From gars@speakeasy.org Wed Aug 27 17:43:57 2003 Date: 26 Aug 2003 23:52:34 -0000 From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews11.035 _ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 11, ISSUE 035 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, WOTANGING IKCHE - Lakota - Common News Wotanging Ikche and Native American News Copyright c. 1996-2003 nanews.org Aboriginal/AmerIndian Perspective about the First Nations of Turtle Island August 30, 2003 Kiowa aidenguak'o p'a/yellow leaves moon Passamaquoddy apsqe/feather shedding moon +-------------------------------------------------------+ | Much more happens in Indian Country than is reported | | in this weekly newsletter. For daily updates & events | | go to http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm | +-------------------------------------------------------+ Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin -- Blackfeet -- News for All the People Ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min -- Ojibwe -- We Are Talking About Ourselves Aunchemokauhettittea -- Naragansett -- Let Us Share News Kanoheda Aniyvwiya -- Cherokee -- Journal of the People O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse -- Creek -- People's New News O o O Acimowin -- Plains Cree -- Story or Account O o O Tlaixmatiliztli -- Nahuatl -- News O o o o o O Agnutmaqan -- Listuguj Mi'kmaq -- News O o O Sho-da-ku-ye -- Teehahnahmah -- Talking Birchbark O o O Un Chota -- Susquehannic Seneca -- The People Speak O Ha-Sah-Sliltha -- Ditidaht Nation -- News of the People 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 Dineh jii' adah' ho'nil'e'gii ba' ha' neh -- Navajo Nation -- What's Happening among The People News Okla Humma Holisso Nowat Anya -- Choctaw -- People(s) Red Newspaper Hi'a chu ah gaa -- Pima -- The stories or the talk of the People Native American News -- Language of the Occupation Forces ==>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 <================<<<< >>>>================> 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.owlstar.com; www.indianz.com; www.pechanga.net; Iron Natives 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 | | Once a language is lost, it is | | Limerick summarized in "The | | gone forever | | Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken | | * Of the 300 original Native | | Past of the American West... | | languages in North America, | | "Set the blood quantum at | | only 175 exist today. | | one-quarter, hold to it as a | | * 125 of these are no longer | | rigid definition of Indians, | | learned by children. | | let intermarriage proceed as | | * 55 are spoken by 1 to 6 elders;| | it had for centuries, and | | when they die, their language | | eventually Indians will be | | will disappear. | | defined out of existence." | | * Without action, only 20 | | "When that happens, the federal | | languages will survive the next| | government will be freed of | | 50 years. | | its persistent 'Indian problem.'"| | Source: Indigenous Language | +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ | Institute | |http://www.indigenous-language.org| This issue's Elder Quote: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + ======================== "I know Great Spirit is looking down upon me from above, and will hear what I say." __ Chief Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa Lakota +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! My wife and I had the displeasure of reading a "hatchet job" in the New York Post denouncing tribal sovereignty. We each wrote a rebuttal. It is my honor to present Janet's response as this issue's editorial. Some thoughts on the NYP editorial. The New York Post is not exactly an example of unbiased news reporting. Muckraking is much more their style, so the tone of the article is unsurprising. In this editorial's view, Indians were noble when the U.S. government had them under thumb on reservations, at the mercy of Indian traders who paid them pennies on the dollar for their crafts, and BIA functionaries who made sure lease holders greased their own pockets in return for sweetheart deals, instead of rendering honest payment to the Indians whose resources they took. As long as Indian nations were poor, dependent colonies controlled by a non-Indian "agent" and a puppet tribal council -- they were noble. So long as our people provided cheap energy resources, timber, grazing land and other resources to U.S. and European corporations, while wearing others' cast-offs -- we were noble. Sometimes the cost to Indians for their nobility went even higher. Ask the Navajo dying of uranium poisoning they sustained based on lies U.S. companies told them. Ask where the payments the court ordered for them are, and how many decades they have been owed it. As yourself how noble is is to die in radiation- poisoned agony for the sake of well-lit cities somebody else's children will enjoy and well-stocked bomb silos that will protect those who have deliberately put you in harms way? As long as there were a few who could put together some feathers and dance to entertain white folks for a few dollars thrown on the ground -- Indians were noble. As long as Indians were portrayed by Hollywood films (by Italian actors--god forbid an Indian should actually be cast) as the wicked savage justly trounced by the good white-hatted invader on his lands -- they were noble. As I said, unsurprising. Also racist, bigoted, and presumptious. Whoever said we WANTED to be "noble?" That's a Hollywood construct, not ours. What we want is honor and respect for who we are, and what we've exchanged in what we trusted to be honest trade. That's a two way street that so far has only been traveled in one direction. It isn't like Indian nations have not tried to establish legitimate business enterprises on their lands for years. Our tribes' sovereign governments dared not place onerous burdens upon would-be enterprises. In fact, the opposite was true. Companies who chose to set up operations on a reservation could and did evade minimum wage laws, Social Security payments, OSHA safety regulations, job-injury compensation laws, and any other legal worksite regulation. State taxes? No problem. Didn't exist on the rez. Property taxes. Heh...the rez was grateful you chose to put an employment opportunity on their land. Do I know this to be true? Yup. During my college years I worked as a clerk in a Qualla craft shop for HALF the minimum wage that would have been required off rez. My boyfriend's father had his arm ripped off in a factory accident on the rez (he, too, was making less than minimum wage, although he was a skilled mechanic who had worked for the company for decades). The company let him know he should be GRATEFUL they paid for his hospitalization, and were even kind enough to purchase a prosthetic for him and allow him to return to work as a floor sweeper at a substantially reduced salary. Because legally -- they didn't have to. There were no inspectors up there grilling the company on how the accident happened and how something similar could be avoided in the future. Another man was doing that same job on that same machine later that same day as soon as the blood and flesh was cleaned off. Nobody dared complain. He WAS fortunate to have a year-round job. Most people on the rez subsisted off tourist business jobs (at half minimum wage) for half the year, and tried to save enough to survive the off months. An article in a respected business magazine, Forbes, a couple of years back traced efforts of tribal councils to institute legitimate, good- paying businesses on their reservations. One by one, the Bureau of Indian affairs found ways to obstruct these deals. The tribes who were successful, such as the Mississippi Band of Choctaw (who began flourishing long before they built their casino), made their deals and obtained their industries in spite of efforts by the BIA to prevent them from doing so. The Forbes conclusion was that it was not the fault of Indian tribes that they were impoverished, it was a calculatated effort on the part of government bureaucrats that made sure any efforts to help young Indian families survive other than by leaving home would be frustrated. It was never the intent of the U.S. government, in spite of the lofty treaty-words, to support the development of thriving sovereign Indian nations, with leaders dedicated to their own people, and successful local economies. Far from it. The intention, proven by decades of Indian schools, "relocation" efforts, reservation deprivations, last-bottle-club recognition policies and forced sterilization was to slowly, subtly lure the best and brightest Indian youngsters away from their home and culture and make nicely tanned "American dreamers" out of them. And to make sure those who stayed behind didn't produce many more youngsters. Soon, the logic went, the recognition of each tribal nation could be withdrawn (and this has happened more than once, and is about to happen again to the Osage) and one more "Indian problem" would be gone. We won't even get into the deliberate introduction of alcohol or the continued provision of high-starch foods to a population known to be prone to diabet es. Nobody ever asked whether Indians wanted to be noble martyrs to the cause of rapaciousness. Maybe we just want what we were promised in those treaties long ago -- the ability to maintain our own culture, language, religion and songs, our own government, our own way of life in a way that would enable our people to live well. Maybe we just want a fair price for that which legitimately belongs to us. We did the "noble" thing long ago by trusting invading Europeans to deal fairly in their exchanges of land. We've finally learned that to the U.S. government and corporations (and obviously some members of tabloid-quality press), another word for nobility is victimization. It's too high a price for us to pay for being admired. Dohiyi Ani Oginalii , , Gary Night Owl gars@nanews.org (*,*) P. O. Box 672168 gars@speakeasy.org (`-') Marietta, GA 30008, U.S.A. ===w=w=== ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ---------- - Chief urges Indians - Revised Kahnawake Membership Law to preserve Culture Draft Explained - Tribal Leaders take aim - Ponca Tribal Members at Indian Health Issues protest Chemical Plant - Elders warn against Long Arms - Nez Perce charged - Shiprock to open with poaching Elk Adolescent Treatment Center - 2nd look at Infamous Teen Killing - DOI: Paying Navajos less for Land - Police mixup is Reasonable destroys Aquash Murder Evidence - US to sell Tobacco - Native Prisoner seized from Indian Businesses -- Warning: Deceitful actions of - Cayugas' Plans ignite Hope and Fear European "Supporters" - Blackfeet Tribe -- Public Support offer by ridding Towns of Abandoned Cars Texas Attorney - Kickapoo struggle to cope - Indian School with Water Shortage receiving Historic Marker - Native Scholars Program - Rustywire: inspires Indian Teens Moving them up the Mountain - Historic finds at Squaxin Dig Site - Poem: Thinking on Navajo Girl - GOP still hopes - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days to open ANWR to Drilling - Momaday Radio Show - First Nation signs - Spiritual Gathering of the Oyate Major Land Rights Settlement - Upcoming Events --------- "RE: Chief urges Indians to preserve Culture" --------- Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2003 08:16:29 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SAVE WAYS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.ljworld.com/section/stateregional/story/142929 Chief urges Indians to preserve culture By Kelly Kurt - Associated Press Writer Thursday, August 21, 2003 Tulsa, Okla. - The rise of groups openly hostile to American Indian tribes is one reason the Cherokee Nation must work to preserve its culture, create jobs and build communities, the tribe's newly re-elected chief says. Principal Chief Chad Smith spoke Tuesday at a meeting of The Associated Press-Oklahoma News Executives. The tribe's initiatives are important should opinion turn against tribal governments, he said. He said some groups had spoken out against expanding tribal authority. "We believe in the next 100 years the pendulum will swing against us," Smith said. Smith, who was sworn in for a second term last week, also spoke against the use of Indian mascots for sports teams, saying they treat tribal members as second-class citizens. Such mascots continue to be used out of ignorance, he said. "People are going to realize there's not a lot of value in this anymore," he said. He welcomed decisions by some news organizations to avoid using mascot names that American Indians find offensive in referring to sports teams. Union Public Schools' use of its "Redskins" mascot has been called into question by Indian groups. Fifteen other Oklahoma schools use the team name, and hundreds of schools use other Indian names for mascots. Smith said the term "redskin" referred to a scalp sold for a bounty. The tribe chooses to take on the mascot issue on a case-by-case basis. Part of the problem, Smith said, is that many people do not understand what a tribe is. He pointed out a court ruling that found tribes are not a racial group but sovereign nations that have government-to-government relations with the United States. The Cherokee Nation entered into treaties with Great Britain before the United States existed, he said. When Oklahoma became a state, it was "subject to the existing rights of the tribes," he said. Smith said he would like to see the state enter into a compact with tribes enabling them to make their gaming operations more attractive to the Oklahoma market. He said the state was losing business to other states that offer Las Vegas-style gaming. Copyright c. 2003 The Lawrence Journal-World. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Tribal Leaders take aim at Indian Health Issues" --------- Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 08:18:36 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NDN HEALTH" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.havredailynews.com/articles/2003/08/19/local_headlines/tribal.txt Tribal leaders take aim at Indian health issues By Jerome Tharaud/Havre Daily News/jtharaud@havredailynews.com August 20, 2003 POLSON - Tribal and federal officials and health care experts from around the country converged on this smoke-shrouded lakeside resort Monday to plan a renewed push to raise the level of health care for American Indians. "The health disparities in Indian Country are overwhelming," Chippewa Cree tribal Chair Alvin Windy Boy Sr. told the planning committee, which he co-chairs. "It is our hope that this committee can develop a forum that's going to come up with some solutions or directions to solutions." Windy Boy said the federal government spends about $1,530 per person for health care for Indians, compared with an average of about $3,500 for all Americans. "It's no different than Third World conditions," he said. "How could a country claim to be so strong to other countries when their back yard is riddled with health disparities?" The two-day meeting, which drew representatives from each of the 12 tribal regions - together representing all 586 federally recognized U.S. Indian tribes - as well as liaisons from several branches of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and several private health organizations, was held to plan an April summit that aims to bring U.S. senators and congressmen and high-ranking Bush administration officials to Billings. Summit planners hope it will lead to changes in the way the federal government provides health care to Indians, both in increased funding as well as institutional changes. In several hours of meetings on Monday, the planning committee began to hash out the agenda for that April meeting. By Tuesday afternoon, they hope, the nine forum topics they began with - each one large enough for a separate summit - will be whittled down to three or four. Within each of those, they hope, will be specific suggestions for changes to laws and policies. "The idea was to get all three groups into the room and have a discussion, a dialogue about health disparities and how to bring up the health of American Indians," said planning committee co-chair Don Kashevaroff, president of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, which provides health services to Alaska Natives. "We want something Congress, HHS, and the tribes buy into together," Kashevaroff said. "One-tenth, one-one hundredth of a percent (of the HHS budget) would make a huge difference." Windy Boy said he has been an advocate for tribal health care for 15 years and has been to many conferences, but that so far change has not happened. He said that's because many conferences talk about the problem but not enough about the solutions. The April meeting will be more effective than past efforts, he said, if more of the people in power show up. U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., has worked closely with the committee and has agreed to send out letters inviting other congressmen and administration officials to the summit, Windy Boy said. He added that he received a personal commitment from Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson to provide results. Part of the problem is monetary, Windy Boy said. "You can't take care of the 586 federally recognized tribes with a $3.1 billion budget," he said, referring to the budget of the Indian Health Service. Rather, he said, tribes are entitled to services from other HHS agencies that have more money as part of their treaties with the United States. Windy Boy said members of the government should be educated about treaty obligations at the April meeting. U.S. treaties with the tribes include pledges to provide for housing, health care and education, he said. "My people still believe in those treaties," said Tony Prairiebear, planner for the Northern Cheyenne Health Department. "We gave up large tracts of land for little or nothing. They need to know where our problems come from." Not everyone is focusing on treaty obligations. "I think it's more of a moral responsibility than a trust responsibility," Kashevaroff said. "You can't have Third World conditions in the best country in the world." The planning process for the summitt began with a meeting in April. In its remaining four planning sessions, the committee will be identifying the specific services it wants to make a push for in order to make a pitch to the people with the purse strings in April - including, they hope, Thompson himself. Both tribal and federal officials at the meeting said Thompson is committed to making gains in Indian health care with his remaining year in office. "What he's saying is 'I want to open the department to tribes, and help me figure out a way to do this," said Eric Broderick, a senior adviser for tribal health policy at HHS. Broderick said there are a variety of reasons why HHS resources don't get to tribes, including an outlook that assumes the Indian Health Service should handle Indian health issues on its own, as well as legislative and policy barriers. He said tribes need to identify specific barriers before they go to the April summit, and that Thompson will be prepared to listen. Ed Fox, executive director of the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board, which provides health promotion and disease prevention for 43 tribes in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, said that at an Aug. 8 meeting in Alaska, Thompson had a "real frank dialogue" with him about his desire to change things in Indian Country. "He was real clear that he wanted to do followup," Fox said, adding that Thompson said he wants a very specific identification of problems from tribes - exactly what the April summit is intended to provide. Fox said Thompson is committed to working for a significant budget increase in the Indian Health Service budget next year. A shortage of resources is not the only barrier to improving health care in Indian Country. The committee also discussed institutional changes it hopes to bring about. Dean Seneca, assistant director of the Office of Tribal Affairs at the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, an agency of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said part of the problem is that historically the federal government funds states and lets states fund tribes. One way to get the federal government more engaged with tribal governments is to get more Indians working at the federal level, he said. Seneca said he would like to see an office of tribal affairs at the Centers for Disease Control. ATSDR is the only agency at the center with its own tribal affairs office, he said. The office gives his agency a way to focus on Indian issues in a way similar to existing CDC offices that focus on women and minority issues, he said. Whereas ATSDR has a budget of about $75 million, CDC has a budget of about $990 million, Seneca said. An office of tribal affairs attached to the director's office of CDC would make more of that money available to Indian health problems, he said. In the end, Windy Boy said, funding will be the most important component to bring parity to the system. Copyright c. 2003 Havre Daily News/Havre MT. --------- "RE: Elders warn against Long Arms" --------- Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2003 08:14:31 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LEARN PROPERLY" http://www.ammsa.com/buffalospirit/June-2000/longarms.html Long arms - Elders warn against it The world has become a small place. With today's technology - high speed internet, fast cars, planes, and cell phones - people are trading and sharing information more than ever before. While this shared information creates a greater understanding between people, there is also the danger of getting things mixed up by appropriating another's cultural and spiritual practices, bringing them home and making them your own. Thus begins the melding of the distinct nations of the Aboriginal people, the creation of the pan-Indian, the hybrid. The people we've interviewed for this edition of Buffalo Spirit warn against this appropriation. Learn from your own people, use their teachings, find your identity within your own tribal group. Kim Recalma-Clutesi of the Kwakwa kawkw people of Vancouver Island says the difficulty is unraveling people's belief systems from what they've learned in text, from ethnographical material, and in the recovery centres that often use sweats, smudging and other spiritual practices of the plains people to aid in the healing process. "There is a school of thought out there that if it's helping people, leave it alone. But there is a stronger school of thought from people who are technicians within the culture, how many of us would wash our feet in the holy water? It's akin to that. It's that serious. For some reason we are supposed to forget the rules to help people. But in a lot of ways, they said, forgetting the rules is very dangerous, because these things come as part ... of supernatural energy." She said "if we are going to have the discipline to know who we are, we need to have the respect to turn the temperature down in our discussions with each other. To respect each other and to respect those people who actually own the teachings. " Kim is a caregiver to Chief Adam Dyck who suffered a heart attack recently. He too is concerned about the appropriation of other Aboriginal people's cultures by his own people. "What's happening now with my people is that they're lost," said Chief Dyck. "They don't know who they are now. They don't know what kind they belong to. The problem is what we call long arms. You know they will reach into other people's boxes and they play with it. And they do lots of that... I seen one of our boys where he has regalia on, everything on and dance like your people (plains people), wearing all the Indian blankets and everything. They want to dance like your people back there. There was a powwow and he was right in there with his outfit on. That we don't do...." he said. The Elders warned Mary Thomas of Neskonlith about borrowing other people's spiritual practices. "My grandmother used to lead the sweat. And this is what I find so different today; what the young people are doing today. They are borrowing from other nations and doing it. And that was something our Elders warned me... You don't borrow from other people's spirituality, because you don't understand it. Look at what the Catholic church did to us. We don't understand that spirituality, and it's destroyed us. So if you borrow from other nations and try to follow it, it's not yours. Be very careful..." she cautioned, adding, "respect other people's belief, respect what they do. They will respect you for the way you believe. " Even between closely located and seemingly similar nations, the differences between traditional and spiritual practices can be great. Take the sweatlodge ceremony, in southern Alberta where Ruth Brass grew up, was trained and lived. "Blackfoot women never go into a sweat. Not in our culture. I know that [just miles away] Brocket, Cardston do, but here we don't. We're not supposed to, because, I don't know if you realize what a sweat is... a sweat is a woman's womb. So when you go in there, that's why they say you're purified... So we don't, but I know in the other culture's they do... As far as I know, in my family, in the society we belong to, no woman has every gone into a sweat. So that's one of the no-nos you are not supposed to do. If the older ladies, if they were around, I don't know what they would think," Ruth says with a laugh. Ruth believes that the inter-marriage between the nations also causes confusion in spiritual practices. "The women that married into ours, the women that marry out, they bring their husbands in and they kind of try to mingle with our culture...I think the only [Blackfoot] societies that have not been invaded are the prairie chicken and the bundle holders. But the Horn Society and the Crazy Dogs have been using different systems from the other cultures. And then when a person doesn't ... they say, 'It's alright.' "It is all right to a limit, like everybody prays. I have nothing against it, but there are certain things that they're supposed to do, and it is quite different from the other guy, because they never had, say like the prairie chicken, they don't have that in a lot of the reserves. I think we're the only one that have it..." Copyright c. 2003 Buffalo Spirit, AMMSA Aboriginal Multi-Media Society. --------- "RE: Shiprock to open Adolescent Treatment Center" --------- Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 08:12:46 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ADOLESCENT TREATMENT CENTER" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.daily-times.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=69&num=1879 Shiprock to open adolescent residential treatment center By Laura Banish/The Daily Times Aug 21, 2003, 11:22 SHIPROCK - In an attempt to address some of the area's behavioral health needs, the Shiprock Adolescent Treatment Center is expanding its services to include a residential treatment program for Navajo youth, the Navajo Department of Behavioral Health Services announced Wednesday. Clinical Director and Acting Program Supervisor Christopher Morris said that because of staffing limitations, the new service will develop slowly, starting with 12 residential treatment beds for males between the ages of 13 and 18. Morris said female adolescents will be treated at a facility operated by the Navajo Department of Behavioral Health in Chinle, Ariz. Morris said the Shiprock Adolescent Treatment Center, which has been providing outpatient care for a little more than a year, was initially intended to be a residential treatment facility, however finding qualified staff has been a major obstacle in achieving this goal. "There is definitely a shortage of services, so we were very interested in opening the residential treatment center. But we couldn't get the professional staff needed," Morris said. "The staff is still not at full capacity, but we had to do it. We waited for a while hoping to staff the center more fully, but time was going by and the services were needed. I think it will work though, we have a good team." Morris said that in the event a full staff is hired, the center will utilize all 24 of its adolescent residential treatment beds to treat both males and females. He added that the need for such services has been demonstrated by the number of children treated by the current outpatient program during the last year. Approximately 55 Navajo youths with substance abuse, mental disorders or co-occurring diagnoses have gone through the center's intensive outpatient treatment program since it started. Because the center is operated by the Navajo Nation, only Native American children will benefit from its services. Morris said he is exploring the possibility of expanding the services to a limited number of non-Navajo Native Americans. Morris said that because cultural beliefs and family involvement are vital aspects of the healing process, it is important to have a local facility to treat the children rather than send them to Albuquerque, Phoenix or Salt Lake City for help. "Family and culture is so important and if a child is sent 300 miles away, many families don't have the resources to get out there and get involved," he said. "For these kids, culture is a major part of learning who they are and making choices to be a stronger person." Although residential treatment services are not scheduled to be available until Sept. 22, the facility will host an open house Aug. 29. Morris said he realizes many people don't know about the facility's current operations and asked that anyone from the public interested in behavioral health attend. "The thing about treatment centers is that they are private places, which usually benefits the client's confidentiality as a private place to come work out a problem. But the downside is no one knows you exist," he said. "We would like people to come and see the facility, learn a little more about the program, have some lunch and have a good time,." The open house begins at 8 a.m. Aug. 29. The Shiprock Adolescent Treatment Center is located near the Shiprock Hospital at Dorm No. 2 on Yucca Street. For more information call (505) 368-1050 or (505) 368-1501. Laura Banish: laurab@daily-times.com Copyright c. 2003 Farmington Daily Times, a Gannett Co., Inc. newspaper. --------- "RE: DOI: Paying Navajos less for Land is Reasonable" --------- Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2003 08:16:29 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CHEATING DoI" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23434-2003Aug20.html Report Finds Oil Firms Paid Indians Less for Land Special Master Urges Full Probe of Leases By Carol D. Leonnig Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, August 21, 2003 Oil and gas companies paid Indians whose land is managed by the government just a fraction of the amounts they paid private landowners for the right to run pipelines across their property, arrangements that were approved by Interior Department officials, according to an investigative court report released yesterday. For natural gas and oil pipelines running across the San Juan basin in New Mexico, for example, utility companies paid $25 to $40 for the right to cross every 51/2 yards of Navajo land managed by the government. But on adjoining properties, the investigation found, the companies paid $140 to $577 to cross the same amount of land owned and managed by private individuals and companies. A special master appointed by a federal judge in Washington released the findings yesterday, urging the judge to end the disparities and order a full investigation into how Interior Department officials value leases for Indian lands they control. The special master, Alan L. Balaran, also reported that the Interior Department's chief appraiser of Indian trust land admitted destroying his computerized appraisal records last fall and misplacing key documents relating to how he valued Indian properties in New Mexico and Arizona. The Native American groups have been involved in a seven-year legal battle with the Interior Department that seeks a fair accounting of government-managed Indian lands and money, one of the largest class-action lawsuits in U.S. history, with 300,000 plaintiffs. U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth has already determined that the government failed in its fiduciary responsibilities to the Indians and is trying to determine damages and how to repair the system. The Indian groups said they would sue the department again for damages based on Balaran's conclusions. They said they would seek uncollected revenue that would have been generated by leasing the rights at fair market value, and contended the government conspired with utility companies to keep lease rates low. "Why are Indians getting pennies on the dollar for what others get?" asked Keith Harper, attorney with the Native American Rights Fund. "These people are essentially being robbed of their inheritance. You have sweetheart deals with oil and gas companies. And you have the top people at Interior saying it's okay, and aiding this corrupt practice." Interior officials responded that they had asked Lamberth to remove Balaran from his post, alleging Balaran is biased in favor of Native Americans. "This is clearly another faulty and biased report from the special master," said Interior Department spokesman Dan DuBray. "We believe an independent, objective . . . review of Interior's appraisal activity will find it is reasonable and appropriate." Lamberth appointed Balaran last year to investigate whether the government was properly documenting and safeguarding money owed to 500,000 Native Americans from grazing, mineral and utility leases on land the government has managed since 1887. Indians say they are owed billions of dollars in compensation for the government's mismanagement of their trust accounts. Balaran's report reviewed the utility leasing arrangements for the Navajo Nation, the largest Indian reservation in the country at 16 million acres. He focused on two large right-of-way leases on Eastern Navajo lands in New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. Interior's former chief appraiser, Anson Baker, told Balaran that Indian trust lands receive "much less" money for rights of way because he feared that setting values comparable to private landholder leases could encourage gas and oil companies to try to have the Indian properties condemned. Balaran called that explanation "suspect" because no company had sought condemnation of Indian property in Baker's 20-year tenure. Balaran said Baker did not, as required by department order and the agency's fiduciary duty, document any justification for his appraisals, or any reason for the discrepancies between Indian trust and other lands. Ross Swimmer, the newly confirmed special trustee for American Indians and an assistant secretary of Indian affairs during the Reagan administration, explained to Balaran that he believed leases on Indian trust lands were likely less valuable to utility companies because of the "bureaucracy" involved in leasing land with the federal government. "If I were to value the land next door to that Indian land, same land, identical, I would probably put a higher value on non-Indian land," Swimmer said in a June 23 deposition. "Just a matter of bureaucracy. If I can lease the land next door at a comparable price, then I would do that rather than lease the Indian land." An official with the Association of Oil Pipelines declined to comment on the findings, saying the group needed more time to review the report. Copyright c. 2003 The Washington Post Company --------- "RE: US to sell Tobacco seized from Indian Businesses" --------- Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003 08:56:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TOBACCO SEIZURES" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001620202_smokes26m.html Feds will put confiscated cigarettes back on market By Jonathan Martin Seattle Times staff reporter August 26, 2003 Federal authorities have arranged to sell most of the 32 million cigarettes taken during the largest seizure ever of tobacco headed to Indian smoke shops in Washington. The 1.6 million cigarette packs, all lacking a tax stamp, were swept up in a May raid of smoke shops in North Idaho and Washington. Rather than let the cigarettes grow stale, federal prosecutors in Spokane earlier this month got permission to send 20 million of them to the wholesale market. The profits will go into a trust account until the forfeiture case is completed. With a grand jury still gathering records and criminal indictments possible, the U.S. attorneys declined to talk about the investigation. But court documents filed last month in U.S. District Court in Spokane describe a multimillion-dollar smuggling operation intended to skirt Washington's $1.42-per-pack tax. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Shively said he believed the seizure was one of the biggest civil forfeitures ever for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and state tobacco-tax regulators said their largest seizure - of fewer than 500,000 packs - paled in comparison. "That's the biggest I've ever heard of," said Mike Gowrylow, spokesman for the state Department of Revenue. State and federal authorities have long-running cigarette battles with tribes that feel such raids violate their sovereignty. Tribal members can buy untaxed cigarettes, but it is illegal for non-Indians to avoid the hefty tax, which funds health programs. Washington's Department of Revenue estimates that more than one-third of cigarettes smoked each year are untaxed, costing $240 million in lost revenue. The seized cigarettes represent $2.3 million in tobacco taxes, plus sales tax. In May, ATF agents, backed by the Washington State Liquor Control Board, seized the cigarettes, along with $777,000 in cash, from a cigarette distributor in Plummer, Idaho, and smoke shops on the Puyallup and Yakama reservations. Most of the cigarettes were cut-rate brands, with names like Nise, Sweet Dreams and Smokin Joes. Search warrants have been sealed. In court filings, U.S. attorneys said the cigarettes violated the federal Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act because they lacked a stamp that showed state taxes had been paid. Prosecutors said the seized cash was linked directly to the sale of contraband smokes. At least four tribes have signed compacts that allow them to collect the $1.42-per-pack tax and keep the revenues. But others have resisted making any agreements with state government, claiming sovereignty. John Weymer, a spokesman for the Puyallup Tribe, said the tribe has been negotiating with the state for a compact for two years. "We are a sovereign nation, a country within a country, and any type of business that goes on within the reservation is regulated by the tribe," he said. "Cigarettes are part of that." Although one of the businesses targeted by the ATF was licensed by the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, the owner is a private businessman, Weymer said. The focus of the raid was JKL Enterprises, a North Idaho distributor that bought $36 million in wholesale cigarettes between April 2002 and March 2003, according to an ATF audit of the company's records. It's unclear how much JKL took in; a employee told agents much of the business was done in cash, in deals as large as $100,000. An attorney for JKL's owner, Louie Mahoney, was unavailable yesterday. Two of the company's biggest customers were the Little Brown Smoke Shop in Zillah, Yakima County, and the Indian Smoke Shop in Milton, Pierce County. During the investigation, agents bought untaxed cigarettes at both sites and found boxes of untaxed cigarettes at businesses. Allen Ressler, an attorney for Indian Smoke Shop owner David Bean, agreed to let U.S. attorneys sell his client's cigarettes to avoid them becoming stale. But he questions whether agents had enough probable cause to seize the cigarettes, and he said his client had a right to sell untaxed cigarettes to tribal members. "At this juncture, we're still in the position to, hopefully, negotiate a resolution of the entire issue," Ressler said. Jonathan Martin: 206-464-2605 or jonathanmartin@seattletimes.com Copyright c. 2003 The Seattle Times Company. --------- "RE: Cayugas' Plans ignite Hope and Fear" --------- Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2003 08:14:31 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CAYUGA LAND CLAIM" http://www.rochesterdandc.com/news/0824I51JL4I_cayuga24_news.shtml Cayugas' plans ignite hope and fear Tribe shows divisions as taxpayer resistance grows By Diana Louise Carter Staff Writer August 24, 2003 The hills sloping toward the western shore of Cayuga Lake are etched with vineyards. The rolling hills on the eastern side of the largest Finger Lake are a patchwork of corn, wheat and alfalfa. Signs sprout on both sides. "No Sovereign Nation. No Reservation" the white, wooden signs announce in crisp red and blue letters. The signs appear at least every quarter- mile along the north-south roads that flank the lake, and at most nearby intersections. To passers-by, the signs are cryptic. To the locals, they signify a dispute as deep and dividing as the 40-mile-long glacial gash that is Cayuga Lake. Now, new signs have popped up, proclaiming current and proposed businesses - businesses run by two separate and recently competing factions of the Cayugas. The Cayugas, largely absent from the area for two centuries, have been trying most of that time to reclaim the heart of their aboriginal territory: 64,000 acres that surround the northern tip of the lake. Impatient with the lack of resolution of their 23-year-old federal land claim, the Cayugas have borrowed money to buy what they couldn't get back otherwise. "For the first time in over 200 years, the Cayuga nation is not landless anymore," said Clint Halftown, a chief of the 500-member Cayuga Nation of New York and its spokesman. In April, the nation bought a convenience store and car wash in the village of Union Springs, where the tribe undersells competitors on gas and cigarettes. Meanwhile, the 4,000-member Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma has bought a 229-acre farm in the town of Aurelius and is planning to build a casino there. Those plans were temporarily stalled Thursday, when a federal judge enjoined the tribe and town from taking any action until a hearing Sept. 8. Neither the casino plans, nor the land claim, nor the fact that Indian nations don't pay property taxes or state sales taxes on their own lands sit well with many local residents. Some 3,000 of them joined the United Citizens for Equality, the group that put up the "No Reservation" signs. They're using all the grass-roots power they can muster to oppose the claim and the new businesses. "It's insanity to think you can right a wrong (committed) 206 years ago," says Brad Rindfleisch, a 44-year-old trucker and firefighter whose family has farmed near Union Springs for at least three generations. "To us, this is an invasion of our land." The recent purchases have shifted the local debate from ownership of the land to a more complex discussion of tax equity and the sovereignty of Native American nations. At stake on both fronts are millions, perhaps billions, of dollars that could be awarded by the land-claim suit, potential erosion of Seneca and Cayuga counties' tax bases, justice for the long-absent Cayugas, and a way of life for the people who have lived along the lake and its hills for generations. High stakes "We were here for centuries before the white man came," says Jerry Dilliner, tribal representative and former chief of the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma. His western twang is evidence of the dispersion of the Iroquois nations that once dominated New York. Since November, Dilliner and Jay WhiteCrow, another tribal representative, have been living in and working out of an old farmhouse near the corner of Routes 5 and 20 and state Route 90. With the financial backing of Thomas C. Wilmot, chairman of the Chili-based development company Wilmorite Inc., the Oklahoma tribe has spent more than $2 million to buy and develop property in the Cayuga land claim area. Wilmot's investment earns him development rights on the casino project. Sitting at the farmhouse kitchen table, Dilliner says, "We hope within a year we'll have our casino building up and running." He shows an artist's rendition of the Cayuga Lake Casino, a grand Adirondack Lodge-style structure fronted by Vegas-style fountains. The plan, the Oklahomans say, is to open the building as a high-stakes bingo hall. Such Class II gaming doesn't require local or state approvals. But to become a full-fledged casino with Class III games, such as blackjack, roulette and slot machines, the tribe would have to negotiate a compact with New York state. So far, Gov. George Pataki's office hasn't been willing to negotiate with the Oklahomans, saying the gambling welcome mat is out only for in-state tribes. Meanwhile, the Oklahoma Cayugas say they've completed the process of turning the farm into sovereign Indian territory, but other officials dispute that status. If the land is under the tribe's sovereign control, it would take it off the local and state tax rolls. "We're doing what we're allowed to do under the law," WhiteCrow says, noting that large corporations are often given tax breaks, grants and no- interest loans to relocate to an area that needs jobs. The bingo operation could provide 200 to 300 "well-paying'' jobs, Dilliner says, and most of those workers would pay income tax and pour their incomes into the local economy. WhiteCrow says he and Dilliner attempted to pay $15,000 to the town of Aurelius or Cayuga County as the first annual gift from the tribe to local government. Their offer - an amount more than double what the farm paid in taxes last year - was rebuffed. "By accepting any money from them, we didn't want to be in a situation where we are obligated to them," said Ray Lockwood, chairman of the Cayuga County Legislature. "There are just too many issues surrounding it." The county has no mechanism to accept such a gift, nor does it have a guarantee that the payment would actually be made more than once, Lockwood said. Accepting the payment could also signal that the county accepts the Seneca-Cayugas' sovereignty. Perhaps most importantly, the Oklahoma nation has filed suit against the local legislature for opposing its sovereignty, so it seemed improper for the legislature to accept money from the tribe. `Taking control' After a tribal council meeting last week in Gowanda, Cattaraugus County, Clint Halftown recalled sitting around the same council table when he was a child 20 years ago. Back then, he'd listen to the Cayuga leaders talk about the day they'd win their land claim, a day they didn't live to see. "Are we then to wait and then to let a court or some non-native judge to decide the Cayuga nation's future?" Halftown asks. "Why don't we start taking control of our own nation's future?" Halftown asserts that any property the Iroquois nations buy back within the land claim area defined by the 1794 Canandaigua Treaty automatically reverts to their sovereign land. The Cayugas have sovereignty over the four acres they bought "because we say so," he said. When Oneidas took a similar stance in Madison and Oneida counties and were opposed by United Citizens for Equality and local officials there, federal courts sided with the Oneidas. But the automatic sovereignty doesn't apply outside the land claim area, and it doesn't apply to the Oklahoma tribe except in Oklahoma, where the people gained federal recognition in 1937 as a separate tribe, Halftown says. Despite working well together in the federal land claim, the New York Cayugas are opposing the Oklahoma Cayugas' efforts to re-establish sovereign rights in New York. In the early 1800s, they left as individuals, not as a tribe, Halftown says. "The political and government jurisdiction of the Cayuga nation has always been maintained here by the Cayuga nation." Despite having no land and little resources, the New York nation has maintained an office in Gowanda, Cattaraugus County, since 1974, he says. "We have to meet the needs of our people, and that need is land," Halftown says. Without a place to come together, the Cayugas can't act as a community, he says. The Canandaigua Treaty entitles them to health and education services, but those services are concentrated on reservations, and the Cayugas don't have a reservation. So the New York Cayugas have a two-pronged plan designed to earn money so they can provide services and buy back their own territory. Part one is the Lakeside Trading gas station and car wash, where low- price gas and cigarettes are hot sellers. Part two of the plan is a casino, but unlike the Oklahoma Cayugas, the New York Cayugas are proposing one well away from their original territory. They've submitted an application to the eastern area office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to take 30 acres in the Catskills into federal trust for the Cayugas so they can start negotiating with state officials for a casino compact. Pataki has already designated Monticello, Jefferson County, as the site where he'd like to see three Indian-run casinos. The tribal council has been discussing the possibility of a casino since 1994, Halftown says. "It was not something that happened overnight. It took a lot of education, a lot of talking, a lot of reasoning," to reach a consensus among the council members. Halftown concedes that he is personally opposed to gambling, but "I also have to look and meet the needs of my people. We do what we have to do." Taxing issue On a hot night in July, about 20 members of the United Citizens for Equality meet on a porch of the American Legion Hall in Union Springs. The porch overlooks the legion hall's parking lot, where the backside of a pickup truck is plastered with bumper stickers proclaiming positions against the Indian land claim, Cayuga tribal enterprises, Oneida Nation enterprises and Hillary Clinton. But the bumper stickers don't spell out UCE members' key complaint. "Taxes are a huge issue for every family,'' says Connie Tallcot of Union Springs, who, with husband Dick Tallcot, leads the Cayuga-Seneca chapter of the UCE. Many of the local residents fear that as the Cayugas take more and more land off tax rolls, the taxes on non-Indian land will go up so high that landowners will be forced to sell. In addition, an unknown quantity of sales taxes from gas and cigarette sales at Lakeside Trading is no longer going into the state and local government budgets. Local residents say they sympathize with Native Americans for suffering from centuries of unfair deals and discrimination that have kept them in poverty. But they say that laws that give the tribal people an advantage are not the solution. "I don't believe you solve those problems by having some tribe get rich on alcohol, gambling and cigarettes," says Cayuga County Legislator George Fearon, whose district includes Union Springs. Not a member of UCE, he attends the group's meeting to remind members to use their voting power in the upcoming election to elect representatives sympathetic to their positions. Later, Fearon says, "I have no problem with cultural identity and tribal identity." He notes that he grew up in Oklahoma near the capital of the Cherokee Nation and that he's a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. But when Native American nations don't pay state taxes on gasoline and cigarettes, they aren't contributing to upkeep of roads and medical costs of cigarette addiction, he says. "For every dime that they evade - by any method - everybody else has to make it up," Fearon says. His dream of tax equity may be far in the future, he admits, but he thinks it's possible to work out a way for the state to collect taxes at least on the sales to non-Indians. Weeks later, Halftown says: "The state of New York can basically pass any law that they want. But out of respect for the sovereignty of Indian nations, they need to sit down and resolve these issues through discussions and negotiations." Settling a claim Several times in the last 25 years or so, the Cayuga claim has been close to settlement. But residents and political representatives have maintained a tenacious hold on the land. "To blame the Indians for the problem is to ignore the obstinacy and incompetence of Cayuga County representatives at local, and statewide and national levels," says Laurence Hauptman, professor of history at the State University of New York at New Paltz. The New York delegation didn't work hard enough for or didn't show up to vote on a settlement that the late Arizona Democratic Rep. Morris Udall worked out in the late 1970s, Hauptman says. "Instead, there has been 23 years of stalemate on the issue and litigation, which has cost state taxpayers millions of dollars." The New York and Oklahoma Cayugas filed suit in 1980, seeking to overturn apparently illegal treaties New York signed with Cayugas in 1795 and 1807. A federal court has ruled that the state treaties, never approved by the U. S. government as required by federal law since 1790, were illegal, but that while the Cayugas are entitled to compensation, they cannot evict current landowners. Pataki backed out of a tentative settlement in 1999 and again in 2000, says the Cayugas' attorney, Raymond J. Heslin. "His counsel was in my office and signed a settlement agreement and then backed out of it." Then, after U.S. District Judge Neal P. McCurn decided on $247.7 million in damages in late 2001, the Cayugas said they'd take the money - much more than they had been willing to settle for - and end the litigation there. But the state, now joined by Cayuga and Seneca counties, appealed the award, calling it "grossly excessive." "Judges aren't always right," said Tallcot, explaining why she and others have pushed their legislators to continue to fight the land claim. The Cayugas have countered with their own appeal, saying that McCurn miscalculated what they're owed. They upped their demand to $1.8 billion. The appeals could be heard late this year or early next year in Manhattan. No one is predicting when the court battle will end, but, meanwhile, the Cayugas march on with their plans to buy back their land. "Their goal is to buy as much property as they can. There's no stopping them," Tallcot says. Halftown says his nation cannot wait for a settlement or final decision to move forward. "Are we expected to sit back and wait another 23 years, on top of the other 200 years?" dcarter@DemocratandChronicle.com Copyright c. 2003 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. --------- "RE: Blackfeet Tribe ridding Towns of Abandoned Cars" --------- Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 08:12:46 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CAR CRUSHER" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.greatfallstribune.com/~/20030821/localnews/101233.html Blackfeet Tribe ridding towns of abandoned cars *New crusher has flattened 700 junked vehicles By JENNIFER PEREZ Tribune Hi-Line Bureau BROWNING - The Blackfeet Tribe wants to remove 6,000 to 7,000 junked vehicles from residences, ranches and junkyards on the 1.6 million-acre reservation. So far, the tribe's newly purchased 1980s-model, $40,000 vehicle crusher has flattened more than 700 junkers in Browning and Heart Butte with help from the tribe's utilities and housing programs, Glacier County and the towns of Browning and Cut Bank. All a homeowner has to do is sign a release form and the tribe will come and load up their junkers for free and take them to a holding unit outside of Browning where they're crushed and recycled. The junkers are sold at the market price of metal, which fluctuates around $70 to $75 a ton. Some of the profits will pay for the cost to update the four-vehicle mobile wrecker to handle seven junkers at a time, said Tribal Utilities Field Supervisor Joe Rutherford Jr. of Browning. The task force also intends eventually to remodel an old tribal building where it can disassemble reusable parts and start an Internet service to sell them, Tribal Housing Director Ray Wilson said Wednesday. Two years in the making, a new tribal ordinance strives to maintain the reservation's environment, protect Mother Earth and restore the reservation to the values of the Blackfeet. Not only do the unsightly, old junkers clutter residential areas, they have become a serious health problem on the reservation, said Rutherford Wednesday evening. Dangerous fluids often leak from the vehicles, eventually contaminating domestic water sources and posing a health threat to people and animals, the tribal ordinance states. Junkers sometime become garbage dumps and homes to rodents, which present the risk of hantavirus and other diseases to the public, Rutherford added. There have even been reports of transients sleeping in the old vehicles and of children getting locked inside the trunks, Rutherford said. "We just wanted to take that equation out of there and to make sure it's safe for everybody," Rutherford said. The Blackfeet Tribal Business Council unanimously passed the ordinance regulating junk vehicles and wrecking yards on the reservation in a special session May 20. In June, the tribe's housing department teamed up with the Glacier County Road Department and went door-to-door to get approval to remove extra vehicles, said Teresa Layne, an employee at the tribal housing department. More than 500 vehicles were removed in the Browning area and another sweep is expected in about two weeks, Layne said. Until the ordinance passed, the housing authority had trouble implementing its lease policy allowing a maximum of two vehicles per residence, Layne said. "Without an ordinance, we really couldn't do much," said Layne, who said the efforts are already noticeable. "It's made a great improvement in the low-rent areas," Layne said. First-time offenders who have more than two vehicles at a tribal housing residence are issued a lease violation giving them 10 days to remove the junkers before they're cited in tribal court. Those convicted in tribal court face a $150 to $500 fine per violation. Copyright c. 2003 Great Falls Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Kickapoo struggle to cope with Water Shortage" --------- Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 08:12:46 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="KICKAPOO DROUGHT" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascitystar/6579816.htm Kickapoo reservation struggles to cope with water shortage By JOHN L. PETTERSON and JOHN A. DVORAK The Kansas City Star August 21, 2003 HORTON, Kan. - It has been two months since the Delaware River flowed through the Kickapoo Tribe's reservation, and about as long since rain settled the dust. The reservation's sole source of water -- a tiny, muddy lake fed by the river -- is about 2 feet deep, and dropping by the day. The 1,800 residents are living under strict conservation measures: no watering lawns or gardens, no washing cars, no filling swimming pools. Violate the bans and you lose your water. "The water supply for the whole area is short," said Tribal Chairman Steve Cadue. "The drought hit us the worst." Trouble spots have begun popping up elsewhere in Kansas and Missouri, prompting calls for voluntary conservation and leaving some people unable to use water as freely as would like. Northwest of Topeka, operators of a water district were preparing Wednesday to order their 1,200 customers to cut back. "We're low on water; our towers don't have that much in them right now," said David Stauffer, manager of Pottawatomie County Rural Water District No. 1. "We're pumping as fast as our equipment allows." Overall, however, Kansas and Missouri officials reported Wednesday that most water utilities were taking care of demand. "We don't have any systems really at critical," said Deana Cash, environmental engineer with the Missouri Natural Resources Department in Jefferson City. Some cities have spent heavily to improve water service, and now they're getting through the drought without the restrictions they experienced in the past. But on the Kickapoo Reservation, things are so bad that the restaurant in the Golden Eagle Casino, the tribe's major economic enterprise, has taken to serving meals on disposable paper plates with plastic utensils to avoid washing dishes. Guests get bottled water. Cheryl DuBois, who runs the tribal Head Start program, called the tribal office Wednesday wondering whether there would be enough water for her children to wash their feet and brush their teeth when they show up for class next week. Damon Williams was recently hired as the tribe's director of water planning, just as the crisis worsened. "In my mind, this is a third-world condition in the middle of Kansas," he said. But there was a glimmer of hope Wednesday. The tribe learned that the U. S. Bureau of Indian Affairs had approved a $186,000 emergency grant to haul water from nearby Sabetha, Kan., to the reservation's treatment plant and distribution system. That means there will be enough water for basic needs for the next three months. After that, no one knows. "It's some breathing room," Cadue said. "It's an emergency fix. We've got to solve this in the long term, and solving it is construction of the Plum Creek Reservoir." The reservoir, a project approved by Congress but never funded, is planned for the northern part of Brown County in northeast Kansas. Part of it would be on the 30-square-mile Kickapoo reservation. It would provide water not only for the reservation but also for small towns and farms in the area. The federal government owes the tribe an adequate water source under an 1854 treaty, Cadue said. With the Golden Eagle Casino prospering, Cadue said, tribal members want to return to the reservation, but the water shortage has restricted home construction. For those already living on the reservation, there are concerns. Cadue said a single home fire would devastate the limited water supply. Janell Cadue, a relative of the tribal chairman, feels the water pinch like everyone else. Usually, she tends two or three gardens behind her home. In one of them she raises pumpkins, corn and beans to be served at tribal festivals. "They were looking pretty good, but now there's nothing left of them," she said. Unable to water the garden, all she can do is watch the plants wither. She's reluctant even to look at the patch of dying plants. "I really don't like to think about it," she said. Northern Kansas and northwestern Missouri are the places with the most serious water supply problems. In Gardner in southern Johnson County, residents face no mandatory restrictions but have been asked to take precautions. "We're telling people to be careful, water is starting to get low," said Stewart Fairburn, the city administrator. Seneca, Kan., illustrates the water difficulties faced by rural towns. "Our pumps can't pump it fast enough to the tower," said Brian Rusche, who oversees the water utility. Residents have been asked to voluntarily use less water. "Right now we're keeping up," Rusche said. Requests for conservation are not uncommon, particularly in northeast Kansas, said Elmer Ronnebaum, general manager of the Kansas Rural Water Association. Frequently, he said, areas don't actually lack water. "They have adequate supply, but the treatment, processing and delivery capacity is lacking," he said. Parts of Missouri do lack water. A lake providing water to Milan, Mo., has fallen 8 feet, prompting concern from state officials, who are also keeping an eye on water systems in Brookfield, Creighton and Drexel. The state has encouraged utilities to arrange for connections to nearby utilities, a step that may alleviate emergencies. But Grain Valley found itself with no alternative this week but to order cutbacks. Wednesday marked the second day of a ban on outside watering. "This weather has just hit us hard," said Gary Hanson, the public works director. "People have to realize, they can have a choice between green lawns and flushing." In Holton, Kan., a drought used to lead to water restrictions, but not this year. "At this point we're in pretty good shape," City Manager Brad Mears said. The town benefited from a $6 million project that included a new water treatment plant. Federal money helped with the cost. Water rates rose significantly, but residents accepted the increase, Mears said. "They've been on water restrictions for so long," he said. "They recognize the importance of water availability." To reach John L. Petterson, call (785) 354-1388 or send e-mail to jpetterson@kcstar.com. To reach John A. Dvorak, call (816) 234-7743 or send e-mail to jdvorak@kcstar.com. Copyright c. 1996-2003 Kansas City Star, Knight Ridder. --------- "RE: Native Scholars Program inspires Indian Teens" --------- Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 08:12:46 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NATIVE SCHOLARS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2003/08/21/news/community/8_21_038_05_43.txt 'Native scholars' program inspires Indian teens By:EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer SAN DIEGO - Drawing on lessons about the American Indian past, instructors at a summer program hope to inspire a group of young Indian students to make a college education an important part of their future. Two dozen students from tribes in North County and as far north as Alaska are participating in the Young Native Scholars Program, a two-week residential experience at UC San Diego aimed at preparing high school students for college. "It's a holistic approach to education, looking to bring academic achievement and improvement of self-esteem," said Marc Chavez, program coordinator at UCSD. "It's about giving them a real taste of college life." Each day, students in the program get up at 6 a.m. and begin the day with an hour of exercise that may include surfing, kayaking, yoga or karate. After breakfast, they go to class to study video production, Web- site development or one of various cultural learning lectures. In the afternoon, the students take field trips, attend arts classes and get to know each other in "talking circle" discussions. "It's important that you learn about your culture, because it's what ties you as people and as tribes," said Starr Montoya, a member of the Barona Band of Mission Indians in East County. Montoya was teaching the students Tuesday morning how to make acorn mush, a staple of ancient Southern California Indian people that she learned from her mother and grandmother how to cook. She said it has become tradition to make the meal that local tribes call "shawee" or "weewis" at funerals or at special occasions for tribal elders. Program instructors said it is important for Indian teens to realize that they are part of a larger historical tradition in the region than just their reservation homes. "It's important for us to know for example that the word 'Kumeyaay' (the name for a tribe that includes most Indian bands from San Pasqual in North County to Ensenada, Mexico) means cliffs," Chavez said. "This entire area was highly populated (by indigenous people) and they had constant contact with the sea." While some students were learning about foods their ancestors ate, others were putting the finishing touches on 30-second videos on computers. The digital video projects include subjects ranging from anti-drunk driving announcements to Indian pride ads. "One of the most important things they will learn here is how to be digital historians and media advocates," said Shonta Chaloux, community resources coordinator with the Southern California Tribal Chairman's Association, a group representing most Southern California tribes. "They will be able to document their own stories and important events in their communities, instead of others doing it for them," he said. The tribal chairman's association helped fund the program, which is free to the students. Though the program has been around for about 30 years, this is the first time that it has been able to host students living on the campus, Chavez said. It ends Saturday with a student recognition dinner at the university. Students said they already appreciate what they've experienced. "It's a great opportunity. I feel very proud to have been chosen from the more than 100 applicants who applied," said Savannah Stoneburner, 15, who lives on the remote North County reservation of Los Coyotes. "You realize that college life isn't all fun and games. It's really hard work." Stoneburner said she may return to UCSD once she graduates from high school to study to be a neurosurgeon. For more information on the program, visit www.NativeScholars.org. Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-5426 or esifuentes@nctimes.com. Copyright c. 1997-2003 North County Times, Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Historic finds at Squaxin Dig Site" --------- Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 08:12:46 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SQUAXIN FINDS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20030821/frontpage/80376.shtml Historic finds at Squaxin dig site Tribal relics date back hundreds of years August 21, 2003 JOHN DODGE THE OLYMPIAN MUD BAY - Squaxin Island tribal member Sally Brownfield hit the jackpot Wednesday on the final day of this year's archaeological dig at an ancient tribal village on the shores of Mud Bay. As this summer's dig by South Puget Sound Community College's archaeology class came to a close, Brownfield meticulously unearthed a footlong deer or elk shoulder blade that apparently was used to shred cedar bark. Tuesday, she discovered in the same excavation plot an elk antler used to split cedar. It was one of the more significant finds of the dig, which is in its fifth year. "I'm not finding things; my ancestors are showing me things," Brownfield said. "For me, this is very personal. My great-grandmother grew up at Mud Bay." This year, many of the major artifacts were uncovered in the last two weeks of the eight-week class, including an elk antler matting needle and a piece of a clam basket woven from the roots of a cedar tree. With every passing year and discovery, the importance of the site as a tribal activity center has grown, said SPSCC anthropology professor Dale Croes. Clams, oysters and salmon were gathered and smoked here. Elk, deer and smaller mammals were butchered and processed. Cedar was worked into mats, baskets, clothing and other items. The time frame? About 500 to 1,000 years ago. The village stretches over about 300 yards of shoreline and features a major shellfish refuse site, a food processing area and a living area of plank longhouses. With both upland and tideland areas under investigation, it's the most significant archaeological site in South Sound and one of the top wet archaeological sites in the region. Symbolic value Rhonda Foster, director of the Squaxin tribe's cultural resource management office, said the public puts too much emphasis on what is found at the site, and not enough on what the ongoing project symbolizes. "The site brings people together that otherwise wouldn't come together," she said. "And it's a link between my ancestors and my future. To me, the artifacts are just bonuses." The village sits on the property of former Secretary of State Ralph Munro and Karen Munro. The dig occurs each summer through a cooperative arrangement among the Munros, the tribe and SPSCC. And many of the artifacts are finding a nearby home where the public and tribal members can enjoy them alike -- the Squaxin Island Museum Library and Research Center. The summer class made a lasting impression on many of the 15 students enrolled. "It's been the best summer of my life," said Jennifer Mattheisen, 40, a forensic anthropology student at SPSCC and The Evergreen State College. Mattheisen said she wants to return year after year to work at the site, regardless of where her career takes her. John Dodge covers the environment and natural resources for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5444 or jdodge@olympia.gannett.com. Copyright c. 2003 The Olympian --------- "RE: GOP still hopes to open ANWR to Drilling" --------- Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003 08:56:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ANWR" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44726-2003Aug25.html GOP Renews Hopes for Alaska Oil Drilling Blackout Boosts Energy Bill's Prospects, but Democrats Stand Firm on Keeping Refuge Off-Limits By Juliet Eilperin Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, August 26, 2003; Page A04 Renewed interest in a major energy bill has raised Republicans' hopes for a cherished goal: drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. But the Bush administration and congressional leaders face fierce resistance from Senate Democrats, raising serious doubts that a green light for drilling will be part of a final bill. This month's massive blackout across the Northeast and Midwest has given new political momentum to legislation, backed by the White House, that would provide tax breaks for energy companies. The House approved its version of the bill in April; the Senate passed a different energy plan just before the August recess. One of the most controversial provisions in the House plan would allow oil companies to drill in ANWR, as the refuge is called. Advocates of drilling in the vast area, home to 123,000 caribou and other wildlife, have tried for years to achieve a congressional accord and presidential signature. By mean estimates, about 10.3 billion barrels of oil lie beneath the plain, compared with approximately 13 billion barrels that companies have extracted from Alaska's Prudhoe Bay in more than 25 years of production. Some labor unions also support drilling, saying it would produce new jobs. The current House has voted twice in favor of drilling in ANWR as part of a broad energy bill, most recently in April. But the Senate has rejected that approach, voting 52 to 48 against it as part of a budget resolution vote in March. As a result, its version of the energy bill has no such provision. For months, Republicans have said drilling in ANWR is a critical component of any comprehensive energy plan. But in recent interviews, top Republicans said they recognize the difficulty of overcoming the Senate's resistance. "I don't think we can afford not to try," said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-La.). "We have a moral obligation to continue to fight to find a compromise for the sake of the country." House Resources Committee Chairman Richard W. Pombo (R-Calif.) was even more firm, saying he feels "very strongly that production has got to be part of the final bill." "If you really want to produce a balanced energy bill, you want something on the side of production," he said, adding that ANWR "represents our best shot at bringing on a substantial oil reserve." But Senate and House Democrats describe any new drilling in Alaska as a deal-breaker. "The Senate has made it very clear we're not going to support legislation that would call for opening of ANWR," said Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.). "That's something that would jeopardize passage of a final bill." Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) said Republicans will have a hard time arguing that new drilling would do anything to address problems linked to the massive blackout that started Aug. 14. "The Republicans are saying to find the answer to the electricity crisis by going to the Arctic," Markey said. "The Democrats are saying to find the answer to the electricity crisis, go to Cleveland," near the spot where the problems began. "It's very difficult to argue it's related to the electricity crisis, because we don't use oil to generate electricity." But Tauzin said Democrats were obstructing an environmentally friendly approach to drilling that would boost the nation's oil reserves. He suggested critics of the plan should try to "live in the dark and see how they like it." House Republicans have tried to make their proposal more palatable by including language that would devote some of the drilling proceeds to a federal heating assistance program. Outside groups are readying their troops to do battle over ANWR. Alysondra Campaigne, legislative director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said her group is "educating the public on the issue. This is a huge priority for our organization." For its part, the oil industry is talking to lawmakers, staff, consumers and corporate allies such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to spread the message about why to pursue new production in Alaska. "We're making sure people understand from our point of view the resource potential there," said Betty Anthony, general manager for exploration and production at the American Petroleum Institute. The battle over ANWR has raged for more than a decade. President Dwight Eisenhower founded the refuge in 1960, one year after Alaska received statehood. Congress expanded it 20 years later and gave it its current name. A plan to develop oil in the plain was derailed in 1989 after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Republicans tried in 1991 and 1995 to open the refuge for drilling, but Democrats blocked them. Now the two sides are gearing up for a contentious political debate. Over the past few years Democrats have painted the GOP as insensitive to vulnerable animals. Republicans argue that Democrats are greatly exaggerating the impact of limited drilling within the vast reserve. They point to a Clinton administration report that said drilling could be pursued in an ecologically sensitive way. Tauzin said that with the "horrible politics" surrounding this issue, "it makes it pretty hard to reach a compromise." Copyright c. 2003 The Washington Post Company. --------- "RE: First Nation signs Major Land Rights Settlement " --------- Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003 08:56:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TLI CHO" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/08/25/landclaim030825 PM calls Tli Cho agreement 'model for implementing self-government' Mon, 25 Aug 2003 22:09:37 RAE-EDZO, N.W.T. - Prime Minister Jean Chre'tien has signed a historic land-claim agreement with the Dogrib First Nation in the Northwest Territories. The ceremony took place in the same school gymnasium in the community of Rae-Edzo that Chre'tien opened during a trip there in 1968. The prime minister told local residents and aboriginal leaders that such agreements show that a people can join the federation and be part of Canada without having to give up their culture and language. "It will serve as a model for other indigenous communities in Canada and in other countries, a model for implementing self-government. The agreement defines the rights and shows the world how diversity creates strength and how partnership builds success," said Chre'tien. Under the terms of the deal the Dogrib can also collect royalties from resource companies. The 39,000-square-kilometre area in the land claim includes Canada's two diamond mines. The agreement - called the Tli Cho agreement - gives the Dogrib control over language and culture. It is also the first agreement in the N.W.T. that contains both a land claim and self-government. The new Tli Cho government will also receive more than $150 million. The government will have authority over taxation, education, social services, liquor laws and land management. AGREEMENT QUICKFACTS * 3,000 people affected. * Area 39,000 square kilometres north of Yellowknife, between Great Slave and Great Bear lakes that includes both of Canada's diamond mines. * $152 million over 15 years, plus annual payments likely to amount to about $3.5 million. * Legislative bodies to be created with the power to collect taxes, levy resource royalties and regulate everything from fishing to family law to licensing native healers. * Ottawa will retain control of criminal law, and the N.W.T. government will keep many powers over such services as health and education. Written by CBC News Online staff Copyright c. 2003 CBC. --------- "RE: Revised Kahnawake Membership Law Draft Explained" --------- Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 08:12:46 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MOHAWK MEMBERSHIP" http://www.easterndoor.com/ Revised Membership Law Draft Explained Eastern Door, Volume 12 Number 29 August 15, 2003 By: Ross Montour The newly revised draft of Kahnawake's proposed Kanien'kehaka Membership Law was presented at Tuesday's Community Meeting. Alwyn Morris, Associate Director of External Affairs for the Office of the Council of Chiefs, walked community members through the changes instituted as a result of the 30-day input period held this past spring. The latest draft was completed August 4. Kahnawake Membership Law - Purpose Section The purpose section underwent two major amendments, Morris noted. A second, previously overlooked, way of gaining membership was added - 'member at birth.' The second change replaces the word 'rights' with 'entitlements' of members. Non-membership Resident List Morris noted a clause affecting non-Native spouses who appear on the Mohawk Registry because of being married prior to May 22, 1981. The new clause now provides for automatic inclusion on the non-member resident list. Membership Major changes to this clause include a new class of membership - member at birth. Next, the minimum requirement for membership was raised from three to four great grandparents. Also in this section there was a wording change regarding the 'affiliation to a Kanien'keha'ka clan.' Finally, a clause was added to this section in order to allow 'members at birth' who do not appear on the Mohawk Registry because they married out to have their names placed on the new registry, once the reason for their non-inclusion ceases to exist. Adopted Children The four great-grandparent clause will also apply to adopted children. This is changed from the previous draft, which stated three great- grandparents were required. Amendment Process A 'comprehensive amendment process' has been added to the draft law. Amendments can be initiated from three sources - a petition signed by 100 recognized members; the Council of Elders; or the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake. The Council of Elders and the MCK are to review draft amendments. Also included is a community consultation process. Kahnawake Membership Regulation - Removal Process A removal process has been added in the new draft. It prescribes regulations by which an elder may be removed from the Membership Review Council or Council of Elders. Elders may be removed if the process is initiated by a petition signed by 100 members. Once the petition is validated, a hearing would be convened by at least seven chiefs to determine whether removal is justified. Membership Review Council The Membership Review Council's role has been redefined as a review - not an appeal process. Their powers will be limited to either affirming the decision of the Council of Elders or annulling the decision and returning it to the Council of Elders of reconsideration. Copyright c. 1997-2000 The Eastern Door/Kahnawake, Mohawk Territory. --------- "RE: Ponca Tribal Members protest Chemical Plant" --------- Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003 08:56:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PONCA PROTEST" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=2788 Ponca Tribe members threaten action against company Say business is a polluter PONCA CITY OK Sam Lewin and Louis Gray 8/25/2003 Members of the Ponca Tribe joined with union members to announce plans to confront a factory that they say creates pollution and a public health risk. Continental Carbon is a Ponca City plant that processes waste sludge from oil refineries to produce a substance called carbon black, a material used in tires and other plastic products. A Taiwanese company reportedly worth billions of dollars owns Continental Carbon. Jeff Lieb's home is several hundred yards from the plant. "It's terrible living there," Lieb said. " When my kids and grandkids go outside they get carbon black on their hands and shoes. My dogs get black paws from running on the grass." Lieb said the material gets in his ventilation and that he and his wife suffer frequent headaches. Sunday, August 24, near the plant located south of Ponca City and north of White Eagle was the scene of a march. Joined by union members and farmers living in the area, protesters walked to the front gates to deliver a list of complaints against the company. No management official would come to the gate and the marchers ended up giving the material to the plant guard. Soon after, four law enforcement vehicles drove up followed by four wreckers dispatched to tow off any vehicle on company grounds. There were none and they and police soon left. Continental Carbon officials maintain they follow every environmental regulation. "We are perplexed by these ongoing efforts to disparage our company and our environmental record," said company spokesman Blake Lewis. " We work hard to comply with all regulations. For the past two and a half years we have had numerous inspections and no agency has found any reason to not let us continue with our operations." Lewis believes a lockout with union members is behind a campaign to discredit the company. The Local 5857 of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy workers have been at odds with management over a contract for more than two years. Attorneys working with residents living near the plant say the protest against Continental Carbon is motivated by health, not politics. "I was there yesterday for only a couple of hours and when I went home and began to sweat it was black. I have to send my boots to get cleaned. It is a horrible situation for them there and no one pays attention to it," said attorney Michael Bigheart. Bigheart said there are two complaints pending: a civil action and a civil rights complaint. The former is directed against the company, the latter against the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality for not taking steps to fix the alleged problem. "DEQ believes the record clearly reflects that we have taken action to evaluate and address the environmental issues raised at Continental Carbon, including those raised by the Ponca Tribe and we will continue to do as needed," said DEQ spokeswoman Monty Elder. Ponca Tribal Chairman Bennett Arkeketa says the tribe is not participating in the lawsuit. "The whole issue is arising out of individual land owners. It has nothing to do with the Ponca Tribe. We support their efforts but we are not involved," Arkeketa said. Not that the Ponca Tribe has been a passive bystander. Ron Sherron is Director of the Ponca Environmental Office. He said two years ago his office started investigating complaints. He said the Ponca families and tribe have filed their complaints with the state Department of Environmental Quality and the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Although the Taiwanese based company has admitted no wrong, Sherron said they have repaired non-Ponca homes and cars near the plant. When asked if the lack of response from the company was racially motivated Sharron said "I'm not quick to say that just yet, but everything points to it." Casey Camp and Sherron said there are eleven Ponca families who live adjacent to the plant and both say the families need to have their homes bought out. Camp goes one step further saying the company needs to move. Everything this reporter saw and touched had black soot covering it. All the trees within eyesight were tinted black. Kirby Feathers said there is no wildlife surrounding the plant. Bigheart said he anticipates filing the lawsuit "within a short time," but has not decided whether to proceed in district or federal court. Native American Times is Copyright c. 2003 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: Nez Perce charged with poaching Elk" --------- Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 08:12:46 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NEZ PERCE TREATY" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.wallowacountychieftain.info/print.asp?ArticleID=2541 Nez Perce charged with poaching elk Thursday, August 21, 2003 By Elane Dickenson of the Chieftain, edickenson@wallowa.com There was a sense of deja vu in the Wallowa County Circuit Court Wednesday when two Nez Perce from Idaho were arraigned for a misdemeanor game violation, one for the second time in eight years. Irving Curtis Watters, Sr., 76, a great-grandnephew of Chief Joseph, and his son, Irving Curtis Watters, Jr., 37, both of Lapwai, Idaho, were charged with shooting elk out of season July 16. The meat went to help feed a multicultural gathering of some 600 people at a friendship feast at the Tamkaliks Celebration held July 20 in Wallowa. The elder Watters was cited for taking elk in closed season while his son was charged with aiding in the game offense; both charges are unclassified misdemeanors. A third man, Shane Huntsman of Anatone, Wash., also was cited for aiding in the crime. The two Watters have been supplying game meat for the annual pow wow event for at least 10 years. This is the second time Watters Sr. has been cited for basically the same offense, killing game for the same out of season feast on Boise Cascade property, though the 1995 charge was "counseling in a game violation." "We've never abrogated any treaty rights," Watters, Sr., told Judge Russ West during the arraignment. "This is exactly the same as last time," said Wallowa County District Attorney Dan Ousley about the case. To Watters Sr. he said, "this is a legal, not a personal, matter." The Watters father and son are enrolled members of the Nez Perce Tribe and their treaty rights to hunt in Wallowa County under the Nez Perce Treaty of 1855 are apparently not being disputed. The issue, which was never really resolved the last time, was whether or not those rights extend to hunting on private property. While in the last instance Watters Sr. ended up changing his plea to guilty in 1996 and was ordered to pay $147 in fees, he said that this time they plan to take the case all the way to trial. He said that in the previous case his court-appointed attorney entered a guilty plea, and he went along with it. "Not this time," he said. The Watterses have plenty of support, with about a dozen Wallowa County residents, mostly volunteers associated with the Tamkaliks Celebration, accompanying them to court Wednesday. Huntsman, who is not Nez Perce and is the third defendant in the case, was pulled aside and interviewed by Oregon State Police officers while he was helping cut up the elk meat the day before the celebration started, and cited later in the day on the Tamkaliks grounds, where Watters Sr. was also cited. Watters Jr. said he received his citation in the mail. The three defendants were also cited with a second charge of leaving trash, i.e. beer cans, near a stream in the case. Mary Knutson, who is project coordinator for the Nez Perce Interpretive Center, Inc., office in Wallowa, is among those who staunchly support the Watters' treaty rights in this case. "Boise Cascade just received a grant so its land can remain public access for hunting and fishing," she pointed out, waving a press release put out by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. "It's public access for hunting and fishing. It's on their own Web site," she said. Watters Sr., a retired logger, is a former resident of Wallowa County, living here for "10 or 15 years" in the 1950s and 60s. "I know a lot of people here, though a lot of them are dead now," he said. In the years that he lived here he said private land owners often called him to hunt on their property to rid them of problem game animals. Watters said that his mother, Blanche Conner, was the granddaughter of Alikut, the brother of Chief Joseph who led the Wallowa Band of Nez Perce before they were forced out of their homeland in the Wallowas in 1877. When Watters Sr. pleaded not guilty to the original game charge when it finally surfaced in court in July, 1996 - almost a year after he was charged - district attorney Ousley admitted that he did not know the correct legal interpretation of the Nez Perce. However, he said Wednesday that the Boise Cascade property could not be considered "open and unclaimed." In the previous case Watters said that even though he hunting was on Boise Cascade land, it was allowed under the treaty as a "usual and customary" hunting area. The arresting officer, however, countered that hunting rights were only guaranteed on "open and unclaimed" property, while the "usual and customary" phrasing in the treaty referred to fishing and root digging. None of the three defendants wanted to talk about details on the record without legal representation, saying their case would come out in court. However, Watters Sr. was willing to express his general frustration. "They are trying to insert words in the treaty that would make any article in the treaty subordinate to laws within individual states, counties and city governments. They've been trying to do that for years." The three defendants were told to return with legal counsel Sept. 17. Copyright c. 2003 Wallowa County Chieftain/Enterprise, OR. --------- "RE: 2nd look at Infamous Teen Killing" --------- Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003 08:56:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NEW TRIAL: TOHONO O'ODHAM" http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?page=local&story_id=082503a1_celaya 2nd look at infamous teen killing The O'odham Nation wants a new trial for Gina Celaya, who at 14 claimed she killed Trinidad Lopez in self-defense. GABRIELA RICO Tucson Citizen VAL CANEZ/Tucson Citizen It has been more than a decade since 14-year-old Gina Gail Celaya gained notoriety as Tucson's youngest murder suspect. At the time, the Tohono O'odham Nation did not have the resources to help the young tribe member. She was convicted and sentenced to more than 35 years in prison for shooting 50-year-old Trinidad Lopez and stealing his truck. Now, tribal gaming revenues have offered Celaya, now 24, a chance at a new trial. "The Nation felt she did not receive a fair trial," Tohono O'odham Chairwoman Vivian Juan-Saunders told the Citizen in a recent interview. "The nation felt, as did many others, that evidence was excluded that would have been beneficial in her defense." Last year, the nation's legislative council allocated $50,000 for attorneys to appeal Celaya's conviction. "She was 14 years of age and, in our opinion, perhaps she should have been given a second chance at life," Juan-Saunders said. The attorneys the tribe hired, Walter Nash and William J. Kirchner, were scheduled to present their case for a new trial early this morning before Superior Court Judge Lina Rodriguez, who presided over the first trial. They declined to be interviewed, but court documents indicate they plan to argue that "significant" errors were made in Celaya's first trial. Verdict came at time of 'super-predator' fear "These errors, individually and together ... caused prejudice to Gina Celaya's case because without these errors, no reasonable trier of fact could have found Gina Celaya guilty," Kirchner wrote. In an interview last week, prosecutor Kathleen Mayer characterized the motion for a new trial as full of "a lot of picky stuff." She said she remains confident that Celaya got a fair trial. One issue identified by Celaya's lawyers involves Lopez's wallet. During the trial, Celaya testified that she acted in self-defense after Lopez - who had offered her a ride home - drove her to the desert near a city landfill and tried to sexually assault her. Mayer pointed to $19 missing from Lopez's wallet as proof that Celaya robbed Lopez either before shooting him or while he was dying - putting a hole in the self-defense argument. Mayer zeroed in on the fact that Lopez's wallet was bloodless, while his pants reportedly were soaked with blood. "You look at the wallet, and I urge you to do so," she told jurors at the 1994 trial. "There isn't any blood on Mr. Lopez's wallet. Had that wallet been in there when the defendant shot him, there would be blood all over that wallet, and there isn't any." In the appeal, Kirchner points out that the back pocket of the pants - which are still in evidence - are not soaked in blood. "Had defense counsel viewed the clothing ... this would have been apparent to the jury, and what was perhaps the most damaging piece of physical evidence would have been neutralized," he wrote. Barbara Sattler, who represented Celaya at trial, declined to comment on Kirchner's appeal. "All the benefit of hindsight from all these people who were never there, " Mayer said of Celaya's new attorneys. "She continues to try to get out of accountability." Lopez's oldest daughter, Lisa Lopez, declined to make any statement before the hearing. It was she who spotted Celaya and her friends riding in Trinidad Lopez's Nissan pickup truck the day after the murder and chased the vehicle until the girls wrecked it near 22nd Street and ran away. Later than day, Lopez's body was found by a homeless man looking for firewood near the landfill. Lopez had died of a single gunshot wound in the upper right buttocks, three to four inches below the belt. Celaya was arrested and booked into the Pima County Juvenile Court Detention Center, charged with first-degree murder and armed robbery. A Juvenile Court judge ordered her transferred to adult court in April 1993. After her September 1994 jury conviction, Celaya received a sentence of 25 years for the murder and an additional 10 1/2 years for armed robbery. She is eligible for parole in 2029 - when she will be 50 years old. When Celaya took the witness stand in her own defense in 1994, she told jurors that Lopez offered her a ride home in the early-morning hours of Dec. 22, 1992. He assured Celaya that he was taking a shortcut after she asked why they were headed in the wrong direction, she told jurors. They ended up in the desert near Los Reales Road and Alvernon Way. Celaya said they chatted for a bit and then Lopez became aggressive, backhanded her and pulled on her hair. "I was pushing him away from me. He just kept trying to force himself," she told the jury. "I got away. I got away from his grip. He was reaching into his truck. I had the gun in the back of my pants. I thought I had shot him twice. He was just laying there. On the ground." Not knowing where she was, Celaya testified, she got into Lopez's truck because "I just wanted to get out of there." In the appeal, Kirchner notes that other women who claimed that Lopez was violent could have corroborated Celaya's story, but their testimony was not allowed by the judge. "The court precluded the defense from introducing testimony from several women who would have testified that they knew (Lopez), that he picked up prostitutes and other women for sex in his truck, and that he tended to be violent," Kirchner wrote. "If the jury believed Gina Celaya's assertion that Mr. Lopez took her to the desert against her will and attempted to have sexual relations with her, or even believed that her testimony to this effect created reasonable doubt, then acquittal was required by law." But jurors never heard testimony from the other women. Three months before the trial, Rodriguez granted a prosecutor's motion to deny the testimony of one of the women, stating that her testimony was "too speculative to be admissible and it would confuse the jury, and its prejudicial effect outweighs its relevancy," according to court transcripts. Mayer said there was nothing wrong with Celaya's first trial, but said there is no guarantee that the judge will uphold the conviction. "I'm never confident," Mayer said. "I'm a pessimist by nature." But if the judge should grant a new trial, Mayer said, she will prosecute Celaya again. "That's the worst that can happen," she said. Should Celaya come out of prison, the Tohono O'odham Nation is prepared to welcome her and work her through a transition, the tribal chairwoman said. "In general, we need to take a serious look at the transition of tribal members from incarceration to repositioning themselves back into day-to- day life," Juan-Saunders said. "We need to strengthen our transition process." That's something the Nation is looking forward to doing with Celaya, she said. "She has a story to share. By sharing her story with other young people, she can hopefully help prevent them from getting into similar negative situations," Juan-Saunders said. "We want to see her as a productive member of the Tohono O'odham Nation.. .. . That's how I view any future role for her." Copyright c. 2003 Tucson Citizen, All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Police mixup destroys Aquash Murder Evidence" --------- Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 08:12:46 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="AQUASH EVIDENCE" http://www.indianz.com/ http://www.rockymountainnews.com/~/0%2C1299%2CDRMN_15_2198206%2C00.html Police mixup destroys evidence Case involves 1975 slaying of activist By Sarah Huntley And Karen Abbott, Rocky Mountain News August 21, 2003 Denver police officials are investigating whether evidence in the 1975 slaying of American Indian activist Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash is missing as a result of confusion over inventory records. The Rocky Mountain News has learned that several tapes stored in the police department's property bureau were destroyed in 2001 after a homicide lieutenant was unable to link them to any known case. Copies of at least some of the tapes have been recovered. Armedia Gordon, division chief of investigations, said the mistake came to the department's attention last week when federal authorities asked Detective Abe Alonzo for new copies of the evidence. Copies of all the department's evidence had been forwarded to the feds years ago when the case was transferred from Denver, where Pictou-Aquash was abducted, to South Dakota, where her body was found. "They lost everything, so they came back to Abe asking the question," Gordon said. When Alonzo went to the property bureau, he was told there were no tapes. In their place he found an order signed by Lt. Jon Priest authorizing the destruction of the evidence. Gordon said Priest signed off on the order after receiving an incomplete - and erroneous - invoice from the property bureau's computer. The bureau forwards invoices to investigators every 13 months to determine whether evidence should still be preserved. The computer printout given to Priest listed a 2000 date and an address in northwest Denver, neither of which appeared to be connected to Pictou- Aquash's death. "It doesn't show the victim's name or the officer's name or any of that," Gordon said. Some records associated with the evidence included a badge number, but the number belongs to a vice detective - not the detective assigned to the case. "I don't think Priest thought there was any way to identify where this case belonged," Gordon said. "Somehow all the information didn't get transferred over (into the computer) . . . This is just an error that needs to be checked out." When the lieutenant learned of the mix-up, he was able to retrieve duplicate copies of at least some of the tapes from the homicide unit's archives, she said. The unit is methodical about preserving its own archives, which are kept separate from the property bureau. Evidence in old cases is maintained indefinitely in the hope that new leads could result in an arrest. "My understanding is that the critical evidence was found," Gordon said. "Whether it was everything, I'm not clear on." Alonzo, who was handling the case for the department, wasn't available for comment. Gordon said she is reviewing original inventory records to determine whether any tapes were irretrievable."I really hope that all is not lost," she said. Federal officials in South Dakota, where two men face federal murder charges for Pictou-Aquash's death, couldn't be reached Wednesday. Arlo Looking Cloud, of Denver, and John Graham, of Canada, also known as John Boy Patton, were arrested in April in connection with Pictou-Aquash's slaying. Looking Cloud's trial is scheduled for Sept. 30. No trial date has been set for Graham. The 30-year-old woman, who has become a revered symbol to other American Indians, allegedly was snatched from the Denver home of TroyLynn Yellow Wood in 1975 by three people, then taken to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota and killed. A rancher found the badly decomposed body of a woman in a ravine near Wamblee, S.D., in February 1976. Nobody knew who she was, and a government pathologist concluded she died of exposure. The FBI had her hands cut off and sent to Washington, D.C., for identification. The rest of the body was buried in a pauper's grave. A judge later ordered the body exhumed, and a second autopsy uncovered a bullet in the back of Pictou-Aquash's head. Three grand juries reviewed the case. A fourth grand jury indicted Looking Cloud and Graham in March. The long-unsolved murder has divided American Indian activists and the Pine Ridge reservation for decades. Rumors have circulated since her death that Pictou-Aquash may have been killed by other American Indian Movement members who believed she was an FBI informant, or by the real informants - perhaps with FBI knowledge - for fear she would disclose their identities. Some AIM leaders even have accused each other of involvement in her death. It was unclear Wednesday what effect, if any, the evidence mix-up in Denver would have on the federal prosecution. None of the physical evidence in the case was affected. But Gordon acknowledged there could be unintended consequences. "We were able to find evidence that was listed as destroyed in the homicide archives," she said. "But if this case is later lost, good Lord, people will be pointing to this and who knows what else." huntleys@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5212 Copyright c. 2003 Rocky Mountain News, The E.W. Scripps Co. --------- "RE: Native Prisoner" --------- Date: Mon, Aug 25 2003 19:18:40 -0700 From: Janet Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NATIVE PRISONER" ===== Date: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 7:47 AM From: "Brigitte Thimiakis" Subj: Please Notify Native Prisoners of This Supporter Mailing List: Iron Natives From Valerie Scott, NAPS =================================================== Please Notify Native Prisoners of This Supporter It is with sadness and dismay that we are forced to notify you of the deceitful actions of one of the European supporters (as NAPS prefers not to go public with this sort of issue). Anna Marie Musti, from Brindisi, Italy, has been less than honest in her dealings with Van Dyken Long Soldier, regarding the sale of his artwork. Over a 4-5 year period, Soldier has sent Ms. Musti 5 boxes of turquoise jewelry, drums, beaded bags, etc. (valued at approximately $9000), to sell in order to raise money for his defense fund. In return for Ms. Musti's help, Soldier has gifted her with several valuable pieces of artwork. Yet he has received only $1200 to date, even though Ms. Musti has informed him that a great deal of his work has been sold, and he has not received any money for at least one year now. Soldier has contacted Ms. Musti on several occasions; especially this past year, to request that she forward the money owed and return the leftover artwork. For the most part, Ms. Musti has totally ignored Soldier, and when she did respond, it was with empty promises and conflicting information. As a result, Soldier contacted others to help him with this matter, and they made formal requests to obtain the above items. And like Soldier, they were ignored or lied to. Finally, about two weeks ago, NAPS was asked to get involved and we were also provided with several lame excuses, which we exchanged with the others who were trying to assist. And needless to say, the noose is tightening. We have provided Ms. Musti with several feasible options so she can deal with this issue quickly; however, she chooses to ignore this advice and prefers to play the helpless victim. She has failed to explain when and how exactly she is going to forward the money and items, instead giving vague explanations. From all intents and purposes, Ms. Musti is telling everyone something different, in order to buy time, and she fails to address any of the "real" issues presented to her. NAPS forewarned Ms. Musti from the outset that we would go public if she failed to deal with this matter within a reasonable time period. And I believe in her last response, she simply told us to leave her alone, while she failed at all to respond to the others. We have all been hoping and praying that Ms. Musti would do the "right" thing, but it concerns us that she is already disappearing from mailing lists. It also concerns us that information is becoming available, stating that she has done this sort of thing before to prisoners. NAPS also notified Ms. Musti that we would be contacting the Italian police authorities, if this matter is not settled within days (and we are already in the process of collecting documentation). Our intention by going public, is NOT to start any rumor mongering (and we do not wish to receive stories concerning either of the above individuals). What we would like to ensure is that no other Native prisoner is duped by this individual. Therefore, we would appreciate this notice being circulated widely. We thank you in advance for your assistance. Sincerely Valerie Scott, NAPS ===== NAPS (Native American Prisoner Support) http://www.hri.ca/partners/naps/ ================================== Date: Monday, August 25, 2003 10:22 PM From: Subj: Offer to Organizations Mailing List: Iron Natives I am a concerned Texan and an attorney in San Antonio that represents prisoners throughout the State of Texas. I am hired privately by my client's and their families and speak directly with Parole Board Members on individual cases. I have been doing this work for several years and have spoken to different Parole Commissioners all over the state on hundreds, if not thousands, of occasions. My office is currently heavily involved in a fight to maintain the current eighteen member parole board in Texas. Recent bills have attempted to reorganize the Parole Board, creating seven Parole Board Members and eleven Commissioners. Such a reduction would have a monumental impact on the level and quality of communication the Board would have with offenders, and the families of offenders. I feel that it is critical for my office and organizations like yours to express our concern about this issue. I am interested in joining any prisoner or victim rights or other prison related group and getting mutually agreed upon messages noticed by the legislature. I feel such an effort will require our grassroots cooperation. I have already written the Texas House and Senate members on this issue and would like to work with other organizations on similar common ground issues. If your organization sends me a blank letterhead sheet I will order some of your organizations letterhead and compose a letter to the Texas legislature arguing our similar issues. I will then send the completed letter to your organization and your organization can approve or amend and approve the letter then have it signed by your a member or leadership in your organization and send it back to my office. Once I have your approval, I will then print up the letter and send it out to each of the Texas House and Senate members at no charge to your organization. All I need from your organization is your blank letterhead and your approval of the letter we send. I already have the database, staff and knowledge to communicate your message to the legislature. In this way the hard work, knowledge, experience and resources of my office can greatly benefit our mutual causes. My only other requirement is that we also send a separate letter showing a desire to maintain the current size of the Texas Parole Board. In this way as a member of your organization I can further your issues and in return your organization will be supporting our mutual interest in preventing the reduction of the Texas Parole Board as well. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at your earliest convenience. Sincerely, Paul A. Hampel 1-888-707-2765 1-888-70-PAROLE cell: (210) 325-0536 www.lawyertexasparole.com Below is part of my reasons for maintaining the current Texas Parole Board. Recent bills have attempted to reorganize the Parole Board, creating seven Parole Board Members and eleven Commissioners. Such a reduction would have a monumental impact on the level and quality of communication the Board would have with victims, offenders, and the families of victims and offenders. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles currently votes a minimum of two votes and as many as eighteen votes for each case in a prison system housing over 140,000 inmates. At the present time, many persons have expressed a desire to have contact with the actual voters at the time when decisions are made. Under the current system, victims are assured of communication and the Board sincerely attempts to speak with all persons seeking correspondence on each case. This communication effort is an enormous task and is an essential part of intelligent, informed, and fully comprehensive parole decisions. The concerns of victims, the level of support, and a detailed review of both the state, inmate, victim and family information must be considered for a comprehensive review to occur. This detail and time is necessary to grant the privilege of parole where it is deserved. This effort also reduces recidivism by granting parole to inmates with a reasonable chance of success on parole. All of these factors must be considered as a whole by a single individual if informed votes are to continue in the future. This comprehensive task will be greatly compromised by separation or delegation of the different factors in the decision that would result from this proposed reorganization. The efficiency of the parole system will also be greatly compromised if the size of the Parole Board is reduced or if the parole decisions are separated and divided amongst different parole personnel. The effort required to make these decisions will have to be duplicated by several members if the duties are divided. This would result in a much less efficient system that would be more bureaucratic and would compromise the overall quality of the voting process. In the current budget times it is critical for all Texas government to give careful consideration to all expenses. I feel this is a key reason for urging maintaining the current Parole Board structure. The changing of the Parole Board structure involves considerable retraining and effort. This retraining takes a great deal of time. The resulting inefficiency would be a burden to the entire Parole system that would result in considerable costs. Over the last eight years I have seen tremendous progress on the part of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. These accomplishments include, but are not limited to the following: " The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has become more efficient using taxpayer money judiciously with great caution and skill. " The Board has provided greater access to the public both in terms of important information as well as individual time to families wishing to speak with Parole Commissioners. " The Board has developed and published clearer guidelines easily understood by the lay public that explain the bases and reasons for the individual parole decisions. These accomplishments are the result of hard work and considerable cooperation on the part of all of the Parole Board's members and staff. The current communication and cooperation of the Parole Board is exceptional. It has allowed the Parole Board to accomplish a great deal in a short period of time. I urge maintaining the current Parole Board structure based on these accomplishments and efforts. Such passion and commitment in government must be valued if government is to operate at it's highest level. I hope you will consider these thoughts in your service. Thank you for your time and efforts in this matter. Sincerely, Best wishes, Paul A. Hampel --------- "RE: Indian School receiving Historic Marker" --------- Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 08:12:46 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CARLISLE" http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2003/08/18/news/news01.txt Indian School receiving historic marker Aug. 31 By Lindy Hockersmith August 18, 2003 Dedication of a historic marker to about 10,700 students who attended the Carlisle Indian School over the course of 29 years is scheduled Aug. 31 at 10 a.m. at the Indian Cemetery on the grounds of Carlisle Barracks. Dedication of a historic marker to about 10,700 students who attended the Carlisle Indian School over the course of 29 years is scheduled Aug. 31 at 10 a.m. at the Indian Cemetery on the grounds of Carlisle Barracks. The cemetery contains small white grave markers for 186 Native American children who died while attending the school. The historic marker now will be placed inside the cemetery gate and will be visible from Claremont Road. "Getting the marker was really a group effort," says Barbara Landis, webmaster of the Carlisle School research web pages. The idea first came up in 2001 when a group of young Native Americans working in Washington D.C. toured the former school grounds. A question was raised as to why no recognition had been given to a site where thousands of Native American children spent much of their formative years. Although a marker denotes that the buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places, no specific mention is made of the Indian School. Co-ordinated through Landis' webpages, a group of researchers and relatives of Carlisle students applied to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) for a marker grant. The commission approves or disapproves applications based on guidelines such as whether the marker addresses a significant person or part of history. "We were pretty certain that it would be approved," says Landis, seeing as how the school was one of the first Indian boarding schools established in the United States. Funds had to be matched In order to receive the grant, Landis and her group had to match funds that the commission approved in 2002. The group achieved this through donations from individual donors and large organizations. "We received many donations from people who are directly connected to the school," Landis says. "The relatives of the students have a direct stake in what the marker would be." Several larger organizations, such as the American Indian Society, Cleveland Center for Indians, and the Viola While Water Foundation also agreed to sponsor the marker. Landis says the marker group received "advice cooperation and support of the Carlisle Barracks," in applying for the funds and deciding where to place the marker. The marker text was a collaborative effort of a group of friends and relatives of Carlisle Indian School students. "Everything for the marker was done by consensus," she adds. Mixed legacy Richard Henry Pratt founded the controversial Carlisle Indian School. For some students, the school provided opportunity in the "white" world. However, for others, the school created a loss of identity. Today, the school is both criticized and praised for the legacy it left behind. The school is also known for the accomplishments of several athletes. The most famous was Jim Thorpe, who won gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon in the 1912 Olympics. Landis feels the marker will help visitors to the school to understand the conflicting feelings that still exist. Relatives to speak Several descendants and relatives of Carlisle Indian School students will share stories of the Carlisle experience during the dedication. Also invited to the ceremony are state representatives and senators, Gov. Ed Rendell, members of the PHMC and representatives from the Carlisle Barracks. A picnic will follow at a Pine Grove Furnace State Park pavilion near a camp that once belonged to the Indian School. "Because the school is many times associated with a loss of culture and language because of its attempts to assimilate Indians into American culture and there is such pain in this history, we decided to end the marker dedication event in a place where the children had fun," Landis says. A hospitality worker at the park to greet visitors who might stay overnight. "Hopefully everyone will get to know one another," Landis says. Lisa Johns, interpreter for the park, will conduct a tour from the pavilion where the picnic will be held to the Indian camp. Landis says t