From gars@speakeasy.org Wed Sep 26 02:22:25 2001 Date: 26 Sep 2001 01:00:00 -0000 From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews09.039 + 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 + + Sho-da-ku-we + O o O + Aunchemokauhettittea + + Un Chota + O o o o o O VOLUME 09, ISSUE 039 O o O + Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse + September 29, 2001 O o O + Ximopanolti tehuatzin, Cree weweopizun/snow goose moon O inin Mexika tlahtolli + Assiniboine wahpegiwi/yellow leaf 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; www.ammsa.com; www.indianz.com; ndn-aim and Rez Life mailing Lists; newsgroups: alt.native,soc.culture.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.'" "My father, you have made promises to me and to my children. If the promises had been made by a person of no standing, I should not be surprised to see his promises fail. But you, who are so great in riches and power; I am astonished that I do not see your promises fulfilled!" "I would have been better pleased if you had never made such promises than that you should have made them and not performed them. ." __ Shinguaconse ("Little Pine") +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! Go to Victor Rocha's Pechanga page http://pechanga.net and note all the aid and support by Native Nations and individuals. Much of it is very substantial. Strangely, MSNBC didn't mirror any of this same list in their list of aid contributors. Mighty white of MSNBC. -- - - - I have seen and heard things that bring sadness. Raping a girl of Islamic faith will not atone for the September 11 attacks. Assaulting a Pakistani grocer will not bring about balance for the deaths in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. These acts will only condemn the attackers' own spirits to an eternity of pain. We all need to remember who we are. We have been given a way of being that is Sacred and beautiful. I would have pulled the switch that started the lethal chemicals flowing into Timothy McVeigh. I will do the same, if asked, to Terry Nichols. I know brothers and sisters who lost loved ones in the Oklahoma City bombing. I pray the ones who participated in the September attacks will feel the circle made complete seven times over. I do not wish harm to one single innocent. -- - - - PLEASE send as soon as possible names and addresses of those who have needs this winter. I am receiving inquiries, and much of last year's list is no longer valid. 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 ---------- - Homer Paul Stands Sr. - AFN Budget cut by Half - Pine Ridge Group - Indian Brook stays off the Water helps in New York - Mi'kmaq Case testing Limits - Navajos in Washington of Treaty Rights cope with Tragedy - Native Protesters - Oneida Indian Nation occupy Tourism B.C. Office offers Resources in Crisis - Ecoffey Named Director - New Report another of BIA's Law Enforcement blow to Government Trust Reform - Officer showed no remorse - Interior Infighting over Shooting hampering Trust Fund Fix - NDP calls on Harris - Monitor lambastes Norton to resign over Ipperwash over Inaction - Vandals Destroy - The diversity of Corn Priceless Indian Pictograph - Alcoholism and - BIA Vehicle Drags Woman 500 Feet its Biological Factors - Saskatoon Police guilty - Chiapas: We Will Die of Hunger of Unlawful Confinement - Sun Peaks Protest Spreads - Aboriginals applaud - Award of Grant to Tribe firing of Saskatoon Cops riles Legislator - Native Prisoner - ABQ Mayoral Challengers -- Inmates Right Violations endorse Paseo Extension - Rustywire: Running Wild and Free - The Case for Hemp - Poem: Hear this Unworthy One - Response to Terrorism - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days to delay Indian Agenda - Upcoming Events --------- "RE: Homer Paul Stands Sr." --------- Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2001 09:37:58 EDT From: ErthAvengr@aol.com Subj: Oglala, SD: The Passing of Homer Paul Stands Sr. Mailing List: ndn-aim http://www.rapidcityjournal.com Homer Paul Stands Sr. "A Life Remembered" OGLALA - As Native Americans, we exchange names and shake hands and somehow connect our relationships with each other, but if you mention Homer Stands, the immediate icon that will come to mind will be Rodeo. As a Native American cowboy, he was a legend in his own time, an icon for the Native Americans and one of the greatest showmen in rodeo. He represented Native Americans with the likes of Casey Tibbs and Jim Shoulders. He was on a mission to put the Native Americans on the front page as an all-around cowboy and did it with no shame. He was one not to follow the crowd, because he stood out alone and made it to the Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame. The rewards were many, and his rodeo pictures are on postcards and hanging on the walls of many establishments, and he won countless numbers of championship rodeo buckles, and the stories go on about his greatness, but he was a humble Native American and gained no riches. He only wanted to put the Native Americans in the front seat of those who care. With all the fame and notoriety, his greatest joy in life was his family. He was aware of the needs and wants of each one, proportioning his love and attention accordingly. Such was the man who lived to be 86 years old. He is survived by his sister, Theresa Blacksmith of Oglala, S.D.; his sons and daughters, Loretta Zimiga of Vermillion, Henrietta Nelson of Vermillion, Frederick Stands of Oglala, Homer Stands II of Minneapolis, Minn., Hazel Stands of Omaha, Neb., Harry Stands of Oglala, Hubert Stands of Oklahoma City, Okla., Victoria Castaway of Sioux Falls, Lyle Stands of Oregon, and Hope Tirado of Sioux City, Iowa; and numerous nieces, nephews and grandchildren. His wife, four sons and one daughter await him in the spirit world. Homer Paul Stands Sr., 86, Oglala, died Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2001, at Rapid City Regional Hospital. A two-night wake will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22, at Brother Rene Hall in Oglala. Services will be at 10 a.m. Monday, Sept. 24, at the hall, with the Rev. Agnes Tyon, the Rev. Ben Tyon and the Rev. Leo American Horse officiating. Burial will be at St. Peter's Episcopal Cemetery in Oglala. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe to this group,send an email to: ndn-aim-subscribe@egroups.com Archived on line at: http://www.eScribe.com FREE LEONARD PELTIER --------- "RE: Pine Ridge Group helps in New York" --------- Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 08:35:07 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PINE RIDGE HELPS" http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/display/inn_news/news04.txt Pine Ridge group helps in New York By Steve Miller, West River Editor PINE RIDGE - More than 20 police officers and emergency-medical personnel from Pine Ridge Reservation helped in the recovery from the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on New York City. Oglala Sioux Tribe Police Chief Marvin Bad Wound said the group was driving back to Pine Ridge on Wednesday. He said 10 police officers, led by Capt. Of Police James Twiss, patrolled and performed other security duties in the New York area. They left for New York on the afternoon after the attacks, arriving last Friday, Bad Wound said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency had asked the Pine Ridge Ambulance Service for help, and the tribal police also decided to send officers, he said. "When we had the tornadoes here a couple of years ago, we had a lot of people come down here to assist us," he added. "We felt we needed to repay the kindness that was shown." Bad Wound said he hoped FEMA would reimburse the tribal agencies for their costs. In addition to Twiss, officers who went to New York are Dennis Martinez, Dustin Baxter, Bernardo Rodriquez, Robert Stover, Terry DeMasters, Lance Fills The Pipe, Dan Crazy Thunder, Keith Grube and Phil Clifford Jr. The ambulance service sent 13 staffers, including director Wendell Youngman, Audrey Shields, a secretary in the ambulance-service office, said. You may call West River Editor Steve Miller at 394-8417 or send e-mail to steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com. Copyright c. 2001 The Rapid City Journal. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Navajos in Washington cope with Tragedy" --------- Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 08:52:10 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NAVAJO COPE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.thenavajotimes.com/National/national.html A `strange and scary feeling' Navajos in Washington cope with tragedy By Nathan J. Tohtsoni The Navajo Times WINDOW ROCK (Sept. 20, 2001) - No one knows for sure how many Navajos reside in New York City and Washington, D.C. - the cities that terrorists attacked in what President George W. Bush calls the "first war of the 21st Century." According to the latest U.S. Census, there are more than 25,000 Native Americans who reside in those cities (a break down of tribal affiliation is not listed). Officially, there has been no word whether a Navajo person was injured or killed in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. President Kelsey Begaye and a delegation of tribal officials were in Washington when the attacks occurred. Finding themselves stranded, they drove home instead of waiting for the airports to open. Rumors speculated that a Navajo was aboard one of the doomed airplanes. A listing of passengers and crew members of the four commercial flights showed no Navajo-sounding names. There has been no confirmation if the rumor is true. Also, the only known Navajo who works in the Pentagon was in Texas the day of the attacks. For only the second time in Navajo Nation government history, all branches were dismissed from work, this time at noon Friday in observance of "National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for the Victims." All branches were dismissed at noon the day of the attack. Michael Riggs, originally of Tuba City, is one of several Navajos who works in the Washington area. He was only one of many affected by that day's events. "It was very frustrating and difficult to know you're a long way from home," said Riggs, senior policy advisor for Congresswoman Barbara Lee, D- Calif. "It was a very strange and scary feeling." Begaye and the Navajo delegation were attending the Tribal Leaders Forum where recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions were discussed. The forum was held Sept. 11 at a hotel near the U.S. Capitol, several miles from the Pentagon. They were scheduled to fly to Albuquerque Thursday. However, since all non-military flights were grounded, they found themselves stranded in the nation's capital. "We started a road trip," said Merle Pete, spokesman for Begaye, as he described how the majority of the tribe's representatives returned home. Pete was in one of three vehicles that departed at 3 p.m. (EST) Thursday. A fourth vehicle departed on Friday. It took the party 35 hours straight to reach Window Rock. Pete added that several people waited out the commercial airline grounding and flew out Saturday and Sunday. Pete said a main reason that Begaye and other tribal officials did not wait out the airline grounding was because of safety concerns in Washington and business that needed to be completed on the Navajo Nation. There had been discussions that two tribal airplanes would pick up the tribal officials and staff, but the Federal Aviation Administration disallowed charter planes from flying. "Who knows when they would let us get back," Pete said. "It was really unreal. I don't know how to else to describe it. It's hard to believe this could happen, then to have it happen right before your eyes. Initially it was hard to believe. It didn't kick in until later on." The only known Navajo person who could have been in harm's way was U.S. Army Major Tracey Clyde, apparently the only Navajo who works in the Pentagon. He was in San Antonio the day of the attack. He has since called family again from the Pentagon assuring them that he's fine, his brother, Victor Clyde of Lukachukai, Ariz., said. Clyde, 34, of Shiprock is the highest-ranking Navajo in the military. Riggs described Sept. 11 as starting out as a "typical day." It was only later that it became what Bush called the day "our nation saw evil." He was on a metro train when the first plane crashed into the first tower at the World Trade Center. He was on the telephone when he saw the second plane crash live on television. Once the third plane crashed into the Pentagon, Riggs said that's when the federal buildings across the city were evacuated. When he got home, he found his answering machine full of messages from home. "It was really quite interesting because they never call," he said. "I was in New York City the Friday before. The World Trade Center is the most prominent fixture. Now to know that they don't exist is really mind- boggling. It's a real surreal feeling." The New York crashes have affected him personally, as a friend of his is unaccounted for. Also, a co-worker lost family members on one of the doomed flights in New York. "It's really devastating to know that someone who you knew died on the planes or is still missing," Riggs said, as he paused before continuing. "We need to try and pull together. There is a lot of outrage. This is a time to unite together and not be against each other," as he mentioned reports that Arab-looking cab drivers have been pulled out of taxis and beaten. Although not as personally affected as Riggs, Pete said the past week has been exhausting. He personally saw the Pentagon from the highway Tuesday evening. A technology conference that Begaye had scheduled in Nevada has been cancelled. Pete said there's no word when the president would be flying commercially. Copyright c. 1999-2001 Navajo Times/Navajo Nation. --------- "RE: Oneida Indian Nation offers Resources in Crisis" --------- Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 06:03:33 -0700 (PDT) From: Paul Pureau Subj: Oneida Indian Nation offers resources in crisis Mailing List: ndn-aim http://www.boston.com/dailynews/261/region/ Oneida Indian Nation offers resources in crisis By Associated Press, 9/18/2001 17:41 ONEIDA, N.Y. (AP) The Oneida Indian Nation has offered its support and resources to help the state recover from last week's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. "We at the Oneida Indian Nation have observed this tragedy and join the world's family of nations now in expressing our sympathies and concerns to you," Oneida representative Ray Halbritter wrote in letters sent last week to Gov. George Pataki and New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. "We write to offer whatever we can assist with, health, human service, and disaster relief aid." The Oneidas also organized a blood drive with disaster relief agencies. __________________________________________________ Terrorist Attacks on U.S. - How can you help? Donate cash, emergency relief information http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/US/Emergency_Information/ 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: New Report another blow to Government Trust Reform" --------- Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 08:29:23 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TRUST FUND" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.indiantrust.com/clips.cfm?news_id=112 New report another blow to government reform of trust fund for Indian lands The Associated Press By: Robert Gehrke Associated Press Writer September 18, 2001 WASHINGTON (AP) _ Government efforts to compile and double-check untold numbers of records documenting billions of dollars in royalties from Indian lands are in disarray, according to a court-appointed investigator. The chaos and delays in putting the information together could significantly delay the push by the Interior Department and Bureau of Indian Affairs to reorganize the management of the Indian trust funds. "Without a major reorganization of the BIA Data Cleanup subproject ... data cleanup and trust reform have no hope of near-term completion," wrote court monitor Joseph S. Kieffer III. In some regions, it could take at least a decade _ and possibly as much as 40 years _ to get the necessary data in order, Kieffer said in his report filed with U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth late Friday. Lamberth is presiding in a lawsuit filed on behalf of more than 300,000 Indian trust fund account holders who claim the government squandered at least $10 billion and possibly many times that amount. The trust funds were established in 1887 to manage royalties from grazing, mining, logging and oil drilling on Indian lands. The government has acknowledged mismanaging the funds and Lamberth has ordered the Interior and Treasury departments and BIA to piece together how much money was lost. The Interior Department and BIA are also in the process of trying to restructure trust management to ensure the money is accounted for in the future. It is the third time that Kieffer has issued a scathing condemnation of BIA and Interior for inaction and misrepresentations to the court. In his first report, Kieffer said the government had not made any progress in 18 months toward meeting Lamberth's demand for a historical accounting. In the second, he said a $40 million computer system designed for future trust management may have to be scrapped. "Put them together, what's left? It's devastation," said Dennis Gingold, the attorney representing the Indian plaintiffs. "They have destroyed the trust." Interior spokeswoman Stephanie Hanna said the department was still reviewing the report and couldn't comment on its specifics. "This administration feels that we are taking the right steps to move forward with comprehensive trust reform," she said. Each separate Indian account has generated mountains of paperwork as titles and rights to land have been charted over more than a century. One plot in Billings, Mont., for example, had generated more than 220,948 documents relating to the title of the land, not including leases and contracts for use of the land. In many cases, only paper copies of the records exist and they have to be entered into a computer system. That is believed to be the case with 75 percent of the documents remaining to be entered into the main computer database, Kieffer said. The records also must be checked for errors or duplication. An early analysis found mistakes in one-third of a sample of documents reviewed Copyright c. 2001 Blackfeet Reservation Development Fund, Inc. --------- "RE: Interior Infighting hampering Trust Fund Fix" --------- Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 08:52:10 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INTERIOR INFIGHTING" http://www.indianz.com/SmokeSignals/Headlines/showfull.asp?ID=law/9202001-6 Interior infighting hampering trust fund fix THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2001 Although the government faces a daunting technical and policy task in correcting more than 100 years of financial mismanagement of the trust fund, internal battles at the Department of Interior are delaying what is owed to an estimated 300,00 American Indians throughout the country, court documents, reports and interviews show. Charged by law to provide an accurate accounting of the funds owed to American Indians, the Interior has been struggling to do just that. Lack of adequate records, outmoded policies and outdated or non-existent computer systems have forced the government to start from square one. But even though top officials say fixing those problems isn't "rocket science" and claim Bureau of Indian Affairs employees are committed to fixing the broken trust, high-level disputes over management, power structure and how to handle the five-year-old Cobell v. Norton lawsuit are hampering resolution. The first indications came in late February, when an appeals court upheld a landmark ruling against the government. Soon after, the BIA's top computer official, who had once managed a $40 million software project now widely seen as a failure, raised serious concerns about the status of trust reform. Dom Nessi's memo lead to outrage among the Cobell plaintiffs and members of Congress. Yet just a month later, Interior officials, including Special Trustee Tom Slonaker and BIA Deputy Commissioner Sharon Blackwell, told a House committee that trust reform was working. The united front belied an internal dispute court monitor Joseph S. Kieffer III has since uncovered in three reports. According to Kieffer, lawyers at the Interior -- along with senior management, including Blackwell -- have repeatedly engaged in battles with Slonaker about the trust fund. According to Kieffer's first report, senior management hatched a now- discarded plan to conduct a statistical sampling of the trust accounts over the objections of Slonaker's office. The plan resulted in a year and one-half of no progress to provide Indian beneficiaries a report of the money they are owed, wrote Kieffer. And when Slonaker tried to present what he considered a more accurate view of the trust reform project, his comments were edited out, according to Kieffer's second report about the Trust Assets and Accounting Management System (TAAMS). The revelation has since led Interior Solicitor Bill Myers, a Bush appointee, to remove two of his attorneys from the trust fund. But Kieffer's recently released report on data cleanup points to trouble at the top. When Slonaker objected to a court-mandated quarterly report now two weeks overdue, Myers subjected him to "criticism and obstruction," said Kieffer. Kieffer also blasts the Interior for the state of communication between Slonaker and his boss, Secretary Gale Norton. Instead of meeting with Slonaker face-to-face about what appear to be serious misgivings about reform, she instead sent him a puzzling letter questioning his obstinance. "The Secretary's letter revealed an apparent lack of direct communications with the Special Trustee and confusion," over his objections, wrote Kieffer. It is a footnote, however, that is more telling: "Would it not have been more expedient for the Secretary to meet with her Special Trustee and the Solicitor to learn of those concerns about trust reform operations rather than write him a letter?" Kieffer wonders. "And why had not the Special Trustee met or talked to the Secretary about his concerns prior to addressing them in the Quarterly Report?" he added. Kieffer goes on to question what Norton has claimed as progress in trust reform. In July, she signed a secretarial order giving Slonaker more power over the project. But, according to Kieffer, the order may do little good due to the conflicts at the Interior. Since Slonaker has not been given direct authority over senior managers, he is unlikely to change the heart of the problem that has delayed justice to the Indian beneficiaries, said Kieffer. "The genesis of the problem stems directly from the senior management," wrote Kieffer, "who have refused to conduct the historical accounting, covered up their mismanagement of TAAMS' development, and failed to effectively address the serious data cleanup issues or provide the management and resources necessary to accomplish that cleanup; all the while providing this Court with overly optimistic and misleading assessments of data cleanup and trust reform operations." Congress has spent $514 million on trust reform and has indicated an unwillingness to dedicate more unless given proof that certain projects are working. Hearings on the trust fund are expected to be scheduled soon. Copyright c. 2000-2001 Noble Savage Media, LLC/Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Monitor lambastes Norton over Inaction" --------- Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 08:14:11 -1000 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NORTON" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,53%257E153783,00.html Monitor lambastes Norton over tribal-money inaction By Bill McAllister Denver Post Washington Bureau Chief Sunday, September 23, 2001 - WASHINGTON - Interior Secretary Gale Norton has been handed another failing grade from the lawyer who has been monitoring her department's effort to clean up the more than 300,000 trust accounts it holds for American Indians. Joseph S. Kieffer of Washington last week handed that assessment to the federal judge who appointed him. Kieffer's highly critical report got little attention because of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. But those who read the 40-page report found that Kieffer had little compassion for the Bush administration's efforts to win more time to address the issues that the Colorado-based Native American Rights Fund of Boulder first raised five years ago in its lawsuit over the accounts. "The cry that "it didn't happen on our watch' can no longer provide a defense for this administration," Kieffer said, sharply attacking Norton's handling of the case. He had questioned her actions in previous reports but had reserved his strongest criticism for the Clinton administration. This time Kieffer quoted the pledges by Norton and Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Neil McCaleb to make trust reform a priority. "The major fallacy in these pronouncements is that the Interior defendants have had time to bring about trust reform," he said. Norton is relying on and defending the same people who advised former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt during the previous administration, Kieffer noted. "If the secretary of Interior and her appointees have asked the right questions . . . that would appear required in light of DOI's and BIA's history of mismanagement and recalcitrance . . . they have been given the wrong answers or choose to ignore the true answers or unquestioningly accepted the absence of any answers." No less than Paul Moorehead, the senior Republican aide on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, appeared to agree with the criticism, Kieffer said. "The Indians' perspective of this administration is that we've done little more than shuffle the chairs on the deck of the Titanic," Moorehead told the monitor. "The luxury of time is not available for this administration," Moorehead said in an interview. While the Clinton administration "lurched from crisis to crisis," Indians expect the Bush administration to resolve the lawsuit, he said. Norton declined to be interviewed, but Stephanie Hanna, her spokeswoman, said the Bush administration soon will respond to the report. "This administration feels we are taking the right steps," Hanna said. Kieffer couldn't disagree more. "The plea that this administration must be given more time to institute its strategies and management plans over trust reforms rings hollow," the monitor said. The underlying problem is that the Bush administration's leaders didn't take enough time to examine the problems before they took office, and they still haven't asked the right questions, Kieffer said. The BIA's inability to manage the trust accounts, which hold funds the government collected for oil and gas leases on Indian lands, has been documented for decades. "The future and some of the past trust reform decisions are the responsibility of the present administration," Kieffer said. "Its representatives have stated they are focusing on the future. But that future has been irrevocably affected by the seven months of this administration's decisions on trust reform. . . ." "Despite all of the Interior defendants' positive public pronouncements, the required high-level political and institutional will to bring about critical internal trust reform management and systems corrections has not been observed to date by most concerned parties," Kieffer said. "Without additional high-level management reorganization and major resource and personnel reallocation and, potentially, other leadership solutions, reform of trust reform . . . will come slowly, if at all." Bill McAllister's e-mail address is bmcallister@denverpost.com. Copyright c. 2001 The Denver Post. --------- "RE: The diversity of Corn" --------- Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2001 11:11:56 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CORN" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.okit.com/diabetes%20conference/corn.html The diversity of Corn: Traditional species vs. today's Sweet Corn By Kent Sannman Mention corn to most people, and they think of a canned or plastic- wrapped vegetable that they buy at the supermarket. Most of them fail to realize how complex a crop corn actually is. In part this is simply the consequence of living in a modern, technological society. For many Indians, it is also the consequence of a few hundred years of cultural degradation, unfortunately at times self-inflicted. One of the most interesting aspects of corn is its diversity. It can be grown in climates as diverse as the tropics of South America to Canada and it comes in a variety of sizes and colors. Everything points to the fact that in the original Indian agricultural systems this diversity was extremely important. Arthur Parker's "Iroquois Uses of Maize" lists a number of different corn varieties grown by the Seneca at the turn of the century. Alford Shackleford also mentions the diversity of corn types grown by the Absentee Shawnee in Oklahoma in his book "Civilization". Both books detail the different traditional dishes that were made and the types of corn preferred for each dish. Most interviews with Indian elders conducted at the turn of the century in Oklahoma list two to four varieties of corn grown by their families. Morgan Wells, a Chickasaw elder from Stonewall, OK, has grown five different corn varieties for a number of years. Although one is an old 19th century commercial variety , the other four are varieties grown by his grandfather in the Chickasaw Nation, I.T. This variety in color, kernel type, growing characteristics etc. is not arbitrary; Indians didn't grow blue corn just because they liked the color. There are almost always reasons for the variations. First, there are the variations in kernel type. Excluding popcorn, there are four general corn types based on their kernel characteristics: flour, flint, dent, and sweet. Flour corn, as the name implies, is suitable for making flour. Flour corn has large, round seeds that are relatively soft. Flint corn, as its name implies has kernels with hard outer coverings. Flint corn traditionally was the type preferred for making sofkee, pashofa and other hominy-type dishes. Dent is sort of a cross between flour and flint- it has the soft, floury center and top of a flour corn with the hard, outer sides of a flint corn. Because of the differing hardness, the sides and the center and top dry at different rate. This causes the top to collapse inward, creating a "dent" in the top of the kernel. Sweet corn has a gene in it that inhibits the sugar in the immature kernels from being converted into starch as in the other varieties. As in most things in life, each type has its own strengths and weaknesses. While its soft, floury kernel makes flour corn ideal for grinding, it also means that the seeds are susceptible to damage and therefore do not store well. Flints, on the other hand, due to their hard outer coating, store extremely well. In addition, the toughness of the kernels extends to the whole plant. Flint corns are very hardy and able to grow quickly and tolerate cold climates. Furthermore, flint corns tend to have higher protein content than other types, which is important since corn tends to be low in protein. Dent is an all-purpose corn and can be used either as a flint or a flour corn. Dent has another virtue in that it tends to out-produce most other types. Sweet corn, because of its high sugar content, was valued for its taste and as an ingredient in several tribes' high-energy travel foods. However, sweet corn is the least hardy type and tends to be the least productive. It is worth noting that in the past Indians tended to prefer flint and flour corns, whereas today almost all commercial corn production in the US is of dent corn with a small amount of sweet corn. Consequently, any attempt to make traditional corn dishes with commercially available corn would only be partial right. Another aspect of diversity is the height of the stalk. One of the supposed advantages of the some of the modern hybrid corns compared to some of the older varieties is that the hybrids have a short stalk. Rather than wasting its energy on the stalk, the corn put its energy in to the ears, thereby increasing production. One of the Chickasaw varieties grown by Morgan Wells and a Chickasaw variety grown by Carl Barnes both can produce very tall stalks; some stalks are at least 12' tall (apparently there is a Cherokee variety that has stalks 15'tall). On the other hand, a red flour corn grown by Morgan Wells consistently produces more ears than the tall, yellow variety and has a short stalk. Obviously, the Chickasaws figured out how to re-direct the energy into the ears rather than the stalk but apparently did not do it to the Morgan's yellow corn and Carl's blue and white corn. Why? As previously mentioned, Indian agriculture was based on diversity, and part of that diversity was inter cropping. As many people know, Indians planted what the Six Nations called the "Three Sisters", corn, pole beans, and squash, together. Pole beans vine, and they do so quite vigorously. Pauline Walker, another Chickasaw elder, stated that the poles they used to cut for the beans were at least 10' tall. It was her least favorite task. However, in talking to her and Morgan Wells, it turns out that their families also occasionally planted pole beans in the corn, and the corn had to have a tall, strong stalk. Consequently, corn with a tall, thick stalk was not "wasting" energy since it was acting as a support to the beans while producing a crop of corn at the same time. The one type of diversity that catches most people's eye is kernel color. There is more to the different colors than just aesthetics. A cup of hybrid yellow dent corn (commercially produced corn is almost exclusively hybrid) has 20% of the Recommend Daily Allowance of Vitamin A, whereas a cup of white dent has less than 1%. Blue corn (the term also covers blue- -and-white varieties) is high in lysine- an important amino acid that is found in very low concentrations in other corns- and has 30% more protein than hybrid yellow dent corn. In addition, it is high in certain important minerals like iron. It is hardly surprising that the Pueblo Indians, who had a diet that was heavily dependent on corn, consider blue corn sacred. They also grow a number of other corns with different colors, as did all the other tribes. While the Pueblos may favor blue corn, from reading and discussions with elders, it seems that the Chickasaws, as well as many of the Creeks, preferred a white flint corn as th eir basic variety. Maybe there is an environmental reason for this difference. Perhaps as important as the corn type to nutrition was the way it was processed. Corn is low in protein and many of the other nutrients in corn, such as niacin, are locked up in a form that does not make them easily digestible. The Indians found a way that overcame these deficiencies in the way they processed corn. In most of North America corn was usually processed with lye or wood ashes and in Mexico and the American Southwest lime was used. Either method had the effect of increasing the amount of available protein, niacin and calcium in the final product. Couple this fact with the fact that Indians usually preferred flint corn, which has high protein content, and seems obvious to me that the Native Americans had a very sophisticated knowledge of how to get the most nutritional value out of corn. Contrast this with the Southern Euro-Americas, who adopted corn as a staple, especially for the poor, but failed to adopt for the most part processing corn with wood ash. The result of thi s was the widespread occurrence of pellagra, a potentially fatal disease, caused by niacin deficiency among the poor in the South. In the mid-20th Century the addition of niacin to flour led to the disappearance of pellagra, but if the Indian example had been followed from the beginning, there would not have been a problem to begin with. Unfortunately, much of this diversity is being lost. In Oklahoma, many of the tribes have lost their traditional crops, or they are being grown by a very small number of people. Although there have been increased efforts to revive and maintain culture and language, it seems that less effort has gone into preserving the agricultural traditions. This is unfortunate since corn was what literally gave many of Oklahoma's cultures life; without corn there would have been no traditions or language since there would have nobody alive to carry them on. With the recent discoveries about the link between diet and diabetes, perhaps this will change and the traditional varieties of corn may once again give life. ===== The topic of traditional seeds and crops will be discussed by Mr. Carl Barnes, one of Kent's mentors, at the upcoming "Return to Your Roots" Diabetes Conference in October. Native American Times is c. Copyright 2000-2001 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: Alcoholism and its Biological Factors" --------- Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2001 11:11:56 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ALCOHOLISM" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.okit.com/diabetes%20conference/alcoholismbiology.html Alcoholism and its biological factors that lead to addiction By Mr. Eric Shirt, Founder of the Poundmaker's Lodge Treatment Center and spokesperson at "Return to Your Roots" Diabetes Conference. "We who have suffered alcoholic torture must believe that the body of the alcoholic is quite as abnormal as his mind. It did not satisfy us to be told that we could not control our drinking just because we were maladjusted to life, that we were in full flight from reality, or were outright mental defectives. These things were true to some extent - but were sure that our bodies were sickened as well. In our belief, any picture of the alcoholic which leaves out this physical factor is incomplete" (emphasis added) Alcoholics Anonymous, p. xxiv Nearly sixty years after the founding members of alcoholics Anonymous first shared this belief, along with their many other seminal insights into the nature of alcoholism and recovery, the field of addictions is gradually moving to embrace the idea of alcoholism as a sickness of mind, spirit, and body in clinical practice as well as in theory. One of the pioneers in this movement is Poundmaker's Lodge. A treatment Center where, after twenty-five years of treating Native alcoholism and other drug addictions in the conventional manner, the treatment program is being re-tooled to incorporate innovative methods of treating the physical dimension of addiction in conjunction with its traditional methods of education, psychological counseling, social rehabilitation, and cultural- spiritual healing - in short, to provide a truly comprehensive approach to the treatment of addiction. What does "treating the physical dimension of addiction": mean? How is it treated? Does it make any difference? To answer these questions we must first understand how addiction treatment ha evolved. The modern era of alcoholism treatment was spawned in the late 1940's by the growing success of alcoholics Anonymous in demonstrating that full recovery from alcoholism was possible. The first organized program of health service designed to treat alcoholism per se was grounded in the philosophy of Alcoholics anonymous and employed treatment methods that were patterned after AA's 12-step program of recovery, consisting of alcohol/drug education, psychological counseling and social rehabilitation services. This form of treatment came to be known as the Minnesota Model and has served as the basic prototype for the majority of alcohol/drug treatment programs (including Poundmaker's Lodge) developed over the past fifty years in North America. While such programs generally pay lip service to the idea of treating alcoholism and drug addiction as a complex sickness for the whole person, actual treatment services tend to focus only on the mental, emotional, behavioral, and spiritual manifestations of the illness while ignoring the underlying physical dimensions of the disease - in effect, to treat addiction as though it were a psychological disorder. To be sure, conventional treatment programs are generally mindful of the serious physical effects of long-term alcohol/drug use in terms of cirrhosis of the liver, cardiomopathy, etc. and, when indicated, refer their clients for appropriate medical treatment. But these are late-stage medical complications/consequences of addiction, just as pneumonia is a late-stage complication of congestive heart disease, rather than physical factors which contribute directly to development of the primary alcoholism or addiction disorder. And that's precisely what the physical dimension of addiction refers to - physical, biological factors that are integral components of the disease process itself. At the time alcoholics anonymous was first published with its bold statement that "the body of the alcoholic is quite as abnormal as his mind," research on the physical/biological mechanisms of addiction was in its infancy and could not yet provide much support for this hypothesis. In the absence of any scientific evidence to specify the nature of this bodily sickness experienced by alcoholics, let alone any notion of what nature of this bodily sickness experienced by alcoholics, let alone any notion of what physical treatment measures might be applied, it is understandable that alcoholism treatment was developed around a strategy of dealing with the alcoholic's most obvious presenting problems, namely self-destructive behavior, irrational thinking, disturbed emotions, and erosion of the spirit. As for whatever might be amiss inside the alcoholic's body, it was generally presumed that once the alcoholic stopped drinking the body would eventually repair itself. Today, however, we now know a great deal about the physical basis of addiction sickness which the founders of AA could only describe in terms of their experience. Over the past two decades, research from various scientific disciplines has produced an ever-expanding body of evidence which not only indicates significant biological factors in addictions of all kinds, but also supports a clinical view of addiction as a primary physical disease. The broadest evidence of biological factors in addiction comes from the field of genetic epidemiology where numerous long-term studies of the offspring of alcoholic parents who were adopted at an early age have shown that the risk for developing certain types of alcoholism is from four to nine times greater than the risk for adopted children of non-alcoholic parents. By far the most significant advances in our understanding have come from research on the biochemistry of addiction. It has become increasingly clear that the primary biological pathways for development of alcoholism and other drug addictions are alterations of normal biochemical processes involving alcohol/drug metabolism in the liver and various neurochemical systems in the brain. For example, the key factor in a genetic predisposition to alcoholism appears to be the presence/absence of a previously unknown liver enzyme, alcohol dehydrogenase II. Those who have this enzyme can metabolize alcohol up to forty percent more efficiently than someone who does not have this enzyme and, as a result, are able to drink very large amounts of alcohol without becoming intoxicated. And therein lies their vulnerability. But not all addictions have a genetic basis; some forms of alcoholism or drug addiction appear to be acquired with a host of behavioral, social and cultural factors operating to influence development of the disease over time. But even in the case of acquired alcoholism or chemical addiction, powerful biological factors clearly operate to insure maintenance of the disease, primarily those resulting form the dynamic effects of alcohol/drugs on the chemistry of the brain. Alcohol and drugs of many kinds set up seemingly paradoxical "rebound effects" in the brain. Once understood, however, these rebound effects are not paradoxical but predictable. Alcohol in large quantities will sedate the person initially but, over time, will result in rebound anxiety and tension that will set up a demand/craving for more alcohol. These opposite rebound effects result from changes in the basic biochemical structure and function of brain cells. In time, the destructive bodily cycle of drug use, change, action and reaction turns into addiction. At this point it matters little whether the alcohol addict, the cocaine addict, or the heroin addict has predetermined or acquired disease - addiction is addiction. The bodily needs for the chemicals have been established and the awesome power of addictive diseases to distort thinking, belief, emotion, personality, and behavior has begun. In sum, we now have an emerging picture of a strong biochemical connection I the development and maintenance of addiction, drawn from a growing body of research which has demonstrated that + Alcohol and drugs destroy many natural chemicals in the body, thereby altering critical processes of body and brain chemistry; + This biochemical damage appears to be an important causal factor not only in producing the physical/bodily symptoms of addiction, but also in the development of many of the mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders that are characteristic of all forms of chemical addiction. To complete this picture of the physical dimension of addiction, numerous studies in the field of clinical nutrition have shown that, in most cases, alcohol/drug-induced damage to body and brain chemistry can be effectively repaired and normal biochemical functioning restored through specifically-formulated regimens of nutrient therapy, i.e. the use of certain vitamins, minerals, and amino acids in prescribed dosages. More importantly, clinical studies on the use of nutrient/biochemical restoration therapy in alcoholism treatment have shown that when these methods are used to treat the underlying physical dimension of addiction, together with traditional psychosocial treatment methods, long-term recovery rates are up to three times higher than those reported by conventional alcohol/drug treatment programs. Specifically, one follow-up study of clients more than three years after treatment found that 74 percent had remained continually abstinent from alcohol and drugs. Moreover, a r emarkable high percentage of these clients (89-98%) were completely free of symptoms such as anxiety, depression, insomnia, and memory problems which often plague alcoholics who have stopped drinking. By comparison, the cumulative evidence of the effectiveness of conventional treatment programs is not very impressive. One comprehensive review of 617 treatment follow-up studies reported that on average only 24 percent of those treated were able to remain abstinent from alcohol for two years, i.e. less than one in four treated by conventional methods achieved stable sobriety. Other evidence suggests that even among those individuals, who do remain abstinent following conventional treatment, many continue to experience a wide range of health problems. Based on current knowledge of the widespread damage to body and brain chemistry caused by heavy use of alcohol and drugs, it is not surprising that relapse and/or continuing health problems are the normative outcomes of a treatment process that essentially ignores this physical aspect of addiction. Such damage is not repaired simply by eliminating alcohol/drugs from the body. Like an automobile engine whose fuel supply has been contaminated by sugar, the resulting damage to various engine parts is not repaired just by cleaning the sugar out of the gas tank. Nutrients essential for regulating critical biochemical processes that have been depleted by toxic chemicals such as alcohol must be replaced in the course of treating the overall disease of alcoholism. If this damage is not repaired, then clients will leave treatment with the same biochemical imbalances they entered with and will soon experience continuing symptoms of addiction in the form of renewed cravings, anxiety, depres sion, digestive disorders, insomnia, disturbed thinking, mood swings, etc. In most cases, the predictable outcome of such incomplete treatment is that the individual will seek a "quick fix" in the form of alcohol/drug use and/or other obsessive-compulsive behaviors such as gambling that can provide some measure of relief. Nutrition-based treatment services alone do not offer any magical solutions to the complex problems of alcoholism and other addiction. Rather, they provide a clinically proven approach to addressing the underlying physical dimension of addiction as an essential component of the addiction healing process, one that has too long been neglected in our established system of alcohol/drug treatment. [Mr. Shirt will be speaking on this subject at our "Return To Your Roots" Diabetes Conference to be held in October.] Native American Times is c. Copyright 2000-2001 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: Chiapas: We Will Die of Hunger" --------- Date: Sun Sep 22, 2001 1256 From: William McLaughlin Subj: Chiapas: "We Will Die of Hunger" Newsgroups: alt.native, soc.culture.native La Jornada Tuesday, September 18, 2001. "We Will Die of Hunger" Without Red Cross Committee Aid Say Chenalho' Displaced Elio Henri'quez, correspondent San Cristo'bal de Las Casas, Chiapas. September 17. Indigenous from the municipality of Chenalho', displaced from their communities, asked the International Committee of the Red Cross (CICR) to reconsider its decision to reduce their humanitarian aid deliveries because, if they do not, "we are going to die of hunger." Pedro Gomez Herna'ndez, one of the leaders of the displaced and of the civil organization Las Abejas, stated: "What they're giving us (the CICR) already isn't enough, sometimes we eat just vegetables and beans, and there are days when we don't eat anything, because we don't have any money and we can't buy anything." The Tzotzil, who, along with his other companeros located in the camp at X'oyep last week, is receiving only 50% of their CICR food aid. He added: "We are asking for more humanitarian aid, because we've already seen that what they're giving us isn't enough." Meanwhile, Antonio Va'zquez Gomez, another of the group's leaders, said, regarding the reduction in food aid being distributed by the International Red Cross, "it's as if they're pulling back, not all at once, but little by little the humanitarian aid is being reduced." He said: "Before we received the aid every 15 days, but now it's once a month, that is, we're only receiving half of what they gave us before. That's why the displaced are concerned, because it doesn't last now." He stated that those affected are the 333 indigenous who returned on August 28 to Yaxjemel, Puebla and Chuchtic, since they "they arrived with their hands almost completely empty, and they haven't found anything. They're very worried, because they don't know what to do." In response to the situation, he called on "companeros of good will from non-governmental organizations and the companeros of the International Red Cross to continue giving us that humanitarian aid so we can survive." Va'zquez Gomez asserted that it is the children who are suffering the most among the displaced. "Some of them are malnourished, and they need a better variety of foods, and also the pregnant women, they should have enough food so that they can be strong and so the baby can grow." He stated that more medical care is also needed in the X'oyep camp because "the Red Cross has already said that the doctors are only going to be coming on Tuesdays." The CICR confirmed that, beginning in August, the distribution of food aid to the Chenalho' displaced had been reduced by 50% after a group of experts sent from Switzerland had made an evaluation of the current conditions of this group of indigenous, who have been receiving assistance from that body since 1998. ------------------------------ WILLIAM MC LAUGHLIN vagabond@voicenet.com Affiliation: Card-carrying member of the Whiteboy Tribe Indian Name: Running Joke Power Animal: Brontosaurus (mine's bigger!) ----------------------------------------------------- I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested. ---Gen. Smedley Darlington Butler, U.S.M.C. - 1933 --------- "RE: Sun Peaks Protest Spreads" --------- Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 08:35:07 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SUN PEAKS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://vancouver.cbc.ca/editorServlets/View?filename=bc_sunpeaks010919 Sun Peaks protest spreads Kamloops, B.C. - Native protesters opposed to the Sun Peaks ski resort expansion are handing out pamphlets outside Crown lands offices in Kamloops, Vancouver and Victoria. The Native Youth Movement is also planning to set up a new protest camp on Mt. Morrissey near Kamloops to stop ski hill expansion. Spokesperson Amanda Soper says her group will protest peacefully and legally to stop the ski hill development. "We have our winter camp that we set up last year," she says, "the one that was taken down when the elders were arrested. We have that camp and we're planning to put it up there on the lift." Sun Peaks spokesperson Chris Rogers says the protesters cannot go into that area of Mt. Morrissey, because the area is under construction and is closed off to the public. Soper and other protesters already face several criminal charges for past protests at Sun Peaks. Copyright c. 2001 CBC. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Award of Grant to Tribe riles Legislator" --------- Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 08:52:10 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="COEUR D'ALENE GRANT" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/daily/20010920/LocalNews/159780.shtml Award of grant to tribe riles legislator The Associated Press COEUR D'ALENE -- A state lawmaker who has opposed American Indians in the past and has been criticized for a racial gaff is now protesting the award of an economic development grant to the Coeur d'Alene Tribe. "The tribe made 20 million dollars off the casino last year, and we the State, or should I say we the taxpayers, through the Department of Commerce, gave half a million dollars of taxpayer dollars as a gift and nothing more," Rep. Dick Harwood of St. Maries wrote in a letter to Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and others. "This is pure politics in its finest form," Harwood wrote, claiming that the tribe is constantly challenging the state. "So why are we constantly catering to the tribe?" The tribe was among several entities receiving a $500,000 grant, which it will use to upgrade its strawboard plant in Plummer. Worley Mayor Charlene Waddell said Harwood, "stuck his foot in his mouth," and tribal Chairman Ernie Stensgar accused Harwood of trying to generate "anti-Indian prejudice." The letter, Stensgar charged "has lowered the level of discourse on an important issue to childish mudslinging and name-calling. I am confident that Idaho citizens will see his unfounded remarks for what they are and turn a deaf ear to his inflammatory political rhetoric." Harwood was among the lawmakers last winter to reject a proposal to eliminate the word "squaw" from Idaho place names, and he drew the wrath of human rights activists when he used the phrase, "Jew 'em down," in reference to negotiations over a bill. He complained that the development grants were intended to create taxpaying jobs, and "the tribe does not pay any taxes." But while tribal members pay no state income tax, the tribe employs roughly 500 non-Indians, who all pay taxes. At the strawboard plant, Stensgar said, most of the workers are non-Indian. The tribe also pays yearly property taxes of about $35,000 and has poured millions of additional dollars into infrastructure, education and economic development in the region. Copyright c. 2001 The Idaho Statesman. --------- "RE: ABQ Mayoral Challengers endorse Paseo Extension" --------- Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 08:14:11 -1000 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PASEO" http://www.indianz.com/SmokeSignals/Headlines/showfull.asp?ID=3Denv/9242001 http://www.abqjournal.com/paperboy/text/news/453504news09-22-01.htm Saturday, September 22, 2001 ABQ Mayoral Challengers Endorse Paseo Extension By Rebecca Szymanski Journal Staff Writer Even though extending Paseo del Norte through the Petroglyph National Monument has the support of all but one Albuquerque mayoral candidate, any effort to do so would likely be challenged. Plans to extend Paseo through the monument have been in the works for years. However, Mayor Jim Baca has opposed the controversial road project and has kept it stalled. A 1998 bill signed by President Clinton allowed for extending the road about 1,200 feet through the monument. Baca is not alone in his position. Opposition remains strong among several groups for environmental, cultural and religious reasons. And legal action is possible if construction were to begin. Sandia Pueblo Gov. Stuwart Paisano said the pueblo strongly opposes the extension because of cultural and religious sites within the monument's boundaries and if they "do start construction we would talk among our council to stop it or file a lawsuit." State Rep. Bill Fuller, R-Albuquerque, whose district covers the northwest corner of Bernalillo County, has said the cost for extending both Paseo del Norte and Unser Boulevard is about $78.4 million, although that figure is a little over a year old and he expects costs now would be higher. Paseo is proposed to bisect the monument in an 8.7-acre corridor and connect to Unser. President Clinton in 1998 signed a bill removing the corridor from the monument, giving the city the authority to decide whether to build the road. Extending Unser from Paradise Boulevard north to the Bernalillo-Sandoval County line would cost $7 million, and extending Paseo south to Dellyne Avenue would cost $45.4 million, he said. Extending Paseo from Golf Course to Unser would cost $17.9 million. These figures do not include extending Unser to the southeast corner of the Ventana Ranch development, Fuller said. "I think it's symbolic of sprawl and symbolic of violating cultural things," Baca said. Residents now have a beautiful view of the Sandias because 30 years ago the "old city commission decided they would not allow people to build above a certain grade," according to the mayor. He wants the Petroglyph area to remain undisturbed as well. Baca said deficiencies on existing roadways need to be fixed. "The last thing we want to do is suck money from these other projects," Baca said. A number are under way or planned, including widening Irving Boulevard from two to four lanes from Chantilly Road to Golf Course; widening Golf Course from Paradise Boulevard to Irving and from Irving to Westside Boulevard; extending McMahon Boulevard from Coors Bypass to Unser Boulevard; and extending Westside Boulevard from N.M. 528 to Golf Course. The rest of Albuquerque's mayoral candidates favor the roadway project: Alan Armijo said he would begin seeking funds during the next budget cycle. "It may take two bond cycles to get the money. It will take time. What will happen in the next four years is just getting the process going," Armijo said. "Depending on the gross receipts taxes and bonding, we might be able start in three years, but it is not likely. Any project that big takes time." Bob Schwartz said "ultimately it may become essential that we build Paseo," but he wants to determine first the type of road that needs to be built. There are a number of other projects that also need to be completed to ease traffic congestion, he said. Golf Course needs to be widened from Southern Boulevard in Rio Rancho to Paradise Boulevard, Unser needs to be completed so it meets Interstate 40, and Monta=F1o Bridge needs to be re-engineered to allow for emergency vehicles. Paradise Boulevard also needs to be widened, he said. Martin Chavez said if funding is available, the Paseo project could be completed by the end of his term. If elected, he plans to meet with the City Council on the matter after the election, to look at available revenue and then "to start making decisions. It's past time to get moving on it. We have tremendous opportunities with employers like Eclipse Aviation that we need to address," Chavez said. He said he would try to secure city, state and federal funds. Eclipse Aviation Corp., an aircraft manufacturing firm, relocated to Albuquerque from Scottsdale, Ariz., last year. The firm is temporarily housed at the Albuquerque International Sunport, but plans to move to the West Side's Double Eagle Airport in 2005. Eclipse is expected to employ about 2,000 employees when it reaches full production in 2007. Baca has said the firm does not want residential development within several miles of the airport. Private land near the east and west boundaries of the monument already has been subdivided for housing. Rick Homans supports extending both Unser and Paseo and believes they are among the most urgent issues the city is facing. Work would begin on Unser first, he said, if he were elected mayor. "The West Side to me is in a state of crisis when it comes to transportation. It's a life and death issue when you have roads as congested as they are," Homans said. "It's going to take city, state and federal monies to make it happen and will require working closely with the governor, the congressional delegation, particularly Sen. Domenici and the City Council. I believe with a new mayor the will is there among just about everyone to get this done as quickly as possibly," Homans said. James Lewis said he would try to assemble representatives from the city, county, state, tribal and federal offices to work on the project. He said he is not sure when construction could begin. "There are too many intangible variables," Lewis said. Mike McEntee said he believes construction could begin within three years of his taking office. He said he would earmark $10 million each year for the first two years and then "would reprioritize our general obligation bond funding and get back to spending on needed infrastructure." McEntee said he has identified $40 million in waste and mismanagement in the yearly budget and would take the $10 million from that. Judith Cordova, superintendent of Petroglyph National Monument, said some of the groups opposed include the Albuquerque-Bernalillo League of Women Voters, the All Indian Pueblo Council, the Sage Council, the National Parks and Conservation Association, and environmental groups. Copyright c. 2001 Albuquerque Journal --------- "RE: The Case for Hemp" --------- Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 07:58:24 -0700 From: "Jess Hansen" Subj: "The case for hemp" Mailing List: ndn-aim http://www.indiancountry.com/?article=313 September 19, 2001 "The case for hemp" By: WINONA LaDUKE / Guest Columnist "The federal government should grant a waiver to Native nations which seek to legalize the production of industrial hemp. The August raid on the Pine Ridge hemp crop on the White Plume Tiospaye land, illustrates a shameful era in the Drug Enforcement Agency. Over the long term, the DEA's policies and actions set back the economic, environmental, and public health needs of not only Native America, but also the broader American community. Many Native nations, including the Oglala Lakota, Navajo, and Saginaw Chippewa, to name a few, have expressed an interest in industrial hemp production. Natives are not the only ones interested in the benefits of industrial hemp. More than a dozen state legislatures are discussing industrial hemp production. Now would be the time for the Bush administration to move forward in supporting what will be the crop of the future. Consider the irony of this situation. Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota has been deemed by statisticians as the economically poorest area in the United States. The average median income on the reservation is $2,600 per year, one fifth the national average. The unemployment rate is at 84 percent, and some 69 percent of all residents are below the poverty line. Hundreds of tribal members are homeless, and most live in overcrowded and substandard housing. Jobs are far away. Many residents have to travel l20 miles round trip to work in Rapid City, and even then most jobs are minimum wage. Now consider the alternatives. Native America could cash in on the $l00 million plus, hemp food industry. Add that to the 2 million pounds of hemp fiber imported in l999, not including a pretty substantial market for already produced hemp clothing (imported from countries like China, Hungary, Poland and Romania). Then, there is the growing interest in hemp both as a fiber source for paper and a possible source for building materials. Hemp can be transformed into everything from insulation to something like the "hempcrete" building constructed at Slim Buttes on Pine Ridge. In a letter to U.S. Attorney for South Dakota Michelle Tapken, Oglala Tribal President John Yellowbird Steele, reiterated the irony of the situation. "The Controlled Substance Act of l970 did not divest the Lakota people of our reserved right to plant and harvest whatever crops we deem beneficial to our reservation, nor did the Act abrogate Congress' ratification of the reserved rights . Therefore, we regard the enforcement of our hemp ordinance and prosecution of our marijuana law. tribal matters to be handled by our Oglala Sioux Tribal Public Safety Law Enforcement." "We ask for your government's compassion as we try to ease the pain of our poverty through hemp manufacturing . World War II, your government signed contracts with members of the Pine Ridge Reservation to grow industrial hemp for your war effort. In other words, when your government needed the benefits of growing hemp to aid your war effort, and encouraged its growth on the reservation, we supported your government by doing so. Now my nation needs to grow industrial hemp to aid our efforts at becoming more self- sufficient. We would appreciate your support in our endeavors.." This is not a new crop. For at least l2,000 years, hemp has been grown for fiber and food. Many of the U.S. founding fathers grew hemp, including both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Benjamin Franklin owned a mill that made hemp paper, and Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence on hemp paper. Although industrial hemp is taxonomically classified under the same name as marijuana, Cannabis Sativa, industrial hemp has less than l percent THC, the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. As it turns out, however, you wouldn't want to smoke industrial hemp. It would take about a bale to get you high, and then you'd pass out anyway. Industrial hemp is to marijuana what non-alcoholic beer is to beer. They are related, but that is about it. Hemp's versatility and the fact that almost the entire plant can be used has made it a thriving crop throughout the world. Hemp seeds are the richest known source of polyunsaturated essential fatty acids and are high in some essential amino acids, including gamma linoleic acid (a very rare nutrient also found in mother's milk). Hemp fiber is considered useful for many products, ranging from car parts to rope to alternatives to gasoline. The energy production potential itself should excite the combustion happy Bush administration. Even the forest products industry sees hemp as an excellent option for the future. Kimberly Clark has a mill in France that produces hemp paper, where it is preferred for Bibles, both based on its longevity, and on its ability to retain its whiteness. The crop also has environmental benefits with regards to paper production. Hemp has a low lignin content, allowing it to be pulped using fewer chemicals, especially chlorine bleach, a leading cause of dioxin contamination in the environment. One large paper company with a Fox River, Wis., mill suggested that if hemp could be grown in Wisconsin, they would use it for up to 45 percent of their feedstock at the mill within five years. Another huge paper company plans to move up to 90 percent of its world feedstock to non- forest sources within 10 years, and sees hemp as a major component of that plan. The reality is if the company can't grow hemp in the United States, it will grow it elsewhere. U.S. Department of Agriculture projections soft peddle the market for hemp and its viability. The department suggests it is, "a small, thin market" and that a few large farms could produce the amount of annually imported hemp fiber. The USDA, however, does note that hemp production, in eastern North Dakota, for instance, would yield (according to l998 estimates) around $74 on the average per acre in net returns, compared to an average of $38 for corn or 86 cents an acre for sunflowers. USDA estimates of hemp's viability fail to consider the growing worldwide demands for alternatives to wood fiber, in everything from the paper industries to building industries. And indeed, there are industrial hemp supporters inside the USDA. Jeff Gain, chairman of the board of USDA's Alternative Agricultural Research and Commercialization Corp., says, "We must have diversity, and crops like hemp that grow without pesticides." Other organizations are optimistic and hopeful. The Institute for Local Self Reliance reported that l999 hemp yields averaged 800 pounds per acre (roughly four times as much fiber as wood per acre), and had gross earnings of $308 to $4l0 per acre compared t. $l03 to $137 per acre for wheat and canola. It is perhaps those figures which have driven a multitude of interests to seek alternatives. March 23, 200l, marked the third anniversary of a petition signed by more than 200 organizations asking the Drug Enforcement Agency to decriminalize industrial hemp production in the United States. Decriminalizing industrial hemp is the way of the future. The sovereign status of Native nations raises questions about the application of DEA regulations in the face of tribal ordinances. The need for alternative economies in Indian country supports the need for change. As DEA officials chopped away at the White Plume hemp crop, Alex White Plume, " .told the plants to be brave and strong and come back again next year." Let us hope they do." Copyright c. 2001, Indian Country Today --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 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: Response to Terrorism to delay Indian Agenda" --------- Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2001 07:56:29 -1000 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="AGENDA ON HOLD" http://www.indianz.com/SmokeSignals/printme.asp?ID=pol/9252001-1 Response to terrorism to delay Indian agenda TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2001 As the United States enters what President Bush says will be a sustained war against terrorism, Indian Country issues will be falling off the national agenda, congressional aides and government watchers said. A set of legislative priorities key lawmakers had hoped to act upon during the fall session are now being reshuffled, legislative aides noted. The strong sense of bipartisanship that has emerged in response to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon will be directed towards more pressing concerns of defense, national security and the economy, they added. Bills addressing education and energy development are among those that will be delayed, said a spokesperson for Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R- Colo.), the chief architect of Indian legislation and vice chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee. "In candor, a lot of things are going to come down to a priority list," said Paul Moorehead. "Trust reform, Indian energy development, education - - for obvious reasons they are not going to get the attention." "This is where we are." The September 11 attacks had an almost immediate impact on Congress' schedule. The Indian Affairs committee has delayed a joint hearing on energy, which has been a top priority of Assistant Secretary Neal McCaleb, with no word on when it will be rescheduled. An oversight hearing on the trust fund debacle was also being arranged by members of the House. It was soon canceled as lawmakers moved to rally by the President's side. Elouise Cobell, a Blackfeet Nation of Montana banker who is the lead plaintiff in the five-year-old trust fund lawsuit, had been invited to attend, said her lawyer. Dennis Gingold acknowledged that further delays to justice his clients have been seeking for decades was unfortunate but entirely understandable. "No matter how strongly we feel about other issues," said Gingold, "clearly, [America's response to the attacks] has to take priority." For Indian Country, being ignored is nothing new. In hearings the Indian Affairs Committee began holding earlier this year, tribal leaders repeatedly told lawmakers of the historic neglect that has negatively impacted their communities. But as the budget for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service, along with programs at other federal agencies, increased during the Clinton administration, many expressed hope for continued support. And with the Democratic take-over of the Senate, environmental, educational and funding, benefits to Indian Country were expected. Along with a slipping economy and forecasts predicting tighter federal budgets, the terrorist attacks appear to have worsened the outlook for Indian issues. Still, tribal leaders have responded with an outpouring of support, including nearly $2 million in money, goods and services, to help the nation recover. Copyright c. 2000-2001 Noble Savage Media, LLC/Indianz.Com --------- "RE: AFN Budget cut by Half" --------- Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2001 07:56:29 -1000 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="AFN BUDGET" http://www.ammsa.com/windspeaker/topnews-August-2001.html#anchor186950 AFN reeling, budget cut by half By Paul Barnsley Windspeaker Staff Writer OTTAWA The Assembly of First Nations will have to operate this fiscal year on about half of the money it received last year. The Department of Indian Affairs (DIAND) has cuts AFN funding to $12 million from $19.8 million last year. Sources say a variety of programs and positions are in jeopardy and morale is low. Several officials have said the quality of service provided to First Nations by the national organization is already suffering. AFN staff believes the funding reduction is a direct response to the chiefs' decision to not participate in Indian Affairs Minister Robert Nault's governance consultations. Pressure created by the funding cuts has led to open political warfare on at least one front. Informed sources across the country expect a bitter debate on governance during the AFN's annual general meeting in Halifax from July 17 to 19. Several reliable sources have confirmed the AFN turned down $2 million in funding when the chiefs refused to participate in the consultation process. It appears many members of the AFN executive are having second thoughts about that decision. The AFN executive is made up of the national chief, the regional vice-chiefs and the chairman of the AFN's Council of Elders, who serves in an advisory capacity. When British Columbia vice-chief Herb Satsan George released his quarterly report to the chiefs in his region on June 25, it included a plea for support to back away from AFN resolution 15/2001, which called for the boycott of the governance consultation process. "In B.C., many First Nations and First Nation organizations expressing considerable concern about the AFN's position have approached me. Some are even willing to dismiss the AFN completely in order to engage [DIAND] themselves in order to protect their interests. Not only could this result in dividing First Nations to the point where DIAND would quite successfully accomplish its objectives, it would render the AFN useless as an effective advocate and protectorate of our interests," George wrote. "As a result, I am working with the national executive, B.C. tribal leaders and provincial organizations to seek a way to resolve the difficult impasse that we have found ourselves in. An approach that we are pursuing is to seek approval from the chiefs at the Annual General Assembly in Halifax to have the national executive take some leadership by establishing a negotiations strategy on governance and directly engage the minister on this initiative." Penticton Indian Band Chief Stewart Phillip, who is president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC), delivered a sharp reprimand to the vice-chief in a letter dated July 4. "In our opinion, you and possibly the entire AFN national executive, are in 'willful breach' of a national mandate as per the AFN Charter and could be subject to disciplinary measures," Phillip wrote to George. "[F]rom the content of your quarterly report, it is obvious that you are actively undermining and backtracking on AFN resolution 15/2001, regarding AFN's 'Response to Proposed First Nations Governance Act.'" The only disciplinary measure described in the AFN Charter is removal from office. Phillip was angered by what he saw as an attempt by the vice-chief to suggest in the report that the UBCIC was in favor of this initiative. The UBCIC president made it clear he expects the AFN executive, of which George is a member, to follow the political direction provided by the member chiefs at the May Confederacy of Nations, held on the Musqueam First Nation near Vancouver, and continue the boycott. Phillip rejected George's assertion the boycott was failing, undermined by First Nations that have broken ranks and agreed to participate in the governance consultation process. "Secondly, your quarterly report points to those First Nations/First Nation organizations that are participating in Minister Nault's consultation process, such as those from the Alberta and Saskatchewan regions, as 'diminishing the impact of a national boycott.' "Our information is that not all of the First Nations in those regions are participating in Nault's process. In addition, you fail to mention those First Nations/First Nation organizations who have formally refused to participate in Nault's bogus consultations, such as the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, the Interior Alliance, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, the Chiefs of Ontario and the Atlantic Policy Congress. In terms of numbers, those opposed to Nault's 'governance' consultations appear to be a significant bloc constituting a probable majority," he wrote. "In our view, your efforts to undermine AFN Resolution 15/2001, will only serve to help Minister Nault and not the First Nations you purport to represent. There is nothing stopping the First Nations Summit from approaching Minister Nault directly outside of AFN, and obviously there are already some First Nations/First Nation organizations that have no qualms about doing so. We know that Minister Nault has 'champions' for his legi slative initiatives among us." A legal opinion by Ottawa lawyer Dave Nahwegahbow, posted on the AFN Web site, advises against AFN participation in the consultations, Phillip reminded George. "The greatest threats posed by this proposed legislation to Aboriginal and treaty rights are twofold: first, AFN or First Nation participation in its development and enactment could constitute or contribute to legal justification for infringement of such inherent rights; and secondly, it will divert focus from and pre-empt the actualization of, the inherent right of self-government," the lawyer wrote. "First of all, it is clear, that this process and potential legislative changes to the Indian Act have implications in regard to Section 35 existing Aboriginal and treaty rights. It is impossible to determine in advance, the exact impact of this legislation on First Nations. The nature and scope of Aboriginal and treaty rights are unique to each First Nation. The Supreme Court of Canada has concluded that each First Nation's Aboriginal and/or treaty right should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. As a result, the proposed legislation may affect the rights of different First Nations differently." In plain English, Nahwegahbow advised the chiefs that participation in the governance consultations could put First Nations in a position where they would provide the ammunition that would help the federal government score a decisive victory in the most fundamental area of dispute between First Nations and the Crown - the First Nations' inherent right to govern themselves. Phillip closed his letter by quoting from the AFN charter, reminding George that members of the executive can be removed from office if they fail to follow the instructions of the chiefs in assembly. Those instructions are given in the form of resolutions passed during chiefs' assemblies. Five different sources have told this publication the AFN executive is bitterly divided over this issue. The same political contacts all mentioned the rumor that impeachment proceedings against the executive and/or the national chief may be raised at the Halifax annual meeting. Two of those sources say it's rumored the Atlantic Policy Congress (APC) will seek to launch the impeachment action. J.J. Bear, communications officer for the APC, was asked to confirm or deny the rumor. "I haven't heard anything personally. Actually, even if I did know something, it would be something that I'd maybe keep secret. But as far as I know, I haven't heard anything," he replied. Reached by phone on July 10, Chief Phillip said he has no plans to start any kind of disciplinary action against George or any member of the AFN executive. He said he wrote the letter because he felt they needed to be reminded he - or any other chief - could do so if the executive members lose sight of their responsibilities to the chiefs. "No, no, no. Absolutely not. Had we considered that, there would have been a draft resolution attached to the letter," he said. "Herb and I have enjoyed a friendly, cordial relationship for as long as I've known him. This isn't a personal issue. In a sense, it was Herb that attached his name to the proposal. But we suspect it was the brainchild of the executive. It's really the executive here that we're serving notice on." This is not the first time the B.C. chiefs have felt the executive has failed to follow a resolution, he said. "The focus isn't on discipline as much as raising the concern that springs not only from this particular instance," he explained. "You may recall back in '99 when the AGA was held in Vancouver in conjunction with the National Congress of American Indians. The Delgamuukw implementation strategy resolution was fiercely debated over the space of two days and it went through with over 70 per cent support. In the months that followed, Chief Art Manuel wrote (former national chief) Phil Fontaine a number of letters asking for action to be taken on that resolution and, basically, we were stonewalled. Here we are, three AGAs later, still talking about the Delgamuukw implementation strategy. It's been argued and debated through a number of Confederacy meetings and AGAs and yet the organization isn't prepared to resource it. "If you look at the letter, that's the substance and essence of our complaint. We formulate resolutions through discussions with our constituents. We take those resolutions to the various meetings of the AFN. We put them on the floor and we debate and have succeeded in having the resolution passed. And it's at that point that we take issue with the actions of AFN, particular with the executive committee who seem to pick and choose what resolutions they want to support. We find it to be very inappropriate for the executive to tamper with resolutions and manipulate them and reshape them to their own liking." Phillip believes the financial trouble the AFN is facing because of the budget reduction is the reason the executive members are looking to change the strategy. "I think it is. Understand that the AFN is in dire financial straits. There's no question if they were authorized to involve themselves in the governance initiative they would be able to access substantial funding to undertake that involvement," he said. Although he has not yet received a response from George or any member of the executive, Phillip has heard that the letter has had an effect. "I heard through the grapevine that this letter hit the executive table last week and there was a lot of deep concern about it," he said. The UBCIC president doesn't blame the national chief for this situation. "Quite frankly, I think the entire organization needs to be tuned up. We've been struggling with this for a number of years. And when I talk about struggling with this, I'm referring to how the executive seems to have an inordinate amount of power," he said. Many people believe the structure of the AFN makes the organization incapable of allowing the man the chiefs select as their national leader to actually lead. Phillip agrees. "I know. It's really evident here. Matthew's statements have been completely consistent with the resolution that was passed at the Squamish rec centre in North Van and yet here we're getting this proposal put forward by the executive," he said. Windspeaker: Canada's National Aboriginal News Source. Copyright c. 1983-2001 by The Aboriginal Multi-Media Society (AMMSA). --------- "RE: Indian Brook stays off the Water" --------- Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2001 11:11:56 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INDIAN BROOK" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://novascotia.cbc.ca/editorServlets/View?filename=ns_fishing210901 Indian Brook stays off the water WebPosted Sep 21, 2001 5:10:20 AM EDT Tom Murphy has the story Shubenacadie, N.S. - "We're not fishing." -- Reg Maloney The chief of the Indian Brook First Nation near Shubenacadie says his fishermen will be staying on dry land for another season. Reg Maloney says the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has seized too many of his boats and traps in Saint Mary's Bay to make fishing worthwhile. Maloney says fishing discussions with the DFO have stopped. "We're not fishing," he said. "Unless the government comes out and recognizes that we can fish under our treaty unmolested like the treaty says we could, we won't be fishing." Maloney says Indian Brook's civil case is still making its way through the courts. The band is seeking damages from Ottawa for lost fishing revenue. Meanwhile, the federal case against Indian Brook fishermen was back in court Friday. Twenty-three Indian Brook fishermen have been charged with fishing out of season and without licences. Those charges arose out of incidents in Saint Mary's Bay during the summer of 2000. Friday a Nova Scotia provincial court judge turned down a request to jump straight to the constitutional issues of the case. "Well it is always frustrating," says Bruce Wildsmith who respresents the fishermen. "But that's the ruling, so we'll just have to get on and do what we have to do." The next step is a trial in early November. But first, the court must decide if the fishers will be tried together, or one at a time. Copyright c. 2001 CBC. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Mi'kmaq Case testing Limits of Treaty Rights" --------- Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2001 07:56:29 -1000 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TREATY RIGHTS" http://www.indianz.com/SmokeSignals/printme.asp?ID=fn/9252001-1 Case testing limits of treaty rights TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2001 The limits of the treaty rights of Mi'kmaq fishermen in Canada are again being tested with a forthcoming lawsuit and a set of criminal prosecutions recently approved by a judge. The Indian Brook First Nation of Nova Scotia is preparing to file a lawsuit that will challenge the federal government's attempts to regulate what Chief Reg Maloney considers an aboriginal right. Under a 1760 treaty and a 1999 Supreme Court decision, Maloney says band members should be allowed to fish and trap lobster without federal interference. A provincial judge's decision to allow the prosecution of 23 Indian Brook fishermen may help, or hurt, the argument -- depending which way the case goes. Last Friday, Judge Jean Louis Batiot set a November 5 date for a trial against the men, accused of violating federal law by trapping lobster out of season. In their defense, the fishermen will question limits placed on their court-affirmed treaty rights. The Department of Fishers and Oceans (DF0) has required Mi'kmaq and Maliseet fishermen to tag their lobster traps, fish in season and abide by a number of federal regulations. But Indian Brook fishermen have defined most, if not all, of the requirements. While almost every First Nation engaged in fishing has signed a deal with the government, Maloney has held out, insisting that federal officials let the band regulate itself. So far, the government has refused attempts to self-regulate. DFO Minister Herb Dhaliwal has issued numerous warnings to the band, warning that lobster traps will be seized and fishermen will be arrested. The trial for the men is expected to last at least a month. A related case decided earlier this year, however, does not bode well. A judge in March found 19 Indian Brook men guilty of illegally harvesting timber on federal land. The men had claimed a treaty right to harvest but Judge Patrick Curran disagreed. "Using a few trees to make things for personal use or incidental trade," Curran wrote in a 46-page opinion, "is not the same as demolishing entire stands of forests for sales to sawmills." The case is on appeal. Copyright c. 2000-2001 Noble Savage Media, LLC/Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Native Protesters occupy Tourism B.C. Office" --------- Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 08:35:07 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PROTEST" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.canoe.ca/WesternTicker/CANOE-wire.Native-Protest.html September 19, 2001 Native protesters briefly occupy Tourism B.C. office in Vancouver VANCOUVER (CP) -- About a dozen members of the Native Youth Movement briefly occupied a Tourism B.C. office in Vancouver on Wednesday to start a campaign they said is aimed at settling land claims. The protesters, dressed in camouflage green, some wearing bandanas covering their faces, said their campaign won't end until there's more effort to resolve the issue. A man calling himself Burning Spear, his face completely hidden by a bandana, said there's a "gigantic" comparison between those killed in the terrorist attacks in the United States last week and the plight of natives. He said 200 million native people have died in the last 500 years through "terrorism by European colonial powers." "'We're here defending our territories from the real terrorists who invaded our territories 500 years ago," he said, "with the onslaught of Columbus and all the other invaders who have taken our place in our lands and raped and murdered and twisted everything that we've been taught by the Creator and the natural laws for 500 years they've been here, from Alaska to Argentina." The occupation is the start of something bigger, said Tony Tobacco. "This is going to be the kickstart of a campaign simply of boycotting British Columbia tourism -- Operation Economic Pressure," he said. The group, which included women with small children, left peacefully after police allowed them to speak to the media. The protest came the same day natives staged demonstrations in three centres against the expansion of the Sun Peaks ski resort near Kamloops. In late August, at least 19 people, including a two-year-old child, occupied the B.C. Assets and Land Office building in downtown Victoria for several hours, saying they wanted a court injunction to stop development on the Sun Peaks Resort. No one was injured or arrested and the only damage was a broken window. Last Thursday, at least one shot was fired at a construction truck at the resort. Police confirmed a bullet was found in the flat tire of the truck. The man driving the massive truck said he heard a total of four shots. The truck is owned by Action Construction, which is excavating land three kilometres southeast of Sun Peaks, building part of the 18- hole golf course. The area where the construction crew is working is near McGillivray Lake, where members of the Native Youth Movement have been camped for several months, protesting the resort's expansion on land they say belongs to natives. Police said they had no evidence to link the shooting to the protesters. Natives have been protesting the expansion of the Sun Peaks Resort for several months. Several protest camps have been set up. Last month, a group of protesters blockaded traffic going in and out of the Whistler-style village for three hours. Arrest warrants were issued for 11 people on charges of mischief and intimidation. The protesters were released but are barred from returning to the resort. Copyright c. 2001, Canoe Limited Partnership. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Ecoffey Named Director of BIA's Law Enforcement" --------- Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 08:35:07 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BIA LAW DIRECTOR" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.doi.gov/bia/news/ecoffeypr.htm BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Nedra Darling September 19, 2001 202-219-4150 Ecoffey Named Director of BIA's Law Enforcement Services (WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced the appointment of Robert D. Ecoffey, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, as its lead law enforcement officer. As director of the Bureau's Office of Law Enforcement Services, Ecoffey will oversee a 750-person department that provides uniformed police services, detention operations and criminal investigations of alleged or suspected violations of major federal criminal laws in Indian Country. "BIA law enforcement is in very capable hands," said McCaleb "Robert Ecoffey has the knowledge and expertise in federal law enforcement required for working with tribes across the United States." Ecoffey will be responsible for all headquarter and field activities associated with the direction, coordination, support and operation of BIA law enforcement programs. "I am honored to have been selected," said Ecoffey. "I look forward to the challenge of making our Indian reservations a safer place to live. It is important that we work hand-in- hand with tribal communities to achieve this goal, and I will work with them every step of the way." Ecoffey comes to the position with over 25 years of experience in the federal government, 18 of which spent in law enforcement. In 1983, he became the first American Indian to serve as a U.S. Marshall in the 204- year history of the Service. Ecoffey's priorities for his tenure are curbing drug abuse, developing greater cooperation between tribal and Bureau law enforcement agencies, involving Indian communities at the initial stages of policy development, and increasing the number of tribal and BIA law enforcement officers to meet growing public safety needs in Indian Country. To facilitate the latter, he feels that the success of future recuitment efforts to bring more young Indian men and women into the Bureau's law enforcement ranks will depend on partnerships between the tribes, K-12 schools and tribal colleges to generate interest in choosing law enforcement as a career. In addition, he is also looking at providing educational grants to Indian students in exchange for years of service in law enforcement and the creation of an Indian Youth Police Academy for 16-19 year-olds, which is already taking shape with two sessions scheduled for the summer of 2002. Prior to his appointment as director of OLES, Ecoffey served as superintendent of the Bureau's Pine Ridge Agency on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota for the past five years. During his time there, Ecoffey working closely with the Oglala Sioux Tribe in a successful effort to have the reservation designated as an empowerment zone under the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He is particularly proud that he was instrumental in helping the Sueann Big Crow Boys and Girls Club, an affiliate of the National Boys and Girls Club of America, plan and build a new $6 million facility on the Pine Ridge reservation, which is slated for completion in June 2002. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, an agency with almost 10,000 employees nationwide, provides services to, carries out its federal trust responsibilities for, and promotes the self-determination of the 558 federally recognized Tribal governments and approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives. Through the Office of Law Enforcement Services, the Bureau directly operates 49 and funds 160 tribally operated law enforcement programs across the country which combined provide Indian Country with nearly 2,100 law enforcement personnel including law enforcement and detention officers. OLES personnel work cooperatively with other federal law enforcement agencies to provide protection to persons and property and to enforce federal laws on federal Indian reservations. -BIA- --------- "RE: Officer showed no remorse over Shooting" --------- Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 08:35:07 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NO REMORSE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/ Sep. 19, 02:00 EDT Officer showed no remorse over shooting, hearing told Fellow officers speak highly of Deane Peter Edwards, STAFF REPORTER LONDON, Ont. - Fellow officers say acting Sergeant Kenneth Deane has shown them no remorse over the fatal shooting of Indian activist Anthony (Dudley) George six years ago, a police disciplinary hearing has been told. The comments came in an often-heated cross-examination of four senior Ontario Provincial Police officers yesterday by prosecutor Denise Dwyer. "Has Mr. Deane ever expressed any remorse over shooting an unarmed man?"Dwyer asked. "He and I never discussed that," Superintendent Phil Duffield replied. Dwyer pressed Duffield if he was aware of Deane ever showing any remorse to members of the George family, who live in the Kettle and Stoney Point area by Lake Huron, near Sarnia. "I am not aware," Duffield replied. The hearing is being held to determine what sentence Deane should receive, after pleading guilty to a charge of discreditable conduct under the Police Services Act. OPP Inspector Robert Bruce, Inspector Brian Deevy and Chief Superintendent Chris Lewis also told Dwyer they had not heard Deane express any remorse for fatally shooting the unarmed native activist at Ipperwash Provincial Park in a land-claims dispute over a burial ground. The officers told Dwyer that Deane was an exemplary officer and the top expert in the force in bomb disposal - a skill that's particularly valuable in combatting outlaw biker gangs and in light of the recent terrorist hijackings in the United States. The disciplinary hearing also heard that Deane has a keen interest in fighting nuclear, biological and chemical terrorism. Officially, the force is seeking Deane's dismissal after his conviction for criminal negligence causing death was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada last January. It is the most serious criminal conviction of an officer in the force's 94-year history, the hearing was told. The senior officers all said they thought the force should keep Deane, despite searing comments by Mr. Justice Hugh Fraser when he found the officer guilty in the Sept. 6, 1995 shooting of George. Fraser ruled that Deane lied to investigators from the civilian special investigations unit, the OPP and the court when he said George was armed. Fraser also ruled that Deane knew George was unarmed when he pulled the trigger of his submachine gun. However, the four senior officers each testified under oath that they considered Deane an honest man and swore that the judge's comments were inconsistent with their favourable impressions of Deane. Bruce told defence lawyer Ian Roland he wasn't aware of any of the force's 5,000 uniformed officers wanting Deane fired. "He's an asset to the OPP and . . . should remain in the position that he's in," Bruce testified. Deane, 39, appeared more weary than during his 1997 criminal trial, and rested his chin on a hand as he watched his fellow officers fight to keep him on the force. The hearing concludes today, but adjudicator Loyall Cann, former deputy Toronto police chief, is expected to release her decision on Deane's future with the force at some later date. George's death led to calls from his family for a public inquiry. But Premier Mike Harris has said no decision will be made until the courts rule on the family's wrongful death lawsuit against him, members of his government and police. Copyright c. 1996-2001 Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: NDP calls on Harris to resign over Ipperwash" --------- Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2001 11:11:56 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HARRIS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.canoe.ca/OntQueTicker/CANOE-wire.Ipperwash-Suit.html September 21, 2001 NDP calls on Premier Harris to resign over latest Ipperwash documents TORONTO (CP) -- Ontario Premier Mike Harris has no choice but to resign in light of newly released notes from meetings just hours before the police killing of a native protester, New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton said Friday. The notes filed with the court this week in a civil suit against Harris launched by the family of Dudley George show the premier wanted to take the lead in ending the standoff six years ago between police and aboriginal protesters occupying a provincial park. "The directing mind, the operational decision making about what (Ontario Provincial Police) could do at Ipperwash park in September 1995 is not being made by the police themselves, it was being made by none other than Mike Harris," said Hampton. "The most recent documents indicate just how direct the handling of this was by the premier." On Sept. 6, 1995, police moved in on the unarmed protesters under cover of darkness and in the ensuing fracas, a police officer shot George dead. The officer was later convicted of criminal negligence causing death. Harris has always denied giving any direction to police to force an end to the occupation of the empty park by natives, who argued it was on a sacred burial ground. In August 1997, Harris said he "determined nothing." "I gave no direction. I gave no influence on it. We left that entirely to the OPP," Harris said. However, the notes strongly suggest otherwise. "Premier will be pleased to take the lead," the notes quote Deb Hutton, a senior Harris adviser, as telling an emergency meeting. Another document notes: "Premier is firm that at no time should anybody but OPP and (Ministry of Natural Resources) be involved in discussions (with the natives)." Hampton said the documents clearly show that "the decisions on what the OPP could do or not do" was being made by the premier and no one else. "You have a premier who has told truths to questions . . . and you have a premier who has been trying to deceive the legislature of Ontario and the people of Ontario as to what really happened here," Hampton said. "That kind of deceit . . . cannot stand. The premier must resign." There was no comment from the premier's office but attorney General David Young refused to address the allegations, saying a judge will decide fairly the truth of the various claims. "I do have concerns about this case being decided in a piecemeal fashion, " said Young. "I would encourage (people) to await the decision of the judge at the conclusion of the trial not try to adjudicate this case in the halls of the legislature." The latest documents were only filed in court after the Ontario government lost a bid to keep them from the media. Young denied the government was trying to hide them from the public. Copyright c. 2001, Canoe Limited Partnership. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Vandals Destroy Priceless Indian Pictograph" --------- Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 20:40:44 From: KOLA Subj: UT: Vandals Destroy Priceless Indian Pictograph Near Moab <+>=<+>KOLA Newslist<+>=<+> [from Erth. Thanks!] Vandals Destroy Priceless Indian Pictograph Near Moab Friday, September 21, 2001 BY LISA CHURCH SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE http://www.sltrib.com/ MOAB -- The Blue Buffalo has been wiped out -- literally. The well-known piece of rock art, tucked away in a canyon about 16 miles northwest of Moab, was irreparably damaged by vandals who rubbed the painting of a blue-tinted buffalo off the sandstone panel it was painted on. along with the images of a shield and several human-like figures. The panel was unusual because of the use of the color blue and because unlike most of the panels in the area, which were created by the Fremont and Anasazi, the Blue Buffalo was painted by Utes, sometime in the early 1800s. The depiction of a buffalo is also rare in Utah rock art. Moab resident Dell Crandall discovered the vandalism during an outing on Saturday. Crandall, a member of the Utah Rock Art Research Association, was scouting the site for an upcoming symposium the group is holding in Moab in October. He said there was no damage to the painted image when he visited 10 days earlier. The site is one of 14 that will be visited by rock-art enthusiasts during the Rock Art Association's conference, said Crandall. Crandall reported the damage to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Moab on Monday. "It's such a violation," Crandall said. "It's hard to understand why people do this." The best Crandall can do is speculate that vandals were reviving an ancient practice. He said that according to legend, when American Indians would find ancient rock art, they would add their tribe's mark atop the older images in an attempt to absorb the power of the people who came before. "Maybe that's what these [vandals] are doing -- trying to steal some power," Crandall said. Craig Barney, president of the Rock Art Association, called the destruction "senseless and stupid." Barney said his group is offering a $500 reward for information leading to the conviction of the culprits. "It's a crime against humanity. It's horrible," Barney said. "This is something that can never be replaced. I'd like to draw and quarter them [vandals] on the spot." BLM archaeologist Bruce Louthan visited the site Tuesday morning to examine the damage. Louthan said the rubbed-out images are likely a total loss. "I'm not very optimistic about recovering anything," he said. "Because of their relative rarity, pictographs are especially precious. Some of these sites just can't be recovered, and you can't make up for their loss. They're irretrievable." Unlike petroglyphs, in which an image is pecked into the rock surface, pictographs are painted on, with paint made from minerals like iron, which produces shades of reds and browns. Blue colors, probably produced from the minerals azurite or malachite, do not appear in Utah's rock art until the later 1700s and are attributed to use by the Utes. The BLM is concerned that several rock art sites have been damaged in the past month, said Louthan. Besides the buffalo, they include a large panel at Sego Canyon near Thompson Springs in northern Grand County. At the Sego Canyon site, vandals coated their hands in a chalky substance and pressed white handprints over pictographs also believed painted by the Utes. "There's such an abundance of rock art in this part of the country that sometimes people don't see it is a very finite thing," Louthan said. "But it can be lost." Jon Sering, a BLM law enforcement ranger who accompanied Louthen to the buffalo site, said there are no leads on who is responsible for the damage. He hopes someone who knows anything about the crime will contact the BLM. Vandalizing cultural antiquities on public lands is a federal felony that Sering said carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $20,000 fine. He said the BLM offers a standing $500 reward for information in vandalism cases, and the Moab field office is offering an additional $5,000 in the Blue Buffalo case because of the site's importance. The agency's toll-free number to report such crimes is 800- 722-3998. "A lot of our success in finding who did this will depend on somebody in the public having seen or heard something about it. I'm just hoping someone out there might have information." Louthan said the agency will call in a rock-art conservationist to evaluate the Blue Buffalo site. But because the damage was to a painted rather than carved image, restoration will probably be impossible, he said. "Hope springs eternal," Louthan said. <+>=<+> Mourn the Victims. Stand for Peace. Islam is not the Enemy. War is NOT the Answer. <+>=<+> KOLA Information: http://users.skynet.be/kola/index.htm KOLA Petitions: http://kola-hq.hypermart.net International Peltier Forum: http://users.skynet.be/kola/vips.htm KOLA Greeting Cards: http://users.skynet.be/kola/cards.htm --------- "RE: BIA Vehicle Drags Woman 500 Feet" --------- Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 08:35:07 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DRAGGED" http://www.abqjournal.com/paperboy/text/news/449750news09-20-01.htm ABQjournal: 505-823-7777 Thursday, September 20, 2001 BIA Vehicle Drags Woman 500 Feet By Wren Propp Journal Staff Writer A 21-year-old Santa Fe woman died Wednesday morning after she was dragged 500 feet under a vehicle driven by a federal Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement officer. Alicia Waseta, who died of head and facial injuries, had been crossing Cerrillos Road at Second Street when she was caught under the vehicle, said Santa Fe Police Deputy Chief Beverly Lennen. BIA agent Marcelino Toersbijns of Albuquerque didn't realize his vehicle had struck anyone until a witness in another vehicle flagged him down, Lennen said. "He said that he heard something but didn't see or feel anything ... He didn't even think he had hit anyone," Lennen said. Waseta was crossing Cerrillos to get to a bus stop; she was on her way to work, Lennen said. No criminal charges were filed Wednesday, but police are investigating the incident, which occurred at 7:30 a.m. Alcohol wasn't involved in the accident, Lennen said. Toersbijns' supervisor, BIA District 4 Commander Dan Breuninger, said the agent has been placed on administrative leave until Santa Fe Police complete their investigation. Toersbijns is a criminal investigator. The agent was driving a 2000 Ford Expedition, BIA property, at the time of the accident, he said. Lennen said Toersbijns' vehicle was exiting the Santa Fe Indian School at Second Street at the time of the accident. Breuninger didn't know if Toersbijns was working on an investigation at the time of the accident. Another agent reported to Breuninger that he talked to Toersbijns after the accident and that Toersbijns "was clearly very, very upset, as anyone would be in that same situation," Breuninger said. Copyright c. 2001 Albuquerque Journal. --------- "RE: Saskatoon Police guilty of Unlawful Confinement" --------- Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 08:52:10 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CONFINEMENT ???????" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/09/20/stooncops Saskatoon police guilty of unlawful confinement fired from force WebPosted Fri Sep 21 09:03:03 2001 SASKATOON - Two police officers accused of dropping off an aboriginal man on the outskirts of the city in freezing weather have been found guilty of unlawful confinement. But constables Dan Hatchen and Ken Munson were acquitted of assault in the case that heightened tension between police and the native community. Late Thursday night both men were fired from their jobs. Neither man showed any emotion when the jury's verdict was read in court late Thursday afternoon. Both officers admitted leaving Darrell Night on the edge of Saskatoon before dawn on Jan. 28, 2000 - when the temperature was below minus 22 degrees Celsius. But their lawyers had argued their behaviour was misguided, not criminal. Night testified that he filed his complaint after hearing that another man had frozen to death near the same spot where he was dropped off. The officers swore and called him an "Indian" when they dumped him by a power station, Night told the court. He also said that he smashed his head one the police cruiser's door frame when he was pulled outside. Hatchen and Munson denied the accusations. The officers said they arrested Night for causing a disturbance after he hit their police cruiser and called them "racist bastards." The jury of seven men and five women, all white, deliberated for about seven hours Wednesday night before retiring for the night. They reached their verdict Thursday, after another seven hours of talks. Earlier in the day, they returned to the courtroom with a question about rules governing when people in custody must be released. Judge Eugene Scheibel told them that detained individuals must be let go as soon as practical if they're not going to be charged. "Any further unreasonable detention or confinement is unlawful," Scheibel said. "The release must be made at an appropriate time and in reasonable circumstances unless a person consents," the judge added. He said it would be up to them to decide if a man with no scarf or gloves would have consented to being left at the power station on such a cold night. Written by CBC News Online staff Copyright c. 2001 CBC. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Aboriginals applaud firing of Saskatoon Cops" --------- Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 08:14:11 -1000 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SASKATOON COPS II" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.sask.cbc.ca/ Sep 21 2001 8:52 PM EDT Aboriginals applaud firing of Saskatoon cops SASKATOON - The man at the centre of a controversial case says he will never trust the police again. Darrel Night, 35, has spoken publicly about his ordeal for the first time, following Thursday's conviction of two police officers on charges of unlawful confinement. Night was forced into a police cruiser, driven out of Saskatoon, and dumped in freezing weather one year ago. After deliberating for 15 hours, the jury found the two veteran police officers guilty of unlawful confinement, but acquitted Constables Dan Hatchen and Ken Munson on a charge of assault. "I've never once claimed that I was a perfect human," Night told reporters after the verdicts were delivered. "I know that I'm not a saint. But I didn't deserve the treatment that came my way. I did nothing to deserve having my life come so close to an end," he explained. Saskatchewan's Premier says there will likely be a public inquiry this fall, to explore the relationship between the justice system and aboriginal people. Aboriginal leaders say yesterday's events were a good first step, but more still needs to be done. There will also be coroner's inquests this fall, to look into the deaths of two aboriginal men who were found frozen outside the city last year. No one has been charged in those cases. A few hours after they were found guilty of unlawful confinement, Constables Dan Hatchen and Ken Munson were fired. They will be sentenced next month. Copyright c. 2000 CBC. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Native Prisoner" --------- Date: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 7:48 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 -- - - - Subj: From this week's mailbag: Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 13:08:49 -0400 (EDT) From: IndigenousNews@webtv.net Subj: Prison Inmates Right Violations Mailing List: Native Rights Sent in by Brigitte PLEASE FORWARD TO YOUR LISTS - THANK YOU VIOLATIONS OF NATIVE AMERICAN RELIGIOUS RIGHTS AT MONTANA STATE PRISON It is a well-known and most unfortunate fact that Native American inmates at MSP continually have to struggle to be enabled to exercise their rightsto religious freedom. The positive influence their religion has onNative American prisoners is a widely recognized fact among the Correctional Departments of many states in the USA and in Canada. -In spite of this, the Roman Catholic Chaplain in charge of the Native American Circle at MSP has decided that it is enough for him to visit the Native Americans in Max once a month only, contrarily to prisoners of other religions. He has also decided that the Pipe Ceremony is to take place only 4 times a year. - He has also decided that from now on the prisoners in Ad/Seg should have to give up their sacred herbs. Until recently, he was saying that the religious policy was the same for all Units. Obviously,Native American Prisoners have less rights than the rest of theincarcerated population. This is unconstitutional. Here are some more facts, regarding the violations and denial of Native American Religious Rights, due to racial profiling at Montana State Prison : - We are aware of a series of incidents when Native American inmates at MSP were harassed and their religious beliefs and items were disrespected by prison staff, although the prison policy clearly allows the possession of these items, which are indispensable for their religious ceremonies. - For instance, when Manuel Redwoman (Northern Cheyenne, # 24920) was going out to yard, two guards pulled on his medicine bag from front and back and pulled at his braid while he was handcuffed, yet nothing was done to stop it, while Sergeant. Stacklin, stood there watching, but did not intervene. As a result, Mr. Redwoman had to part from his medicine bag and send it out of the prison, rather than see it disrespected and ridiculed. It is said in the policy that religious medallions are allowed. Medicine bags are religious medallions according to Native spirituality and traditions and they are sacred. These guards and Sergeant were obviously trying to make Mr. Redwoman lose his temper =96 which, we are glad to report, did not happen. An official excused the staff's attitude by saying that inmates are allowed to take only their clothing when going out to yard. Does this mean that for example, a Roman Catholic inmate also has to remove his religious medallion or cross before going to yard? - Similarly, Native American prisoners incarcerated at the Maximum Security Unit were forced to give back their sweetgrass, sage and cedar, even though these sacred herbsareofficially allowed by the policy. The prisoners were threatened with write-ups if they should fail to comply with staff orders to give up these items. Since they are trying to keep their records clean, most of them eventually had to give up their sacred herbs. - If the prisoners consider filing a grievance in the face of such unjust treatment, they have to fear being put under investigation on the basis of questionable allegations, which in turn results in being sent to the maximum security unit in Administrative Segregation, as was the case. The Constitution of the Montana State: ARTICLE II Sections 4 to 12 Section 4. Individual dignity. The dignity of the human being is inviolable. No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws. Neither the state nor any person, firm, corporation, or institution shall discriminate against any person in the exercise of his civil or political rights on account of race, color, sex, culture, social origin or condition, or political or religious ideas. Section 5. Freedom of religion. The state shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. - All religions are supposed to be respected equally at Montana State Prison, but the sweat lodge ceremony only ever takes place when and i