From gars@speakeasy.org Tue Apr 24 02:13:08 2001 Date: 24 Jan 2001 00:27:08 -0000 From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews09.004 _ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ O ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) O o O / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ O o O (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' O o o o o O ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ VOLUME 09, ISSUE 004 O o O / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' January 27, 2001 O o O / /-< / /--/ /-- Mohawk moon of the big cold O __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, Lakota moon of the strong cold 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 It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le ( N A T I V E A M E R I C A N N E W S ) This issue contains articles from Indianz elist, First Nations, RezLife, INDIAN Heritage, ndn-aim, LPDC & indigenous_peoples_literature mail lists; UUCP email; http://www.startribune.com/viewers/qview/cgi/qview.cgi? http://www.thenavajotimes.com/National/national.html http://members.tripod.com/GrassRootsOyate http://triangle.townnews.com/display/inn_news/news14.txt 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@speakeasy.org ++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org "And these atrocities against my people continue to this day, only now they're carried out with more sophisticated means that Gatling guns and cannons and sabers. There are subtler ways of killing. Call it death by statistics. Today, white man lets his statistics do the killing for him. Indian reservations in South Dakota have the highest rates of infant mortality and teenage suicide, along with the lowest standard of living and the lowest life expectancy--barely forty years!--in the country. Those statistics amount to genocide. Genocide also disguises itself in the form of poor health facilities and wretched housing and inadequate schooling and rampant corruption. Our remaining lands, eyed by a thousand local schemers only too eager to stir up trouble and division on the reservation, continue to be sold off acre by acre to pay off tribal and individual debts. No square inch of our ever-shrinking territory seems beyond the greedy designs of those who would drive us into nonexistence." __ Leonard Peltier, "Prison Writings...My Life Is My Sun Dance" +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! Several elders have recently crossed over. Leonard Peltier was not granted clemency. The hard winter continues ... there is even a hard freeze in Georgia as this is being written. A cabinet is being installed that has the strong stench of intolerance and a willingness to rape the land. Our Mother Earth is shaking in places like Manhattan, and yet the developers and plunderers do not hear. If ever I believed there was a time to pray for my enemy it is now. -- - - - Date: Saturday, January 20, 2001 11:08 AM From: "Janet Smith" Subj: no pardon Mailing List: Indianz elist >I am watching CNN...it's official..the answer is NO..no pardon for Leonard >There's nothing else to say... >In deep regret, I got it off CNN's web site and Gary got a more complete list of who was pardoned off the TribalLaw website. The identities of those who were pardoned is as telling as who was not. There is something left to say. We may not ever be able to get Leonard out of prison. Obviously this presidential clemency door is shut, so we have to knock on the next one, and we have to look for other avenues. Failing earning his release, we have to do what we can to ensure that he's treated fairly inside prison and to ensure that his family and legal advisors are given appropriate access. Do not kid yourselves. If we get discouraged and inattentive, there are some pretty negative things that can happen. The only thing that protects Leonard inside is a bright light of public attention. Frankly, I always felt relying on Clinton for clemency was a very long shot. The only reason to take it was that he was the best shot we had. Clinton was not and is not a man with a strong sense of honor or justice except as something he can manipulate to his own ends. He's self-serving, and other than sticking it to Freeh and some of those he considered his enemies, there wasn't much in it for Clinton to free Peltier. And he did just as good a job sticking it to Freeh and company pardoning his Whitewater friends. I don't have much hope for success with Bush, either. I suspect his sense of honor and justice may be marginally greater, but it is heavily weighted by attitude and prejudice. Nothing in his past behavior indicates to me that he has any inclination to hear a case like Peltier's openmindedly, let alone sympathetically. The fact that he left Freeh in charge of the FBI probably indicates something, too. But that does not mean we should not try. If nothing else, the trying alone keeps the justice machinery aware that Leonard Peltier is not forgotten. Janet Smith Owlstar Trading Post http://www.owlstar.com -- - - - Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2001 00:34:19 -0500 From: "Svhyeyi Aga - Evening Rain" Subj: BARREN WIND BARREN WIND As the night sky begins to darken, gloom fills the air, the prairie is so barren, only a cold wind crosses there. A solitary figure, a shadow perhaps, we can see on the lonely prairie and the cold wind fills our hearts. No hope, all is lost, we can see but cannot, reaching out for that solitary figure, so much a part of our thoughts. The wrong that has been done, will it ever be made right? No we feel within, it has never been right. Words given, but as empty as the air, and as hurtful to our spirit as the cold wind blowing there. Why go on? But look ahead and we see, that solitary figure, on the lonely prairie. He had not disappeared, nor given up, he is just ahead of us and we will soon catch up. There are bars and there are walls and boulders on the way, but what the white man's government does, cannot stop the solitary figure who has reached out far beyond the walls, with the vastness of the prairie people begin to gather for the cause. To wrong an injustice. To stand up strong. To shout loud to the dark night, your gloom is not so strong. The White Man in the Big House of this Land they do not own, has once again turned his back on a chance to right a wrong. Suddenly the gloom lifts and brilliant light fills the sky, the stars shine bright and the moon lights the prairie as strong as the sun and all around there are thousands of people, from every corner they've come. East - South - West - North Many miles away, from this land our people call Turtle Island, have they come to fight and say, Mr. White Man in the Big House On The Land You Do Not Own...your broken words will not stop us, they only make us strong. More determined in the effort to right this terrible wrong - of a man unjustly imprisoned because you think he was just another stupid injun. The solitary figure stops, no longer a shadow we do not see, but a man for his people, denied his liberty, but whose words and art have touched millions everywhere - far across the mighty oceans, they take up the call for justice there. Free Peltier! Free Peltier they shout as one voice. Now the whole big world knows what we are about. The bars and walls that you have set him in, has only brought people together more than any other way could begin - Ojibway, African, Cherokee, Asian, Miqmaq, and Pawnee, white men and women, those with brown skin, all have come together to see freedom and true justice and equality begin. For the American Indian. The People-Lakota, Navajo, Cree, the Zapatista and Aleuts and the Shawnee. The young, the old and those yet to be born, will never stop their fight to right this terrible wrong. There is no barren wind. The wind is strong, but carried on its voice is the shout of thousands of voices together singing a war song. We will fight this to the very end, to see that we at last have true equality. That you admit your wrongs and do what is just. That for once Mr. White Man in the Big House on the Land you do not own, you will listen to the people, who helped your ancestors along. But the wind is turning now - it is strong with our shout, strong with our war cry - we shall fight this out. We will win this war. Not with arrow or bow or knife, nor with club or our bare hands, but with the strength that has always been within us, the strength of this land, the strength of our peoples who you can never kill. For when you turned your back again, you fed more strength to the peoples' determined will. We WILL win. Freedom will come! Freedom will come! Dedicated to Leonard Peltier, to All First People now and who have gone before. We will win! Svhyeyi Aga - Evening Rain Cherokee January 21, 2001 12:07 am est -- - - - REMEMBER our brother who was beat to death, then urinated on. DO NOT let another day pass without voicing your anger and protest! Contact the St. Paul, MN courthouse and let the prosecuting attorney know Indian Country is watching. Insure a maximum sentence is imposed! .. .. .. .. Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 20:00:18 EST From: Rayann6@aol.com Subj: re:Stevie Thompson Today, 1-11-2001 Judge Paulette Flynn sentenced Jacob Thompson to 153 months in prison for the unintentional murder of Stevie Thompson. This means prison time of 102 months and parole time of 51 months if defendant earns all of his good time. Custody credit for time already served of 176 days. Sentencing guidelines are 144 months to 155 months. When the judge ask if Jacob Thompson wanted to say anything to the family of Stevie Thompson, Jacob said "it is unfortunate that this happened" He had the attitude that it was Stevie's fault that he beat him so bad that he ended up dying. The prosecutor, Jan Barker didn't even show up for the sentencing. She sent a law student to handle the sentencing for her. The law student, Maureen Cato-Perry did a good job in spite of not even having the case file with her in the courtroom. She ask the judge to sentence Jacob Thompson to more prison time than the guide lines called for. She also ask for restitution be made to Stevie's family for funeral and travel expenses. Twelve years in prison is not enough for what this animal did to Stevie. The courts still haven't decided what to charge Joseph Steinhauser with for his part in the killing of Stevie. 176 days after Stevie died his family is still waiting for justice. http://hometown.aol.com/rayann6/StevieThompson.html The Death of Stevie Thompson http://www.startribune.com/viewers/qview/cgi/qview.cgi? story=83326688&template=metro_a St. Paul man sentenced in beating death Friday, January 12, 2001 Jacob N. Thompson, who pleaded guilty to unintentional second-degree murder in the July 19 death of 43-year-old Steven Thompson in St. Paul, was sentenced Thursday to 12 years and 9 months in prison. The men weren't related. Both were homeless at the time of the murder. Ramsey County District Judge Paulette Flynn issued the sentence. Authorities said Jacob Thompson, 23, participated in the beating death during a confrontation near the Landmark Center. Joseph F. Steinhauser, 29, who is awaiting trial on murder charges in the case, accused Steven Thompson of stealing cigarettes from him, according to a criminal complaint. Steinhauser told police that Jacob Thompson severely beat Steven Thompson, and that he later picked up Steven Thompson and threw him on a bus-stop bench. The two men left Thompson, drank more alcohol and then returned to Landmark Center and found Thompson in a stairwell, according to the complaint. Steinhauser told police that Jacob Thompson beat Steven Thompson a third time, then went through his pockets. Investigators said the men allegedly took a sewing kit, a pair of scissors and 57 cents from the victim's pockets. -- Paul Gustafson Copyright c. 2001 Star Tribune. All rights reserved Peace! Night Owl , , Gary Night Owl gars@nanews.org (*,*) P. O. Box 672168 gars@speakeasy.org (`-') Marietta, GA 30006, U.S.A. gars@olagrande.net ===w=w=== gars@sdf.lonestar.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ---------- - Navajo Code Talker Passes On - The Murder of Dudley George - Six Nations Traditional - Blackfeet Community College Government Secretary Dies Gets Clean Slate - Archie Fire Lame Deer - Sovereign Rights up for Grabs Crosses Over - Tribal Conflicts - Pine Ridge Occupiers Invite Bigger Threat End Stay at HQ - Vernon Bellecourt and Anna Mae - Grass Roots Oglala Lakota - From Niya Wi on Leonard Oyate Press Release - Clemency Denied but - Navajo Nation Passed Law Fight Far From Over to Allow Hemp Cultivation - Native Prisoner - Scores say State Knew of - Rustywire: The Smell of Boot-Camp Abuse Cedar and Hair Wash - More Indian Trust - Poem: Doing Time Documents Missing - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - Churches Group - Elder Brothers Message Backs Sandia Pueblo - Women of Color Conference - Cherokee Nation - Upcoming Events Plans to Sell Tags - Native America Calling --------- "RE: Navajo Code Talker Passes On" --------- Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 15:56:49 EST From: NavajoBlues@AOL.COM Subj: Navajo Code Talker passes on Mailing List: First Nations http://www.thenavajotimes.com/National/national.html Howard Billman, Jr. passes on. The Navajo Times changes their website weekly so try to visit the site soonb before the article is gone. See the link at The Navajo Times for full details (I cut it short): ----- BUELL PARK, Ariz. - He often bragged that he was the last of the original Navajo Code Talker instructors. Born halfway between Navajo, N.M., and Sawmill, Ariz., Howard Billiman Jr. of Buell Park was raised in a manner no different than any traditional family. He chopped wood, herded sheep and looked after the livestock. What separated him from other 'chizzie' 16-year-old boys was that he lied about his age and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1942. While at the Marine Corps Camp Pendleton Base near San Diego, Billiman was recruited not only as a Navajo Code Talker, but also as one of the five instructors who trained the hundreds of other "radio men." He would eventually join his pupils in the South Pacific. Billiman, 74, died Jan. 1 with about an hour remaining in the first day of the 21st Century. Two days after their dad's passing, son and daughter recalled some of the many stories he shared. Several dates have been given for Billiman's birth. His obituary listed his birth as Feb. 2, 1923, but his children contend he was born Feb. 2, 1926. Regardless of his date of birth, Francis Billiman and Geneva Silversmith said their father loved the military but loved the Navajo Nation more. In recent months, there have been several forms of recognition given to the code talkers. Silversmith said her dad was aware that gold congressional medals of honor would be given to the original 29 code talkers and the silver medal would be given to the 300 others who trained to help win World War II with the Navajo language. The siblings said that when their father returned to the reservation in 1946, he only participated in veteran observations if they were conducted in military style. He didn't care for veteran powwows because it wasn't military or Dine'. "Before he died I showed the article to him," Silversmith said of the Congressional Medal of Honor. "I said, 'Dad, you have a very special medal that Clinton signed.' (more article/story at URL above) --------- "RE: Six Nations Traditional Government Secretary Dies" --------- Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 23:30:07 -0600 From: Les Tate Subj: Six Nations Traditional Government Secretary Dies Mailing List: INDIAN Heritage Although detailed information is sketchy at this time, I felt many of you might be interested in this. Andrew O. (Ozzie) Staats, Mohawk Turtle Clan, secretary of the traditional Iroquois Confederacy (as opposed to elected council) at Six Nations on The Grand River, Ontario, Canada, died on the morning of Friday, January 18, 2001. His physical condition had deteriorated during the past few months due to severe arthritis and other health problems which restricted his mobility, however his mind was as alert as ever. A few days ago he began having severe pain in his legs and was placed in a hospital. Doctors found several blood clots in each leg. Medications were begun and, later, an operation was performed successfully to remove the clots. His condition appeared to be improving, however Ozzie fell into a coma about a day after the operaton and died without regaining consciousness. Detailed funeral arrangements have not yet been announced, however we do know that it will be held at Six Nations on Tuesday to allow relatives from outside the area to attend. An enormous amount of knowledge about treaties, history, and cultural issues died with Ozzie. Although he was rather outspoken at times, Ozzie also was an persuasive speaker on behalf of the ongwehonwe. A few months ago he told me about attending a meeting in Toronto a few years ago with a Canadian official and the man's secretary to discuss funding for language immersion schools on the reserve. Ozzie described in eloquent terms how a bird chirped to talk to others of his kind and sang certain songs that let the Indian people know about approaching changes in the weather and other things. He then told them that, while the birds had their own languages and songs, the Iroquois languages and, thereby, much of their cultural knowledge -- which required an understanding of the language -- were being lost because of acculturation. By the time Ozzie finished, both the man and the woman were in tears...and an agreement was made to fund the language immersion schools. Les Tate ----------------------------------------------- To contact the list owner, use stephenL@indiana.edu --------- "RE: Archie Fire Lame Deer Crosses Over" --------- Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2001 01:27:49 EST From: NiyaEagle@aol.com Subj: Archie Lame Deer Mailing List: ndn-aim This was sent to me today and I am awaiting confirmation...if it is so, then I deeply find the sorrow of the last two days to be the salt of my tears. I have been trying to get ahold of Archie's family. If anyone has confirmation...could you please let me know? Niya January 20, 2001 It is with deep, deep regret that I send this information which was finally verified to me by Tribal members just this morning.... The beloved Lakota Medicine Man, Chief Archie Fire Lame Deer, crossed over on the morning of January 16, 2001 in Rapid City, South Dakota. Details are unknown but Medicine People, Sundancers, and Spiritual Leaders from around the world will be joining his family for the funeral at the Sicangu Lakota Sioux Rosebud Reservation. The son of Lakota Medicine Man, John Fire Lame Deer, Chief Archie Fire Lame Deer worked many years establishing and running rehabilitation programs for American Indians. He was instrumental in the passage of legislation allowing American Indian religious services and ceremonies into prisons as well as for American Indian prisoners' rights for access to their own religious leaders. With Richard Erdoes, he co-authored the book, "Gift of Power: The Life and Teachings of a Lakota Medicine Man". He was also the Consultant and Advisor on the creation of "The Lakota Sweat Lodge Cards and Book" which contained a reflection of some of his spiritual teachings written by Helene Sarkis, Anne Louise Goulene, Wendy Meg Siegel, and Alexander Sarkis. The Chief has been a Sundance leader for many years on the Rosebud Reservation as well as a dedicated Healer and Medicine Man to all who sought his help. Additionally, he lectured around the world seeking to bring harmony and understanding amongst all peoples and working always for the good of The People. The world is a poorer place for the loss of Chief Archie Fire Lame Deer but we wish him well on his journey onward. Prayers are asked for him, his family, those who loved him and those he leaves behind. Peace. Mitakuye oyasin. -steph ----- To subscribe to this group,send an email to: ndn-aim-subscribe@egroups.com Archived on line at: http://www.eScribe.com FREE LEONARD PELTIER --------- "RE: Pine Ridge Occupiers End Stay at HQ" --------- Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 08:22:49 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PINE RIDGE" Pine Ridge occupiers end stay at HQ; faction vows to remain By CHET BROKAW / Associated Press PINE RIDGE, S.D. (AP) -- Leaders of a group that seized the Oglala Sioux Tribe's headquarters one year ago said Tuesday they ended the occupation because they had succeeded in prompting reform. But a dissatisfied faction of the occupiers vowed to remain in the building. They said tribal government has not changed enough since November's tribal election. Some who remain seek a return to a more traditional form of government because they do not trust the elected tribal government on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, one of the nation's poorest areas. "We wanted our voice to be heard, but that's not happened. So we're going to keep the building. We're not going to give it up, "said Guy White Thunder, one member of a group of elders sitting in the occupied building late Tuesday. Dale Looks Twice, a spokesman for the original group that occupied the Red Cloud Building on Jan. 16, 2000, said the occupation should end because it had accomplished its main goals. A new tribal council and president took office in December, and an audit of tribal finances is expected to lead to indictments of former officials later this month, he said. "I think we've done our job by exposing the corruption, exposing the embezzlement, "Looks Twice said. In a meeting with some members of the new tribal council, Looks Twice and other leaders of the original takeover announced that they considered the occupation over. But those who want to continue it walked out early in the meeting, which was broadcast live throughout the southwestern South Dakota reservation by KILI Radio. The meeting was held a block from the headquarters building in Billy Mills Hall, named after the Oglala runner who won an Olympic gold medal. Looks Twice said he will now seek a referendum in which all tribal members could vote on whether to turn the building back over to the tribal government. The protesters took over the red brick building because they believed tribal officials were corrupt and had mismanaged money. Their top demands included audits, the removal of Tribal Treasurer Wesley "Chuck"Jacobs and the suspension of the tribal council. Former Tribal President Harold Salway had tried to suspend Jacobs in 1999, but a tribal judge reinstated the treasurer. Salway later was suspended by the council, which alleged he had mishandled money meant for victims of a 1999 tornado. Looks Twice said an audit has now been completed. The report found some serious problems in how money was handled in the tribe's general fund. Ten members of the new tribal council were part of the occupation or supported it during the past year, Looks Twice said. "I have no regrets on this occupation because we felt our people were being stepped on and we weren't going to take it anymore, "Looks Twice said. "Now it's time to let that go and work with the present tribal council we have here today." Other original occupation leaders said they believe the new tribal council will avoid corruption and work to help people. "This new council is trying, "said Eileen Janis, an original occupation leader. Looks Twice and others said they did not understand the demands of those who remain in the building. They said they hope the new occupation will end without violence. But Francis He Crow said the tribal government set up under federal law helps people of mixed blood and discriminates against full-blood Indians. Tony Black Feather, the delegate to the United Nations'agencies on Indian issues, said the existing form of government has not worked well. "We're in a transition period where we don't know if we want to go the white man's way or go back to the traditional way, "Black Feather said. Those who remained in the building also said the new tribal council has given jobs to members of the previous council, so little has changed. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of dollars in phone bills and other expenses related to the Red Cloud Building have piled up during the yearlong occupation, and officials said a lot of maintenance is needed on the building. In a hallway, electric burners are used to cook meals. Tables hold coffee pots and a variety of meat, potato chips and other food. Tribal President John Yellowbird Steele said the occupation means tribal members must drive or walk all over town to visit offices that should be in one building. Otherwise, business continues as usual and tribal programs are all operating, he said. Steele said he is too busy working on running tribal government and economic development to worry about the building. "We need to create some jobs because I see poverty as the cause of this political unrest, "he said. "We don't have time to confront amongst ourselves." Steele said tribal officials will not try to remove those remaining in the building. Those who started the occupation a year ago have the responsibility for finding a way to get everyone out, he said. Copyright c. 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. c. Copyright 2001 Minneapolis Star Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Grass Roots Oglala Lakota Oyate Press Release" --------- Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 10:14:28 -0500 From: Janet Smith Subj: GRASS ROOTS OYATE PRESS RELEASE 1-18 GRASS ROOTS OGLALA LAKOTA OYATE http://members.tripod.com/GrassRootsOyate JANUARY 18, 2001 RED CLOUD BUILDING, PINE RIDGE AGENCY, SOUTH DAKOTA: True colors shown amongst Grass Roots Oyate towards the cause! On January 16, 2001; the anniversary of the peaceful take-over of the former Red Cloud Building, a group of the Grass Roots General Council leave to meet with the newly elected Tribal President, John Yellow Bird/Steele at Billy Mills Hall concerning the building. Upon their arrival, on KILI radio was former media coordinator for the Grass Roots Oyate, Dale Looks Twice, now a highly paid Tribal employee with others like him speaking against the Grass Roots General Council. As the insolence continues towards the Grass Roots General Council, they respectfully walk out of the meeting while the group of original seven whom Dale refers to, act with total vengeance towards the Oyate as they now fitfully graze with IRA Government officials. This is another classic example to the Oyate who listened to KILI that nothing has changed with the new IRA election except the names and faces. As the Grass Roots General Council enter the former Tribal Chambers where the alter holds the sacred Cannupa used earlier to pray with for courage, many sit silent and numb from what had just been witnessed. As many of those sit and contemplate on what had just happened and what to do next, one thing was clear to the Grass Roots General Council, that there cannot be any negotiations with the newly elected IRA officials. Another thing was also clear to the Grass Roots General Council, that those former supporters of the Grass Roots Movement who now sit as paid Tribal employees shall be treated as such. Names like Dale Looks Twice, Eileen Janis, Floyd and Natalie Hand, Oliver Red Cloud have now been stricken from any further connection or media contact to the GRASS ROOTS OGLALA LAKOTA OYATE! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> GRASS ROOTS OGLALA LAKOTA OYATE >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 18, 2001 PEACEFUL OCCUPATION OF THE FORMER TRIBAL BUILDING CONTINUES WHILE SEVERAL GRASS ROOTS OYATE NOW GRAZE ON THE SIDE OF THE OPPRESSORS! Oyate Headquarters - Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. At a scheduled meeting between the Grass Roots Oglala Lakota Oyate and General Council and the IRA tribal council, shrewd attempts by several former supporters of the Grass Roots Movement were made to return the tribal administration building back to the newly elected tribal council. Members of the Grass Roots Oglala Lakota Oyate General Council suppressed the attempt by returning to the former Red Cloud Building. In spite of false statements made by Dale Looks Twice over KILI radio of assault rifles in the building, Grass Roots Oyate remember not to long ago when he was using the same intimidation tactics with the last tribal administration officials. Former members of the Grass Roots Oyate, who we have observed to have no respect for themselves let alone the Sacred Canunpa, genuinely hurt elders. Mrs. Marie Randall stated, "We went to pray with them and talk and we get treated as though this past year being here, holding the building, and praying was nothing! Our hearts and feelings were hurt. We returned here and had a Pipe Ceremony just for what happened at the Billy Mills Hall." The Grass Roots General Council will continue to stand on their Sovereign rights under the original 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty; to use the building as an Embassy for all bands of the Tetuwan Nations in their plight to be heard within the World Court level. It is obvious to many that we can no longer wait for the change in the IRA system and that we must move forward, together, now. Former Grass Roots Oyate members Floyd and Natalie Hand, Oliver Red Cloud, Dale (including his so-called "original seven") who were involved with the take-over, as of now have been officially warranted as of having no affiliation to the GRASS ROOTS OGLALA LAKOTA OYATE! (For names of those original seven, you may contact Dale.) The Grass Roots Oglala Lakota Oyate will continue to move forward with their goal of establishing the Embassy of the Tetuwan Nation; input from the other bands in this endeavor will be appreciated. The building will be re-named and a dedication ceremony will be held at a future date to be announced for all to attend. We thank everyone for their continued support. For further information, please contact Wallace Little, Jr. or any Tokala at 605-867-5821. Email address is: groyate@gwtc.net and icq # is 75999256; email and icq are checked daily. As with all my emails concerning the Occupation Peoples please forward to any and all interested parties in its entirety Wadv Wild Horse --------- "RE: Navajo Nation Passed Law to Allow Hemp Cultivation" --------- Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 19:45:02 -0000 From: "ty maloney" Subj: The Navajo Nation passed a tribal law to allow hemp cultivation Mailing List: RezLife Industrial Hemp Case Deserves Support [NOTE: The following piece appeared in Indian Country Today on September 20, 2000. It is reprinted here with permission.] The sovereign resolve of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and its farmers to legalize and then plant industrial hemp as a major cash crop merits support. That effort endured its first major crisis when BIA and DEA agents, enforcing anti-marijuana laws, raided two fields on Oglala lands. Likely indictments loom over the heads of the project coordinators and others who planted the fields. The Oglala hemp test case involves issues of tribal sovereignty and the century-old Indian quest for agricultural self-sufficiency. Pine Ridge is not alone in its approach. The Navajo Nation studied the potentials of the crop and is engaged in legislating and preparing for production. It is likely other tribal nations will follow. Then, too, the moment is ripe on the national level as more and more people, including New Mexico's Republican Gov. Gary Johnson, are openly challenging the fundamental logic of the U.S. drug war, from which has generated such political boondoggles as banning industrial hemp. The opposition to hemp is formidable. The drug-war industry, buttressed by layers of quite draconian legislation, generates some $40 billion annually in enforcement funds. Half of that is spent on suppression of the hemp plant for its THC - the substance that brings on the notable marijuana high. Of the 1.5 million Americans criminalized every year, about half are arrested or incarcerated because of a marijuana-related charge. While alcohol kills 150,000 Americans a year, prescription drugs kill 100,000 and cigarettes finish off another 250,000, death caused by marijuana smoking is practically unheard of. Millions of dollars now pay for DEA and other agency crews which cut and burn tons of "ditch weed," mostly old industrial hemp gone fallow. The drug war is a huge industry, run at taxpayer expense. The industry that can be built around cropping and processing industrial hemp and manufacturing its varied products, however, could lead to true self-sufficiency for many tribes. Industrial hemp has been a lucrative agricultural product for centuries with multiple applications. It is grown by farmers in dozens of countries. The highly adaptable crop has a $100 million U.S. market just in its food products, which the tribes could target directly. Industrial hemp is useful in making paper, clothes, medicines, foods and even building materials. It has excellent profit margins in production of oil for manufacturing nut butter, shampoos and cosmetics. Hemp stalk's anti-bacterial qualities makes it popular for making horse bedding. Additionally the crop improves soils by adding nitrogen and is potentially an ecologically renewable source of fiber for making paper without cutting trees. Undeterred by the FBI raid on industrial hemp fields in the Pine Ridge Reservation, Navajo Nation farmers are pressing for their own law. The Pine Ridge 1998 ordinance defined the distinction between industrial hemp and marijuana (less than 1 percent THC). The Navajo have started by changing a previous tribal law that allowed for possession of up to one ounce of marijuana. This was also done to differentiate industrial hemp from the plant which produces marijuana that is smoked to produce a "high." In the overall crusade to criminalize rather than medically treat the "drug problem" in America, the destruction of a versatile wonder crop such as hemp jumps out as one truly counter-productive strategy. We support the visionary leadership of the Oglala and Navajo nations in their quest to revitalize Indian agriculture through industrial hemp. The Oglala case, in particular, deserves to be handled through a civil process rather than a criminal one. ---------- Hemp, Sovereignty and the DEA by Sonja Keohane, NAV Contributor "I said, 'What do you think you're doing?' and an FBI guy raised a machine gun and pointed it directly at me," Alex White Plume said." The chronicle that follows describes, in the words of press releases and news articles, what happened when Alex White Plume, a Lakota, planted a field of industrial hemp in the spring of 2000. The land where the hemp was planted is on the Pine Ridge Reservation, land "... set apart for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians..." by this exact wording of the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1868. White Plume followed the law regarding the planting of hemp. The law was enacted by the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council in July of 1998. And this is what happened to the field of hemp... ---------- April 14, 2000 Joe American Horse announced on KILI Radio that to be sovereign the tribe must act sovereign, so accordingly, he will plant industrial hemp seeds on April 29, 2000 to advance the authority of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in the matter of jurisdiction over tribal lands. Stating the USA does not make treaties with ethnic minorities but only with other sovereigns, American Horse said he is prepared to exercise the self-determination inherent in the Oglala Sioux Tribe as a successor government under the Treaty of 1868. April 29, 2000 On the 132nd anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of 1868, members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe plant industrial hemp at various locations on the Reservation. In July 1998, the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council passed an ordinance defining industrial hemp as distinct from marijuana (which is a controlled substance under tribal law). The ordinance provides for the cultivation and harvesting of industrial hemp on the Reservation. The Slim Butte Land Use Association, which spearheaded the effort to initiate industrial hemp production on the Reservation, looks forward to the sustainable aspects of the crop. "It is very important to us that we be able to grow a crop that allows us to live in balance with Mother Earth," says Loretta Afraid-of-Bear Cook, Chair of the Slim Butte LUA. "Hemp does not require any chemicals and it allows us to start taking care of our people ourselves." Loretta continued. The landowner association is in the latter stages of building a house with materials primarily of industrial hemp. While lack of adequate housing is a problem on most reservations, it is particularly challenging on Pine Ridge where tornadoes and heavy winds frequently destroy homes. President Bill Clinton acknowledged the severity of the housing shortage during his visit to Pine Ridge last summer, saying "There is no more crucial building block for a strong community and a promising future than a solid home." "Industrial hemp is the key component to sustainable housing," said Tom Cook, LUA Project Director for the house building project. "We make hemp-based concrete that is lighter, stronger and easier to work with than masonry concrete," he said, "Not only that, but we are putting people to work here on the reservation with good jobs." The house building project has employed eight people, and the Slim Butte LUA intends to market its "Hempcrete" blocks to the building industry. In addition, the LUA seeks to set up a handmade paper making operation that will use parts of the hemp that do not go into the block making.(1) May 2000 MANDERSON, S.D. - On a sunny early May day described as "perfect for planting," Alex White Plume, with 20 friends and relatives, planted an acre and a half field along the banks of Wounded Knee Creek. Helping Alex get the crop in was his grandson, Tyson, 5. The crop is industrial hemp and planting it could land Tyson's grandpa in jail. White Plume formally invited the man who would be charged with putting him in jail to the planting. After his invitation to U.S. Attorney Ted McBride, White Plume invited BIA Superintendent Bob Ecoffey, too. "I have nothing to hide," the Lakota man said. "I'm just looking for a good way to support my family." Neither McBride or Ecoffey made it to the planting. "Laws that govern his tribe give White Plume every right to grow the stuff. Oglala Sioux Tribal (OST) Ordinance 98-27, passed by the Tribal Council in July of 1998, reads, in part: THEREFORE BE IT ORDAINED that the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council does hereby expressly reserve and retain jurisdiction to enact legislation relating to industrial hemp agriculture..." White Plume says the ordinance is clear. A key provision of 98-27 makes a chemical and testable distinction between industrial hemp and the marijuana used for getting high. While the tribe's penal code ordains fines and jail time for use of marijuana as a narcotic, it excludes industrial hemp. Its definition: "Industrial Hemp" - All parts and varieties of the plant Cannabis sativa, both indigenous and imported, that are, or have historically been, cultivated and harvested for fiber and seed purposes and contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration of one percent or less by weight." (2) July 2000 On a hill near Manderson, S.D., the wind blows gently through the hills. A herd of horses stands on a bluff surveying their terrain, and Alex White Plume smiles as he looks out on his hemp field. Alex is a man of his word, inspired and driven, by dreams. So it has come to pass that on the Pine Ridge Reservation, home of the Oglala Lakota people - a people living in the single poorest county in the country - that a field of hemp grows under the South Dakota sun.(3) August 24, 2000 MANDERSON, S.D. - Twenty-five federal agents in 11 sport utility vehicles descended at dawn on a one and one half acre field of industrial hemp just four miles north of Manderson. Agents in bulletproof vests surrounded the field as two small-engine planes and one helicopter flew reconnaissance overhead. When Lakota landowners, Percy and Alex White Plume, part owners of the field, went directly to the site, they were met with lethal resistance. "I said, 'What do you think you're doing?' and an FBI guy raised a machine gun and pointed it directly at me," Alex White Plume said. The agents arrived at 6 a.m. and by 8:30 a.m. they had confiscated virtually all the hemp plants. "They used these strange kind of weed eaters with metal teeth like a saw," White Plume said. The federal agents left a field of 6-inch stubble as the legacy of their Aug. 24 visit.(4) ---------- What Is Industrial Hemp? To clear things up from the beginning, industrial hemp is not the same plant as is marijuana. They are different and distinct varieties within the same subspecies. Most significantly, they differ in the amount of THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) that is found in them. Most experts recognized industrial hemp as those varieties containing less than 1% THC. There are other ways that the two varieties of Cannabis differ, one being the length of time needed to harvest. Hemp can be harvested in 90 days and marijuana needs in excess of 150 days to mature. From the KHGCA (Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative Association): "Industrial hemp, when planted for fiber production, is a tall slender plant without branches because it is planted 4 inches apart. Thin-stemmed, tall industrial hemp does not resemble the full, branchy marijuana plant. Industrial hemp is an agricultural crop, whereas marijuana is a horticultural crop, and the visual differences are distinct and obvious to even the untrained eye.(5) What Are Some Of The Uses Of Industrial Hemp? Listed here are just some of the literally thousands of uses for industrial hemp. Important to note here, also, is the fact that hemp is grown completely without the need of pesticides. This means that the problem of run-off of toxic chemicals is eliminated in the fields where hemp is grown. Hemp can yield 3-8 tons of fibre per acre. This is four times what an average forest can yield.(6) Some of the uses: Fiber for textiles and clothing. Paper - paper made from hemp is of higher quality than that made from wood pulp. Hemp paper requires less bleaching and is more resistant to decomposition, which makes it more desirable for archival uses. (The Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights were written on paper made from hemp.) Cosmetics - hair and skin products. Animal bedding - high quality and in demand in other countries. Hemp and lime mixtures make a high quality plaster. Non-petroleum based plastics Hemp is a good insulator and can be used with other products to make building materials.( This is one of the intended uses for which the Pine Ridge hemp was grown.) Why Is Growing Hemp Illegal In The U.S.? Industrial hemp has been grown in this country for centuries. It was grown by Thomas Jefferson on his farm in Virginia. It was grown by the United States government for use during WW II. The US government formed War Hemp Industries and subsidized hemp cultivation. US farmers grew about a million acres of hemp across the midwest as part of that program. The growing of hemp was essentially "criminalized" by the passage of the Marijuana Tax Act in 1937, by which hemp farmers were burdened with a tax that was meant to squelch the narcotic "marihuana" production. The Director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, (the precursor to the DEA) Henry J. Anslinger, led farmers to believe their cash crop would not be threatened by the criminalization of its cousin. This, of course, was not to be the case. It is significant to note that Anslinger was the nephew of Secretary of Treasury, Andrew Mellon. Andrew Mellon was also a banker for chemical companies such as DuPont. DuPont is a company who was and is a major producer of synthetic fiber and who owned the patents on synthetic plastics. DuPont, as well as many other large companies had made large investments in making paper from wood pulp. There are many who feel that the 1937 Act was enacted to protect the financial interests of those companies who would have been directly affected by the production of industrial hemp products. This act essentially and for all intents and purposes eliminated the "competition." It is interesting to note, that while the DEA doggedly destroys hemp, President Clinton indicates its significance. The Executive Order 12919 Of June 3, 1994 National Defense Industrial Resources Preparedness mentions hemp in this context: PART IX---GENERAL PROVISIONS (e) "Food resources" means all commodities and products, simple, mixed, or compound, or complements to such commodities or products, that are capable of being ingested by either human beings or animals, irrespective of other uses to which such commodities or products may be put, at all stages of processing from the raw commodity to the products thereof in vendible form for human or animal consumption. "Food resources" also means all starches, sugars, vegetable and animal or marine fats and oils, cotton, tobacco, wool, mohair, hemp, flax fiber, and naval stores, but does not mean any such material after it loses its identity as an agricultural commodity or agricultural product. Hemp, therefore, is "defined" as "food resource" in the context of National Defense Preparedness. It is difficult to understand how something could be necessary and illegal at the same time. Just another instance of the left hand of the U.S. government not knowing what its right hand is doing?(7) How Is This A Sovereignty Issue? A treaty is a formal agreement between sovereign bodies. The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 was an agreement between two sovereign nations, the United States and the Lakota Nation. Article II describes the boundaries of the Treaty lands, and goes on to say: "... set apart for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians herein named, and for such other friendly tribes or individual Indians as from time to time they may be willing, with the consent of the United States, to admit amongst them;" The United States wanted peace. Article I states: "From this day forward all war between the parties to this agreement shall for ever cease." It is clear from the wording of the treaty that the United States intended that the Lakota Nation cease "roaming and hunting" and in Article III says "..to comence cultivating the soil as farmers." The Treaty, in Article X, goes on to encourage the Lakota to farm by giving financial incentive: "...And in addition to the clothing herein named, the sum of $10 for each person entitled to the beneficial effects of this treaty shall be annually appropriated for a period of 30 years, while such persons roam and hunt, and $20 for each person who engages in farming,.." To further clarify the U.S. position, article XV states that the Lakota will "... they will regard said reservation their permanent home, and they will make no permanent settlement elsewhere;..." In planting the hemp crop, the Lakota believe that they have acted in good faith. "Under the 1868 Treaty, any rights reserved by the tribe can be claimed by a tribal member. By planting this field, I claim my treaty right as an Oglala Sioux," said White Plume.(2) The OST Ordinance 98-27 requires members to form Land Use Organizations (LUA), and to apply for recognition through the tribe's Land Committee. White Plume's LUA is Kiza Tiyospaye located in the Wounded Knee District. Tiyospaye lawyer, Thomas Ballanco, believes the Lakota in growing industrial hemp are exercising their right to do so under the 1868 Treaty: "It is my professional opinion that (tribal) members who comply with OST Ordinance 98-27 do not have to comply with U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) regulations regarding cultivation of marijuana in 21 CFR. 1300 et seq." He cites several reasons for his conviction. "The right to cultivate industrial hemp on the reservation was retained by the various treaties between the United States and the Oglala Lakota (Sioux) nation, specifically the Treaty of 1868." The lawyer then refers to nine precedent-setting cases he says solidify the tribe's right to control the production of industrial hemp within its external boundaries. Part of Ballanco's argument is the fact that wild-growing hemp plants are present in abundance on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. "The plants are here because at the time of the treaty, it was the only available product for making cloth and other items."(2) November 24, 2000 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Lexington, Kentucky Lakota Indians defying DEA; Accept KY Co-op's Offer to Replace Destroyed Hemp Crop Contact:KHGCA Executive Director Joe Hickey; (859) 277-5115 "The Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative is offering to replace some of the hemp lost to the nightmare of the drug war," said Alex White Plume, whose 1-acre hemp crop on Wounded Knee creek was seized and destroyed. White Plume now believes the DEA's actions are helping, not derailing his long-range plans. He said the positive feedback is showing that, "Lakota hemp is gaining respect in the world." In a letter to White Plume, the Kentucky Hemp Growers Co-op's executive director, Joe Hickey, characterized America's hemp policy as "fundamentally absurd and destructive... In light of international treaties protecting its cultivation worldwide, the policy is ludicrous and irresponsible." In the face of Kentucky's Supreme Court ruling that 'hemp is marijuana,' Hickey has offered to help make up the loss by transporting and delivering legally imported Canadian hemp bales from Kentucky, across state lines, to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Former Gov. Louie B. Nunn will present Joe American Horse with the Kentucky/Canadian hemp in a ceremony on November 28, 2000 highlighting the need for some common sense regulations of industrial hemp in the United States. Gov. Nunn said, "I intend on traveling with the Indian delegation back to the Pine Ridge Reservation in an effort to help educate the public along the way about the potential benefits of this historical crop and to demonstrate that we all need to work together to help develop an agricultural and economic future that will better serve all people. In conclusion, I feel that it is important to keep in mind that there is a need for industrial hemp products in this country, as evidenced by the importation of such. The demand for hemp fibre is estimated to be about 100,000 tons per year. If Canada and many countries in Western Europe have managed to grow and export industrial hemp products, why is it impossible for it do be done in the United States? Additionally, if the Lakota are a sovereign Nation of People, how is it that the DEA can destroy their crops? Is this not comparable to the DEA going into the sovereign Nation of Canada and destroying their hemp crop? The growing of industrial hemp brings two very important issues to the surface, those being the sovereignty of the Lakota Nation and the question of why the DEA is protecting the financial health of other industries by criminalizing the growing of industrial hemp. Perhaps these questions should be asked of our government? Endnotes 1. The Boston Hemp CO-OP'S Digital Library and Museum 2.Indian Country Today, May 24, 2000 3.Indian Country Today, July 26, 2000 4.Indian Country Today, September 6, 2000 5.Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative Association 6.North American Industrial Hemp Council 7.Executive Order 12919 Of June 3, 1994 National Defense Industrial Resources Preparedness ---------- Thursday, July 20, 2000 The Navajo Nation passed a tribal law to allow hemp cultivation Candi Penn, HIA Christie Bohling of CHA called to praise and thank all the supporters of the Navajo Hemp Project. Hempstead, Richard Rose, Ecolution, Woody, Marie Mills, Richard Barge, Brooks Kelly, Richard & Amy Lee, Jill and James Burr, and Hemp Times sponsored the project and deserve kudos as do all of the people who contributed and kept the vision in their hearts. Hemp Hemp Hooray for Sovereignty. This has been an ongoing project since 1992. Applications for permits will be handled by a Regulatory Committee. A Washington, DC DEA agent was present at the Tribal Council meeting. Congratulations to CHA, Jim Robinson and Susie for their dedication. E-mail: chaxh@aol.com Navajo Nation Goes Hemp Navajo Nation steps into hemp - not drug - industry Marley Shebala, The Navajo Times WINDOW ROCK - The Navajo Nation Council did not approve the legalization of marijuana last week. Council Delegate Ervin Keeswood said the council only approved amendments to Navajo law, which distinguish between industrial hemp and marijuana. Keeswood, who sponsored the legislation on industrial hemp, said the distinction between the two is based on the percentage of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC. The council, in its July 20 resolution, stated, "It is high levels of THC that gives marijuana its hallucinogenic effect." According to scientific research, THC is the potentially psychoactive chemical in marijuana and is not presently, nor historically, found in significant quantities in industrial hemp. According to a Feb. 7, letter to the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative Association from William M. Pierce Jr., Ph.D., industrial hemp contains as little as 0.05 percent by weight of THC. Piece, who also is an associate professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology for the School of Medicine at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, said some marijuana plants could contain between 10 to 20 percent of THC. "In summary, it is my opinion that the use of industrial hemp as a psychoactive substance is extremely unlikely, due to the large doses required and the side effects which would be encountered," he said. Keeswood noted to the council, prior to their vote supporting the amendments, that the first two copies of the Declaration of Independence were written on hemp. He said industrial hemp is used to produce more than 25,000 items, such as animal bedding, paneling, erosion control materials, cloth towels, toilet paper, twine, and bird seeds. In a separate interview, Chris Boucher, owner of Hempstead International, which is based in Laguna Beach, Calif., said 50,000 products can be made from industrial hemp. Boucher, who acts as a consultant for industrial hemp, said that Popular Mechanics magazine released a story in 1938 that reported that industrial hemp would become the first Billion dollar crop. Keeswood reported to the council that the demand for industrial hemp is growing annually. As of 1997, the industrial hemp market generated about $40 million in revenues, and its estimated that by 2001, that figure could rise to about $1.5 million, he said. "So we need to get on this particular train before it leaves town," Keeswood urged the council. He said 12 states are currently talking with their legislature to approve what the council is discussing. Keeswood said Hawaii and North Dakota have received federal approval to grow industrial but it&Mac226;s for research only. "The Lakota Nation has already jumped on this; they've created legislation and a farmers' association and they are growing industrial hemp," he said. Keeswood pointed to the council delegates&Mac226; lounge area and said the Wide Ruins Chapter is already using industrial hemp fibers to weave rugs. According to agricultural news articles, scientists and proponents of hemp have convinced many governments around the world that hemp definitely fits in today's economic climate, especially as a sustainable agricultural system. Other agricultural reports show that farming hemp has the potential to reduce some of the environmental pressures associated with intensive forestry and agricultural use of dangerous pesticides. Earl Tulley, Dine CARE vice president, recalled how then presidential candidate Kelsey Begaye campaigned and lobbied for families to return to the earth and farm. Tulley said the growing of industrial hemp will do that and the economic development benefits will be greater than the Navajo Nation's proposed potato chip factory or any agricultural product. He reiterated the diversity of products that come from industrial hemp, which includes fabric, paper, fuel, cosmetics and food. And Tulley said hemp will also address the reservation's problems with diabetes. The farming of hemp goes hand in hand with physical labor, he said. But Tulley said the most important factor in farming hemp is that the Navajo Nation is getting in on the ground level. Industrial hemp will be the crop of choice for the 21st century, he said. Tulley said hemp farmers in Kentucky, Hawaii and the whole nation of Canada predicts that hemp will be around for a long time. He noted that some major car companies, such as Ford, Mercedes, and BMW, are using hemp by-products for the interior of their vehicles. Hemp is a healthy alternative to economic development that damages Mother Earth and the life forms, including the five-fingered ones, that live off her, he said. Dine CARE or Dine Citizens Against Ruining the Environment is a non- profit grass roots environmental organization. Boucher said that up until 1930, lacquer, paints were all made from hemp seed oil. But then he said the petroleum industry overtook natural industry and now all paint has petroleum oil, except for specialty stores, which sell paint made from flaxseed and linseed. Boucher said his company is forced to purchase hemp from Poland and China, which other hemp companies also must do because no one is farming it in the United States. He said the future for the Navajo Nation can eventually involve producing hemp items to market. Boucher, whose has also been involved in protecting the environment, said he became involved in hemp production because he has children and he wants them to have a healthy future. "When I leave this place, I want to have at least picked up my trash. Money can't buy healthy people and a healthy environment," he said. Keeswood reiterated that the approval of the council doesn't mean Hogback Chapter, which is his chapter, will be handing out hemp seeds. The next step is for the council to create legislation to regulate industrial hemp, which must go before the council's Economic Development Committee, Resources Committee, Public Safety Committee and Judicial Committee before it even gets to the council, he emphasized. And while that's going on and after council approval, the Navajo Nation must apply to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Department for a certificate to farm hemp, Keeswood explained. He said that at one time the federal government allowed industrial hemp to be grown and sold as an agricultural crop but because of lobbying by the growing timber and cotton markets, hemp was outlawed. Keeswood said that information is documented. Boucher said Hempstead uses an ancient Chinese character on its clothing that is the symbol for hemp. Ancient societies, such as the Egyptians and Chinese, believed hemp was the oldest cultivated plant on the earth, he said. Boucher added, "It's prehistoric." The council's vote on amending the Navajo Criminal Code to distinguish industrial hemp from marijuana was 58 in favor, 11 opposed and one abstaining. For Rezlife egroups http://www.egroups.com/group/rezlife --------- "RE: Scores say State Knew of Boot-Camp Abuse" --------- Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2001 06:13:16 -0800 (PST) From: Paul Pureau Subj: Scores say state knew of boot-camp abuse Mailing List: ndn-aim Scores say state knew of boot-camp abuse for years By JENNIFER GERRIETTS Argus Leader published: 1/9/01 Top South Dakota officials knew that juvenile inmates were being abused at state facilities long before Gina Score's death, yet they did nothing, lawyers for Score's parents say. State employees abused at least three boys at juvenile corrections facilities between 1996 and 1998, those lawyers say. And state officials -- including Gov. Bill Janklow, Corrections Secretary Jeff Bloomberg and former State Training School Superintendent Clay Ramsey -- failed to act despite knowledge of the abuse, Gregory lawyer Rick Johnson contends. Those acts, according to affidavits filed by inmates and staff members, included: A 16-year-old boy who says he was strapped and cuffed to a surfboard and left in his own urine at the Custer Boot Camp in 1996. He also was forced to eat oatmeal off the floor while his hands were cuffed behind his back. Although Janklow and someone the boy believes was Bloomberg saw him strapped down, the governor told him to "shush" when he begged for help, the boy said. Janklow says it never happened. "I'm 61 years old, and I've never seen a bigger lie in my life," Janklow said. "I have never in my life seen anybody tied to a board at the Custer Boot Camp. I've never in my life seen anybody that had food put on the floor at the Custer Boot Camp." A 16-year-old boy says Custer staff forced him to run until he collapsed in 1996, then later forced him to clean up his own vomit and told him "he was lucky he didn't have to eat it." A former State Training School staff member who says he called an ambulance for a boy lying in a ditch after collapsing on a forced run and says Ramsey questioned him for being too quick requesting outside medical help. Lawyers for Score's parents, David and Viola of Canton, filed the affidavits to illustrate what they say are state officials who were indifferent to the needs of the juveniles in the state's care. Score's parents sued state officials and a nurse after their 14-year-old daughter died of heat exhaustion in 1999 after a forced run. All but one of the defendants in that lawsuit have asked that the case be dismissed, saying they were acting in their official capacity. Johnson said there's plenty of evidence to suggest that state employees disregarded teens' needs long before Score. "The facts of this case show that the defendants, going from Bloomberg down through (State Training School nurse Merridy) Fett, became desensitized to the needs and rights of children entrusted to them," Johnson said in a motion to keep the case alive. Score's parents are suing Bloomberg, Ramsey, other former and current corrections staff and Sioux Valley Hospital, which employed Fett, who evaluated Score as she lay on the ground hyperventilating. Johnson's motion includes affidavits supplied by two juvenile inmates and a former staff member at the State Training School who describe how they were abused by state workers. Strapped to a board A 16-year-old boy identified as T.G. said he regularly was placed on a surfboard and "left to lie in this position with little or no clothing on in a dark, cold cell for long hours while loud cadence-type music was played into his ears" at Custer. Janklow and Bloomberg ignored his pleas, T.G. stated. Janklow plans to pursue perjury charges against the young man, spokesman Bob Mercer said. T.G. said Ramsey ordered him to be placed on the surfboard in retaliation for a letter the boy attempted to send to his grandmother. Several other young boys frequently were subjected to the same treatment or housed in a small cell known as "never-never land," he said. "None of the boys could withstand more than a short time of the surfboard without breaking down," T.G.'s affidavit states. Running with asthma That same year, another 16-year-old boy named T.H. said he was forced to exercise until he collapsed, even though he suffered severe allergies. Although he told staff his asthma was affecting him, they refused to let him rest. The first time he collapsed, T.H. said he was accused of faking and was abandoned on the edge of a road until a nurse ordered that he be sent to the hospital. Despite a doctor's order from the hospital prohibiting strenuous activity, T.H. was forced again to exercise. He collapsed and had to be hospitalized for four to five days, he said. Calling for aid The summer before Score's death, former State Training School staff member Glen Stanley said he found a boy lying in a ditch hyperventilating after he had collapsed while running, Stanley said. "When I grabbed his T-shirt and pulled it up and put my hand on his chest, he was red hot," Stanley's statement said. When he couldn't find medical staff, Stanley called an ambulance. The next day, Ramsey and others questioned him for being so quick to call, he said. "I made the right choice at the right time, and I was angry about the fact that he would even second-guess that," Stanley said. Systemic problems Johnson, the Scores' lawyer, called the girls boot camp a "cauldron of mistreatment." Nancy Deppe, a girls' boot camp staff member hired a month after Score's death, said in an affidavit that another worker told her that if inmates "haven't pissed their pants or puked by the time I am done with them, I haven't done my job." Staff laughed and bragged about how scared girls were during their first day in the program, Deppe said. Staff denied the girls bathroom use and threatened to take their water taken away during exercises. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol will rule on the motion to dismiss defendants from the lawsuit. He could request a hearing or issue a ruling based on the filings presented. The case is scheduled to go to trial in March. The amount of money the Scores seek for their daughter's death is unspecified, but the state's legal liability fund could pay up to $1 million in damages. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Reach reporter Jennifer Gerrietts at jgerriet@argusleader.com or 331-2312 ARGUS LEADER ===== Paul Pureau to subscribe to ndn-aim send a blank mail to: ndn-aim-subscribe@egroups.com ndn-aim is now archived on line at Http://www.escribe.com/life/ndn-aim/ FREE LEONARD PELTIER --------- "RE: More Indian Trust Documents Missing" --------- Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 08:22:49 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WHAT TRUST FUND" More Indian trust documents missing Denver Post Washington Bureau Jan. 17, 2001 - WASHINGTON - More Indian trust records have been discovered to be missing, according to a special court official charged with investigating the previous disappearance of other government records in a massive lawsuit against the Interior Department. Some 160 boxes of materials believed related to trust accounts recently were destroyed at the Bu reau of Indian Affairs' Northern Cheyenne office in Montana, according to a letter from special court master Alan L. Balaran. His letter was posted Tuesday on a website maintained by a group of American Indians who have challenged the government's handling of the trust accounts. Stephanie Hanna, an Interior Department spokeswoman, confirmed the destruction, but said officials were attempting to determine whether they related to the lawsuit over the department's handling of the trust accounts. She said the matter was under investigation. The Indian plaintiffs have won a court judgment faulting the government's handling of the accounts, but the issue is on appeal. At stake is the government's handling of thousands of trust accounts it has managed for decades for Indians. Copyright c. 2001 The Denver Post. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Churches Group Backs Sandia Pueblo" --------- Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 09:43:20 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PUEBLO SUPPORT" Tuesday, January 16, 2001 Churches Group Backs Sandia Pueblo By Leslie Linthicum Journal Staff Writer Who owns the west face of the Sandia Mountains is an issue of religious freedom that should be settled quickly in Sandia Pueblo's favor, according to the New Mexico Conference of Churches. The conference on Monday threw its support behind Sandia Pueblo in the pueblo's yearslong effort to have the mountainside included within its official boundaries. The Rev. Barbara Dua, executive secretary of the Conference of Churches, said the conference recognizes the pueblo's longstanding use of the mountain for religious purposes. The conference has sent letters to Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson, New Mexico Republicans who have opposed a negotiated settlement proposal that would give pueblo members free use of the mountain for their religion. "We feel it's time to recognize the pueblo's position and move on to becoming good neighbors," Dua said. The conference represents the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant churches with combined memberships of 1 million New Mexicans. The pueblo has sued the U.S. government to include about 10,000 acres of the Cibola National Forest within its boundaries. The pueblo contends a survey error in the 19th century placed the pueblo's eastern boundary at the mountains' foothills rather than at its crest. A federal judge ruled in the pueblo's favor in 1998 and an appeals court last year rejected an appeal. The matter now is in the hands of the Department of Interior, which could rule on the matter by the end of the week or leave a decision to the Bush administration. The pueblo, the Sandia Tram Co. and the U.S. Forest Service, which controls the land, earlier negotiated a settlement that would allow the Forest Service to retain title to the land and continue its public uses while giving the pueblo veto power over new uses and unlimited access for religious activities. The settlement would have to be approved by Congress. Domenici and Wilson have called it vague and one-sided and said they will not support it. The agreement also is opposed by Bernalillo County and a group of property owners and recreational users. Dua and Sandia Gov. Stuwart Paisano chose Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Saint Anthony de Padua Church to make their announcement. The church is the center for the pueblo's strong Catholic tradition. But the announcement by Dua and Paisano concerned the pueblo's older religious tradition, in which the Sandia Mountains plays a vital role. Copyright c. 2001 Albuquerque Journal. --------- "RE: Cherokee Nation Plans to Sell Tags" --------- Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 09:43:20 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filenamen="CHEROKEE TAGS" Cherokee Nation plans to sell tags 01/16/2001 By Don Diehl Staff Writer TAHLEQUAH - The Cherokee Nation will be issuing its own car tags as early as September. The Cherokee Tribal Council Monday night formally adopted legislation that not only provides cheaper tags for its members but makes allowances for schools where Cherokee youth are educated. Leaders said that once the new tribal law is enacted, thousands of their members living in the tribe's 14-county jurisdiction in eastern Oklahoma will benefit. About 90,000 tribal members live in those counties. The students in most of those school districts are predominantly Indian. The tribe's decision will affect the state because it is such a large tribe, tribal leaders said. About half of the 200,000 members of the Cherokee tribe, the second-largest in the nation, live in Oklahoma. Tribal officials see selling car tags as an economic development opportunity by providing more revenue for the tribe. Tribal members for some time have been requesting the tribe issue tags. Council members again were told Monday night that a large number of tribal members have expressed support for the vehicle licensing and registration tag code. "You can expect to see the first tags on cars by September," said tribal spokesman Mike Miller after the council's unanimous vote. The legislation requires the tribe to form a compact with the state to ensure its plan would not hinder other state services. As part of the proposal, the Cherokee Nation tags would become part of the national motor vehicle licensing database used by law enforcement agencies throughout the country to track registration information. The tribe proposes to allow state tag agencies to sell their tags to tribal members. The proposal also addresses concerns over the possibility of lost state revenue that helps fund Oklahoma public schools. About 35 percent of every state tag sold goes to the school district where the tag is sold. Under the plan, however, the Cherokees will return a similar amount to public schools. The tribe also will put funds in other Indian education programs. Some of the funds generated from sale of tribal tags also will go to the U.S. Marshals Service and to those law enforcement agencies that cross- deputize Cherokee tribal law officers. The Cherokee Nation tags for new vehicles will be about $10 less than the cost of state tags. School districts within the Nation's territorial boundaries will receive as much as 38 percent of the funds generated by the tribe's car tag sales. All content copyrighted c. 2000 The Oklahoma Publishing Co. --------- "RE: The Murder of Dudley George" --------- Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 22:23:58 -0800 From: sumer mournsalways Subj: the murder of dudley george Mailing List: Indianz elist from twobradz@hotmail.com Hi, To all people who follow the case of the murder of Dudley George by the OPP officer Kenneth Deane, this could be of major interest. Please read on. Thanks. Jean LaRose Media Relations / Relations avec les médias Assembly of First Nations / Assemblée des Premières Nations (613) 241-6789, ext. / poste 251 (office / bureau) (613) 241-6333 fax / télécopieur (office / bureau) (613) 795-9664 cell / cellulaire jlarose@afn.ca email / courriel -----Original Message----- From: Communications Coordinator [mailto:TISGCanada@yahoo.com] Subj: Ken Deane Appeal to Supreme Court Jan 26th Ottawa NOTICE TO SUPPORTERS IN OTTAWA REGION On January 26, 2001 at 9:30 am the Supreme Court of Canada will begin hearing the final appeal of OPP Sergeant Kenneth Deane who was convicted in Dudley George's death. PLEASE MAKE EVERY ATTEMPT TO ATTEND. GEORGE FAMILY MEMBERS & REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE COALITION FOR A PUBLIC INQUIRY INTO IPPERWASH WILL BE IN ATTENDANCE. Case Information: 2001-01-26 Kenneth Deane v. Her Majesty the Queen (Ont.) (Criminal) (As of Right) (27776) Confirmed Hearing Information: 9:30 am (arrive by 9:15 to assure seating) Supreme Court of Canada, 301 Wellington Street (west of the Parliament Buildings) Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0J1 Phone: (613) 995-4330 Fax : (613) 996-3063 E-mail: reception@scc-csc.gc.ca Background Information and Analysis: Deane was convicted in 1997 of criminal negligence in the fatal shooting of unarmed Aboriginal Rights protestor, Dudley George (from the Stoney Point or Aazhoodena territory), at Ipperwash Park on September 6, 1995. He was sentenced to serve 180 hours of voluntary community service, and received no loss of pay or position for the crime of killing an unarmed man who was asserting his recognized Aboriginal rights in a public park that had closed for the season. Deane has appealed both the conviction and his sentence, and all appeals to lower courts by Deane have been rejected. Deane deserves no release or reprise from his conviction. Not only did he admit shooting Dudley George, but he tried to lie about it and say he was shot at first. (The trial judge condemned Deane's lies, saying they were invented after the fact, in his decision.) These falsehoods were a terrible display of disrespect to those engaged in just, honourable and peaceable political actions at Ipperwash Park beginning on September 4, 1995. Clearly, Deane is both guilty and unremorseful for his crime. Yet more is called for than simply upholding Deane's conviction. And, this further action must come from the Ontario Provincial, or failing that the Federal, government. Family members and indigenous and other human rights activists across Canada want political accountability. Less than thirty Aboriginal men, women, children and elders began occupying the Park on September 4, 1995 - as it was closing for the season - in order to assert their Aboriginal land, treaty and cultural rights. (In fact, members of Dudley George's home community of Stoney Point, adjacent to Ipperwash Park, continue to demand a satisfactory resolution of the underlying issues, which remain unsettled - seventy-four years after the problems began and more than five years after George's death.) The police assault on the night of September 6, 1995, which involved 250 or more highly-trained, elite squad riot police, was an unprecedented and totally unexpected departure from the Ontario policing strategies of recent decades. Furthermore, confidential documents leaked to, and printed in, the media as well as material released under freedom-to-information legislation reveal that Ontario Premier Mike Harris and fellow Conservative Cabinet members played a role in orchestrating the aggressive nature and level of police response. Countless individuals and hundreds of organizations across Canada, as well as two United Nations Committees, Amnesty International and the Ontario Ombudsman, have called for a Public Inquiry into Ipperwash. Such an Inquiry would uncover the truth about how these events occurred. It would set out recommendations designed to prevent a re-occurrence of this tragedy, as Aboriginal Inherent Rights continue to be hotly contested in many parts of Canada. Premier Harris has continually maintained that he could not call such an Inquiry because it might prejudice existing cases before the courts. The conclusion of Deane's appeal will represent an important turning point in the history of this long-protracted effort to get a Public Inquiry into Dudley George's death and other related human rights violations. Regardless of its conclusion, when the Deane SCC hearing concludes, Premier Harris will lose his last excuse for calling a Public Inquiry. The only remaining matter before the courts will be the Civil Suit for the Wrongful Death of Dudley George, in which Harris and fellow Cabinet Ministers, among others, are named as defendants. Will the Premier be able to say that he won't call an Inquiry because it would prejudice the Civil Court Case against himself? Would he not have a monumental conflict of interest in so saying? Could he continue to talk about the money issue, asserting that inquiries are too expensive and cumbersome, after how the Ontario government has drawn out and dragged down the entire process of the Civil Case through the courts, and has now hired one of the nation's most expensive litigators to represent the Premier? In these circumstances, with the Deane appeal complete, will the Premier be able to explain why White Canadians in Walkerton (on the water issue) or in Toronto (police violence at the OPSEU protest in 1996) get Inquiries but Aboriginal Peoples (injured, killed and terrorized during a peaceful political protest) do not get an Inquiry? In Alberta, where he enjoys so much public support, Stockwell Day is being made to answer for using public office as a shield to avoid accountability for his abuse of power and violation of the basic rights of another human being. The huge network of the Coalition for a Public Inquiry and all other people who have pressed for justice on Ipperwash have so far come up empty-handed in getting Harris and his colleagues to account for the basis of faulty judgement they brought to the decisions that were made about Ipperwash. Some argue that Harris' powerful supporters, who help design his political strategy and legal tactics, want this precedent of taking a "no nonsense" (fatal) approach to indigenous people to stand as an example to other Aboriginal Rights activists. It is known that the Harris government's supporters include all the multinational-global corporations who want unrestricted access to timber, minerals and other resources that are often inconveniently located in or on First People's territories. Regardless of how the SCC deals with the Deane appeal, it is time for Premier Harris to finally give in and call an Inquiry into Ipperwash... before he costs us any more deaths. If Ontario continues to stonewall, Prime Minister Chretien must do the right thing and call a federal Public Inquiry. This is an issue of concern to people, Peoples and groups across Canada and around the world. With tensions and racist backlash rising across the country, it is all too likely that leaving Ipperwash un-addressed creates a sense of impunity for officials responding to similar incidents elsewhere in Canada. With the Deane appeal settled it is time to act. Indianz at http://www.egroups.com - a group for, by, and about Indianz --------- "RE: Blackfeet Community College Gets Clean Slate" --------- Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 10:06:03 -0800 From: "Jess Hansen." Subj: "Blackfeet Community College gets 'clean slate' from NWASC" Mailing List: First Nations http://triangle.townnews.com/display/inn_news/news14.txt January 18, 2001 By: JOHN MCGILL, "Glacier" Reporter/Editor "This means we're doing what we're supposed to be doing," said Blackfeet Community College Board of Trustees member Wayne Juneau about the 'NorthwestAssociation of Schools and Colleges' (NWASC) recent notification that BCC has been fully accredited. "It means our college credits will transfer to any other institution; it's confirmed we're not second rate: we're equal to everybody else." *NB: edit* The college's board of trustees, as well as its president Dr. Dorothy Still Smoking, were pleased with the report and took time to mention several areas of ongoing improvement at BCC. Making the college more relevant for the students is another area of development at BCC, including the recently-formed Indian Club that was begun to strengthen and preserve Blackfeet culture through interaction with and advice from a council of Blackfeet elders." * complete article at above URL. --------- "RE: Sovereign Rights up for Grabs" --------- Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 08:22:49 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JUSTICE" SOVEREIGN RIGHTS UP FOR GRABS AGAIN - WOMEN STARVE FOR JUSTICE From: LtLShield4@aol.com Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2001 20:56:11 EST by nanci s pollard January 14, 2001, New Brunswick, Ca. - The community ot Tobique Reserve in New Brunswick has recently come under attack from Department of Fisheries and Oceans in relation to a fishing rights issue. Following in the footsteps fo their MikMaq brothers and sisters at Burnt Church, the community at Tobique unanimously voted on a referendum to regulate and determine their own policy in accordance with original treaties, thereby asserting their soindependance as Aboriginal people. Chief Patrick Francis, and 'Indian Act Chief' along with four concil members, identified as Sterling Perley, Robert Hassenchahl, Irling Perley, and Wayne Nicholas, superceded the referendum opposition and signed with DFO for a sizeable amount of money, to relinquish the fishing rights of the community. This will allow the Canadian government to regulate and control the fishing rights for the Tobique community. Under legal precidence (crown v. Little) any signing of federal agreements constitutes a new Treaty, thereby voiding any and all original treaties. In a telephone interview this evening, a source at Tobique reserve states: "This is the year that many of the fishing rights treaties are coming up for renewal - it appears that Big Cove is the next target. The chief and council members are franticly running around trying to spend all the money before the validation fo those agreements. Many of the people who voted against the referendum are now accepting positions in the fisheries in conjunction with DFO. Spending that money places the community in a very compromising position with little or no legal recourse. By the chief and council members signing this agreement with DFO not only voids our original treaties, but also the sovereignty of each of our communities." Two Tobique women have decided to take a stand against this governmental power play. Terry St. Jacques and Colleen Sapier have occupied the Band office at Tobique in an attempt to gain support for their community against the canadian government and the 'Indian Act Chiefs'. The women are "fasting for justice" and have stated that they "will continue to do so until someone listens". In a telephone interview this evening Terry St. Jacques, mother of two, has stated that "this is an illegal agreement, forced upon our community. The canadian government and the department of fisheries and oceans has placed Tobique in the jurisdiction of Passamaquoddy Reserve, placing us in direct competition for fishing rights. It's the usual divide and conquer thing...we will not fight with our own people over fishing rights." She also states that they have been in touch with people at Passamaquoddy Reserve and they are in total support". Terry and Colleen are asking support from us, as their Aboriginal family. They are asking people who hear of their struggle to network by phone, fax, internet, news, radio, etc to bring attention to their cause and to support Aboriginal Treaty rights. In speaking with Terry by phone, she asks that we send our support by fax to Amherst Indian Affairs office at 902-661-6237 and also to Frank Ring at Department of Fisheries and Oceans at 506-851-2224. The women also ask us to "spread the word about what is really going on here!" My own comment on this is that one drum makes a beautiful noise...but many together make a joyful chorus to the ears of the creator. In the spirit of the drum...unite! Traditional Clan-Keptin Paul R. Pollard II has this comment: "When are we going to empower the women once again to take their rightful places in our communities under the traditional clan system - to strip thes 'Indian Act Chiefs' of their power to destroy our communities?" C. Copyright 1999 Canadian Aboriginal.Com --------- "RE: Tribal Conflicts Invite Bigger Threat" --------- Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 12:07:39 -0800 (PST) From: Paul Pureau Subj: ICT:editorial Tribal conflicts invite bigger threat Mailing List: ndn-aim Jan 17, 2001 Tribal conflicts invite bigger threat This much is certain, at this time in history, corrupt, unreformable Indian government seriously weakens the public's understanding of sovereignty; without significant and fair resolution, it could become universally problematic. A recent New York Times story detailed the issue in Canada, reporting a national movement by Indian women to challenge corrupt and unfair practices they attribute to "mostly male" chiefs. The women, with a network that links pressure points in several provinces of Canada, are going up against entrenched tribal governments they are accusing of serious bad behavior. Enough band governments have had significant problems with their own membership so that what appears to be a trend is emerging, as more and more communities face bitter times. The Times article points out a number of well-publicized cases in Canada where corruption in the form of rigged elections, conference junkets and very intractable anti-women bias in band governance are giving media and anti-Indian forces a heyday. It cites an increase in cases of band government corruption - from 3 to 48 - that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has investigated over the past three years. High profile cases involved include a Nova Scotia Micmac chief who is accused of compensating himself with $275,000 (U.S.) in salary and expenses, on a reserve with 70 percent unemployment and dire poverty. Expensive junkets to the Caribbean and other sunny spots, even when justified by attendance at conferences, appear to cause most scandal. In one case, employees at a Toronto Indian treatment center used $110,000 for a California trip, while in Saskatchewan, an Indian official and wife traveled to Europe on more than one occasion. Whether laws or just simple common sense were broken in specific cases will be determined in their appropriate venues, but enough of it is true and so much of it is reported now as ongoing stories, that a public perception is hardening. The political perception of 912 Native groups and their issues among Canada's 31 million population is shifting, the Times reports. It quotes writer John Stackhouse, who recently concluded that, "white perceptions of Native privilege and corruption constitute, 'Canada's most hidden anger.'" Political support for settling land claims "seems to be thinning." The women's case is serious. Indian women have been severely discriminated under Canadian Indian law. Indian women who married outside the tribe lost their Indian status, while men who married outside retained band membership and their spouses even gained benefits. Sometimes rationalized in a context of tribal tradition, nevertheless the "lesser status" implied for women in a wider world is difficult to understand or appreciate. Although a 1985 law re-enfranchised women who had lost status as a result of outmarriage, it brought to the surface many conflicts when other benefits were denied these women by many band chiefs and their supporters, both male and female. (A similar recent case among the Mesquaki in Iowa has also made headlines.) The Native women's anti-corruption movement, organized under the name of First Nations Accountability Coalition, is growing in visibility using pretty strong language that blames the "mostly male" chiefs with the rise in "suicides, abortions, crime rates," which are all "going up," FNAC president Leona Freed said. Although Freed's angry accusations leave little room for discussion and tend to castigate across a very broad spectrum, she is not alone, as many Natives perceive Indian affairs as "actively promoting corruption," reports Native political scientist Taiake Alfred. Nevertheless, there is cause for apprehension when Natives keep going to provincial and federal levels to make accusations that bring attention to the more negative cases of tribal Canada. One thing is to put a corrupt tribal politician's feet to the fire. This is ustifiable, sometimes completely necessary. Defining and fighting nepotism within a particular community or people - this is important. Eliminating waste and unnecessary expenditures and providing quality accounting are other essentials. But, there is a high danger level for all tribal peoples attached to the push to create a national movement out of corruption cases that then provide a national image of Indian self-government as a morally bankrupt institution. Listen to the assertive language of the Times article: "Unchecked corruption and nepotism pushed these women to violate a central tenet of minority group politics: breaking ranks when dealing with the white majority." The movement and the wide publicity every scandal case gets increasingly calls into question the $4 billion (U.S.) Canada spends on 1 million or so Aboriginal Canadians, the Times article reported. Anti-Indian politicians in Canada have embraced the movement in their attacks on band government chiefs, whom Freed calls, "good, little Indian puppets." How reformers like Freed and others who struggle for equal rights and a just system within tribal or band government present their cases is crucial. Often, they have serious concerns and their causes are just. But no one in Indian country, in Canada or the United States, or Latin America for that matter, can afford to ignore the considerable wall of virulent hostility for Indian rights to land and self-governance. This hostility is consistent and it is growing, both in rationales and political clout. If it is capable of swaying the bulk of the non-Indian public to its position, hard times can only get much worse for Native communities. People struggling with their own tribal or band governments, regardless of the level or scope of their particular problem, do well to never take one good eye from the larger threat of white backlash - which historically has always been much more rapacious and definitive. Those Indian peoples who would uphold their sovereignty will necessarily always find internal ways to arrive at just and equitable solutions to their internal disputes. Sovereignty requires internal justice, to be fully justified in the ultimate court - of public opinion and the respect of your peers. It also requires strong attachment to the discipline of group preservation on the part of complainants. Inherent in self-government is a nation's right to make and live by its own rules. However, if those rules and their enforcement are not fundamentally fair and other human beings in the family of nations deem those rules to be unfair, the acceptance of that nation's legitimacy will falter. Wherever Indian governments and institutions seem unfair or out of touch with other sectors of society, they will ultimately get clobbered and public opinion will harden against them. Whenever the sense of being left out or, conversely, the willingness to leave out of the circle people who should belong take hold, the social rift will be destructive. But complainants need to keep common sense too, and not allow their passion in pursuit of their cases to jeopardize the survival of the tribal base, upon which their own future as tribal peoples also depends. Enemies of Indians love to hear Indians complain about each other and particularly against the legitimacy of the leadership of the nations, as they happily sense it proves how Indians can not and should not govern themselves. And although this poses a double standard (witness America's dysfunction over the Clinton affair and recent election), it nevertheless serves as ammunition for anti-Indian organizations. The strategy that seeks and encompasses fairness and good-mindedness to regulate community and society is paramount. The goal is to generate competent management and the means to resolve complex issues. The survival and prosperity of American Indian tribal or aboriginal band sovereignty depends on it. ===== Paul Pureau to subscribe to ndn-aim send a blank mail to: ndn-aim-subscribe@egroups.com ndn-aim is now archived on line at Http://www.escribe.com/life/ndn-aim/ FREE PELTIER NOW! STOP ETHNIC CLEANSING OF THE LAKOTA! --------- "RE: Vernon Bellecourt and Anna Mae" --------- Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 09:21:47 -0500 From: "Jordan S. Dill" Subj: Vernon Bellecourt and Anna Mae The Elder Bellecourt - An Interview/Discussion with Vernon Bellecourt by Antoinette Nora Claypoole (four parts): 25 years ago this month [December, 2000] Annie Mae "disappeared" from a hotel in pierre, south dakota. and still the accusations and mystery prevail. about who murdered her, who kidnapped her, who set her up to STILL be considered a federal operant by some. weak minded misfits who search for an excuse to believe her death forgivable. Vernon Bellecourt has been a target, been blamed for the murder of Anna Mae, accused by former members of AIM and varied news sources in indian country - middle aged men who claim to have an inside tale to sell, and numerous veterans who recall Vernon's rough and "gangster" ways from the old days. ____________ Now this is a very important point in response to your question. About 7 years ago, after having looked through files of documents, I called a man named Gordon Regguinti, who was the editor of the Circle newspaper here in Minneapolis, and Paul Demain, editor of News from Indian Country. I invited them over to my house. I sat them down and I start putting all these documents in front of them. I said, "you know Paul, I get a sense that a lot of journalists, particularly Indian journalists, you can dangle news right under their noses and they can not see or smell a story when it is put right in front of them. But here is what I think," and I start telling them about the attacks Ward Churchill was launching. ______________ Antoinette: I'll try to come at it just one more time. Alright? Some people have accused you of ordering the execution of Annie Mae. We know this. And we know how you deny this. But would you explain what you might know of her murder, who you believe executed her, how it went down. _______________ "...if you were to ask me did I have any responsibility for the death of Anna Mae Aquash, I have to bear partial responsibility in that I could have done something perhaps to have stopped what eventually happened. It spun out of control, I wasn't able to stop it and I regret that to this day." See . -- Jordan S. Dill, Editor The Native American Village --------- "RE: From Niya Wi on Leonard" --------- Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2001 15:22:06 EST From: NiyaEagle@aol.com Subj: From Niya Wi on Leonard Mailing List: ndn-aim My Brothers and Sisters, I sit here this morning of January 21 watching the sun perform its own ceremony of piercing. ice melts and drips- "Unchi's tears", my grandfather used to say. He considered tears to be the first step of cleansing, much like the strike of the match that would light the sage. Numbness has long ago set in over the announcement of the denial of pardon for Leonard. Like the sun piercing the ice and snows outside of my door, so does my resolve refuel to begin yet another leg of the journey towards his release. Am I angry? Strangely, I am not. I have deep sorrow but I am not angry. Being born into this life of inequalities, I long ago learned that the test was not in the waging of strategy, but in the constant rededication to keeping our people's spirit alive when all else seemed futile. This is a world built on the backs of broken treaties and empty words. We are however, a nation of people of this red road who were born to the bosom of the Mother. While words have inspired us, our lives have been built from determination, sacred respect and great knowledge that against all odds we will prevail. We are used to the comings and goings of those who would "save" us. Our ceremonies are kept between us, as is the bond of our words. Leonard taught me long ago it is all in the Silence. Perhaps that is why my pen these last few months, has been still. There were other lessons to be learned in the waiting...the watching. One of his last letters said, ". ...if I do not make it home I will always be with you in spirit, at every Sun Dance and Inipi ceremony, remembering both the happy and painful times we shared." Little has he known that he is always with us. Our eyes bring him the golden cast of the buffalo grass across the buttes on an August afternoon. Our skin touches the cool waters of the streams and the rivers that comfort him. Our ears commit to memory the sounds of the loon, the cry of the eagle,and the song of the hawk. The smoke that rises from our sage, carries his prayers with ours to Creator. Every breath is mita niya- the breath of my spirit. This is what will give him the life that no bars can ever take from him. It is in this understanding that on this day I smile and pick up the pen and begin to write ...again. I ask all of you to do the same. Keep heart. The struggle is far from over.......... Niya Wi ----- To subscribe to this group,send an email to: ndn-aim-subscribe@egroups.com Archived on line at: http://www.eScribe.com FREE LEONARD PELTIER --------- "RE: Clemency Denied but Fight Far From Over" --------- Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 15:02:27 -0600 From: "LPDC" Subj: Clemency denied, but fight far from over Mailing List: LPDC DAY OF SHAME : WE MUST STAY TOGETHER AND KEEP ON FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE FOR LEONARD January 20, 2001 Dear Friends, Today is a grim and shameful day. We must confirm that President Clinton, despite all his good words this week about racial unity, "One America", and healing historical injustices, has denied clemency to Leonard Peltier. We do not know why. Yet disturbing questions are obviously raised by the last minute "deal" on the Monica Lewinsky perjury issue. Leonard himself has asked that we thank each and every one of you for your phenomenal efforts on his behalf during the last year. Towards the end the world support had turned into a literal human rights tidal wave, with every high level leader and organization calling or writing to President Clinton on Leonard's behalf. Yet somehow it was not enough to outweigh the outright terror the FBI was able to instill in our government leadership. We are all hurting badly just now, and we ask that you turn your prayers and thoughts towards Leonard himself today. Send him letters of support and stay with us. We must remain tightly organized. We will be in a huddle with lawyers and organizers for the next several days working on new plans and proposals. We will have to work out a very new strategy, as President Bush's government will be quite different from Clinton's.(or perhaps not so different after all). Bear with us while we reorganize and do some new thinking.and of course send us your ideas and thoughts as well. We know you want to keep up the fight and we know that this must be done. The future of our society depends on our point blank insistence on justice for all. Please watch our web site and keep checking in. We will have some new strategies and battle plans ready to go very soon. We must never leave Leonard behind, but we can only bring him home if we keep working together. This network has grown to amazing new levels of strength and commitment this year. We must take a breather now but we must not fall apart or give up. Leonard is depending on us. If he can keep up his sacrificing then so must we. In Solidarity, LPDC (Here is a statement for the press which you can forward to local media if you'd like.) LEONARD PELTIER DEFENSE COMMITTEE PUBLIC STATEMENT REGARDING DENIAL OF CLEMENCY : "DAY OF SHAME" We were both shocked and saddened by President Clinton's decision to deny executive clemency to Leonard Peltier. During the last few days world support for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Peltier had reached remarkable levels, with calls and letters arriving from such renowned human rights and religious leaders as Coretta Scott King, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Amnesty International, Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchu and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu, amongst many others. Grassroots support from people across the country had swamped the White House phone and fax lines for months. Native nations and organizations made their support known again and again in powerful messages. Thousands of concerned citizens walked and prayed in the streets of New York on International Human Rights Day. Yet somehow none of this was enough. Why? The question remains for William Clinton to answer. The fact that so light a penalty attached to the perjury charge in the Monica Lewinsky case raises disturbing issues. We would like an explanation. For many weeks now President Clinton had called for national reconciliation and racial unity in this country. He has called for "One America" and emphasized the great racial disparity and discrimination so evident in our criminal justice system. He has called again and again for respect and equality for all races. He has stressed the need for righting historical injustices and healing long festering wounds inflicted upon people of color. He has insisted that the United States take its place as a world leader of human rights affairs. He has personally visited Pine Ridge Reservation, the site of the tragic shoot out at Oglala a long and bitter quarter of a century ago, and called for greater respect and justice for our first citizens. Yet in this last and most critical test , President Clinton has betrayed his own goals and ideals. Again we must ask why? Leonard Peltier has been imprisoned for 25 years without ever receiving the benefit of a fair trial. The FBI forced Myrtle Poor Bear to sign a false affidavit, then committed fraud upon the Canadian government by presenting her statement to their courts of law. Three teenaged boys were terrorized and coerced into giving false testimonies to the grand jury and at his trial. A ballistics test reflecting his innocence was concealed from the defense and the FBI expert gave distorted testimony to the jury. No consequences for these illegal acts have ever attached. Today even the United States Attorneys admit that no one knows who fired the fatal shots. Yet Leonard Peltier was denied a new trial on a technicality, with the judge admitting that a strong doubt was cast on the prosecution's case. Even that judge now supports clemency . Meanwhile Mr. Peltier himself is long overdue for parole and receives human rights awards for the remarkable human rights work he carries out from behind bars. He is now in failing health. Most disturbing still is the fact that Leonard's highly controversial conviction is deeply rooted in one of the most grim chapters of recent American civil rights history, specifically the Pine Ridge Reign of Terror. Between 1973 and 1976 , FBI backed vigilantes terrorized, battered and assaulted scores of Lakota traditionalists and AIM supporters throughout the reservation. Houses burned and entire families were wounded in drive by shootings. While the FBI stood by, some 64 AIM members and supporters were murdered, their deaths never properly investigated or vindicated. Civil rights organizations excoriated FBI abuses again and again. It can hardly be gainsaid that the history of our government's dealings with the first citizens of this country have been tragic at best, and oftentimes shameful. It is difficult to imagine a case more crucial to national reconciliation and healing that the case of Leonard Peltier. Yet a door, instead of opening , has been slammed and locked. Our society will pay the price. Today will be remembered as but another day of U.S. government shame and betrayal of Native people. Leonard Peltier Defense Committee PO Box 583 Lawrence, KS 66044 785-842-5774 www.freepeltier.org To subscribe, send a blank message to < lpdc-on@mail-list.com > This message was launched into cyberspace to gars@netcom.com --------- "RE: Native Prisoner" --------- Date: Mon, 22 January 2001 20:55:07 -0530 From: "Janet Smith" Subj: Prisoners' Pen Pal List 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.geocities.com/CapitolHill/9118/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 jansatlcom.net@mindspring.com. My thanks to Laura Brooks for giving this list a home on the web. -- - - - Peltier, Leonard #89637-132 Box 1000 Leavenworth, KS 66053 Birthday: 9/12/44 Ancestry: Ojibwa-Lakota -- - - - Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 13:28:21 -0800 (PST) From: orion-c@webtv.net Subj: Manokoa Michael Half-Moon Mailing List: Iron Natives I just received this letter from Manokoa and he asked me to pass along this info: =<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>= HeJu, Greetings and many Blessings ad may the Creator always be your guide too, down the Red Path, as is mine. WANISHI!!!! (Thank You), I want to thank you for your letter of support and the letters of ALL those that wrote letters around the world. It has had a great effect on the situation, for I have been released from solitary confinement. The pressure that s being placed on the state with all the letters of support is taking its toll on the staff, so please keep up the letters, for now they have violated Federal laws, for there were many letters written that were opened by staff and returned, that is a Federal Violation.(Criminal Offense) The state has asked me to stop all of this, but that is not in the program. When I took this oath to myself, it was an oath for "ALL NATIVE PEOPLES", this is the only way that we can get this back on track is to get UNIFIED, as you can see, we are coming together, and now that the ball is rolling I intend to keep it rolling. I intend to go back on the hunger strike on the first of February. It will be a response to the continuance to what was being done the last time. Religious Practices Denials of Native Americans Nation-wide, and if it costs me my life in the process, well the Creator gave me th willpower to fight this the only way it seems will work. It will not be in vain for our Ancestors died for their beliefs, and I will carry that tradition on. Media attention is what is needed to stop all of this. If letters were sent to media across the U.S. it would start the process. In NYS, the DOC hates Media coverage... I need people to keep writing, as many as possible, it will be the factor as to whether I live or die..... The sooner media gets involved , the less chance for these people to kill me, or falsify records again. There needs to be an investigation before charges can be done. Time is of the essence. Again, WANISHI, Manokoa Micheal Half-Moon P.O. Box 500 Elmira, NY 14902-0500 P.C. 1-11 P.S. Please Thank everyone for me. I've no funds left to write many. I need as many Circle Complaints as possible.... -- - - - New! Native American Prisoners' Penpal Network: http://members.tripod.com/~foltz.k/pages/atlantahome.html Right now, it contains applications submitted by native inmates of the USP Atlanta federal prison with the high hopes of obtaining pen pals and communication with the outside world. Most, if not all, these men, are incarcerated very far from home, isolated, and away from their families and contact. Remember, when contacting an inmate, if you want to send something to them, make sure ahead of time what can and cannot be sent. Items such as money, stamps, tobacco, sage, etc. cannot. Some items have to be designated for group use rather than individual, so please be sure to check ahead of time. Keep them in your prayers and let them know they are NOT forgotten. Janet Smith Yufala Star Clan of the Muskogee Creek Owlstar Trading Post -- www.owlstar.com --------------------------------- Please especially remember - this is the "Year of Leonard". Leonard Peltier #89637-132, Box 1000, Leavenworth, KS 66053 --------------------------------- Dear Janet, Eddie Hatcher was moved from Central Prison in North Carolina to a county jail. His new address is: Eddie Hatcher, Robeson County Jail,122 Legend Road, Lumberton, NC 28358. Thanks, Marsha Shaiman On Indian Land, PO Box 2104, Seattle WA 98111 --------------------------------- Standing Deer's new address: Robert H. Wilson #640539, Estelle Unit, 264 FM 3478, Huntsville, TX 77320-3322 --------- "RE: Rustywire: The Smell of Cedar and Hair Wash" --------- Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 03:03:18 -0000 From: "John Rustywire" Subj: the smell of cedar and hair wash Mailing List: indigenous_peoples_literature@egroups.com As time goes it is the way certain things smell or a scent that takes you back. I remember her, long black hair, a young Indian woman and she comes to me in a breeze on the wind. It was the smell of a sweet shampoo, hair wash I remember. She stood close to me, so close that I could feel her take each breath and so I moved with her. Her hair was long and her skin so soft it was like soft down, I had never noticed this before and yet I knew it was so. When she moved ever so slightly, I could feel it as if it were myself. She stood there and I held her close turning her head every so lightly toward me looking into her eyes. Slowly and as if in slow motion I could see the lines of her sun bronzed face, the soft shadows and light on the gentle slope of her neck, the sunlight and light on her chin and the shine of her cheekbones. Her lips were soft and tender, they looked pleasant and offered a small smile. Who was this Indian girl, she was for me a gift from the West, sent on a rainbow a blessing from Mother Earth. She was a daughter of our grandmothers from this land, Dinetah, Navajoland. She was born in this country descending from Beautiful Mountain, a true native, one with the land, the earth, the sky and everything in it. She was in an instant Changing Woman, mythical and she was just a woman, but she was more than that and so I stood here next to here. As I looked into her eyes, they were bright and full of life, yet dreamy in a way as if she stood away on a distant hill looking far off as if trying to see into my eyes and further into my soul. She didn't say a word not a sound came from here but her eyes spoke to me and as I looked into them, she was asking me, are you the one, the one from my dreams...the one to take me away and yet let me be all that I am and want to be. I could hide nothing from her as her eyes peered into me as if to say, Is it so that you will care for me today, tomorrow and forever, touching me now like this all the rest of my life. I could see in the light into the depths of her eyes and there was a glimpse of her heart and beyond that her soul. She was saying without making a sound if I should stumble and fall will you help me, will you be there to support me and if I should not be all that I am today, will you still care for me when this softness is gone. Someday when I am lame would you still stand beside me in the good and hard times, as there will be times when things get hard...will you stay with me still and in the darkest hours before dawn when I find myself abandoned and alone, will you find me so that this life we share binds us, so that we are tied to one another and that rope woven by our life will bear the strain of slow days and dark nights when we cannot find one another but hold us so that we can reign it in and find ourselves again. These things she said without a word. I stood there with her and could see all these things in her eyes and slowly, silently put my lips to hers and with that gentle touch let her know.....yes, I am the one, let it be me and would say, come and stay with me a while until there is no more tomorrow.. Yes, when we are withered and beaten by life's battles and the storms have left us spent, I will still be here with you and that is all there is and nothing more. Come with my young maiden and rest here with me and this gift of life, heart and soul I offer you and hope that would be enough. Standing close and in touching one another we touch infinity, there is today, tomorrow and forever but it is a little while. There is just you and me forever, that is what I remember carried on the wind the scent of cedar and of hair wash. Rustywire http://www.egroups.com/list/indigenous_peoples_literature/ --------- "RE: Poem: Doing Time" --------- Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2000 07:11:39 EST From: kaonefeather@aol.com Subj: "Doing Time..." "Doing time creates a demented darkness of my own imagination... Doing time does this thing to. But, of course, you don't do time. You do without it. Or rather, time does you. Time is a cannibal that devours the flesh of your years day by day, bite by bite." Leonard Peltier "Prison Writings...My Life Is My Sun Dance" --------- "RE: Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days" --------- Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 16:03:16 -1000 From: Debbie Sanders Subj: Hawaiian Book of Days A HAWAIIAN BOOK OF DAYS, week of January 28-February 3 IANUALI (January) (Kaelo) 28 If I feel hunger or thirst, the land will provide; if my spirit is troubled, the wind and the sea will comfort me; if I am afraid, Pele will protect me. 29 Each morning is a celebration of beginnings. 30 The stars, na hoku, guide me at night -- they show me the way to my destiny. 31 The will of my ancestral spirit, my 'aumakua, speaks in all that I say or do. PEPELUALI (February) (Kau-lua) February was the time when the anae, the mullet, spawned. 1 If you want to see the stars, you have to look up! 2 In the first golden light of dawn, nothing is impossible! 3 Music is the key to the inner spirit. (c) Copyright 1991 by D. F. Sanders Me ke aloha i ka nani, ... Moe'uhanekeanuenue (With love and beauty, ... Rainbow Dream) --------- "RE: Elder Brothers Message" --------- Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 19:34:40 -0600 From: esther nahgahnub Subj: elder brothers message ----- Original Message ----- Sent: Friday, January 19, 2001 3:08 PM Subj: world water petition They say that the forests are the lungs of the planet. The "Elder Brother" tribe atop the end of the Sierra's in South America say that the planet will dry up without the forests to attract the rainfall. They say it is alreay drying up. International consortiums led by companies like Bechtel are purchasing water rights and sources around the world and selling water back to the third world at very high prices. Indigenous people all over the earth are losing their basic human right to water. The Brazilian Congress is now voting on a project that will reduce the Amazon forest to 50% of its size. The area to be deforested is 4 times the size of Portugal and would be mainly used for agriculture and pastures for livestock. All the wood is to be sold to international markets, in the form of wood chips, by multinational companies. The truth is that the soil in the Amazon forest is useless without the forest itself. The soil is very acidic and the region is prone to constant floods. At this time more than 160,000 square kilometers, deforested for the same purpose, have been abandoned and are in the process of becoming deserts. Please sign this petition in protest of these actions. Copy the text into a NEW E- MAIL, put your complete name on the list below, and send it to everyone you know.*(Don't just forward it because then it will end up with rows of <<<<'s) If you are the 200th person to sign, please send a copy to: fsaviolo@openlink.com.br Thank you. 01-Fernanda de Souza Saviolo - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - 18/06/83 02-Nara Maria de Souza - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - 11/08/50 03-Julio Cesar Fraga Viana - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - 01/01/54 04-Monica Grotkowsky Brotto -Sao Paulo - SP - 23/08/77 05-Mauricio Grotkowsky Brotto - Sao Paulo -SP 29/09/78 06-Ricardo A. Corrallo - SP 16/08/75 07-Sunny Jonathan - SP 18/10/1970 08-Leonardo Larsen Rocha - SC 23/01/1972 09-Evandro Sestrem - SC 26/06/1979 10-Marco Aurlio Wehrmeister - Blumenau - SC 18/06/1979 11-Angela Maria Gonalves - Blumenau -SC 25/07/1959 12-Alessandra Bernardino - Blumenau - SC - 25/12/1980 13-Pedro Carstens Penfold - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - 12/09/82 14-Annelena Porto Delgado - S*o Paulo - SP - 27/07/77 15-Erica Couto -Sao Paulo -SP 29/09/78 16-Elaine Couto- Sao Paulo - SP 17-Tatiana de Almeida Voivodic - Sao Paulo-SP 18-Solange B Furlanetto - Sao Paulo / SP 19-Marcos de Souza Mello - Sao Paulo / SP 20-Eliane Santiago - S*o Paulo / SP 21-Francisca J. Bezerra Alves Araajo - Sao Paulo / SP 22-Carlos Alberto Dantas Junior - Rio de Janeiro / RJ 23-Daniel Rodrigues da Cruz - Rio de Janeiro / RJ 24-Gabriella Gaida -Rio de Janeiro - RJ - 04/05/72 25-Ceclia Silva Teixeira Pinto - RJ - 03/06/75 26-Tania Santos Miguel 27-Celso Henrique Diniz Valente de Figueiredo - RJ -10/08/49 28-Marcelo Lopes Rheingantz - Rio de Janeiro - RJ -20/12/80 29-Rodrigo Tassinari de Oliveira - Rio de Janeiro -RJ - 19/04/83 30-Andr Lobato Pinheiro - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - 07/07/81 31-Ismael dos Santos Silva - RJ - 28/08/79 32-Gustavo Alexandre Caetano Correa - RJ - 08/09/80 33-Juana Varella Barca de Amorim - Rio de Janeiro,14/03/83 34-Nara Faria Silva -RJ- Rio de Janeiro , 15/12/82 35-Isabella Jaggi - SP - Sao Paulo, 03/12/82 36-Diana de Andrade Freitas - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - 21/06/83 37-Karina Dourado - Sao Paulo - 18/01/80 38-Pablo Genuncio Garcia - Rio de Janeiro - 27-06-81 39-Fabola Morais de Lucca - Sao Paulo - 03/02-78 40-Alexei Morais de Lucca - Sao Paulo - SP - 12/08/75 41-Renata Regina Roxo - Sao Paulo - SP - 03/11/74 42-Fernanda Teixeira - Sao Paulo - SP - 17/09/76 43-Patricia Freitas - Sao Paulo - SP 44-Cintia Regina Karner - Alemanha - DE 45-Wolfgang Karner - Alemanha - DE 46-Roseani Vieira Rocha - San Francisco - CA 47-Angela Ichimura - S*o Paulo - SP 48-Assunta Viola - Sao Paulo - SP 50-Marina Amaral - Alemanha - DE 51-Fabian Rodrigues Caetano - Sao Paulo - SP -15/01/1971 52-Luciana Cabrera- Santa Barbara- Ca 53- Andrea Torres- Lahaina, Hawaii 54- Carla Duarte- New York, NY 55- Sergio Goes- New York, NY 56- Itaal Shur - New York, NY 57- Hiroyoku Sanada-New York,NY 58- Marianne Ebert-new york,NY 59- Gloriana M. Calhoun - New York, NY 60- Roger Jazilek - New York, NY 61- Cheryl To - New York, NY 62- Judy Mercer - Paris, France 63- Evelyne Pouget- Woodstock, NY 64- Hera-Woodstock, NY 65- Nicos Peonides - Cyprus - New York NY 66 - Fiona Cousins - new York, NY 67 - Alistair Millington - London, UK 68 - Edgar Craggs - Bristol, UK 69 - Chris Hastie - Nottingham, UK 70 - Adam Barley - Bristol, UK 71 - Dawn Morgan - Bristol, UK 72 - Saryo van Lakerveld - Den Haag, The Netherlands 73 - Joya Isabel van Lakerveld - Den Haag, The Netherlands 74 - Mati Engwerda - Den Haag, The Netherlands 75 - Melle Broeksma - Baarn, The Netherlands 10/07/68 76 - Mireille Verheyen - Baarn, The Netherlands 23/06/68 77 - Levi Broeksma - Baarn, The Netherlands 26/07/92 78 - Rosa Broeksma - Baarn, The Netherlands 21/01/95 79 - Mark Anthierens - Brussels, Belgium, 12/02/62 80 - Marleen De Frenne - Brussels, Belgium, 24/10/62 81 - Veerle Vaes - Brussels, Belgium, 03/11/61 82 - Carine Pross - Brussels, Belgium, 18/12/61 83 - Zjakki Willems - Leuven, Belgium 84 - Maya Decorte - Brussels, Belgium 85 - Brigitte Kaquet - Lige, Belgium 86 - Jacques Bolaers - Lige, Belgium 87 - Marc Van Bakel Brussels, Belgium