tribes now maintain
 tribal court systems and facilities to detain tribal members convicted of
 certain offenses within the boundaries of the reservation.
 
 How is Indian gaming regulated?
 
 Indian land is not under State law unless a Federal law places it under
 State law. The Supreme Court held that even if a tribe is under State law
 the State gaming regulations do not apply on Indian trust land.
 
 In 1988 Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. This law allows
 traditional Indian gaming as well as bingo, pull tabs, lotto, punch boards,
 tip jars, and certain card games on tribal land. However, it requires a
 Tribal/State compact for other forms of gaming such as cards or slot
 machines. Today there are about 145 Tribal-State gaming compacts. Nearly
 130 tribes in 24 states are involved in some kind of gaming.
 
 The National Indian Gaming Commission was established by Congress to
 develop regulations for Indian gaming. For more information contact the
 National Indian Gaming Commission, 9th., Floor, 1441 L Street, NW,
 Washington, DC 20005, (202) 632-7003.
 
 Does the United States still make treaties with Indians?
 
 No. Congress ended treaty-making with Indian tribes in 1871. Since the,
 relations with Indian groups are by Congressional acts, Executive Orders,
 and Executive Agreements. Between 1778, when the first treaty was made
 with the Delawares, to 1871, when Congress ended the treaty making period,
 the U.S. Senate ratified 370 Indian treaties. At least 45 others were
 negotiated with tribes but were never ratified by the Senate.
 
 The treaties that were made often contain obsolete commitments which have
 either been fulfilled or superseded by Congressional legislation. The
 provision of education, health, welfare, and other services by the
 government to tribes often has extended beyond treaty requirements. A
 number of large Indian groups have no treaties, yet share in the many
 services for Indians provided by the Federal Government.
 
 The specifics of particular treaties signed by government negotiators with
 Indians are contained in one volume (Vol. II) of the publication, "Indian
 Affairs, Laws and Treaties," compiled, annotated and edited by Charles
 Kappler. Published by the Government Printing Office in 1904, it is now
 out of print, but can be found in most large law libraries. More recently
 the treaty volume has been published privately under the title, "Indian
 Treaties, 1778-1883."
 
 Originals of all the treaties are maintained by the National Archives and
 Records Service of the General Services Administration. A duplicate of a
 treaty is available upon request for a fee. The agency will also answer
 questions about specific Indian treaties. Write to: Diplomatic Branch,
 National Archives and Records Services, Washington, DC 20408.
 
 How do Indian tribes govern themselves?
 
 Most tribal governments are organized democratically, that is, with an
 elected leadership. The governing body is generally referred to as a
 "council" and comprised of persons elected by vote of the eligible adult
 tribal members. The presiding official is the "chairman," although some
 tribes use other titles such as "principal chief," "president" or
 "governor." An elected tribal council, recognized as such by the Secretary
 of the Interior, has authority to speak and act for the tribe and to
 represent it in negotiations with Federal State, and local governments.
 
 Tribal governments generally define conditions of membership, regulate
 domestic relations of members, prescribe rules of inheritance for
 reservation property not in trust status, levy taxes, regulate property
 under tribal jurisdiction, control conduct of members by tribal ordinances,
 and administer justice.
 
 Many tribes are organized under the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of
 1934, including a number of Alaska Native villages, which adopted formal
 governing documents (Constitutions) under the provisions of a 1936
 amendment to the IRA. The passage in 1971 of the Alaska Native Claims
 Settlement Act, however, provided for the creation of village and regional
 corporations under State law to manage the money and lands granted by the
 Act. The Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936 provided for the organization
 of Indian tribes within the State of Oklahoma. Some tribes do not operate
 under any of these acts, but are nevertheless organized under documents
 approved of governments. Prior to reorganization, the tribes maintained
 their own, often highly developed, systems of self-government.
 
 Do Indians have special rights different from other citizens?
 
 Any special rights that Indian tribes or members of those tribes have are
 generally based on treaties or other agreements between the United States
 and tribes. The heavy price Indians paid to retain certain "sovereign"
 rights was to relinquish much of their land to the United States. The
 inherent rights they did not relinquish are protected by U.S. law. Among
 those may be hunting and fishing rights and access to religious sites.
 
 Did all Indians speak one language?
 
 At the end of the 15th century, more than 300 languages were spoken by the
 native population of what is now the United States. Some were linked by
 "linguistic stocks" which meant that widely scattered tribal groups had
 some similarities in their languages. Today, some 250 tribal languages are
 still spoken, some by only a few individuals and others by many. Most
 Indians now use English as their main language for communicating with non-
 tribal members. For many, it is a second language.
 
 Do Indians serve in the Armed Forces?
 
 Yes. Indians have the same obligations for military service as other U.S.
 citizens. They have fought in all American wars since the Revolution. In
 the Civil War, they served on both sides. Eli S. Parker, Seneca from New
 York, was at Appomattox as aide to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant when Lee
 surrendered, and the unit of Confederate Brigadier General Stand Watie
 (Cherokee) was the last to surrender. It was not until World War I that
 Indians' demonstrated patriotism (6,000 of the more than 8,000 who served
 were volunteers) moved Congress to pass the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.
 In World War II, 25,000 Indian men and women, mainly enlisted Army
 personnel, fought on all fronts in Europe and Asia, winning (according to
 an incomplete count) 71 Air Medals, 51 Silver Stars, 47 Bronze Stars, 34
 Distinguished Flying Crosses, and two Congressional Medals of Honor. The
 most famous Indian exploit of World War II was the use by Navajo Marines
 of their language as a battlefield code, the only such code which the
 enemy could not break. In the Korean conflict, there was one Indian
 Congressional Medal of Honor winner. In the Vietnam War, 41,500 Indians
 served in the military forces. In 1990, prior to Operation Desert Storm,
 some 24,000 Indian men and women were in the military. Approximately 3,000
 served in the Persian Gulf with three among those killed in action. One
 out of every four Indian males is a military veteran and 45 to 47 percent
 of tribal leaders today are military veterans.
 
 How does one trace Indian ancestry and become a member of a tribe?
 
 The first step in tracing Indian ancestry is basic genealogical research
 if one does not already have specific family information and documents
 that identify tribal ties. Some information to obtain is:
 
 names of ancestors;
 
 dates of birth;
 
 marriages and death;
 
 places where they lived;
 
 their brothers and sisters, if any, and, most importantly, tribal
 affiliations.
 
 Among family documents to check are bibles, wills, and other such papers.
 The next step is to determine whether your ancestors are on an official
 tribal roll or census. For this there are several sources: The National
 Archives and Records Administration, Natural Resources Branch, Civil
 Archives Division, 8th and Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20408.
 
 The BIA maintains a directory of Tribal offices. When you know to which
 tribe you may be a member, contact the BIA, Branch of Tribal Enrollment,
 1849 C St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20240 to get the address and phone number
 of the tribal membership office. Contact the tribe to see if they have
 records of your ancestors. The key in determining Indian ancestry is
 identification of a specific tribal affiliation. Becoming a member of a
 tribe is determined by the enrollment criteria of the tribe from which
 Indian blood may be derived, and this varies with each tribe. Generally,
 if linkage to an identified tribal member is far removed, one would not
 qualify for membership, but it is the tribe, not the BIA, which makes that
 determination.
 
 Why are Indians sometimes referred to as Native Americans?
 
 The term, "Native American," came into usage in the 1960's to denote the
 groups served by the Bureau of Indian Affairs: American Indians and Alaska
 Native (Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts of Alaska). Later the term also
 included Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in some Federal programs.
 It, therefore, came into disfavor among some Indian groups. The preferred
 term is American Indian.
 
 The Eskimos and Aleuts in Alaska are two culturally distinct groups and
 are sensitive about being included under the "Indian" designation. They
 prefer, "Alaska Native."
 
 Contact: 
 Bureau of Indian Affairs 
 Public Affairs Office 
 1849 C Street, N.W. 
 Washington, DC 20240 
 Phone: 202 208-3711 
 Fax: 202 501-1516
 This document q_and_a.html was last modified on Monday, 21-Jun-99
 14:02:34 EDT.
 
 --------- "RE: Buffalo News/Racicot" ---------
 
 Date: Sat, 2 Oct 1999 14:05:20 -0600
 From: Buffalo Folks <stop-the-slaughter@wildrockies.org>
 Subj: Buffalo News; 10/1/99
 
 In this issue:
  * Fall is in the Air... Gearing up for Winter Campaign (Plan your winter
   Ski trip & how you can help!)
  * Buffalo murdered and mutilated by Dale Koelzer, the contractor the
   Montana D.O.L. pays to help manage buffalo.  How can the State of Montana
   give federal monies to a known poacher?
  * Racicot drools over Secretary of Interior position with Presidential
    candidate Bush and will lie, lie lie to get there!
  * Fall petition drive upon us
  * Schedule a fall viewing of Buffalo Bull in your Community
  * Help get the word out
  * Thanks!
 
 ___________________________________________________________________________
 Fall is in the Air... Gearing up for Winter Campaign 9/25/99
   Unfortunately, the State of Montana is preparing to continue its barbaric
 buffalo slaughter this winter.  So... grassroots citizens are preparing for
 another winter of direct nonviolent action.
   Last weekend found the Buffalo Field Campaign in West Yellowstone full of
 weekend warriors chopping wood and prepping the cabin for winter.  The
 house smells good as the kitchen feeds those who come in tired and hungry
 after a hard day's work.  The cabin glows from its summer cleaning, and the
 newly expanded kitchen gleams.  A new office space in another cabin being
 converted nears completion as the old space fills up with more sleeping
 bunks for this winter's crew.  Fall is in the air, a bit chilly and the
 cottonwoods and aspens are turning colors.  Bears are have their final
 berry feasts and the elk and deer are preparing for change!
 
 How can you get involved?
   Buffalo Field Campaign is a consensus based, non discriminatory, substance
 free campaign.  Lodging and food (and loan of some gear) are provided for
 those who come to help.  Help is needed for many things: ski patrols; back
 country patrols; highway buffalo road crossing; monitoring bald eagles;
 legal defense; cooking and cleaning; networking; getting the word out to
 the press about the situation; and contacting the people making the bad
 decisions--crying out for justice.
   Plan a week (or a month or two) to come to West Yellowstone from November
 to May to help out.  Write mail to:buffalo@wildrockies.org for an info
 packet.  If you have an area of expertise like first aid, office skills,
 non profit experience, legal expertise, consensus training, spiritual
 teachings that you can share, or anything else you would like to share...
 please let us know.  We will have a Council teepee up this winter and are
 looking for folks to host free informational seminars for the volunteer
 activists.
   We are trying to secure funding so that we don't have to scramble in the
 middle of the campaign when things get hectic.  Any contribution is tax
 deductible.  If you know of businesses, foundations or individuals that
 might help out, please pass this and our website URL on to them.  If you
 are not comfortable approaching them in our behalf, please send us their
 contact info and we will make a polite inquiry.
   Besides cash... we have a wish list of needed items (also tax deductible).
 Any help securing these items is appreciated. <If you approach a
 manufacturer or business in our behalf, please let us know so that we can
 intelligently respond to their follow up queries! Please contact Camp
 (buffalo@wildrockies.org) with any questions or for specifics)
 
 Needed items:
 
 -Tee Pees (for extra lodging)                   -Industrial sewing machine
 -Van                                            -Food dehydrators
 -Chain Saw                                      -Juicer
 -4x4 Truck                                      -(-40) Sleeping Bags
 -Pressure Cooker                                -Snowmobiles
 -Bulk organic peanut butter                     -Wood hauling trailer
 -Freezer                                        -Solar panels & accessories
 -Wool socks
 -Car with good gas mileage                     -Thick wool sweaters
 -Rechargeable batteries                         -Sunglasses
 -Drill                                          -Sun Block
 -Skill saw                                      -Chapstick
 -Welder                                         -Small Woodstoves
 -Bulk honey & maple syrup                         -Digital cam corder
 -Coffee
 -really big coffee pot                          -VHS Tapes
 -Garlic                                         -Vitaman C
 -Sorrel Boots                                    -Organic herbs & spices
 -Cross country skis                             -Cashew butter
 -Snow Shoes                                     -Tea seed oil
 -Head Lamps                                     -Grapefruit seed extract
 -Lavender extract
 -35 mm cameras (manual)
 -Lenses to fit such cameras                     -Water proof camera bags
  -telephoto
  -wide angle
 -unipods or light weight tri/bi pods
  -Flashes                                        -Film
  -Filters                                          -print color
   -uv                                              -print black and white
   -polarized                                       -slides
 -Camera straps
 -Disposable cameras                             - electric stove/range
 - welding equipment
 - generator
 - bulk toiletry items (toothpaste, biodegradable soap, etc)
 - field radios (call for info)
 - thank you cards/gifts for volunteers
 Also looking for responsible, cheap film developing.
 
 Thanks for all your support, and as we gear up for this winter, we will be
 sending you a couple of updates a month regarding the buffalo.  Please help
 us get the word out by forwarding this newsletter to a friend who might
 want to subscribe.  Together we can stop the slaughter! of the last wild
 buffalo herd.
 +++++++++++++++++++
 If you know of any great media folks in your community, please send me
 their email and fax numbers so we can keep them informed!  Thanks!
 +++++++++++++++++++
 For Immediate Release, 10/1/99
 MT. State contractor admits to poaching buffalo at Duck Creek
 
 Contact information:
 Buffalo Field Campaign
 1-406-646-0070
 mail to:buffalo@wildrockies.org
   On Tuesday, the Buffalo Field Campaign, a group working to protect the
 last wild buffalo of Yellowstone National Park, found a poached bison on
 the land of Dale Koelzer. The bison had been skinned with its head and
 genitalia removed. Koelzer's property adjoins Yellowstone National Park
 about 8 miles north of West Yellowstone.
   Dale Koelzer is the same man that the State of Montana contracts with to
 lease land and locate their Duck Creek bison capture trap.. The MT
 Department of Livestock (D.O.L.) also leases the basement to his house for
 their employees. The Duck Creek capture facility is notorious as the
 staging ground for the DOL's slaughter of bison as they migrate outside of
 Yellowstone Park's boundaries. Koelzer obviously believed that his cozy
 relationship with the State gave him the authority to poach bison. The day
 before he admitted to the barbaric killing, when initially contacted by the
 local game warden, Koelzer denied having anything to do with it.
   Mike Mease, Field Operations Coordinator for the Buffalo Field Campaign
 stated, "Koelzer didn't follow the law regarding bison on private lands, and
 he lied to the State. The D.O.L. should immediately cancel their contracts
 with Koelzer, remove the Duck Creek capture facility, and prosecute him to
 the full extent of the law."
   So far, he has been charged with waste of game, unlawful hunting during
 closed season and possession of an unlawfully killed animal.  Each charge
 carries a small fine and some jail time (6 months for each).  He must be
 prosecuted to the full extent including jail time and an example must be
 made that this behavior is unacceptable.  It is unacceptable to use the
 defense that he was trying to protect his horses. If that were the case, he
 should have acted as the law demands and immediately contacted the D.O.L.
 or local game warden instead of lying and harvesting valuable parts of the
 bison while leaving valuable meat to rot.
   It would be a crime if he gets off by only paying a small fine (probably
 out of the money he receives from the state for his leases).
   By poaching and then removing the head, skin and genitalia, it must be
 investigated if his intention was indeed to sell a poached animal or its
 parts on the black market. It must also be investigated what charges can be
 brought against him for willfully lying to a FWP agent.
   Koelzer initially created the situation of buffalo frequenting his land
 by feeding elk hay in the winter to bait them onto his land for hunting.
 Buffalo frequent areas where hay is used as bait, and that is how the
 D.O.L. lures them into their capture facilities.
   The Department of Livestock must cancel their contracts with this admitted
 poacher.  In no way can he receive state monies or have contact with the
 buffalo after showing such blatant disregard for not only the buffalo but
 the law.  Contact the D.O.L. and request that they discontinue any
 contracts with this criminal:
 
 Montana Department of Livestock
 Box 202201
 Helena, MT 59620
 
 The DOL's acting director is Marc Bridges
 phone from in-state at 1-800-523-3162; ext. 3
 or out of state (406) 444-2023.
 
 D.O.L. media flack:
 Tom Daubert
 in-state phone # 1-800-523-3162
 or out of state 406.449 2095
 
 or email Arnie Gertonson, Montana State Vet: mail to:agertonson@mt.gov
 
 The Prosecuting attorney is Todd Whipple for Gallatin County (406.582.2145)
   Currently, the U.S. Congress is in the process of appropriating $750,000
 (of your federal tax dollars) to run the DOL's bison capture operations at
 Duck Creek and Horse Butte. Much of that money would end up in Koelzer's
 pocket, as it has in the past. Contact your Congressional Reps and Senators
 and tell them that they must remove the capture facility appropriations
 item from Senate Bill 1233 or House Bill 1906.
   The Senate bill also includes $610,000 for the Greater Yellowstone
 Interagency Brucellosis Committee (GYIBC). The GYIBC is comprised of all
 the state and federal agencies involved in bison management. It has been
 given the responsibility of resolving the ongoing controversy surrounding
 bison management in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Unfortunately, its
 current solutions focus on manipulating and killing bison and elk to
 eradicate the bacteria while leaving the domestic livestock industry
 untouched. Though the Senate bill does not specify how this money would be
 spent, allowing the GYIBC member states (Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana) to
 control these funds is unacceptable. The bill has gone thru the House and
 is going back to the Senate ratification. So please take a moment and
 contact them today... it really can help:
 
 US Senators
 The Honorable _____________
 United States Senate; Washington, DC 20510
 email addresses for senators at: http://www.senate.gov
 
 AGRICULTURE APPROPRIATIONS CONFEREES:
 SENATORS:
 
 Ted Stevens (AK)
 202-224-3004 ph
 202-224-2354 fax
 
 Robert Byrd (WV)
 202-224-3954 ph
 202-3384467 fax
 
 Thad Cochran (MS)
 202-224-5054 ph
 202-224-9450 fax
 
 Arlen Specter (PA)
 202-224-4254 ph
 202-228-1229 fax
 
 Christopher Bond (MO)
 202-224-5721 ph
 202-224-8149 fax
 
 Mitch McConnell (KY)
 202-224-2541 ph
 202-224-2489 fax
 
 Herb Kohl (WI)
 202-224-5653 ph
 608-264-5473 fax
 
 Tom Harkin (IA)
 202-224-3254 ph
 202-224-9369 fax
 
 Byron Dorgan (ND)
 202-224-2551 ph
 202-224-1193 fax
 
 Dianne Feinstein (CA)
 202-224-3841 ph
 202-228-3954 fax
 
 Richard Durbin (IL)
 202-224-2152 ph
 202-228-0400 fax
 +++++++++++++++++++
 Racicot drools over Secretary of Interior position with Presidential
 candidate Bush and will lie, lie lie to get there!
   In a recent article intended to make the George Bush election campaign
 think that Marc Racicot is truly working on the buffalo issue, Marc
 emotionally told a group of reporters that bison management is an issue on
 which he spends most of his time.  "We're driving every day to find a
 solution," Racicot said. "It's that important.  It's that damn important."
 (Billings Gazette, Article by Joe Kolman; September 1st, 1999).
   We all know that Racicot is unresponsive to the wills of hunters and
 citizens opposed to current state buffalo policy. How many times have you
 called or written Marc and has he been responsive to your concerns?  The
 fact that he discontinued email accounts when contacted about the buffalo
 issue further proves that not only is Mr. Racicot technologically
 illiterate but completely unresponsive and unconcerned about the view
 points of those who he was elected to serve.
   Should Racicot be considered for a Cabinet position in the would-be Bush
 presidency?  His reaction to public opinion about the bison should be an
 issue. Take a moment and contact the George Bush campaign and let them know
 how you feel about Governor Racicot being involved in their campaign.  Is
 he a help or hindrance to their campaign?  Let them know.
 Bush for President
 P.O. Box 1902
 Austin, Texas 78767-1902
 
 Phone: (512)-637-2000
 Fax: (512) 637-8800
 email: http://www.georgewbush.com/Contact/contact.html
 +++++++++++++++++++
 Fall petition Drive upon us
 The first presentation of signatures in Washington D.C. last spring relayed
 the demands of thousands of concerned citizens from around the globe that
 they are disgusted at the buffalo slaughter.  These citizens are demanding
 an end to the insanity.  This fall as the buffalo killing begins again, we
 will do another presentation to elected officials in DC.  Please let your
 friends who haven't signed the petition yet know the URL.  If you have a
 half hour, research the web and share info about the buffalo
 (http://www.wildrockies.org/buffalo) with folks who haven't heard about it.
 The more folks that express outrage, the stronger we will be.
   Thanks for encouraging your friends to sign on (and if you haven't
 yourself... here is your chance!)
 We'll keep ya updated!
 it takes about 30 seconds... go to http://www.wildrockies.org/buffpet
 +++++++++++++++++++
 Schedule a fall viewing of the Buffalo Bull video in your Community
   A copy of Buffalo Bull is available for a showing in your community.
 Reserve a library room.  Contact the local events calendar in the paper.
 Make up a few flyers and hang them and have a showing.  We can provide you
 with the tape (not suitable for young kids) and some newsletters to get the
 info out.  Invite the local media!  Drop us a note and send what ya can to
 cover postage etc. and we will get it out to you.
 Thanks!
 +++++++++++++++++++
 Thanks to all of you who have joined the update list over the summer.
 If you heard about the buffalo issue over the summer traveling thru
 Yellowstone or from a friend, there is some background info at
 http://www.wildrockies.org/buffalo.
 Write us with any suggestions, comments or to get more involved!
   A big thanks also to Patagonia for excellent help with a great West Coast
 Road Show this summer!  Also to Bonnie Raitt and all the great folks who
 held a benefit concert for Buffalo Field Campaign and Honor the Earth!
   Thanks to the folks at Norcross for helping out! And thanks to all of you
 who have helped us out with expenses.  Every donation small or large helps
 us stay on the front lines and continue this important work! Every
 thoughtful email or card to the campaign helps an activist know that their
 hard work and sacrifices are appreciated.
 Thanks to all!
 For the Earth and all her creatures!
 +++++++++++++++++++
 Contact info for camp:
 Buffalo Field Campaign (formerly Buffalo Nations)
 PO Box 957
 West Yellowstone, MT 59758
 406-646-0070 phone
 406-646-0071 fax
 mail to:buffalo@wildrockies.org
 http://www.wildrockies.org/buffalo
 ___________________________________________________________
 Please take 20 seconds and add your voice to those who speak FOR THE
 BUFFALO and sign this petition!
 http://www.wildrockies.org/buffpet
 
 Last year the Montana DOL killed 96 buffalo...and they have killed over
 1200 this decade!
 Now, is the time to speak out before the killing begins again this year.
 Please encourage your friends and families to stop by and sign! and thanks
 to all of you who have already signed on!!!!  The first delivery in DC was
 great! The second one this fall will be even better!
 _____________________________________________
 
 we have posted video clips for an "in the field" look at the buffalo and
 their plight with the Montana Department of Livestock
   Please stop by and see it!  http://www.wildrockies.org/buffalo
 The page is being updated for this new winter season...keep checkin in and
 thanks for your pattience!
 +++++++++++++++++++
 List-Subscribe: mail to:Stop-the-Slaughter-on@vortex.wildrockies.org
 List-Unsubscribe: mail to:Stop-the-Slaughter-off@vortex.wildrockies.org
 News Submissions or Problems: mail to:Stop-the-Slaughter@wildrockies.org
 
 --------- "RE: Native Prisoner" ---------
 
 Date: Sun, 26 Sep 1999 19:41:37 -0410
 From: "Janet Smith" <jansatlcom.net@mindspring.com>
 Subj: Contacting those in the Ironhouse
 
 Tell a Native American Prisoner someone cares!
 The following is a portion of the list of Native American Prisoners
 incarcerated in prisons throughout the United States. The full list
 is found at the Native Prisoners Pen Pal list the following web site:
 http://www.brooks.simplenet.com/penpal.html.  The list is compiled from
 contributions by Wotanging Ikche readers, other friends and from
 Laura Brooks' research on Native American Spiritual Freedom in Prison. If
 you know of a Native prisoner who would like to be included here, please
 e-mail Janet Smith at jans@atlcom.net.  My thanks to Laura Brooks for
 giving this list a home on the web.
 
 Lavender,  Donald                  Kneedler,  Jim Ray
 #268-231                           2294 Slagle Rd
 PO Box 511                         Leesville,  LA 71446
 Columbus,  OH 43216
 Date of Birth: 12/15/53            Leeper,  Everett
                                    #164-369
 Lindsay,  Patrick                  PO Box 511
 #A195-172                          Columbus,  OH 43216
 PO Box 511                         Date of Birth: 4/8/51
 Columbus,  OH 43216                Ancestry: Lakota
 Ancestry: Chippawa/Ojibwe
                                    Lancaster,  Jason Lee
 Leffel,  Jack R                    #315-149
 #R149-905                          PO Box 511
 PO Box 209 (12-E-8)                Columbus,  OH 43216
 Orient,  OH 43146                  Date of Birth: 5/25/74
 Date of Birth: 11/12/66
 Ancestry: Cherokee/Blackfoot
 
 Laura Brook's website is being updated and old pages moved to a mirror site
 temporarily.  The current address for Laura Brooke's Native American
 Prisoner pen pal archive list is:
 http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/9118/penpal.html.  I'll try to keep an
 eye on the page to see where it finally ends up and let readers know
 immediately.
 Reminder and Caution:  It is common for prisoners to be moved abruptly.
 If your correspondent suddenly quits writing, don't assume it's by choice.
 Inquire about his location and situation -- often the prison chaplain can
 help you with this.  If you know a prisoner on our list has been moved,
 please let me know.
 If your correspondent requests that you send him anything, particularly
 ceremonial items, check the prison to ensure the requested items are not
 contraband.  Sometimes items of religious significance that are ordinarily
 banned may be given to the prisoner by the chaplain.
 ---------------------------------
  Please especially remember - this is the "Year of Leonard".
          Leonard Peltier #89637-132, Box 1000, Leavenworth, KS  66048
 ---------------------------------
 Write Eddie Hatcher directly at North Carolina Central Prison:
          Eddie Hatcher, 1300 Western Blvd., Raleig
 
 --------- "RE: Are There Good Hearts..." ---------
 
 Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 09:34:51 GMT
 From: "rustywire" <nfcambridge@hotmail.com>
 Subj: are there good hearts...
 
   Newsgroup: alt.native
 
   Where is a good heart Grandfather?  What do you mean, Grandchild?
 Where are all those that roamed the earth and brought peace, a kind
 word, a taste of life as a man who takes flight with eagles, who runs
 with the mountain lion, has the strength like a bear and and kindness
 to care for sparrow with broken wings. Where are these men Grandfather?
 They have not gone, they are here, Grandchild.
   I have looked for them in the forests, in valleys and on the flat land.
 Where have they gone. All that was is no more, we have no food, no
 animals to hunt and there are those who would tell us go away from our
 own homeland. Who say we do not belong here, and all those that come
 this way, are they not men like us. 
   Yes my Grandchild, the good hearts are hard to find. Look far off to
 the horizon, in the dawn, can you see it.  Dawn Boy runs to meet the
 day and farther way above the sky is all that is beautiful. You must
 seek it and follow it, step into it and let it wrap itself in you and
 there you will find others like yourself seeking good hearts and you
 will find them there. 
   Grandfather, is it really so that there is this place?
 Go that way and seek it, all that is good, hozhoji, the beauty way, and
 in time you will find that the good heart you seek not too far from
 you. No one can take away a dream, hope and a rainbow, let it be so
 seek these things all the days of your life....go my grandchild your
 journey begins....
 <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Nook/1574/">Navajo
 Spaceships</a>  http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Nook/1574/
 
 --------- "RE: Poem: We Gave Him His First Drink" ---------
 
 Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999 09:06:53 EDT
 From: NDNMADN46@aol.com
 Subj: I thought I would share some of my poetry with you
 
 WE GAVE HIM HIS FIRST DRINK
 
 WE CAME TO HIS LAND--UNINVITED
     WE WAGED OUR WAR--UNINCITED
 WE PLUNDERED HIS FIELDS AND RUINED HIS HEALTH
     FOR ONLY ONE REASON--TO INCREASE OUR WEALTH
 
 WE INTRODUCED HIM TO DEMON DRINK
     AND PLIED HIM WITH IT, TIL HE COULDN'T THINK
 WE RAPED HIS WOMEN AND SCHOOLED HIS KIDS
     WE DID ALL THIS AND YOU KNOW WE DID
 
 WE STOLE HIS HOME AND GAVE HIM WINE
     AND THEN WE CALL HIM DRUNK HOMELESS SWINE
 WHO WERE WE TO STAIN HIS DIRT
     TO THINK OF IT MAKES MY HEART HURT
 
 SOME WOULD CALL HIM THE NOBLE RED MAN
     THEN CURSE HIS NAME FOR TAKING A STAND
 TO PROTECT HIS HOME,HIS WIFE AND WAYS   
     TO LIVE HIS LIFE IN YEARS NOT DAYS
 
 WITH HUMBLE WEAPONS OF STONE AND STICK
     HE FOUGHT THE FIRES WITH SMOKE SO THICK
 HE COULDN'T SEE WHAT HE WAS DOING
     BUT WATCHED HIS WORLD FALL INTO RUIN
 
 HE DID HIS BEST TO PROTECT HIS LAND
     BUT, I THINK HE KNEW HE COULDN'T STAND
 AGAINST THE WHITE MANS ENCROACHING POWER
     AND SO HE GAVE UP FIELD AND BOWER
 
 TO THINK OF THIS MAKES MY HEART SAD
     THAT MY ANCESTORS WERE SO BAD
 AS TO RUN A RACE OF PEOPLE --PROUD
     INTO THE GROUND AND UNDER A SHROUD
 
 --------- "RE: Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days" ---------
 
 Date: Sun,  3 Oct 99 03:05:00 GMT 
 From: dfsanders@genie.com
 Subj: Hawaiian Book of Days
 
   A HAWAIIAN BOOK OF DAYS, week of October 10-16
 
                             OKAKOPA
                            (October)
                             (Ikuwa)
                                10
 All places are here; all time is now.
                                11
 Each person's perception of the world is a little different.
                                12
 In life, there is no end of possibilities.
                                13
 Seek to know all that there is to know -- to experience all
 that there is to experience.
                                14
 You speak, ... and I can hear your voice in the very silence
 of my soul.
                                15
 How much more interesting is the tapestry woven of many
 colors than that woven of only one hue.
                                16
 The wind whispers over the mountains and through the leaves
 of the trees below.
 
              (c) Copyright 1991 by D. F. Sanders
          Me ke aloha i ka nani, ...  Moe'uhanekeanuenue
              (With love and beauty, ... Rainbow Dream)
 
 --------- "RE: DC Demonstration Guidelines" ---------
 
 Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 10:32:45 -0700
 From: Robert Dorman <redorman@theofficenet.com>
 Subj: DC Demonstration Guidelines
 
 Mailing List:    Big Mountain List <BIGMTLIST@onelist.com>
 
 First a brief note:
 Rena's livestock have been returned, though apparently some had been
 injured.  I don't have any details.
 
 Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 08:07:45 -0400
 From: SENAA <senaa1@netscape.net>
 To: <list deleted>
 Subject: DC Demonstration Guidelines
 
 Below is a copy of the demonstration permit and activity regulations as
 outlined by the National Park Service.
 
 If you are planning to attend the Washington, DC, demonstration, please
 read carefully.
 
 Thank you
 
 Al Swilling
 President/Founder
 SENAA International
 
 09/27/99       12:16 FAX 202 401 2430  DIV. OF PARK PROGRAMS   001
 
 United States Department of the Interior
 
 NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
 National Capital Region
 1100 Ohio Drive, S.W.
 Washington, D.C. 20242
 
 PUBLIC GATHERING PERMIT
 
 99-1591        Date:   09/27/99
 
 In accordance with Park Regulations as contained in C.F.R.,
 Title 36, Chapter 1, Section 7.9G, permission is granted to
 conduct a public gathering to the following:
 Person(s) and/or organization(s):      SOUTHEASTERN NATIVE
        AMERICAN ALLIANCE
 
 Date(s):       10/02/99        To:     10/03/99
 
 Time:  Starting:       10:00 A.M.      Ending: 11:00 P.M.
 
 Location(s):   WHITE HOUSE SIDEWALK
 
 Purpose(s):    TO PROTEST (PEACEFULLY) THE HUMAN RIGHTS
 VIOLATIONS BEING CONDUCTED AGAINST THE
 DINE'H ON BLACK MESA
 
 Anticipated Number of Participants: 100
 
 Person(s) in Charge: THOMAS A. SWILLING
 
 Address(es):   2324 GEORGETOWN RD. NW APT.#602 CLEVELAND, TN 37311-1268
 
 Telephone Nos. Day: 423-Gl4-7821
 
 This permit is granted subject to the following conditions:
 
 1.     Permittee and all participants authorized therein must
 comply with all of the conditions of this permit and
 with all reasonable directions of the United States Park
 Police.
 
 2.     All sidewalks, walkways, and roadways must remain
 unobstructed to allow for the reasonable use of these
 areas by pedestrians, vehicles, and other park visitors.
 
 PERMITTEE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR READING AND ADHERING TO THE ATTACHED
 ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS.
 
 3.     All laws, rules and regulations applicable to the area covered
 by this permit remain in effect.
 
 4.     No fee may be collected, donation solicited, or commercial
 activity conducted.
 
 S. The area must be left in substantially the same condition as it was
 prior to the activities authorized herein, and all litter shall be
 placed in the trash containers provided.
 
 G . This permit is applicable only for the use of the area designated
 above, and during the times designated above, or in any area as may
 hereafter be designated by the United States Park Police.
 
 7. The use of sound amplification equipment, other than hand-portable
 sound amplification equipment to be used for crowd control purposes
 only, is prohibited on the White House Sidewalk (South 1600 Pennsylvania
 Avenue, NW., sidewalk between East Executive Avenue). All sound
 amplification equipment shall be limited so that it will not
 unreasonably disturb nonparticipating persons in, or in the vicinity of,
 the area.
 
 B. The National Park Service reserves the right to immediately revoke
 this permit at any time should it reasonably appear that the public
 gathering presents a clear and present danger to the public safety, good
 order or health, or if any conditions of this permit are violated.
 
 Terry R. Carlstrom
 Regional Director
 National Capital Region
 
 By:
 Richard E. Merryman
 Chief Division of Park Programs
 National Capital Parks-Central
 
 PERMIT# 99-1591
 SOUTHEASTERN NATIVE AMERICAN ALLIANCE
 10/02/99 AND 10/03/99 (10:00 A.M. - 7:00 P.M. EACH DAY, VIGIL ON 10/02)
 PAGE 2
 
 ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS
 
 A.     Event Overview:
        Participants (100), will be picketing/candlelight vigil on the White
 House sidewalk
        from 10:00 A.M. to 11:00 P.M. 10/02, and 10:00 A.M. to 7:OOP.M. 10/03,
 to "protest
        (peacefully) the human rights violations being conducted against the
 Dine'H on Black
        Mesa, Arizona. There will be picketing during the daytime, and a
 candlelight
        prayer vigil the evening of October 2, 1999.
 
 3.     Time Schedule:
        10-02-99
        10:00 A.M. - Participants begin picketing the White House sidewalk
        Evening - A candlelight vigil that may last until 11:00 P.M.
        10-03-99
        10: 00 A.M. - Participants begin picketing the White House sidewalk
        7:00 P.M. - Picketing and event finished.
 
 C.     White House Sidewalk Conditions
 
 1.     Person in charge is responsible for reading and adhering to the
 attached additional regulations concerning the use of the White House
 sidewalk
 
 2.     Upon arrival onsite, person in charge is responsible for checking
 with Park Ranger and/or U.S. Park Police personnel onsite for
 coordination and/or additional instructions concerning this permit.
 
 3.     Structures are not permitted on the White House sidewalk.
 
 4.     No signs or placards on the White House sidewalk except those made of
 cardboard, posterboard or cloth having dimensions no greater that three
 feet in width, twenty feet in length, and one-quarter inch in thickness.
 No supports shall be permitted for signs or placards except those made
 of wood having cross-sectional dimensions no greater than tree-quarter
 of an inch by three-quarter of an inch. Stationary signs or placards
 shall be no closer than three feet from the White House sidewalk fence.
 All signs and placards shall be attended at all times that they remain
 on the White House sidewalk. Signs or placards shall be considered to be
 attended only when they are in physical contact with a person. No signs
 or placards shall be tied, fastened, or otherwise attached to or leaned
 against the White House fence, lamp posts or other structures on the
 White House sidewalk. No signs or placards shall be held, placed or set
 down on the center portion of the White House sidewalk, comprising ten
 yards on either side of the center point on the sidewalk; provided; however,
 that individuals may demonstrate while carrying signs on that portion of
 the sidewalk if they continue to move along the sidewalk.
 
 5.     Particular attention is called to item 7, last page of this permit,
 concerning sound amplification.
 
 6.     Contact Amy Dailey, President's Park, (202) 208-163 1, to finalize
 logistics.
 
 7.     Contact Sgt. Roxanne Brown-Ankney, U.S. Park Police, (202) 426-0950,
 to finalize U.S. Park Police logistics.
 
 8.     Permittee is responsible for removing all trash and debris resulting
 from this event.
 
 9.     No attachments to park trees, plantings and/or structures.
 
 10     CANDLE HOLDERS MUST BE PROVIDED TO COLLECT HOT CANDLE
 WAX. CANDLES MUST BE HAND CARRIED AT ALL TIMES.
 
 --------- "RE: Upcoming Events" ---------
 
 Date: Mon, 4 October 15:39:14 -0
 From: Janet Smith (evestar@juno.com)
 Subj: Upcoming Events
 
         October 8
  American War Mothers National Meeting Pow-wow
        Sheraton Hotel
        Tulsa, OK
 Florian Griggs (918) 337-8091
 
         October 8 - 10
 Foot of the Hills Indian Festival
        Piedmont, Alabama
 (256) 447-8811
 
         October 9
 Delaware War Mothers Annual Fall Dance
      Washington Co. Fairgrounds
            Dewey, OK
 (918) 534-1340
 
         October 9-10
 Cedar Town Indian Festival
       Cedar Town, GA
 (770) 334-3344
 
         October 23
   8th Annual Razorback Pow-wow
   Barnhill Arena, University of Arkansas
     Native American Student Association
        Gourd Dancing @ 2pm,
        Grand Entry @ 6:30
        Adult category contests only.
 Must be in grand entry to contest and in regalia to receive contest money
 
         October 30
 AICS 7th Annual Fall Inter-tribal Gourd Dance
         Norman, OK
 (405) 552-3803
 
         November 6
 6th Coffeyville Intertribal (contest)
           High School Gym
         Coffeyville, Kansas
 (316) 252-6819
 
         November 6
  NIU Gatherings (traditional)
 Student Recreation Center, NIU
        DeKalb, Illinois
 (815) 753-0722
 
         November 6 - 7
 12th Red Mountain Eagle (contest)
     Salt River Baseball Field
     Scottsdale, Arizona
 (602) 945-4116
 
         November 11
 LCO Veterans (traditional)
    LCO High School Gym
     Hayward, Wisconsin
 (715) 634-8924
 
         November 11
    Veterans Day (traditional)
 Ralph Wells Jr. Memorial Complex
    White Shield, North Dakota
 (701) 743-4244
 
         November 11 - 13
 Building American Indian Nations for the 21st Century Conference
    Holiday Inn City Center in  Tucson, AZ
 Kristy Schmidt (520) 621-7189
 
         November 11 - 14
 33rd Yakima Nation Veterans Day
             Pavilion
      White Swan, Washington
 (509) 865-5121
 
         November 12 - 14
 46th Chicago AIC (contest)
          Pavilion
      Chicago, Illinois
 (773) 275-5871
 
         November 12 - 14
 5th Noame Intertribal (traditional)
         National Guard Armory
       Columbia, South Carolina
 (803) 256-8700
 
         November 13 - 14
 Apache Vets Day Fair (contest)
   San Carlos Reservation
    San Carlos, Arizona
 (520) 475-2361
 
         November 13 - 14
   7th Annual Four Winds Pow-wow
          Killeen Texas
 Contest, Arts and Crafts Food Booths and $1.00 Admission
 Paula Brock (254) 699-3167
 
        November 25 - 27
 Thanksgiving (contest)
        Gymnasium
 Fort Duchesne, Utah
 (435) 722-5141
 
         November 26 - 28
 Native American Month (traditional)
         Rillito Race Way Park
           Tucson, Arizona
 (520) 622-4900
 
         November 26 - 28
       Indio (contest)
     Cabazon Reservation
       Indio, California
 (800) 827-2946 ext. 3017
 
         November 26 - 27
    Prarie Winds (contest)
         Bartle Hall
     Kansas City, Missouri
 (913) 768-4798
 
         November 26 - 28
 4th Native Peoples Gathering
 Tehama District Fair Grounds
     Red Bluff, California
 (541) 474-6394 or (541) 839-6517
 
         December 31
 Good Medicine Society's 8th Annual New Year's Eve Sobriety Pow-wow
 12:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m., Kitchens of America Building,
    Oklahoma State Fairgrounds
       Oklahoma City, OK
 (405) 943-7935 or after 6:00 p.m. (405) 525-8990 or (405) 751-7132
 Email: good_medicine@hotmail.com.
 ===================================
 Date: 03 Oct 1999 09:53:49 GMT
 From: waya94@aol.com (Waya94)
 Subj: Your Alaska POW WOW invite. Oct 16 & 17
 Newsgroup: alt.native
 
 Gathering of Tribes - POW WOW '99 
 http://katasse.tripod.com/Pow-wow.htm
 Centennial Hall,  Oct 16, 17, 1999.  Juneau, Alaska.
 Admission: $10 dollars per person per day.  
 POW WOW '99 will especially honor our Veterans. 
 Call for Table - two days $100. 
 POW-WOW Hotline 1-907-463-5164. 
 You can also make reservations for POW WOW 2000 in April, 2000. 
 Looking for performers and dancers or native groups/drummers.                  
 ===================================
 Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 22:22:18 -0700
 From: Jennifer Olaranna Viereck <heal@kay-net.com>
 Subj: Fall Nevada Test Site Gathering Oct. 8-11
 Mailing List:    Paths-L <paths-l@YvwiiUsdinvnohii.net>
 
 For your calendars, please note the dates for the 
 Fall Gathering at  the Nevada Test Site below. 
 Thank you, --Jennifer Viereck, Coordinator
 
 Fall Healing Global Wounds Gathering October 8-11, Nevada 
 Nuclear Test Site gates.   Workshops on Yucca Mt. Waste 
 Repository DEIS and sane alternatives.
 
    Celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day with Ceremony on
 traditional Western Shoshone lands (NTS).
 
 Healing Global Wounds, PO Box 420, Tecopa CA 92389 USA
 Phone: (760) 852-4175  FAX: (760)852-4151  
 E-mail: heal@kay-net.com URL: http://www.shundahai.org/HGW
 ===================================
 Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 13:54:31 -0500
 From: Chris Spotted Eagle <cseagle@maroon.tc.umn.edu>
 Subj: Alcatraz Occupation Reunion
 Mailing List:    Minnesota Indian Affairs <MINN-IND@tc.umn.edu>
 
 ALCATRAZ 30TH REUNION CELEBRATION
 OCTOBER 23, 1999
 
 In the tradition of honoring our warriors, a 30th Anniversary Celebration
 to commemorate the 1969-71 Indian occupation of Alcatraz is being
 planned to rightfully honor all occupation veterans.  This Celebration
 will take place on October 23, 1999, from 9:30 AM. to 4:30 PM.
   Beginning with an opening ceremony, and California Indian dancers and
 singing, the event will feature presentations from occupation veterans,
 national Indian leaders, VIPs and dignitaries, and contemporary and
 traditional Native American musical performances. There will also be a
 small Indian market, a special screening of the short documentary "We
 Hold the Rock," and a talking circle of Native American scholars,
 occupation veterans, and others discussing the legacy of the Alcatraz
 occupation.
   A committee has already been formed to plan this historic reunion and
 Celebration to take place on Alcatraz Island.  Planning and
 organizational meetings with representatives of the Golden Gate Parks
 Recreation Area are underway to insure a successful and memorable
 celebration honoring this historic event.  American Indian musicians and
 performers have already agreed to participate, and many leaders throughout
 Indian Country have agreed to attend.  Event Committee members include:
 MILLIE KETCHESHAWNO, Director/Producer, Berkeley
 JIM FORTIER, Event/Fundraising Coordinator, Pacifica
 JONATHAN LUCEAERO, Staging/Security Coordinator
 MICHELLE MOSS, Forum Coordinator
 YVONNE YAZZIE, Volunteer/Database Coordinator, Palo Alto
 LAVERNE MORRISSEY, Vendor Coordinator, San Jose
 JACQUELINE KEELER, Media Liaison
 JON PLUTTE, Program Brochure Designer
 =====
 FOR MORE INFORMATION about the event, contact one of the following:
 Millie Ketcheshawno     James M. Fortier        The Blue and Gold Fleet
 Event Director               Event Coordinator       Ticketing (415)
 705-8214
 (510) 615-0603              (650) 738-9105           Information (415)
 773-1188
 Chris Spotted Eagle
 Voice & Fax 612/377-4212
 cseagle@maroon.tc.umn.edu
 ===================================
 Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 06:50:31 EDT
 From: NASCSwan@aol.com
 Subj: First Assembly of Nations Parade
 
 Received in today from the:
 Cherokee / Blackfeet Cultural Circle
 P. O. Box 2070
 New York, New York 10
 
 PRESS RELEASE:
 It gives the Native American Nations great pride in announcing this press
 release in regards to the FIRST ever in New York City, Assembly of Indian 
 Nations Parade.   
    On Saturday, October 9, 1999 from 12:00 noon to 6:00pm, we will host the
 First Native American Day Parade, starting at Macy's on 34th Street and 
 Broadway and ending at the Veteran's Memorial Eternal Light Circle on 23d 
 Street and Park Avenue.
 For more information please contact:
 Chief Red Deer
 Cherokee/Blackfeet Cultural Circle
 (917)-253-3404
 (212)666-9478
 or
 Chief Firebird Graywolf
 (718)378-1838
 Cherokee / Blackfeet Cultural Circle
 P. O. Box 2070
 New York, New York 10
 ===================================
 WindSpeaker Guide to Indian Country Calendar of Events
 
  ~November 26 - 28, 1999~
 Native American Festival
 Indio, CA 1-800-827-2946
 
 Native Peoples Gathering & Trade Fair
 Winds Casino, Redding, CA
 Judy: (541) 474-6394
 
  ~December 2 - 5, 1999~
 Canadian Aboriginal Festival
 Skydome, Toronto, Ontario
 
 AMMSA - Windspeaker, 15001 - 112 Avenue, Edmonton AB T5M 2V6
 PH:780-455-2700 FX:780-455-7639   http://www.ammsa.com
 ===================================
 Char-Koosta News Pow Wow Calendar
 
 .......... OCTOBER 1999
 
 Oct. 23 and 24: 5th Annual Festival of the Americas
 Pow Wow; El Dorado Co. Fairgrounds; Placerville, CA;
 (530) 647-0423
 
 Let us announce your pow wow.
 Please include a phone number or functioning e-mail
 address for confirmation purposes.
 ---------------------
    A note to those wanting to learn more about Indian celebrations:
 With over 500 tribes still existing in the U.S. it's hard to come up with
 definitive information about pow wows. Nothing can replace attending one and
 asking questions of the experts there.
     Send your comments about this web site to ckn@ronan.net.
 This site and its contents are Copyright 1999, Char-Koosta News
 ===================================
 Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 12:39:48 EDT
 From: Wanige@aol.com
 Subj: More Southern Events updates
 
 Native American Events Listings
  ~Fall, 1999~
 >Southeast<
  ~*~
 Note: These mailings are sent out upon request. Anyone wishing to have their 
 name added to or deleted from this list may send an e-mail to Wanige@aol.com. 
 The same contact may be used to send events or corrections for inclusion in 
 future mailings. Please feel free to copy and/or forward these mailings with 
 my blessings. And don't forget to call ahead to verify dates!
  ~v~v~v~
 _______
 ALABAMA
 
 Oct. 6-9: Moundville Native American Festival, Moundville Archaeological 
 Park, Moundville. Arts, crafts, music, dance, storytelling, games, etc. 
 Hours: Wednesday - Friday, 9am - 4pm; Saturday, 9am - 5pm. Info: Dorothy 
 Beckman or Bill Bomar (205) 371-2572.
 
 Oct. 8-10: Annual Gem & Mineral Show, Von Braun Civic Center, Huntsville.
 Not a Native American event, but of possible interest to rock collectors.
 Info: Patricia Mitcham (256) 880-0623.
 
 Oct. 8-10: Horsepens 40 Native American Festival & Pow Wow, atop Chandler 
 Mountain, Steele. Friday is School Day. MC: Jimmy Boy Dial. There will be 
 dancing, storytelling, demonstrations, entertainment. Among the performers & 
 special guests are Lawson Corley and the Four Winds Dance Team. Head staff: 
 TBA. Admission: $6.00 Adults, $3.00 Students. Camping available on site -
 ask about special rates. RV hook-ups available, also. Take I-59 to Exit 166
 or Exit 174, then follow the signs. Info: (800) 421-8564 or (205) 322-5626,
 extension 305. Website: www.horsepens40.com.
 
 Oct. 8-10: Foot of the Mountains Indian Festival, at the Piedmont Sports 
 Complex, Piedmont. HM: Don Redbear; HL: Brandy Jenkins; HD: Wagon Burners; 
 MC: Johnathan Feather. WS: Native American Honor Guard & Warrior Society. 
 Fire Dancing, Hoop Dancing. Vendors by invitation only; Arts & Crafts Act 
 observed. Benefits to Piedmont Parks & Recreation Department. Schedule: 
 Friday (Student's Day) - 9am-2pm; Saturday - 10am-8pm; Sunday - 10am-5pm. GE 
 at 11am Saturday & Sunday. Admission: $4.00 - Adults; $2.00 - Ages 6-12;
 Free - 5 & under. Info: PO Box 562, Piedmont, AL 36272, or, (256) 447-8811.
 
 Oct. 9: Homewood American Indian Festival, Homewood Park, Homewood. Free to 
 the public. Hours:10am - 6pm. The Circle is open to all intertribal dancers & 
 all veterans are welcome. HD: White Horse; Special Guest drum: Caney Creek 
 Singers; HM: Lee Lawrence (Cherokee); HL: Linda Raven Woods (Cherokee); ST: 
 Two Dogs (Mohawk); MC: Jim Tsula Praytor (Cherokee/Osochi). Info: Ani 
 Gasaguali of Alabama (205) 870-1095 (9am-5pm CDT, Monday thru Saturday), or 
 gasaguali@aol.com.
 
 Oct. 9-10: Festival of the Singing River, McFarland Park, Florence. 
 Celebration of Native American history & heritage, with authentic dancing, 
 arts, crafts, food, demonstrations & children's activities. Saturday, 
 10am-5pm; Sunday, noon - 5pm. No admission charged. Info: Florence/Lauderdale 
 Tourism, One Hightower Place, Florence, AL 35630 (256) 740-4141.
 
 Oct. 14-16: Indian Heritage Festival, at the Burritt Museum & Park, 
 Huntsville. This is not a pow wow, but a cultural heritage festival. There 
 will be lectures, storytelling, demonstrations of Southeastern traditional 
 dances, craftsmen, games & skills demonstrations. Admission: $2.00 - Ages 
 2-18; $5.00 - Adults. Thursday & Friday are School Days, Saturday is for the 
 general public. On-site parking available for handicapped only, but there is 
 a free shuttle from the parking lot at Huntsville High School. Info: Jeff 
 Hughes (256) 536-2882.
 
 Oct. 15-17: Fall Plant Sale, Mobile Botanical Gardens, Mobile. Not a Native 
 event. Largest selection on the Gulf Coast of native & hard-to-find 
 perennials. Info: (334) 342-0555.
 
 Oct. 16-17: Fort Payne Indian Festival, at the park adjacent to the Ft Payne
 Depot Museum, Ft. Payne. This is a special pow wow in honor of all Veterans. 
 HD: Buffalo Heart; MC: Gary Smith; HM: Rock Dickerson; HL: Ellen Rasco; WS: 
 Native American Warrior Society & Honor Guard. Info: Jerry Lang (256) 
 492-5217 or Marjorie Ferguson (256) 845-5714.
 
 Oct. 16-17: French Colonial Living History, Fort Toulouse/Jackson Park, 
 Wetumpka. Living historians recreate the lifestyles of the 1750's French
 fort & nearby Indian village. Open 10am - 5pm.
 Info: Ned Jenkins (334) 567-3002.
 
 Oct. 22-23: Southeastern Native American Festival, at the Scotsboro-Jackson 
 Heritage Center, 208 South Houston St., two blocks off the courthouse square. 
 Not a pow wow, but a demonstration of the lifeways of the Southeastern 
 Indians. Crafts, skills, dress & storytelling; mainly of Cherokee & Creek 
 traditions. Hours: Friday 8:30am - 4:00pm; Saturday 9:00am - 4:00pm. 
 Admission: $2.00 Adults, $1.00 Students. Info: (256) 259-2122.
 
 Oct. 23-24: Cherokee Pow Wow of the Autumn Moon, off Hwy. 49, between 
 Dadeville & Horseshoe Bend national Military Park. HD: Wagon Burners; Guest 
 Drum: Southwind; HM: Don Redbear; HL: Lois Jones, who will be assisted by
 her daughter, Sandy Frazier, and granddaughter, Brandy Jenkins;FP: Tony
 Walkingstick. Hours: 10am - 7pm Saturday, 11am - 5pm Sunday. Admission: Ages 
 6-11 & Seniors - $1.50; Ages 12 & over - $3.00. HH: The Horseshoe Inn, 
 located at the intersection of US Hwy. 280 & AL Hwy. 22, in Alexander City, 
 AL (256) 234-6311. The public is invited. All dancers are welcome. Info: 
 Terry or Judy Huff (256) 825-0075.     
 ______
 GEORGIA
 
 Oct. 9-10: Cedartown Indian Festival, Cedartown. Info: Frank Hall (770) 
 334-3344.
 
 Oct. 15-17: Ossahatchee Indian Festival & Pow Wow, Hamilton. Located 25
 miles north of Columbus, GA, the festival will feature primitive skills
 demonstrations, social & intertribal dances, Hoop Dancing, American Indian 
 arts & crafts, artwork by Joe Belt. There will be over $12.000 in prize 
 money, with Drum, Dance, & Tipi Competitions. AD: Keith Red Elk; MC: Rob 
 Dougherty; Head Judge: Bullet Standingdeer. Admission: Adults - $6.00; Ages 
 6-12 - $3.00; 5 & under - free. There is also a $1.00 parking donation to
 the Boy Scouts of America. Schedule: Friday 9am - 3pm (Special School Day
 Admission of $2.00) & 6pm - 9pm($1.00 off regular admission price); Saturday
 10am - 10pm; Sunday 10am - 5pm.Info: Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, PO Box 3,
 Hamilton, GA 31811, or Forrest Moore (706) 628-5400, or 
 ossahatchee@hamiltonchamber.org. There is also a website at: 
 www.hamiltonchamber.org/ossahatchee.htm.   
 _______
 KENTUCKY
 
 Oct. 8-10: Drennon Springs Festival, Drennon Springs. Info: Jason Hart (502) 
 845-8125 or jasonhart@usa.net.
 
 Oct. 8-10: Joining Hands, Joining Spirits, Calhoun. Info: Terry Welborrne 
 (502) 275-4619.
 
 Oct. 15-17: Day of the Wolf Pow Wow, Nelson County Fairgrounds, Bardstown. 
 Just south of the Bluegrass Parkway on US 31-E. Friday is Student's Day. GO: 
 5pm Friday; 10am Saturday; 10am Sunday. Admission: $6.00 - Adults, $5.00 - 
 Sr. Citizens, $4.00 - Students aged 7-12; 6 & under - Free. GE: Friday, 6pm 
 EST; Saturday, noon & 5pm EST; Sunday, 1pm EST. Camping at Fairgrounds for 
 Traders & Dancers only - teepees & tents - no open fires. Sponsored by the 
 Red Crow Indian Council, with partial funding from the Kentucky Arts Council
 MC: Leonard Malatare; Co-host Drums: Bad Nation & Eagle Scout; HV: Ned 
 Benally; HM: Clark Zeipher; HL: Maria Myers; AD: Robert Tramper;Hoop Dancer:
 Daniel Tramper; ST: TBA; FP: Juan Cruz. Info: Red Crow Indian Council, 107 
 East John Fitch Ave., Bardstown, KY 40004 or (502) 348-0425 after 5pm or 
 bryant@bardstown.com.
 _______
 MISSOURI
 
 Oct. 23-25: Shadow of the Eagle Pow Wow, Shadow Rock Park, Forsyth. Info: 
 (417) 561-4834.
 
  ^~^~^~ Note: These mailings are sent out upon request. Anyone wishing to
 have their name added to or deleted from this list may send an e-mail to
 Wanige@aol.com. The same contact may be used to send events or corrections
 for inclusion in future mailings. Please feel free to copy and/or forward
 these mailings with my blessings. ~v~v~v~ Key to abbreviations: HD - Host
 Drum, HND - Host Northern Drum, HSD: Host Southern Drum, HM: Head Man, HL
 - Head Lady, HG: Head Gourd Dancer, HS: Head Singer, HH: Host Motel/Hotel,
 AD - Arena Director, GO - Gates Open, GC - Gates Close, GE - Grand Entry,
 FP: Flute Player, ST: Story Teller, MC: Master of Ceremonies, WS: Warrior
 Society/Honor Guard, HV - Head veteran.
 - - - --
 Date: Fri, 1 Oct 1999 10:42:40 EDT
 From: Wanige@aol.com
 Subj: A few Event Updates
 
 Native American Events
 
 Oct. 2: Informal CIRCL Get-together, at the Emporium, 4009 Tennessee Ave,
 St. Elmo, Chattanooga, TN. An informal get-together for those interested in 
 helping start the Chattanooga Indigenous Resource Center & Library. Serving 
 begins at 7:00pm. There will be traditional Native American music & food. 
 Cost: $10.00 contribution towards starting the center. Info: 
 iktomi@hypertext.com.
 
 Oct. 2-3: Red Eagle Alliance American Indian Benefit Pow Wow, Benton Civic 
 Center, Benton, IL. Proceeds will go to the Mt. Vernon Humane Society. HD: 
 Eagle Ridge Singers; HS: Chip Roberts; AD: Cam Redwing; MC: Dale Besse; HM: 
 Jimi Roberts; HL: Dawn Jordan; Special events: Gourd Dancing, Intertribal & 
 pow wow dancing. Hours: 10am - 9pm Saturday, 11am - 5pm Sunday. Admission: 
 Adults, $4.00; Students w/cards, $3.00; Children 6-12, $2.00; 5 & under, 
 free. Motels: Days Inn/Motel 8, 711 Main St., (618) 439-3183; Benton Gray 
 Plaza Motel, 706 W. Main St., (618) 439-3113; KOA Kampgrounds, 1500 DuQuion, 
 (618) 439-4860. Also, primitive camping (no hook-ups) at the Civic Center. 
 Info: Chris Milda (618) 937-2811, Iris Creasy (618) 588-3077, Terry Sowder 
 (618) 756-2534.
 
 Note: I have recently been informed that the Cherokee Unity Council in 
 Jasper, TN, is open to the public. All information about whether this event 
 is opened or closed to the public has been from second- and third-hand 
 sources. I haven't sopken to Stonehorse or Blue Crow Brother, personally,
 so I am as confused as the rest of you may be.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------
 --//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//-
 Notice of Copyright Clearance by Contributors:
 The following have granted permission for their original articles to
 be reposted in order to help mend the Sacred Hoop:
 Janet Smith, Buffalo Folks, Ilze Choi, Koga Suyeta, Joanne Bigcrane,
 Al Swilling via Nancy Thomas, Johnny Rustywire, Debra Sanders, NdnMadn,
 Just an Old Man, Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, Robert Dorman
 --//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//-