From gars@speakeasy.org Thu Aug 23 02:09:47 2001 Date: 22 Aug 2001 00:06:05 -0000 From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews09.034 W O T A N G I N G I K C H E Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin KANOHEDA ANIYVWIYA O It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le Ha-Sah-Sliltha O o O ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min Un Chota O o O Aunchemokauhettittea O o o o o O VOLUME 09, ISSUE 034 O o O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse August 18, 2001 O o O Ximopanolti tehuatzin, Omaha yellow flower moon O inin Mexika tlahtolli Lakota cherries turn black moon ( N A T I V E A M E R I C A N N E W S ) ==>If you want your Nation represented in the banner of this newsletter<== email gars@nanews.org with the equivalent of "News of the People" in your tribal language along with the english translation +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | Much more happens in Indian Country than is reported | | in this weekly newsletter. For daily updates check | | http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm - also events | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ This issue contains articles from www.pechanga.net; www.owlstar.com; indianz.com; ndn-aim, INDIAN Heritage and Native Rights mailing Lists; Newsgroup: alt.native; UUCP email IMPORTANT!! ----------- 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 As historian Patricia Nelson Limerick summarized in The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West, "Set the blood quantum at one-quarter, hold to it as a rigid definition of Indians, let intermarriage proceed as it had for centuries, and eventually Indians will be defined out of existence. When that happens, the federal government will be freed of its persistent 'Indian problem.'" "We want everyone to know that the Navajos are not the ones taking our land, but the United States. The Hopi and the Navajo made peace long ago, and sealed their agreement spiritually with a medicine bundle. It is through the puppet governments, the 'Tribal Councils' forced upon both nations by the United States, that the illusion of a conflict has been created on the basis of the false modern concept of land title." __ Martin Gashweseoma, Keeper of the Hopi Fire Clan Tablets +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! With apologies to all other readers... Gail Gomez: Please contact me by email again. Who may make decisions or speak for a Native Nation? My elders tell my only members of that nation may do so, Recently, the Anna Mae Sundance held by some Dine' on HPL (Hopi Partition Land) has been the subject of much tension and discussion. In very, very simple terms some Navajo had invited Joe Chasing Horse, a Lakota Ceremony Keeper, to conduct a Sundance on lands the Hopi insist are theirs, and that not one permit has been issued for any event at the Anna Mae Sundance grounds. Many citations were issued and many were arrested by Hopi Rangers during the week of the Sundance, and last week the Sacred Arbor and grounds were bulldozed. I will not attempt to insert my Cherokee/Blackfeet views nor those of my Mvskogee half-side into this conflict. It isn't my place. This must be settled by the Navajo and Hopi. I do hope and pray it is the TRADITIONAL ELDERS of both nations who are asked to settle it; and not tribal officials beholding to Peabody Coal or the BIA, around-the fort-indians who will kiss anone's ass who is in power, or the inevitable Crystal Twinkies who always show up to "help" their native brothers and sisters. Dohiyi Ani Oginalii , , 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 ---------- - Rudolph A. Wartella III - Tribes seek $50 Million in Dispute - Johnandrew Wilfred Madrid - New Mexico/Nation - Crossings wrestle with Redistricting - Onondagas Rebury Own - Laguna Pueblo gets Housing Grant - Hopi Reportedly Bulldoze - Lumbee Tribal Council Navajo Religious Site receives Funds for Housing - Political Efforts - Secretary Tommy Thompson to return Black Hills Fail speaks at Pine Ridge - Sioux hold out for - Lummis settle with City of Blaine Sacred Black Hills Land over Sewage - Excerpts from - Indian Law passed in Mexico 1980 Black Hills Ruling - Zapatistas: Mexico Sending Army - Tribal Trust Fund - Indians Prisoners: benefits former BIA official Parole Discrimination - U.S. Agency admits errors - Indian Country Jails in Indian Trust Case see Increased Numbers - Treasury: No Wrongdoing - Montana Court rules in Document Destruction on Indian Paroles - Court rules Navajo Nation - Native Prisoner is owed Money -- Pen Pals Needed - Court: - History: Carlisle Indian School U.S. violated Trust Duty to Navajos - Rustywire: Red Earth - UKB agrees - Poem: Medicine Power Proctor Faction will run Tribe - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - Reserve near G-8 Summit - Herbalist uses Native Plants seeking Federal Aid - Pechanga Battles - Puyallup Tribe to Preserve Oldest Oak overhauls its Economic Arm - Blackfoot Language built on Action --------- "RE: Rudolph A. Wartella III" --------- Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2001 20:28:07 -0700 From: "Jess Hansen" Subj: "Rudolph A. Wartella III, lawyer for Native Americans" Mailing List: ndn-aim http://www.detnews.com/2001/obituaries/01108/16/d02-270079.htm Thursday, August 16, 2001 / The Detroit News By HAWKE FRACASSA HARRISON TOWNSHIP -- "Rudolph A. Wartella III became a lawyer to help fellow Native Americans fight for their rights. He cherished being an attorney as well as his place in the Sault Ste. Marie tribe of Chippewa Indians. Opposing counsel sometimes called him "Rude Dog" with affection, his wife Carole said, "because he hung on like a dog and would not let go." Mr. Wartella died on Sunday, Aug. 12, 2001, of a ruptured aneurysm at his home in Harrison Township. He was 62. Mr. Wartella represented Native Americans in legal matters for 14 years as a lawyer for Michigan Indian Legal Services. He was also on the organization's board of directors. "He didn't understand the (Chippewa) language, but he knew the Indian Child Welfare Act inside and out and did what was right for people in the tribal community," Carole Wartella said. "He did a lot of fighting to help people by walking silently and carrying a big stick on their behalf." ===== 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: Johnandrew Wilfred Madrid" --------- Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2001 19:01:22 -0700 From: "Jess Hansen" Subj: "Longtime Ute director dies at 67" Mailing List: ndn-aim http://www.durangoherald.com/1news5054.htm August 17, 2001 "Longtime Ute director dies at 67" CORTEZ - "Johnandrew Wilfred Madrid, a longtime executive director for the Ute Mountain Indian Tribe, died Tuesday at the age of 67 from heart complications. Tribal members said on Wednesday that Madrid's legacy is one of leadership and goodwill. "He contributed a great deal to the tribe, and helped us grow from nothing to the economic strength that we have and enjoy today," said Ute Tribal Council member Selwyn Whiteskunk. Madrid had been with the tribe at least 30 years, working his way from accountant to chief finance officer to executive director. Madrid had the ability to communicate ideas and make them a reality with the tribe's future in mind, Whiteskunk said. Madrid kept watch over the tribe's education program, Indian Health Services and economic development. From the Ute Mountain Casino to the tribe's pottery business and new travel center, Madrid ensured the job was done on budget and on time, Whiteskunk said. He was especially active in lobbying for Ute water rights that are now protected under the Animas-La Plata project. "He will be very sorely missed," Whiteskunk said. "Wilfred really knew what the tribal people were going through. He was a great advisor to the tribe and took on a tremendous amount of responsibility." Madrid was not a tribal member, but he might as well have been, said friend and Ute education specialist Tina Galyon. "In their hearts, everyone considered him a part of the tribe," she said. "He was a great mediator. He was our mainstay, and had a casual leadership style that was innovative, not confrontational. That compassion brought us as a tribe a lot of success. We will really miss him." A memorial service will be at 1 p.m. today at the Cortez Middle School gymnasium. Madrid's body will not be present for viewing, nor will the ashes be brought to the school. Four Corners Funeral Chapel, Hale and Gerken Funeral Directors, will handle the arrangements." Copyright c. 2001, the Durango Herald. ____________________________________. 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: Crossings" --------- Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2001 08:24:10 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CROSSINGS" http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/ August 15 Larry James Black Crow WAKPAMNI LAKE - Larry James Black Crow, 40, Wakpamni Lake, died Monday, Aug. 13, 2001, in Gordon, Neb. Survivors include two sons, Dane Black Crow and Neil Black Crow, Batesland; two daughters, Tonya Black Crow and Megan Black Crow, Batesland; his mother, Theresa Black Crow, Rapid City; five brothers, Dwight Black Crow, Eugene Black Crow, Waylon Black Crow, Ken Short Bear and Ricky Grey Grass, all of Wakpamni Lake; and six sisters, Linda Feather Earring and Marilyn Tayle, both of Batesland, Dorothy Black Crow and Mary Lou Black Crow, Wakpamni Lake, Betty Black Crow, Pine Ridge, and Tracy Buckly, Rapid City. Services will be at 2 p.m. Friday, Aug. 17, at the church, with the Rev. Cordelia Red Owl and Bernard Little White Man officiating. Burial will be at St. Andrew's Episcopal Cemetery in Wakpamni Lake. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. Carol Regina Yankton WAKPAMNI LAKE - Carol Regina Yankton, 55, Wakpamni Lake, died Saturday, Aug. 11, 2001, at Rapid City Regional Hospital. Survivors include her father, Royal Yankton, Martin; one brother, Rick Yankton, Pine Ridge; and two sisters, Reva Rouillard, Oglala, and Cathy Dillon, Pine Ridge. Services will be at 2 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 16, at the CAP building, with the Rev. Ben Tyon officiating. Burial will be at Holy Cross Episcopal Cemetery in Pine Ridge. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. August 21 William 'Billy' Richards Sr. PORCUPINE - William "Billy" Richards Sr., 63, Porcupine, died Saturday, Aug. 18, 2001, at Pine Ridge Hospital. Survivors include his wife, Geneva Richards, Porcupine; nine sons, Austin Richards, Ronald Richards, Mark Richards, Travis Richards, Duane Lays Bad, Isaac Lays Bad and Billy Joe Rouillard, all of Porcupine, Bill Richards Jr., Yankton, and Damien Richards, Boston; nine daughters, Wanda Richards, Janice Richards and Blanche Bianis, all of Porcupine, Faith Pourier, Kyle, Holly Richards, Connie White Crane and Norma Coleman, all of Scottsbluff, Neb., Virginia Milanovich, Palm Springs, Calif., and Helen Lays Bad, Fort Collins, Colo.; one brother, John Richards, Porcupine; three sisters, Julie Sharp, Allen, Alice Broughton, Long Beach, Calif., and Avis Oyster, Miami; 23 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. A two-night wake will begin at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Native American Church in Porcupine. Services will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 23, at the church, with the Rev. Emerson Spider officiating. Burial will be at Native American Church Cemetery. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. -- - - - http://triangle.townnews.com/ (Cut Bank Pioneer Press, Shelby Promoter or Glacier Reporter) Alex Ridesatthedoor Alex Ridesatthedoor, 60, died Aug. 3, 2001, at Bethesda, Md., of heart failure. Rosary was said Aug. 8 at Little Flower Parish. His funeral was held Aug. 9 at Little Flower with burial in Ridesatthedoor Cemetery. He was born Mar. 27, 1941, served in the Air Force from 1964-68 and was a retired government worker. Ridesatthedoor is survived by his partner, Ellen R. Trancosa of Rockville, Md.; parents, Joe and Juana Trancosa; daughters, DeAnn Ridesatthedoor of Fort Duchesne, Utah and Fayelynn Ridesatthedoor Little Light of Crow Agency; a son, Joseph Alexander Ridesatthedoor of Rockville; sisters, Thelma Ridesatthedoor of Browning and Debbie Brown of Belle Gardens; brothers, Darrell Ridesatthedoor and Thomas Ridesatthedoor; and two grandchildren. Day Funeral Home handled arrangements. --------- "RE: Onondagas Rebury Own" --------- Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2001 08:24:10 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ONANDAGA REBURIAL" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.syracuse.com/news/syrnewspapers/index.ssf?/ newsstories/20010819_cfbury.html Onondagas Rebury Own They hold 'Dead Feast' for 47 sets of remains returned Sunday, August 19, 2001 By Jennifer Jacobs As sacred tobacco burned on a ceremonial fire, the ancestral remains of 47 Onondagas were reburied Saturday on a hilltop near the modern-day hamlet of Jamesville. "You were taken from here," Paul Waterman, an Onondaga chief, said in his native language, "and now we're going to put you back into Mother Earth, where you came from." In 1961 and 1962, local archaeologists excavated Native American bodies and objects from the burial ground, which dates to the 1500s. Now known as the "Pen Site," it's located off Taylor Road, behind the Onondaga County Correctional Facility at Jamesville. Indians who took part in the reinterment expressed relief that their ancestors' journey to the creator, which ends when their bones are fully disintegrated into the earth, will no longer be disrupted. "Burial sites are hallowed ground," said Dr. Gerald Reisinger, who is of Seneca and Bavarian ancestry and lives in Wyoming Valley, in Pennsylvania. "They are not ever to be disturbed. Can you imagine your mother or father on exhibit at a Rochester museum?" Over the years, the remains ended up in the hands of the Rochester Museum & Science Center. Under pressure from Indians and the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, federally funded museums and institutions have searched their collections and slowly inventoried and returned remains and objects traced to Indian nations. The remains reinterred Saturday dated from 1550 to the early 1700s, said Jare Cardinal, who brought 25 remains from the Rochester museum, as well as 16 from the Rock Foundation, a Rochester-based repository that acquires materials to prevent their sale to private collections. Cardinal said she understands both the objections of the Iroquois, or Haudenosaunee, as well as the researchers' drive to investigate burial customs, nutrition, health, involvement in warfare, relationships and other cultural issues. "Academics will say there is very little information written about people from here, and this is one method to find out about people who lived in what is now New York state," Cardinal said, as the crowd participated in a "Dead Feast." It featured a traditional venison stew, as well as green beans, corn on the cob, potatoes, strawberries, and crumb cake brought by staff from the county Department of Corrections. "But," she continued, "the Haudenosaunee know more or less how their ancestors lived, and they say it's not appropriate to dig up people that are not your ancestors. It's offensive, in every way, to their traditions." Dr. Mary Jumbelic from the Onondaga County Medical Examiner's office delivered six sets of remains found within the county by people digging on their properties as long ago as 1968. A forensic anthropologist from the University of Florida flew to Syracuse to confirm the bones were Native American, Jumbelic said. During the ceremony, Waterman invited all 50 people present to sprinkle handfuls of dirt into each of the graves. The graves were dug with a backhoe in a semicircle, finishing a circle started when other remains were reinterred two years ago. The buckskin-wrapped bundles were as small as a postcard and as large as a violin case. In many cases, all that was preserved was a skull, or leg bones or fragments. The ancestors' names or specific histories are unknown. They lived in a village nearby, and hunted, farmed, fished and gathered on the grassy fields and the forested hills, Waterman said. "They were mothers, children, uncles," he said. Copyright c. 2001 The Syracuse Newspapers. Used with permission. Copyright c. 2001 Syracuse.com. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Hopi Reportedly Bulldoze Navajo Religious Site" --------- Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2001 14:04:41 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SUNDANCE SITE BULLDOZED" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/articles/0817hopi-ON.html Hopi reportedly bulldoze Navajo religious site Associated Press Aug. 17, 2001 12:00:00 Hopi tribal rangers and staff reportedly bulldozed remnants of a Navajo religious ceremony site and arrested two people for trespassing Friday in the latest episode in an old and bitter Indian land feud. Residents of Big Mountain, a Navajo community of about 100 people living on the Hopi Reservation, watched as Hopi staff carted off a tree used in last month's sun dance, a Navajo spiritual ceremony of thanksgiving, according to a news release from the Hopi tribe. Calls to the Hopi offices by The Associated Press on Friday weren't immediately returned. "This is just one of the steps that the Hopi tribe will be taking to enforce its jurisdiction over the Hopi Reservation," said Cedric Kuwaninvaya, chairman of the Hopi Land Team, in the statement. Hopi police, he added, would continue to watch the site at Big Mountain to keep trespassers from holding other gatherings. Kelsey Begaye, president of the Navajo Nation, called the Hopi actions Friday deplorable and urged the Hopi leadership to apologize and release any Navajo who might be detained. "The Hopi government appears to be persecuting these families for their religious beliefs," he said in a statement. "(The government's) actions seemed to have been intended to intimidate, by a show of force, all the Navajo families who continue to reside on Navajo ancestral lands within the Hopi Partitioned Lands." Friday's events stemmed from last month's weeklong sun dance at Big Mountain. Hopi police, who said organizers had no permit for the sun dance, arrested five Navajo for trespassing, cited 10 others and turned back over 80 cars headed to the area on July 11. Hopi spokeswoman Claire Heywood has previously said the sun dance was sponsored by a group of "resisters," a handful of Navajo families living at Big Mountain who refused to move or sign leases with the Hopi tribe. Navajo tribal leaders maintained the ceremony was being performed on Navajo land and should not require a permit. The bickering dates back to at least the 1880s, when the federal government set aside 2.4 million acres for the Hopi. The Navajo Reservation grew to surround the Hopi land. In the 1970s, a court divided the disputed land, and more than 10,000 Navajo agreed to move. The hundreds who stayed said heritage and religion tied them to the land. In exchange for a $50 million federal payment backed by Congress in 1996, the Hopi agreed to let some Navajo families stay if they signed 75-year leases. About 10 Navajo families refused to sign. Copyright c. 2001, The Arizona Republic. Gannett Co. Inc --------- "RE: Political Efforts to return Black Hills Fail" --------- Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2001 08:28:07 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BLACK HILLS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.minorities-jb.com/villages/native/Article_Detail.asp? Article_ID=6246 Political Efforts To Return Black Hills Land To Sioux Fail by AP, The Associated Press By Frederic J. Frommer, Associated Press Writer Washington (AP) - In the early 1970s, NBA star Bill Bradley and his New York Knicks teammate, Phil Jackson, went to South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to hold basketball clinics. Bradley promised that if he was ever in a position to help, he would. In 1978, he was elected as a Democratic senator from New Jersey. "And we remember everything - we're a people of oral tradition," says Pine Ridge resident Charlotte Black Elk. A meeting was arranged with Bradley, who agreed to press Congress for what the Sioux wanted - the Black Hills. "The suggestion was a big-picture reform that remedied injustice," Bradley wrote in "Time Present, Time Past," his 1996 memoir. "I had gotten into politics to do exactly that." After consulting with a tribal steering committee, of which Black Elk was a member, Bradley in 1985 introduced the "Sioux Nation Black Hills Act." The legislation called for the return of 1.3 million acres of federal land in the Black Hills to the tribes, excluding state and private land. The Sioux would also receive compensation awarded by the Supreme Court, which by then was approaching $200 million. South Dakota's congressional delegation vociferously opposed the legislation. When Bradley reintroduced it in 1987, freshman Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., organized a South Dakota group called the "Open Hills Committee" to oppose it. "If history teaches us anything," Daschle said at the time, "it is that large-scale transactions of land to right historical injustice are a prescription for hatred and discord." Other opponents called Bradley an intrusive outsider and worse. But the bill's chances evaporated for good when a white California businessman named Phil Stevens, claiming to be the great-grandson of Oglala chief Standing Bear, came up with a rival plan in 1987. Stevens, with the support of Pine Ridge's Oliver Red Cloud, himself the great-grandson of Chief Red Cloud, said the Sioux deserved $3.1 billion for rent and mineral royalties, in addition to the federal lands. Pine Ridge's tribal government dropped its support of Bradley's bill in favor of Stevens' plan. Without tribal unity, Bradley said, he would not reintroduce the bill. Meanwhile, Stevens' plan went nowhere. "The white man had once again divided Native Americans," Bradley wrote. Black Elk agrees that once her tribe supported Stevens' plan, the whole effort was doomed. "It had to move as a sacred-lands issue," she says. "The focus became different." Daschle is now Senate majority leader. He says he continues to oppose any legislation returning the land to the Sioux. Bradley, now retired from the Senate, says it would take a farsighted Western lawmaker's leadership for a bill to have a chance. "I learned it's tough for a leader from the East to have credibility on this kind of issue, because people say that you don't understand, even though I understood it better than most of them," he says. Stevens started something called "Operation Walking Shield," which, among other things, provides Indian reservations with excess military housing. Now 72, and living in Newport Beach, Calif., Stevens says he hasn't given up on the Black Hills. He is working with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Pine Ridge's eastern neighbors, to come up with a plan to return the 1.3 million acres, as well as "reasonable compensation," which he declined to specify. If he can get a consensus among the eight tribes, he says, he will try to arrange a meeting with President Bush. Copyright c. 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. 2001 iMinorities, Inc. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Sioux hold out for Sacred Black Hills Land" --------- Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2001 14:04:41 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LAND NOT MONEY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWSFeatures0108/18_siou-ap.html Sioux hold out for sacred Black Hills land By FREDERIC J. FROMMER - The Associated Press Saturday, August 18, 2001 BLACK HILLS NATIONAL FOREST, S.D. (AP) -- The quiet is broken by the territorial squeaks of prairie dogs. Buffalo lounge in prairies around the bend from pine-covered cliffs. This is land the Lakota Sioux call Paha Sapa, the Black Hills. To them, it is sacred and not for sale. That's why the Sioux, among the poorest people in America, refuse the half-billion dollars offered by the U.S. government, which has claimed ownership of this land since 1877. The Indians have a longer memory. In 1868, the United States signed a treaty setting aside the Black Hills "for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupancy of the Sioux." Then gold was discovered there, and Congress grabbed the land after negotiations to purchase it broke down. A century later, in 1980, the Supreme Court awarded eight Sioux tribes $106 million in compensation -- the 1877 value of $17.5 million, plus interest. This was payment for what the court called "a taking of tribal property." The tribes refused to take the millions, insisting on the return of the land. Two political efforts to return federally held land failed in the 1980s. The money sits in a government account, interest having swollen it now to $570 million. Still, the Sioux won't touch it. They say that would be a sellout of the Lakota nation, religion and culture. Nowhere is the opposition more entrenched than the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, by some estimates the poorest place in the country. Home to the Oglala band of the Lakota Sioux, Pine Ridge has an unemployment rate of 85 percent. The Oglala Sioux's share of the award is now worth $170 million. If they invested that, they could expect around $17 million a year in income without touching the principal. The annual budget for the reservation, by comparison, is $15 million. It's money that could be used for housing, business development, job training and education, or even political pressure to get the Black Hills back. Today, many people on the reservation live in trailers and shacks, drive rusted-out cars and have no place to work. Mangy dogs roam and forage. The center of Pine Ridge village has a couple of gas stations, a Pizza Hut and a Taco John's, and that's about it. The reservation, covering 5,000 square miles, has nine villages but no banks, no car washes, no barber shops, no hotels. Regardless of the obvious need, opposition to taking the money consistently runs over 90 percent in newspaper surveys, according to Tim Giago, publisher of the Lakota Journal. Talk of the cash reminds the Sioux of the gold-seeking explorers who swarmed into the land seven years after President Andrew Johnson signed the Black Hills treaty. The resulting military battles culminated in Custer's defeat at Little Big Horn in 1876. Congress responded by telling the Sioux: Give up the Black Hills, or lose federal food, medicine and blankets, rations pledged earlier to compensate for disrupting their hunting lands with westward expansion. Only 10 percent of the adult male Sioux population signed the treaty giving up the land, but Congress enacted it into law in 1877. A federal judge, later echoed by the Supreme Court, blasted the government's deal, saying: "A more ripe and rank case of dishonorable dealing will never, in all probability, be found in our history." ------ A copy of the U.S. Constitution rests on the couch in Johnson Holy Rock's trailer. He also has copies of treaties and the Supreme Court's Black Hills decision. Holy Rock, 82, wearing a belt buckle depicting an Indian warrior, has been involved in tribal government on-and-off for decades. On his wall is a framed photograph of him with President John F. Kennedy, at the announcement of the first public housing grant to the Oglala Sioux tribe. "Housing was my priority," says Holy Rock, tribal president in the early 1960s. "Up to that point, people lived in car bodies and tin shacks." Holy Rock says the Sioux refusal to take the Black Hills money has been misunderstood. "The money laying there, ready to be issued out -- all we have to do is say, 'OK.' And yet, we've chosen to live in poverty ... just poor, ignorant, heathen savages," he says. "We have a different set of values," he continues. "We don't think of the air and water in terms of dollars and cents." ------ Charlotte Black Elk is a descendant of Crazy Horse's friend, Little Big Man, who in 1875 threatened to kill any man who advocated selling the Black Hills. Black Elk herself is so hardcore that she uproots non-native plants from her property. Had the Supreme Court made its ruling 25 years earlier, she says, the tribes probably would have accepted the money. "Each generation has become much more radicalized," says Black Elk, a thin woman who looks younger than her 49 years. "When it came to my generation, we were, 'No, we'll never take the money.' " She is confident that the Sioux will one day own the Black Hills again. Her 28-year-old nephew, D.J. One Feather, is not. "Part of me says we should just take the money," says One Feather, a former reservation police officer. Then why not do it? "I guess it's pride, man," he says. "You're giving in to the white man. I hate using terms like that -- us and them -- but sometimes it's hard to get your point across without them. Hundreds of years of oppression -- you're just giving in to it." ------ Bill Swift Hawk, a 62-year-old artist, has made it a vocation to take over places in the name of Indian power. Thirty years ago, he joined in the American Indian Movement occupation of Alcatraz, the former prison island in San Francisco Bay. In 1981, he and others occupied Wind Cave National Park in the Black Hills. Now, Swift Hawk is part of a group occupying the reservation's tribal government building. The activists began protesting alleged corruption in tribal government, which is millions of dollars in debt, and now call for a return to a traditional government, run by elders. Inside, a shrine displays a copy of the 1868 treaty, promising the land "for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupancy of the Sioux." Exchanging that for money is just not an option, Swift Hawk says. "That's the center of our world." Copyright c. 2001, Canoe Limited Partnership. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Excerpts from 1980 Black Hills Ruling" --------- Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2001 14:04:41 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="1980 RULING" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nj.com/newsflash/ Excerpts from 1980 Black Hills Supreme Court ruling The Associated Press 8/18/01 12:16 PM WASHINGTON (AP) -- In 1980, the Supreme Court awarded eight Sioux tribes compensation for the taking of the Black Hills. The tribes have never accepted the money, now worth $570 million. Excerpts from the opinion: Having promised the Sioux that the Black Hills were reserved to them, the United States Army was placed in the position of having to threaten military force, and occasionally to use it, to prevent prospectors and settlers from trespassing ... Eventually, however, the executive branch of the government decided to abandon the nation's treaty obligation ... (and) the influx of settlers into the Black Hills increased. ... The tribal leaders of the Sioux were aware of the mineral value of the Black Hills and refused to sell the land for a price less than $70 million. The (U.S.) commission offered the Indians an annual rental of $400,000, or payment of $6 million for absolute relinquishment of the Black Hills. The negotiations broke down... The Army's campaign against the "hostiles" (ensued) ... those Indians who surrendered to the Army were returned to the reservation, and deprived of their weapons and horses, leaving them completely dependent for survival on rations provided them by the government... In August 1876, Congress enacted an appropriations bill providing that "hereafter there shall be no appropriation made for the subsistence" of the Sioux, unless they first relinquished their rights to the hunting grounds outside the reservation, ceded the Black Hills to the United States, and reached some accommodation with the government that would be calculated to enable them to become self-supporting. ... (A proposed treaty provided) that the Sioux would relinquish their rights to the Black Hills ... in exchange for subsistence rations for as long as they would be needed ... In setting out to obtain the tribes' agreement to this treaty, the commission ignored the stipulation of the Fort Laramie Treaty that any cession of the lands contained within the Great Sioux Reservation would have to be joined in by three-fourths of the adult males. Instead, the treaty was presented just to Sioux chiefs and their leading men. ... Congress resolved the impasse by enacting the 1876 "agreement" into law as the Act of Feb. 28, 1877. ...the 1877 Act effected a taking of tribal property, property which had been set aside for the exclusive occupation of the Sioux by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. That taking implied an obligation on the part of the government to make just compensation to the Sioux Nation, and that obligation, including an award of interest, must now, at last, be paid. Copyright c. 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Tribal Trust Fund benefits former BIA official" --------- Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 08:53:14 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BIA OFFICIAL" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/35022_chinook13ww.shtml Report: Tribal trust fund benefits former BIA official Monday, August 13, 2001 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BOSTON -- Five months after ruling that the Chinook Indians of Washington state should have federal status as a tribe, the former head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs became the co-beneficiary of a $50,000 trust along with one of the Chinook's earliest casino advocates, The Boston Globe reported Monday. The trust was established by a different tribe, the Fallon Paiute Shoshone of Nevada. Kevin Gover said he was unaware of it, but his legal associates say it was a reserve fund intended as a legal retainer for future work. An unnamed tribal council member also said the money was for a legal retainer, the newspaper said. Gover is now a subject of congressional inquiries into decisions in the last weeks of the Clinton administration that gave more tribes the power to open casinos. Now a lawyer-lobbyist for tribes, Gover maintains he received nothing that benefitted him from tribes for his official decisions. And he has received no legal fees or other payments from the Chinooks. But he and Dennis G. Chappabitty, a longtime friend and law school classmate, are listed in Nevada as co-beneficiaries of the $50,000 Paiute trust, the newspaper said. Chappabitty's wife, Linda C. Amelia, is a Chinook who was a leader in the tribe's fight for federal recognition. Chappabitty says the fund is tied to work he and Gover are doing on behalf of the Fallon Paiute Shoshone. Gover, in an interview with the Globe, said he knew nothing about it. "I have not asked for a $50,000 fee and would not accept one," he said. "My bill is not close to that." Chappabitty said he had assumed the trust account was for their future fees. The tribe's lawyer, Todd Plimpton, told the Globe the Fallon tribe's council voted to put the money in a trust for Gover and Chappabitty, and also said his own fees could be paid from the fund. "This $50,000 is nothing more than a retainer, and it will be drawn down only upon work performed," Plimpton said. The Chinooks have long wanted to build a casino near their ancestral lands along the Columbia River. But their plans were halted when investigators determined they hadn't been an organized tribe since the 1880s, and did not merit federal recognition. On Jan. 3, Gover's last day as head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, he rewrote the findings of his research staff and granted the Chinooks the recognition. In March the Globe reported that Gover's top deputy, Michael J. Anderson, had waited until Jan. 19 -- his last day in office -- to give preliminary recognition to the Nipmucs in Massachusetts and the Duwamish of Washington state. The authenticity of both tribes had also been rejected by the bureau. The Fallon Paiute Shoshone is a poor, small tribe, based on a desert reservation about 60 miles east of Reno. Gover declined to detail his fee arrangement, but Plimpton said he asked for and received $10,000. A check for that amount was written to Plimpton and marked for Gover on June 6, according to records cited by the Globe. Chappabitty received a check for $3,400 on that same day, and $5,000 on May 31, the newspaper reported. An additional $50,000 check was dated June 8 and used to set up the trust account. Plimpton said he asked the tribal council to put that much into the account to cover any additional fees that might be owed to Gover and Chappabitty. He said he told Gover about the trust account only after it was authorized. Plimpton himself received $42,757 in legal fees from the tribe for May and June. In all, the tribe spent $111,157 for Plimpton, Gover, and Chappabitty in May and June, the newspaper said. Copyright c. 1999-2001 Seattle Post-Intelligencer --------- "RE: U.S. Agency admits errors in Indian Trust Case" --------- Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 08:28:12 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ADMIT ERRORS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.indiantrust.com/clips.cfm?news_id=95 U.S. agency admits errors in Indian case; Records destroyed on cash payouts Chicago Tribune By: James Warren Washington Bureau August 15, 2001 WASHINGTON -- Ineptitude, ignorance and bureaucratic gamesmanship led Treasury Department lawyers to conceal the existence and destruction of 162 boxes of records potentially relevant to a big Indian-rights case, according to an internal report disclosed Tuesday. After fighting disclosure of the report for 10 months, the Treasury Department was forced to go public by a federal judge overseeing a historic case involving potentially billions of dollars owed to Native Americans after their lands were taken more than 100 years ago. In muted fashion, the report concedes errors in "the unfortunate documents destruction episode," which, it reveals, prompted minor punishments of several lawyers. Plaintiffs in the case immediately tagged the report a whitewash that effectively absolves top department officials of any responsibility. Other embarrassments The report's disclosure follows several recent reports and court rulings that have embarrassed the federal government over its handling of what it admits is a historic wrong. They include the revelation that the Interior Department outright misled the same judge by failing to disclose the rampant failings of a new record-keeping system meant to speed reform in the payments to Indians. At issue is a subject that has become a priority for new Interior Secretary Gale Norton: how the government has handled accounts to compensate Indians for use of their land. In what U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth has characterized as moves "driven by a greed for the land holdings of the tribe" and a quest to eradicate Indian culture, the government broke up reservations and leased the land to oil, timber and other businesses for a fee. Individual Indians were given 80 to 160 acres apiece but were not trusted by the government to supervise their own finances. So the government decreed it would serve as trustee. Funds from the leases on 11 million acres of land are held by Treasury, but the money is managed by the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs. At any given moment, there is about $450 million in the trust fund accounts, with roughly $300 million paid annually to 450,000 beneficiaries in recent years. Typical checks range from $2,000 to $20,000. But government accounts are a mess, with no one knowing if those amounts are accurate and what the individuals are owed. During the Clinton administration, Lamberth held Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin in civil contempt for not producing documents in a timely fashion. As Lamberth tries to devise an effective accounting, as many as 50,000 beneficiaries are victimized because records of their identities and addresses have been lost. Doubt allayed Discovery of the document destruction alluded to in the Treasury Department report came on Jan. 28, 1999. The documents were in a warehouse in Hyattsville, Md., and their destruction came to the attention of an official of the financial processing division of Treasury's financial management services branch. That official ordered an end to what appears to have been normal housecleaning. Lawyers in both the financial management branch and at Treasury headquarters were apprised of the destruction, but Lamberth was not informed until May. A special master, appointed by Lamberth to investigate specific issues, later not only pilloried the government but urged that the relevant agencies file reports on measures to avoid incidents such as the document destruction and its delayed disclosure. Treasury conducted an internal review, cited a "failure to effectively communicate" and issued mild criticism of some of the six attorneys most closely involved in the matter. But it asked the judge to keep the report under wraps, citing sensitive personnel matters. Dow Jones & Co. sought access to the report and on Tuesday Lamberth agreed with its position. In part, the judge was moved by his belief that "the underlying litigation has not only brought to light the federal government's continued breach of its substantial trust responsibilities toward Native Americans but, in a historic proceeding, the contumacious conduct of two former Cabinet members. "Significantly, during this very time period, it was revealed that attorneys for the Department of Treasury were actively concealing from the court the fact that documents had been destroyed in Hyattsville, Maryland, " he wrote. Lamberth concluded by noting that the Treasury report "stands in marked contrast to the dearth of corrective action taken by the Interior Department and the Justice Department. Neither of those agencies has provided any report whatsoever--under seal or otherwise--demonstrating that they have held any attorney accountable in any way whatsoever for any misconduct in this litigation." Copyright c. 2001 Blackfeet Reservation Development Fund, Inc --------- "RE: Treasury: No Wrongdoing in Document Destruction" --------- Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2001 08:06:01 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NO FAULT" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/articles/0815az-indianmoney-ON.html Treasury inquiry finds no wrongdoing in destruction of Indian affairs documents By Robert Gehrke Associated Press Aug. 15, 2001 10:50:00 WASHINGTON - A Treasury Department inquiry has found that six department attorneys did not knowingly conceal the destruction of 162 boxes of potential evidence in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit over mismanaged Indian money. "The lack of intentional wrongdoing is borne out by the record," said the report, unsealed Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth. Dennis Gingold, the attorney representing thousands of American Indian plaintiffs in the class-action suit over the squandered money, called the report a whitewash to cover malfeasance by former high-ranking Treasury officials. The American Indian trust funds were created in 1887 to manage royalties from grazing, logging, mining and oil drilling on Indian land. But record- keeping was shoddy and in some cases money was stolen, used for other federal programs or never collected, the government has acknowledged. The Indians say the losses total at least $10 billion. In late 1999, Lamberth ordered the government to reconstruct the trust fund accounts and reform the current management system - a ruling upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals. In December 1999, a court-appointed investigator criticized Treasury for not immediately notifying the court that 162 boxes of historical documents had been destroyed at its Hyattsville, Md., records office between Nov. 23, 1998, and Jan. 28, 1999, in violation of the court's order. "This is a system out of control," wrote Alan Balaran, the special master assigned by the court. Balaran said the attorneys who did not notify the court had violated professional ethics and been part of a "pattern of obfuscation" in the case. The Treasury review, completed last September, called the destruction deeply embarrassing, but determined that poor communication among the six attorneys and not intentional deceit accounted for the problems. The review recommended mentoring and communication skill training for four of the attorneys and a one-day suspension for two of those attorneys. Two others no longer worked for the Treasury Department when the review was completed and could not be disciplined. Treasury fought the release of the report for 11 months, arguing it contained personnel matters. In unsealing the report, Lamberth noted that Treasury had at least notified the court of its steps to correct attorney misconduct, in contrast to the Interior and Justice departments. "Neither of those agencies has provided any report whatsoever ... demonstrating that they have held any attorney accountable in any way whatsoever for any misconduct in this litigation," he wrote. The government's handling of the trust fund case has been dealt serious blows in the past five weeks. A court-appointed investigator has issued two scathing reports: one that Interior has done nothing to reconstruct how much should be in the Indian accounts; the other, that a $40 million computerized accounting system may have to be scrapped. And two weeks ago, Balaran criticized the government for allowing destruction of archived e-mails potentially related to the case. Copyright c. 2001, The Arizona Republic. --------- "RE: Court rules Navajo Nation is owed Money" --------- Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 10:30:27 -0700 (PDT) From: Paul Pureau Subj: Court rules Navajo Nation owed money Mailing List: ndn-aim http://www.indianz.com/SmokeSignals/Headlines/showfull.asp?ID=law/8142001-1 Court rules Navajo Nation owed money TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2001 The United States owes the Navajo Nation money for approving a coal mining lease with Peabody Coal at below market value, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday. The Department of Interior breached its trust responsibility to the tribe when then-Secretary Donald Hodel approved an extension to the tribe's lease with the coal giant, said the court in a 2-1 ruling. As a result, the tribe could be owed as much as $600 million, a number a lower court must now determine. The decision marks a victory for the nation's largest tribe, whose officials have allowed Peabody to operate a coal mine on its reservation for more than 50 years. It supports claims made by both the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe of Arizona that the government has been less the scrupulous in exploiting the tribes' natural resources. The central issue in the case is a 1985 meeting Hodel secretly held with a friend who had just been hired by Peabody. The company specifically hired Stanley Hulett because of his close relationship with Hodel, court documents and affidavits show. As a result of the meeting, the government held off on pushing for a lease that would give better returns to the tribe. The Bureau of Indian Affairs had initially approved a 20 percent royalty rate, a vast improvement over the prior 12.5 percent one. But when Peabody protested, Hodel withdrew the rate, which had also been upheld by the Interior Board of Indian Appeals. However, the tribe was never told about the approval of the better lease terms. Instead, the tribe was told no decision had been reached and that negotiations should continue with Peabody. The was eventually forced -- "facing economic pressure," said the appeals court -- to accept the 12.5 rate again. Yet while details of the private meeting did not surface until 11 years later and only after the tribe pursued the case, the Court of Federal Claims in February 2000 ruled the tribe could not be compensated. Although the court found Hodel violated his responsibility to the Navajo Nation, there was no mandate for a financial judgment, said a federal judge. "We conclude that the defendant, acting through former Secretary Hodel, violated the most basic common law fiduciary duties owed the Navajo Nation, " wrote US District Judge Lawrence M. Baskir. "Regrettably, we also conclude that the trust relationship necessary for our jurisdiction does not exist, and these violations do not mandate monetary relief." But that holding was dramatically overturned yesterday. When the government withheld knowledge of the higher rate and secretly withdrew it, Interior officials violated "most basic common law fiduciary duties owned to the Navajo Nation," said the court. The court also ruled the Interior "acted in direct contravention" to its duties under the Indian Mineral Leasing Act. The law obligates the government to obtain "the maximum return for [Indian-owned] minerals," said the court. The three judges of the court agreed the Interior has a trust relationship with the the tribe. But one judge disagreed on which specific duties, under law, were violated and said he would only support a limited analysis of the damages the tribe might be awarded. The Navajo Nation case marks the third in recent months in which the appeals court has overturned or set aside a lower decision affecting trust responsibilities. In May, the court ruled the federal government just restore crumbling buildings before turning them over to the White Mountain Apache Tribe of Arizona. The court in May also ruled the Warm Springs Tribes of Oregon are due money for an improper timber sale. Although not a party to the tribe's case, Peabody had attempted to suppress knowledge of the Hodel meeting, asking a federal court to hold the Navajo Nation in contempt. Peabody's request was denied in March 2000. ===== FREE LEONARD PELTIER NOW STOP THE ETHNIC CLEANSING OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE TO SUBSCRIBE TO NDN-AIM SEND A BLANK EMAIL TO: NDN-AIM-SUBSCRIBE@YAHOOGROUPS.COM --------- "RE: Court: U.S. violated Trust Duty to Navajos" --------- Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2001 08:28:07 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="VIOLATED TRUST DUTY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.thenavajotimes.com/National/national.html Court: U.S. violated trust duty to Navajos By Marley Shebala The Navajo Times WINDOW ROCK (Aug. 16, 2001) - A federal court has ruled that the Navajo Nation is entitled to damages because the U.S. Interior Department violated federal trust laws. And the damages, based on another Navajo Nation lawsuit, could amount to $600 million. The Navajo Times contacted Interior Secretary Gail Norton's office on Wednesday to ask for a comment and how she planned to pay for the possible million of dollars in damages to the Navajo Nation. As of press time, her spokesperson, Nedra Darling, had not returned the Navajo Times' message. The U.S. Court of Appeals on Monday upheld a Feb. 4, 2000, U.S. Court of Claims decision, which ruled that the U.S. violated its trust obligation and broke its basic fiduciary duties to the Navajo Nation. The court ruled that the violation occurred when then-Interior Secretary Donald Hodel met with Peabody Coal Company during the time that the Navajo Nation was re-negotiating higher coal royalty rates with Peabody. But more importantly, the Court of Appeals reversed the Court of Claims' Feb. 4, 2000, ruling that the Navajo Nation was not entitled to damages from the U.S. even though the Interior Department had violated its trust obligation to the tribe. The Court of Claims also had dismissed the Navajo Nation's lawsuit against the federal government because the U.S. Indian Minerals Leasing Act did not require the Interior Department to act in the best interest of the tribe. Navajo Nation Attorney General Levon Henry on Wednesday said the decision by the Court of Appeals resulted from the Navajo Nation appealing the Court of Claims Feb. 4, 2000, dismissal. Henry said the action by the Court of Appeals was a "definite victory" for the Navajo Nation. He added, "This is not just a victory for the Navajo Nation but an affirmation that the United States will be held accountable when it is responsible for a flagrant breach of trust that causes substantial injury to an Indian Nation. "The trial court got the facts right when it found a breach of trust; the appeals court got it right when it held that this breach could give rise to liability," Henry noted. But he declined to specify the amount of damages that the Navajo Nation believes would be fair compensation. Henry said the nation will have to return to the Court of Claims to determine damages, which would be done during a hearing or through negotiations. That process would probably take six moths or a year, he said. Henry said the nation's appeal was based on the argument that the Indian Minerals Leasing Act covered coal leasing and showed substantial involvement by the federal government, which is the reason the nation can claim damages from the federal government. President Kelsey Begaye said, "The trial judges clearly found that Secretary Hodel allowed private parties to influence his judgement through secret contacts and that the Interior Department violated the trust duty in a number of ways. "I was sure that the law of the United States would not deprive the Navajo people of a remedy for the damages inflicted through this violation, " Begaye added. Council Speaker Edward T. Begay said, "As we understand the Appeals Court's ruling, it is now time to return to the Court of Federal Claims to prove the amount of damages that the United States owes to the Navajo Nation for this breach of trust duty. "I believe the Navajo Nation Council made the appropriate decision when it authorized the suits against the Secretary of the Interior and Peabody Coal," Begay said. He added, "There was no doubt in our minds that a great wrong had been committed against the Navajo people. The council repeatedly encouraged the attorney general and Navajo Nation attorneys to be aggressive in their dealings before the courts. The Navajo people deserve justice." According to federal court records, Peabody and its two coal customers, Salt River Project and Southern California Edison, appealed a decision by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to raise coal royalty rates from two percent to 20 percent to then-Acting Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs John Fritz in 1984. The two percent coal royalty was in the original 1964 coal lease between the Navajo Nation and Peabody, which also authorized the Interior Department to adjust the coal royalty rate to a reasonable level in 1984. The Court of Claims, in its Feb. 4, 2000, decision, called the 1964 lease an "inequitable deal." The court also found that the companies found out that Fritz affirmed the 20 percent rate and that California Edison urged Peabody to hire a close friend of Hodel's. The judges stated that after a meeting between Hodel and Peabody, Hodel issued a memorandum to Fritz, which Peabody had written. The memo prohibited Fritz from releasing his decision affirming the 20 percent royalty rate. The court in its Feb. 4, 2000, findings stated that the result was that the Navajo Nation agreed to a 12.5 percent figure instead of the 20 percent in 1987, which the court estimated cost the nation more than half a billion dollars. The Navajo Nation, on June 16, 1991, filed a lawsuit against Peabody, SRP and Edison for alleged "unlawful acts" that defrauded the nation of more than $600 million in coal royalty rates, which they are seeking to recover. Beth Sutton, spokesperson for Peabody, said on Tuesday that Peabody Energy is not a party to the lawsuit before the appeals court. Sutton added, "The factual findings relied upon by the U.S. Court of Appeals in reaching its decision are inaccurate and will be shown by Peabody to be inaccurate." She explained that the 12.5 percent royalty rate agreed to by the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe was in their best interest and represented the fair market value. Sutton noted that the Navajo Nation agreed to that rate again in 1998. "Peabody's actions were proper in all respects, which will be confirmed at the appropriate time," she said. Sutton said the lawsuit filed by the Navajo Nation against Peabody, which the Hopi Tribe joined, is in its preliminary stages. She said the legal discovery process is expected to start this fall, but final resolution is years away. Copyright c. 1999-2001 Navajo Times/Navajo Nation --------- "RE: UKB agrees Proctor Faction will run Tribe" --------- Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 08:28:12 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="UKB" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=2217347&BRD =1825&PAG=461&dept_id=129120&rfi=6 UKB agrees Proctor faction will run tribe Betty Smith, Press Staff Writer August 14, 2001 Keetoowahs back in business The United Keetoowah Band was back in operation Monday after tribal officials notified a judge that they had reached an agreement about who should operate the tribe. Last Thursday, Chief District Judge Bruce Sewell had ordered all UKB operations halted until a dispute between two groups could be resolved. Sewell also ordered UKB bank accounts frozen. Sewell made his ruling after both sides of the tribal controversy asked him to assume jurisdiction. He also froze the tribe's bank accounts. Two factions - one composed of former elected officials, the other of new officials - were debating who should be in charge and control the funds. "They have come in and announced they have reached an agreement," Sewell said Monday morning. "Evidently the Election Board has certified the Proctor officials." Sewell referred to Chief Dallas Proctor. The band has about 7,000 members in the Tahlequah area and manages at least $900,000 annually for housing programs, social programs, staff salaries and a bingo hall. Sewell said the assistant chief will swear in Proctor, who then will swear in the other newly-elected officials. When both factions approached Sewell last week, they each asked that he prohibit the other from taking any action as leaders of the tribe. He said there had not been any definitive decision from the UKB Supreme Court on the issue. Last week tribal officials said Sewell's order did not allow them to distribute clothing vouchers or other benefits to tribal members. Also, the Bank of Cherokee County filed an interpleader lawsuit concerning $11,000 of UKB funds deposited in two accounts at the financial institution. Sewell said he did not want to have the disputed money placed on the court fund because it would have cost the tribe $300 to do so. "It appears like they're going to get it resolved," Sewell said. Copyright c. Tahlequah Daily Press 2001 --------- "RE: Reserve near G-8 Summit seeking Federal Aid" --------- Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 08:28:12 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="STONEY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.canoe.ca/NationalTicker/CANOE-wire.Alta-G8-Natives.html Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2001 Aboriginal reserve located near Alta. G-8 summit site seeking federal aid TORONTO (CP) -- An aboriginal reserve located near the site of next summer's G-8 summit in Kananaskis, Alta., is seeking federal aid to improve living conditions, CTV News reported Tuesday. The Stoney reserve in Morley, 60 kilometres west of Calgary and right next door to the Kananaskis summit site, is asking for federal funds for new roads, a new school, a new medical clinic and more counselling for the reserve's chronic suicide problem. A government source told CTV that the reserve would consider opening it's borders to protesters. None of the three Stoney chiefs would comment. "It's not a question of give us this or we're going to make life difficult for you for the G-8. It's not that black and white," said summit organizer John Klassen, who has had discussions with the band. Aboriginal law expert Larry Chartrand, of the University of Ottawa, disagreed. "They look like they're taking advantage of the situation just because of their geographic location." He said he doesn't think it's a bad idea to use the summit to improve local living conditions. "If push comes to shove, the natives may actually go towards supporting the protester movement if the federal government is not reasonable," Chartrand said. How much the government is willing to offer to secure a smooth summit will depend on negotiations taking place right now, CTV said. Copyright c. 2001, Canoe Limited Partnership. --------- "RE: Puyallup Tribe overhauls its Economic Arm" --------- Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2001 09:12:53 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PULYALLUP SHAKE-UP" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.tribnet.com/frame.asp?/news/top_stories/0809a14.html Puyallup Tribe overhauls its economic arm DISMISSALS: Officers fired; board members replaced; reasons unclear Rob Carson; The News Tribune The Puyallup Tribe of Indians has upended its economic development corporation, Puyallup International Inc., dismissing board members, officers and staff and throwing 11 years of tribal economic effort into disarray. On July 17, the tribal council suddenly replaced six of seven members of the Puyallup International board. The following day, staff members said, tribal policemen entered the corporation's offices without warning and escorted employees out of the building. Those who lost their jobs included Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Tail and vice president James Miles. Puyallup International is a for-profit corporation, wholly owned by the tribe. It was set up in 1989 with $8 million from the Puyallup land claims settlement to manage and operate the tribe's business enterprises and real estate ventures. Tribal representatives have refused to comment on the reasons for the dismissals, other than to say the tribe is "seeking a new direction." Herman Dillon, the tribal chairman, did not respond to repeated requests for an interview on the subject. Bertha Jane Turnipseed, one of six Puyallup tribal members appointed to the new PII board, characterized the change as a "reorganization" and said it is possible that some staff members may be rehired later. Former CEO Tail declined to comment, referring questions to her attorney, Jason Whalen, who is pursuing wrongful dismissal claims on her behalf. Whalen, who is with the Tacoma firm Eisenhower and Carlson, is also representing Miles and former PII comptroller Michelle Rivera. According to Whalen, his clients were dismissed without cause, in violation of their employment contracts, and should be compensated. PII offices, on the third floor of Tacoma's World Trade Center, were nearly empty this week. Phones were not being answered, and the PII Web site was offline. Tuesday, when a reporter visited and requested an interview with a member of the new board, he was ordered off the premises. The lack of a plausible explanation for the dismissals has rumors flying in the 2,600-member tribe. Many say the root cause of the problem is power struggles among individuals in the tribe and personal and family grudges, some of which go back generations. Another issue was the racial makeup of the board. Turnipseed said that shortly before appointing PII's new board, the tribal council amended a section of the corporation's charter, adding a requirement that all members of the board be members of the Puyallup Tribe. The old charter specified that four nontribal members should be chosen from the larger community for their business expertise. The new board members include Turnipseed, a former tribal chairwoman who owns BJ's Bingo; Vicky Gord, a smoke shop owner; Roleen Hargrove, also a former tribal chairwoman; Elsie Thomas, who runs the tribe's two gas stations; Lori Varbel, a tribal secretary; Ron Wrolson, a casino employee; and Arnold Williams, a longshore worker and the only member of the previous board to keep his position. All are tribal members. Board members removed were chairwoman Suzette Mills, Jesse Fisher, Michael Reichert, Sheri Davis, Gerald Pope and Mathew Schwartz. "The council wanted a change in direction," Turnipseed said, but she did not say what that new direction might be. "We're still getting our groundwork done. It's still hard to say what our changes will be. We're just trying to see where we are and get organized." PII was incorporated by the tribe in August 1989 and began operating the following March. Ironically, the stated purpose of the corporation was to insulate tribal enterprise from tribal politics. From the beginning, the activities of PII were a target for criticism by some tribal members, who second-guessed the corporation's business decisions and accused it of wasting money on inflated salaries while showing scant results. Critics also have made various charges of impropriety, incompetence and misuse of funds, none of which have been publicly substantiated. In its 11-year history, PII acquired additional real estate for development in Fife, developed the Chinook Landing Marina on Marine View Drive and loaned the tribe money for start-up funds for its bingo hall. It also helped negotiate loans for the tribe's riverboat casino, the Emerald Queen; it opened a gas station just off I-5 near tribal headquarters; and it has worked on a number of plans to develop the tribe's Tideflats property awarded to it in the land-claims settlement. When the dismissals took place, PII was exploring the possibility of locating a 175-megawatt combustion turbine plant on its Ttideflats land. This is not the first time the tribal council has tangled with PII. Amid rumors of fiscal mismanagement in 1991, the tribal council considered firing the board for "lack of confidence." After seeking legal advice, the council took no action at that time. - - - Rob Carson covers tribal affairs. Reach him at 253-597-8693 or rob.carson@mail.tribnet.com. Copyright c. The News Tribune. Copyright c. 2000 Tacoma News Inc. --------- "RE: Tribes seek $50 Million in Dispute" --------- Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2001 18:28:23 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ARKANSAS RIVER" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=738938&TP=getarticle Tribes seek $50 million in dispute 2001-08-19 Staff Writer Three American Indian tribes want the federal government to pay them almost $50 million to settle a land dispute involving thousands of property owners along the Arkansas River in eastern Oklahoma. Lawyers for the Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickasaw nations say that's a small price to pay, considering it would end decades of legal wrangling and perhaps save landowners from being evicted from their property. "There have been figures thrown around from $8.5 million to $177 million, " said Jim Wilcoxen, an attorney for the Cherokees. "The government needs to do what it set out to do 30 years ago and settle this. We think it's a fair number." Tribal officials want their proposal to be introduced this year in Congress. If the matter isn't resolved in 2002, the tribes most likely will return to federal court. Federal officials would not comment, but a government source close to the case said the proposal "is way too high, and the tribes know that." The tribes' proposal At issue is about 7,700 acres along the Arkansas River from just south of Sallisaw to Fort Smith, Ark. Oil, natural gas, sand and gravel have been taken from some of the property through the years, the tribes claim. The Cherokees contend they own half of the land, while the Choctaws and Chickasaws own the other half. They base their claims on treaties signed with the federal government in the 1800s. The tribes are asking U.S. Sens. Don Nickles, R-Ponca City, Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, and U.S. Rep. Brad Carson, D- Muskogee, to take their proposal before Congress. Dan Barron, a spokesman for Inhofe, said the senator will listen to all options. "It will be a big headache if it goes back to court," Barron said. "We'll do what we can to avoid that, but we'd like to have the support of (the U.S. Department of) Interior." Carson and Nickles did not return phone calls seeking comment. According to a draft of their proposal, the tribes are offering: To give up claims to 7,750 acres of dry land in Sequoyah and Le Flore counties now held by other people. Drop the lawsuit pending in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and not sue again in Muskogee federal court. For this, the tribes want $41,293,245. They want another $8 million for the future rental of the Arkansas River where the Webbers Falls Lock and Dam and Kerr Lock and Dam generate electricity. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1970 ruled that the tribes own the Arkansas River bed and banks from Muskogee to Fort Smith, Ark. The settlement figures were derived after several years of researching oil, natural gas, sand and gravel extractions, said Bob Rabon, an attorney for the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations. The tribes have a 500- page report detailing the calculations. Any settlement money would be split 50 percent to the Cherokees, 37.5 percent to the Choctaws and 12.5 percent to the Chickasaws, Rabon said. The tribes would retain the riverbed, its minerals and the undisputed tribal lands from Arkansas to Muskogee. The tribes also would not give up area water rights, which are being negotiated separately with the state of Oklahoma. The tribes discussed swapping the riverbed land for other federal property, but David Mullon Jr., who represents the Cherokees, said "finding suitable parcels became very difficult, so we'd use the settlement money to buy other lands." Rabon said the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations have not determined how they would spend the money. Deals made long ago The tribes' claims are based on treaties signed with the federal government in the 1800s. In exchange for millions of acres east of the Mississippi River, the Choctaws and Chickasaws in 1830 were given land in what is now Oklahoma. The Cherokees struck a similar agreement in 1835. According to tribal historical documents, the property the tribes were given included about 26,000 acres along the banks of the Arkansas River from the Port of Muskogee to Fort Smith. The riverbed was included. The river has shifted through the years, meaning some land the tribes claim ownership of today is well away from the river banks. In between, are land parcels that are not in dispute. The riverbed west of Sallisaw to Muskogee already is owned by the tribes and is not in dispute. As part of the 1800s treaties, the government pledged the tribal lands would never be "embraced by any state," that trespassers would be removed and the government would not claim the tribal lands without paying them for it. But in 1907, when Oklahoma became a state, it was assumed the Arkansas River became a part of it. Tribes couldn't protest because they didn't have functioning governments. When the state started building the Kerr-McClellan Navigation System on the Arkansas River in the 1960s, the tribal governments were operating again, and they claimed ownership. Lower courts ruled against the tribes. They appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1970, the high court decided the tribes owned the riverbed and banks. But the land boundaries were undetermined, particularly because of the river's shifting since the 1800s. Without boundaries, the government argued it couldn't evict trespassers. Nothing happened until 1989 when the tribes sued the government in the U. S. Court of Federal Claims, alleging it didn't protect their rights to the property. The lawsuit prompted a U.S. Bureau of Land Management survey. When that was completed, the federal government in 1997 filed a lawsuit on behalf of the tribes in Muskogee federal court. The action was against 106 defendants and landholders along the Arkansas River. It was supposed to be the first of several lawsuits against 7,000 potential defendants who acquired an interest in the property over the years. The lawsuit was designed to gain a clear title to the riverbed property. In 1999, a judge dismissed the Muskogee lawsuit, saying the property ownership records gathered by the Bureau of Land Management were outdated. Also, the judge said the government had not notified all of the potential defendants, which included people having an interest in the property at any time since statehood. The government can refile the case, but Mullon, the Cherokees' attorney, said the tribes favor a settlement. "This would solve a conflict that would take years of litigation," Mullon said. "It benefits everyone, including the U.S. government. They're getting a bargain." Copyright c. 2001, Produced by NewsOK --------- "RE: New Mexico/Nation wrestle with Redistricting" --------- Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2001 09:12:53 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="REDISTRICTING" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.thenavajotimes.com/Politics/redistrict/redistrict.html New Mexico, nation wrestle with redistricting By Sasheen Hollow Horn Navajo Times Staff GALLUP (August 9, 2001) - The New Mexico State Legislature's Redistricting Committee traveled to the northwest corner of the state last week to hear testimony on the redistricting process. Though public hearings at Shiprock Chapter and the University of New Mexico-Gallup failed to convey a strong preference for any of the concepts presented, committee co-chair Sen. Leonard Tsosie, D-Crownpoint, said that it is good to see more Indian tribes getting serious about the subject. The legislature must redraw political district boundaries every 10 years following the census, so that the populations of the contiguous, compactly-drawn districts are as equal as possible while minority voting strength and communities of interest are preserved. Districts under consideration are the state's three U.S. House of Representatives seats, 70 state house seats, 42 state senate seats, 10 state board of education seats and five Public Regulation Commission seats. There was an air of cooperation at Friday's hearing in Gallup, as committee members and local legislators questioned the Navajo Nation's proposed state senate district. The tribe had presented that and other plans at the Shiprock hearing the day before, and the districts as drawn were "a little too conservative," Tsosie said. The tribe had proposed two districts covering much of the New Mexico portion of the reservation. Navajos make up a large percentage of the population in both districts, increasing the chance of electing a legislator representing Navajo views, if not a Navajo legislator, said technical consultant Brian Sanderoff. Currently, of the three predominanatly Native American districts that currently exist, only Dist. 4 - which includes most of Gallup, Zuni, Fence Lake and Ramah - has never elected a Native American to the Legislature. The issue would be whether to unify Gallup into a non-Native American district or split it to make Dist. 4 more Native American, he said. Tsosie, Rep. Leo Watchman Jr., D-Navajo, and other legislators noted that several concepts formulated by Sanderoff's company, Research & Polling Inc., created three or four districts that would reduce the percentage of Navajos to as low as 50-60 percent, but increase the number of districts representing the area. "We need to look at that," Watchman said. "We're lowering the percentage of Navajos, but we can lose." The fact that the Navajo Nation plan does not split Gallup sat well with Democratic Party chairwoman Mary Ann Armijo, who urged the committee to unify Gallup. The city is divided in two, with the north side included in District 3 and the remainder in District 4. She asked the committee to consider the Navajo Nation's proposal and the committee's concept B, which created four Indian seats in the area while keeping Gallup intact. However, the Navajo Nation's presenters said that they had no objection to splitting Gallup and reducing the 95 percent Navajo population of District 3, which currently covers western San Juan County and much of northwestern McKinley County. "The Indians go to Gallup every weekend, so maybe a little bit of Gallup can go to the Indians every 10 years?" Tsosie asked. Tsosie said that Navajo Nation Council Speaker Edward T. Begay said that the council's redistricting committee would revisit the tribe's proposal to address these issues. The Navajo Nation's testimony was the most vocal and detailed presented at Friday's hearing. In addition to endorsing the committee's congressional concept C, which put almost all of the state's Indian tribes into a donut-shaped District 3 that surrounded Albuquerque, the tribe presented its own proposals for other districts. The Navajo Nation's state house proposal kept boundaries nearly the same, reducing the eastern arms of districts 4 and 9 while dropping District 65 to include the Alamo Navajo Reservation. The tribe's proposal endorsed the committee's Board of Education concept A, which takes away a small corner in the northeast of San Juan County while keeping McKinley and portions of Soccoro and Cibola Counties. The tribe also approved the committee's Public Regulations Commission concept C, which kept almost the entire northwestern quadrant of the state included in the current District 4 intact while adding a small portion of land south of Albuquerque. The stops in Shiprock and Gallup were the first time the 36-member committee has visited Indian Country, Tsosie said. The hearings were latest in a series of field hearings that the committee has held statewide. Redistricting in New Mexico has a tumultuous history. From the 1960's to the 1980's, the state has been subjected to litigation and U.S. Department of Justice oversight because of inadequate redistricting formulas based on the number of votes cast (rather than the total population) and racial gerrymandering that diluted minority voting strength. Tsosie said he was proud to say that the committee made a special effort to visit Indian Country, and that it is trying to accommodate Native American concerns. Redistricting in important because Navajos need more representatives to express their ideas and needs, Rep. Watchman said. "Many times, I have been isolated and sometimes overrun," he said. Field hearings will wrap up within the next three weeks with stops at Santa Ana Pueblo on August 23 and Albuquerque on August 24-25. After that, the committee will recommend a plan and some alternates to the legislature in a weeklong special session tentatively planned to start September 4. Copyright c. 1999-2001 Navajo Times/Navajo Nation --------- "RE: Laguna Pueblo gets Housing Grant" --------- Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2001 03:33:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Paul Pureau Subj: Laguna Pueblo gets housing grant http://www.indianz.com/ Mailing List: ndn-aim Laguna Pueblo gets housing grant TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2001 Laguna Pueblo has been awarded $1.66 million grant for public housing improvements, Senator Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) said on Monday. "Laguna Pueblo will be able to use these funds in a manner that best suits its residents, all with the aim of making better and affordable homes available," said Domenici. The grant was awarded through the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-determination Act (NAHASDA) of 1996. Domenici is working to reauthorize the act through 2006. Under the act, the Department of Housing and Urban Development provides funds to tribes, who use them for a wide variety of needs. ===== 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: Lumbee Tribal Council receives Funds for Housing" --------- Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 08:53:14 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LUMBEE HOUSING" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=2213342&BRD=1120&PAG=461&dept_id=88752&rfi=6 Tribal Council receives funds for housing Scott Witten, Staff writer August 13, 2001 PEMBROKE - The Tribal Council of the Lumbee Nation has been awarded $8 million to assist tribal members with housing needs, U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre announced Friday. The money, approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is the first federal money the tribal government has received since it was established in January. "I'm elated because it means we will be able to start functioning and doing some visible things for our people," said Milton Hunt, chairman of the Tribal Council. "So far people have only read about what were doing. Now they will be able to see something material. I'm excited about our future." Hunt said he expects the council to begin administering the program in October. He said the $8 million will be used for a variety of affordable housing activities, including: modernization and operating assistance for low- income housing; new construction; acquisition or rehabilitation of rental or owner-occupied housing; housing services; housing management; crime prevention and safety activities. He said the council is looking for a housing director to manage the program. Hunt said he hopes to avoid some of the problem that have marred the housing program in the past. There have been allegations that officials with the Lumbee Regional Development Association have used favoritism in awarding money. "We want to make sure that the program is administered fairly," Hunt said. "There will be guidelines in place to help with that." The program, which falls under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996, has been administered for the past two years by LRDA. The N.C. Indian Affairs Commission administered the program during its first year. McIntyre, who helped secure the money, said he was "excited about what the program will mean for Robeson County and for the Lumbee families in general." "The most important work of the government is to help families," McIntyre said. "These dollars will help many Lumbee families secure safe, decent and affordable housing and will assist many as they make needed improvements to the current homes. Good housing leads to self-sufficiency and economic independence." Copyright c. The Robesonian 2001 --------- "RE: Secretary Tommy Thompson speaks at Pine Ridge" --------- Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2001 18:28:23 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TOMMY THOMPSON/PINE RIDGE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.argusleader.com/news/Sundayarticle5.shtml Indian health agenda outlined BY PETER HARRIMAN Argus Leader published: 8/19/01 Secretary Tommy Thompson speaks at Pine Ridge PINE RIDGE - Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson told about 40 tribal members at the Oglala Sioux hospital here Saturday he will be "a different kind of secretary" who will seek tribal suggestions "to improve what we are doing right and to change what is wrong" in Indian Health Services. Thompson visited IHS facilities in Alaska, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Dakota last week, and he brought to Pine Ridge an agenda: To address a diabetes epidemic that afflicts Indians with that disease at 10 times the rate of Caucasians. * To support drug and alcohol treatment programs. * To encourage organ transplants. * He also said he heads "The Department of Compassion." But to some people in the back row here, sitting behind the tribal officials whom Thompson addressed, he was one more federal bureaucrat who didn't get it. Thompson ended his Pine Ridge visit by breaking off a conversation with Anita Eccoffey of Wounded Knee as he told her: "I've got to catch a plane. I'm sorry. Even for secretaries, planes don't wait." Eccoffey had tried to tell Thompson that the impressive hospital built in 1994, an island of red stone and green lawn in the faded tan hills around Pine Ridge, was in large measure a sham. "No doctors stay. Every two months they go," she said. Patients receive bills for health expenses for which they are supposed to be reimbursed. Indian veterans, who are entitled to IHS services, are forced to receive health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and an IHS committee decides who is eligible for treatments. "They call it the death squad," she said. "They decide who lives and who dies." "He's missing the whole point," she said of Thompson after the secretary had left. "I don't think he really cares. This is just part of his job, to go out and look at Indian tribes." Carole Anne Heart is the executive director of the Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairman's Health Board. The group collects data and determines health care priorities for all the tribes in the IHS Aberdeen area in the Dakotas, Nebraska and Iowa. She brought two reports on those priorities and on the need for continuing funding for the Northern Plains Healthy Start prenatal care program. But while she was able to leave those with staff members traveling with Thompson, she was only able to address him long enough to briefly tell him who she was. "I'm not a politician. I'm just a worker. This is what he needed to know," she said. Thompson did hear several times from others that the Healthy Start program was critical. He noted the funding had been ended "because the Healthy Start grant was poorly done. If I have to come out here and help with that grant, or send somebody else. We've got to. We have to get that grant." Heart, however, said the grant process by which programs like Healthy Start are funded is fundamentally flawed. "They don't look at need," she said. "They are just testing writing skills. If I had known that, I would have spent more attention on writing in college." Heart added that 66 Healthy Start workers across the Aberdeen region are due to be laid off in September, which will add to tribal unemployment. Thompson's tour reminded former Pine Ridge council member Gerald Big Crow of other visits by prominent federal officials over the past 30 years. "It's a political maneuver that benefits nobody," he said. "If he wanted to really talk, we could sit here for a week." In a statement to tribal officials and others at the Pine Ridge health care facility, Thompson pointed out he had been governor of Wisconsin before joining President Bush's cabinet. There are 11 tribes in Wisconsin, he said, "and I had tremendous working relationships with all my tribes." In 1996, however, Thompson threatened to sue Chippewa tribes in federal court over walleye spearing quotas. Thompson said while he wants tribes to make him aware of their health care concerns, "I can only do as much as Congress lets me do. I can spend only as much as Congress appropriates. I need the list of what you want and how we might accomplish it. If we need more resources, then we have to team up and go to Congress." During his Pine Ridge visit, he announced the Oglalas will receive a $1.1 million federal grant for diabetes prevention and treatment programs and $600,000 for drug and alcohol treatment for young people. A key component in helping the young climb out of the pit of addiction is "to make sure they have optimism," he said. But curiously, while acknowledging the widespread alcohol problems among Indians, Thompson also gave a pitch for organ transplants by saying that though death is inevitable "if your organs had a chance to vote, your eyes would vote to see in somebody else, your heart would vote to beat in somebody else, and your kidneys would vote to drink Wisconsin beer and eat Wisconsin cheese." Oglala Lakota President John Steele told Thompson IHS should be able to fund the Bennett County Hospital in Martin, because even though it is not a tribal facility it is a major health care provider for Oglalas on the eastern half of the Pine Ridge Reservation. He said mental treatment for reservation children now provided off the reservation should reflect the cultural distinctions of life in Pine Ridge. "Here in Pine Ridge, life is different than in Rapid City or Gordon, Nebraska. We think a little different here and act a little different here within our system." Psychological and psychiatric counseling that does not recognize that fact results in children "who are messed up more when they get back here," Steele said. In response to questions by Thompson, Steele said federal spending dominates the Pine Ridge economy, and that private entrepreneurship and tribal economic development are hindered by a road system that encourages tribal members to shop off the reservation in Rapid City or Nebraska. "I need more east-west roads," he told Thompson. Wearing a medallion and carrying a beaded buckskin presented by the tribe, as he left shortly before 1 p.m. Thompson promised, "I'll be back. I can't solve all the problems, but I can help." Eccoffey watched him go. "The Lakota way is to give. Yeah, it is," she said of the gifts. "Generosity is part of us. But it's usually to people who accomplish something." Reach reporter Peter Harriman at 575-3615 or pharrima@argusleader.com All content Copyright c. 2001 Argus Leader. --------- "RE: Lummis settle with City of Blaine over Sewage" --------- Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2001 11:13:18 -0700 From: John Wm Sloniker Subj: Lummi settle with city over graves Mailing List: INDIAN Heritage The Seattle Times: Local News : Wednesday, July 04, 2001 Lummis settle with city of Blaine over sewage-plant site By Craig Welch Seattle Times staff reporter Two years after backhoes working to expand a sewage plant for the city of Blaine unearthed 4,000-year-old human bones, Lummi Indians sift daily through the rubble. They've cataloged and archived only 5 percent of the uncovered ancestral remains. But last week, the Lummis finally put behind them a contentious two-year legal and political battle with the city. Blaine's insurer will pay the tribe $1.2 million, and the city agreed to move the controversial treatment plant off the Semiahmoo Spit, 20 miles north of Bellingham, where it has twice disturbed the ancient cemetery. The city also will help the tribe find money to turn the site into a cultural center. And late Monday, after years of threatening to sue the city, the tribe instead filed a $40 million federal lawsuit against the Colorado archaeological firm Blaine hired to ensure the site was not desecrated. "If I took a shovel to someone's cemetery and dug up some bones, I'd be in jail in no time," said tribal Chairman William Jones. "I feel really good about the progress we've made with Blaine. Now we can get on with reinterring our ancestors." Blaine City Manager Gary Tomsic said: "It's a major hurdle that's been between us. We've now agreed to move forward and support each other." He also said the city is considering legal action of its own against the consultant, to recoup more than $2.5 million lost when the $8 million expansion project was halted. The action stems from August 1999, when tribal members learned the construction project had excavated 400 truckloads of material that included human remains. Some of that material was trucked to a landfill where operators unknowingly paved remains into a road. Meanwhile, the archaeologist hired to monitor the culturally sensitive site packed 44 sets of damp remains in paper bags and nondescript boxes and carted them off to Colorado, allegedly without telling anyone. The archaeologist, Gordon Tucker, with Golder and Associates, helped write a plan that said the Lummi Tribe would be notified immediately after the remains were found. Tucker later resigned and moved to California. At the time, the city and Tucker's attorney said he meant no disrespect, but were unable to explain his actions. Yesterday, tribal officials said they learned just three months ago - 18 months after Tucker resigned - that Golder also had stored remains from the site at one of the firm's offices in British Columbia. "We couldn't believe this was happening," said Aaron Thomas, spokesman for the 4,300-member tribe. "We sent people up there right away to retrieve them." Attempts to reach Golder officials in Colorado and Canada were unsuccessful yesterday. The 1999 excavation marks the second time work on the treatment plant unearthed remains. Three decades earlier, when the city first considered building a sewage plant on that site, archaeologists found 40 sets of remains. By the time the tribe recovered them, the plant had been built. Tribal officials estimate it will take years of work and millions of dollars to locate, index and reinter the artifacts. And city leaders contend it will cost them anywhere from $9 million to $32 million, or more, to find an alternative to its waste-water-treatment plant, which is already at capacity. City Public Works Director Grant Stewart said the city is considering everything from consolidating sewage treatment with neighboring communities to building plants along Dakota and California creeks, which flow into Drayton Harbor, to piping waste to Vancouver, B.C. "We're concerned how we're going to meet the demands of growth," Stewart said. "And we're essentially starting two steps back and trying to recover." Craig Welch can be reached at 206-464-2093 or Copyright (c) 2001 The Seattle Times Company --------- "RE: Indian Law passed in Mexico" --------- Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2001 08:06:01 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MEXICAN LAW" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/16/international/americas/16RIGH.html MEXICO CITY, Aug. 15 - After years of negotiation and debate, a law originally intended to expand the rights of the 10 million Indians in Mexico took effect today. But Congress watered down the law so much that it pleases few people and infuriates many. The law, a set of constitutional amendments, was approved by a majority of the 31 states. It was at first intended to help settle the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas and grant a measure of legal and social autonomy to indigenous people. Originally drafted in talks between representatives of the Zapatistas and the government five years ago, the law, as passed, bans discrimination against Indians based on their race and tribal affiliations. But lawmakers from the party that once governed Mexico, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, and President Vicente Fox's own National Action Party took the law, which he submitted on the day he took office, Dec. 1, and diluted or erased major provisions. The parties erased most of the clauses that called for Indian autonomy over land and natural resources. What remains is the general ban against racism. With few exceptions, the Indians are poorer than their fellow citizens. Many lack access to the basics of life like decent drinking water, food, schools, roads and housing. Though Mexicans of Spanish ancestry rarely acknowledge it, racism against Indian people is a pervasive and rarely subtle force, said Indian Affairs Minister Xochitl Galvez. All that the Indians want, she said in a recent interview, is "the right to be different, the right to speak their language, to be educated in their language, to preserve their culture, to have some control over the land they live on, not to cede it to the local political bosses." The legislators who altered the bill said its original version would have Balkanized Mexico, creating a separate set of laws and rules to govern land use and local disputes for Indian communities, in violation of the Constitution. But political and legal representatives of indigenous groups from the southern states, home to three-quarters of the Indians, say the law emerged stillborn. Copyright c. 2001 The New York Times Company --------- "RE: Zapatistas: Mexico Sending Army" --------- Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 02:31:44 -0500 From: koga suyeta Subj: Zapatistas: Mexico Sending Army Mailing List: ndn-aim http://www.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/International/0,3561,1106702,00.html Tuesday August 14, 2001 7:40 am SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico (AP) - Zapatista rebels say the Mexican army is dispatching troops to one of their most important strongholds. In the statement Monday, the Zapatista National Liberation Front said President Vicente Fox had personally ordered the buildup of troops near the highlands town of San Andres Larrainsar, in southernmost Chiapas state. The arrival of "hundreds of troops is causing tension for those living in our communities because we are afraid Mr. Vicente Fox is preparing a military attack," the communique said. A Mexican army spokesman said Monday night that he had not seen the rebel communique and could not comment on its contents. He refused to discuss the movement of state forces in Chiapas. Tensions have run high in Chiapas since last month, when Congress approved a watered-down version of an Indian rights bill that was supposed to put an end to the Zapatistas' seven-year uprising. The initiative was first drafted in 1996 during peace talks between the government and the rebels, who had risen up in a short-lived rebellion in the name of Indian rights two years earlier. But then-President Ernesto Zedillo rejected it, saying it would compromise Mexican sovereignty and unity. The rebels stormed out of the talks and have never resumed negotiations with the government. The Zapatistas want regional autonomy for Indian areas on issues such as native languages, traditional forms of government and a share of the resources taken from their lands. ------- Lealtad en resistencia. AIR 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: Indians Prisoners: Parole Discrimination" --------- Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 08:53:14 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PAROLE DISCRIMINATION" http://www.lakotajournal.com/front_page.htm Indians prisoners: Parole discrimination By Ruth Steinberger Lakota Journal Correspondent SIOUX FALLS - A complex set of problems face incarcerated Indians in South Dakota. The problems arise when formulating a parole plan, in gaining opportunities for the enhancement of a parole plan and planning life after release from incarceration. After serving a portion of a sentence, an individual incarcerated in South Dakota may apply for parole, a conditional early release based on stipulations set forth by the Parole Board which may include ongoing employment, housing, sobriety, attendance at twelve step meetings and other stipulations. A set of guidelines including the "parole plan," and completion of programs along with a minimal number of infractions while in an institution must be in place before the person will be considered for release. Assistance from outside groups also plays a role in the likelihood that a person will be released. Len Foster, Navajo, is the Director of the Navajo Nation Prison Project. Foster works with Native American prisoners in several states, visiting inmates at 96 facilities, including state and federal facilities. Foster explained that there are four criterion that must be met before parole will be seriously considered when the prisoner meets a Parole Board. These include a residency requirement, employment or job skills training, enrollment in counseling or alcohol treatment and consideration of what the person has achieved while in prison including both positive accomplishments and no major incident reports. However, Foster points out that this is not nearly as simple as it sounds and the factors that create obstacles for incarcerated Indians quickly begin to shadow the picture. Few Indian prison inmates are able to afford an attorney to represent them in the parole process. Foster said that stipulations for housing are based on the non-Indian middle class notion of what housing means. This may mean a certain number of people living in a certain amount of space in a certain type of housing. Extended family living in the home and other facets of traditional lifestyle may be held against Indians trying to become parole ready. Additionally, many Indian homes on reservations lack plumbing or electricity. Foster pointed out that while many Indian families choose a modern lifestyle, many do not place the same priorities on the type of housing, number of rooms, etc., that non-Indians often do. Foster explained that in order to facilitate the employment requirements of the parole plan, the plan may place an Indian in a city far from home. He said that while returning to one's home reservation may create employment issues, it can be very difficult for many individuals to make a healthy adjustment to living in a town where they have no connections to other people and no family. Foster said, "For Indians, the parole system is designed to revoke, and send the person back to prison." Foster pointed out that the creation of parole plans at the discretion of the Parole Board means that racial stereotypes and prejudices enter into the picture. Alcohol treatment and meetings are usually required of Indians, whether or not their original crime was alcohol or drug related. According to the Federal Department of Justice statistics, Native Americans are 38% over represented in the prison population, and yet are represented at an average rate as parolees. This disparity between incarceration and parole reveals a troubling set of circumstance for Indians in obtaining and maintaining parole. There is one Indian on the Parole Board in North Dakota and that person is the Chairperson of the North Dakota Board of Pardons and Paroles. A set of mandates to avoid re-incarceration of ex-offenders is in place in that state. North Dakota DOC spokesperson, Charles Tlacek told Lakota Journal that short of a person committing a new offense, staff are mandated to look at intermediate measures, or "intermediate sanctions." Intermediate measures may include 72 hours off the street, commitment to a halfway house or to treatment. However, in North Dakota, while Native Americans represent 4.9 % of the state population, Indians represent 18% of prisoners and only 13% of parolees. In Minnesota sentencing is pre-determined by the court and there is no Parole Board. Sentencing there is based on a formula that stipulates that 2/3 of an individuals sentence will be served in prison, and the remaining 1/3 served on "supervised release." No aspect of sentencing in the state of Minnesota is discretionary. In Minnesota incarceration is not used for those convicted of a crime that carries a sentence of less than one year and one day, and all sentences totaling less than that figure are served through sentencing alternatives, including community sentencing. Money is provided by the state to communities to enhance the use of sentencing alternatives. However, while Indians comprise 1.1% of Minnesota's population, Native Americans comprise 6.8% of the state's prisoners, yet only 3.3 % of those receiving probation, an alternative to incarceration. While reports on the Board of Pardons and Paroles in South Dakota indicate that there are no Indians on the Parole Board, the South Dakota Department of Corrections refused to answer messages from the Lakota Journal requesting that information. Currently two separate release plans exist in South Dakota. A plan established by the South Dakota legislature in 1996 sets conditions for release of those convicted after July, 1996. Under that plan, when certain criteria are met by the prisoner, that person becomes eligible for release without review by the Parole Board. For Indians seeking release from incarceration, the practical ability to establish a parole plan and to use some of the available services present issues that non-Indians would likely not be facing. In the year 2,000, the State of South Dakota received a grant from the United States Department of Education, Office of Correctional Education, for the amount of $340,930.00 per year for three years in order to develop a "life skills enhancement" program called "FORWARD". Ultimately operated under the Governor's office, FORWARD is intended to assist prisoners who are eligible to apply for parole, but who are unable to meet requirements in order for parole to be granted. Obtained by Lakota Journal through the Freedom of Information Act, the proposal states that each year approximately 120 inmates are retained in prison beyond their release date due to an inadequate release plan. The FORWARD program proposal details a working relationship with South Dakota Prison Aftercare Ministries, Inc., a program serving Christian prisoners only. While the proposal acknowledges that 21% of prisoners in South Dakota are Native American, no portion of the proposal includes any effort to work with traditional Native American spiritual elders, nor any religious organization which is not Christian based. Program Director Lori Fillier told members of the South Dakota Prisoners Support Group that the program would not begin serving prisoners before sometime around January, 2002, while Department of Education, Office of Correctional Education Director, John Linton, told Lakota Journal that an annual assessment showing "substantial progress" made during the first year was expected shortly from all programs participating in the program offering access to this grant money. Linton said that the proposal is all that is reviewed by the Federal Department of Education for making decisions regarding this grant and that information regarding the racial component of those already on parole in that state are not required. He said that complaints about racial inequity in access to federally funded programs including FORWARD can be made to the US Justice Department. Lori Fillier did not return a call to the Lakota Journal regarding this program. Unlike the surrounding states, South Dakota does not have uniform criteria for the release or re-incarceration of parolees who have violated stipulations of their parole, but who have not committed a new crime in doing so. This would include the use of alcohol while under mandate not to use alcohol. Jennifer Ring, Director of the ACLU of the Dakotas, said that the quality of training given to individuals running drug and alcohol tests is also an issue that impacts whether or not a person will maintain their parole status. For example, tests can reveal the use of a drug for a long time. The same episode of drug use can show up in subsequent tests. There are also legal substances that will produce false positives for nearly every illegal substance. Ring said, "For example, over the counter antihistamines can produce a positive result for amphetamines and some of the less sophisticated tests will show a positive result for opiates after a person has eaten a poppy seed muffin. If you are going to hold someone based on that test, you owe it to that person to train the staff that is going to interpret those tests. The South Dakota DOC would not return calls regarding any information in this article. Roughly 25% of admissions to the SD DOC are due to parole violations. Discretion of those in the Parole Board is the entire basis for re- incarceration, even when a parole plan includes residency in a halfway house with counseling and employment. Again, no figures from the state of South Dakota were made available for those being re-incarcerated for a parole violation. Following a riot in the SD State Penitentiary in 1971, the ACLU compiled a list of recommendations that included having a Native American on the Parole Board and Bob Demery, Hunkpapa Lakota, was appointed to the SD Board of Parole and Pardons by Democratic Governor Richard Kneip. Claiming that this was merely a recommendation and not a requirement, Republican Governor William Janklow removed Demery from the Board. Demery was re-appointed to the Board of Pardons and Paroles by another Republican Governor, George Mickelson, and served on that board from 1990-1994. Demery told Lakota Journal that requirements including stipulations that a parolee have a job and housing lined up before they may be paroled can present a problem when the person's housing happens to be in an area that has upward of 60% unemployment. Figures from the 2,000 census reveal that six of the 10 poorest counties in the United States are in South Dakota and all of those counties are on Indian reservations. For an individual formulating a parole plan, finding jobs, housing, educational opportunities on the reservation presents a practical set of problems that are nearly impossible to overcome. Demery was the only Indian on the parole board at the time of his removal in 1994 by Governor Janklow. Janklow replaced Demery with a non- Indian. Non-Indians on the Parole Board who had completed their appointments remained on the Board, serving beyond their appointments. Once Demery was removed from the Parole Board, no Indians served on the Parole Board. Demery said, "I think it's a sad state of affairs to have no Indian on the parole board when there are problems that are specific to Indian inmates. There is no one on the Board to explain the circumstances the person is facing." Commenting on a Parole Board intentionally comprised of non-Indians, Demery said, "I do not believe Indians can get a fair shake from the Board with no Indians on it." In the meantime, officials in South Dakota refuse to share information for publication. Of all states approached for information to complete this story, South Dakota was the most uncooperative. Copyright c. 2001 Lakota Journal --------- "RE: Indian Country Jails see Increased Numbers" --------- Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 15:35:47 -0400 (EDT) From: IndigenousNews@webtv.net Subj: Indian Country jails see increase Mailing List: Native Rights http://www.indianz.com/SmokeSignals/Headlines/showfull.asp?ID=law/8132001 Indian Country jails see increased numbers MONDAY, AUGUST 13, 2001 The percentage growth of prisoners housed in Indian Country jails outpaced the inmate population nationwide even as state prisons saw a decrease for the first time in nearly three decades, a Justice Department study released on Sunday has found. Jails in Indian Country housed 1,775 inmates at the end of the 2000, according to the study. Compared to statistics from 1999, the Indian prison population grew by about 4.6 percent. The growth surpassed the number of prisoners in federal and state facilities. From 1999 to 2000, the nation's prison population grew by just 1.3 percent. Indian Country prisons saw an jump in numbers while state facilities saw a decline for the first time since 1972. In the last six months of 2000, the state prison population fell by 0.5 percent. The numbers point to a growing trend of incarceration of American Indian and Alaska Natives. Tribal jails are already overcrowded, with most operating beyond capacity. According to the Justice Department, over half of tribal jails during 1998 to 1999 were operating at 100 percent above capacity at any given time. Jails on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and the Fort Berthold Reservation were the most overcrowded. In addition to overcrowding, tribal jails also suffer from lack of funding and understaffing. Of the 69 jails in Indian Country, 67 said they needed more training and 66 said they needed more correctional officers. But incarceration of Natives extends beyond jails on reservations. A study conducted by the Foundation for National Progress, an umbrella organization for the magazine Mother Jones, showed that American Indians and Alaska Natives are being put behind bars in state prisons at increasingly higher rates. In a number of states, Natives are also disproportionately represented in the state prison population. In North Dakota, for instance, 19 percent of prisoners were American Indian and Alaska Native compared to just 5 percent of the general population. In South Dakota, some 21 percent of the prison population was Native. Only 8 percent of the state population is American Indian or Alaska Native. Although the statistics released yesterday point to a leveling off of state prison populations, the rate of incarceration of Americans has increased dramatically over the past decade. In 2000, there were 478 sentenced inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents -- up from 292 in 1990. The average annual inmate growth rate has been 6 percent since 1990. Of the states, 13 reported decreases in population. Five states had increases of 10 percent or more. ===== To send news reports, subscribe or unsubscribe send email to IndigenousNews@webtv.net --------- "RE: Montana Court rules on Indian Paroles" --------- Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2001 08:06:01 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NA PAROLE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?section=local&display= content/local/paroles.inc Court rules on Indian paroles By The Associated Press HELENA (AP) - A state Board of Pardons member familiar with American Indian culture and problems must participate in any parole hearings involving an Indian inmate, the Montana Supreme Court has ruled. In an order signed by four of the seven justices Tuesday, the court said it believes that was the Legislature's intent when it passed a law requiring one of two auxiliary board members be knowledgeable about Indian issues. Such a conclusion is the only logical one that can be reached, even though the law does not contain such a mandate for participation in parole hearings, the court said. "We can think of no other plausible reason for requiring a board member to have knowledge of (Indian) affairs other than for that board member to hear and act on the applications of native Americans, nor has the state offered us any such reason," Justice Jim Regnier wrote for the court. Two justices disagreed and said the majority went too far in presuming what lawmakers intended to do in writing the law. The case involved a petition filed with the court by Donny Ray George, who was sentenced in 1999 to eight years in prison for rape. The court rejected most of his arguments challenging his conviction, sentence and prison conditions, but it agreed that he did not receive a proper parole hearing. George said he was entitled to have Roxanne Wilson, a board member who knows about Indian culture and problems, participate in his parole review. The state countered that nothing in the law creates such a requirement. Rather, it says only that an auxiliary member must be knowledgeable about Indian matters and attends meetings where a regular board member is unable to attend. The Supreme Court agreed with the state about the wording of the law, but said the substance does demand participation of that particular board member when the board considers parole of an Indian inmate. Why else, the court said, would the Legislature impose such a membership requirement on the board. Justice Jim Rice, joined by Chief Justice Karla Gray, said the court has no business using its power to add a provision to the law. The plain meaning of the law is clear, so the court does not have to devise a plausible reason for the Legislature's actions, they said. The effect of the ruling is to put a restriction on the board in conducting parole reviews that legislators never wrote into the law, Rice said. Copyright c. 2001, Associated Press. --------- "RE: Native Prisoner" --------- Date: Tuesday, August 21, 2001 7:11 PM From: "Janet Smith" Subj: Native Prisoner News Tell a Native American Prisoner someone cares! -- - - - Peltier, Leonard #89637-132 Box 1000 Leavenworth, KS 66053 Birthday: 9/12/44 Ancestry: Ojibwa-Lakota -- - - - Date: Friday, August 17, 2001 5:42 PM From: "Catrel" Subj: Requests For WI: I would like to add 2 inmates to the pen pal list in WI please. These guys are quite young, 25 and 30 respectively (both just recently had birthdays), and could use any additional support they can possibly get. Jesse Young #36977 and Gerald Dismounts Thrice #34104 both at: SD State Penitentiary Box 5911 Sioux FAlls, SD 57117-5911 I would also like to request that anyone with experience, knowledge, etc of ICWA please contact me! Thanks!!! Kim --------------------------------- Standing Deer's new address: Robert H. Wilson #640539, Estelle Unit, 264 FM 3478, Huntsville, TX 77320-3322 ---------------------------------- If you know of a Native American inmate who would like to correspond with brothers or sisters on the outside - please drop me a line with whatever information about them they'd like shared. Janet Smith Owlstar Trading Post http://www.owlstar.com owlstar@speakeasy.org --------- "RE: History: Carlisle Indian School" --------- Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2001 09:03:04 -0400 From: Barbara Landis Subj: Carlisle Indian School, August 3, 1888 INDIAN HELPER. [Editorial Note: These reprints are being included in this newsletter so that you might know the mind of those who ran institutions like Carlisle.] THE INDIAN HELPER ----------------------------- ~~ FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS ~~ ============================= VOLUME III CARLISLE, PA. FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 1888 NO. 51 ============================= A MAN of kindness to his beast is kind, But brutal action show a brutal mind: Remember He who made thee, made the brute; Who gave thee speech and reason formed him mute. He can't complain, but God's all-seeing eye Beholds thy cruelty, and hears his cry. He was designed thy servant, not thy drudge; And know that his creator is thy judge. [Selected. ~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~ A DAY IN LONDON. ------- WILLIAMSON'S HOTEL, Bow LANE, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON, July. 12, 1888. DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: - We left summer behind us when we left the dear home-land, and our reception in London, so far as nature was concerned, was chilling in the extreme. With the exception of two or three hours of very doubtful and unwilling sunshine, the rain has dripped upon us ceaselessly since our arrival, and yesterday the highest point the thermometer could register was 55 degrees. However, we expected something of the kind, and one hates to be disappointed. How much can be crowded into a day, when time is precious! On Tuesday we started out after breakfast and walked to St. Paul's Cathedral which is only five minutes' walk from our hotel. All my preconceived ideas of what a cathedral should be were amply realized as I looked up at the great dome and massive pillars, black with age and the London atmosphere, and then stood in the great nave and listened to the silvery bells. We climbed the steps to the "Whispering Gallery," and went round opposite our guide and sat down. Presently he put his lips to the stone-wall, and we heard every word distinctly as he whispered to us an account of the cathedral, though we were on exactly the opposite side of the dome, and 160 feet distant. Afterwards we climbed the winding stairs to the stone gallery outside the dome, from which we had a fine bird's eye view of London. It seemed like almost a solid mass of iron and stone buildings, extending in every direction as far as the eye could reach, broken only by tile the windings of the Thames. Leaving the cathedral we descended to the common-place world and went and had lunch. It seemed a little odd to hear "Two shillin," "six-pence," "thruppence ha'-penny," etc., as values, to be charged six-pence for one tomato, to receive, on the contrary, twice as much beef as America would give us for the same money, and to see so many ladies drinking ale and porter; but the most amusing thing to me is the "Tipping." Ask a bus driver half a dozen questions as you ride along. He will expect a "Tip" when you leave the bus. If you allow your "Grip-sack to go on top of a cab you pay the driver an extra "Tip" for taking care of it. Your waiter in restaurant and hotel, the under steward and waiters on the steamer, the cabby, the "Boots" and a host of others seem ever on the watch for a "Tip" and many will take even "Thruppence" if they can't get more. After about a day of it, one learns to he wary. But lunch is over, and mounting to the top of a London bus by a "winding stair" on the outside, we ride away down Fleet St., and the Strand, through Trafalger Square where is a fine monument to Lord Nelson, and where are to be found, close at hand, the National Gallery, full of paintings by the old masters, the British Museum with its wonderful collection of curiosities, the Chancery court and other law buildings, etc., etc. On through Whitehall, past the Horse Guards, where the defenders of Her Majesty look very fine in their scarlet vests and mounted on horses whose coats shine like satin from much grooming. We pass the Houses of Parliament, and stand reverently before the massive walls of Westminster Abbey. Away back in 616 the Saxon King Sebert built a church on the bank of the Thames and it took the name of Westminster. Afterwards it was enlarged by Edward the Confessor and rebuilt by Henry III. It is in the form of a Latin cross. Nothing except the Tower has given me such an idea of the antiquity of this great city as the blackened walls of this old abbey. Within, one almost forgets that the roar of modern London can he heard within a square. All is silent save the whispers of the crowds and the steady echo of many feet upon the floor. Here in the "Poets Corner" we find a beautiful marble bust of Longfellow, and on it are lying fresh roses, dropped by some loving hand. ______________________________________ (Continued on Fourth Page.) =========================================== The Indian Helper. ----------------------------- PRINTED EVERY FRIDAY, AT THE INDIAN INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, CARLISLE, PA. BY THE INDIAN PRINTER BOYS. --> THE INDIAN HELPER is PRINTED by Indian boys, but EDITED by The-Man-on-the-band-stand, who is NOT an Indian. ----------------------------- Price: - 10 cents a year. ============================== Address INDIAN HELPER, Carlisle, Pa. Miss M. Burgess, Manager. ============================== Entered in the P.O. at Carlisle as second class mail matter. ============================== The INDIAN HELPER is paid for in advance, so do not hesitate to take the paper from the Post Office, for fear a bill will be presented. ============================== LOST- An opportunity of doing a kind act. ========= Thomas Metoxen writes from Wrightstown, Pa. that he has a good place. He and Willie Morgan sat up to look at the eclipse of the moon, and thought it very wonderful. ========= An interesting letter from Nellie Cry gives evidence of happy times while at work away from the school. It is such a good letter that we will have to print a part of it in The RED MAN. ========= There will be one more number in this volume of THE INDIAN HELPER. Now is a good time to send in new names. Cannot each subscriber send one new name and ten cents? ONE? ========= A pleasant letter from Elizabeth Blackmoon, who is at Zion Md., says she is always pleased to get our little paper. Elizabeth is learning to milk, and she says they have 63 turkeys and 200 chickens. ========= Persis Bighair again sends a club of subscribers for the INDIAN HELPER. She forwards more names than any other of our boys and girls in the country, and the Man-on-the-band-stand is very much obliged. ========= Capt. Pratt, who is in Dakota on the order of the Department at Washington attending to Indian business writes front Standing Rock Agency that the Indians of that agency have made remarkable progress in civilization since he was there a few years ago. Some have farms and are this year reaping good crops. ========= Camp Items. On Monday a few of the boys caught some very good si