From gars@speakeasy.org Wed Feb 13 02:55:53 2002 Date: 13 Feb 2002 01:40:02 -0000 From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews10.007 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 Acimowin -- Plains Cree -- Story or Account 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 007 | Country than is reported in | O o o o o O | this weekly newsletter. For | O o O February 16, 2002 | For daily updates & events | O o O | go http://www.owlstar.com/ | O | dailyheadlines.htm | Oneida new year moon +-----------------------------+ Zuni onon u'la'ukwamme/no snow in trails moon <================<<<< >>>>================> This issue contains articles from www.pechanga.net; www.owlstar.com; www.indianz.com; Stop-the-Slaughter, Native Rights, Amazon Alliance, Paths-L, Innu-L and Tsalagi_Unole Mailing Lists; newsgroup:alt.native; UUCP email IMPORTANT!! ----------- In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, all material appearing in this newsletter is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for educational purposes. <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is a way of keeping the brothers and sisters who share our Spirit informed about current events within the lives of those who walk the Red Road. ++ It may be subscribed to via email by sending a request from your own internet addressable account to gars@speakeasy.org ++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org <================<<<< >>>>================> As historian Patricia Nelson Limerick summarized in The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West, "Set the blood quantum at one-quarter, hold to it as a rigid definition of Indians, let intermarriage proceed as it had for centuries, and eventually Indians will be defined out of existence. When that happens, the federal government will be freed of its persistent 'Indian problem.'" "We Indians kept together that time and we avoided the worst. No eagle came, but we survived." "Doing my best to keep my brothers safe and out of harm's way bought me a long stay in the Shoe, of course. Hey, listen, I'm used to paying for crimes I didn't commit. I can tell you, I don't like being in the Shoe one bit. You spend twenty-three hours a day in a small cage inside a larger cage. For exercise you're allowed into the larger enclosing cage for one hour a day. Its whole intent is to break you. I'll avoid it if I can. But they'll never break me in there." "Not a chance." __ Leonard Peltier "Prison Writings...My Life Is My Sun Dance" "I ask my brothers and sisters who are Christians, my brothers and sisters who are Moslem, my brothers and sisters who are Hindus, my brothers and sisters who are Buddhists, my brothers and sisters who are Jewish, do any of you worry that your worship services will be raided by the police? Do any of you feel it necessary to call the police in order to set up a worship service? Do any of you have to explain to law enforcement officers that you have a right to worship your God in your own manner?" __ Reuben Snake, Jr., Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska Coordinator, Native American Religious Freedom Project At a Gathering of Native American Religious Leaders at the U.S. Capitol to Obtain Guarantees of Religious Liberty +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! There are two quotes above for a reason. They each represent a call to our collective conscience to tell the dominant society their actions are disgraceful. Sending prayers for the brothers in the IronHouse, especially those in seg, most especially Leonard Peltier. Twenty-seven years, when the best the bastards who put him there can come up with with is an accessory who is keeping a secret, is beyond shameful. If you have not taken the time (how long can a note take?) to drop Leonard a note, please do. Peltier, Leonard #89637-132 Box 1000 Leavenworth, KS 66053 Birthday: 9/12/44 Ancestry: Ojibwa-Lakota - - - - FORWARD WIDELY URGENT ACTION! PRESS THE GOVERNMENT REFORM COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE PELTIER CASE! Friends, The House Government Reform Committee is holding hearings on FBI misconduct relating to wrongful convictions. The hearings were prompted by the release of two Boston men who were framed by the FBI and held wrongfully in prison for more than 32 years. Their two co-defendants, also innocent, died in prison. Congressman Burton, who chairs the committee, said on 60 Minutes recently that he will be looking into other cases. Let's let him know about Leonard Peltier! Write, and ask your friends, family, and neighbors to write letters now. -=-=-=- Reuben Snake spent much of his life arguing for the simple right of members of the Native American Church to practice their Constitution guaranteed right to practice their religion and to take of their Sacred sacrement. Once again these ways are under attack ... in fact, the dominant society even reaches out to dictate religious practices, and force traditional groups for whom Peyote is a sacrament to limit their fellowship to those whom the dominant society recognizes as members of "real tribes," a criteria that often relies on the "last bottle club" of blood quantum. Some fear, with some justification, that this change insures the eventual demise of a way of Sacred walk that preceeds this government's creation on this Turtle Island. This MUST NOT go unchallenged! Even if you do not practice these ways you must speak out in defense of those who do. Dohiyi Ani Oginalii , , Gary Night Owl gars@nanews.org (*,*) P. O. Box 672168 gars@speakeasy.org (`-') Marietta, GA 30007, U.S.A. gars@olagrande.net ===w=w=== gars@sdf.lonestar.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ---------- - Lloyd Kiva New - Junior Indian Affairs Minister - Crossings clashes with Boss - Feds plan to change name of - Indian Recognition Problems Native American Church are Getting Worse - Documentary Recounts Fraud - A Debt Past Due against Wenatchi may redefine Tribal Relations - Dispute with Tribe - Indian Affairs Budget Request could delay Projects up $22 Million - Review likely to renew debate - Indians want Trust Fund of Delaware's Indian managed Independently - Buffalo Field Campaign News - Norton says Trust Funds - Man recognized as Code Talker can't be Fixed Quickly - Discrimination won't end - Shot Seminole Tribal Lawyer until Indians say Enough now in Hiding - Mexicos Rebellious Chiapas - Native Prisoner turns to Civil Action -- Jason "Thunder Quill" Wilson - Mexico Solidarity Network: -- Manuel Redwoman Taco Bell Truth Tour - John Rustywire: Marion's - Brazil: Government launches - Poem: In the Wind War Operation - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - Rights to Vast Stretches - Idaho Students of Nova Scotia may learn Indian Languages - James Bay Cree - Native America Calling approve deal with Quebec - Upcoming Events --------- "RE: Lloyd Kiva New" --------- Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2002 18:21:25 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LLOYD KIVA NEW" http://www.sfnewmexican.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=3224805&BRD=2144 IAIA founder, artist New dead at 85 By MICHELLE PENTZ/For the New Mexican February 09, 2002 Artist Lloyd Kiva New, the force behind the creation of the Institute of American Indian Arts, died Friday in Santa Fe. He was 85. Former students and others in the art community said America lost a great educator, artist and visionary - and the American Indian community one of its greatest role models. A successful businessman and ground-breaking fashion and fabric designer, New shattered stereotypes that had limited Native American artists. "Our idea was to turn people on to themselves, to center the students as the real, young Indians that they were, and to work out from there expressively," New told a New Mexican reporter last year at a 40-year retrospective exhibit at the IAIA Museum in downtown Santa Fe. "We were here, against the normal approaches of most Indian schools, to teach our Indian kids to realize themselves as Indians. We weren't here to make them into white people," he said. "That was revolutionary." The longtime Santa Fe resident died early Friday at St. Vincent Hospital. Wife Aysen New said her husband became ill after the couple returned from a business trip to Scottsdale, Ariz. New was hospitalized on Monday night. Complications from flu led to congestive heart failure. Painter Fritz Scholder, an original faculty member at IAIA who began as a student of New's at a University of Arizona summer program for American Indian students, said New is widely known as the first commercially successful American Indian artist and as the father of Native American contemporary art. "Up to then (the opening of IAIA) Lloyd was the only Native American that had truly become successful in the mainstream art world," he said. "He was already a millionaire whose vision led not only to the opening of IAIA but to development of Scottsdale, Ariz., as a major art center when he decided to help young Indian students. "No one could deny his importance as a role model, as a symbol of what we could become. His manner was so dignified, He was a person everyone could respect, and we all did." Della Warrior, president of the fine-arts school, which has about 150 students from more than 100 tribes, called New's death a tragedy. "But we are extremely grateful for Lloyd's inspiration and leadership throughout the past 40 years," she said. Tears flowed freely around Santa Fe as friends and colleagues fondly remembered New as articulate, soft spoken and humble; an artist who set his work aside to help others. "He's an icon for the arts - not just Indian art, but art in general," said painter Kevin Red Star, 58, a Crow Indian who divides his time between Santa Fe and Billings, Mont. "He wanted American art in the mainstream, all of it: music, theater, literary and applied arts," the IAIA graduate said. "He opened doors to young people like me, and encouraged me to go beyond the boundaries of where I was from and really explore." After forging a successful career as an Arizona-based fashion designer who ushered indigenous designs onto the pages of haute-couture magazines, New journeyed to Santa Fe. He had an idea: to create a new generation of artists unfettered by what the non-Indian world expected of them. It was the tumultuous 1960s. The time was right to start IAIA, where New was president from 1967 to 1978. On campus, New told budding young artists plucked from the reservation something they hadn't been taught: They could dabble in any style, direction and media they chose. Journalist Robert M. Coats wrote in 1967: "For once ... the focus is not wholly, or even mainly, on the dreary round of basketry, ceramics, rug and blanket-weaving and all the other small skills that have been for so long set aside, rather smugly on our part, as the traditional provinces of the Indian." New's response: "They don't tell the French and the Dutch and anyone else living in this country to do something only the way their grandpas did it. So we say you can do whatever you want to do. Examine what's inside of you and express that." The students did - and internationally respected names emerged: Scholder, Otellie Loloma, Alfred Young Man, Allan Houser and Dan Namingha. Namingha credits New with initiating the turning point of his career as a professional artist in 1972. A personal friend, Namingha described New as unselfish and savvy; a mesmerizing speaker; an uncle figure who was proud of his students and delighted in their success; a man with a passion for museums and travel who enjoyed life and a dry martini with olives. Red Star recalled flying into Santa Fe airport in 1963 at age 17, a recruit from Montana who had just dabbled with drawing but loved art. "We were just young, shy freshman, and I remember (New) - a very distinguished gentleman in his 30s," said Red Star, a 1965 IAIA graduate. "He was standing there, elegantly attired and so handsome. He came himself to pick us up. We were so impressed." Red Star's father died four years ago. When his first grandson, Mason (Dusty Path), was born last year, he called New for his blessing. A Montana Cree raised on the Black Foot reservation, Alfred Youngman was on his way to an Indian trade school when his path unexpectedly detoured to IAIA. The student who had never even dreamed of making a living as an artist immediately gravitated to New as a role model. "At the time, we didn't know (what students could achieve) said Youngman, chairman of the Native American Studies Department at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. "We were on fire." He continued, "The story is yet to be written about Lloyd Kiva New and about those early days at IAIA. What we produced there I am only now beginning to appreciate." New is survived by his wife Aysen New, son Jeff New, 45, of Cortez, Colo. , and daughter Nancy Sandroff, 47, of St. Louis. The IAIA plans a public memorial service on Feb. 23 at 10 a.m. in the campus' Cultural Learning Center. The family, which will hold a service in the spring, asks that any memorials be made to: Lloyd Kiva New Endowed Scholarship Fund at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Call (800) 804-6423. Arts Editor Camille Flores contributed to this report. Copyright c. 2002 Santa Fe New Mexican. --------- "RE: Crossings" --------- Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 08:40:11 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CROSSINGS" February 8, 2002 Caroline devoted life to helping others By Jo Hall Caroline D. White Horse, for years, was involved in projects and activities that came to her town of Cherry Creek. One of them, the founding of the Mennonite Mission, is still up and running. She dedicated her life to helping others. For many years she worked with the youth at the local clinic and served as a District secretary. She enjoyed cooking, going fishing with friends, watching baseball games, and watching her grandchildren grow up. When her health failed, she entered the Beverly Healthcare Center in Mobridge. She died at the center on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2002, at the age of 69. She was born to James and May (Bear Eagle) Buck Elk Thunder, in Cherry Creek , where she grew up and attended school. It was at the Cherry Creek School that she had the privilege of being taught by local historian Harold Schunk. She also attended school at the Old Cheyenne Agency. On Jan. 28, 1959, Caroline married Jerome White Horse Sr. in Pierre. Two sons, Greg and Jerome, and a daughter, Jackie, were born to them. Survivors include her sons Jerome White Horse Jr. of Cherry Creek; her daughter, Jackie and husband Kevin Jenkins of Ft. Drum, N.Y.; grandchildren, Jason White Horse and wife Nikki of Cherry Creek, Jessica and husband Jamie Charging Eagle and Janova White Horse, all of Tempe, Ariz., Nancy, Sam, Yamni White Horse of Cherry Creek; five great- grandchildren, Terrance and Tevin Jenkins, Jaysten and Jason White Horse Jr. and Vernon Charging Eagle; two brothers, John Paul and Arnold Buck Elk Thunder, both of Cherry Creek; and a niece, Alva Imotichey of Norwalk. Calif. Preceding her in death were a son, her husband, two sisters, her parents and grandparents. Funeral services for Caroline were held Saturday at the United Church of Christ in Cherry Creek. The Rev. David Bowen officiated. Burial was in the Congregational Cemetery at Cherry Creek under the direction of the Luce Funeral Home of Eagle Butte. Wake services were held Friday evening at the UCC Church in Cherry Creek. Copyright c. 2001 Mobridge Tribune. -=-=-=- February 08, 2002 Dana N. Begay Dana N. Begay, 78, of Toadlena died unexpectedly Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2002, at his home. He is survived by a son, Timothy Begay; a daughter, Veronica Garnanez; five brothers, Leo Begay, Willie Begay, John Begay, Felix Begay and Richard Begay; and a sister, Annie Begay. He was blessed with seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Funeral services are to begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, 2002, at Christ the King Catholic Church in Shiprock, with Father John Sauter as celebrant. Burial will follow at the Toadlena Community Cemetery. Arrangements are with Chapel of Memories Funeral Home in Kirtland, (505) 598-9636. Copyright c. 1999-2002 MediaNews Group, Inc./Farmington Daily Times. -=-=-=- February 5, 2002 Martin J. 'Bugs' Mesteth Sr. MANDERSON - Martin J. "Bugs" Mesteth Sr., 33, Manderson, died Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2002, in Manderson. Survivors include his parents, Max and Cecelia Mesteth, Manderson; one son, Martin Mesteth Jr., Wounded Knee; one daughter, Ashley Mesteth, Wounded Knee; two brothers, Marquis Mesteth Sr. and Winston Mesteth, both of Manderson; two sisters, Christina Bores A Hole and Carol Mesteth, both of Manderson; and three grandchildren. A two-night wake will begin at 4 p.m. today at Wounded Knee District School in Manderson. Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 7, at the school, with the Rev. Ted Zeurn and the Rev. Jim Ryan officiating. Orvile Looking Horse, Pete Catches and Wilmer Mesteth will officiate at traditional services. Burial will be at the Mesteth family cemetery in White Horse Creek. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. February 6, 2002 William Lloyd Blue Bird WAKPAMNI LAKE - William Lloyd Blue Bird, 54, Wakpamni Lake, died Sunday, Feb. 3, 2002, in Batesland. Survivors include his wife, Nadine Blue Bird, Batesland; three daughters, Sarah Blue Bird and Kristy Blue Bird, both of Batesland, and Nora Farland, Phoenix; two brothers, Louis Little White Man, Kyle, and Bernard Little White Man, Wakpamni Lake; four sisters, Bernadine Blue Bird, Debbie Blue Bird and Geraldine Little White Man, all of Wakpamni Lake, and Bernadine Tallman, Allen; his father, Casey Blue Bird, Wakpamni Lake; and one grandchild. He served in the U.S. Army from 1969 to 1971. A two-night wake will begin at 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7, at Batesland School Gym. Services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, at the school gym, with the Rev. Ben Tyon, the Rev. Bernard Little White Man Sr., the Rev. Cordelia Red Owl and the Rev. Daniel Makes Good officiating. Burial will be at St. Andrew's Episcopal Cemetery in Wakpamni Lake. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. Chester Dean Two Bulls RED SHIRT TABLE - Chester Dean Two Bulls, 47, Red Shirt Table, died Saturday, Feb. 2, 2002, at Rapid City Regional Hospital. Survivors include two daughters, Vanessa Two Bulls and Jessica Two Bulls, both of Pine Ridge; five brothers, Gerald Two Bulls, Rapid City, and Connie Weasel Bear, Pat Two Bulls, Leo Two Bulls and Harold Two Bulls, all of Number Four Community, Pine Ridge; and six sisters, Doris Reyne and Phylis Two Bulls, both of Longmont, Colo., Freida Spencer, Rapid City, Vivian Creathbaum, Sheridan, Wyo., Carol Joy, Hardin, Mont., and Lisa Two Bulls, Number Four Community. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1972 to 1973. A two-night wake will begin at 3 p.m. today at Billy Mills Hall in Pine Ridge. The second night will begin at 1 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7, at Red Shirt School Gym in Red Shirt Table. Services will be at 1 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8, in the school gym, with the Rev. Robert Two Bulls and the Rev. Phylis Alexander officiating. Burial will be at Christ Church Episcopal Cemetery in Red Shirt Table. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. Orville Langdeau Sr. LOWER BRULE - Orville Langdeau Sr., 75, Lower Brule, died Monday, Feb. 4, 2002, at his home. Survivors include seven children, Orville Langdeau Jr., Joseph Langdeau, Stuart Langdeau, Steven Langdeau and Darla Langdeau, all of Lower Brule, Loye Lee Whitcomb, Griswold, Conn., and Diana Langdeau, Bagley, Minn.; 14 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. His wife, Velma Irene Langdeau, preceded him in death. He served in the U.S. Army from December 1945 to January 1946. A two-day wake will begin at 5 p.m. today at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Lower Brule, with rosaries at 7 p.m. today and at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7. Services will be at 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 8, at the church. Burial will be at St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery. Isburg-Hofmeister Funeral Chapel of Pierre is in charge of arrangements. February 7, 2002 Keith Lyle Brown Jr. WANBLEE - Keith Lyle Brown Jr., infant son of Lucille Has No Horse and Keith Brown Sr., both of Wanblee, was born and died Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2002, in Pine Ridge. Survivors include his parents; his paternal grandparents, Reed and Anita Brown, Wanblee; and his maternal grandmother, Yvonne Has No Horse, Allen. A one-night wake will begin at 2 p.m. today at the Wanblee CAP Office. Services will be at noon Friday, Feb. 8, at the CAP Office. Larry Swalley and Charlie Chipps will officiate at traditional services. Burial will be at the Winters family cemetery in Bear Creek. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. Copyright c. 2002 The Rapid City Journal. -=-=-=- February 4, 2002 Kenneth Antonio CHURCH ROCK - Services for Kenneth Antonio, 60, will be held at 10 a.m., Tuesday, Feb. 5 at Rollie Mortuary-Palm Chapel. Pastor Mike Thomas will officiate. Burial will follow at Gallup City Cemetery. Antonio died Jan. 30 in Gallup. He was born April 24, 1941 in Crownpoint into the Mud People Clan for the Edge Water People Clan. Survivors include his sons, Bradford Antonio and Kenneth Antonio both of Phoenix; daughter; Kathlyn Antonio and Sherlyn Antonio both of Phoenix; mother, Doris Antonio of Church Rock; brothers, Clifford Antonio of Gallup, Benjamin Antonio and Bobby Antonio both of Church Rock; sisters, Delores A. Antonio of Sundance, Marjorie A. Begay of Church Rock and Ella Mae Yazzie of Gallup; eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Antonio was preceded in death by his father, Ben W. Antonio Sr.; brothers, Bennie Antonio, Budford Antonio and Ernest J. Antonio and sisters, Annabelle Touchine and Ethelyn A. Whitman. Pallbearers will be Bradford Antonio and Gerald Hannahs. Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements. February 5, 2002 Laverne Mae King SHIPROCK - Services for Laverne King, 43, will be held at 10 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 6 at Cope Memorial Chapel. Pastor Stanley Jim will officiate. Burial will follow on family land in Peach Springs. King died Feb. 3 in Gallup. She was born June 6, 1958 in Rehoboth into the Zuni Clan for the Bitter Water Clan. King was a homemaker. Survivors include his husband, James Pettigrew of Shiprock; daughter, Lavinia Begay of Twin Lakes; parents, Bennie and Delores T. King of Peach Springs; brothers, Glenn King of Crownpoint and Elroy King of Gallup; and sisters, LaRose King of Twin Lakes, Eleanor King of Peach Springs and Caroline Hanson. Pallbearers will be held at Ernie Chaco, Larson Chaco, Vincent Tsosie, Vernon Tsosie, Elroy King and Glenson King. Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements. Dolly Mae Curley KINLICHEE, Ariz. - Services for Dolly Curley, 62, were held at 10 a.m., today at St. Michaels Catholic Church. Burial followed at Kinlichee Community Cemetery. Curley died Jan. 31 in Kinlichee. She was born May 21, 1939 in Fluted Rock, Ariz. into the Water Edge People for the Coyote Pass People. Curley attended Brigham City, Utah and Kinlichee BIA School. She was a homeliving assistant. She received numerous awards in supporting education. Her hobbies include arts and craft. Survivors include her husband, Earl G. Curley of Kinlichee; sons, Arnold Curley, Marvin Curley, Alvin Curley, Theodore Curley, Steve Curley and Fabian Curley all of Arizona; daughter, Donna Sam of Kinlichee; parents, Elizabeth and Austin Albert Sr.; brothers, Eugene Albert, Andrew Albert and Jonas Albert; sisters, Isabell Mitchell of Navajo; Betty Holmes of Ganado, Ariz.; Mae Wallace of Summit, Ariz. and Elizabeth Yazzie of Window Rock; 13 grandchildren and one great-grandchildren. Pallbearers were Arnold Curley, Alvin Curley, Theodore Curley, Darron Curley, Al-logan Curley and Davidson Sam. The family will receive friends and relatives after the burial services at Kinlichee Chapter House. Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements. Wallace Staley CHINLE, Ariz. - Services for Wallace Staley, 67, will be held at 10 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 6 at St. Isabel Church, Lukachukai, Ariz. Burial will follow on family land, Black Rock, Ariz. A rosary will be held at 3-5 p.m., today at Tse Bonito Mortuary. Staley died Feb. 2 in Chinle. He was born April 15, 1934 in Black Rock into the Towering House for the Coyote Pass. Staley was a railroad laborer. Survivors include his sons, Daniel Staley, Akee Staley and Anderson Staley all of Chinle; daughters, Eva Yazzie of Holbrook, Ariz. and Eleanor Dale of Wide Ruins, Ariz.; brothers, Bennie Staley of Kayenta and Benjamin Staley of Sylmar, Calif.; sisters, Susie Clark, Addie Tsosie and Alice S. Yaaie all of Black Rock, Ariz.; 17 grandchildren and seven great- grandchildren. Staley was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Staley; parents, Walter and Zonnie Staley and sisters, Isabel Litson and Irene Begay. Tse Bonito Mortuary is in charge of arrangements. Gloria Ann Davis ALBUQUERQUE - Services for Gloria Davis, were held at 10 a.m., Monday, Feb. 4 at French Mortuary, Albuquerque. Pastor Ron Harvey officiated. Burial followed at Santa Fe National Cemetery. Davis died Feb. 1 in Albuquerque. She was born into the Towering House for the Nakai Din. Davis graduated nurse's school as an L.P.N. and worked for Indian Helath Service as a mental health technician. Survivors include her daughters, Andrea Babby of Sacramento, Calif., Carmen Davis-Reynoso and Yvonne M. Davis both of Albuquerque; sisters, Marjorie Charley, Alberty Yazzie and Priscilla Begay; brother, Jerry Tsis; seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Davis was preceded in death by her husband, Gilbert Davis and parents, Yazzie Roberts and Harrison Begay. Donations may be made to the American Diabetes Association of New Mexico, 525 San Pedro NE #101, Albuquerque, NM, 87108. February 6, 2002 Johle M. Woody GAMERCO - Services for Johle Woody, 86, will be announced at a later date. Woody died Feb. 5 in Gallup and was born Nov. 30, 1915 in Coyote Canyon into the Green Meadow People Clan for the Red Running into the Water People Clan. Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements. February 7, 2002 Della M. Benally NASCHITTI - Services for Della Benally, 56, will be held at 10 a.m., Friday, Feb. 8 at Rollie Mortuary Palm Chapel. Burial will follow at Naschitti Community Cemetery. Benally died Feb. 4 in Naschitti. She was born May 24, 1945 in Fort Defiance, Ariz. into the Zuni People Clan for the One Who Walks Around You People Clan. Survivors include her son, Marvin Benally of Gallup; daughter, Candace Benally of Naschitti; brother, Ernest Benally of Greasewood Springs, Ariz. ; sisters, Elaine Benally and Joann Benally both of Naschitti; and three grandchildren. Benally was preceded in death by her parents, Minnie and Anthony Benally and brothers, Larry Benally and Raymond Benally. Pallbearers will be Alfred Edsitty, Gerald Frank, James Hunt Jr., Clifford Notah, Jerome Willatto and John Willatto Jr. Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements. Glenn Smith Sr. INSCRIPTION HOUSE, Ariz. - Services for Glenn Smith Sr., 70, will be held at 10 a.m., Friday, Feb. 8 at the Inscription House Full Gospel Church. Marc Tallman will officiate. Burial will follow on family private land, Inscription House. Smith Sr. died Feb. 2 in Inscription House. He was born March 6, 1931 in Chichiltah into the Red Running Water People for the Blacksheep People. Smith Sr. was employed with the Santa Fe Railroad and a pastor at the Inscription House Full Gospel Church. Survivors include his wife, Evelyn Smith of Inscription House; sons, Herman Smith of Breadsprings, Bennie Begay of Page, Ariz., Marvin Bitter of Navajo, NM, Keith Bitter of Phoenix, Edward Smith, Raymond Smith and James Toadlena all of Gallup; daughters, Phillis Smith of Two Wells, JoAnn Yazzie of Gallup, Terri Lynn Adeky of Sunny Vale, Calif., Charlene Butler of Phoenix Shirley Begay, Matilda Garcia and Katie B. Lowe all of Salt Lake City, Utah; parents, John and Zonnie C. Bee; brothers, Lindy C. Bee of Chichiltah, Andy Bee of Vanderwagon, Johnny Bee of Ramah and Tony Armigo of Wide Ruins, Ariz.; sisters, Nellie C. Touchin of Church Rock, Bah C. Antonio, Mava Nez, Rose C. Bee and Elsie C. Bee all of Chichiltah; 30 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Smith was preceded in death by his father, Tom Robert Smith and son, Aubrey Smith. Pallbearers will be Andy Bee, Raymond Smith, Herman Smith, Marvin Bitter, Keith Bitter and Leopaldo Garcia. The family will receive friends and relatives after the burial services at Inscription House Full Gospel Church. February 8, 2002 Kert Charlie John CORNFIELDS, Ariz. - Services for Kert John, 83, will be held at 10 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 9 at Lighthouse Assemble of God, Cornfields. Rev. Joyce Muench will officiate. Burial will follow at Cornfields Community Cemetery. John died Feb. 5 in Phoenix. He was born Dec. 25, 1918 in Cornfields into the Edge of the Water Clan for the Honey Combed Rock People Clan. Survivors include his daughters, Lillie Mae Dinetso and Elsie Chester of Cornfields; brother, Henry John of Cross Canyon, Ariz.; sisters, Lois Warren and Elizabeth Keedah of Fort Defiance, Ariz.; 21 grandchildren; 51 great-grandchildren and four great-great grandchildren. John was preceded in death by his wife, Mary A. John and sons, Albert John Sr. and Sam John. Pallbearers will be Ethan R. Hanson, Anthony Faz, Albert John Jr., Art Chester, Christopher Yoe and Stanley Chester. Tse Bonito Mortuary is in charge of arrangements. Copyright c. 2002 The Gallup Independent. -=-=-=- Memorial - Isabell Joseph February 9, 2002 - 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Headstone Blessing, Dinner and Giveaway Omak Longhouse Info: (509)826-3008, 826-4793, 826-0997 or 826-3960. Also in memory: Ida P. Sandaine, Darrell M. Herman and Dana Ida Turner Copyright c. 2001 Tribal Tribune. Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. --------- "RE: Feds plan to change name of Native American Church" --------- Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2002 18:21:25 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FEDS/NATIVE AMERICAN CHURCH" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.okit.com/news/2002/february/nativeamericanchurch.html Feds plan to change name of Native American Church and other regulations Wilhelm Murg The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is purposing a change in the language of their regulation regarding peyote use to conform with the American Indians Religious Freedom Act of 1994 (AIRFA). Peyote, which is used by Native Americans in religious practice, is considered a "Schedule 1" drug by the agency, along with heroin, LSD, XTC, marijuana, Quaaludes, and Psilocybin. In a letter dated December 18, 2001, The DEA's Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Diversion Control, Laura Nagel, noted that the agency is purposing to "delete all references to the `Native American Church' and to `members of the Native American Church' in the regulation." The letter goes on to state that the DEA "would then add language identical to the language used in AIRFA that protects the use of peyote by members of federally recognized tribes for bona fide traditional ceremonial purposes in connection with the practice of traditional Indian Religion." Nagel's letter notes that the Department of Justice's "protection is not limited to the Native American Church, but is extended to any member of a federally recognized Indian tribe who is engaged in the practice of a traditional Indian religion." The change in the language purports to clear up any confusion in the law. In addition to the change in language, the DEA is also looking into "promulgating a comprehensive substantive rule" that would provide regulatory guidelines for peyote distributors and "members of Indian tribes who possess, transport, and use peyote for religious purposes as permitted by AIRFA." This comprehensive rule would "cover a broad range of matters related to peyote use. Including, but not limited to, establishing how a peyote distributor will verify tribal membership, establishing how a peyote distributor will verify that a tribal member is purchasing or receiving peyote for bona fide traditional ceremonial purposes in connection with the practice of a traditional Indian religion, and providing general regulatory guidance that limits peyote use to its traditional religious use in the practice of Indian religions." The letter solicits input from Native Americans, preferably before January 31. Teresa Murray, secretary of the Native American Church for the State of Oklahoma is opposed to the change in the language and the purposed new regulations. In her written response to the letter, she states "The Christian churches made the peyote illegal for the Native American to use in their peyote ceremonials. They had holy medicine, peyote, classified as a dangerous drug." "It really bothers me because we have the government getting into our religion," Murray told Native American Times. "We talked to some lawyers who said they're trying to make our medicine men like pharmacists, with the peyote under lock and key." Murray's misgivings also come from the language of Nagel's letter, especially in the references to "members of federally recognized tribes." Murray's husband is a non-Indian who is a member of the Native American Church, and she realizes that the Indian blood quantum of her family will be diluted over the generations. Murray's fear is that as more and more Indians are being disenfranchised from their tribes due to blood quantum the religion will die out if only tribal members are allowed to participate. Furthermore, as it is now possible to be a full-blood Indian, but not be a member of any tribe (for example, an Indian who is 1/8th of eight different tribes.) Such a person could face federal drug charges if they were to participate in peyote ceremonies. Murray notes that not allowing non-tribal members exemption from prosecution is a violation of basic freedom of religion rights. That very concept was successfully argued over a decade ago in New Mexico. In 1990, a Federal Grand Jury indicted Robert Lawrence Boyll, a non- Native American member of the Native American Church for unlawfully importing peyote through the United States mail and possessing peyote with the intent to distribute; Boyll went to Mexico to obtain peyote for himself and members if his congregation. In September of 1991 Judge Juan Burciaga, Chief Federal Judge of the District of New Mexico granted Boyll's motions to dismiss on the grounds that the indictment violated the defendant's First Amendment right to freely exercise his religion and also because the listing of peyote as a controlled substance did not apply to the defendant because he is a member of the Native American Church. The judge's decision stated that "`Church' refers to a body of believers and their shared practices, rather than the existence of a formal structure or a membership roll. Membership in the Native American Church derives from the sincerity of one's beliefs and participation in its ceremonies. Historically, the church has been hospitable to and, in fact, has proselytized non-Indians. ... It is one thing for a local branch of the Native American Church to adopt its own restrictions on membership, but it is entirely another for the Government to restrict membership in a religious organization on the basis of race. Any such attempt to restrict religious liberties along racial lines would not only be a contemptuous affront to the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of religion but also to the Fourteenth Amendment right to equal justice under the law." The decision was appealed and upheld in the 10th Federal District Court in Denver. Despite the Boyll decision, another case is currently going on in Utah. Earlier this month, The Utah Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether non-Indians can use peyote legally during religious ceremonies. The issue arose from the prosecutions of a self-styled medicine man charged with drug distribution: James Mooney in Utah County. Mooney is the founder the Oklevueha Native American Church in Benjamin, Utah. He and his wife, Linda, were charged with twelve first-degree felony counts after police seized 12,000 peyote buttons during an October 2000 raid. While Mooney says he is of American Indian ancestry, he can not document his claim. He contends, however, that the U.S. and Utah constitutions guarantee freedom of religion to everyone -- regardless of tribal ties - meaning everyone has the right to participate in the ceremonial use of peyote. Mooney's attorney, Kathryn Collard, stated "It's a terrible irony that a state founded on religious freedom . . .would try to regulate a church's membership." Weber County Attorney Richard Parmley countered that the federal law allowing peyote use was not written to protect religious freedom, but rather to "preserve the unique cultural history of the Native American people." The DEA's Linden Barber, to whom all responses for the purposed change in the agency's regulation are to be addressed, was contacted by Native American Times for comment, but he deferred comment to the public relations department. The Public Relations Department was contacted, but they could not make a comment until they conferred with Mr. Barber. Native American Times is Copyright c. 2000-2001 Oklahoma Indian Times,Inc. --------- "RE: Documentary Recounts Fraud against Wenatchi" --------- Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2002 18:21:25 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WENATCHI" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/57756_wenatchi09ww.shtml New documentary recounts injustice, fraud against Wenatchi tribe Saturday, February 9, 2002 By LINDA ASHTON THE ASSOCIATED PRESS YAKIMA -- Twice the U.S. government promised the Wenatchi Indians rights to their homeland, and twice the government cheated them. More than a century later, the members of this now-tiny band are scattered across Eastern Washington. They are barred from fishing in the Wenatchee and Icicle rivers, and Leavenworth, a Bavarian-theme tourist town, sits on a portion of their ancestral land in the Cascade Range. Mathew Dick Jr. of Nespelem, a great-grandson of the Wenatchis' last chief, John Harmelt, and several other tribal members are renewing efforts to get the government to recognize the tribe's rights. "I think they need to follow through on their promises," Dick said. "I think it's important to all the people of the United States that the United States government keeps the promises it makes." Dick was in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to meet with the state's congressional delegation, armed with a new documentary called "False Promises," that recounts the history of the tribe that once numbered between 1,600 and 2,000 people. Seattle filmmaker Rustin Thompson's documentary is showing Feb. 20 on the Spokane PBS station and Feb. 21 on PBS stations in Seattle and Yakima. "I had never heard of the group of Wenatchi Indians. I only thought it was a town and a river," Thompson said. "And right smack in their aboriginal homeland is this Bavarian lala-land of knick-knacks and vilkommen signs. There's no evidence they ever existed.." In 1855, the Wenatchi tribe, known as the P'Squosa in their own language, signed a treaty with the U.S. government, giving them a 36-square-mile reservation at the confluence of the Icicle and Wenatchee rivers and guaranteeing their hunting and gathering rights in an area called the Wenatchapam fishery, according to Richard Hart, an independent historian from Winthrop upon whose research the documentary is based. But the site was never surveyed, and an Indian agent would eventually order the markers moved high up into the Cascade Range, where the winter snow was deep and fewer fish returned to spawn. White people began to settle in area, and the Great Northern Railroad built its route right through the Wenatchapam fishery -- without obtaining a right of way, according to Hart. In 1893, the secretary of the interior, responding to white protests about the proposed reservation, called a meeting of the Wenatchis and the nearby Yakama Indians to try to get them to give it up. At the meeting at Fort Simcoe, Indian Agent L.T. Erwin promised the Wenatchis their fishing rights along with land allotments of at least 14, 000 acres in the Wenatchapam fishery area. The Yakama, led to believe the Wenatchis were satisfied with the arrangement, then agreed to cede the Wenatchapam reservation land to the government. "They were tricked into selling it," Dick said. "I think if you would read all that we've got -- about six boxes, two feet high -- it would get you really mad, to think you guys had an agent like that back then." In 1894, Congress ratified the agreement, but Erwin never made a single land allotment to the Wenatchi. Two years later, each surviving member of the Wenatchi tribe was offered $9.30 apiece as their share of the land cession payment. They refused to accept. By the turn of the century, all of the Wenatchis' homesteads had been taken by white people. In 1931, more than 250 Wenatchis met at Cashmere and voted to hire a lawyer to sue the United States, but in 1935, the U.S. government blocked the lawsuit by voiding the Indians' contract with their lawyer. The Wenatchis' fight ended when Chief Harmelt and his wife died in a house fire in 1937, but their daughter, Celia Ann Dick, spent a lifetime telling her children the story. She died in 1997, but not before Mathew Dick "made the promise to her that I would do all that I could to finish the work John Harmelt started." The Wenatchis were excluded from the historic federal court decisions in Washington and Oregon that granted the Northwest's treaty tribes rights to half the salmon in regional waters. "The question as to who was a treaty tribe in most cases was pretty clear," Hart said. "The parties signed the treaty and moved to the reservation, as a result they were a treaty tribe." But the Wenatchis never got their reservation, although a number of their descendants live on the Colville Confederated Tribes reservation in northeastern Washington and some live on the Yakama Nation reservation in central Washington. In the case United States vs. Oregon, U.S. District Judge Malcolm Marsh classified all of the 12 Indian tribes and bands that make up the Colville Confederated Tribes as non-treaty tribes, Hart said. "From a standpoint of history from the Wenatchi, it is clearly historically wrong," Hart said. "Unfortunately, it ... makes it very difficult, if not impossible, for the tribe to sue." Dick said the Bureau of Indian Affairs advised the Wenatchis to work out the matter of fishing rights with the Yakama Nation, which as a treaty tribe, has fishing rights in the Wenatchapam fishery. After several frustrating attempts at negotiation, Dick said, the Yakama have agreed to meet again in Portland, Ore., in two weeks. Today, about 28 percent of the land that would have made up the Wenatchi reservation is publicly held. "As it happens, the Wenatchapam fishery, that location is now a federal fish hatchery," Hart said. Dick said he has been working with U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell's office, as well as Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. George Nethercutt. "Right now, we're in a fact-finding mode," said Jed Lewison, a spokesman for Cantwell, D-Wash. "Sen. Cantwell has been clear -- the U.S. government has a moral obligation to improve the welfare of Native Americans throughout the nation. In this particular case, the office is looking forward to seeing what we can do to help make sure these concerns are addressed." Copyright c. 1999-2002 Seattle Post-Intelligencer. --------- "RE: Dispute with Tribe could delay Projects" --------- Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 09:09:08 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SHAKOPEE ROAD" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.shakopeenews.com/main.asp Dispute with tribe could delay projects By John Mueller, Staff Writer Wednesday, February 06, 2002 Two construction projects that would effectively close County Road 83 for most of the coming summer could be shelved unless the Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota Community is willing to cooperate on land acquisition needed for expanded intersections and work along County Road 16. However, the county says the tribe's cooperation may be linked to its application to the federal government to place land it owns in Shakopee and Prior Lake into trust. The Scott County Board unanimously approved the appraisal of land and the use of condemnation as a tool to acquire non-tribal land for the expansion of the intersections of county roads 83 and 16, and 83 and 42 should the county be unable to purchase the land outright. That decision came at the board's Jan. 22 meeting. For the expansion of the intersection of county roads 42 and 83, the county needs 13 acres of tribal land and 8 acres of non-tribal land for road right-of-way, drainage and utility easements. To expand the intersection of county roads 16 and 83, the city of Shakopee and the county need 1.2 acres of tribal land and 12.9 acres of non-tribal land. The city and county also eventually want 12 to 15 acres of tribal land south of County Road 16 and east of County Road 83 for the preferred realignment of County Road 16 with 17th Avenue. Without the land south of County Road 16, the plan to use existing County Road 16 as a frontage road for residents north of County Road 16 can't be implemented. Last month, the board linked future approval of elements of the construction project to the ability to successfully negotiate agreements for the acquisition or permanent use for the expanded roadway from landowners that include the tribe. County Board Chair Barb Marschall said the county would not trade one-for-one its opposition to the tribe's application to place 776 acres it owns in Shakopee and Prior Lake into permanent trust for right-of-way at the two intersections. But, Marschall said, the county is willing to look at the overall issue of land trust as one of many county-tribe issues in discussions regarding land for road projects. "It can't be a swap, one for another," Marschall said. "That's what I hear from the other commissioners." Commissioner Art Bannerman of Shakopee pushed for the linkage of tribal land to future approvals on the two intersection expansion projects and work on County Road 16 east of Copyright c. 2002 Shakopee Valley News, Shakopee, MN 55379. --------- "RE: Review likely to renew debate of Delaware's Indian" --------- Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 08:26:36 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DELEWARE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.imdiversity.com/villages/native/ Archaeological Review Likely To Renew Debate Of Delaware's Indian by AP, The Associated Press By Randall Chase, Associated Press Writer Dover, Del. (AP) - A federal review of an archaeological report suggesting there is more than one group of American Indians in Delaware is unlikely to resolve a war of words between members of the Lenape and Nanticoke populations. A report that consultant Edward Heite submitted in 1998 to the Delaware Department of Transportation concluded the original Indian inhabitants of the Cheswold area of Kent County adapted to European culture and that their descendants, known as the Lenape, remain in the area. Heite was hired to examine a parcel of land called the Bloomsbury tract after it was selected as a site for an artificial wetland. Among the evidence on which Heite based his findings were several pieces of bottle glass that he said were shaped into tools using traditional American Indian flaking techniques for stone tools. The report, subtitled "Archaeology and History of an Unrecognized Indigenous Community in Central Delaware," was met with outrage by the chief of the Nanticoke Indian Association in Sussex County. "I stepped into an Indian war," Heite said. The Lenape say the report validates their Indian heritage, while the Nanticoke regard it as a threat and an insult. "There's no other tribes in Delaware," said Nanticoke chief Kenneth S. Clark. "We have an objection to people changing history." Then-Secretary Anne Canby approved DelDOT's publication of the report in late 2000, after giving Clark a chance to submit an addendum. But under pressure from Clark, current DelDOT secretary Nathan Hayward III ordered the report withdrawn last year from publication and pulled from the agency's Web site. Hayward and DelDOT archaeologist Kevin Cunningham did not return telephone messages last week. DelDOT submitted Heite's report to the National Park Service for an independent technical review. That review should be finished this week and sent to state officials, said NPS chief archaeologist Frank McManamon. McManamon said NPS cultural anthropologist Mark Schoepfle generally found Heite's research to be of high quality. "It looks like it was a pretty good job," McManamon said. "You may see some of the conclusions that (Heite) draws may go a little further than the data warrant, but wait and see on that." Clark said Heite's report is rife with inaccuracies, but he would not provide specifics. "I would rather not go into anything until we see what the (NPS) report says," Clark said. Heite said he was never told what Clark's objections are. "All we got was that Ken Clark didn't like the report, so we have nothing to refute," he said. Dennis Coker, chief of the Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware Inc., is anxious to see both the NPS review and publication of Heite's report. "What's at stake for us is recognition as a Native American group, an indigenous group native to Delaware," Coker said. "We're proud of who we are. We would like to be recognized by the larger society as a distinct ethnic group." While Delaware has no formal process for recognition of American Indians, the Nanticoke have received state grants as well as federal job training funds. Tribal members hold three seats on the human remains committee of the state Historic Preservation Office. In 1994, the Lenape fought unsuccessfully for a Senate resolution recognizing them as an Indian community. The measure was tabled after lobbying by the Nanticoke Indian Association. Coker said the Lenape community numbers about 750 people and can document its population of the Cheswold area for at least 300 years. It has ties to other Lenape groups, including the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Indians of New Jersey, a tribe recognized by that state. "We've intermarried with the Nanticokes for a couple of hundred years now," Coker said. "Genealogically speaking, it's hard to tell one group from the other." Such talk is anathema to Clark, whose group numbers a little less than 1,000. "People who are Nanticoke belong to this tribe, people who aren't Nanticoke don't," he said. According to Heite, Algonquin-speaking Nanticokes concentrated on the southern Delmarva peninsula and merged with the Assateague community. The Lenape, also Algonquin speakers, moved into Delaware from southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, he said. Intermarriage was common in the Kent County area, a rough dividing line between the northern hunter-gatherers and the mostly agricultural southern tribes, including the Nanticoke, Assateague, Choptank and Chesapeake, Heite said. "The Lenape community has maintained a separate identity, but the families in that community are related to the Nanticoke," he said. According to Heite, the inhabitants of a tenant house at the Bloomsbury site that was occupied from about 1750 to 1814 included at least two Indians, John Sisco and Thomas Conselor. Heite said glass tools similar to those at Bloomsbury have been found at other American Indian sites, but that evidence from such a relatively late period is rare. "This is an archaeological demonstration of a connecting of the living community with the Native American traditions," he said. Copyright c. by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. 2001 iMinorities, Inc. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Buffalo Field Campaign News" --------- Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 13:18:25 -0600 From: Buffalo Field Campaign Subj: News from the Field 2/7/02 Mailing List: 2/7/02 Buffalo Field Campaign News from the Field In this issue: * An Update from the Field * A Press Release to Send to Your Local Newspaper * Week of Action and National Day of Action for the Buffalo * A letter of Thanks from Corey --------------------------------------- Buffalo Supporters, After two weeks of respite the capture and slaughter of the Yellowstone buffalo has resumed. The Department of Livestock's intolerance for wild buffalo was exhibited yesterday in the agency's irrational insistence on capturing every buffalo that enters Montana. In an operation that took place between 8:00 and 11:45 am, agents hazed bison more than five miles into the buffalo trap at Horse Butte. Three bull buffalo were captured. Early this morning two of these beautiful animals were loaded into a livestock trailer and shipped to a slaughterhouse. The third had a numbered aluminum tag attached to his back and had two swaths of thick fur shaven from his shoulders and back. These marks allow DOL agents to determine which bison have already been captured. Of the 29 bull bison targeted by the DOL this winter, eight were marked and released. Twenty were slaughtered. Another was shot in the field without ever being tested for brucellosis. 35 bison have left the park this winter. The state of Montana rests the burden of blame for the slaughter on brucellosis, a bovine reproductive disease. Although there has never been a documented case of brucellosis being transmitted from wild bison to livestock, the agency insists on harassing and killing bison when they leave the park. On the west side of the park, where all the killing has taken place since 1997, there are no cattle present during the times of year when bison are outside the park. While elk and other wildlife also carry the disease, only bison are hazed, shot, and slaughtered. There has never been a documented case of wild buffalo passing the disease to livestock. After the three bulls were captured yesterday we held a vigil at Duck Creek, where they were confined. Volunteers held a "Buffalo Slaughter in Progress" banner by the side of highway 191 and handed out newsletters to interested passersby. At nightfall the vigil was relocated to a spot across the river from the Duck Creek holding pens and prayers, songs, and blessings were given for the confined bison. Volunteers stayed out all night through subfreezing temperatures. At 6:30 this morning two buffalo were loaded into the trailer and sent to the slaughterhouse. The third was released on the Horse Butte Peninsula. We'd like to thank each of you who reads these updates for your unfailing support. We couldn't make it through these difficult times without your help. Your dedication has been inspirational, helping us to stay strong, well-nourished, and focused on our mission. The response to our call for letters to those responsible for the buffalo slaughter was enormous. Many of you answered our request for volunteers to organize a Day of Action for the Buffalo in your communities on March 23. Thanks to all who have been giving your time to share buffalo stories with your families and friends and to those of you who have supported us in whatever way you can. Thank you John at Two Socks for the radio you sent and your offer of technical assistance. We took the radio out of the box and put it to immediate use on patrol. Thanks to all the others who sent donations for the purchase of new radio equipment. With patrols in constant communication with one another they will be all the more safe and effective. Thank you all for making our work possible. We will be here until the buffalo are protected. --------------------------------------- * A Press Release to Send to Your Local Newspaper Montana Department of Livestock and National Park Service Squander Tax Dollars To Slaughter Two "Low Risk" Bull Bison Near Yellowstone National Park FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 7, 2002 Contacts: Dan Brister, Mike Mease (406) 646-0070 West Yellowstone, MT: Three bull bison, considered "low risk" by APHIS--the sole agency with the regulatory authority to revoke Montana's "brucellosis-free" status--were captured in a Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) operation on the Gallatin National Forest yesterday. Two of the bison, which the DOL claims to have tested positive for brucellosis, were sent to slaughter early this morning. In its 1998 study, Brucellosis in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the National Academy of Sciences concluded, "The current risk of transmission from YNP (Yellowstone National Park) bison to cattle is low." There has never been a documented transmission of brucellosis from wild bison to livestock. Even if buffalo were capable of spreading brucellosis, the lack of cattle between mid-October and mid-June make such a transmission impossible. The cattle that stock the summer grazing allotments on Horse Butte are shipped in from Idaho. "Montana is killing America's last wild buffalo to protect a few Idaho cattle," said BFC spokesperson Dan Brister. All 19 bison killed this winter have been bulls, which are incapable of transmitting brucellosis. APHIS considers bulls "low risk" and says their presence in the state will not jeopardize Montana's brucellosis-free status. The agencies have captured 28 bull bison this winter. The operation began shortly after 8am on Wednesday on the Madison River. Agents from the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, Montana Highway Patrol, the Montana Dept. of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks and the Gallatin County Sheriff's Department assisted the DOL in hazing two bison from National Forest land into the Horse Butte trap. A lone bull was later captured from the Horse Butte Peninsula. "These agencies are wasting 2.8 million taxpayer dollars this winter to unnecessarily slaughter America's last wild buffalo," said Brister. "Scientists agree that bull bison can't transmit brucellosis yet the DOL insists on harassing every bull that steps across the park line." Horse Butte provides crucial winter range for Yellowstone wildlife, including moose, elk, deer, coyotes, wolves, eagles and swans. Buffalo Field Campaign volunteers videotaped two bald eagles being disturbed by the operation as they foraged over the Madison River. Moose and trumpeter swans were also observed being impacted by the operation. The brucellosis test used by the DOL to determine whether to slaughter or release captured animals detects antibodies, not infection. The majority of the bison that test "positive" and are killed don't actually carry brucellosis. The majority of bison that test positive at the capture facility test negative under the more accurate post-slaughter culture test. The Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working in the field everyday to stop the bison slaughter. Volunteers defend the buffalo on their native range and advocate for their protection. Video and Still Photos are Available on Request. --------------------------------------- * Week of Action and National Day of Action for the Buffalo We are organizing our third annual Week of Action for the Yellowstone Buffalo and need your help. This year's Week of Action is scheduled for March 18-24 and will include a variety of workshops, non-violent direct action, and ceremonies. Please come if you can. We are also helping to organize solidarity rallies across the country on March 23. If you are interested in helping to organize the Day of Action in your community, please contact Dan Brister or Pete Leusch at bfc-media@wildrockies.org. --------------------------------------- * A letter of Thanks from Corey Corey first volunteered with the Buffalo Field Campaign four years ago. He was on patrol at Horse Butte on the morning of January 29, 1998. He wrote the following account of his experience: "I was heading down the trail at sunrise when I passed the DOL. The guns on their backs were for the buffalo. I turned to follow them. Suddenly they made a sharp left and stopped; they had found them. I pulled my sled between the guns and the buffalo. I knew that's what I'd do. There was no soul searching, none of that. It is why I'm here. The cops cuffed me. The DOL agents shot all six buffalo while I sat there watching, helpless. I fell to my knees and cried, and screamed, and prayed. That was the hardest, the darkest, most frustrating thing I have ever witnessed or been a part of." Last winter Corey returned to the Campaign and again took to the patrols at Horse Butte. One day he decided to approach the buffalo trap and offer a prayer. The trap sits on public land in the Gallatin National Forest. The DOL, which operates the trap, had cordoned off an area around the trap and closed it from the public. Corey decided to cross the line to offer his prayers. Officers later observed his tracks, followed them to Corey's campfire, and arrested him. He spent 40 days in jail. Corey asked me to include the following letter of thanks in this week's update: Blessings Family, I've just returned here to our cabin now that my long suspended sentence is over. Many "welcome homes" and big hugs greeted me, and I give thanks. My travels have been good, spreading awareness and shedding light on the buffalo slaughter with lots of prayer and circling. My time in jail was inspirational. I thank you all very much for your kind support, comforting words and colorful cards. I never felt separated from the Great Goodness. I was constantly connected with the healing love that will end all pain and violence. Receiving letters every day helped a lot. So please keep up the good works. The buffalo will guide us through. Peace and Love, Corey Sundog --------------------------------------- Dan Brister Outreach Coordinator Buffalo Field Campaign PO Box 957 West Yellowstone, MT 59758 (406) 646-0070 buffalo@wildrockies.org http:www.wildrockies.org/buffalo --------- "RE: Man recognized as Code Talker" --------- Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2002 18:21:25 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CODE TALKER" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.sfnewmexican.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=3224644 Man recognized as Code Talker By ROBERT GEHRKE/The Associated Press February 09, 2002 WASHINGTON - The Marine Corps has concluded that David Tsosie did indeed serve as a Navajo Code Talker during World War II and is entitled to the Congressional Silver Medal that had been denied to him. Tsosie, 79, had expected to get his medal during a ceremony last year honoring hundreds of other Navajo Code Talkers. But the Marine Corps said it lacked proof that Tsosie had been one of the Code Talkers, who shipped messages coded in their native language in the war's Pacific theater. But after further investigation, the Marine Corps found that Tsosie graduated from Navajo Communications School on Sept. 7, 1943, and that he was entitled to an award, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said Friday. Bingaman and Udall, who sponsored the legislation to honor the Code Talkers with congressional medals of honor, had urged the Pentagon to investigate Tsosie's status. "Because Code Talkers were sworn to secrecy, they were not properly honored until a few short months ago, some 50 years after the end of World War II. But for Mr. Tsosie, the wait has been even longer," Bingaman said in a statement. He applauded the Pentagon and Marine Corps for conducting the investigation. "But most of all," Bingaman said, "I thank Mr. Tsosie for his invaluable service to our country." In a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda last July, President Bush awarded Congressional Gold Medals to the four surviving members among the 29 Marines who developed an uncrackable code based on the Navajo language. Several hundred others who used the code in battles on the Pacific Front were awarded the Congressional Silver Medal last November. "I am gratified that David Tsosie, a Navajo Code Talker who served his nation with honor, will be presented with the medal he earned so long ago," Udall said. "When we honor them, we honor a generation of service to our country." Copyright c. Santa Fe New Mexican 2002. --------- "RE: Discrimination won't end until Indians say Enough" --------- Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2002 18:21:25 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DISCRIMINATION" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.montanaforum.com/rednews/2002/02/07/build/tribal Guest Editorial: Discrimination won't end until Indians say, `enough' By WILLIAM OLD CHIEF For the Missoulian Comments made by three legislators during a Jan. 9 meeting of the State Tribal Relations Committee helped illustrate the very problems that committee is supposed to address. "They're unwilling or incapable of working like normal outside people do," state Sen. Ed Butcher, R-Winifred said of Indians who return to reservations to live. "Offer them a roll of postage stamps," Sen. Jerry O'Neil, R-Kalispell, suggested as an alternative to the governor's plans to hold meetings with state and tribal officials to resolve several lingering disputes. Rep. Ken Peterson, R-Billings, suggested the existence of Indian reservations contributes to discrimination against Indians, and he predicted the discrimination will continue until reservations are gone. Such comments regarding the original people of Montana - Indians - deserve a response. However, let's be fair and give credit to where credit is due. It is often our own people who continue to hold us in bondage because of their short-sightedness of what is really needed to allow Native Americans to succeed. I, for one, do not want to step back 200 to 500 years for more oppression by the ignorance of those who have the authority to chart our direction, whether it be the church, state government or so-called tribal leaders. The state Indian affairs coordinator assumes that all tribes in Montana are of the same thinking, which is unfair and untrue; even the federal government treats us as individuals. We are people with different languages, beliefs and customs. Our mythology and philosophy varies from tribe to tribe. It is said that everything flows from the top down and the problems that exist on reservations stem from decision-makers and lawmakers who have neglected to address the issues of Indian people in an equal and just manner. The Indian affairs coordinator position is not a decision-maker, just a centerpiece for the state government to say, "We are aware Indians do exist." Two years ago the Montana tribal leaders recommended to state officials that the position be elevated to a Cabinet position filled by someone who would sit in the same room as decision-makers and have the same authority to conduct the affairs on behalf of the 70,000-plus Indian people of Montana. The last time I looked this was still the state of Montana - not South Africa during apartheid. The last time I voted this was still the state of Montana, not Alabama or Mississippi in the 1960s. Yet the African Americans who suffered at the hands of their oppressors found the courage to stand against the cruelty of bigotry and injustice. If we as a people are to take our rightful place in the state of Montana during the 21st century, then we too must rise against the tyranny of segregation and the chains of discrimination - or we will remain exiles in our own land. If you are tired of being followed in the supermarket and department stores because of the color of your skin, if you're tired of racial profiling by law enforcement officials, if you're tired of protecting your children and grandchildren from those who would openly display their ignorance just because of the color your skin, then you must realize only you have the power to stop the insults of continual oppression in the state of Montana. The struggle for our equality must be taken to the state Capitol and not the reservations, which are already in disarray. The struggle must be taken to the cities of Montana for only then will they know we as a people are not just blowing off steam. We will not be content. It will not be business as usual until the day of equal justice emerges. As Indian people we contribute millions of dollars to Montana's economy yearly; everyone knows that. The moment we stop supporting cities near reservations, they would turn into dust bowls. The moment we stop spending money in the cities for cars, furniture, clothing and groceries, jobs will be lost. The moment we stop supporting discrimination, the tide of disparity will turn. We are landowners, taxpayers, business owners, doctors, lawyers, clergy, educators, state legislators, ranchers, and farmers - we are Montana, we are Native Americans. How long will you choose to live under the "veil of ignorance"? It would be a mistake for those who decide to overlook us to underestimate the determination of Indian people. And yes, there are many good non-Indians who have walked alongside our cause, who have seen the other side and have chosen to support the rights of Indian people in the state of Montana. It is said that you will know the truth and the truth will make you free. My question is: Where is the voice of our tribal leaders who pledged to protect the sovereignty of their people? William (Bill) Old Chief of Indigenous Voice Consultants in Missoula, is a former Blackfeet tribal chairman. Copyright c. 2000 Ravalli Republic and Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Mexicos Rebellious Chiapas turns to Civil Action" --------- Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 16:09:31 -0500 (EST) From: IndigenousNews@webtv.net Subj: Mexicos rebellious Chiapas turns to civil action Mailing List: Native Rights >From Yahoo Alerts for Indigenous People Mexico's Rebellious Chiapas Turns to Civic Action By Lorraine Orlandi NUEVO YIBELJOJ, Mexico (Reuters) - The Mexican government offered to build a rudimentary schoolhouse for this red-dirt settlement of 100 Tzotzil Indian families uprooted by violence in Chiapas state. But the people refused it. More than a year after they moved here from a crowded refugee camp, their children study in makeshift classrooms with no walls or floor and a roof of yellow and orange plastic sheeting. The peasant farmer families insist on a proper school, with cinder-block classrooms like those in the cities and big enough to serve the region, not just the children of Nuevo Yibeljoj. They won't take anything less. "We know that if we accept this 'emergency school' we will never get what we want, a dignified school," said local leader Roberto Perez. "City children don't suffer like ours, they have concrete schools. We're fighting for equal treatment." His simple argument underlies a sophisticated pattern of civic resistance that has largely replaced violence in Chiapas eight years after the Zapatista rebels took up arms in the name of Indian rights. With peace talks at an impasse, an unofficial truce is holding between the government of President Vicente Fox (news - web sites) and the rebels, holed up in silence in their jungle strongholds after a historic 2,000-mile march to the capital last year to push their demands. That spectacular public demonstration, featuring masked rebel leaders in a colorful cross-country convoy, shifted the Zapatista struggle from the military camp into the civic arena. Now, while national politicians debate rebel demands, Indian communities that embody the Zapatista cause are working to bring about long-awaited change themselves, with or without government help. "The question is now in the civilian arena," said the Rev. Jesus Landin, a Catholic priest serving San Andres Larrainzer, once the site of peace talks between the government and Zapatistas. "The people are convinced that here change will come through civic, political, peaceful means." FACING THE ENEMY Fox's election in 2000, like that of Chiapas Gov. Pablo Salazar the same year, raised hopes of reviving peace talks and redressing profound social injustices underlying the Zapatista rebellion in the state of 4 million people, a quarter of them Indians. But 13 months after the two leaders took office and ended seven decades of repressive rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, disappointment is rampant in Chiapas over their failure to end the Zapatista uprising. "Fox lied about a lot of things," said Jose Vasquez, leader of the pacifist refugee organization Las Abejas in Acteal, where four years ago members of a paramilitary group linked to the PRI massacred 45 Tzotzil men, women and children. Dozens of Indians were convicted of firing on indigenous brethren, with the complicity of official security forces. Though Fox closed seven key army bases as demanded by the rebels and cut back army checkpoints, residents across the Indian heartland say the army still foments such violence, promoting paramilitary groups and harassing civilians. Army bases surround Acteal, their mission to promote security and perform public works. Instead, they perpetuate conflict, prostitution, fear, Vasquez said. "These are not our customs," he said. Salazar said state counterinsurgency tactics of the past, including targeting aid programs to groups sympathetic to the PRI, have been replaced with equitable development programs. The federal and state governments are working to reconcile warring religious, cultural and political factions. In a watershed sign of easing tensions, some 1,500 displaced people in and around Acteal went home last year or founded new communities like Nuevo Yibeljoj (pronounced YEE-BUL-COC). Perhaps more dramatic, refugees are sitting down face-to-face with their PRI enemies in an effort to find a way to live together in peace, with support from the state. "The process of bringing together Las Abejas and those who displaced them took us more than half of last year," Salazar said in an interview. "The government sat in the middle, and I mean literally in the middle. "In the past, the complaint was that when (the refugees) tried to meet with their adversaries, the government showed up in the same car and sat on the same side as their adversaries," he said. "We told them: 'Speak your language, look each other in the eye, we're only here to facilitate.' They chose the themes and initiated a productive dialogue." Such gains give local activists like Vasquez hope. "It's very important to all of society that we have the will to work for peace," he said. "In this new year, I hope we can change our hearts, respect one another's differences." AN UNEASY PEACE Every Sunday in San Andres, Zapatista supporters occupying Town Hall take petitions from a line of villagers. A few blocks away, the elected PRI town council bides time, while outside the rustic Catholic church a circle of elders in the rough wool tunics and tasseled hats of the Tzotzil people hold court. In the 199Os, masked Zapatista commanders and government negotiators gathered in the highland town to draft the San Andres accords, providing greater autonomy for Indian communities in choosing leaders and using and owning land. The 1996 accords became the basis for Fox's Indian rights initiative, one of his first acts as president. But the weaker version ultimately approved by Congress fell far short of rebel demands, dashing hopes of resuming talks during Fox's first year in office. Now the most fervently Zapatista communities, which have renounced government assistance, are using the original accords to design educational, farming and other programs that meet their needs, with help from nongovernmental organizations. "The people implemented autonomous education very seriously," said Landin, the San Andres priest. "They're not desperate, they're surviving." Still, generations of conflict, a deeply-rooted system of caciquismo, or political cronyism, and economic inequality, racism and poverty hinder progress at the grass-roots level. Having lost their grip on the national and state governments, entrenched local PRI leaders are loathe to loosen their hold on a last bastion of power in communities where loyalty to the party is akin to religious faith. On a typical day recently, local newspapers carried reports of a mayor abducted by opposition party members near the Guatemala border, and of newly elected officials prevented by PRI leaders from taking office in San Juan Chamula, an Indian enclave outside the highland colonial city of San Cristobal. "There is more conflict here than ever," said weaver Josefa Gonzalez of Zinacantan, where the left-leaning Party of the Democratic Revolution unseated the PRI in last October's elections but was blocked from taking office. "We want change, but it can't be done overnight," said Cristobal Guzman in the coffee farming village Tenejapa, where the PRI holds power. "For change to come, people's attitudes must change." ===== To send news reports, subscribe or unsubscribe send email to IndigenousNews@webtv.net --------- "RE: Mexico Solidarity Network: Taco Bell Truth Tour" --------- Date: February 7, 2002 12:12 AM -0600 From: joewest Subj: Brazil: Government launches 'war operation' on mahogany loggers Mailing List: Amazon Alliance 1) Reuters - Brazil launches 'war operation' on mahogany loggers 2) Greenwire - Brazil: Environment Chief Seeks U.S. Support to Curb Illegal Logging Body ********************************************** Brazil launches 'war operation' on mahogany loggers BRAZIL: February 5, 2002 BRASILIA - Brazil has launched a "war operation" to save the Amazon's fast-disappearing mahogany trees by hunting down illegal loggers deep in the forests and chasing down smugglers shipping the wood abroad, environmental agency Ibama said. Ibama's "Operation Rescue" aims to recover an estimated $16 million worth of the wood waiting at ports to be shipped abroad and to set up road and river controls in the Amazon to block the smuggling routes of the loggers' lucrative trade. "With this effort we are prioritizing the question of illegal mahogany because society no longer accepts this type of activity that damages all society," Ibama President Hamilton Nobre Casara said. The operation, which will involve the police and army as well, aims to patrol major mahogany smuggling routes - most of them along rivers or roads out of the Amazon - using helicopters, planes and boats. There will also be reinforcement of controls at major Brazilian highways. Another part of the plan will be the seizure of up to 225,000 square feet (21,000 cubic meters) of cut mahogany that has been detected at sites in the south of the Amazon state of Para. Located deep in the forest, transporting the mahogany out on river barges could take up to 80 days. Environmental groups fear that at current logging rates, Brazil's Amazon mahogany reserves could disappear in eight years. PLANET'S PLANT LIFE The world's largest tropical forest, which covers an area larger than all of Western Europe, is home to up to 50 percent of the planet's plant and animal life and is already disappearing at unsustainable rates, environmentalists fear. Amid increasing evidence that mahogany is one of the main woods suffering from Amazon deforestation, Brazil banned mahogany logging last October. Only a handful of companies with permits guaranteeing replanting can now cut down mahogany. The ban came after intense lobbying by environmental group Greenpeace, which had obtained pictures and video images of large clearings in mahogany forests on Amazon Indian land. Worth up to $1,500 per 10.76 square feet (one square meter), mahogany is the most expensive wood in Brazil and smugglers make hefty profits by shipping it abroad to markets like the United States, Great Britain and Japan. Casara traveled to the United States this week to ask U.S. authorities for help in preventing illegal mahogany shipments from Brazil entering the U.S. A recent study by the World Wildlife Fund found that 4.23 million cubic feet (120,000 cubic meters) of mahogany from Latin America reaches global markets every year, mainly from Brazil, Bolivia and Peru. Story by Axel Bugge REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ************************************************ Greenwire February 4, 2002 INTERNATIONAL; Vol. 10, No. 9 Brazil: Environment Chief Seeks U.S. Support to Curb Illegal Logging Body April Reese, Greenwire staff writer U.S. Assistant Secretary of State John Turner "promised" the head of Brazil's environmental agency that the United States will help Brazil crack down on the illegal mahogany trade, according to the Brazilian Embassy. Hamilton Nobre Casara, president of Ibama, Brazil's environmental agency, said during a forum Thursday at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, a nonpartisan think tank, that he had been meeting with State Department officials to "seek a joint effort to control mahogany." The next day, the Brazilian Embassy issued a release saying U.S. Assistant Secretary of State John Turner "promised ... Casara that illegal mahogany will not enter the United States." Calls to the State Department to confirm the pledge were not returned by press time. But Brazilian newspapers have reported that the U.S. has committed to helping Brazil crack down on the illegal mahogany trade. A State Department official said Thursday that "we continue to work closely with Brazil on resolving the problem." According to Ibama, 70 percent of Brazilian mahogany is imported into the United States. Although no one knows how much of that comes from illegal sources, Ibama determined during recent raids that 90 percent of all mahogany production in Brazil is illegal, leaving Greenpeace and other groups to suspect that much of it is imported into the United States. After suspecting that timber barons were using laundered logging permits to illegally harvest mahogany in restricted areas and to then export it as legally produced mahogany, Ibama imposed a freeze on the logging, transport and export of mahogany in October (Greenwire, Oct. 29). During its "Operation Mahogany" investigation over the past couple of months, the agency confirmed those fears and made several arrests, Casara said. Roberto Goidanich of the Brazilian Embassy said Casara plans to send a formal request for U.S. help, as well as information on the illegal mahogany trade uncovered during the investigation, to the U.S. government this week. "The U.S. is one of the major consumers, so it's very important that they are a partner in combating the illegal trade," Goidanich said. Greenpeace's Scott Paul called U.S involvement in addressing the problem "fundamentally important," adding that the U.S. response to Casara's request for help will be a test of its commitment to halting illegal logging in Brazil and elsewhere. "The U.S. has been very involved in the discussions about illegal logging," he said. "If it wants to maintain credibility, it has to address the issue of the massive amounts of illegally logged mahogany entering this country every day." Meanwhile, Casara said meetings with various interest groups in Brazil will be held in March to try to reach agreement on "more sustainable use of these resources." If no agreement is reached, he said, "the freeze will continue." Tackling the illegal mahogany trade was one of Casara's first priorities when he ascended to the top of Ibama a year ago, and environmentalists commend him for making major advances on the issue over a short time under difficult political circumstances. "It's amazing he's been able to push the ball as far as he has," Paul said. Deforestation in the Amazon, which harbors as much as 50 percent of the world's animal and plant life, was the worst in five years in 2000, primarily due to illegal logging and fires, according to Ibama. Brazil encompasses most of the Amazon, which accounts for 43 percent of the country's territory. ************************************************************ Distribuido por: Distributed by: 'AMAZON ALLIANCE' FOR INDIGENOUS AND TRADITIONAL PEOPLES OF THE AMAZON BASIN 1367 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20036-1860 tel (202)785-3334 fax (202)785-3335 amazon@amazonalliance. org http://www.amazonalliance.org Disclaimer: All copyrights belong to original publisher. The Amazon Alliance has not verified the accuracy of the forwarded message. Forwarding this message does not necessarily connote agreement with the positions stated there-in. Todos los derechos de autor pertenecen al autor originario. La Alianza Amazonica no ha verificado la veracidad de este mensaje. Enviar este mensaje no necesariamente significa que la Alianza Amazonica este de acuerdo con el contenido. La Alianza Amazonica para los Pueblos Indigenas y Tradicionales de la Cuenca Amazonica es una iniciativa nacida de la alianza entre los pueblos indigenas y tradicionales de la Amazonia y grupos e individuos que comparten sus preocupaciones por el futuro de la Amazonia y sus pueblos. Hay ochenta organizaciones del norte y del sur activas en la Alianza Amazonica. La Alianza Amazonica trabaja para defender los derechos, territorios, y el medio ambiente de los pueblos indigenas y tradicionales de la Cuenca Amazonica. The Amazon Alliance for Indigenous and Traditional Peoples of the Amazon Bas in is an initiative born out of the partnership between indigenous and traditional peoples of the Amazon and groups and individuals who share their concerns for the future of the Amazon and its peoples. There are over eighty non-governmental organizations from the North and South active in the Alliance. The Amazon Alliance works to defend the rights, territories, and environment of indigenous and traditional peoples of the Amazon Basin. ==^======================================== This email was sent to: gars@speakeasy.org --------- "RE: Rights to Vast Stretches of Nova Scotia" --------- Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 08:26:36 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NOVA SCOTIA" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.canoe.ca/NationalTicker/CANOE-wire.Native-Logging.html February 4, 2002 Natives argue they have rights to vast stretches of Nova Scotia HALIFAX (CP) -- Nova Scotia natives are claiming rights to vast tracts of land throughout the province in a case that could transform the logging industry the way the Marshall decision reshaped the Atlantic fishery. Lawyers for 35 native loggers convicted of illegally harvesting lumber say they have aboriginal title and rights spelled out in 18th-century treaties to cut and sell trees on Crown property. Lawyer Bruce Wildsmith said the Supreme Court of Canada recognized their rights when it ruled in 1999 that natives could gather and sell resources that were part of their traditional economy. "Forest resources were absolutely, 100 per cent vital to their lifestyle and economy," Wildsmith said Monday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court. Wildsmith is appealing a provincial court ruling last year that found the natives had no special entitlement to the resource. The natives, who were charged in late 1998 and in 1999 for cutting in Nova Scotia, argued they had rights to cut logs on Crown property and sell them because their ancestors lived on the land for more than 2,500 years and traded in lumber products. The judge dismissed the claim, saying there was a significant difference between modern and historic uses. He also found the natives were nomadic and didn't reside in the areas they claimed to have occupied. Wildsmith said Monday there was extensive evidence to suggest the Mi'kmaq built settlements throughout the province, and produced and traded in an array of wooden goods. In an unusual case that has relied on 9,000 pages of transcripts, 20 volumes of historical evidence and treaties from 1760, Wildsmith showed a picture of a native encampment to show they used wood to make canoes, poles and fires. "This was integral to their culture," said Wildsmith. A decision in favour of the natives could have major implications for governments and the lumber industry since it would give them unextinguished aboriginal title to most of Nova Scotia. It could also bring into question leases held by lumber companies operating on property natives say they never ceded. Observers speculate the ruling could have the same impact as the Donald Marshall decision in 1999, which overhauled the East Coast fishery. In that case, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Mi'kmaq and Maliseet people have the right to earn a moderate livelihood from fishing, hunting and gathering. Wildsmith conceded that a native forestry industry would comply with provincial regulations. "People are concerned that if you find in our favour all hell will break loose in the woods," said the lawyer, who was surrounded in court by a dozen cardboard boxes of documents and old maps showing native archeological sites. "We're not talking about something that is completely outside the bounds of regulation." A similar case in New Brunswick caused protests when a judge last June upheld the conviction of a Mi'kmaq man for illegally removing wood from Crown land. Joshua Bernard, from Eel Ground near Miramichi, N.B., argued he had treaty and aboriginal rights to cut wood on Crown land in 1998. Bernard's lawyers argued that treaties signed in the 1760s and reaffirmed by the Constitution allowed him to cut and remove wood from Crown land. Copyright c. 2002, Canoe, a division of Netgraphe Inc. --------- "RE: James Bay Cree approve deal with Quebec" --------- Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 08:40:17 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JAMES BAY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.canoe.ca/NationalTicker/CANOE-wire.Que-Cree-Hydro.html February 3, 2002 James Bay Cree approve $3.4-billion deal with Quebec on power development NEMASKA, Que. (CP) -- Nearly 70 per cent of the James Bay Cree voting on a $3.4-billion deal with the Quebec government have endorsed the arrangement, the Cree Grand Council said Sunday. "This is an historic moment," Grand Chief Ted Moses said in announcing the vote's outcome. "It is an agreement that vindicates the long Cree campaign since 1975 to have our rights respected." The pact, which amounts to a peace treaty between the Cree and the province, was the subject last week of referendums in nine Cree communities. The secret ballot gave an approval rate that ranged from a low of 50 per cent to a high of 83 per cent, depending on the Cree community involved, said Brian Craik, a Grand Council spokesman. "I think the majority of people are pretty happy with the outcome," Craik said. Among the disappointed minority are "some people who can't fathom the idea of going ahead with another hydro project." The deal includes cash payouts for the Cree of $24 million in 2002, $46 million next year, then $70 million a year for 48 years. The Cree also get more control over their community and economy, more power over logging and more Hydro-Quebec jobs. In return, the Cree have promised to drop $3.6 billion in environmental lawsuits against the government. The Cree also agreed to accept hydro installations along the Eastman River and Rupert River, subject to environmental approval. It's a changed scene from the 1990s when a Cree campaign managed to scuttle a planned giant hydro project at Great Whale. That seven-year effort by the Cree included an information blitz aimed at hydro's customers based in the New England region. In a statement Sunday, Moses said, "A substantial portion of the Cree people have obviously supported and endorsed the position taken by the majority of their leaders in favour of the new agreement." Moses and Premier Bernard Landry are to meet Thursday for a formal signing. The pact is based on an agreement in principle reached last Oct. 23. Craik said in the nine communities, seven of nine chiefs backed the deal. "There were two chiefs and our deputy grand chief who weren't in favour of it," he said in a telephone interview from Perth, Ont. He said some opponents expressed concern about dam safety, especially in the Cree village of Chisasibi where local residents became worried a few years ago over the secrecy surrounding the safety issue. Other critics pointed to signs of dike deterioration that turned up in the mid-90s at LG-2, hydro's La Grande dam on James Bay. "The community that had the hardest hit from La Grande seems to have been where there was the most controversy," Craik said. Copyright c. 2002, Canoe, a division of Netgraphe Inc. --------- "RE: Junior Indian Affairs Minister clashes with Boss" --------- Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 08:10:49 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JUNIOR INDIAN AFFAIRS MINISTER" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.canoe.ca/NationalTicker/CANOE-wire.Native-Youth.html February 5, 2002 Junior Indian Affairs minister clashes with boss on potential youth violence OTTAWA (CP) -- Canada's new junior Indian Affairs minister is not diluting his warnings of potential native violence despite a bid by his boss to downplay the threat. Canada could eventually face violent outbreaks if land claims and treaty settlements aren't fast-tracked, Stephen Owen said Tuesday. The first-term Vancouver-area MP made waves Monday by publicly comparing impoverished native youth in Canada with militant Palestinian refugees who are willing to die for change in the Middle East. "Perhaps I regret the reference to the Gaza Strip," he conceded Tuesday. "But the point was ... that where situations of despair carry on for a prolonged time, there's a real risk of violence eventually." Indian Affairs Minister Robert Nault brusquely distanced himself from the comments of his junior minister, who was named secretary of state for Indian Affairs last month. "There's only one minister of Indian Affairs," Nault said Tuesday outside the Commons. "And I speak for the government." Owen "made an error" Monday in calling Canada's reserves "tinder-boxes" of potential violence that can be compared to the chaos of the Middle East, Nault added. Impoverished native youth want change but pose no national security risk, he said. "There is no threat and there never has been," he stressed earlier Tuesday. "Those communities and their leaders have said all along that they want to work in partnership with the government of Canada," to resolve aboriginal and treaty rights. Owen, a lawyer and mediator whose public service career has involved native conflicts, was accused by some of fear mongering. "Mr. Owen's been around the block," said MP Reed Elley, aboriginal affairs critic for the Canadian Alliance. "He's been a deputy attorney general in B.C., he's been active in peace processes around the world and negotiations. And he should know very well what he was saying. "To make these kind of comments is simply unacceptable and I think he should apologize to aboriginal people." Native teens and young adults aren't shy about voicing frustration with their own leaders and government, said Ghislain Picard, vice-chief of Quebec and Labrador for the national Assembly of First Nations. "The youth are very much assertive," he said in an interview. "At the same time, I don't think they're willing to resort to violence." Native young people are more educated than ever before and Ottawa is trying to help, said Nault. "I don't believe there's any militancy." But there is anger, said Tanya Kappo, 30, communications co-ordinator for the Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta. And it's hard to be patient as native rights erode, she said in a recent interview. Money is increasingly tight for higher education and medical services that were supposed to be guaranteed in treaties her ancestors signed, she said. Non-natives don't see how often such benefits are denied while treaties meant to ensure a fair share of lands and resources go unfulfilled, Kappo said. Copyright c. 2002, Canoe, a division of Netgraphe Inc. --------- "RE: Indian Recognition Problems are Getting Worse" --------- Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 09:09:08 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RECOGNITION ISSUES" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.boston.com/dailynews/038/region/ BIA official says Indian recognition problems are getting worse By Melissa B. Robinson, Associated Press, 2/7/2002 19:27 WASHINGTON (AP) U.S. Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb told House lawmakers Thursday that the already notoriously slow Indian tribe recognition process is getting worse. Because of a tight budget and inadequate staffing, the Bureau of Indian Affairs is falling further and further behind in the process of reviewing tribal applications for federal recognition, McCaleb told the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Natural Resources, and Regulatory Affairs. "We're going to lose ground, not gain ground," McCaleb said under questioning by Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., who chastised him for failing to ask his Interior superiors for a bigger budget from Congress to handle the recognition workload. "This is going to blow up in your face," said Shays. He said he is worried that courts will assume greater power in the recognition process if the BIA can't do the job. In Shays' southwestern Connecticut district, the Golden Hill Paugussett tribe, which has been seeking recognition for nearly two decades, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court to get the BIA to speed up consideration of its petition. It is one of four tribes in the state expecting decisions on recognition within the next two years; all have expressed interest in opening gambling operations. President Bush requested nearly $2.3 billion for BIA in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, 2002, about $24 million more than the current budget. McCaleb said BIA has competing priorities, including social service programs that are now meeting only one-third of Indian needs. A plan for improving the recognition process is due in April. Federal recognition can extend significant rights to tribes as sovereign entities, such as exempting them from local and state jurisdictions and allowing them to open casinos. They can also benefit from multibillion dollar federal assistance programs. The BIA has about 23 petitions for recognition under review, and officials have estimated it could take up to 15 years just to resolve those applications. Typically, two applications a year can be decided under an optimistic scenario, McCaleb said. Another 67 petitions have partial documentation, and over 80 other tribes have started the process, McCaleb said. Also, BIA is constantly getting new petitions, supporting materials for existing ones and requests for information about pending cases from interested third parties, such as local officials in petitioning tribes' areas. The issue of Indian recognition has generated tremendous interest because of the explosion in Indian casinos. In 1999, 193 federally recognized tribes reported an estimated $10 billion in gambling revenue, surpassing the amounts that the Nevada casinos collected that year, according to Congress' investigatory arm, the General Accounting Office. Most of the revenue, about two-thirds, was produced by 27 tribes. A November GAO report highlighted problems in the recognition process, including lengthy delays and confusion about the basis of BIA's decision- making. Also, local governments have complained that they have too little say too late in the process, mostly because the BIA is not required to seek public comment until it makes a proposed finding in a case. Before then, local governments seeking information typically must rely on formal requests through the federal Freedom of Information Act, experts said. "I can see they feel like they're being shut out," said Barry T. Hill, GAO's director of natural resources and environment. A House bill by Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., whose district includes two Indian casinos, would change the recognition process to, among other things, require BIA to accept and consider testimony from municipalities and other interested parties. Rep. Simmons' bill is H.R. 3548. Copyright c. 2002 Boston Globe Electronic Publishing Inc. --------- "RE: A Debt Past Due may redefine Tribal Relations" --------- Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 15:40:50 -0500 (EST) From: IndigenousNews@webtv.net Subj: A debt long past due Mailing List: Native Rights >From Oregonian.com A debt long past due may redefine federal-tribal relations 02/03/02 MICHAEL MILSTEIN The stories are bewildering legend among American Indians in the Northwest and the nation: Family inheritances that vanished like smoke; checks for a few dollars or pennies that arrive out of the blue; land they owned but now cannot trac "When I was a very little girl, I remember my dad saying that we had this land, that someday we would get some money from it," says Lecile Jay, a Blackfeet tribe member who lives in Florence. But when she tried to find the land near the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, or some record of it, the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs told her that "it wouldn't be worth our time." Now the legend of such missing tribal land and money has unfolded into the worst nightmare of the U.S. Interior Department since the Teapot Dome scandal of the 1920s, and perhaps the greatest case of government financial incompetence in history. Tangled in the mess are Interior Secretary Gale Norton, more than 600,000 acres belonging to thousands of Indians in the Northwest, billions of dollars of Indian and taxpayer money, and a multimillion-dollar federal computer system that sits idle in Portland and may end up scrapped. The specter looms larger as Norton is expected to testify in coming weeks in her own contempt trial before a tough federal judge who has shut down Interior Department computers and could put her in jail. The judge has so lost patience, he recently warned Norton's attorneys that "I don't believe one word you're telling me." "This case in the last six months has just exploded," said Dave Tovey, executive director of administration for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Eastern Oregon. "It has been building for years, but now nobody can ignore it." Every taxpayer may feel the impact, because the government may have to repay Native Americans for more than $10 billion worth of royalties and land the government has lost track of in the past century. That's roughly the entire annual budget of the U.S. Treasury. Millions probably would flow to Northwest tribes. Many think the outcome will redefine the rocky relationship between Native Americans asserting more control over tribal affairs and a federal government that once forced them onto reservations, which soon deteriorated into some of the poorest pockets of America. "A lot of Indian people have been very passive for a long time," said Elouise Cobell, a Blackfeet tribe member who set up the showdown by suing the Interior Department. "As a result, the government got away with anything they wanted. Now we're saying it's got to stop." Federal courts have agreed with Cobell since she filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of thousands of Indians in 1996. In it, she sought an accounting of oil, mining, grazing and logging royalties from 11 million acres of land owned by individual Indians but held in trust by the government, including 602,837 acres in Oregon and Washington. The trust land is an artifact of a government scheme to undo tribal nations and open Indian land to ranching, mining and other uses by breaking many reservations into pieces called allotments. Some went to Indian families. The rest went up for sale. "In the old pictures, you see signs that say 'Indian Land for Sale,' " recalled Lois Broncheau, who works for the Umatilla tribes buying some of that land back, bit by bit, at today's higher prices. The government held Indian allotments tax-free and leased them to farmers, loggers, miners and, later, oil companies. Congress set up a trust fund to hold the royalties and dole them out to Indian owners. But a federal Indian agent despaired as early as 1828 that it looked as though the government had handled Native American funds "with a pitchfork" -- and it got worse. Not only did the government not balance the checkbook holding Native American money, it barely even kept a checkbook. Oil companies pumped oil from Indian land without reporting it. Land records disappeared -- stolen, shredded or tossed out as garbage. Some Indians got pennies when they deserved thousands of dollars. The government, through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, today pays royalties to some Native Americans -- about $500 million in checks go out each year -- but has lost track of nearly 50,000 others. Accountants have discovered at least $2 billion, plus interest, unaccounted for. They could not tell to whom billions more belonged. "There are dollars sitting out there in the government that may be ours," said Louis Pitt of Oregon's Warm Springs tribes. "But we have no way of knowing it." Even after Cobell filed her case, and U.S. Judge Royce Lamberth ordered the government to turn over reams of documents, the Treasury Department destroyed hundreds of boxes that might have contained Indian trust records. In 1999, acting "more out of sadness than anger," the judge held then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and an assistant interior secretary in contempt of court. He blamed them for "a shocking pattern of deception" that included covering up missing documents Indians might have used to prove their case. "I have never seen more egregious misconduct by the federal government," he wrote. Lamberth ordered the government to pay more than $600,000 for the "wasted time" of Cobell's lawyers. And he issued a warning: If federal officials do not shape up, they "will suffer consequences far greater than those being handed down today." The Reagan appointee ruled shortly afterward that the entire trust fund was in hopeless disarray. "The United States cannot say how much money is or should be in the trust," he wrote. Some say 300,000 Indians are entitled to the funds. Others suggest 500,000. "Notwithstanding all of this," Lamberth wrote, Interior Department officials "continue to write checks on an account that they cannot balance or reconcile. It is fiscal and governmental irresponsibility in its purest form." He ordered the Interior Department to clean up the mess, which had multiplied through decades of neglect. Successive generations of Indian families split land into smaller and smaller shares. In one instance on the Umatilla Reservation, 150 people inherited bits of a single plot. "It's nothing like what we call the non-Indian world, where families sell out to each other, and just a couple people own property," said Broncheau of the Umatilla tribes. It adds up to a monumental bookkeeping task, even if the books did exist. A $40 million computer system called TAAMS, for Trust Asset Accounting Management System, was designed to take over the task in Bureau of Indian Affairs regional offices in Portland and around the country by 2000. But almost from the time it was installed in 1999, the system failed. It broke down and spit out incorrect data. In some instances workers had to photocopy records at rural county courthouses and enter details by hand. Records in the BIA's Portland office turned out to be incompatible with it. A court-appointed monitor said the Portland data had to be "cleaned up" before the computer system would work in the Northwest, "if that is even possible." In February 2001, just after Norton and the Bush administration took over the Interior Department, the BIA's top computer manager warned that reform of the Indian trust system was "slowly but surely imploding." But federal attorneys continued to tell Lamberth that the computer system was advancing. Norton told Congress her "highest priority" was fixing the trust mess. She also embraced a plan by Babbitt to rebuild missing records based on statistical sampling, although Lamberth had ordered a full reconstruction at a cost of hundreds of millions. The BIA called for all its offices to forward land records to a central office in New Mexico. Some tribes, including the Umatilla, resisted, fearing they would lose more control over their assets. Norton announced a plan to hand Indian trust funds to a new bureau of the Interior Department, which tribes almost unanimously opposed as a further dismantling of the BIA, the one agency dedicated to their needs. "The BIA has lots of problems, and we know it," said Rick Gay of the Umatilla tribes. "But right now it's all we have." Investigators, meanwhile, found that Federal Reserve banks in Seattle, Salt Lake City, Denver and elsewhere had destroyed records sought in the case. Court Monitor Joseph Kieffer reported in August that the computer system may have to be scrapped altogether, adding to the $600 million taxpayers have already spent on botched attempts to patch the problems. He concluded that Norton had directed a "charade carried out by her attorneys to continue to keep the major management and systems failures from the light of day and this court." Two teams of federal attorneys were booted off the case and investigated for lying to the judge, and the government hired private lawyers to defend Norton and other top officials. By October 2001, Lamberth was welcoming new federal attorneys to the case by saying, "My condolences." "The new team of lawyers always takes it seriously," he told them. "If you weren't the third team of lawyers, I might take you seriously." Ten years of reports had warned that Interior Department computers lacked basic security precautions to protect Indian funds, and in December a court investigator easily hacked into the system. "This deplorable condition is inexcusable," Kieffer told the judge. Lamberth ordered all Interior computers disconnected from the Internet, blacking out sites for the National Park Service and other popular agencies. The department also halted checks to more than 40,000 Indians, blaming it on the shutdown, although Cobell's attorneys pointed out that Norton and other top officials were still receiving their paychecks. Two months later, the computers remain shut down, and court officials say Interior has not sought permission to restart most of them. Lamberth suggested Interior was suffering from "Washington Monument syndrome," where agencies shut down well-known attractions to publicize their troubles. Lamberth has since ordered Norton to sign further reports to him, a signal that he considers her personally accountable. He also began trying her and almost 40 other top officials for contempt of court, calling Norton's actions "so clearly contemptuous, I don't understand what it is that we are going to try." Norton is likely to be called as a witness in the next two weeks; Cobell's attorneys have pushed for jail time and want a court-appointed receiver to take over the funds. At some point, Lamberth will begin another trial to determine how much the government must compensate Indians for the lost trust money and interest, estimated by some at well over $10 billion. "Politically, I think they're all scared of what this is going to cost," said Tovey. "They open the box, and they say, 'Oh, man.' And it's more expedient to cover it up than to deal with it. That's what's gone on for years." You can reach Michael Milstein at 503-294-7689 or by e-mail at michaelmilstein@news.oregonian.com. Printed for educational purposes only: The news that is reported is not necessarily the viewpoint of IndigenousNews To send news reports, subscribe or unsubscribe send email to IndigenousNews@webtv.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> NativeRights-subscribe@egroups.com --------- "RE: Indian Affairs Budget Request up $22 Million" --------- Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 08:10:49 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BUDGET REQUEST" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.journalstar.com/native?story_id=140&date Indian Affairs budget request up $22 million BY JODI RAVE LEE Lincoln Journal Star WASHINGTON, D.C. - Upon hearing President Bush's 2003 budget proposal Monday for the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs, Aura Kanegis said the "chronically underfunded" bureau reminded tribes of what they gave up. "Every year around this time there's a reminder of federal failure to follow up with its commitments," said Kanegis, governmental affairs director for the National Congress of American Indians, who noted the loss of millions of acres of Native lands. In exchange, government treaties promised tribes' health, welfare and education benefits in perpetuity. Next year's proposed Interior Department budget asks for $2.3 billion for the BIA, a primary link between the government and tribes. The request is a $22 million increase over the current BIA budget. Interior Department officials said it was a good year for the BIA. Interior Secretary Gale Norton on Monday listed the commitment to Native education and trust reform among her department's top four priorities, which also include land restoration, park rebuilding and citizen-centered conservation. The $11 billion Interior Department budget proposal is 21 percent higher than the 2000 budget. "Our budget request includes a major boost in spending in Indian trust reform, nearly $84 million, the largest increase in the history of the trust reform," Norton said during a budget briefing in a department auditorium. "These additional dollars are necessary to address the long overdue changes that I have committed to making in our Indian trust program." Said National Congress of American Indians attorney John Dossett: "The whole system has been drastically underfunded for 100 years. People in the BIA have done the best they could." Of the trust reform request, $49 million has been earmarked for the department's Office of the Special Trustee, and $35 million for the BIA. Norton soon may be held in contempt of court, accused of misleading a federal judge on trust reform progress. The case sits before U.S.District Judge Royce Lamberth as part of the Cobell vs. Norton class action, a suit filed by 300,000 Natives who alleged government mismanagement of their land and assets. Meanwhile, the Interior Department's 2003 budget proposal contained mixed messages for BIA schools. "Our commitment to education in Indian Country includes maintaining and improving the condition of school facilities," said Lynn Scarlett, assistant secretary for policy, management and budget. The Interior Department budget proposes $293 million to build six schools and finish repairs on others. Scarlett said President Bush's goal was to eliminate a backlog on BIA school construction and repair by 2006. The budget also includes a $523 million request for BIA-funded school operations, including dormitories for some. The request is $19 million more than last year's budget. Kanegis said the increase was positive and showed a continuing commitment to help repair crumbling BIA schools. However, Kanegis she expressed concern about new budget goals that encourage tribes to take control of school management. Of the 185 BIA- funded schools, tribes operate 121. The BIA directly funds and operates the rest. "In 2002, BIA will consult with tribes and tribal organizations to determine how best to outsource management of operations of the remaining 64 BIA schools," according to a written 2003 budget brief. The $12 million slated to oversee that initiative falls short, Kanegis said. "With schools, the administrative grant formula was already a compromise formula funded at less than 80 percent. Basically, you're setting schools up to fail." Reach Jodi Rave Lee at 473-7240 or jrave@journalstar.com. Copyright c. 2002, Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Indians want Trust Fund managed Independently" --------- Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 09:09:08 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MANAGE TRUST INDEPENDENTLY" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/politics/ American Indians want trust fund managed independently Gale Norton faces critics, committee, thorny issue By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, News Washington Bureau February 7, 2002 WASHINGTON -- It's time to take Indian trust fund management away from "inept" bureaucrats in the Department of Interior, Native American activists charged during an emotional congressional hearing Wednesday. Interior Secretary Gale Norton came under heavy fire at a House Resources committee hearing about her efforts to clean up a century of mismanagement in the program. Norton testified for more than two hours about her proposal for a new Bureau of Indian Trust Asset Management, which would oversee trust funds established in the late 1800s to compensate individual American Indians and tribes for the use of their lands. "We need a departure from the current system to have a real reform," Norton said, explaining how the new entity might work within the existing Bureau of Indian Affairs or as a separate entity within her department. But testifying later, Indian activists blasted the plan. They said it appeared to be a counterproductive, last-minute attempt for Norton to avoid blame in an ongoing lawsuit against her agency. "Because she has done this so late in the day, so suddenly and without proper consultation with the tribes . . . her actions appear to be a desperate attempt to stave off contempt (charges)," said Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court. The Interior Department has acknowledged that countless documents are missing or destroyed, making it nearly impossible to do an accurate accounting of how much money is owed to 350,000 individuals and 315 tribal groups. Plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit want a multibillion dollar settlement and for the program to be placed under a new entity outside the Interior Secretary's control. Cobell urged Congress to cut off the money being used to fight the lawsuit, then put the trust fund for individual Indians in the hands of a court-supervised receiver. "Now is the time for Congress to send a clear signal that waste, fraud and malfeasance are unacceptable and that it wants honorable, fit, experienced managers in charge of fixing this badly broken mechanism," Cobell said. The Indian Trust issue has haunted the former Colorado attorney general during her first year in the Bush administration. It now takes up more than half her work time, even with pressing issues like the national energy plan and National Park security since the Sept. 11 attacks. Several committee members defended Norton. "You have inherited a complex and emotional situation," said committee chairman Rep. James Hansen, R-Utah. "Although the current administration is on the receiving end of the brunt of blame for inadequate trust management, previous administrations dating back decades have largely ignored the problem." Norton began her testimony showing a newspaper article about funds missing from Indian Trust accounts. On the same page, the headline: "General Custer killed." The newspaper was from July 6, 1876. "It is unfortunate but true that through both Democratic and Republican administrations . . . that the Interior Department has acted like the Enron of federal agencies when it comes to managing Indian trust funds and Indian trust assets," said Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.V. Contact M.E. Sprengelmeyer at (202) 408-2729 or sprengelmeyerm@SHNS.com. Copyright c. 2002 The E.W. Scripps Co./Rocky Mountain News. --------- "RE: Norton says Trust Funds can't be Fixed Quickly" --------- Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 09:09:08 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NO QUICK FIX" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthtribune/2622187.htm Posted on Thu, Feb. 07, 2002 American Indian trust funds can't be fixed quickly, Norton says BY ROBERT GEHRKE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON -- It will cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take sweeping changes to fix a system of American Indian royalties mismanaged by the government for more than 100 years, Interior Secretary Gale Norton told members of Congress on Wednesday. Despite opposition from American Indian leaders to Norton's proposed changes and skepticism from members of the House Resources Committee, Norton said she is optimistic she can work with tribes and Congress to better manage the money. Committee members, however, clearly were frustrated at how long the trust overhaul has taken. Reports dating from 1928 identified problems in trust fund accounting. In 1994, Congress created the Office of Special Trustee to oversee repair of the system and has spent $614 million since then on changing it. Special trustee Thomas Slonaker said Wednesday that major accountin