From gars@speakeasy.org Thu Jan 31 14:29:43 2002 Date: 23 Jan 2002 01:10:39 -0000 From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews10.004 WOTANGING IKCHE -- Lakota -- Common News Kanoheda Aniyvwiya -- Cherokee -- Journal of the People Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin -- Blackfeet -- News for All the People Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse -- Creek -- People's New News Aunchemokauhettittea -- Naragansett -- Let Us Share News Ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min -- Ojibwe -- We Are Talking About Ourselves Ha-Sah-Sliltha -- Ditidaht Nation -- News of the People Un Chota -- Susquehannic Seneca -- The People Speak Ximopanolti tehuatzin, inin Mexika tlahtolli -- Nahuatl -- For you we offer these words It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le -- Chickasaw -- Together We Are Talking Sho-da-ku-ye -- Teehahnahmah -- Talking Birchbark Native American News -- Language of the Occupation Forces Wotanging Ikche and Native American News Copyright c. 1996-2002 nanews.org ==>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 O +-----------------------------+ O o O | Much more happens in Indian | O o O VOLUME 10, ISSUE 004 | Country than is reported in | O o o o o O | this weekly newsletter. For | O o O January 26, 2002 | For daily updates & events | O o O | go http://www.owlstar.com/ | O | dailyheadlines.htm | Cheyenne hohtseese'he/hoop moon +-----------------------------+ Cherokee du no lv ta ni/cold moon <================<<<< >>>>================> This issue contains articles from www.pechanga.net; www.owlstar.com; www.indianz.com; Big Mountain, Native News and LPDC Mailing Lists; newsgroup: alt.native; UUCP email IMPORTANT!! ----------- In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, all material appearing in this newsletter is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for educational purposes. <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is a way of keeping the brothers and sisters who share our Spirit informed about current events within the lives of those who walk the Red Road. ++ It may be subscribed to via email by sending a request from your own internet addressable account to gars@speakeasy.org ++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org <================<<<< >>>>================> As historian Patricia Nelson Limerick summarized in The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West, "Set the blood quantum at one-quarter, hold to it as a rigid definition of Indians, let intermarriage proceed as it had for centuries, and eventually Indians will be defined out of existence. When that happens, the federal government will be freed of its persistent 'Indian problem.'" "The Native American Church (NAC) is the spiritual bulwark of a quarter million of the original inhabitants of this continent. Its roots extend into the twilight zone of prehistory, before the rise of Christianity or any of the historical religions. But because its sacrament is Peyote ("God's Flesh") whereas that of the dominant religion in the United States is alcohol ("Christ's Blood"), members of the Native American Church have had to worship under a cloud since European invaders took over. Its members could not practice their religion without fearing a knock on the door." __ Huston Smith and Reuben Snake, Jr., Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska "One Nation Under God: The Triumph of the Native American Church" Clear Light Publishers/Huston Smith & Reuben Snake +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! When the Gale Norton/Neal McCaleb landed in San Diego January 17 and still failed to find a tribal leader to agree with their convoluted High Level Implementation Plan they finally scrapped it. it also became clear the TAAMS (Trust Assets and Accounting Management System) was headed down a yellow brick road to failure, and newly appointed TAAMS Manager, Ross Swimmer, halted it. The contempt proceedings against Norton are in recess, but it now appears there is no way she is going to escape a finding of contempt when the trial resumes. The rats have been flushed ... the question remains what will be done to restore the Indian Trust System and restore the billions of dollars, lost, stolen, misappropriated or otherwise ripped? -=-=-=- The entire remainder of this editorial will consist of this one article and a brief comment. http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.canoe.ca/NationalTicker/CANOE-wire.Frozen-Body-Inquest.html January 14, 2002 Inquest told body of aboriginal man found frozen to the ground SASKATOON (CP) - An aboriginal man clad only in a white T-shirt, jeans and socks was discovered lying face down, frozen to the ground, an inquest into his death was told Monday. Police officers were not able to roll over the body of Lawrence Wegner until city workers brought heaters and constructed a makeshift tent to warm the area. "He was absolutely frozen to the ground; I could not see the front of the body at all," said Sgt. Bob Eder, the first officer on the scene. "He was frozen solid." Wegner was found on Feb. 3, 2000, in a field on the outskirts of the Saskatoon, south of the city's landfill. He was not wearing a jacket or shoes. Eder, who has since retired from the force, told the inquest Wegner's tracks came from the north and meandered through the field. When asked if he saw any other tracks in the area, he said he did not. The inquest in Wegner's death was ordered after an RCMP investigation into alleged police mistreatment of aboriginal people found there was not enough evidence to lay criminal charges. Eder was asked by Greg Curtis, the Wegner family lawyer, if he had ever heard about any other cases involving police dropping people off on the outskirts of the city. "About 25 years ago I was in the locker room and I heard some joking around of that nature," Eder said. "I heard something to the effect of somebody being taken somewhere." My one comment with reference to the following: "...I was in the locker room and I heard some joking around of that nature," Eder said. Murder by the very authorities charged with preventing such horrible occurances becomes the subject of locker room jokes? Mighty white of them. It really is "Just-us" for the dominant society. Why do they even bother with the pretense of equality? 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 ---------- - Crossings - ABC $30 mil - Churches' Alliance Native American Miniseries with Government delays Healing - First Peoples TV - Inuit Leader claims Interference - In the Shadow of Little Bighorn Steps Down - Wakpa Sica Reconciliation Place - Quebec to increase Money Design Meeting to James Bay Cree - Probation Visits - Negotiator tells Tribes to Onondaga Nation Cut to Share the Land - Paiute Feud - A Choice between Money and Land slows Tribal Court System - Big Mountain List Update - Ex-tribal Worker sue over Layoffs - Cherokees to focus - An Epidemic of Violence: on Economic Development Tribe looks for Answers - Taylor and Joshevama inaugurated - Update on Charlie Smoke by Hopis - Dad Reacts to Accused Wife - Poarch Leader denies Murdered Children Gaming Hall Report - Dudley George's Killer Loses Job - Redistricting plan - Free Leonard Peltier Violates Tribal Voting Rights - Native Prisoner - Pueblo Group Wants Change -- Peltier's 27th Year in Prison in Traditional Government - John Rustywire: She was Sencea - Indians protest Telescope Project - Poem: Tomorrow - Judge accepts Report - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days before Contempt Trial Recess - Encyclopedia of - Tribes assail Proposal to split BIA American Indian Contributions - TAAMS halted by Swimmer - Break Out Run - Norton: - New Sounds from Indian Country Trust Reform Blueprint Obsolete - Native America Calling --------- "RE: Crossings" --------- Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2002 09:10:52 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CROSSINGS" January 20, 2002 Harry H. Yazzie Harry H. Yazzie, 79, of Shiprock died Friday, Jan. 18, 2002, at San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington. He is survived by his wife, Isabelle Woody Yazzie, whom he married in Shiprock 58 years ago in 1944; his two sons, Duane "Chili" Yazzie and wife, Betsy, of Shiprock, and Teddy W. Yazzie of Albuquerque; and two daughters, Phyllis Ashike and husband, Dalton, and Shirley Yazzie, all of Shiprock. Harry has one adopted daughter, Cherie Daut-Neztsosie and husband David, and one adopted son, Peter Kiro. He has one surviving brother, Jimmy H. Yazzie of Sanostee; nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Harry had a special love for his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and enjoyed watching them play and grow. He was a very loving man who will be greatly missed by all of his family. He was preceded in death by one grandchild, Charles W. Baker; and his parents, Hatahli and Pauline Yazzie. Funeral services are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 21, 2002, at Mesa View Assembly of God Church of Shiprock, with Pastor Eric Lee officiating. Burial will follow at Shiprock Community Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Shawn Davis, Richard Yazzie, Allen Ashike, Lance H. Yazzie, Freddie Yazzie and Jeffrey Joe. Alternate pallbearers are Richard Miller and Steven Cody. Honorary pallbearers will be Teddy W. Yazzie, Dalton Ashike, Peter Kiro, Phillip Patrick, Raymond Ross, Bessie Joe, David Neztsosie and Charley P. Joe. Funeral services are with Chapel of Memories Funeral Home in Kirtland, (505) 598-9636. Copyright c. 1999-2002 MediaNews Group, Inc./Farmington Daily-Times. -=-=-=- January 14, 2002 Nora Blackgoat OLD COALMINE - Services for Nora Blackgoat, 65, will be held at Good Shepard MissionTuesday with Bishop Steven Plummer officiating. Burial will follow in Old Coalmine. Visitation will be held one hour prior services at Good Shepard. Blackgoat died Jan. 10, in Gallup. She was born April 2, 1936 in Old Coalmine into the Salt People for the Bitterwater People. Blackgoat tended to livestock, was a rugweaver and homemaker. Survivors include her husband, Frank Blackgoat; sons, Larry Blackgoat of Tolakia and Dennis Blackgoat of Old Coalmine; sisters, Louise W. Yazzie of Old Coalmine, Rebecca Arviso of Crownpoint and Domatilla Goldtooth of Chandler, Ariz.; and four grandchildren. Blackgoat was preceded in death by her, parents, Annie and Little Willie; sisters, Mary Gordy, Edith Plummer, Francis Willie and Lillie Willie and brother, Holden Willie. Pallbearers will be Normen Lee, Alvin Lee, Marcus Blackgoat, Larry Plummer, Bobby Sandoval Jr. and Mervin Plummer. The family will receive friends and relatives after the burial services at St. Marks Church, Old Coalmine. Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements. January 15, 2002 Kee Chee Segay CHINLE, Ariz. - Services for Kee Segay, 83, will be held at 1 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 16 at the Chinle Christian Center. Artie Aargon will officiate. Burial will follow at the Chinle Community Cemetery. Segay died Jan. 8 at Chinle. He was born Dec. 16, 1919 in White Clay, Ariz. Survivors include his wife Zonnie Segay; son, Jimmy Segay; daughters, Marie Begay, Margorie Segay, Molly Segay and Marcy Billy; brother, Wilson Segay of White Clay; sisters, Louise Bia, Mary Lee, Helen Deschine all of White Clay, Fannie Wilson of Nazlini and Loretta Tsinnijinnie of Sawmill, Ariz.; 18 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. Segay was preceded in death by his parents, Shay Segay and Astsa Yazzie; son, Jerry Segay and Margert Segay, Mary Segay and Martha Gorman. Pallbearers will be Joseph Begay, Joe Segay, Johnathan Gorman, Joei Begay, Jerome Segay and Jordan Carroll. The family will receive friends and relatives after the burial services at 1/4 mile north of Chinle Police Department. Tse Bonito Mortuary is in charge of arrangements. January 20, 2002 Harry H. Yazzie SHIPROCK - Services for Harry Yazzie, 79, will be held at 10 a.m., Monday, Jan. 21 at Mesa View Assembly of God Church in Shiprock. Pastor Eric Lee will officiate. Burial will follow at Shiprock Community Cemetery. Yazzie died Jan. 18 in Farmington. Survivors include his wife, Isabelle Woody Yazzie; sons, Duane "Chili" Yazzie of Shiprock, Teddy W. Yazzie of Albuquerque; daughters, Phyllis Ashike and Shirley Yazzie both of Shiprock; brother, Jimmy H. Yazzie of Sanostee; nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Yazzie was preceded in death by his parents, Hatahli and Pauline Yazzie. Pallbearers will be Shawn Davis, Richard Yazzie, Allen Ashike, Lance H. Yazzie, Freddie Yazzie and Jeffery Joe. Copyright c. 2002 The Gallup Independent. -=-=-=- January 15, 2002 Leonard Moses Fiddler GREEN GRASS - Leonard Moses Fiddler, 66, Green Grass and formerly of White Horse Community, Cheyenne River, died Monday, Dec. 31, 2001. Survivors include his wife, Marie Elk Head Fiddler, Green Grass. A wake will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17, at Eagle Butte Cultural Center. Services will be Friday, Jan. 18. Burial will be at Green Grass Community Cemetery. Luce Funeral Home of Gettysburg is in charge of arrangements. January 17, 2002 Lloyd E. Looking Elk BATESLAND - Lloyd E. Looking Elk, 53, Batesland, died Sunday, Jan. 13, 2002, in Rapid City. Survivors include his wife, Wilma Standing Bear, Batesland; one stepson, Charles Standing Bear, Batesland; one stepdaughter, Harriet Wilson, Pine Ridge; his father, Stanley Looking Elk Sr., Oglala; three sisters, Debbie Jensen, Pine Ridge, Karen Eagle, Fort Yates, N.D., and Heather Looking Elk, Oglala; one brother, David Looking Elk, Rushville, Neb.; and five grandchildren. He served in the U.S. Army and was a Vietnam veteran. A one-night wake will begin at 1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 21, at Loneman School in Oglala. Services will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 22, at the school, with the Rev. Simon Looking Elk officiating. Burial will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. January 18, 2002 Raphael Bartholomew Long PINE RIDGE - Raphael Bartholomew Long, 34 years old, was born November 11, 1967. Raphael died on January 12, 2002, at Pine Ridge Hospital. Raphael worked at OST Tribal Office for six years and OST Housing Authority for six years. He also worked at Ashland, Montana. Raphael attended high school at Red Cloud School and graduated from 12th grade there. He also attended Oglala Lakota College. Survivors include his mother, Cynthia Catches, from Mission Flats, and his father, Bartholomew Long; one sister, Shannon Long Two Bulls; and two brothers, Xavier Long and Adrian Long; also his best friend and adopted brother, James White Face. Wake services will be at the Catches residence in Mission Flats. Burial will be at the Catches residence. Peter Catches Jr. will officiate at services. Aloysius Thomas Yellow Boy PINE RIDGE - Aloysius Thomas Yellow Boy, 44, Pine Ridge, died Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2002, in Pine Ridge. Survivors include his wife, Irma Red Ear Horse, Pine Ridge; two sons, John Yellow Boy, Scottsbluff, Neb., and Aaron Yellow Boy, Denver; two daughters, Alysa Yellow Boy, Scottsbluff, and Danae Yellow Boy, Oglala; two brothers, James Yellow Boy, Calico, and Philip Yellow Boy, Pine Ridge; and four sisters, Mary Mousseau, Theresa Claymore and Darlene Yellow Boy, all of Calico, and Lorraine Richards, Pine Ridge. A one-night wake will begin at 2 p.m. today at Wakpamni CAP in Pine Ridge. Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 19, at Holy Rosary Mission Catholic Church in Pine Ridge, with the Rev. Peter Klink officiating. Burial will be at Holy Rosary Cemetery in Pine Ridge. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. Philomena Slow Bear PINE RIDGE - Philomena Slow Bear, 49, Pine Ridge, died Monday, Jan. 14, 2002, at Rapid City Care Center. Survivors include two sons, Trudell Slow Bear, Pine Ridge, and Lester Thunder Hawk, Rapid City; seven daughters, Melissa Shields, Vesta Packed and Sherry Slow Bear, all of Pine Ridge, Linda Thunder Hawk, Porcupine, Lois Clifford, Plattville, Wis., and Annie Slow Bear and Irma Last Horse, both of Kyle; two brothers, Benjamin Slow Bear and Floyd Slow Bear, both of Sioux Falls; one sister, Annie Mills, Minneapolis; and nine grandchildren. A one-night wake will begin at 2 p.m. today at Brother Rene Catholic Hall in Oglala. Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 19, at Brother Rene Catholic Hall, with the Rev. Bill Pauly officiating. Burial will be at Our Lady of the Sioux Catholic Cemetery in Oglala. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. Copyright c. 2002 The Rapid City Journal. --------- "RE: Churches' Alliance with Government delays Healing" --------- Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 08:51:03 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CHURCH/GOVERNMENT ALLIANCE" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.canada.com/vancouver/news/story Native lawsuits 'about more than money' Churches' alliance with government delays healing of residential school victims, ethicists argue Douglas Todd Vancouver Sun Tuesday, January 15, 2002 Canadian churches are doing themselves harm by forging close ties with the federal government to resolve the thorny issue of native Indian residential schools, said speakers at the Society of Christian Ethics conference in Vancouver. Canada's Roman Catholic, Anglican and United Church denominations can't reconcile with native Indians who attended residential schools while the churches are mired with the federal government in legalisms and finger- pointing, ethicists and church officials told the gathering of 350 scholars. Anglican Bishop Jim Cruickshank -- who was forced to retire this month after his Cariboo diocese entered bankruptcy proceedings in the face of costly residential school lawsuits -- was among many who said it's hard to get government officials to recognize achieving peace with native Indians is about more than money. The controversial legacy of Canada's residential school system, which once housed more than 100,000 natives, was the special theme of this weekend's gathering of the Society of Christian Ethics, which includes more than 1,000 ethics scholars, mostly Christian, in Canada and the U.S. The churches that ran Canada's more than 100 native residential schools, and the federal government that financed them, are locked in a convoluted relationship when it comes to addressing the more than 10,000 lawsuits aboriginal people have launched claiming sexual, physical and cultural abuse at the boarding schools. The churches, on one hand, are angry at federal government lawyers for routinely drawing them into native lawsuits that initially targeted only Ottawa. The federal government has nearly always responded to lawsuits against it by naming the churches as "third party" defendants. At the same time, the Catholic, Anglican and United denominations have been sporadically negotiating with the federal government in the past year over how to apportion responsibility and hand out compensation for abuse that took place at the defunct schools. Reverend Brian Thorpe, the United Church of Canada's spokesman on residential schools, said sometimes his church, when defending itself against aboriginal lawsuits, would like to tell the federal government and its lawyers that "we want to win this case, just a little bit. But you can't do that." The churches, Thorpe said, "must recognize our relationship with the government does us tremendous harm." By too often aligning themselves with the federal government, Thorpe said, the churches run the risk of turning the residential school issue into one of competing powers, rather than of healing. Terry Anderson, professor emeritus of ethics at the Vancouver School of Theology, said he's concerned many Canadian church members are sidestepping their religion's own responsibility for the "tragic" legacy of the residential schools by saying the government is most to blame for them. "That's like Adam saying, 'Eve made me do it,' " he said. Sister Marie Zarowney, chair of a group representing the Canadian Catholic religious orders that ran more than 65 per cent of the residential schools, broke down in tears when she told the audience about how the flood of lawsuits reflects the pain of both natives and former school staff. Still, Zarowney, who is based in Victoria, believes the off-again, on- again negotiations between the federal government, churches and natives are ultimately the best way to mend Canada's "broken trust" with aboriginal people. dtodd@pacpress.southam.ca Copyright c. 2002 Vancouver Sun. --------- "RE: Inuit Leader claims Interference/Steps Down" --------- Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 08:51:03 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INNUIT LEADER QUITS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://north.cbc.ca/editorServlets/View?filename=ja15qcfire Inuit leader claims interference, steps down Jan 15 2002 08:58 AM CST Iqaluit, Nunavut - Another leader from an Inuit organization has been let go ... and is also complaining that political interference led to his dismissal. The former president of the Inuit economic development organization for the Baffin region says politics played a big role in his dismissal. Abe Tagalik was president of Qikiqtaaluq Corporation until the middle of January. He says the corporation's board of directors suspended, then removed him as president, saying he was failing to keep them informed. He said he was told to quit or be fired, so he quit. Tagalik says the big problem at Q.C. is that there's political interference from the board in management decisions. He says that's why the board was unhappy when a committee didn't select the Nunavut Construction Corporation, a company partly owned by Q.C., to build the new hospital in Iqaluit. The acting president of Qikiqtaaluq says he can't discuss Tagalik's case since the board is still gathering information. However, Johnny Mike denies board members are controlling every move employees make. He says there was a $2 million dollar deficit at Q.C. last year, and board members just want to keep a close eye on operations. Mike says Abe Tagalik was on a six month probation period as the new president of Q.C., and adds that when people are fired, it's for a reason. He says Q.C. will issue a written statement later. Meanwhile, Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, the Inuit land claim group, says it won't wade into the dispute between the Qikiqtani Inuit Association and its former president, Meeka Kilabuk. Meeka Kilabuk says she was wrongfully fired as president of the Association, and she says the Q.I.A. broke several of its by-laws and procedures when it ousted her. She wants N.T.I. to investigate the actions of its daughter organization. While newly-elected N.T.I. president Cathy Towtongie has agreed to meet with her to discuss the issue, she says that's as far as it will go. A Q.I.A. official says N.T.I. will only get involved if it was an issue concerning Nunavut's land claims agreement. Copyright c. 2002 CBC. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Quebec to increase Money to James Bay Cree" --------- Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2002 18:11:11 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JAMES BAY RELOCATION" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.canoe.ca/NationalTicker/CANOE-wire.Hydro-Cree.html January 18, 2002 Quebec to increase money to Cree in James Bay settlement: report MONTREAL (CP) -- The Quebec government is going to give an additional $875,000 to James Bay Cree as part of a deal allowing the province to proceed with a new hydroelectric project, Radio-Canada reported Friday. The amount includes contracts and jobs linked to construction, job training and other compensation, the French-language network of the CBC said. The $875,000 is in addition to a $3.5 billion deal reached between the Cree and Quebec in October. That deal is in the process of being ratified by the nine Cree communities in the northern Quebec region. Voting will end on Jan. 30 and the two deals are scheduled to be signed by the Cree, the provincial government and Hydro-Quebec on Feb. 7. The $3.5 billion deal was reached after the Cree dropped a lawsuit with the government and it is an extension of the 1975 James Bay Agreement which paved the way for massive hydroelectric projects in the area. Copyright c. 2002, Canoe, a division of Netgraphe Inc. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Negotiator tells Tribes to Share the Land" --------- Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 08:51:03 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SHARE LAND" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://north.cbc.ca/editorServlets/View?filename=ja15dogrcla Share the land, fed negotiator urges WebPosted Jan 15 2002 09:16 AM CST Yellowknife, N.w.T. - The chief negotiator for the federal government says the Dogrib, the Deh Cho and the Akaitcho governments need to figure out how they're going to share resources. A grey zone in the area of boundary overlap is the only item left for the Federal Government and the Dogribs to finish negotiating. Jean Ivey Assiniwi says the issue is not the boundary, but how to share resources where the claimed land over-laps. "Certainty it is the last thing we need to deal with, that is going to be a big ticket item so that pretty much the last thing we have to do," he says. The Akaitcho Government reviewed chapters of the Dogrib agreement this weekend in Edmonton. The Deh Cho leaders were advised to get a mediator to help them resolve the boundary overlap with the Dogribs Copyright c. 2002 CBC. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: A Choice between Money and Land" --------- Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 18:48:06 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PAHA SAPA" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-inssioux010602jan06.story A choice between money, land By Frederic J. Frommer Associated Press Posted January 6, 2002 BLACK HILLS NATIONAL FOREST, S.D. -- The quiet is broken by the territorial squeaks of prairie dogs. Buffalo lounge in prairies around the bend from pine-covered cliffs. This is land the Lakota Sioux call Paha Sapa, the Black Hills. To them, it is sacred and not for sale. That's why the Sioux, among the poorest people in America, refuse the half-billion dollars offered by the U.S. government, which has claimed ownership of this land since 1877. The Indians have a longer memory. In 1868, the United States signed a treaty setting aside the Black Hills "for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupancy of the Sioux." Then gold was discovered there, and Congress grabbed the land after negotiations to purchase it broke down. A century later, in 1980, the Supreme Court awarded eight Sioux tribes $106 million in compensation -- the 1877 value of $17.5 million, plus interest. This was payment for what the court called "a taking of tribal property." The tribes refused to take the millions, insisting on the return of the land. Two political efforts to return federally held land failed in the 1980s. The money sits in a government account, interest having swollen it now to $570 million. Still, the Sioux won't touch it. They say that would be a sellout of the Lakota nation, religion and culture. Nowhere is the opposition more entrenched than the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, by some estimates the poorest place in the country. Home to the Oglala band of the Lakota Sioux, Pine Ridge has an unemployment rate of 85 percent. The Oglala Sioux's share of the award is now worth $170 million. If they invested that, they could expect around $17 million a year in income without touching the principal. The annual budget for the reservation, by comparison, is $15 million. It's money that could be used for housing, business development, job training and education, or even political pressure to get the Black Hills back. Today, many people on the reservation live in trailers or shacks, drive rusted-out cars and have no place to work. Mangy dogs roam and forage. The center of Pine Ridge village has a couple of gas stations, a Pizza Hut and a Taco John's, and little else. The reservation, covering 5,000 square miles, has nine villages but no banks, no car washes, no barber shops, no hotels. Regardless of the obvious need, opposition to taking the money consistently runs over 90 percent in newspaper surveys, according to Tim Giago, publisher of the Lakota Journal. Talk of the cash reminds the Sioux of the gold-seeking explorers who swarmed into the area seven years after President Andrew Johnson signed the Black Hills treaty. The resulting military battles culminated in Custer's defeat at Little Big Horn in 1876. "Ho-ka hey!" Crazy Horse yelled at that battle. "It is a good day to fight! It is a good day to die! Strong hearts, brave hearts, to the front! Weak hearts and cowards to the rear." Congress responded by telling the Sioux: Give up the Black Hills, or lose federal food, medicine and blankets, rations pledged earlier to compensate for disrupting their hunting lands with westward expansion. Only 10 percent of the adult male Sioux population signed the treaty giving up the land, but Congress enacted it into law in 1877. A federal judge, later echoed by the Supreme Court, castigated the government's deal, saying: "A more ripe and rank case of dishonorable dealing will never, in all probability, be found in our history." The wind can whip across Pine Ridge at 50 mph, throwing stinging bits of dirt in your mouth and the corners of your eyes, hurling tumbleweeds, swirling the plastic bags, candy wrappers and six-pack cartons that litter many of the open fields. But the landscape is also striking. Wide-open skies offer 360-degree views of prairies, rolling pine-covered hills and the Badlands, carved by wind and water over millions of years. Try to figure the value of the Black Hills -- called, in the Lakota language, the heart of everything that is: Wamaka Og'naka I'cante. Tribal members have their own complex calculations of that value, but they don't involve dollars. "A lot of white people perceive this as foolish pride," says tribal council member Craig Dillon. "But pride's all we have." The SuAnne Big Crow Health and Recreation Center was named after a 17- year-old star athlete killed in a 1992 car crash. With only $32 in the bank, her mother, Chick Big Crow, started a foundation that built the center. A converted plastics factory, the center includes a room with photos, trophies and jerseys of SuAnne, who exhorted her peers to avoid drugs and alcohol and once scored 67 points in a basketball game. Chick Big Crow remembers the struggle to get funding early on. It's the kind of project that would have benefited from seed money from the Black Hills bounty. But she wouldn't have wanted it. "How do you put a price tag on spirituality?" she asks. A 16-year-old hanging out at the center's cafe, James Red Cloud, puts it another way. "If we take that, we ain't got nothing left. No land, and nothing to fight over," he says. A copy of the U.S. Constitution rests on the couch in Johnson Holy Rock's trailer. He also has copies of treaties and the Supreme Court's Black Hills decision. Holy Rock, 82, wearing a belt buckle depicting an Indian warrior, has been involved in tribal government off and on for decades. On his wall is a framed photograph of him with President John F. Kennedy, at the announcement of the first public housing grant to the Oglala Sioux tribe. "Housing was my priority," says Holy Rock, tribal president in the early 1960s. "Up to that point, people lived in car bodies and tin shacks." Holy Rock raises livestock, and his front porch offers a view of rolling grasslands, cattle grazing by a reservoir and prairie dogs digging and chirping. "I live in a natural atmosphere, so I have visitors, sometimes even coyotes," says Holy Rock, who was widowed six years ago. A limping German shepherd dog recently started coming around. Holy Rock says the Sioux refusal to take the Black Hills money has been misunderstood. "The money laying there, ready to be issued out -- all we have to do is say, 'OK.' And yet, we've chosen to live in poverty . . . just poor, ignorant, heathen savages," he says. "We have a different set of values," he continues. "We don't think of the air and water in terms of dollars and cents." Holy Rock grew up in a log house with no foundation; when the house burned down, the family moved into a tent. He was 6 years old when he first started looking after his father's livestock. Water was so scarce back then that when he and his horse would find some, they would drink out of the same hole. To this day, he considers water such a valuable commodity that he'll have only half a glass at a restaurant. Things are not as bleak for Holy Rock anymore. "I'm comfortable," he says. "I don't aspire to riches." At Bear Butte, a sacred site in the northeastern Black Hills about 150 miles from Pine Ridge, prayer cloths of many colors are tied to the trees, placed there by Indians as a sign of their commitment to the creator. They blow in 40 mph winds like a psychedelic parade of low-flying kites. Offering pouches, filled with sage and tobacco, also hang from the branches. A road at Bear Butte State Park marked "Authorized Vehicles Only" stops outside a field where several Sioux are building a fire to heat rocks for a sweat lodge. Once inside the tarp-covered lodge, they will pray, sing and use the stifling heat to cleanse their minds and bodies. "The sweat lodge will teach you everything about life, about yourself," says one of the Lakotas, Izzy Zephier, 52. "It's like looking at a mirror, at reality, at truth. Your shield comes down." Accepting money for this land is unthinkable, he says. "We would be telling God, 'This isn't yours. We're wheeling and dealing.' " Charlotte Black Elk is a descendant of Crazy Horse's friend, Little Big Man, who in 1875 threatened to kill any man who advocated selling the Black Hills. Black Elk, herself, is so hard-core that she uproots non- native plants from her property. Had the Supreme Court made its ruling 25 years earlier, she says, the tribes probably would have accepted the money. "Each generation has become much more radicalized," says Black Elk, a thin woman who looks younger than her 49 years. "When it came to my generation, we were, 'No, we'll never take the money.' " That shift has been accompanied by a return to traditional religious practices. "My parents' generation lived in a world where they were socialized Christians, and attempted to maintain as much of the tribal culture as possible," Black Elk says. "Whereas myself, I'm an orthodox Indian. . . . I have the religion that came with my culture and my blood and the land that I'm attached to." Both her daughter and son have killed buffalo, which helps connect them with past generations that made hunting the center of society. "My daughter's generation is Lakota in a way that our people haven't been for 150 years," she says. Black Elk lives in the reservation village of Manderson, a few miles north of Wounded Knee, site of the 1890 massacre of nearly 300 unarmed Sioux. Her house is surrounded by limestone buttes. Elk antlers and an elk head hang on her wall. She is confident that the Sioux will one day own the Black Hills again. Her 28-year-old nephew, D.J. One Feather, is not. "Part of me says we should just take the money," says One Feather, a former reservation police officer. Then why not do it? "I guess it's pride, man," he says. "You're giving in to the white man. I hate using terms like that -- us and them -- but sometimes it's hard to get your point across without them. Hundreds of years of oppression -- you're just giving in to it." Bill Swift Hawk, a 62-year-old artist, has made it a vocation to take over places in the name of Indian power. Thirty years ago, he joined in the American Indian Movement occupation of Alcatraz, the former prison island in San Francisco Bay. In 1981, he and others occupied Wind Cave National Park in the Black Hills. Now, Swift Hawk is part of a group occupying the reservation's tribal government building. Swift Hawk left Pine Ridge and spent his 20s and 30s in California, pretty much "drinking, partying and bouncing around." Sometimes he made money by shortchanging cashiers, rationalizing that he was getting his Black Hills share. Alcoholism affects almost every reservation family, health officials say, yet there is no detoxification center, something the Black Hills money could pay for. Swift Hawk quit booze 20 years ago, and moved back to Pine Ridge. The activists occupying the government building began protesting alleged corruption in tribal government, which is millions of dollars in debt, and now call for a return to a traditional government, run by elders. Inside, a shrine displays a copy of the 1868 treaty, promising the land "for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupancy of the Sioux." Exchanging that for money is just not an option, Swift Hawk says. "That's the center of our world." Copyright c. 2002 Associated Press. Copyright c. 2001 OrlandoSentinel.com. --------- "RE: Big Mountain List Update" --------- Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 07:08:00 +0000 From: Robert Dorman Subj: BIGMTLIST Update Mailing List: Big Mountain List The following information was provided by Al Swilling of SENAA (http://www.senaa.org). Thanks, Al! (some personal info omitted) 1. January 16, 2002, the Dine'h women arrested at the Sun Dance last summer went to court. The Navajo Nation is footing the bill for ALL legal expenses related to the trial of the five Dine'h women arrestees; and the Navajo Nation is also footing the bill for Arrick Crittendon's appeal, if the case is not dismissed or decided in Arrick's favor. 2. Roberta Blackgoat has rescheduled her trip to DC. She was originally going to go around Thanksgiving; but those plans were canceled when anthrax was found in and around the Capitol Building. Roberta's new plans are to go to DC in April, around the middle of the month, I think. SENAA will be posting a notice of the new plan on SENAA's web sites. Roberta said that she is still collecting petition signatures for the trip. The following was provided by Carol Halberstadt (Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land, http://www.migrations.com): (some personal info omitted) No news is good news on Black Mesa! ;-) Dec. 15-16 I had the Cultural Survival bazaar, where I sold more weavings. I've also been dreaming of grants to do Black Mesa fulltime ;-) Long story short, I owe a long post to bring the list up to date and I promise that I will try and write it this weekend. The good news is that things are quiet out there and a lot of positive things have been happening, which I'll summarize as soon as possible. ========================================= Please visit http://www.theofficenet.com/~redorman/pagea~1.htm for more background on the Big Mountain relocation issue. To post to the list, email your message to redorman@theofficenet.com. To subscribe, send an email to: BIGMTLIST-subscribe@topica.com. >This email was sent to: gars@speakeasy.org --------- "RE: Cherokees to focus on Economic Development" --------- Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 08:22:50 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CNO ECONOMIC FOCUS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.zwire.com/site/news Cherokees to focus on economic development By: Betty Smith, Press Staff Writer January 15, 2002 Fate of casino here remains uncertain The Cherokee Nation will focus on economic and business development this year, Principal Chief Chad Smith said Monday. The first two elements of that plan already are taking shape, Smith told Tribal Council members during their meeting. American Woodmark broke ground last week on its new plant in the industrial district, and Fast Trac will do the same soon. Both companies, expected to begin operations later this year, will employ 500 to 800 people when in full operation. American Woodmark makes cabinets, and Fast Trac will manufacture motorcycles. The Cherokee Nation worked in partnership with the city of Tahlequah, Tahlequah Industrial Authority, Northeastern State University and other entities to entice the new manufacturers. "Both companies are looking to the Cherokee Nation to help recruit and train Native American workers," Smith said. He invited people at the meeting to check out a set of cabinets American Woodmark donated. Proceeds from an auction of the cabinets will help build the next Habitat for Humanity house, and the cabinets will be used in the kitchen. One of the tribe's economic development entities that hopes to make additional money in the next year is Cherokee Nation Enterprises, which operates convenience stores and gaming facilities. Dave Tippeconnic, the new CNE executive, addressed the council for the first time. He said CNE's net income for the recently-completed fiscal year was $9 million, paying the tribe a $4.56 million dividend. He projected the net income will increase to $12 million this year. Tippeconnic said CNE is undergoing an internal housekeeping, and establishing sound, professional business practices. "We have to be careful not to spread ourselves too thin and not accomplish anything," he said. Plans for a casino in Tahlequah have been suspended until - and if - CNE gets the go-ahead from the tribal administration and the Tribal Council. Last month, earth work was being performed on tribal land next to Sequoyah High School. The work was halted when councilors expressed concern about locating a gambling establishment next to a school. Some councilors had problems only with the casino's location, while others entirely opposed a casino in Tahlequah. Former CNE executive Jerry Holderby resigned after councilors stated their opposition to the plan. During a committee meeting, councilors chided Holderby for proceeding with the casino plans without their knowledge. CNE is working up a business plan for a Tahlequah operation. Tippeconnic said CNE hopes to expand its Catoosa operations. CNE has purchased a golf course and hopes to construct a hotel, making the Cherokee operation a destination point. Councilor Stephanie Shepherd asked what this year's increased revenue will come from. Tippeconnic said, among other things, CNE will change the mix of machines at its gaming facilities to increase the number of those that are more profitable. Councilor Don Crittenden asked if CNE was going to move its offices to Tulsa. He said he had heard that rumor and did not like it. Tippeconnic said the golf course at Catoosa has some unused empty buildings that could become office space. "There's quite a disturbance on that among people in Tahlequah," Crittenden said. "They also were quoted as saying there's not enough competent people in Tahlequah to run it." Tippeconnic said that wasn't the case. In other business, councilors: * Learned that Cherokee Nation Industries posted $4.8 million in December sales and $79 million in sales for the past six months. * Heard that the CNI environmental and construction management businesses are up and running. * Learned that the Girl Scouts are selling packages of friendship cookies with words in different languages. One cookie has Cherokee on it. Smith said these cookies are being sold in western Oklahoma, but not in eastern Oklahoma. * Honored about a dozen tribal members who speak Cherokee. * Learned that the Dorothy Jean McIntosh bridge will be dedicated Feb. 6 in Washington County, honoring the late councilor. * Heard that the Stilwell low-income housing tax credit program has been approved, and a groundbreaking is scheduled within the next month. Framing is under way on a project in Jay, and a site is being sought for a Tahlequah project. * Approved a legislative act appropriating $400,000 in motor fuel tax funds for graduate scholarships. * Approved a legislative act authorizing five new road projects for $337,500. * Approved applying for a $600,000 administration grant applications. * Approved applying to the Office of Justice Planning for a grant to operate a tribal drug court. * Approved submitting a proposal to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for funding to sustain the clean water program. * Changed the way tribal trust authority members are selected. They will be appointed by the chief and confirmed by the council. Copyright c. 2002 Tahlequah Daily Press. --------- "RE: Taylor and Joshevama inaugurated by Hopis" --------- Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 08:22:50 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HOPI INAUGURATION" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.gallupindependent.com/todaysnews.html#anchor9 Taylor and Joshevama inaugurated by Hopis Stan Bindell Special to the Independent KYKOTSMOVI, Ariz. - Hopi Chairman Wayne Taylor Jr. emphasized a growing tribal economy and Vice Chairman Elgean Joshevama focused on helping those who feel disenfranchised during their inaugural speeches Jan. 11. More than 1,500 people packed into the Hopi Veterans Memorial Center to congratulate and hear the messages of the two top officials. Taylor, who won re-election to a second term in Novemeber, reported that the tribe has a larger and more diversified economy base today. He noted that the Hopi during the past four years obtained two commercial retail office centers in Flagstaff that are doing well. "We are now building a two-story addition on the remaining vacant space at Continental Shopping Center, and even before that project is completed, the retail shops and offices are already spoken for," he said... Copyright c. 2002 The Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: Poarch Leader denies Gaming Hall Report" --------- Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 08:51:03 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="POARCH" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.accessmontgomery.com/1news/alabama/011502_bingo.html January 15, 2002 Poarch leader denies gaming hall report By Nick Lackeos Montgomery Advertiser Tribal Chairman Eddie Tullis of the Atmore area Poarch Creek Indians dismissed weekend reports his group plans to build a gaming hall in the Huntsville/Decatur area. "I wish it were true, but it's not," Tullis said with a chuckle Monday as he inspected several mobile modular units. The units will be installed today at the Riverside Entertainment Center, which the Poarch Creeks opened in Wetumpka in November. They will house a traditional table bingo hall the Poarch Creeks are adding later this month at the facility. Currently, the games are all high-stakes video gaming machines. The Associated Press reported Sunday that Tullis said the proposed gaming hall would be similar to the gaming halls already in place in Atmore and Wetumpka. "We don't even own any land up there in north Alabama," Tullis said. "We had an option to buy some land up there in 1990. But we let that option go a long time ago." Tullis, however, said he believes the Huntsville/Decatur area would be a good location for a gaming hall. "A lot of our customers who come to our facilities in Wetumpka and Atmore come from Tennessee and north Georgia," Tullis said. "If we had a bingo hall in the Huntsville/Decatur area, it would be a lot closer for them." Such a development is unlikely, Tullis said. Even if the Poarch Creeks bought a parcel of land there or anywhere else in the state, Tullis said the governor would have to grant the group permission to open a gaming hall on the land because such a parcel would not be designated by the U.S. Department of Interior as reservation land. Huntsville City Clerk Charles Hagood said he knows of no effort by the Poarch Creeks or any other Indian group to open a gaming facility in Huntsville or Decatur. "I haven't heard of anything like that," Hagood said Monday. Laura Kendrick, a spokeswoman at the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce, said she also has heard nothing of such plans. Decatur City Clerk Gail Busbey said she has heard "not a word" about any plans for an Indian gaming hall. Jim Fisher, the city planner for Decatur, said he also knows of no plans by any group to open a gaming hall in the area. Fisher said he suspects the AP blurb was taken from a story Sunday in the Decatur Daily in which Tullis was reported to say his group is interested in building a gambling hall in the Tennessee Valley. Tullis, however, said Monday the only sites the Poarch Creeks have in regard to gaming are in Atmore, Wetumpka and Montgomery. The group has owned and operated the Creek Bingo Palace in Atmore since 1985, he said. The group plans to open a gaming hall on land it owns in Montgomery County adjacent to River Run Golf Course later this year, he said. Nick Lackeos, who covers Autauga and Elmore counties for the Montgomery Advertiser, can be reached at 365-6739 or by fax at 365-1400. Copyright c. 1997-2000, The Advertiser Co. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Redistricting plan Violates Tribal Voting Rights" --------- Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2002 08:09:56 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="VOTING RIGHTS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.okit.com/news/2002/january/redistrictingsuit.html South Dakota Redistricting plan Violates Tribal Voting Rights says ACLU By Ruth Steinberger A lawsuit filed by the Voting Rights Project of the ACLU this week in Pierre, South Dakota, alleges that the state of South Dakota has violated two components of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, seriously affecting the ability of Indians in that state to elect Indian representatives. The suit, Bone Shirt, et al vs. Hazeltine, et al, alleges that 2 sections of the Voting Rights Act were violated. The first complaint cites South Dakota's failure to follow federally mandated protocol for implementing their redistricting plan. The second portion alleges that the redistricting plan itself keeps Indians seriously underrepresented by drawing district lines placing an excessively large number of tribal people within one district, while leaving nearly 6,000 Rosebud Sioux in a neighboring white majority district, rendering their vote ineffective. Due to a history of documented racial discrimination regarding voting issues, South Dakota is one of 16 states that must file their redistricting plans with the federal government for approval. Despite the federal mandate to file for approval, South Dakota has failed to file although the new redistricting plan is slated to be implemented January 1, 2002. Bryan Sells, attorney with the Voting Rights Project said, "We have asked for a preliminary injunction because the 2002 election calendar starts on January 1, 2002. The state will implement that plan in violation of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act." Plaintiff Alfred Bone Shirt, Rosebud, commented that the state's failure to file for federal approval is typical of the arrogance that South Dakota has shown on Indian issues. Bone Shirt said, "We need a voice. The treaty of 1868 is the law of the land. We have been buying time for decades trying to make headway." Legislative redistricting in Indian country this year has seen unprecedented activity by tribal leaders and voting rights activists. A lawsuit in North Dakota is likely when the legislature convenes in 2002. The Jicarilla Apache Nation in New Mexico is pressing for their own district so tribal members can elect all the legislators that represent the tribe. Redistricting refers to the process of redrawing the lines that create the districts from which public officials are elected. Mandated by the federal government, redistricting takes place after each census and determines how votes will be assessed in the state. Redistricting affects all jurisdictions that use districts to elect officials, from school board representatives to state legislators. Redistricting throughout the Great Plains often made attaining an Indian voting majority impossible even in areas with large Indian populations. Indians are seriously underrepresented in all Great Plains state legislatures. The Indian population of North Dakota is over 6%, while only one legislator out of 147 is an Indian. In South Dakota, with close to 10% Indian population, only five out of 105 legislators are Indian. Montana is over 7 % Indian, yet out of 150 legislators in Montana, five legislators are elected from Native American majority districts. Montana, North and South Dakota have experienced declines in non- Indian population with dramatic increases in the Indian population, and according to federal law voting districts should reflect those population changes. The State of Minnesota would have 24 legislators of color in the legislature if racial minorities were represented in proportion to their population. There are four. The single biggest redistricting issue in Indian country has been the creation of "single member house districts". Legislative districts in North and South Dakota and Montana each elect 3 legislators including one senator and two representatives. With the exception of South Dakota District 28-A, all districts elect the three legislators "at large", meaning that all citizens throughout the particular district vote for the three legislators. A "single member house district" is created by dividing the district into two districts for the purpose of electing the representative's seats, while still having at large election of the one senator. Areas with a large minority population within a white majority district then elect their own representative to represent that portion of the overall district. Without single member house districts, minority communities can wind up "diluted" at the polls. Even very large minority communities can wind up with virtually no voting strength. The drawing of legislative districts dictates the proportion of the minority population in a district, ultimately determining if minority communities will have their voice heard during elections. Three tactics typically used to "dilute" minority voting blocks are "packing", "stacking" and "cracking". These tactics have kept Great Plains tribes with large numbers of Indians from having districts able to elect Indian representatives. "Packing" refers to drawing district lines in a way that crowds a very large number of individuals into one district. While the district will be able to elect minority candidates, the population is prevented from affecting the larger area in which they live. "Stacking" refers to drawing districts in a way that places a very large white population with an area that is "minority-majority" so that the minority community will remain unable to elect minority candidates. "Cracking" refers to breaking up a large minority population into several white voting districts, so that again a large minority community will be rendered ineffective by voting in several separate districts despite being a single geographical community. The lawsuit filed in Pierre cites a "packing" situation in District 27. District 27 is currently over 90% Indian. However, without single member house districts, nearly 6,000 Rosebud Sioux in neighboring District 26 are left voting in a white majority at-large district that has never elected any Indian legislator despite the district being over one third Indian. South Dakota's District 28 is an example of what single member house districts can accomplish. When voting for the representatives' office was "at large", meaning that voters throughout the entire district cast ballots for each office, the white majority consistently elected white representatives. When the district was divided into 28-A and 28-B, for the first time a Native American legislator was elected to represent the largely Native American area within the district. Tex Hall, Chairman of Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nation of North Dakota testified at committee hearings that single member house districts are critical for increased tribal representation in the state legislature. Chairman Hall said that while this issue affects all minority communities, "The large land based tribes are most heavily affected by it. Essentially, we have large districts with a growing population and no representation." Hall pointed out that the reservations are dealing with crucial issues, yet there are no Native Americans serving on several committees that affect tribal life. "They make key decisions on our behalf without any input from us," said Hall. Tex Hall is Chairman of the Great Plains Tribal Chairman's Association, the President of NCAI and the Chairman of the Native American Banking Corporation. Native American Times is Copyright c. 2000-2001 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: Pueblo Group Wants Change In Traditional Government" --------- Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2002 09:23:18 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TAOS VOTE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.imdiversity.com/Article_Detail.asp?Article_ID=8796 Pueblo Group Wants Change In Traditional Government by AP, The Associated Press Taos, N.M. (AP) - A Taos Pueblo group is challenging the pueblo's traditional form of government, in which a council of about 55 men installs a new pueblo governor and administrator each year. "We're not here to be disrespectful or interrupt our government," said John Suazo, president of a pueblo watchdog group called Residents in Support of Education. "But our government hasn't been functioning as it has in the past." Taos Pueblo administrators, who took office earlier this week, were in a meeting Thursday and did not immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press seeking comment. Critics say the oral traditions that govern the pueblo are not keeping pace with the responsibilities of operating the pueblo's casino near a bustling resort community. Suazo and other members of the group say voting by all tribal members is the surest way to make sure revenue from the casino and admission to the scenic pueblo is not misspent. Pueblo member Gladys Kozoll said during a meeting last week that it's also time for women, who hold no seats on the Tribal Council, to have a say. "We don't get listened to; we don't get elected to office," said Kozoll, who compared that to women under the Taliban rule in Afghanistan. The effort to bring universal suffrage to tribal politics is complicated by the fact tribal officers are important religious and ceremonial leaders and must be qualified as such. Tribal Council member Frederick Lujan, who supports pueblowide voting, said the religious aspects of the office should be maintained, but that administrative duties should be in writing. "We need something we can look in black and white at," Lujan said. Frederick Lujan Sr., one of a handful of elders who nominate candidates for governor for council vote, said through a translator last week he did not believe the time had come for pueblowide voting. "My dad is saying let's not vote," the younger Lujan said. "But (the council) has got to understand what the outside people are talking about." Copyright c. 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. 2001 iMinorities, Inc. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Indians protest Telescope Project" --------- Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2002 08:19:30 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PROTEST TELESCOPE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://web.duluthnews.com/content/duluth/2002/01/07/local/ [Editorial comment: Judging from the last statement in this article it would be resonable for me to say, "There's a lot of room in the Vatican. My wife should be able to put her powwow vendor booth up in there.] Indians protest telescope project BY KRISTINA TORRES ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS University of Minnesota astronomers have pined 20 years for such an opportunity but, as the university negotiates to buy a share in the world's most powerful telescope, opponents say the deal ignores a long- simmering protest over its construction on land sacred to American Indians. "We would be devastated if the project was to be canceled over this kind of protest," astronomy department Chairman Leonard Kuhi said. "These people may be far from us, but that does not matter," said Winona LaDuke, an activist from the White Earth Reservation near Bemidji, and a two-time vice presidential candidate. The university's involvement would ride "roughshod over American Indian religious freedom." Two telescopes have been completed, and a third -- the one in which the University of Minnesota wants to buy a 5 percent share -- is now under construction and expected to be completed in 2004. The Pinaleo Mountains in Arizona, often referred to as Mount Graham, are 120 miles southeast of Phoenix. Nearby San Carlos Apaches and other Indians hold sacred the mountains' high peaks, which are also the chosen site of an 8.6-acre observatory being built by the University of Arizona. Tribal members and their supporters have repeatedly protested and even sued unsuccessfully to stop, or at least slow, the project since its first mention in the Arizona Wilderness Act of 1984. "I've made a commitment to defend Mount Graham," said Guy Lopez, a former Arizona graduate student and Dakota who journeyed to Minnesota in mid-December to draw attention to the protest. "The issue has been misrepresented, and it's damaging to the Apache to be misrepresented that way." The University of Arizona has steadfastly asserted that it has tried to honor and respect other people's use of the mountain. Mount Graham is not within the boundaries of the San Carlos reservation, and the university has worked on the project with Italian and German collaborators as well as with Ohio State University and the University of Notre Dame. Buddy Powell, a University of Arizona astronomer and the man in charge of Mount Graham's day-to-day operations, said he has walked the area with tribal members as construction has progressed. "They've told me how to use the land, and basically it boils down to using the land with dignity and respect," said Powell, who has worked on the project for 16 years. "We don't please everybody, but we try." That effort has been noted by the University of Minnesota's Kuhi. "We've been accused of not doing our homework," said Kuhi of the University of Minnesota. "Well, my response is that we thought the whole issue was settled years ago. How many times can you go to court?" Minnesota can afford to buy a share of the telescope because of a $5 million gift made a year ago by Hubbard Broadcasting. It was like manna from heaven to astronomers looking to push their program into the forefront of the field. University lawyers have since been negotiating a contract with Arizona and expect to finish this month. The contract must be approved by the Board of Regents, which next meets in February. Campus opponents, many of whom first heard of the issue a few weeks ago, are now calling for the contract to be put on hold until university officials hear from San Carlos Apache leadership. They also say they should have been informed about this by the university from the beginning. "These kinds of issues should be brought to our attention prior to the administration making any decisions," said Roxanne Gould, program director for the university's American Indian Learning Resource Center. The university's American Indian Student Cultural Center issued a statement opposed to the school's involvement in the Mount Graham project, saying, "We value and respect the need to preserve and protect sacred sites, language and tribal tradition, in that we may pass this knowledge to the future generations." "My feeling is that, with 1,200 acres on the mountaintop, there's plenty of room for everybody," Kuhi said. "This is the best thing to happen to the department in a long time." Copyright c. 2001 Duluth News Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Judge accepts Report before Contempt Trial Recess" --------- Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 08:51:03 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RECESS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.journalstar.com/native?story_id=132&date Judge accepts report before Norton contempt trial recess BY JODI RAVE LEE Lincoln Journal Star WASHINGTON, D.C. - The contempt trial for two Interior Department officials recessed Tuesday, but not before a federal judge dealt another blow to those defending the department's handling of Native trust fund accounts. U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth issued an order Tuesday accepting for the record a report from a court investigator about Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb's failure to protect computer data for trust fund beneficiaries. For more than 15 days now, witnesses have been called to the stand, where Norton and McCaleb face five contempt of court charges, which include lying to the court and failure to provide computer security for trust account holders. "The only way she can avoid contempt is to say the 154-page report is erroneous," said Dennis M. Gingold, lead attorney for 300,000 Native account-holders. He plans to call Norton as a witness after the trial resumes Jan. 31, he said. Individual Indian Monies account-holders filed a class-action lawsuit five years ago calling for a proper accounting of their land and assets. The Interior Department and its Bureau of Indian Affairs can't account for billions of missing dollars from the thousands of individual trust fund accounts it manages for Native people. Meanwhile, the report submitted by Special Master Alan Balaran in November said the Interior Department "demonstrated a pattern of neglect that has threatened, and continues to threaten, the integrity of trust data upon which Indian beneficiaries depend." For those reasons, Lamberth ordered Dec. 5 that the Interior Department disconnect all Internet-related information technology systems that house - and provide access to - individual Indian trust data. His order also required the department to disconnect from the Internet all computers that have access to Indian trust data. On Dec. 17, Lamberth issued a second order allowing the department to reconnect necessary computer systems to help get lease and royalty checks in the mail. That hasn't happened yet. Sandra Spooner, a Justice Department civil division director, said Tuesday that Balaran and the court had not yet accepted the Interior Department's proposal to get the trust fund computer system back online. The Interior Department, however, has successfully sought emergency relief from the court to allow the United States Geological Service to resume its online operations. Emergency relief has not been requested for the estimated 43,000 individual Native account-holders who typically receive annual lease and royalty payments from the department and BIA before Christmas, Gingold said. Gingold chastised the government for failing to provide even minimal relief for Native account-holders. "There are manual methods," for payment, he said. "We just don't understand why this attitude exists." Spooner said she hopes the Interior Department can satisfy the court within the next week. "We're proceeding as quickly as possible," she said. "It's not a system that can be brought up for two hours at a time." Reach Jodi Rave Lee at 473-7240 or jrave@journalstar.com. Copyright c. 2002, Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Tribes assail Proposal to split BIA" --------- Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 08:18:57 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CALIFORNIA MEETING" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/fri/ Tribes assail proposal to split Bureau of Indian Affairs Tribes contend they haven't been consulted by Washington By Chet Barfield STAFF WRITER January 18, 2002 More than 400 American Indian leaders from California and other Western states gathered in San Diego yesterday to shower two high-ranking Interior Department officials with criticism about a proposal to split the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs into two agencies. "Each of us here today realizes that reorganization is necessary," said Pala tribal Chairman Robert Smith. "But there must be consultation with the people (the bureau) was designed to protect." Interior Secretary Gale Norton in November announced that many of the duties now handled by the bureau, or BIA, would be transferred to a new agency, the Bureau of Indian Trust Assets Management. She made the proposal in response to a federal court order in which the department is threatened with contempt for failing to address decades of mismanagement of tribal trust funds worth billions of dollars. Although tribal leaders agree the funds have been mismanaged, they resent any restructuring of Indian Affairs without consultation of the tribes. They also worry that a new agency -- in addition to taking over management of trust accounts for such reservation assets as timber, oil and land leases -- could undermine the unique relationship American Indians have with the U.S. government. Tribes bristle at having to deal with the oversight and bureaucracy of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, but they realize it often helps fortify their federal government-to-government status. Yesterday's meeting was called to let tribal officials express their concerns to Assistant Interior Secretary Neal McCaleb, who heads Indian Affairs, and his deputy assistant secretary, Wayne Smith. It was the fifth meeting held around the country since mid-December. "Unfortunately, you can't have improvement without change," McCaleb told a hotel gathering in Mission Valley. "My role here today is principally to listen." He said a 24-member task force of tribal leaders from 12 regions nationwide has been assembled to draft alternatives to Norton's proposal. That group began meeting yesterday afternoon. Many tribal leaders, however, think the split is a foregone conclusion because Norton has transition officials working to create the agency. "The tribes have been led on a merry chase to comment on a plan with no discernible substance," said Clifford Marshall, chairman of the Hoopa Valley Tribe in Northern California. "We do not need two bureaus. We need one effective bureau." During a break, Marshall said tribal opposition has been loud and unanimous at each of the five national meetings, starting with the first in Albuquerque, N.M. "In Albuquerque (Interior officials) said, 'The train's already left the station. You better get on it,' " Marshall said. (But) "nobody's jumping on this train." Smith, the deputy assistant secretary, said in a brief interview that no decision has been made, but the department had to get some kind of reorganization going because of pressure from the court. "The hope is this tribal task force will come forward to give us an alternative," he said. "Secretary Norton has made it clear that until there is a meaningful counterproposal, her plan will move forward." Copyright c. 2002 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. --------- "RE: TAAMS halted by Swimmer" --------- Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 08:18:57 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TAAM HALTED" http://www.indianz.com/SmokeSignals/Headlines/ Under watch of Swimmer, TAAMS halted FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 2002 Against the wishes of the company developing a costly and controversial computer system that has been constantly criticized, the Department of Interior has halted work on a $40 million trust reform project and may get rid of the floundering software package altogether. Citing numerous problems, including computer security vulnerabilities, the department is putting off further development of the Trust Assets and Accounting Management System (TAAMS) and is re-evaluating whether the project can meet its needs. Ross Swimmer, who headed the Bureau of Indian Affairs during the last three years of the Reagan administration and was given control over TAAMS since being hired by Secretary Norton last November, informed a federal judge of the decision in a status update this week. "[F]urther development and deployment of the ArtesiaLand System known as TAAMS has been deferred until we are satisfied that it is the most appropriate way to automate . . . required trust functions," wrote Swimmer. Special Trustee Tom Slonaker, the highest-ranking trust official within the department, agreed with the decision, according to his own comments in the eighth quarterly report. He and his staff had been battling with the BIA over the project until Norton reassigned it to Slonaker's office, also in November. Pitched to Indian Country and a federal judge as the solution to outdated and disparate accounting practices, development of TAAMS began during the Clinton administration in late 1998. But the system has been seen numerous setbacks. Among the most major has been a total shift in the way the system has been developed. Department officials chose to base TAAMS off the ArtesiaLand System, a commercial product of Applied Terravision (ATS), a Texas firm, and intended only to modify it. Over time, however, the BIA and ATS made so many changes -- all willingly approved by an Interior oversight board -- that the system is now considered a custom project. Still, top officials -- including Slonaker and Assistant Secretary Neal McCaleb -- were convinced TAAMS could be brought on track and deployed on schedule. With McCaleb no longer in charge and with Slonaker reversing his position, whether any system will be ready by the target date of 2003 is now in serious doubt. But ATS isn't of the same mind and during Norton's contempt trial this week, a company representative, who testified on behalf of the government, defended the system. Nevertheless, Deborah McCloud, who has been the TAAMS project manager since the summer of 1999, testified that the only part of the system that works, to some extent, is a module known as land title, which tracks the ownership of trust land. Land title happens to be the custom part of ArtesiaLand -- the package's other trust functions have been modified so much that none are complete, she admitted. McCloud also testified that she did not wholeheartedly support the recommendations of EDS Corporation, a management consulting firm brought in last summer to assess trust reform, regarding TAAMS. While she agreed with EDS's views on land title, she opposed the Interior looking at other packages to replace her company's product -- which is exactly what Swimmer and others are now doing. Further, the Interior will not deploy the land title module beyond a pilot site in Billings, Montana, noted Slonaker. "The Department, however, has decided not to implement the title portion in additional locations pending further re-planning of the overall asset management systems projects," he wrote. McCloud is expected to return to the contempt trial January 31. She is still undergoing cross-examination by an attorney representing 300,000 Individual Indian Money (IIM) beneficiaries whose assets have never been accounted by the Interior. Copyright c. 2000-2001 Noble Savage Media, LLC/Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Norton: Trust Reform Blueprint Obsolete" --------- Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 08:18:57 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TRUST HLIP REVERSAL" http://www.indianz.com/SmokeSignals/Headlines/ Norton: Trust reform blueprint 'obsolete' FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 2002 In a dramatic reversal that leaves her operating without a safety net, Secretary of Interior Gale Norton has scrapped her department's guide to correcting more than a century of trust asset mismanagement. Saying that the High Level Implementation Plan (HLIP) is "obsolete," Norton informed a federal judge this week of the decision in a status report she was ordered to sign personally. "The HLIP is now outdated," she plainly told U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth. "Many of its identified activities have been designated as being completed," she continued, "however, little material progress is evident. More fundamentally, the HLIP does not reflect an adequately coordinated and comprehensive view of the trust reform process." Norton's revelation comes as little surprise, as the state of the blueprint had been in doubt ever since she announced, to unanimous opposition in Indian Country, a major restructuring of trust duties in mid-November. Prior to the unveiling, trust reform had been under considerable review since the summer of 2001, when the department hired a management consulting firm, EDS Corporation, to assess the effort that was first launched by the Clinton administration in July 1998. But the decision to scrap the HLIP entirely represents a significant step in the transformation of trust under the Bush administration. Key officials -- including Special Trustee Tom Slonaker and Assistant Secretary, the two individuals most responsible for protecting, managing and preserving more than $3 billion in tribal and individual Indian assets on 54 million acres of land -- were publicly pledging their support for the Clinton-drafted document. At the same time, though, officers of Lamberth's court were leading an assault on the state of reform. In blistering critiques of progress as defined by the HLIP, special master Alan Balaran and court monitor Joseph S. Kieffer III repeatedly questioned the accuracy, completeness and truthfulness of information being reported to the court. The attack forced Norton to retreat in a number of areas, including her affirmation of a Clinton decision to conduct a statistical sampling of the Individual Indian Money (IIM) trust despite mandates otherwise from Congress and the court. Eighteen months after Lamberth's December 21, 1999, landmark ruling, Norton last July finally acted to provide Indian beneficiaries with an historical accounting of their funds, although a plan to do so is still not known. Lest the culmination of all the activity be taken as a step forward, however, the rejection of the trust blueprint unwittingly places Norton exactly where critics note predecessor Bruce Babbitt failed. Paul Homan, the Interior's first Special Trustee who quit after a protracted battle with Babbitt over funding and support, in 1997 had prepared exactly what Norton is now proposing to develop in consultation with Indian Country, Congress and trust industry experts -- a "management strategic plan." The change also has Norton asking Lamberth and Indian Country to let her go forward on principle alone, a risky move since Deputy Secretary J. Steven Griles, later in the report, acknowledges tribes are rebuffing the reorganization. She offers no timeline on her strategy, and notes: "The work cannot be accomplished overnight." The other lingering question is the money spent on a plan now deemed by Norton to be obsolete. "This is an admission that after $614 million, trust reform has failed," said Dennis Gingold, an attorney representing the IIM class action in Lamberth's court, of the policy shift. The Bush administration received an additional $228.6 million to continue reform efforts in fiscal year 2002. Copyright c. 2000-2001 Noble Savage Media, LLC/Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: ABC $30 mil Native American Miniseries" --------- Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 08:18:57 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ABC TV" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20020117/en/television-dreamkeeper_1.html Thursday January 17 3:07 AM ET ABC pow-wowed by $30 mil Native American miniseries By Josef Adalian HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - The myths and legends of Native American culture will come to life via "Dreamkeeper," a $30 million-plus miniseries just greenlit by ABC. The tentatively titled four-hour epic will use special effects to dramatize seven or eight Native American legends, such as the story of a rain god who falls in love with a mortal woman; another is about an outcast child who attempts to tame a water beast, thus saving his town. The project will feature a cast made up almost entirely of Native American actors; a huge chunk of the crew also is expected to be Native American. Production is set to begin May 1 with an airdate targeted for November 2003. Wrapped around the mythology will be the story of a 17-year-old Native American boy (Eddie Spears) who, against his will, is forced to drive his 100-year-old grandfather to an annual storytelling powwow. During their drive from South Dakota to Santa Fe, the grandfather recounts the stories of his culture to his grandson, ultimately convincing the teen of the importance of his heritage. "Dreamkeeper" will be produced by Robert Halmi Sr.'s Hallmark Entertainment, the company behind "Merlin," and the upcoming "Dinotopia." After filming a slew of epics based on European and Middle Eastern cultures, Halmi said he decided it was time to focus on North America. With the United States a relatively young country, there wasn't much mythology to retell, Halmi said, so he quickly turned his attention to Native American lore. "I started digging into it and found it's remarkable," Halmi said. "It's so colorful and gorgeous. The stories are so full of imagination. I thought I should help keep that culture's history alive." ABC's newly elevated entertainment president Susan Lyne, who was involved in developing the project for the network via her previous role as head of longform programming, said it made sense to explore mythology closer to home. Americans "don't think of ourselves as having a native mythology," Lyne said. "But in fact, the Native American mythology is so rich and so diverse. These are stories that we should all know." Halmi said utilizing mostly Native American talent both in front of and behind the camera was a no-brainer. "What the hell does a costume designer from Hollywood know about Native American (dress)?" Halmi quipped. "I want to make everything as authentic as possible." While many networks have cut back on big-budget miniseries in favor of more cost-effective event programming -- including NBC, where Halmi produced some of his most successful epics -- Halmi praised ABC for continuing to support lavish productions such as "Dreamkeeper." "It's the best network, especially with its Disney background," he said. "(Other) people get scared, and when they get scared, they do less and they do cheaper." Copyright c. 2002 Reuters Limited. Copyright c. 2002 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: First Peoples TV" --------- Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2002 21:10:06 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FIRST PEOPLES TV" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.dreamcatchers.org/fptv/ FIRST PEOPLES TV WorldLink TV Premieres Series By And About Tribal Peoples WorldLink TV (www.worldlinktv.org), the first nationwide television network providing Americans with global perspectives on news, events and culture, is airing a new weekly series by and about the tribal peoples of the world. First Peoples TV features 26 award-winning documentaries and dramas focusing on the lives of contemporary Native and Aboriginal people and the issues they face. WorldLink's programming consists of first run documentaries, foreign feature films, global news reports and eight hours of world music each day. Launched in December 1999, the channel is available in over 17 million U.S. homes via basic service on the direct-to-home satellite services DIRECTV (Channel 375) and EchoStar's DISH Network (Channel 9410). "First Peoples TV" is the first time a regularly scheduled TV series concerning tribal peoples will be accessible to all urban areas, including the territories of every Indigenous nation in the United States mainland. Curated by DreamCatchers, a non-profit organization working to bring Native films to a wider audience, and airing each Thursday Night at 7pm PST/10pm EST, First Peoples TV includes documentaries confronting fishing rights; "Lighting The Seventh Fire" by Sandra Sunrising Osawa, sacred sites; "Backbone Of The World" by George Burdeau, and religious freedom; "The Peyote Road" by Fidel Moreno. The series features dramatic films dealing with government attempts to destroy tribal cultures; "Where The Spirit Lives" by Bruce Pittman and Indigenous political activism; "Tushka" by Ian Skorodin. Native actors, comedians and educators introduce each episode. Hosts include Benjamin Bratt (Law & Order, Blood In-Blood Out, Pinero), Tantoo Cardinal (Legends Of The Fall, Black Robe, Dances With Wolves), Steve Reevis (Geronimo, Last Of The Dogmen, Fargo), Elaine Miles (Northern Exposure, Smoke Signals, RezRobics) and up and coming Apache funny man, Drew Lacapa. The one non-Native host is legendary historian of world religions, Huston Smith. DreamCatchers has previously produced health and fitness videos for American Indian communities including, "The Red Road To Sobriety", documenting the contemporary Native American sobriety movement, and "Rez Robics", a pow-wow dancing and martial arts inspired aerobics video designed to combat diabetes. Series producer Gary Rhine has previously produced award-winning documentaries including "Wiping The Tears Of Seven Generations" and "Your Humble Serpent; The Wisdom Of Reuben Snake". For program descriptions visit http://www.dreamcatchers.org/fptv or for program schedules visit http://www.worldlinktv.org. -=-=-=- http://www.worldlinktv.org/ New Native Series This week, WorldLink TV introduces "First Peoples TV," 26 weeks of compelling and informative programs that tell stories by and about the tribal peoples of the world. Don't miss this exciting television event - a new film will debut every Thursday at 10PM ET, 7PM PT. We inaugurate the series with the film below. Reason To Fear WORLDLINK PREMIERE The story of Native American Patrick "Hooty" Croy (pictured), who spent eight years on Death Row for his part in a 1978 shootout with Northern California police. The film focuses on his re-trial in which his new attorney, J. Tony Serra, won his acquittal using an innovative "cultural defense" stategy. "Reason to Fear" tells the story in the voices of those closest to the events: the Native Americans, their attorneys, witnesses, and jurors. WorldLink TV, an operating unit of Link Media, Inc. --------- "RE: In the Shadow of Little Bighorn" --------- Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2002 08:12:33 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FT KEARNY" http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/669/public/news233951.html In the Shadow of Little Bighorn Wyoming fort, massacre site often overlooked by those headed for Custer's last stand 01/05/02 Greg Tuttle for The Associated press STORY, Wyo. - A decade before Lt. Col. George A. Custer led the soldiers of the 7th Cavalry to annihilation at the Little Bighorn, another veteran of the Civil War fought an equally desperate battle against an overwhelming force of Indian warriors. On Dec. 21, 1866, Capt. William Fetterman charged out of the gates of Fort Phil Kearny with 79 soldiers and two civilians in pursuit of what he believed to be a small band of marauding Indians. Against the orders of the fort commander, Fetterman chased the Indians over a ridge three miles to the north of the fort. It was a trap. Within an hour, Fetterman and his soldiers were killed by 1,500 or more warriors of the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho nations. At the time, it was the U.S. military's worst defeat in its campaign to open the West. The battle and other events over the next two years would lead to the withdrawal of the military from the Powder River region and the end of the Bozeman Trail. Today, the fort and battlefiCasey Mott, right, of Sheridan, Wyo., covers his ears as he fires a cannon at Fort Phil Kearney south of Story, Wyo. held near here attract fewer visitors than other historical sites in the region. While the Little Bighorn Battlefield in Montana draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, Fort Phil Kearny, located 80 miles to the south, averages about 20,000 visitors a year, said Sonny Reisch, superintendent of the state park and historical site that includes a visitor center and museum. "We're kind of in the shadow of the Little Bighorn," Reisch said. About 50 people attended a recent interpretive tour on the 135th anniversary of the Fetterman Battle. The tour has been offered for the past five years, and turnout depends on the weather, said Bob Wilson, curator of the fort's museum. "Most people don't even realize it's here," said Rick Ingoldsby, president of the Fort Phil Kearny/Bozeman Trail Association. "I've talked to people who have lived their whole life in Sheridan and say they've only been here once." Built in 1866, the fort was abandoned and burned two years later. The fort site was overlooked for decades by everyone but local ranchers and farmers who salvaged the remaining bricks and timbers for their own use, Reisch said. In 1935, Sheridan County purchased three acres of the 17-acre fort site for preservation. A few years later, the Civilian Conservation Corps rebuilt a small section of the timber stockade that surrounded the fort and a caretaker cabin. Interest in the fort's history waned during World War II, Reisch said, then was rekindled in 1963 when the federal government designated Fort Phil Kearny a national historic landmark. The state of Wyoming also gave the fort and two nearby battlefields - the Fetterman and Wagon Box sites - historic designation. In 1970, the first visitor center at the fort was built by the Wyoming Recreation Commission. The first archaeological studies at the fort were also begun in 1970, and many of the artifacts recovered from those efforts are on view at the museum and visitor's center. The Fort Phil Kearny/Bozeman Trail Association was formed in 1985 to preserve and promote the history of the fort and the trail it was built to protect. The nonprofit association has grown to a membership of about 600. In 1986, the state of Wyoming acquired 10 more acres of land and established the museum, Reisch said. The state also hired two full-time and one part-time employees to work at the fort and continue rese`arching its history. Work at the fort picked up in the late 1990s. With help from a $152,000 federal grant and $38,000 in matching funds raised by the nonprofit group, new surveys using ground remote sensing radar were conducted in 1992 and 1993 to mark the location of the buildings inside the fort. The money was also used to reconstruct portions of the 8-foot stockade. The fort was one of a handful of military structures west of the Mississippi built within a fortified stockade, Reisch said. Future projects include more archaeological work at the fort and the Fetterman Battlefield. Reisch said plans also call for reconstructing the fort's 124-foot flag pole. "Our main goal is to give a visual impact," he said. Wilson said he hopes to map the positions of the Arapaho, Cheyenne and Sioux during the Fetterman Battle by using metal detectors to search a 600-acre area for bullets fired by the soldiers. Volunteers will spend about a week at the site in late May or early June, he said. The battlefield survey and a similar effort planned to map the fort's lower stockade area is being funded by a grant from the National Park Service's American Battlefield Preservation Project. If You Go Getting there: Fort Phil Kearny is located between Sheridan and Buffalo, Wyo., near the junction of Interstates 90 and 25 in north-central Wyoming. General information: The fort opens to visitors on April 1. Hours are noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday until May 15. From May 15 through Sept. 30, the fort is open daily between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Admission is $2 for nonresidents and $1 for Wyoming residents. Children under 17 are admitted free. For more information: Call (307) 648-7629. On The Net: wyoparks.state.wy.us/kearny1.htm Copyright c. 2001 MyWebPal.com. --------- "RE: Wakpa Sica Reconciliation Place Design Meeting" --------- Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2002 18:11:11 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NATIVE DESIGNS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=3028707&BRD Architects from the Minneapolis-based firm AmerINDIAN met with representatives from area tribes Thursday to discuss the design of the Wakpa Sica Reconciliation Place to be built near Fort Pierre. Dennis Sun Rhodes, one of the architects, listened with a notebook open in front of him as needs were presented not in terms of space, but in terms of tribal values. As he listened, he jotted notes. "This is the road where good architects have to travel," he said. "This type of project has so much potential to do good." The Wakpa Sica Reconciliation Place, as authorized by Congress in December 2000, is a multi-use facility which will be used as a resource and education center, and gathering place for members of the sovereign tribes in South Dakota. Among the spaces authorized by federal legislation were space for an economic development center, the Sioux Nation Tribal Supreme Court and training tribal personnel in conflict resolution, interpreting the encounters between Lewis and Clark and the Sioux Nation, and enhancing the knowledge and understanding of the history of Native Americans. "Overall, it's a gathering place - people coming together in a good way and in a good spirit," said Jane Murphy, executive director of the Wakpa Sica Historical Society. Sun Rhodes said he and his partner Dan Feidt have been working with the historical society for approximately eight years to help members translate an abstract concept into an architectural context so the estimated cost could be determined. The preliminary drawings presented Thursday were developed before Congress passed legislation authorizing the reconciliation center and before funding was appropriated late last year. The public meeting was held to gather ideas from the people to determine what changes would be necessary to meet their needs. "The public part of the process continues to be critical because it's the only way this will work," Murphy said. The preliminary design includes circular spaces placed within a broad arc to represent part of a traditional tipi village. The northern portion of the arc would house the cultural components including a repatriation center, interpretive center, genealogical center and gift shop. The southern portion would include offices, meeting spaces and space for the Supreme Court and support staff. During the afternoon hours, discussion revolved around two primary questions - whether a Sioux Nation Supreme Court was appropriate at this time and whether a court which adjudicated matters in a non-Indian way was necessary at all. Frank Pommersheim, with the University of South Dakota School of Law, suggested the need for a Sioux Nation judicial support system to provide training and research opportunities for existing tribal court structures. "It would be very difficult to go from existing tribal courts to a Sioux Nation Supreme Court," he said. He was supported in this by John LaValle, also with the USD School of Law, who said he was initially sceptical about the project, but had begun to see it not as a "federal manipulation of tribal sovereignty," but as an "empty shell to be filled with the Sioux tribes' primary concerns." Eldon Grassrope from Lower Brule questioned the concept. "We of the Lakota have a different value system," he said. "Whose value system are we going to follow? Are we going to follow Congress's law?" Rather than becoming discouraged or frustrated by the various voices and concerns, the architects were pleased that so many were taking part in the discussion. "All the Lakota tribes bring their best orators," Sun Rhodes said. "I am always overwhelmed and impressed with their oratory." Their role as architects is to translate the disparate thoughts into a space that will function well for the people who will be using it, he said. "The project is going to get richer and more detailed from their participation," Feidt said. Contact staff writer Mary Gales Askren by phone at 224-7301 or via e-mail at news@capjournal.com. Copyright c. 2002 Pierre Capital Journal, South Dakota newspapers. --------- "RE: Probation Visits to Onondaga Nation Cut" --------- Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2002 18:11:11 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DOG ATTACK/PROBATION VISITS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.syracuse.com/newsstories/20020119_rnproba.html Probation visits to nation cut A dog attack on officer on Onondaga Nation led to new policy, commissioner says. Saturday, January 19, 2002 By Jim O'Hara A dog attack on an Onondaga County probation officer visiting a probationer on the Onondaga Nation last fall has prompted the probation commissioner to cut off all home visits to the nation. Commissioner Robert Czaplicki notified all local judges of the new policy in a Jan. 8 letter. "Due to recent incidents our staff has encountered on the Onondaga Nation, we will no longer be making home visits and/or other community visits to probationers who reside there," Czaplicki wrote. "We request you take this into consideration when arranging plea bargains and when you are contemplating sentencing individuals who live on the Onondaga Nation to probation supervision." Czaplicki this week said the letter is not meant to indicate that his office wants judges to sentence Onondaga Nation defendants to jail instead of probation. "That's not the intent at all," he said. "We will work with individuals who live there. We will work with the nation." Probationers are required to report in regularly to the Probation Department, and that is not affected by Czaplicki's directive. Home visits by probation officers is just one part of the supervision process, and the new policy would not preclude a nation resident from being on probation, the commissioner said. The letter was just meant to inform the courts - and the district attorney's office - that the Probation Department will not be doing home visits on the nation as part of its monitoring of probationers, he said. Czaplicki said he imposed the new restrictions after consulting with the county sheriff's department. He declined to identify the injured officer but said she was the officer routinely assigned to handle all nation probationers. He attributed the termination of nation visits, in part, to a breakdown in communications with the chiefs over problems between the nation and the Probation Department. The dog attack Oct. 29 was the critical incident forcing him to take some action, Czaplicki said. He did not specify any other incident, or whom on the nation he had tried to contact to resolve the situation. According to the commissioner, the probation officer was visiting a probationer on the nation when she was attacked by the probationer's Rottweiler/pit bull. The officer suffered severe injuries to her left arm and hand and is still out on disability, Czaplicki said. The probation officer had been to the residence previously, knew the dog was kept on a run in the yard and knew where she could stand in the yard to be out of the reach of the animal, the commissioner said. But on the day of the attack, the length of the dog's rope was different, and the officer was attacked as she stood in an area where she thought she was safe, he said. The Probation Department then had problems getting the Health Department access to the animal after the attack, and the injured probation officer was forced to undergo painful rabies shots because the animal was not available to be tested, Czaplicki said. The Health Department later got access to the dog, but that happened too late to allow the officer to avoid the shots, he said. Officials have been told the dog subsequently was killed, Czaplicki said. Joseph Heath, the lawyer for the Onondaga Nation, said Friday he was unaware of any problem between the nation and the Probation Department until he received a phone call from a reporter about Czaplicki's letter announcing the termination of nation visits. Heath agreed with Czaplicki's assessment that there was, in fact, a breakdown in communications. But he said it wasn't from his end since he had had no contact from the commissioner. "Obviously, no one wants to see a probation officer get injured but this sounds like a one-time problem," Heath said, adding he would now consult with the chiefs to see how they want to address Czaplicki's new policy. The lawyer said he was optimistic a resolution could be reached. Heath said the only probable result of a policy ending home visits to probationers on the nation would be a reluctance by judges to place residents on probation. "If you take away one of the fundamental planks of that, it's not going to be on the table," Heath said of probation. The termination of home visits also could be detrimental to the progress of probationers who are dealing with alcohol and substance-abuse problems, he said. Czaplicki on Friday said he was not aware that Heath was the lawyer for the Onondaga Nation. Knowing that might now help to resolve the problem quickly, he said. Copyright c. 2002 The Post-Standard. Used with permission. --------- "RE: Paiute Feud slows Tribal Court System" --------- Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2002 18:11:11 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PAIUTE FEUD" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2002/01/19/6325.php Paiute feud slows tribal court system Mary Thompson RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL 1/20/2002 01:04 am Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe's court staff was fired the day after Christmas, crippling the reservation's justice system and prompting a campaign to unseat the tribal chairman, who some residents accuse of abusing authority to satisfy personal interests. . "The chairman uses his official office title above the color of the law to engage in selfish protection of his own interests above those of the tribal membership in general and that of the nine voting tribal council members," elder Elmira Copeland and others wrote in the petition for impeachment. Among other allegations, the petition cites Chairman Keith Alan Mandell's decision to fire the tribal court's prosecutor, public defender and probation officer without consulting the tribal council, a violation of council's orders. But Mandell -- elected December 2000 on the day after his release from the Washoe County Jail on a bail violation -- has insisted that the firings were sound, a result of an outside audit that proved the three employees had illegally spent tribal funds. "People get caught with their hand in the cookie jar and the consequences are the result of that," Mandell said. "We went through a complete process and most people complied with it. The people that didn't are no longer here." The three said they borrowed the money, a total of $160, to pay for office supplies and expenses. It was a common practice that had gone on for years and before Mandell had become chairman of the tribal nation, said fired prosecutor Joaquin Roces. Roces said Mandell had it out for the staff because they started looking into alleged corruption that the chairman didn't want to surface, such as illegal search and property seizures made by tribal police and two instances where they accuse Mandell of interfering with the court process. "It's a third-world system. I mean, you'd expect this in Nicaragua or El Salvador but not right in the middle of the most democratic and free country in the world," Roces said. "It's basically a dictatorship." Roces said he and former public defender Richard McCauley and former probation officer Ethel Henry, were never shown the audit that led to their firing. "There are policies and procedures regarding personnel and he's thrown them out the window and living by his own law and order codes," Roces said. Pyramid Lake's recent political turmoil is a reflection of problems that some say plague tribal governments nationwide. "All branches of government are run by the tribal council and in most tribes the chairman only gets as much authority as the council will allow, " said Superintendent Robert Hunter, of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Western Nevada Agency. In the Pyramid Lake case, angry residents claim that Mandell is overstepping his boundaries and ignoring the council all together. According to tribal code, a chairman is required to bring court personnel actions before the council. But, according to meeting minutes, Mandell was ordered to stay out of court affairs altogether because of a conflict of interest, stemming from a December 2000 arrest on a bail violation for a domestic battery conviction that was later overturned by the Intertribal Court of Appeals in Reno. Mandell ignored that order and the chief judge's recommendation not to fire the court staff. In a copy of a Dec. 12 letter from Chief Judge William Yacobozzi to Mandell, the chief judge said he didn't believe anyone "used/loaned these monies with the intent to take the money permanently." Yacobozzi then pleaded with Mandell to allow the court to present its side of the story to the council before the final decision to terminate the court staff is made. In a letter to Mandell dated Dec. 26, Yacobozzi said the chairman threatened to terminate him if he didn't go along with the plan. Yacobozzi wrote to the chairman: "When Christmas was mentioned, meaning it was a bad time to terminate, you reminded me where you were (in jail) last Christmas and which court put you there. You clearly inferred that if I did not go along with these terminations, I could be considered insubordinate and subject to the same (fate)." Yacobozzi, who is still the tribe's chief judge, did not return phone calls. Mandell said the judge helped in the investigation that led to his decision to fire court staff. When asked about the letters, Mandell explained that documents provided to the Reno Gazette-Journal were not likely the same documents held by the tribal government. The recent firings have stopped criminal trials until replacement staff is hired, Court Clerk Greg Shipman said. But civil trials and other proceedings that don't require a prosecutor or public defender are running as planned and have filled the court's calendar, he said. Shipman, who refused to talk about the firings, also was reprimanded by the chairman but was allowed to keep his job. The recent terminations were Mandell's second round of firings at the court in his first year as chairman. The first to be fired was tribal prosecutor Ray Brookman in April who Mandell said was let go because of insubordination. Mandell said Brookman's firing had nothing to do with the fact that Brookman had prosecuted him in the battery that sent him to jail in December 2000 for allegedly punching his girlfriend in the head and chest and knocking the breath out of her. In that charge, Mandell was convicted by the court and then sentenced Dec. 5, 2000 to a suspended six-month jail term with conditions that he complete an anger management class and serve 15 days in jail, among other things, court documents said. When he didn't comply with the terms, the court sent out a warrant for his arrest and ordered him to serve 15 days. While in jail, Mandell campaigned for the chairman seat and won with 110 votes -- more than twice the votes than the runner up. Mandell served four months before he fired Brookman, leaving the prosecutor position open for five months until Roces was hired in August. During that time, 15 criminal cases were dropped and many more continued because there wasn't a prosecutor, Roces said. The latest firings won't tilt the court schedule because Mandell said he's planning to find replacements as soon as possible. But that can't happen until the three settle their grievance claims, appearing before the council within the next 30 to 60 days. Roces and McCauley, who are not lawyers, say the money in question -- $160 -- was borrowed from the court cash box to pay for business supplies and paid back within a few days after it was taken. "I borrowed $60. I bought file folders, Post-it notes, a box of pens and file dividers, business cards, a ream of paper and envelopes to mail out orders and notices," Roces said. "The others also bought supplies. In Ethel's case she used some of the money for gas because her job requires her to drive." McCauley borrowed $60 and Henry borrowed $40, McCauley said. Roces said all the money was returned in December and within a few days of being borrowed. The squabble over $160 is just one of many that Copeland described as another notch in tribe's long history of dysfunction, saying battles such as these have been recorded there as long as she can remember. "This has been going on for at least 40 years," Copeland, 68, said. "I think the BIA should take the court and oversee all this corruption. The government, as they say, is supposed to be looking at what happens here." BIA officials say, no matter how twisted the situation, the federal government has no authority over tribes unless there is a threat to life. In fact, the BIA is entitled only to one audit per year. "Where it gets to the point that there may be threats to life, the BIA has been known to come in and take over," BIA's Hunter said. "The recourse in this case is the tribal council." A BIA takeover of this sort occurred at the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe after an investigation showed there had been a grave endangerment to life and violations of due process, Hunter said. There, the BIA hired a new prosecutor, clerical staff, court advocate and magistrate. So far, written reports on Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe's recent turmoil haven't reached the federal agency but Hunter said he's already heard about the firings. Meanwhile, others can't help wondering if their tribal jobs are on the line. Mary Dodd, the tribe's domestic violence advocate, fears she may be fired in recourse for comments to the council before Mandell took office and before his conviction was overturned. "Mr. Mandell admitted that he did strike his victim. I wanted the community to know and I pleaded with the council not to seat him until his case was resolved," Dodd said. "After the court staff was fired, I talked to a former chairman and he told me the writing was on the wall and that I should start looking for a new job." Mandell said he didn't foresee any more firings from this particular audit. Copyright c. 2002 Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett Co. Inc. Newspaper. --------- "RE: Ex-tribal Worker sue over Layoffs" --------- Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2002 08:13:20 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="EX-CROW WORKERS SUE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?section=local Ex-tribal worker sue over layoffs By LORNA THACKERAY Of The Gazette Staff Tue Jan 15 01:21:11 CST 2002 Central Time Former employees of the Crow Tribe who lost their jobs when a new administration took over in July 2000 have filed a lawsuit in federal court in Billings demanding tens of thousands of dollars in severance pay, plus damages for wrongful discharge. The 55 employees contend that the tribe failed to follow its own policies in terminating them, and that promises of severance pay were not kept. Tribal attorneys were in meetings Monday afternoon and could not be reached for comment. According to the lawsuit, the tribe adopted a Crow Tribal Personnel Practices and Policy manual as part of the requirements for approval of expenditures by the secretary of Interior. Among other things, the manual stated that the tribe must provide 15 days notice in advance of a layoff; layoffs were to be based on seniority ranking, which would also allow senior employees to bump junior employees from their positions; and re-employment notices were to be sent to qualified former employees when position were to be filled. The employees assert that they were give no notice of the layoffs; that people with less seniority have been retained or hired; and that they were not notified through the tribe when jobs were available. The lawsuit contends that the tribal personnel manual sets severance at two weeks pay for every year worked. The plaintiffs also allege that Tribal Chairman Clifford Birdinground promised to compensate them for all remaining annual leave. Individuals are asking for severance packages in amounts ranging from $824 to $10,000. They are also asking for damages for wrongful discharge and violation of their employment rights. They want a jury to determine how much they are entitled to under that portion of their claim. The dismissed tribal employees worked under the administration of former Tribal Chairwoman Clara Nomee. When Birdinground became chairman, much of Nomee's staff was let go - a common occurrence in an employment system traditionally based on patronage. Because Nomee was in office for 10 years, many of those employed by her were able to maintain tribal employment for extended periods of time. Lorna Thackeray can be reached 657-1314 or at lthackeray@billingsgazette.com Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: An Epidemic of Violence: Tribe looks for Answers" --------- Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2002 08:18:56 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="VIOLENCE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.gallupindependent.com/todaysnews.html#anchor1 An epidemic of violence: Tribe looks for answers Larry Di Giovanni Staff Writer WINDOW ROCK - Brutally violent acts by Dine' are worsening on the reservation and a rapidly increasing caseload of domestic violence episodes are a harbinger of worse to come, Navajo Nation directors were told Friday. "We're in a denial state," said Bernie Yazzie, who works in the tribe's Data Resources Center. "Nobody wants to admit that these problems exist." Last fall, a group of young Dine' men from the Round Rock area were arrested for the murder of four people, including a grandmother from Fort Defiance and her 9-year-old granddaughter. The accused face trials on a slew of federal indictments including murder and carjacking. Two of those slayings were said to involve dismemberment. The brutality doesn't stop there. On New Year's Day, a single mother from Klagetoh took the lives of her three oldest children, shooting them with a rifle as they slept. The next day, Jan. 2, a teenage girl from Tolani Lake was arrested for allegedly killing her teen-age brother with a knife. These issues weigh heavily on the hearts of Navajo President Kelsey Begaye, his division directors and key staff members. More than 50 of them met Friday morning at the Navajo Nation Inn conference room, with the discussion turning introspective. At issue were gut reactions from those who spoke freely about what the tribe is doing wrong and needs to correct in the area of providing social services support to those who have lost their way and need help. One employee who works in the Historic Preservation Department said the tribe's spends about $7 million annually out of its $80 million Division of Social Services budget to send those in need of substance abuse treatment and other crisis-related services off to large cities for rehabilitation. When they come back sound mentally and physically, the temporarily cured are once again exposed to the same social problems as before. Follow-up support from the far-away center is nowhere to be found. "It's like you have something to dry and you dry it off, then stick it back in the water," the employee said. Cecilia Belone, Division of Social Services director, said a society that allows "violence and oppression is a society that's not going to function like a normal society." "You define what's normal," she said. To Belone, what's not "normal" is seeing the Dine' elderly continually exploited for their fixed incomes, severe crimes committed by youths, and a proliferation of truant problems and gang memberships. Those are signs of a society going in the wrong direction. The Division of Social Services' $80 million budget is 95 percent funded through contracts and grants from external sources. There are strict limitations on what types of services the funds must be spent. "We all lack resources," Belone said. "But we should re-evaluate where those resources are going." President Begaye said one area the resources should not be going is off reservation. The $7 million spent to send rehab clients to places like Phoenix and Houston is better left on the Navajo Nation, the president said. He advocates developing a major treatment center in Chinle, Ariz., and talked about the need during an interview with the Independent. The center must be capable of Navajo traditional and conventional faith-based healing, and must have a strong vocational element that will make idle hands strong through trade and skills learning, he said. "Chinle could be a beautiful site. Chinle is the heartbeat of the Navajo Nation ... and nature is there to help," Begaye said. A number of recommendations were put forward Friday, the responsibility of Richard K. Begay, the president's deputy chief of staff. The president and vice president should make site visits to each Navajo agency to discuss Social Services concerns at the local level. Parenting skills need better promotion. A crime prevention proclamation should be drafted, involving support from the legislative and judicial branches. Begaye should work with Council Speaker Edward T. Begay and tribal Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Yazzie on that issue. Cultural and traditional views on crime must be taught to the youth, and medicinemen should be enlisted for that effort. The penalties and consequences of crime should be delivered through the media. The role of the media as it relates to reports on Dine' crimes needs to be improved, according to the recommendations list. "News media should change their reporting strategy and focus more on the positive issues," read one recommendation. There have been reports from Klagetoh and Phoenix that Elvira Charley, the 31-year-old mother who killed three of her children, went to the President/Vice President's office multiple times for assistance, and met with tribal Social Services workers, but did not receive help. One of those who made that claim was Charley's mother. "We shouldn't be blaming at this point in time," Begaye told his directors and staff. "Let's get beyond that." Alarming trend Begaye was asked if he believes the brutality of crimes is worsening on the Navajo Nation, and what must be done to stop that trend if it exists. "We're hoping that we're in a (temporary) phase right now," he said. Addressing the sheer brutality of some of the more heinous recent crimes, he added, "That is not Navajo." The president has taken a faith-based and community empowerment approach to the crime glut, saying that family values must be restored to the people- not just by parents and grandparents, but by community leaders. They include elected chapter officials, medicinemen, Native American Church members, pastors, ministers, educators and any adult who can help any youth who otherwise might not receive guidance. Begaye is well aware of the social conditions facing his people, exacerbated by the lack of such basic needs as running water and electricity. Accompanying family stress factors are brought on by low incomes, unemployment, lack of economic development and a proliferation of single-parent homes. He cited some of the related statistics during his presentation at last month's tribal energy summit in Denver. These factors lead many tribal employees to refer to their reservation as a "third world country." "Our relatives, our brothers are not our enemies. We should be addressing other enemies such as unemployment, stress, depression, declined mental health," the president said. "These are the enemies of today." Community ownership is the key to curb crime, Begaye said. Community leaders must instill in families a sense of local pride that simply does not tolerate crime. Community closeness must tighten. The Dine' need to retrace and reinforce the harmonious society of their roots, "where we check on each other. We have to get back to where we see kids in the streets and playing in our yards, and start thinking of them as our own kids and care as such. That's all part of community ownership." Begaye, known to be a devout Christian strongly influenced by church leaders, said one of his favorite stories of Christ involves him being asked by an expert of the law what the most important commandment is. Begaye noted that Christ's answer was "love of my God" first, and second, "Love thy neighbor." Perhaps one of the most eloquent responses concerning the problems of escalating youth violence and its root causes came from a Navajo woman not present at Friday's meeting, Carol Kirk Perry- director of Navajo Election Administration. Noting the recent trend of horrible crimes committed by the young on other Din, she said,"There's anger, but underneath the anger, there's pain. There's an expectation of something that didn't happen." Perry said there is a large segment of the Dine' youth population no longer able to decipher what it means to be Navajo. The peoples' inherent language is fading, and along with it, cultural ties, she observed. There is a cavernous disconnect between young Dine' and Navajo traditional practices, with an overall feeling from youth that they face abandonment at each level of the society in which they are forced to live- disconnected from their parents, other relatives, schools, chapters and the tribal, state and federal systems. Perry and other Navajo adults have observed that youths are actually ridiculed by Dine' elders at chapter meetings if they attempt to speak Dine' and make even slight mistakes. The message: "You don't belong here if you're not fluent." Yet youths under the age of 24 make up the majority of the growing Navajo population. "I feel like we're all responsible," she said. Perry, who recently turned 50, said she was raised in an educational system where "being Navajo was the worst thing, and we needed to change ourselves at any cost." The educational philosophy has changed somewhat for the better, but the damage was done, she said. "That self-hatred was planted as a seed, and now we're seeing it full blown," Perry said. An issue paper from the Division of Social Services was distributed during Friday's division directors meeting, titled "Regarding the Recent Violent Incidents within the Navajo Nation." Bar and pie charts accompanied the narrative containing crime statistics facing the division and officers within the Navajo Department of Law Enforcement. Contributing factors to domestic violence and other types of crimes were cited as the "cabin fever" effect of the winter months when people are more at risk of committing or receiving violent acts, poverty, unemployment, single-parent homes, children left unattended (latchkey), and alcohol/substance abuse. More than four of five ( 85 percent ) of reservation crimes referred to Social Services involving child/adult protection and/or domestic violence are linked to alcohol, substance abuse or both. "Recently, a rash or incidents have occurred on the Navajo Nation involving deaths of children," the issue paper reads. The leadership of the Navajo Nation has brought this to the forefront of concern and are asking what the Navajo Nation government is doing to address and/or curb the social problems of our people." Crime doesn't lie Tribal Department of Law Enforcement statistics from 1998-2000 demonstrate the skyrocketing escalation of domestic violence cases over a three-year period. There were 1,775 domestic violence calls in 1998, 2,112 in 1999 and 2,816 in 2000, a total of 6,703. The number of domestic violence calls for 2001 was not available in the report. As of Thursday, the date the report was prepared, Social Services is working on 3,566 reported abuse cases, with the following abuse categories most prevalent: neglect cases, 57 percent, sexual abuse, 14 percent, physical abuse, 12 percent, abandonment, 5 percent. By type and numbers of calls responded to by tribal law enforcement officers from 1998-2000, they were domestic violence, 6,703 calls, child abuse, 874, elderly abuse, 457, dog bites, 257, and police assistance, 191. Speaking of all crime, with an emphasis on recent brutal acts, Begaye said,