From gars@speakeasy.org Tue Jul 9 23:32:01 2002 Date: 10 Jul 2002 02:33:20 -0000 From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews10.028 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 Dineh jii' adah' ho'nil'e'gii ba' ha' neh -- Navajo Nation -- What's Happening among The People News 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 028 | Country than is reported in | O o o o o O | this weekly newsletter. For | O o O July 13, 2002 | For daily updates & events | O o O | go http://www.owlstar.com/ | O | dailyheadlines.htm | Passamaquoddy accihte/ripening moon +-----------------------------+ Zuni dayamcho yachunne/moon when limbs are broken by fruit <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is produced in straight ASCII text for greatest portability across platforms. Read it with a fixed-pitch font, such as Courier, Monaco, FixedSys or CG Times. Proportional fonts will be difficult to read. <================<<<< >>>>================> This issue contains articles from www.pechanga.net; www.owlstar.com; www.indianz.com; Indianz elist, Rez Life, Iron House Drums & Chiapas95 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.'" "My prayers and thoughts are with the Apache people and I commend Chairman Massey for his leadership during this time of immense tragedy for his tribe. I urge Indian Country to help our Apache brothers and sisters in this, their time of need. Just as Indian Country was a true leader in charity during the attacks of September 11th, we must now step up to help our people who are suffering from this tragedy." __ National Indian Gaming Association Chairman Ernie Stevens +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! The rest of Amerikka is focused on the Apache who started the Rodeo fire. There is still more than reasonable doubt about whether charges against him are true, but we will never hear the truth. We will only hear what the puppet masters want us to hear. Isn't real damn interesting, though, an Apache charged with staring one fire is almost under the jail; and one white who started the equally devistating Chedeski fire is neither charged with a crime nor in jail... nor even named in the press? The search for truth about the fire... or ANY event in Indian Country, could easily occupy as much space as I am willing to give it. That is not the focus of this editorial. Rather, the focus here will be very short and to the point. It will be on the needs of the White Mountain Apache who suffer racism to the extreme and the complete devastation of their economic infrastructure. Due to the fire, the White Mountain Apache Tribe has lost most of its timber, destroying resources for their sawmill, which had been a primary basis for the Tribe's present and future economy. Local Forest Service officials estimate the remaining timber will last about two years. Then even with aggressive planting and reclamation efforts, it won't return to it's pre-fire state for close to a century. It is true, the White Mountain Apache casino, hotel and restaurant complex represented an equal investment and a slightly greater employment and income resource, but most employees were out fighting the fire and are now struggling to replant, cover equipment-made scars, and reclaim the land, even those are closed. With much of the once-beautiful Ponderosa pine forests and the wildlife they sheltered now destroyed, tourist and hunting businesses are also dormant. Most of what had driven the White Mountain economic engine is not only nonexistent now, but it will take years, even with help, for it to recover enough to again supply employment and income at its former level to the Peoples of White Mountain. White Mountain Apache Chairman Dallas Massey, in a phone call to NIGA Chairman Ernie Stevens, Jr. said that the tribe has not only lost key revenue sources, but the Apache people are suffering from loss of jobs, loss of power to many reservation homes, and hunger, as the lack of electricity has led much food to spoil. The National Indian Gaming Association has responded by donating $5000 to the tribe's relief efforts. The Jicarilla Apache have donated $25,000. I send thanks for the generous help of $30,000; but it will take far more to provide resources for the White Mountain Apache so they can survive now, and begin rebuilding their homes and land. Indian Country contributed much toward the recovery of New York after September 11. That same level of care and giving must now be extended to our own. Both President Bush and the governor of Arizona have pledged assistance, and that, too, is welcome. But take note that in the same speech where she promised aid, Governor Hull added that this was something Arizona would do because the the White Mountain Apaches were "part of Arizona, too." The statement may have been innocent, but any time a state official, even in passing, lays state claim to an Indian Nation's land, something in my spine crawls. As much as we Indians can do to help the White Mountain become self-sufficient, the better it will be for all of us. Tribes and individuals interested in donating to the White Mountain Apache Tribe can send checks to: White Mountain Apache Relief Fund c/o National Indian Gaming Association 224 2nd St. SE Washington, DC 20003 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 ---------- - Mark Evaloadjuk - Denunciation of Military Incursion - Crossings in Flores Magon - Racism and the Rodeo Fire - Referendum Results - White Mountain Apache Tribe set stage for Confrontation looks to the Future - B.C. Treaty Backgrounder - Officials compare Notes - Sex Questions shock on Indian Nation Issues Residential School Claimant - DoI says cost is Six Times - Otoe-Missouria Employees more than Expected fired over Petition - Trust Fund Class Action - FBI remains Tightlipped sees Support in Shooting Investigation - Bush Administration - Wounded Knee Shootout Revisited strips Chinook of Recognition - Native Prisoner - Ancient Bones -- Internal Investigation Denied halt Excavation Project for Alex Montana - Court awards $13.8M to -- Hearts & Voices supporting Confederated Warm Springs Native American Prisoners - Blackfoot celebrate - History: Carlisle Indian School return of Sacred Bundle - Rustywire: The No Good One - California Landmark - Poem: sets Record Straight At the Roots of the Sacred Tree - ICT: Guatemala Maya Futures - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days deserve Real Thinking - Native America Calling --------- "RE: Mark Evaloadjuk" --------- Date: Fri, 5 Jul 2002 09:27:11 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MARK EVALOADJUK" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://north.cbc.ca/template/servlet/View?filename=ju04evaloadjuk Nunavut mourns passing of leader Jul 4 2002 03:50 PM CDT Iqaluit, Nunavut - A man who was called a father-figure to many Inuit leaders, Mark Evaloadjuk, has passed away. Evaloadjuk died on Tuesday evening after a fight with cancer. Evaloadjuk was involved in politics on many levels in the north. He was one of the first Inuit elected to the N.W.T. government before division, serving three terms in that assembly. He was speaker of the Baffin Regional Council, a group representing mayors and communities in the Baffin. He was involved in land claim negotiations, a member of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and a businessperson in his home town of Igloolik. Titus Alooloo, is a former MLA and friend who considered Evaloadjuk as a mentor. "He was a big man," he said. "When he said something, people listened. That will be something we will remember of him." Alooloo said his friend had done a lot for Nunavut. "Not only for his community but also for the territory," he said. "He will be deeply missed by everyone, but most of all by his family." Most recently, Evaloadjuk was elected vice-president of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association. He stepped down from that position early in the spring due to his illness. Funeral services are expected to draw many dignitaries and former colleagues. Copyright c. 2002 CBC All Rights Reserved --------- "RE: Crossings" --------- Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2002 08:10:52 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CROSSINGS" July 4, 2002 Mowis E. 'Morris' Kills Back PORCUPINE - Mowis E. "Morris" Kills Back, 77, Porcupine, died Tuesday, July 2, 2002, in Pine Ridge. Survivors include four daughters, Suzanna Kills Back and Blanch Kills Back, both of Porcupine, Ruby Kills Back, Sacramento, Calif., and Germaine Lays Bad, Greeley, Colo.; six sons, Morris Kills Back, Leonard Kills Back, Hugh Kills Back and Lyle Kills Back, all of Porcupine, Vernon Kills Back, Sacramento, and Ted Crow, Porcupine; 31 grandchildren; and five great- grandchildren. He served in the U.S. Army in the Korean War. A two-night wake will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 6, in the Porcupine School gym. Services will be at 11 a.m. Monday, July 8, in the school gym, with the Rev. Cecil Weston officiating. Burial will be at Porcupine Presbyterian Cemetery. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. Levi W. Houska RAPID CITY - Levi W. Houska, 85, Rapid City, died at Rapid City Regional Hospital Wednesday, July 3, 2002. He was born September 26, 1916, at Kimball, S.D., the son of James and Helen (Pipal) Houska. He grew up at Kimball and attended Kimball schools. Levi married Helen Ellis on March 2, 1938, at Chamberlain, S.D. He farmed in the Kimball area until 1951. The family moved to Igloo, S.D., in 1951, and he was employed at the Army Depot in Igloo until 1966. They moved to Rapid City in 1966 and he was employed with Civil Service at Ellsworth Air Force Base until his retirement in 1980. Levi enjoyed his family, fishing and gardening. Survivors include his wife, Helen Houska, Rapid City; two daughters, Carol McCollam and her husband, William, Rapid City, and Yvonne Bollwerk and her husband, Joseph, Rapid City; two sisters, Detta Milner, Chamberlain, S.D., and Rita Hignel, Salinas, Calif.; a brother, James Houska, Kimball, S.D.; three grandchildren, Bill Bollwerk, Rapid City, Lorna Mercier, Bailey, Colo., and Kristina McCollam Wiebe, Champaign, Ill. ; and five great-grandchildren, Samantha Bollwerk, Carlee Bollwerk, Angela Mercier, Katherine Mercier and Mary Helen Mercier. He was preceded in death by his parents; one brother; two sisters; and a son, Ronald Houska, in 1990. Visitation will be one hour prior to services at the Osheim-Catron Funeral Home. Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Osheim-Catron Funeral Home, with the Rev. Tom Hagger officiating. Interment will be at the Pine Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery. A memorial has been established. Bradley Wayne Lone Elk OGLALA - Bradley Wayne Lone Elk, 4 months, Oglala, died Tuesday, July 2, 2002, in Oglala. Survivors include his parents, Wade and Mavis Lone Elk, Oglala; one sister, Morgan Lone Elk, Oglala; his paternal grandmother, Norma Lone Elk, Oglala; and his maternal grandfather, Cloetus Rouillard, Oglala. A one-night wake will begin at 3 p.m. Friday, July 5, at Our Lady of the Sioux Catholic Hall in Oglala. Services will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, July 6, at the hall, with the Rev. Asa Wilson officiating. Burial will be at Makasan Presbyterian Cemetery in Oglala. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. Ovila Joseph Brown WANBLEE - Ovila Joseph Brown, 58, Wanblee, died Thursday, June 20, 2002, in Casper, Wyo. Survivors include one daughter, Mary Brown, Ethete, Wyo.; two sons, Todd Brown and Nicholas Brown, both of Ethete; four brothers, Robert Kessler, Eagle Butte, Victor Brown and Art Brown, both of Casper, and John Brown, Riverton, Wyo.; and three grandchildren. He served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam. Burial will be at 3 p.m. Friday, July 5, at Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. July 6, 2002 Floyd Crazy Thunder OGLALA - Floyd Crazy Thunder, 33, Oglala, died Wednesday, July 3, 2002, in Atkin, Minn. Survivors include two sons, Alexander Crazy Thunder, McGregor, Minn., and Delane Crazy Thunder, Bismarck, N.D.; three daughters, Winona Crazy Thunder, McGregor, and Shawdeane Crazy Thunder and Nadine Crazy Thunder, both of Bismarck; his mother and stepfather, Catherine and Stanley Looking Elk, Oglala; two brothers, Norman Crazy Thunder Jr., St. Paul, Minn., and Lewis Crazy Thunder, Oglala; two adopted brothers, Matthew Hinton, San Carlos, Ariz., and Mac Hinton Jr., Oglala; and four sisters, Annette Yellow Horse, Cynthia Crazy Thunder, Helen Hinton and Heather Looking Elk, all of Oglala. A two-night wake will begin at 1 p.m. today in the Loneman School gym in Oglala. Services will be at 10 a.m. Monday, July 8, at Loneman School, with the Rev. Raymond Bucko officiating. Burial will be at Our Lady of the Sioux Catholic Cemetery in Oglala. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. Copyright c. 2002 Rapid City Journal. -=-=-=- July 3, 2002 David Harold Vondall POPLAR - David Harold Vondall, 36, a reporter for the Wotanin newspaper in Poplar and a member of the National Guard, drowned Thursday near Poplar. His funeral is 10 a.m. Friday at Poplar Culture Center, with burial in Poplar City Cemetery. Clayton Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements. Survivors include a son, Andrew Vondall, of Fort Defiance, Ariz.; his father, Harold Vondall of Everett, Wash.; and brothers Trevor Vondall and Norman Vondall of Poplar and Richard Vondall of Frazer. July 6, 2002 Clarence J. 'Archie' Archuleta Clarence Joseph "Archie" Archuleta, 71, of 717 3rd St. S., a retired railroad employee and Air Force veteran, died of heart failure Wednesday at a local hospital. A vigil service is 7 p.m. Sunday at Croxford & Sons Funeral Home. His funeral is 11 a.m. Monday at Croxford's, with cremation following the service. Visitation is noon to 5 p.m. today and 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home. Survivors include his wife, Arlene Archuleta of Great Falls; a daughter, Donita Kessler of Great Falls; an adopted daughter, Karla Raya of Ten Mile Falls, Wash.; adopted sons James Parker Shield of Great Falls and Clarence J. Ameline of Rocky Boy; a stepson, Kenneth Todd Jr. of Great Falls; a sister, Bernice Romero of Pueblo, Colo.; brothers John Archuleta, Fred Archuleta, Richard Archuleta, Wallace Archuleta and Pablo Archuleta, all of Taos, N.M.; 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. His first wife of 33 years, Doris Archuleta, died in 1984. Additional survivors include a son-in-law, Lloyd Kessler of Great Falls; an adopted son-in-law, Gene Raya of Ten Mile Falls, Wash.; an adopted daughter-in-law, Cristina Parker Shields of Great Falls; a brother-in-law, Delfido Romero of Pueblo, Colo.; sisters-in-law Ruby Archuleta, Yolanda Archuleta, Irene Archuleta, Teresa Archuleta and Judy Archuleta, all of Taos, N.M. He was born April 27, 1931, and raised in Rancheos De Taos, N.M., and was schooled in Taos. In 1948, he joined the Air Force. He served during the Korean War era and was stationed at Malmstrom AFB in Great Falls. He worked for the Great Northern, Milwaukee and Burlington Northern railroads as a foreman, track inspector and laborer. In 1952, he married Doris Ameline in Great Falls; she died in 1984. He married Arlene Daniels on March 16, 1985. He was a member of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes and the Moose Lodge, and enjoyed fishing, hunting, reading and traveling. He also was preceded in death by his parents, Alicia and Ricardo Archuleta; and his brother, Patrick, of Taos. Copyright c. 2002 Great Falls Tribune. All Rights Reserved. -=-=-=- July 6, 2002 Thomas Red Wolf, Sr. WYOLA - Thomas Red Wolf, Sr., 69, Wyola area rancher, passed away Thursday evening, July 4, 2002, in the Crow Agency IHS Hospital. Iigiinchiiliigiiagiish (Horse Wrangler) was born Sept. 22, 1932, in Wyola, a son of Charlie and Edith Little Nest Red Wolf. Thomas was a descendent of the Crow scout Mitch Boyer and Chief Two Belly. He received his education in Wyola and Pierre, S.D. Following his education, he began a career in ranching Southwest of Wyola. He raised quarter horses and owned the first quarter horse in Big Horn County. He was well known for his horse training and was honored in 2001, at the annual Crow Fair as the originator of the Crow bred Quarter horse race. He was an active calf and team roper who was heavily involved in the Indian relay circuit in local and area rodeos, including the Cheyenne Frontier Days. Thomas had an extensive knowledge of Crow stories and was often used as a resource to the Crow people. Thomas married Gail L. Morrison in 1972 in Sheridan, Wyo., and the couple made their home on the family ranch. His parents; a brother, Robert; and three sisters, Martha Jack Rabbit, Beverly Bull Tail and Alice Red Wolf, preceded Thomas in death. Survivors include his wife, Gail of the family ranch; a son, Thomas Red Wolf, Jr. of Wyola; a stepdaughter, Ginger (Garland) Howe of Ranchester, Wyo.; three stepsons, Manuel (Virginia) Morrison, George Little Light and Allie (Gladys) Little Light of Wyola; his adopted sons, Richard (Kristi) Old Coyote of Wyola and Jason Bird in Ground of Wyoming; two sisters, Doris Old Coyote of Ranchester, Wyo., and Edith Jack Rabbit of Wyola; his uncle, Cyril (Flora) Not Afraid of Lodge Grass; a special grandson, Isiah Zane Red Wolf; 14 grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and his extended family including the Not Afraid, Little Nest, LaForge, Dillon and Jim Carpenter descends. Funeral services will be held 1 p.m. Monday, July 8, in the Lodge Grass First Crow Indian Baptist Mission. Interment will follow in the Lodge Grass Cemetery. Bullis Mortuary of Hardin has been entrusted with the arrangements. Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. -=-=-=- Golden Triangle On-Line Obituaries The following obituaries appeared in the Cut Bank Pioneer Press, Shelby Promoter or Glacier Reporter this week. July 3, 2002 Woodrow Kicking Woman Woodrow Kicking Woman, 57, died June 23, 2002, at Benefis East in Great Falls of complications from a stroke. Funeral services were held at Starr School gym with burial in Whitegrass Cemetery at Starr School. He was born Mar. 9, 1945, in Browning and worked as a ranch hand, fire fighter and boxer. He was a member of the Rough Riders Society and original member of the Kicking Woman Singers. He enjoyed arts and crafts. A son, Jeff Savage, survives, along with a sister, Esther Kicking Woman; and brothers, Melvin Kicking Woman, Louis Kicking Woman and Calvin Kicking Woman, Sr. Arrangements were under the direction of Day Family Funeral Home. Copyright c. 2002 Golden Triangle Newspapers. -=-=-=- July 3, 2002 Leonard Potter Leonard Franklin Potter Jr., 27, of White Earth, formerly of Onamia, died at his home on June 27, 2002. Funeral services were July 1 at the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Community Center near Onamia with Lee Staples officiating. Burial was in Vineland Cemetery near Onamia. Arrangements are with the Shelley Funeral Chapel of Onamia. Leonard is survived by his father Leonard Francis Potter of White Earth; daughters, Lynnae Potter and Angel Potter of Onamia; brothers Evan Potter (Beth Sabourin) of Onamia, William Potter (Segwen Lunham) of Mount Pleasant, MI; sister, Lenore Potter (Curtiss Sam) of Onamia; aunt, Gladys Sam and Ron Smith of Onamia. He was preceded in death by his mother, Eva Potter; and grandparents, Frank and Susan Sam and William and Josephine Potter. Leonard Franklin Potter Jr. was born on April 21, 1975 in Detroit Lakes to Leonard and Eva (Sam) Potter. At the age of eight the family moved to the Mille Lacs area. Leonard attended school in Onamia and in 2001 he received his GED and planned on attending college in the fall. Leonard enjoyed spending time with his two children, participating in the White Earth and Cass Lake powwows, bowling, boxing, watching sporting events on television, playing video games and listening to his favorite music. Copyright c. 2002 Mille Lacs Messenger. -=-=-=- July 5, 2002 John M. Pino, Jr John M. Pino, Jr. age 102, beloved and devoted father, grandfather, brother, uncle and friend was welcomed into the arms of the Lord our Savior, Tuesday, July 2, 2002. Mr. Pino was born in Paguate, NM and was a resident of Paraje/Casa Blanca; he retired from the Santa Fe Railroad. Mr. Pino was a nationally recognized Senior Olympian and honored as a 2002 Olympic Torchbearer. He was preceded in death by his wife, Eunice Pino; a son, Albert Pino; a daughter, K-Rose Pino; and a grandson, Shawn Little. Mr. Pino is survived by his loving children, Willie Pino and wife Betty, Chester Pino, Edith Atencio and husband Thomas, Vivian Little and husband Gene, Mary, Patricia and Pauline Pino; 14 grandchildren; and 13 great grandchildren. Also surviving are his brothers and sisters, Josephita Cheromiah, Leonard Pino, Pedro Pino, Olinda Mondragon, Joseph Aragon, Denny Sice and wife Edith, Ruth Garcia, and Edna Chavez; numerous other relatives and a host of friends. Mr. Pino will be greatly missed by his loving family and by those who knew and loved him. Visitations will be Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the Chapel of Alameda Mortuary. A rosary will be recited Friday evening at 7:00 p.m at the family home in Laguna Pueblo. Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated Saturday morning at 11:00 a.m. at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Laguna Pueblo. Interment will follow at the Paraje Cemetery. Casket bearers will be Jon-Michael Pino, Neil Little, Thomas John Atencio, Jeffrey Atencio, Chester Pino, Jr., Gene Little, Thomas Atencio, Alley David, Chester Pino, Sr., George Little,Jr., and Willie Pino. Funeral Services are entrusted to Alameda Mortuary, 9420 4th Street NW. Copyright c. 1997 - 2002 Albuquerque Journal: Albuquerque, New Mexico. -=-=-=- July 04, 2002 Mamie Poyer Begay March 10, 1949 - July 1, 2002 Mamie Poyer Begay, 53, of Sweetwater, Ariz., went home to be with her Heavenly Father July 1, 2002, in Gallup. She was born March 10, 1949, in Sweetwater. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday morning at Immanuel Mission in Sweetwater. Pastor Eddie Benally will officiate. Interment will follow at Immanuel Mission Cemetery. Funeral arrangements are with Brewer, Lee and Larkin Funeral Home in Shiprock, (505) 368-4607. July 5, 2002 Ralph William Evans (Wushkalli Begay) June 2, 1903 - June 30, 2002 Our loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, Ralph William Evans of Salt Lake City, Utah, passed away June 30, 2002. He was born June 2, 1903, in Fruitland to William and Sarah Walker Evans. Ralph and his family founded and operated the Shiprock Trading Post in New Mexico. He later worked as a Purchasing Agent for Salt Lake City and retired as a Case Worker to the Navajo people for the State of Utah in Monument Valley and Navajo Mountain. As a young man he served a mission for the LDS Church in the Northwestern States Mission. He married his eternal sweetheart, Emeline (Emma) Blair, October 11, 1932, in the Salt Lake Temple. They resided in Shiprock where he served in the Young Stake Presidency. He served as President of the first Navajo-Zuni Mission while living there. Later he served as a counselor in the Salt Lake Regional Mission Presidency and as Branch President in the Liahona Branch. He took great pride in his ability to speak and understand the Navajo language. He dedicated his life to his family, his church, and the Navajo people. Ralph is survived by his wife; three children, Lueen (John) Gardner, Annette (Burton) Tagg, and Blair (Patricia) Evans; 18 grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. He was preceded in death by his parents; sister, Gwen Jones; brothers, Richard P. Evans and David J. Evans; daughter, Emma Jean Bills; son-in-law, Rocco D. Bills; granddaughter, Julie Bills; and grandsons, Dale Bills and Sean Evans. Appreciation is extended to his devoted Harmony Hospice nurse, Michelle Woods, and the loving staff of Garden Terrace Care Center. The family wishes to extend their great love to Bishop Odes Record for his dedication to our parents. Funeral services will be at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, July 6, 2002, at the Bryan Ward Chapel, 1621 South 1100 East, Salt Lake City, where family and friends may call prior to the services from 9:30-10:50 a.m. Interment is at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park. Arrangements are with Wasatch Lawn Mortuary in Salt Lake City, (801) 466-8687. July 08, 2002 Edward Robert Begay Shiprock - July 5, 2002 Edward Robert Begay, 70, of Shiprock, passed away July 5, 2002, in Shiprock. He is survived by his wife, Lula Cambridge Begay; two sons, Donovan Curley, Erwin R. Begay; five daughters, LaVerne Ybarra, Vera Galaviz, Myra Begay, Marie Bennally and Patty Begay; five brothers, Harry Begay, James Begay, Chee Begay, Billy Faber Begay and Woodrow Begay; sisters, Mary Faber Begay, Kandee Bahe, Esther Allen, Lisa Badonie and Rose Begay; 11 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Services will be held on July 9, 2002 at 10 a.m., at St. Isabell Catholic Church with Father Caron Vollmer officiating. Interment will be at Lukachukai Community Cemetery in Lukachukai, Ariz. Pallbearers will be Donovan Curley, Erwin Robert Begay, Arnold Ybarra Jr., and Jesus M. Marquez, III. Honorary pallbearers will be Harry Begay, James Begay, Chee Begay, Billy Faber Begay, Guadalupe Galaviz, Manuel Galaviz Begay and Jose Fernando Galaviz. Arrangements are with Brewer, Lee and Larkin Funeral Home, P.O. Box 1587, Hwy. 666, Shiprock, NM 87420. (505) 368-4607. Eugene Begay Shiprock Aug. 30, 1965 - July 3, 2002 Eugene Begay, 36, of Shiprock died Wednesday, July 3, 2002, at his home in Shiprock. He was born Aug. 30, 1965, in Monument Valley, Utah, to Mickey and Maggie Begay. Funeral services will begin at 10 a.m. Monday, July 8, 2002, at Chapel of Memories Funeral Home, 458 County Road 6100 in Kirtland. Pastor Donald Pope will officiate. Burial will follow at Shiprock Cemetery. Funeral arrangements are with Chapel of Memories Funeral Home in Kirtland, (505) 598-963 Phillip Ned Moab, Utah Oct. 19, 1962 - July 4, 2002 Phillip Ned, 39, of Moab, Utah, died Thursday, July 4, 2002, in Kirtland. He was born Oct. 19, 1962, in Ganado, Ariz., to Sam and Sadie Ned. Funeral services are scheduled to start at 1 p.m. on Monday, July 8, 2002, at Evangelical Lutheran Mission in Rock Point, Ariz. Pastor Tom Wilson will officiate. Burial will be at the family cemetery in Rock Point. Funeral arrangements are with Chapel of Memories Funeral Home in Kirtland, (505) 598-9636. Copyright c. 1999-2002 MediaNews Group, Inc./Farmington, NM. -=-=-=- July 02, 2002 Isadore Mendez Funeral Mass for Isadore Cecil Mendez, 63, of Mescalero was June 29 at St. Joseph's Mission, with burial following at the Mescalero Cemetery. The Rev. Paul Walsman officiated. Mr. Mendez died Wednesday, June 26, in Lubbock, Texas. He was born April 22, 1939, in Mescalero. He lived there all of his life and was a member of the Red Hats, St. Joseph's Mission and had served in the Army. Survivors include sons Jeffrey Mendez and Roger Mendez; a brother, Ray Mendez; a sister, Bernadine Chino; and seven grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a daughter, Michelle Peso. Arrangements were under the direction of LaGrone Funeral Chapel of Ruidoso. Copyright c. 1999-2001 MediaNews Group, Inc./Ruidoso, NM. --------- "RE: Racism and the Rodeo Fire" --------- Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2002 08:34:05 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RODEO FIRE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.uniontrib.com/news/state/20020702-2138-wst-wildfires.html [Editorial comment from Owlstar Trading Post - Daily Headlines: Then again...did he do it? I was dismayed -- as were a lot of other folks, when an Apache man was arrested and reportedly confessed to setting the Rodeo fire. My apprehensions that the White Mountain Apache community would bear the blame for the fire, even though they will suffer longest and worst from it, has been borne out. It is clear from various descriptions of him that the accused, Richard Gregg, is unsophisticated, poorly educated, financially impoverished and eager to placate his accusers. In short -- he's a perfect victim if someone or some group were inclined to use him. A note appeared today on one of my e-mail groups. The message asks to be broadcast. The media, and even his own neighbors have clearly convicted this man already -- and he hasn't even been appointed a public defender yet. If nothing else, this message shows that there may be more to the story than has yet appeared in the mainstream media. Here's the text of the note: We need as many people as possible to go to Flagstaff, AZ Federal Court Building, Wednesday, July 3rd at 9am. As many of you know there is a major fire that has been burning in East AZ. The Apache man that authorities arrested in connection with the fire is being framed. This is turning into a media nightmare. The media is twisting his words and making people believe he started this fire. THIS IS NOT TRUE. The Apache man, whose name is Leonard and is a bit retarded or slow, told the judge he is very sorry about the fire and about the people who lost things. BUT... before he could finish his sentence the judge stopped him. He was going to say, "I'm sorry about the fire and about the people who lost things, but I didn't do it." Of course, because he didn't finish his sentence, the media twisted what he said into him taking responsibility and apologizing for the fire. His grandma, who doesn't speak English good, said that Leonard was in the backyard chopping wood when the fire was noticed. Leonard came through the door and as his grandma looked at the who was coming through the door, she noticed the fire from afar. She told him to look at the fire on the hillside. Leonard ran in the house and grabbed a box of matches to make a BACKFIRE so the area around their house would not burn. There are facts that a (white) woman, who says she was a lost hiker, set the blaze to get the attention of someone to help her. Her name has not been mentioned and she is NOT BEING INVESTIGATED!! Phoenix AIM will be there tomorrow and we need more people there. If you can make it, please do. If you know people around the Flagstaff area please contact them and spread the word. PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN. Sorry about the late notice but we just received word about this set-up. Thanks for your support. Again -- I do NOT know all the facts either way, and I do not necessarily endorse this, or any protest. I DO endorse a thorough, fair investigation, and adequate legal representation for the accused. And while I know I'd be outraged if I lost my home, I wish the people suffering from this fire would pull together with ALL the others suffering rather than target an entire community because a single individual from that community is accused of starting the fire. By Alisa Blackwood ASSOCIATED PRESS July 2, 2002 CIBECUE, Ariz. - Travis Duryea has noticed an undercurrent of fear among the White Mountain Apaches since a member of the tribe was accused of starting a huge forest fire. Accustomed to heading north to the predominantly white Show Low area to shop and work, some tribal members have become reluctant to do so since Leonard Gregg was arrested on federal charges. "A lot of people are afraid to go up there because they're mad at us just because of this one idiot," said Duryea, a neighbor of Gregg. "We're not all bad." Gregg is accused of starting one of the two wildfires that combined into one wind-driven blaze that destroyed more than 400 homes and forced more than 25,000 people to flee several mountain communities. Show Low, population about 7,700, was the biggest town evacuated but escaped damage. The blaze also charred 467,000 acres of pine forest, cutting a wide swath through the economy of the 13,000-member tribe, which relies on its lumber business and tourists who come to gamble and hunt. Court documents allege that Gregg, 29, a part-time firefighter, told an investigator he set the fire so he could get work on a fire crew. Some Apaches said they feel non-Indians began turning on the tribe soon after the fire started. The bad feelings have intensified since Gregg's arrest. Instead of going to Show Low, only about 30 miles away, some have started going to Globe, 50 miles southwest, or making the 100-mile trek to Phoenix. Kathy Beach said she had heard of people telling tribal members "Don't start any more fires." "Why mistreat the whole tribe when it's only one person doing it?" asked Beach. "Why give them our business? That's how I feel, and there's a lot of other people who feel the same way." Any tension would run counter to what local officials say has been growing cooperation in the area, said John Deaton, a sociology and political science instructor at Northland Pioneer College in Show Low. Still, he noted that it is common for racial tensions to arise from economic problems. Show Low Mayor Gene Kelley said he had heard of some isolated incidents of verbal abuse but he doesn't know of anyone blaming the whole tribe. "It's irrational for people to behave that way and we, as community leaders, called on the general community not to do it and not to support it," Kelley said. "It's nonsense." Ronnie Lupe, a tribal council member representing Cibecue, said that anyone who was reacting with prejudice against the tribe was probably only using the fire as an excuse to express feelings that had existed before. "These individuals are so minute (in number), but they make it bad for everybody," said Lupe. "There are a lot of good people up there (around Show Low). In general, people are very good, kind and compassionate." Some residents of Show Low and surrounding communities said they bore no grudge against the tribe. "That's the biggest crock of baloney," said Tom Fladoos, 61, a retiree shopping Tuesday at a Show Low grocery store. "Nobody hates the Indians. There is no reason to be afraid." Tribal members are bothered by what they see as disparities in the treatment of Gregg and of a woman who started the second of the two fires. Officials said the woman set the fire, which also began on tribal land, because she was lost and was trying to signal a helicopter. While Gregg was charged, federal authorities are still investigating the woman's case. They would not comment on the status of her case Tuesday. "Here we're told we're going to be treated equally, equal justice, but it's not that way," Beach said. "Here on the reservation I think we feel a bit angry." The wildfire was about 80 percent contained Tuesday and was expected to be fully contained by Sunday. Among fires elsewhere in the West: - A firefighter died Tuesday while working on a 72,935-acre wildfire near Durango, Colo. The cause of death was not released and the victim's name was withheld. The fire was 55 percent contained. A 137,000-acre fire southwest of Denver, the largest in state history, was fully contained Tuesday. Parts of Mesa Verde National Park, famed for its ancient Indian dwellings, were closed to visitors because of extreme fire danger. - A 19,000-acre fire in northeastern Utah continued to threaten Flaming Gorge Dam and the town of Dutch John, whose 200 residents had been evacuated. - A 10,000-acre fire in Medicine Bow National Forest in southeast Wyoming, west of Wheatland, was threatening about 100 cabins, homes and ranch buildings. It was 5 percent contained Tuesday. Copyright c. 2002 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. --------- "RE: White Mountain Apache Tribe looks to the Future" --------- Date: Sun, 7 Jul 2002 10:22:28 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FUTURE" http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/nightline/DailyNews/apaches020706.html The White Mountain Apache Tribe Looks to the Future July 6, 2002 At the historic Fort Apache Reservation in Arizona last Saturday night, some 500 members of the White Mountain Apache tribe raised their voices in a healing song. For most who sang, the primary concern has been healing the land. Half a million acres, 60 percent of it on the Fort Apache Reservation, has been burned out. Much of the land, covered in valuable ponderosa pine, is still burning. "Our elders have always told us, if you take care of the land, the land will take care of you," said Dallas Massey, the tribal leader of the White Mountain Apache. "That's what we live all these years, we take care of the land, the best way we know how." For the White Mountain Apache and for many American Indians the land is an integral part of their culture and history. The vice chairman of the White Mountain Apache Tribe, Johnny Endfield Jr., returned to his home after the fire had moved on, only to find it destroyed. He used to feel blessed, for all that was given to him, but the impact of the fire has turned that blessing into pain and hurt. One of Their Own The pain and hurt on the reservation has been made worse with the arrest of one of their own. Local White Mountain Apache, 29-year-old Leonard Gregg, a part-time firefighter, is accused of setting the original fire which spread through the eastern part of the state. "[It was] kind of a relief that we found who the person was," said Massey. "It really [doesn't] matter if it's a tribal member or a nonmember." Gregg has pleaded innocent to a charge that he started the fire that merged with another to form what became known as the Rodeo/Chediski fire. Court documents allege that Gregg told an investigator he set the fire so he could get work on a fire crew. Magistrate Stephen Verkamp denied Gregg bond, saying he had received reports that Gregg could be suicidal and that anyone caring for him might face reprisals from angry community members. Gregg is scheduled to go on trial Sept. 3. Assessing Damage, Finding Economic Value The tribe now has two hard tasks ahead of them, assessing the damage and figuring out the future, especially when it comes to the devastated western part of the reservation. "The base component out there is a small sawmill that probably employs maybe 70, 80-plus people," said Massey. The Fort Apache Timber Company represents not just jobs in a place which had 60 percent unemployment even before the fires, but a $50 million investment of the impoverished tribe's limited capital resources. Timber represents the second biggest capital investment and the second biggest source of jobs for the White Mountain Apache Tribe. No. 1 in both respects is the Honda Casino, its hotel and restaurant. With the casino closed because of the fire, another $50 million in investment lies fallow, and perhaps $40,000 a day in tribal revenues goes unearned, every day that casino workers, like mill hands, are off fighting the fire. In a helicopter, flying over flames hundreds of feet high, and thick, choking plumes of smoke, Massey surveyed the damage and noted there were still some areas where trees had survived the fire and other burned out pockets where there was still some timber of economic value. "We'll get something out of it," said Massey. There may be up to two years worth of timber to harvest for the Sitgreaves sawmill. And then, "It would take a minimum, I'd say between 100 and 150 years for us to begin even going in and start doing a harvesting program in this area," says the local manager of the Bureau of Indians Affairs Forest Service, Ben Nuvamsa. One hundred to 150 years for the ponderosas to come back and that's only if the coming rainy or monsoon season is not too severe. Help Is on the Way Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl says help is on the way. "They're already working on a plan that will be ready in about 10 days, believe it or not, to bring in the seed, the kind of crews to prevent the erosion of the soil and the other things necessary to begin to restore the land." Gov. Jane Hull reinforced that the tribe would receive the help they need. "As we progress with what we're going to do for tourism, with entire White Mountains, obviously the White Mountain Apaches are part of our state and we will be helping them just as we help everyone." A visit by President Bush also raised hopes for emergency unemployment assistance on the reservation and home rebuilding aid for those who lost residences in outside communities. "People like that, the highest office here in the United States saying he's going to help. And the local people also wanting to help. I think by bringing these kinds of people together, we're going to survive," said Massey. "We're going to recover." Tension Mounts Between Apaches, Anglos It's going to take a while. Immediately after the fire started, so did the finger pointing. Some local Anglos blame the Apaches for the fire. The tension gave rise to a certain amount of nastiness between the Anglo community, the white community and the Apache community. "Feelings right now, I mean, when you've lost your home, you go through the same stages of dying that people have done. People are angry, they're irritated because they haven't seen their own homes, and frankly everybody wants to blame someone else," said Hull. "I just hope that the people in the White Mountains realize that there were a lot of Apache firefighters fighting these fires. One person is one representative, not the whole nation," Hull said. "Just as the lady, the Anglo lady who basically started a fire to begin the Chediski fire was an Anglo woman, and justice will deal with those people." The Anglo woman who stands accused of starting the largest fire in Colorado state history is Terry Barton, a former Forest Service employee. She allegedly started the fire when she burned a letter from her estranged husband while on patrol to enforce a fire ban in Pike National Forest. A federal judge delayed the Aug. 26 trial date and no new trial date has been set. The fire, which destroyed 133 homes, was declared fully contained after blackening 137,760 acres. But right now neither the tribe is to blame nor the Anglo population for the other episode. I think we've got to stop blaming and start renewing everyone in the state's faith in what we can do to rebuild our economy." The reservation leaders have reached out to community leaders in nearby towns and Massey has great hope for the future. "A year from now you will see a healing taking place," he says. Copyright c. 2002 ABC News Internet Ventures. --------- "RE: Officials compare Notes on Indian Nation Issues" --------- Date: Thu, 4 Jul 2002 14:22:16 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INDIAN NATION ISSUES" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=4612859 Officials compare notes on Indian nation issues By JOLENE WALTERS, Dispatch Staff Writer July 01, 2002 UTICA - Local lawmakers, state and federal officials met again on Friday for what was the conclusion of the New York State Association of Counties conference on Indian sovereignty. Edith Blackwell, the assistant solicitor general of the U.S. Department of Interior for the Bureau of Indian Affairs outlined the difference between the federal government's trust responsibility to Indian lands and management of Indian lands. Progress being made within the BIA includes further work to define trust responsibility and reorganization efforts in the U.S. Department of the Interior on how to better manage Indian affairs, Blackwell said. You can have tribal land that is not in trust, she said, "each situation is different." She also said that a list of federally recognized Indian tribes will be published within a month. The list will also include federally recognized leaders of those tribes. Other issues discussed on Friday included police powers and law enforcement practices in regards to Indian country, especially Indian land that is near the U.S. - Canada border. Kyle Nayback, the deputy director of the Office of Tribal Justice in the U.S Department of Justice stated that there is a definite deficit in law enforcement in and around Indian country. He noted that last week the U.S. Border Patrol was present at the St. Regis Mohawk reservation in an effort to beef up security in that location. "Homeland security is a major concern as well," he said. Christopher Chaney with the U.S Attorney's office in the U.S Department of Justice, agreed and added that many reservations that rest on or near the border are home to dams, power companies and other utility installments. Joseph Pavone of the U.S Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York said that defining Indian country is of, "minimum importance when it comes to law enforcement," and that currently, there is a lack of resources for adequate law enforcement. "All citizens have an obligation to comply with laws," he said, "but they also have the right to be protected by them." Copyright c. 2002 The Oneida Daily Dispatch. --------- "RE: DoI says cost is Six Times more than Expected" --------- Date: Thu, 4 Jul 2002 14:22:16 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NORTON SAYS BILLIONS NEEDED" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20020704/localnews/ [Editorial comment from Owlstar Trading Post - Daily Headlines: http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm Note that in Navajo country (and indeed in much of Indian Country) the Indian people still respect and honor the U.S. Flag. Yet also note that the Department of Interior has now upwardly revised the time and money it will take to trace the evidence that will force them to admit to the loss, either through ineptness or through outright theft, of tens of billions of dollars belonging to Native people. If the amount of loss and responsibility for loss is never established, then the U.S. government can never be required to repay the misappropriated funds. My admittedly cynical guess -- Gale Norton knows the Congress will not allocate two and a half billion dollars for this task, and that's going to be her excuse for never accounting for the past, never repaying the losses, and never changing anything to create an honest and competent accounting in the future. One old answer to the Indian question--starve 'em out--will go on uninterrupted. If nothing else, if this ploy is accepted, Ms. Norton and those who reap benefits from the status quo buy 10 years of lavish paychecks while her bureau goes on happily cheating Indian people and lying to them about it, and continuing to impoverish them (read "starve 'em out" yet again)...and she'll be out of office before somebody's called to account again.] Billions needed to account for Indian money Interior Department says cost is six times more than expected Thursday, July 4, 2002 By ROBERT GEHRKE Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON -- It will take 10 years and at least $2.4 billion to sort out more than a century's worth of transactions from a mismanaged trust fund system handling royalties from Indian-owned land, Interior Department officials said Wednesday. The cost is six times more than what Interior Secretary Gale Norton told Congress in February it would be. The new figure is likely to get a cool reception from a cash-strapped Congress. The department's plan offers "a full accounting, a robust transaction- by-transaction analysis ... and we fully anticipate there will be some commentary or other direction by Congress," Interior spokesman Eric Ruff said. The expense reflects the enormous task of accounting for every cent of an estimated $13 billion that has passed through as many as 500,000 individual trust accounts between 1887 and 2000, agency officials said. The process includes reviewing 25 million electronic transactions and 500 million paper records, many deteriorating and damaged by time. The trust fund stems from Congress' decision in 1887 to designate small allotments of land to individual Indians and assign the Interior Department to manage the grazing, timber and oil and gas rights. But the money was poorly managed and an unknown amount was stolen, misappropriated or never collected. In 1994, Congress ordered the department to account for the Indian money. Five years later, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, presiding in a class action lawsuit, said the accounting must be a transaction-by-transaction reconciliation dating back to the origination of the accounts. Plaintiffs in the case say Interior Department mismanagement has cost the Indian account holders at least $10 billion and possibly several times that amount, but no thorough accounting has been done. The lead plaintiff in the case was Browning banker Elouise Cobell, a Blackfeet member. A decision is awaited from Lamberth on whether to hold Norton in contempt for failing to comply with his order to conduct an accounting and for misrepresenting progress on the project. Ruff said the new report -- which includes a margin of error that could allow the cost to reach $3 billion -- represents the department's best estimate for how much it would cost to do that accounting. The department's annual budget -- including operation of 385 national parks and recreation sites and management of 451 million acres of federal land -- is $10.6 billion. Interior officials said they are implementing the plan with money they received in the current budget year and have balanced more than 8,000 of the 500,000 accounts. Dennis Gingold, attorney for the Indian plaintiffs, said the report assumes all the data in the department's electronic systems are correct while also stating there likely are errors. Copyright C. 2002 Great Falls Tribune. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Trust Fund Class Action sees Support" --------- Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2002 08:34:05 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="COBELL/NAVAJO" http://www.indianz.com/News/ Trust fund class action sees support WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 2002 Nearly 300 Navajo tribal members on Tuesday voiced overwhelming support for a lawsuit seeking to bring accountability to the management of their trust funds. During a four-hour meeting described as emotional and moving, Navajo account holders in New Mexico recounted the problems they encounter. "We find no one is watching our land or our money," said Florence Joe, who spoke in Navajo and whose words were translated for the audience. "Instead they have been stealing," she said. Arranged by the Shii Shi Keyah (My Land) Association, an influential group of Navajo account holders, the meeting was held to give tribal members an update on a class action that seeks to correct more than a century of financial mismanagement. Lead plaintiff Elouise Cobell, a Blackfeet Nation of Montana banker, spoke at the Huerfano Chapter House near Farmington. "This is the first time in history a secretary, a Cabinet level member, has been found to be in contempt of court," she said, referring to the Clinton administration's sanctions for failing to produce trust records relevant to the case. A frequent complaint raised was a computer shutdown that has delayed oil and gas royalty checks to as many as 8,000 Navajo tribal members. Cobell was told of ruined credit, loss of homes and the potential eviction of an elderly man from his nursing home. A federal court has given the Department of Interior permission to process payments to account holders. Tribal members, however, complained that the money hasn't come through. Tribal members also spoke passionately about the need to support the lawsuit and the chapter voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution in favor of the case. "Our own leaders should learn something and come forward," said Chester Benally, who made the trip from Utah to attend. The six-year-old case has heated up in recent months due to the Bush administration's contempt trial. Secretary Gale Norton and Assistant Secretary Neal McCaleb face five charges for their handling of the case, including the failure to adequately protect the $400 million Individual Indian Money (IIM) trust from computer hackers. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth hasn't issued a ruling on the issue. A contempt finding could lead to the appointment of an independent judicial overseer for the trust. Cobell's visit to the Navajo Nation was one of several she will make in the upcoming months. Talks with account holders are being planned in Oklahoma and other locations. McCaleb today is also meeting with Navajo officials and tribal members at a regional consultation session in Window Rock, Arizona. A joint federal-tribal task force is asking Indian Country to support a reorganization of the department and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Cobell urged the crowd to hold McCaleb and other government officials accountable. "This is our money, this is our land," she said. "[The government] robbed us of a quality of life," she added. Copyright c. 2000-2002 Noble Savage Media, LLC/Indianz.Com --------- "RE: Bush Administration strips Chinook of Recognition" --------- Date: Sat, 6 Jul 2002 12:21:03 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CHINOOK NOT RECOGNIZED" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_070502WABchinook.a772123b.html Bush administration strips Chinook Tribe of federal recognition 07/06/2002 The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Bush administration has stripped Washington state's Chinook Tribe of federal recognition, reversing a Clinton administration decision and possibly setting up a federal court battle. Tribal officials said the Interior Department looked at the same evidence the Clinton officials used to grant recognition in January 2001. Friday's ruling means the Chinooks, based in Chinook, Wash., are not recognized as a sovereign nation. Federal recognition makes tribes eligible for federal benefits and programs. Recognition could have meant a chance for the Chinooks to build casinos on their land. "It's a kick in the teeth," said Dennis Whittlesey, a lawyer for the Chinooks here. Members of the tribe helped Lewis and Clark expedition members through their winter on the Northwest coast nearly 200 years ago. The Chinooks were recognized until about 30 years ago and have been fighting to regain that status since the early 1980s. Tribal officials will meet as early as Monday to determine the best way to regain recognition, tribal Chairman Gary C. Johnson said. One option would be to file suit against the U.S. government. Neal A. McCaleb, the Interior Department's assistant secretary of Indian affairs, issued a statement Friday saying the Chinooks had failed to demonstrate three of the seven criteria required to become an acknowledged tribe. The Chinooks did not show they have maintained political influence over members since historical times, that a predominant portion of their members comprise a distinct social community, or that they have been identified historically as an Indian entity by outside observers, McCaleb said. The Chinooks were formally recognized in the last days of the Clinton administration. Kevin Gover, an Indian affairs official in the Department of Interior, re-established the Chinook's tribal status in January 2001. His decision, which went against his staff's recommendation, was called into question when he went to work as a lobbyist for the tribe. In April 2001, the Quinault Indian Nation appealed Gover's ruling before the Department of Interior's Board of Indian Appeals. The Quinaults, historical enemies of the Chinooks, contended the Chinooks had ceased to exist as a tribe. Whittlesey said Friday's decision followed a recent Bush administration ruling that the Duwamish Tribe - the tribe of the legendary Chief Seattle - was extinct. "In the last (few) weeks, we've seen two final decisions reversed," he said. " ... They've chosen to accept a different analysis (of the facts) so they could reverse this decision, notwithstanding the fact that the previous administration's analysis was final and was published in the Federal Register." Copyright c. 2002 Belo Interactive, Inc. --------- "RE: Ancient Bones halt Excavation Project" --------- Date: Tue, 9 Jul 2002 08:22:33 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BONES HALT DIG" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.startribune.com/stories/568/3042542.html Ancient bones halt excavation project in southern Wisconsin Statewire Published Jul 7, 2002 JANESVILLE, Wis. (AP) -- Ancient bones found near a lake in southern Wisconsin temporarily halted a homeowner' s plan to build a garage. State archaeologists found a jaw bone and bone flakes when they sifted through dirt in the homeowner' s front yard. They will rebury whatever they find. "Under state law, this area will be protected as a burial site," said Robert Birmingham, archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society' s preservation division. The construction project can continue after everything is documented and surveyed at the site along Lake Koshkonong, more than 10 miles north of Janesville in Jefferson County. The homeowner, who declined to discuss the find with The Janesville Gazette, must redesign the construction project so it does not disturb the site, Birmingham said. Archaeologists believe an ancient American Indian home and burial ground once stood on the spot, Birmingham said. Bones and bone fragments are often found near Lake Koshkonong, which has a history of ancient burial discoveries and is on the National Register of Historical Places, said Leslie Eisenberg, the society' s burial site program coordinator. Archaeologists were monitoring the excavation because the property is protected by a covenant signed by the homeowner, Eisenberg said. The homeowner receives a property tax exemption in exchange for allowing archaeologists to be present during any ground disturbance on the property, Eisenberg said. Copyright c. 2002 Star Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Court awards $13.8M to Confederated Warm Springs" --------- Date: Fri, 5 Jul 2002 09:27:11 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WARM SPRINGS AWARDED" http://www.indianz.com/News/ Court awards $13.8M for breach of trust WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 2002 After a decade-long fight, the Confederated Warm Springs Tribes of Oregon are finally due money for the federal government's mismanagement of their trust assets. In an unpublished opinion, U.S. District Judge Robert Hodges Jr. awarded the tribes $13.8 million in damages for an improperly handled timber sale. The decision was filed in the Court of Federal Claims on June 20. The tribes almost missed out on the chance to collect at all. In 1999, Hodges ruled that the Bureau of Indian Affairs violated its trust duties but said money couldn't be awarded because the tribes were compensated at the time. A federal appeals court in May 2001 disagreed and set aside the decision. A three-judge panel of the Federal Circuit Court applied common law trust standards and directed Hodges to determine how to correct the BIA's breach. "Under trust law generally, a beneficiary is entitled to recover damages for the improper management of the trust's investment assets," Circuit Judge William Curtis Bryson wrote for the majority. The dispute centers on 1990 sale on the Warm Springs Reservation. Logging was halted the year prior because the timber harvest exceeded the amount specified in a 20-year tribal management plan. But a winter storm damaged some of the forest and both the tribes and the BIA agreed to a harvest. As soon as the sale went through, however, tribal officials questioned its integrity/ Among other issues, the tribes believed they weren't properly compensated for the amount of timber that was cut. Instead of an expected 3 million board feet, the BIA harvested 23 million board feet. Also, since a moratorium on overseas exports was to be lifted in 1992, the tribes claimed the BIA cut down perfectly healthy trees that could have been sold later. At the time, the international rate was twice the domestic. The Warm Springs case was one of several that tribes won in the Federal Circuit. But the Bush administration appealed victories to award the Navajo Nation at least $600 million and the White Mountain Apache Tribe about $14 million in breach of trust cases. The Supreme Court will hear those two cases this winter. If a judgment is favorable to the government, Solicitor General Ted Olson could seek to reduce or vacate the Warm Springs award. Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles said last week at a Senate hearing that the government is looking to the Court to define its trust law standards. Copyright c. 2000-2002 Noble Savage Media, LLC/Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Blackfoot celebrate return of Sacred Bundle" --------- Date: Sun, 7 Jul 2002 10:22:28 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SACRED BUNDLE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.canada.com/national/story.asp?id={E783534A-2B68-4B8C-A6BF-088E6C353466} Natives celebrate return of sacred bundle SPIRITS BACK HOME Larry Johnsrude, Journal Staff Writer Edmonton Journal Sunday, July 07, 2002 Journal writer Larry Johnsrude wrote in March 2001 about the problems the Montana Blackfeet had recovering sacred artifacts housed in the Provincial Museum of Alberta. He was recently invited to attend the ceremonies celebrating their return. - - - Spirits are being awakened for the first time in 60 years. I can see it in the faces of those around me, Blackfoot Indians from both sides of the border, gathering on Canada Day at a ranch in northern Montana to celebrate the return of a vital link to their past. The men sit nearest the fire, the women forming a circle behind them. Sweetgrass burns and turns to ash, filling the teepee with an ancient aroma. Expressions filled with reverence and awe, their attention is fixed on a metre-long stone and reed pipe, decorated with the mummified head of a harlequin duck on one end, and a fan of eagle feathers on the other. Named after the last holy man to possess it, the Theodore Last Star thunder medicine pipe was an essential part of Blackfoot spiritual beliefs dating to times of the buffalo hunt. After falling into disuse from cultural degradation, the pipe and bundle of religious artifacts, including rattles and braided animal hides, were sold to a private collector, then sold again to the Provincial Museum of Alberta in Edmonton, where they languished for more than a decade before making the long journey back. The bundle's homecoming and first ceremonial opening since 1942 is being witnessed by 200 people, Blackfoot from Alberta and Montana (who call themselves Blackfeet) and a significant minority of non-natives like myself. Some have come for physical healing. Others have come for the healing of the soul. "These are holy bundles given to us by the Creator to hold our people together," explains tribe member Patricia Deveraux, as she waits outside the teepee, craning her neck to see what is going on inside. "They're the same as the relics from the Catholic Church," continues the pleasant, round-faced woman of 36, whose faith straddles Catholicism and Blackfoot spirituality with equal vigour. "They are a demonstration of the holy spirit. They can heal people." Before the day is over, she will "dance with the pipe" -- a primal ceremony channelling positive energy from her ancestors through the sacred object -- while she prays to the spirits to help family members through troubled times. Les Whitford is a testament to its healing power. The 50-year-old Cree- Chippewa Indian, who isn't even a member of the Blackfoot tribe, lost one kidney to cancer and found out a year ago he had a spot on the other. After making a vow to dance at the bundle opening, a checkup four months ago showed the spot had disappeared. "As far as I am concerned, it can perform miracles," he says. They are among 17 who have made vows to perform the traditional Blackfoot healing dance. It's an unusually large number which promises to keep the ceremony going late into the night. "The people believe it's very powerful because it's the only medicine bundle that has made it back to Montana from your museum in Edmonton," bundle keeper Bob Burns tells me. "It's an important part of getting back our culture. The healing has already begun." Burns, a descendent of Last Star, gained possession of the bundle as a result of a rather creative application of Alberta's two-year-old native ceremonial artifact repatriation legislation. Narcisse Blood, of southern Alberta's Blood tribe, which played a key role in its return to the Montana tribe, regrets that it took so long. "If you are Catholic, you can go to mass whenever you want," he says. "Yet we had to go through so much trouble and heartbreak for something that is such a natural part of our culture." Links to Past I meet Bob Burns and his wife, Charlene, for the first time the night before at the Babb Bar and Cattle Baron, one of the three restaurants the couple run along with their ranch on the Blackfoot reservation just east of Glacier National Park. As Charlene fills bags with groceries in preparation for the bundle opening, Bob tells me about his great-uncle, Theodore Last Star, Blackfoot religious leader, tour guide, historian and bit actor in early westerns. A photo display on the wall of the bar depicts the local legend in full native headdress and buckskin from his Hollywood scenes, including a role with the legendary Shirley Temple. Bob Burns, 59, with long raven-black braids and cleft chin, bears a striking resemblance to the man in the photographs. After Theodore Last Star's first wife died in the 1940s and he married a strong Catholic, the medicine bundle sat dormant until his death in the 1960s. His second wife's children sold it for $5,000 to collector Bob Scriver in the 1970s. Blackfoot traditionalists believe religious items cannot be owned by individuals, but are held by "keepers" for the good of the tribe. "Do I own it or does it own me?" Burns asks. Traditional Dress People start arriving at the Burns ranch mid-morning on July 1, half-ton trucks bouncing over possibly the roughest five- kilometre stretch of road in Montana. Many licence plates are from Alberta. The women are exquisitely clad in colourful long dresses, hair covered by bright kerchiefs, hand-woven shawls wrapped around their shoulders. The men kick off cowboy boots and put on beaded moccasins, draping blankets over their shoulders and around their waists. Thunder pipe bundle openings are all the same. But there are differences unique to the contents of the individual bundles.The central item is the pipe, which, according to legend, was given to the people by thunder and is as old as creation itself. Other items -- rattles, animal skins, feathers -- correspond to dreams and visions of the bundles' keepers and have unique songs and rituals which go with them. Traditionally, each Blackfoot extended family or clan had a spiritual leader and bundle keeper. I ask Leonard Bastien, former chief of the Alberta Piegan in Brocket who is conducting the ceremony, how much he knows about the Last Star bundle rituals. He grins and crooks his thumb and finger to show about a centimetre of daylight between them. "About this much," he says. "But I'm still the boss." It's not a boast but a self-deprecating expression of how much more there is to know. Thunder pipe bundles are opened every year in the spring or early summer after the first thunder. Although the Blackfoot elders are sympathetic, they insist the ceremony and the pipe cannot be photographed. At 15 minutes before noon, Bob and Charlene Burns emerge from their ranch house -- Bob, in front, clutching a fan of eagle feathers to his chest, Charlene, in a burst of yellow floral patterns and red tartan, following with the bedroll-sized bundle on her shoulders. They march slowly and silently to the teepee about 50 metres away to begin the ceremony. Songs and Feasting The primitive songs rise like wood smoke. Some are haunting screeches, some are low throaty hymns, some rhythmic war whoops. Some 30 are sung while the elk skin cover of the bundle is unrolled and each item laid out on top of it in its proper place. There are two teepees pushed together -- the large one for the elders conducting the ceremony, the smaller one for the helpers. The guests sit in chairs lined up outside. After about an hour, the helpers pass out plastic bowls and begin filling them with berry soup, a dessert-like mixture of local saskatoon berries in sweet syrup. "It's for cleansing," a helper says, instructing me to take out the largest berry and bury it as a sacrifice. Why do the bowls come with lids? "So you can take it with you," she replies. "You won't want to eat it all at once. It's a laxative." The berry soup is followed by a feast of buffalo ribs, potatoes, sausages and boiled eggs. The helpers then pass out bags of groceries for the guests to take home -- fruit, canned goods, packages of macaroni, pastries and candy. Blackfoot tradition dictates that the bundle keeper takes responsibility for the physical needs of the guests as well as the spiritual needs. Veteran guests come prepared, bringing large cloth sacks to haul away their take. Nothing is to be left over. With the bundle open and the food blessed and distributed, the individual blessings and medicine dances begin. During a break, an elder looking no more than 30 explains the importance of the spiritual revival going on in the native communities across North America. "When you look at the problems affecting our people, it's mainly alcohol and drugs," says the young man, dressed in black from head to foot, who gives his name only as Chris. "Why is that? Because of a loss of a sense of purpose. This gives us purpose. These are powerful objects that we pray with and they get their power from those who have prayed with them before us." Individual Blessings I line up with the others -- native and non-native alike -- for my individual blessing, kneeling as a sign of humility while draped in a brightly coloured blanket to show obedience. Peter Weasel Moccasin from the Blood tribe in Alberta touches my shoulders and the back of my head with the pipe stem. He recites the blessing in the Blackfoot language and dips his right thumb into a rust- coloured paste of buffalo grease and ashes, smearing it on my face -- an arch on my forehead, a line following my chin and crosses on each side of my mouth. On his instructions, I cup my hands over his head and make an arching motion, gathering the spiritual energy of our combined auras. He clutches his hands in front of his chest and says in English: "Hold it to your heart." I do as he tells me. The face painting, an acknowledgement of having received the blessing, is followed by the healing dances, a bouncing two-step on blankets draped over the floor of the teepee while clutching the pipe to the sound of drums and singing. The pipe, made of reeds and stone and brightly decorated with feathers, beads, brass bells and dyed animal skins, is not smoked. It looks like a musical instrument. It doesn't have a bowl. It's unclear if it ever did. The 17 who made vows to dance wait patiently for their turns. Each brings blankets, some bring cigarettes, symbolizing the tobacco leaves that were traditionally wrapped in the medicine bundles to preserve their contents. "It's a great feeling," says Scott Wetsel, a 24-year-old father of two, who danced for healing after injuring his back at work. "You can really feel the spirit working." Precious Artifacts My interest in Blackfoot medicine bundles began as a quest of curiosity rather than a search for spiritual enlightenment. While researching the First Nations Sacred Ceremonial Objects Repatriation Act, passed by the Alberta legislature in the spring of 2000, I stumbled across an unexplainable contradiction. The legislation, intended to return native religious artifacts to their original owners, applied only in Alberta. Therefore, it would have no bearing on the treasure trove from the Montana Blackfeet laying in storage at the Provincial Museum of Alberta. The collection, including 1,500 individual items and six medicine bundles, had been purchased by the museum for $1.1 million US in 1988 from Bob Scriver, a musician and artist from Browning, Mont., at the centre of the reservation. In his history and picture book called The Blackfeet: Artists of the Northern Plains, Scriver describes the Last Star bundle as "the best of the best ... created by people with an artistic sense who strove to produce an object of real beauty and great power." Scriver, who died three years ago, valued it at $125,000. The Montana Blackfoot had been stymied for a decade in their attempts to get their artifacts back. But their efforts gained momentum after stories about their predicament appeared in The Journal in March 2001, including a comment from Premier Ralph Klein, a convert to native spirituality, calling on Alberta officials to "extend the spirit" of the legislation south of the border. With a new sense of co-operation from provincial bureaucrats, the Montana tribe skirted the legal hurdle barring the bundle's removal from the province by having their Alberta cousins on the Blood reserve repatriate the bundle from the museum on their behalf. Burns drove it down to the U.S. last September, getting it past border guards who were either sympathetic or indifferent to its contents. A Good Day With the sun now long gone over the mountains and the wood fire in the teepee burning out, the pipe and other sacred items are put back on the elk skin and bundled up until the first thunder next spring. The helpers distribute the blankets and the cigarettes. "What did you think of it?" asks one precocious 11-year old, a grandson of Bob Burns. "Pretty cool, huh?" Yes, pretty cool. The Alberta tribe members leave first, anxious to get to the border before the crossing closes at 11 p.m. Everyone rises out of respect as George Kicking Woman gets up. The octogenarian Blackfoot spiritual leader, the last holy man who knows all the songs and rituals, has been sitting at the front all day quietly offering guidance. I first met George Kicking Woman on a blustery January day in his cabin in Browning, where he was lamenting the loss of Blackfoot culture to the Edmonton museum. As he leaves, I approach and grasp his hand. He responds with a grin of recognition. "It is a good day," he says. Copyright c. 2002 Edmonton Journal. --------- "RE: California Landmark sets Record Straight" --------- Date: Sun, 7 Jul 2002 10:22:28 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LANDMARK" http://www.pechanga.net http://www.sltrib.com/07062002/nation_w/751422.htm California Historical Landmark Sets Record Straight Saturday, July 6, 2002 BY MICHELLE LOCKE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS COVELO, Calif. -- For decades, the state landmark declaring that California's majestic Round Valley was discovered by white settlers in 1854 was like salt on a wound to valley tribes. Indians, after all, had lived in the region for centuries before settlers showed up. Also missing from the plaque was any reference to the tide of Indian deaths and cultural destruction unleashed by the "discovery." This year, state officials installed a revised plaque acknowledging the valley's original inhabitants and explaining what happened to them. To some, it was a signal victory in a long-running campaign to set the record straight on California's still largely secret history -- the forces, both accidental and deliberate, that swept away all but a handful of the state's native inhabitants. "The way I feel is the way the East Berliners felt when the wall started getting knocked down," said Round Valley tribal council member Ernie Merrifield. "It's a sense of new freedom and the key word is truth." The truth about California Indians isn't pleasant. Driven from the land that sustained them, decimated by unfamiliar diseases, they were hunted to near-extinction during the Gold Rush. Once estimated at 300,000, only 15,000 remained by the 1900 census. Almost 95 percent of the original population had vanished. "Californians are unaware, generally, that our forbears committed themselves to the literal extermination of the California Indian people," says James Rawls of Diablo Valley College, who has written several books about California history. Confronting that past isn't easy. It took Round Valley tribes four decades to get the wording on their plaque changed. The Catholic Church and the Spanish consul objected to initial efforts to write a plaque explaining the history of American Indians, complaining it singled them out unfairly to blame for the Indians' demise. The plaque was eventually reworded to detail other factors as well. The compromise didn't satisfy everyone; some American Indians wanted the statue mothballed. Rawls, who worked on the plaque wording, says old symbols should be put in accurate context, but not swept away entirely. "We all know if we're ignorant of the past, we're condemned to repeat it. We homo sapiens need to be reminded of our capacity for evil just as we need to be reminded of our capacity for good." In Round Valley, a breathtaking bowl of fir-lined mountains about 150 miles north of San Francisco, the original plaque was hated by reservation residents from the day it went up in 1959. People threw paint at it, wrote the word "LIES" across it and even fired bullets at it. But until recently, no one expected to change it. "It's just like the attitude was, 'You can't fight City Hall.' " said Merrifield. Two years ago, the state Office of Historic Preservation began holding community meetings and reviewing proposals for new language. Descendants of the original settlers liked the plaque the way it was. Indians and other whites, including some with family histories of being run out of the valley by some of the original pioneers, wanted it changed. There were some state-brokered compromises. Indians wanted "genocide," to reflect how their numbers were ravaged by disease, malnutrition and attacks. "The state mellowed that out and toned it down to 'conflict,' " said Merrifield. The final wording acknowledges the Yuki Indians as the original inhabitants of the valley and points out that after conflict with European settlers in the 1850s, the region was declared a reservation and a number of other tribes were forced onto the land. In 1864, the government reduced reservation land by four-fifths. On a sunny afternoon in the spring, about 200 people gathered on Inspiration Point under a bright blue sky to dedicate the new marker. "Forgiving is not forgetting," tribal member Cora Lee Simmons said. "It's just letting go of the hurt." Copyright c. 2002 The Associated Press. Copyright c. 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune. --------- "RE: ICT: Guatemala Maya Futures deserve Real Thinking" --------- Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2002 08:10:57 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MAYA FUTURES" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://indiancountry.com/?1024669574 Guatemala Maya futures deserve real thinking Posted: June 25, 2002 - 7:00am EST Terrorism has been going on for a very long time and in many forms. The terrorism that kills Indian leaders kills other people too. Just a few weeks ago, Guillermo Ovalle, an associate of Nobel Peace Prize winner and Quiche' Indian leader Rigoberta Menchu Tum, was assassinated by unknown gunmen in Guatemala. Recently, a death threat was faxed to several of Guatemala's most prominent human rights organizations. Early reports attribute the high-tech death threat, which targeted about a dozen human rights activists and journalists as "enemigos a la patria" (enemies of the state), to a clandestine organization allegedly linked to the army high command. Things are not going well in Guatemala. The Guatemalan case is doubly troubling. It is a country of great social injustice that is, at the same time, a solid agricultural producer with a potentially strong economy. Among the great producing class in Guatemala are the millions of Indian campesino, artisan and business people who constitute a very hard-working population and hold up whole sectors of the country's economy. After 30 years of very brutal war, Guatemala suffers the consequences. A wave of violent crime has become the permanent reality. Perhaps it is the large numbers of orphaned children of war-torn families, many who are now tormented young adults. More likely it is the result of having a huge number of trained ex-combatants, left and right, in a country of high unemployment and many available weapons. Bandits roam. Assaults are common. Violence is for hire, quite openly, quite with impunity, if the contractor gets the right people to do the job. Assassination for hire can be a fact of life. It is not an easy place for a Native culture to survive. But there are a lot of Maya in Guatemala, perhaps as many as six million. We hope all the pressures the Maya population is facing will not become points of violence that could be aggravated into another genocidal campaign against their communities. The history is ugly enough. Enough mass graves are dug up every week to feed the narrative of massacre and brutality that were the 1980s for this beleaguered country. This history is alive in the psyche of the people, who do hunger for justice or retribution for their horrible suffering of 20 years ago, but not as much as they hunger today for want of food security and basic necessities. Among the most pressing need is for equitable access to lands by the agricultural producers among the Maya population. This huge need and social disparity is refueling old tensions. The hunger for land turns increasingly into the battle cry, "Land or death." In the midst of the harsh reality, Guatemala's Indian country is flexing its muscle intellectually, politically and economically. At the same time movements are afoot including outright invasions of private farms that are dangerously reminiscent of the time just before the years of intense massacre. These movements can easily re-ignite the military madness that resulted in the torture and massacre of tens of thousands of Indians. The recent brutal revelation of the shadowy hand of the Death Squads in a spate of assassinations going back to the 1980s also augurs badly. In Guatemala and other such dictatorship-to-democracy "successes," recurring periods of intense repression and killing are all too often the norm. These intensify when the United States is in a militaristic mood; they lessen when economic visions fuel the world and promise appears possible. We urge the United States, Canada and Mexico to request restraint on the part of the military in Guatemala. Their repression might be focused on the criminal element and not the social sector. When the tension of criminal violence fuels political instability, military force can sometimes impose its own justification, often with disastrous results for Native peoples. Somehow, in the midst of its current war footing, we encourage the U.S. to also project and support peace and security issues that give hope of good life to good people. The world, including countries like Guatemala, cannot just be driven by the fear of retribution, which is the strategy of targeting broadly all countries perceived to be critical or oppositional to U.S. international policies and interests. Maya Indians, who like to hold their community lands in common with collective titles owned by extended families called matrilineages and patrilineages and that form communities, might be perceived as exotic potential enemies in this context. Or they might be seen as a source of hope and stability if properly supported toward their own cultural approach to economic productivity and prosperity. In Guatemala, the horror of mass, institutionalized terrorism remains fresh in the memory and is an historical cycle that could again become a lived reality. New models that include old, proven incentives are much needed at this time in history. Copyright c. 2002 Indian Country Today. --------- "RE: Denunciation of Military Incursion in Flores Magon" --------- Date: Sat, 06 Jul 2002 23:56.23 -0400 From: joewest Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BC CONFRONTATION" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://vancouver.cbc.ca/template/servlet/View?filename=bc_fire020704 Referendum results set stage for confrontation Jeff Davies reports for CBC Radio News July 5, 2002 Victoria - The B.C. government says the results of the treaty referendum have given it a resounding mandate to negotiate. However, First Nations leaders say they're preparing for a fight. Up to 95 per cent of those who sent in their ballots in the province's controversial referendum said "yes" to the province's position. However, only 36 per cent of the 2.1 million people on the voters' list actually voted. Premier Campbell and the Attorney General say they want to build a new relationship with native people based on the referendum results. However, B.C. First Nations leaders and their supporters burned thousands of ballots on Victoria's Songhees reserve on Wednesday night. "We wanted to end some of the feelings that we have about the referendum because there's been such anger and outrage and hostility," says Hupacasath Nation chief Judith Sayers. Sayers who has emerged as a leader of the anti-referendum movement, says as long as the province is bound by the outcome, she sees nothing left to negotiate. "We have a big fight ahead of us," she says. "But you know the best thing that ever happened to us here is that we stood in solidarity." Premier Campbell has talked of rejuvenating the treaty process. "My vision is for First Nations young people to have a sense of hope and opportunity," he says. Meanwhile, a senior official with the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs says the referendum results will not kill the treaty process as some native groups claim. John Watson says the referendum has simply delayed the treaty process for a year. -=-=-=- SIDEBAR -=-=-=- The 8 Referendom Questions: 1. Private property should not be expropriated for treaty settlements. (Yes/No) 2. The terms and conditions of leases and licences should be respected; fair compensation for unavoidable disruption of commercial interests should be ensured. (Yes/No) 3. Hunting, fishing and recreational opportunities on Crown land should be ensured for all British Columbians. (Yes/No) 4. Parks and protected areas should be maintained for the use and benefit of all British Columbians. (Yes/No) 5. Province-wide standards of resource management and environmental protection should continue to apply. (Yes/No) 6. Aboriginal self-government should have the characteristics of local government, with powers delegated from Canada and British Columbia. (Yes/No) 7. Treaties should include mechanisms for harmonizing land use planning between Aboriginal governments and neighbouring local governments. (Yes/No) 8. The existing tax exemptions for Aboriginal people should be phased out. (Yes/No) A Yes vote means the government will be bound to adopt the principle in treaty negotiations. A No vote means the government will not be bound to adopt the principle to guide its participation in treaty negotiations. Copyright c. 2002 CBC. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: B.C. Treaty Backgrounder" --------- Date: Fri, 5 Jul 2002 09:27:11 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BC TREATY BACKGROUNDER" http://cbc.ca/news/features/treaty_referendum1.html CBC Treaty Backgrounder B.C. Treaty Referendum: John Bowman, CBC News Online Posted: April 25, 2002 UPDATE: On July 3, 2002, A controversial B.C. referendum on treaty negotiations passed with overwhelming support. The mail-in ballot asked people to vote Yes or No to eight proposed principles to guide the province in treaty negotiations. All eight received a Yes vote of more than 80 per cent, according to Premier Gordon Campbell. B.C. Attorney General Geoff Plant called the province-wide referendum on native treaty negotiations a chance for ordinary British Columbians to have a say in the treaty process. Critics of the plan, including native and church leaders, called the plebiscite "stupid," "immoral," "amateurish," and "racist." The mail-in ballots featured eight principles. The ballot asked whether the government should adopt these principles as part of its negotiations. Plant called it an experiment in direct democracy. "I think, when people receive their ballots, they will recognize that they have been asked to participate in how we're governed, and people will be excited about that," said Plant before the ballots were mailed out. But political academics have called the referendum a mockery of democracy. And native leaders have called it divisive and said it could spark anti-native racism in the province. They have called for a boycott of the referendum, encouraging voters to spoil their ballots or send blank ballots to native bands for disposal. Gordon Campbell and the B.C. Liberals brought up the idea of a referendum on native treaty negotiations during the provincial election campaign in May 2001. They promised a plebiscite on the treaty within a year of being elected. "We think that for too long the people of B.C. have been shut out of the treaty process," said Plant. "The referendum is going to give the people of British Columbia a direct voice in the principles that should guide the province's treaty negotiations. "The government takes a position on these questions. We would answer yes to each of them," said Plant. Critics of the referendum said that's one of the problems with the referendum: that the principles have been tailored to elicit a 'yes' response. Some principles, such as "Parks and protected areas should be maintained for the use and benefit of all British Columbians," are phrased so broadly and in such a "motherhood" way, so that 'yes' responses are virtually assured, the critics said. One principle, "Private property should not be expropriated for treaty settlements," is phrased in the negative, which critics called confusing. (Does answering 'no' mean "No, private property should not be expropriated" or "No, private property should be expropriated"?) Angus Reid, a veteran in the polling business, called the referendum "one of the most amateurish, one-sided attempts to gauge the public will that I have seen in my professional career." Political scientist and author David Laycock called the results of the referendum a foregone conclusion. Critics also said some of the principles on the ballot, such as whether natives should continue to be exempt from taxes, are beyond the power of the province to negotiate. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects "aboriginal treaty and other rights," and recent Supreme Court decisions have upheld such rights as exemption from taxation. Even the mechanics of the referendum have been called needlessly complicated. The ballot itself is to be placed in a "secrecy envelope," and a declaration must be signed and placed in another envelope. Both those envelopes are then to be placed in a third envelope and mailed back. And unlike the anonymous ballots used in voting, the referendum ballots are sealed in envelopes with the person's name, address, birth date and social insurance number. Under the province's Referendum Act if more than 50 per cent of the valid ballots give the same answer to a stated question, the result of the plebiscite is binding, regardless of how many people cast their ballots. The cost of the referendum itself has been estimated at $9 million. Guujaaw, president of the Haida nation, has predicted the referendum could cost the B.C. government $400 million to $500 million in lawsuits and appeals. Native bands in B.C. say their land was taken from them without treaty, negotiation or payment. Native groups have therefore claimed most of the province as their ancestral home. The negotiations for modern-day treaties started in 1992, but that process has produced no agreements. The Nisga'a nation entered a treaty in May 2000, but that was the result of an older treaty process. Several religious and political groups have backed a native boycott of the referendum. The Anglican Church, the United Church, the Presbytery of New Westminster, the Canadian Jewish Congress and the Canadian Muslim Federation have all condemned the plebiscite. So have the B.C. Federation of Labour, the Council of Senior Citizens and the David Suzuki Foundation. Copyright c. 2002 CBC. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Sex Questions shock Residential School Claimant" --------- Date: Sun, 7 Jul 2002 10:22:28 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SEX QUESTIONS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.canada.com/victoria/story.asp?id={5A0D9253-DA7C-46CC-9601-C87294558ECD} Lawyer's personal sex questions shock native residential school claimant SUE BAILEY Canadian Press Sunday, July 07, 2002 OTTAWA (CP) - Gabe Mentuck knew it would be painful convincing federal lawyers he should be compensated for abuse he suffered in a native residential school. He dreaded having to pick at emotional scars in front of strangers. But the Winnipeg resident, 73, wasn't prepared for a government lawyer's sexual questions during a pre-trial hearing. The queries shocked him, as they did the head of the federal residential schools department. "There were questions about how many other women I had sex with before I was married," Mentuck said of the examination under oath by a male lawyer acting on Ottawa's behalf. Mentuck was also asked at the fact-finding hearing last month whether he had oral sex with his wife, he said. "They were terrible questions," Mentuck said in an interview. "Very embarrassing. Not even related to residential school abuse." His lawyer, Bill Percy, said he objected when his client was asked about his premarital sex life. "It was a very unusual question" with no bearing on whether Mentuck, as he claims, was sexually assaulted by female Roman Catholic staff at the school he attended in Pine Creek, Man. He left the institution at age 15 after five years. "Absolutely, it's overkill," Percy said of the government's search for evidence that could lessen damages to be paid. Mentuck also seeks compensation for how he was forced to work around the school rather than study, and for beatings he says were inflicted for speaking Ojibway. Mentuck later worked as a labourer because he could barely read and write, he said. He is among 11,000 claimants who've launched more than 5,000 lawsuits against the federal government and the Catholic, Anglican, United and Presbyterian churches that ran the schools for Ottawa through much of the last century. Settlements are expected to cost at least $1 billion, and are threatening to bankrupt some church groups. Shawn Tupper, director general for Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada, speaks for lawyers and other staff working on the cases. "I'm shocked to hear that those kinds of questions are being posed," he said in an interview. "Our ambition is to ensure that our counsel are as sensitive as possible and that the questions are respectful." Tupper said he would follow up and reiterate those principles with legal staff, if necessary. "It's hard to imagine the context in which a question like that would be asked." The federal government is working to speed up the pace at which it validates and settles claims, Tupper said. But Ottawa - namely Prime Minister Jean Chretien - could deal more quickly with elderly, sick survivors, Percy said. "Let's face it: If the prime minister were to say this has to get done next month, it would get done next month." About one case a day is now being resolved out of court with average payouts of $100,000. Hundreds more are bogged down in sluggish litigation. In total, Ottawa has paid more than $37 million in compensation for 530 settlements since 1996, Tupper said. Still, the government's legal tactics revictimize those who claim physical, sexual or cultural abuse, said Regina lawyer Tony Merchant. His firm represents more than 5,000 claimants. "It almost seems that the government program is to ask every question they can possibly ask short of a judge saying: 'There's no damn way on earth that has any relevance.' They push to the very limit. "It's sort of like pulling a bandage off a psychological wound but pulling it off very slowly," said Merchant. "And I think it has a chilling effect upon residential school victims generally where the individual goes back to friends and family and says: 'This was very hard.' " Copyright c. 2002 The Canadian Press. --------- "RE: Otoe-Missouria Employees fired over Petition" --------- Date: Thu, 4 Jul 2002 14:22:16 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OTOE-MISSOURIA FIRINGS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.okit.com/news/2002/julyaug/otoe.html Many Otoe-Missouria Employees fired over Signing Recall Petition by Wilhelm Murg On June 20 Otoe-Missouria tribal officials fired nine employees, accusing them violating employee policies and procedures when they signed a petition for a recall election for Tribal Secretary Julia Tah. Several of the fired employees have protested that they signed the petition on their own time, but according to Chairman Donald Butler, when they signed does not matter, the tribe has a policy that no employee can be involved in Tribal politics. Armed guards were reportedly brought in for the firings. The day after the firings, June 21, several members of the tribe began a peaceful demonstration in front of the nation's bingo hall, outside of Ponca City. Armed security guards were brought in to protect the tribe from the protesters, many of whom are women in the sixties. Former Treasurer Linda Francis spoke from her cell phone as she demonstrated in front of the bingo hall. "You have to get 300 signatures in order for Julia Tah to come before the general council to answer charges," Francis said. "We got 319 signatures. We turned it in on Wednesday (June 19) to the Chairman of the Tribe, Donald Butler. They had a council meeting that night and the next morning the employees who signed that petition, were terminated for engaging in politics." According to Francis, the Council terminated Tah's daughter and many people feel that the Secretary has a vendetta against anyone she considers to be responsible for the termination, which is what lead to the petition. "They feel like their civil rights have been violated for exercising their constitutional rights," Francis said. "They've even terminated tribal elders and that was their livelihood." The protesters have contacted an attorney to file an injunction on the tribe. Tribal elder Rosella DeRoin was also on the picket line. DeRoin was terminated from her position as the Child Care Director, which oversaw federally funded daycare. She was particularly angered by the Chairman's show of force. "They had all these security guards there," DeRoin said, "and today it's the same thing; they were patrolling the area like we were going to take over. It is ridiculous." "Our Tribal Secretary (Tah) has rule over here, and she has all of her girls working for the tribe," DeRoin said. "As soon as the head start director was dismissed she put her daughter in there - things like that go on. It's really despicable. My poster say `Pray for our tribe, because the Devil rules the council.' We're protesting because everything we have done so far hasn't amounted to a hill of beans, nobody is listening. Our next step is to follow through with this petition, to make sure that something is done." Chairman Donald Butler said that the firings were justified. "It's the policy procedures, like any in company that you work for," Butler said. "They can not sign anything against the tribal government. When they go to work, they get their job description and their procedures manual for each and every job. They are taking a stand, and I'm all for everybody taking a stand, but you don't bite the hand that feeds you." According to Butler, people claim they didn't know what they were signing. "I've had quite a few people calling in, asking that their names be stricken from the petition because they didn't know what they were signing," Butler said. "The petition had no heading on it. I wouldn't sign something that didn't have a heading on in, but there are a lot of people that will, some of the people thought it was for a per capital payment." The Otoe-Missouria have no election board and according to Butler the petition to recall Julia Tah is invalid because it must go though the election board before it can be acted on. "I have no election committee in place to even accept $50 to have a petition in place," Butler said. "Once we have a board in place they can present their money to get a petition drawn up, then they can get 300 signatures. I see no way that this petition could be acted on." Butler also believes that the security brought in for the terminations was justified. "They were not armed, but they were security guards to protect the personnel director and the executive director when they handed out the letters," Butler said. "There was one person that signed the petition whose wife sprayed mace in some guys face Sunday." Butler did not know whether the woman was on the tribal grounds at the time that the termination letters were passed out. "Other have threatened to shoot somebody, and others have threatened to take somebody hostage. I do believe we need security guards around there all the time." Julia Tah, who is at the center of the controversy said, "My only comment is that I have none." Native American Times is Copyright c. 2000-2001 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: FBI remains Tightlipped in Shooting Investigation" --------- Date: Tue, 2 Jul 2002 08:34:05 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FORT BELKNAP KILLING" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20020702/localnews/ FBI remains tightlipped in shooting investigation By JENNIFER PEREZ Tribune Staff Writer Tuesday, July 2, 2002 FORT BELKNAP AGENCY -- Nearly two weeks after a Fort Belknap tribal policewoman died from a gunshot wound in her home, investigators still have released little information on her death. The FBI is investigating whether 32-year-old Susan Rae King-Gardipee was the victim of a homicide, suicide or accident, said FBI Agent Dan Vierthaler, special agent in charge of the agency's Billings office. Police were called to the Fort Belknap Reservation home King-Gardipee shared with her husband and fellow tribal police officer, Will Gardipee, at 6:48 a.m. June 20. She died early that morning or late the night before, the FBI has said. Sources close to the family say Will Gardipee was at home at the time of her death, along with their 7-year-old daughter, LaQuenae', and King- Gardipee's sons Josh, 10, and Jacob, 8. Her sister and at least two other women also were there that night, the sources said. At the FBI's request, her family and tribal police have declined to comment on the case. The FBI has seized Will Gardipee's personnel file, but has not indicated he is culpable for his wife's death. He has not been arrested. The FBI investigates and has jurisdiction over all major crimes that occur on reservations and involve Indians. The federal government doesn't release details of investigations unless someone is charged by a grand jury, often a lengthy process. Investigators in the King-Gardipee case are waiting for the lab analysis of forensic evidence to determine the nature of her death. Some of the lab work "inherently takes time to process," Vierthaler said. Tribes also have investigative power in deaths involving Native Americans on a reservation, and have the authority and jurisdiction to prosecute a crime -- with or without the FBI -- in tribal court. The Fort Belknap tribal police are assisting in this investigation, but Fort Belknap Tribal Acting Prosecutor Julie Hoops declined to comment on the case Monday. Blaine County coroners say federal investigators have been especially tight-lipped about this case. "In the past, we've played a larger role in investigating," Deputy Coroner Camia Edwards said, adding that law enforcement officials usually advise their office what its role will be. "This time it is minimal; it's almost nill." Edwards arrived at the Gardipee home roughly an hour after police were called. The red, single-story ranch-style home, which they recently had moved into, is in a low-rent housing area south of the tribal administration offices. Its windows were boarded up late last week. "When I went down there, I had no access to the scene," she said. "I had to wait seven hours to get in." Susan King and Will Gardipee eloped to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, about a year and a half ago. Both were fairly new to the Fort Belknap police force. About 50 law enforcement officials from along the Hi-Line formed an honor guard around her casket at her funeral June 23 at St. Paul's Mission in Hays. King-Gardipee, an Assiniboine and Gros Ventre, was buried in Lodgepole at the Kirkaldie family cemetery next to her son, Ethan "Pookie Pookers" Gardipee; "Taps" was played. "Sue finally found her true calling in life, which was to be a police officer," said her cousin, Rebecca Mount Werk, 29. "We're really glad she found meaning in her life, and that she went out with honor." "We did a lot of fun and crazy things together," said Werk, who grew up with King-Gardipee. "We shared a lot of happy and sad times." King-Gardipee, who also was raised in Fort Belknap and Spokane, was "fun to be around," a "very compassionate and heart-felt person," Werk said. The most important thing to her was her family, and she "was quite serious about her job." She held many jobs, including waitress, certified nurse's aide, wildland firefighter and cashier and cook at Little Rockie's Stop in Hays. She began working at the Fort Belknap Police Department last summer as a dispatcher. "They needed more female cops, so she was game," Werk said. "She was a very good worker. She was very determined to excel, and she wanted to excel fast." She began her police training last fall and looked forward to attending the Indian Police Academy in Artisia, N.M., in September. Her long-term goal was to become an U.S. marshal. "She lived for this type of work, and her family and her kids," said Ed Longknife Jr., acting chief of police while Rob Williams was on leave last week. "I think she had a pretty good future as a police officer," Longknife said. "She was very professional and family-oriented. That's the two things she really liked -- her job and her children." Copyright c. 2002 Great Falls Tribune. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Wounded Knee Shootout Revisited" --------- Date: Sat, 6 Jul 2002 12:37:23 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WOUNDED KNEE REVISITED" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.daily-times.com/Stories/0,1413,129%257E6574%257E713583,00.html Man revisits shootout between FBI and Native American group Friday, July 05, 2002 SHIPROCK, N.M. (AP) Even now, 27 years later, it takes Norman Patrick Brown considerable time to find the words still laced with sorrow, apologies for what happened that fateful morning on the Pine Ridge, S.D., reservation, and the miserable aftermath. Brown, now 42, was 15 years old when he witnessed a shootout between federal agents and members of the American Indian Movement, during which two FBI agents died. He now lives in Shiprock working in health promotion and disease prevention programs for the Navajo Nation and also produces films about life on the reservation. There is a reason he will discuss his involvement now. "This will help with closure. I hope a lot of people will understand," Brown said. Brown testified against fellow AIM members in exchange for immunity and protection for his family, he said. He first testified against Bob Robideau and Darrelle "Dino" Butler, two leaders of the group, during a trial in 1976 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Brown, however, shocked the courtroom crowd by recanting his testimony, stressing that he gave false information to the grand jury under duress. The men were acquitted, but that didn't help Brown avoid criticism from fellow AIM members. Brown went to Canada to seek political asylum. "When I went back (to AIM), the movement was really disappointed in me. Nobody wanted to talk to me," Brown said. "I had done the gravest thing: testify against my brothers in the struggle." A year later in 1977 in a Fargo, N.D., court room, Brown was compelled to testify against Leonard Peltier. This time, the jury was sequestered before Brown could recant. "They wanted me to put (Peltier) at the scene of the shooting (of the two FBI officers)," Brown said. In truth, Brown said he never saw Peltier shoot the agents from long range, and then as the federal government case alleges walk down from a bluff to the flat-lying area to finish them off. He had seen Peltier exchange fire with the agents, however. Brown says he believes Peltier who was convicted of their murders is innocent. Brown, one of five children born to Navajo Code Talker Tsosie Herman Brown and Mary Elizabeth Brown, went to his first AIM conference in 1973, at age 13. The event came after the AIM occupation of Wounded Knee, a 71- day standoff with the U.S. military to protest treatment of Indians by the federal government. "There, I learned what sovereignty was ... it was a new world that just opened to me," Brown said. Brown became heavily involved with the group, fighting for native treaty rights and assistance to other Native Americans. AIM was viewed by whites as always negative, seeming to involve fears of violent, trouble-making Indians, Brown said. But what AIM was actually about, he said, was traveling to assist Native Americans who needed protection and support. AIM movements did often involve armed protest and standoffs. Brown took part in his first armed conflict in Kenora, Ontario, Canada in 1974 when members of AIM traveled to Ojibwe land to assist in a standoff against the city, which was trying to commandeer part of the land for a park. The summer of 1975, Brown attended his third AIM conference in Farmington. A group of elders invited AIM members to Oglala land on the Pine Ridge reservation. There, an ongoing battle had pitted the traditional, full blooded-Sioux against the government-backed "mixed bloods," who followed tribe leader Dick Wilson. The Pine Ridge reservation had one of the highest per capita murder rates in the United States many of which were unsolved. Nearly all of the tribal members carried guns and people rarely ventured outside their homes, Brown said. "We were invited to Pine Ridge because of the beatings, the killings," Brown said. "It was really bad, very violent there. We knew what we were getting into." Heavy thunderstorms and tornado winds shook the AIM encampment the night before the shootout. The morning of June 26, 1975, was sunny and pleasant. Brown recalls getting ready to eat an oatmeal concoction "because that's all we had." He wasn't given time his meal, as that's when the shooting erupted between AIM members and the two FBI agents. The agents had entered the Jumping Bull family property looking for a 19-year-old wanted for theft. What ensued was chaos and violence. "At first, we thought that some of us might be target shooting," he said. "Then I heard the whiz of bullets over my head, and fell down." Brown got up, and he and Stuntz grabbed rifles and ran up to the bluff. Brown feared for the safety of the families within the Jumping Bull residences, mainly mothers with small children and pregnant women that morning. Soon after the shooting erupted, two Bureau of Indian Affairs police units, carrying FBI agents, were seen coming in from Highway 18. Then hundreds of law enforcement officers descended on Oglala Sioux land to exchange fire with AIM members. Brown said it's incredible that only three people died that day. "It was like a pre-planned raid," he said. Brown used a single-shot .22 caliber rifle, to burst the front tire of the lead car speeding along 200 yards away from him. The group suffered from dehydration, sunburn and cracked lips. At one point they were surrounded, and no one gave out much hope for survival, Stuntz had already been shot from long range and killed. The men and women of AIM did manage to escape. Though law enforcement had set up roadblocks across the reservation, the group hid in a culvert under the main road. The group ran for the hills, hiding in the homes of several Lakota families. The escapees regrouped on the Rosebud reservation, where most were eventually caught and charged with felony indictments. Brown was later interrogated in Chinle by the driver of the BIA car. That is when he made the "agreement" to testify against his friends, he said. The aftermath of the trials burdened Brown and separated him from his friends. Two years ago, during the 25th anniversary of the incident, Brown returned to the site of the shootings. He sprinkled offerings of tobacco for his fallen friend and for the two slain officers. Brown said that he prayed that his own life be returned to him. He said he put himself through the pain of returning to the site to "bring a 15- year-old boy home." Brown says his work now is designed for healing powers within Navajo communities. Outside of work, he's the president of a budding grassroots organization, Dine Nationalists, which seeks grants for impoverished communities. "I'm a former AIM activist now. I stepped back from that years ago. I put down my gun, and picked up a corn pollen camera," Brown said, referring to the substance used by Navajos in ceremonial practices. One of Brown's films will be on display in August and the Indian Film Festival in Santa Fe. Copyright c. 1999-2002 MediaNews Group, Inc. --------- "RE: Native Prisoner" --------- Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2002 08:19:12 -0600 From: Janet Smith Subj: Native Prisoner ===== Date: Sunday, July 07, 2002 5:24 PM From: Brigitte Thimiakis Subj: Latest on Alex Montana From Valerie Scott, NAPS (Native American Prisoner Support) http://www.hri.ca/partners/naps/ - To reply, please contact Valerie directly, thank you, Brigitte ===================================================== Grievance Procedure Exhausted, Internal Investigation Denied for Alex Montana It will come as no surprise to many of you that the TDCJ-ID closed ranks to protect one of its own, while the Investigations Division has passed the buck in terms of investigating the violations of policy, falsification of documents, and fraudulent evidence that has plagued Mr. Montana's disciplinary case (#20020202190) from the start. The reality of the situation is such that, if they overturn any previous decisions, this would be an admission of guilt. Please note they have not investigated Mr. Montana's case and come to the conclusion that he was guilty, or stated that there was a "preponderance of evidence to support the unit decision" as the others have claimed.Instead, the Investigations Division has simply stated that they feel the above claim does not come under their jurisdiction. Mr. Montana received copies of two identical letters sent to Warden Stacks, from two different officers in the Investigations Division, which stated the following: "The enclosed complaint from the above referenced offender does not appear to come under the purview of the Office of the Inspector General - Investigations Division. Consequently, the Office of the Inspector General will not be initiating an investigation regarding the allegation(s) presented. Because the complaint appears to present issues that relate to your area of responsibility, it is being forwarded to your office for whatever action you deem appropriate. By the copy of this IOC, the offender will be advised of this referral." In other words, TDCJ-ID personnel are accountable to no one. The Investigations Division, by their own account, state they are "responsible for investigating allegations of misconduc