From gars@speakeasy.org Tue Dec 9 19:34:37 2003 Date: Tue, 02 Dec 2003 15:33:52 -0800 From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews11.049 _ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 11, ISSUE 049 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 December 6, 2003 Hopi kyaamuya/respect moon Cree papiwatiginashispizun/moon when young fellow spreads the brush +-------------------------------------------------------+ | 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; News & Information Distribution, Frostys AmerIndian, Native American Poetry and Big Mountain Mailing Lists; 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: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + ======================== "If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man, he would have made me so in the first place." __ 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! The lead article in this issue is not about the next dirty trick by the Department of Interior, though I could. That's a sure thing almost every week. It isn't about the latest attempt by some Indian hater like Stevens or Blumenthal trying to stop Native initiative, or impeding tribal recognition, though I will admit there is an article in this issue about Stevens' latest move. The lead article is, in fact, very positive. It's about a Hopi lady, Lillian Dennis, working to complete an Intergovernmental Personnel Act Fellowship and gain the necessary training to help the Hopi tribe establish its own auditing and compliance function to improve management of its coal resources. This is the sort of fiduciary responsibility that can eventually cut the strings held over tribes by the US government. Mangement of resources can certainly stop the rape through bogus trust accounts that is now the order of the day. Read the article carefully. Get a copy of it in the hands of your own tribal leaders. Maybe we can all "just say `No' to the government handouts with their associated "gotchas". It can, at the very least, insure someone with your values and interests is looking back across the table who knows better than to "just sign here." , , Gary Smith (*,*) gars@speakeasy.org P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org Marietta, GA 30008, U.S.A. ===w=w=== http://www.nanews.org -=-=-=- WINTER REZ HELP -=-=- WINTER REZ HELP -=-=- WINTER REZ HELP -=-=- If you know of a reliable point where funds can be sent to assist these precious elders please drop me a note at gars@nanews.org and make the subject (all caps) WINTER HELP. -----> this list will remain up until January -----> PLEASE email gars@nanews.org with any updates/additions From: wn27 Subj: Winter Clothing Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian Good evening, I was asked to request winter clothing, coats, boots, gloves, t-shirts, sweat shirts, etc. for the Waseskun Healing Center men from anyone in the vacinity of Montreal/Kahnawake who may have extras. Many of the men do not have warm clothes and are from the north, Atlantic Canada or Ontario. We can arrange to have them picked up. We can be contacted by e-mail (staff@waseskun.net) or by phone (450-883-2034) - Jo-ann. -=-=-=- From: "Brigitte Thimiakis" Subj: Urgent Winter Request To: =========================================================================== Urgent Winter Request for Donations - Winter 2003 Greetings, If you wish to make a difference and help children and elders through the harsh winter months in Montana, please take the time to read this request. On behalf of reliable Northern Cheyenne contacts from Lame Deer, we are once again collecting donations for those in need on the Northern Cheyenne reservation. The donations that you can send are: new and good quality used warm items, (clothing and blankets), as well as toys. The toys will be distributed during the Christmas give away but the clothes and blankets will be distributed right away. During Montana winters, the temperature can drop to 30 or 40 degrees below zero so warm winter clothing and blankets can be lifesaving. It is best if donations are received by Dec. 10th. Our goal is to help the children, the elders, the single parent families, or families unable to make ends meet due to the high unemployment rate, the difficult conditions and the extreme poverty on the reservation. We would like to help everyone we possibly can on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation who is in need, but our priority is the elders and children. The children need all the help and encouragement they can get. List of useful donations : - blankets - warm winter coats and clothing - socks, gloves, boots, hats and scarves - toys (educational toys included) - school supplies - They can also use grooming supplies like toothpaste, tooth brushes, soaps and shampoos, combs, hair brushes, hair barrettes, rubber bands or other types of hair or pony tail holders. Last but not least : pampers diapers or pull-ups. - There is a special need for men's winter coats, clothing, hats, boots, gloves and anything else that protects against the cold weather. The men's winter wear is for the Tongue River Homeless Shelter. Donations can be sent to the following address: Honor Your Spirit - Protect the Children % Sue Buck PO Box 901 Great Falls, MT 59403-0901 Please contact suemontana@mcn.net for mailing information other than regular US Mail service. (Also please include your name and address if you would like for us to acknowledge/confirm receipt of your donations.) If you cannot send items due to the shipping cost, you can still help by sending a money donation.Please be assured that it will be used only for the children and elders this winter and/or for their Christmas; even small amounts can help them. The address for money donations is the same as above. You will receive a receipt which may be used for tax purposes. Please contact us before you send money (email addresses listed below). The priority of our group, "Honor your Spirit - Protect the Children" is to make sure all donations get to where they are supposed to and recognized. It is very important to us to make sure that everything is distributed fairly and to those in the greatest need. Contact Info: Sue Buck, Project Coordinator, MT suemontana@mcn.net Brigitte Thimiakis, European Link thimiakischool@the.forthnet.gr If you would like to learn more about the donation projects, please read our Shipment and Group Project Status: http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/shipment1.html Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support. "Your help makes a huge difference for those who have never received help.Your donations provide hope and encouragement to those who have never known these qualities. Your concern and solidarity can improve the lives of many children, elders, families, on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. There is still a lot to do but all together you can help us make these dreams come true." Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it. Manuel Redwoman, Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho. <>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o Our group opposes all forms of child abuse, and believes that only awareness, prevention and support can reduce the number of children who suffer. Please visit our pages and our group against child abuse & violence. "Honor Your Spirit, Protect the Children" STOP CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/stopabuse.html http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html <>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o -=-=-=- WINTER REZ HELP -=-=- WINTER REZ HELP -=-=- WINTER REZ HELP -=-=- If you know of a reliable point where funds can be sent to assist these precious elders please drop me a note at gars@nanews.org and make the subject (all caps) WINTER HELP. -----> this list will remain up until January -----> PLEASE email gars@nanews.org with any updates/additions Dohiyi Ani Oginalii , , Gary Smith Night Owl (*,*) gars@speakeasy.org P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org Marietta, GA 30008, U.S.A. ===w=w=== http://www.nanews.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ---------- - Lillian Dennis attempting - Grassy Narrows: a `first' for Hopis Still fighting to Live - Republicans plan revival - Nunavut Tunngavik of Energy Legislation join Land Claim Coalition - Energy Bill gives special Focus - Rumour Mill linked Officers to Fuel Additive to Stonechild - Tribe, Peabody work on Alternatives - Man arrested in theft from Tribe - Fort Yates Water woes continue - Protest against removal - BIA Water incident of Indian Children draws Unhappy Crowd - Many Indian Jails - Organ Pipe Barrier severely overcrowded expected to keep Drugs out - Tribal Drug Court: - Snohomish Indians Early Youth intervention denied Status as a Tribe - Why Peltier should be Freed - Recognition: - Native Prisoner Municipal Leaders want louder Voice -- Outrage at jail use - Pueblo of Acoma -- Warden quits; Culture Center construction healing lodge idle - For Tribal Members, - Rustywire: Tahzii the Turkey Elderly come First & Chee a Navajo Boy - Peace Walk - Poem: Before - Protected Eagles may be killed - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days to save Foxes - Salish Revival - Navajo Guide - NIC learns helps Visitor see Beauty Traditional Indian Stick Game - Opinion: Native Spirituality - Language Professor - Stevens alters Stance endorses fired CCSD Director on Justice Grants - Upcoming Events --------- "RE: Lillian Dennis attempting a `first' for Hopis" --------- Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2003 09:05:58 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TRUE SOVEREIGNTY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.daily-times.com/artman/publish/friday/article_5780.shtml Lillian Dennis attempting a `first' for Hopis By The Daily Times Nov 28, 2003, 08:36 am DENVER - Native American Lillian Dennis is on a quest. That quest is to become the first member from her Hopi tribe in northern Arizona to complete an Intergovernmental Personnel Act Fellowship and gain the necessary training to help the tribe establish its own auditing and compliance function to improve management of its coal resources. "I'm not here to learn for myself," Dennis said, "but to learn for all the Hopi people. I'm a strong believer that everyone has a purpose in life. I believe my being here has something to do with my purpose ... " Dennis came to Denver in April after spending nearly 15 years working for the Hopis. She initially worked in the tribe's Contracts and Grants Administration Office, then moved to Management Information Systems, working her way up from a network technician to head of the department. She later transitioned into the tribe's Finance Department and became a budget analyst for the tribe. "When I learned of the fellowship opportunity, I was told that nobody would commit to the years of study and the move out of state," Dennis said. "So I offered to go," recognizing it would be a great sacrifice to separate from her family and religion. Dennis is the first from the Hopi tribe to enter the program, which was started by the Minerals Management Service in 1985 to help promote tribal self-control and self-determination over tribal trust lands and resources. "I was a bit apprehensive at first," Dennis said of the fellowship offer, and knew it would be hard to complete the rigorous course work while being a mother to her two young children. Dennis, however, didn't believe "having a family ... was a barrier." Nor did she fear returning to the Denver area where she spent much of her childhood, attending Denver North High School through her junior year before graduating from Winslow High School in Arizona. "It's hard trying to juggle family and kids," she says, "but I have family here (an aunt, uncle and two cousins) who help with babysitting." The fellowship program is open to participants from tribes, individual states or federal employees to assist tribes and states with minerals management functions, said Floyd Gonzales, IPA fellowship coordinator at the Minerals Revenue Management office in Denver. Participants develop audit and compliance experience and knowledge, and learn of federal, state or tribal functions with the aim of improving understanding and communication among the parties. Gonzales said 14 individuals from various states and tribes have participated to date in the fellowship program. In addition to the Hopi tribe, other tribes that have participated include the Navajo, Crow, Cherokee, Chippewa Cree, and Shoshone Arapaho. Completion of the program, in turn, can lead to cooperative audit agreements between Minerals Management Service and individual tribes and states to assume more responsibility in the areas of compliance and auditing. Tribes that currently have cooperative agreements include the Blackfeet, Navajo, Shoshone Arapaho, Crow, Jicarilla, Southern Ute, Ute Mountain Ute, and the Ute tribe. States that currently have cooperative agreements with the federal government include California, Colorado, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, North Dakota, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Gonzales anticipates that Alaska will become the next state to enter into a cooperative agreement with Minerals Management Service, perhaps later this year. "There are a lot of benefits to the IPA program," Gonzales noted, "but there is a lot of sacrifice involved as well." Dennis is prepared for the hard work and the length of her fellowship, which may take three to four years to complete since she has to pick up an additional 24 hours in college accounting credits. She also intends to take courses in geology, mining methods and mineral processing. When done, Dennis has committed to work five years for the Hopi tribe. "For me, that's not a problem. That's where I belong ... that's who I am." Dennis intends to help the tribe establish its own auditing and compliance function to oversee the royalties the tribe earns from coal. The coal that is produced on Hopi land is used to generate electricity at the Navajo Generating Station near the Four Corners area, or transported via a 300-mile slurry pipeline to a station across the Mohave Desert. She also hopes to become more involved in other tribal issues and alternative uses of precious resources. "I'm determined to finish it," Dennis said of the IPA Fellowship, noting the support and help she has received from the MRM staff in Denver. "I'm not here to have fun," she insisted. "I'm here to learn all I can, to help the Hopi people establish its auditing and compliance office, and help us in the process of self-determination." Copyright c. 2003 Farmington Daily Times, a Gannett Co., Inc. newspaper. --------- "RE: Republicans plan revival of Energy Legislation" --------- Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2003 18:31:26 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BUSH ENERGY DUMP RELOADED" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/26/politics/26ENER.html?pagewanted=print Even With Bush's Support, Wide-Ranging Legislation May Have Been Sunk by Excess By CARL HULSE November 26, 2003 WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 - In the end, the energy bill that fizzled in the last days of Congress was undone by an overload. Lawmakers, lobbyists and others who took part in the effort to enact the first significant changes in national energy policy in a decade said on Tuesday that the measure, which fell two votes short of passage, had too much for industry, cost too much, was written with too little Democratic help and was too much in the shadow of the Medicare fight. "I think the best approach would be to start from a clean slate next year," said Senator John E. Sununu of New Hampshire, one of six Republicans who along with Democratic critics blocked the measure from being sent to President Bush, who has been pursuing an energy bill since early in his term. Even last-minute intervention by Mr. Bush could not break the impasse. On Monday evening, he telephoned Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, the House majority leader, to see if there was room for compromise on the provision raising the strongest objections, immunity from pollution lawsuits for makers of the gasoline additive MTBE, some of which are based in Houston, near Mr. DeLay's hometown. According to a spokesman for Mr. DeLay, the majority leader told the president that the immunity was a bipartisan bargain that had passed easily in the House and won 58 votes in the Senate, and that he wanted to stick with it. Senate Republicans then threw in the towel for the year on the $31 billion bill, which would use more than $23 billion in tax breaks to increase domestic energy production and efficiency while improving the power grid. On Tuesday, the authors of the bill said they intended to bring the measure back early next year. In the meantime, Senator Pete V. Domenici, Republican of New Mexico, the main Senate author of the measure, told his colleagues that they should not hope for a repeat of last summer's blackout. "If there is," Mr. Domenici said, "the American people are going to ask why. And we're going to tell them, because we did nothing." Industry officials joined him in warning that the failure to send the energy measure to Mr. Bush would slow the development of mandatory rules to enhance the reliability of the power grid. The measure would give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission six months to develop those standards and the commission had already set a Dec. 1 hearing to begin the process. "There are a lot of consequences to not moving forward with the energy bill," said Tom Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute, an industry association. Lobbyists for the wind energy business, which would have received help through an extension of a production tax credit, said the tax break would expire next month. "It is impossible for the U.S. wind industry to maintain a steady growth rate in the present climate of uncertainty," said Randall Swisher, head of the industry trade association. Critics of the measure said it was unlikely it would have prevented last summer's blackout. They said there were few immediate benefits for consumers worried about heating costs or gasoline prices and that the proposal - drawn up by Mr. Domenici and another industry ally, Representative Billy Tauzin, Republican of Louisiana - had become weighted down with pet projects for an array of special interests. "They wrote a completely pro-industry bill and they basically pushed people over the edge," said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York and an organizer of a filibuster last week, who said the bill did not represent an overarching energy policy. The role of the president illustrated the importance the White House placed on the proposal. Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, both former oil industry executives, took office promising new approaches to energy policy. A task force led by Mr. Cheney laid the groundwork for some of the legislation in 2001. Mr. Cheney was also contacting lawmakers in the past few days to break the impasse and had earlier helped settle a House-Senate disagreement over a separate element of the bill. Administration officials expressed frustration at the failure to get the bill passed. "It is past time to get serious and tackle the job at hand," Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said on Tuesday. But it might not be easy to enact a bill in 2004. Lawmakers say the conference committee that wrote the final measure was dissolved after the House easily passed the energy legislation. So the Senate either has to pass that bill, perhaps making changes through separate legislation, or start fresh and potentially renew a full-scale energy debate in Congress. "They don't have easy choices," said Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington and another filibuster organizer. Ms. Cantwell said the authors should consider trying to advance energy provisions that can pass, like the grid reliability standards, and jettison the others. "You can't have good energy policy held hostage for bad energy policy," she said. Mr. Domenici indicated he was not interested in trying to pass the measure piecemeal, though he has said he is willing to eliminate the protection for producers of MTBE. But that could fracture the legislative bargains that make up the energy plan. Mr. DeLay and Mr. Tauzin, among others, pushed for immunity from product liability lawsuits for refineries that produce the additive as well as $2 billion for those companies to convert to production of other fuels. In exchange, they accepted an expansion in the use of corn-based ethanol as an additive. If the MTBE producers lose out, House Republicans are less inclined to help the ethanol industry, which is crucial to Midwestern support for the measure. "We have a carefully crafted compromise, and once you start pulling the strings out of the compromise, it becomes difficult to keep as a sweater," said Frank Maisano, a spokesman for a group of MTBE producers. The bill's future is also complicated by 2004 being an election year, because contentious legislation can be difficult to enact when the parties are jockeying for advantage and unwilling to hand the opposition any successes. The energy bill, however, also contains scores of projects, like the ethanol program, that lawmakers could tout in their re-election bids. The last significant energy measure was enacted in 1992 and was signed by President George Bush at the height of his re-election campaign. Mr. Domenici and other lawmakers said the stalemate was an example of the difficulties in drafting energy policy, an area where regional clashes dominate and efforts to help one sector often end up drawing opposition from another. "It isn't going to be easy," Mr. Domenici said, "but neither has it ever been easy to pass an energy policy in this country." Copyright c. 2003 The New York Times Company. --------- "RE: Energy Bill gives special Focus to Fuel Additive" --------- Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2003 18:31:26 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TEXAS JUICE BOOST" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/26/business/26fuel.html?pagewanted=print Energy Bill Gives Special Focus to a Fuel Additive By SIMON ROMERO November 26, 2003 HOUSTON, Nov. 25 - The collapse of the Bush administration's efforts to enact energy legislation this year revealed a fierce dispute over proposed concessions to Texas companies that produce a gasoline additive that makes drinking water smell like turpentine. Representative Tom DeLay, Republican of Texas and the House majority leader, and Representatives Billy Tauzin of Louisiana and Joe L. Barton of Texas, both Republicans, fought hard to include a section in the bill that would have immunized a handful of companies in and around Houston that produce the additive - methyl tertiary butyl ether, a substance commonly referred to as M.T.B.E. - from product-defect lawsuits. Municipal governments in 17 states, including California, New York and Massachusetts, have filed such suits against makers of the additive, seeking billions of dollars in damages so public authorities can start ridding groundwater supplies of the substance. The bill would have retroactively exempted the companies from such suits and required cities to prove negligence by the manufacturers, a much harder task than proving that a product is defective. M.T.B.E. has been added to gasoline in many states since the 1970's, first to increase the octane rating and later to make the fuel burn more cleanly. The largest makers of the additive, including Lyondell Chemical, Huntsman Chemical and Texas Petrochemicals, are based in or near Mr. DeLay's Houston district. Another big manufacturer, Valero Energy, is based in San Antonio. Mr. DeLay insisted that the energy legislation include a provision to protect manufacturers of M.T.B.E. from lawsuits filed after Sept. 5; more than 130 suits have been filed since then. As a sweetener to Democratic opponents from farm states, the bill would have increased the use of ethanol, a corn-based additive, in gasoline, and would have banned M.T.B.E. by 2015, while also providing $2 billion in transition financing to help the companies shift to other products. The concessions to the M.T.B.E. manufacturers, however, proved a big sticking point that helped speed the bill's collapse, giving environmental advocates a rare victory against the Bush administration, which had made the energy legislation a main objective this year. "In the end, M.T.B.E. was the issue that could be singled out as an example of addressing the needs of a very specific group," said Subash Chandra, an energy analyst in the Houston office of Morgan Keegan & Company, an investment firm. Lyondell, the largest maker of the additive, is the largest single contributor to Mr. DeLay's 2004 campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan nonprofit research group based in Washington. Lyondell has also hired a prominent Houston law and lobbying firm, Bracewell & Patterson, which maintains a large operation in Washington, to represent its views to Congress on the M.T.B.E. issue. Essentially, Lyondell and other companies say they should be exempt from the product-defect portions of the lawsuits because, they assert, the additive is not defective and, they say, industry groups have warned local governments of the potential for groundwater contamination. In addition, M.T.B.E. makers point out that Congress itself requested in 1990 that M.T.B.E. and other additives be used in gasoline to reduce air pollution. Opponents to Mr. DeLay's measure, however, counter that companies in Texas have been producing M.T.B.E. since the 1970's when it became an octane-enhancing replacement for lead. Since then, M.T.B.E. manufacture has evolved into a large, if declining, industry. At Lyondell, for instance, sales of M.T.B.E. provide about a quarter of the company's $3.2 billion annual revenue. Texas Petrochemicals relies on M.T.B.E. sales for about half of its revenue and, in fact, weaker demand for the additive in recent years was a contributing factors to its bankruptcy filing earlier this year. "We've been phasing it out," said Sara I. Cronin, a spokeswoman for Texas Petrochemicals. "There has been a rapid decline in market demand for it." So far, the Environmental Protection Agency has said that it does not have adequate information about the potential health risks from consuming M.T.B.E. in water. The additive, which is considered a carcinogen, is known to easily contaminate public water systems because it dissolves in water easily and does not cling to soil very well. The corporate suites of M.T.B.E. manufacturers in Texas appear to be unfazed by the legislation's defeat. Frank Maisano, a lobbyist with Bracewell & Patterson who represents Lyondell, Valero and an industry group, the Oxygenated Fuels Association, said his clients remained optimistic that the provision protecting the companies would be revived next year as part of a new energy bill. "This will remain part of the package and, if need be, a sticking point," Mr. Maisano said. Copyright c. 2003 The New York Times Company. --------- "RE: Tribe, Peabody work on Alternatives" --------- Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2003 18:31:26 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PEABODY/N-AQUIFER" http://www.gallupindependent.com/11-26-03tribepeabodyworkon.html Tribe, Peabody work on alternatives to keep coal moving to power plant Zsombor Peter Staff Writer November 26, 2003 WINDOW ROCK - To John Leeper and John Rutherford, it was more than just the 300 high-paying reservation jobs at Peabody Energy Company's Black Mesa Mine that were on the line Tuesday afternoon before the Navajo Nation Resources Committee. Leeper, director of the tribe's Water Management Branch, and Rutherford, a natural resources attorney for the tribe, insisted the committee also held in its hands the prospect of supplying Navajo and Hopi communities with thousands of additional acre-feet of water annually. The source of all this promise was a memorandum of understanding for a nearly $6 million feasibility and environmental safety study of an aquifer that could serve as an alternative water source for Peabody's mining operations near Black Mesa and Kayenta. The memorandum was accepted 5-0 and goes before the Inter-governmental Relations Committee Monday for final tribal approval. The tribe has been trying for years to wean Peabody off its use of the so-called "N" aquifer near its Black Mesa and Kayenta coal mines for fear that the mining will contaminate the pristine water supply. The "C" aquifer, the subject of the proposed study, lies west of Winslow and, said Leeper and Rutherford, offers the best alternative to date. Spurring on the search for an alternative water supply is the tribe's intent to end Peabody's use of the "N" aquifer by 2005 and the fear of a closure of the Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nev., the sole customer of Peabody's Black Mesa coal. In other words, no Mohave Generating Station, no 300 Black Mesa Mine jobs, and no millions in revenue for the Navajo and Hopi tribes. Southern California Edison, the majority shareholder in the generating station, announced Friday a four- to five-year shutdown of the plant beginning Dec. 31, 2005, to implement $1.1 billion worth of mandated pollution controls. With the tribe's insistence on pulling Peabody out of the "N" aquifer, Edison wants guarantees to adequate coal and water supplies to ensure its costly upgrades to the aging plant won't be for naught. The plant supplies electricity to urban communities in Arizona, California and Nevada. "This is the last option to save the mine and save Mohave," said Rutherford bluntly. "This is the last alternative; this is the best alternative." Although the memorandum of understanding, which, besides the Inter- governmental Relations Committee's OK, still needs the approval of Edison and the plant's other shareholders, binds none of the parties to an agreement on an actual "C" aquifer project, said Rutherford, "it allows studies to go forward that are critical to the project itself ... without these studies, the project will not go forward." And whatever the study's findings, he said the tribal council would agree to no final project without its own guarantee to 5,600 acre-feet of water from the "C" aquifer per year above the 6,000 acre-feet of water proposed for the mine and plant's use for municipal and industrial use by the Navajo and Hopi tribes. Although the memorandum commits Edison and its fellow plant owners to footing the $5.95 million study bill, that covers only the cost of studying the withdrawal of 6,000 acre-feed of water per year. Although Rutherford acknowledged the skepticism with which some might receive any promises from the U.S. Department of the Interior, he said the agency has committed to covering the cost of studying the withdrawal of an additional 5,600 acre-feet pre year for the use of the tribes. And if the study should open the door for negotiations on the project itself, the plant owners would pay only for the infrastructure serving their annual 6,000 acre-feet of water from the aquifer, leaving the tribes to cover the costs of any expansion. Leeper estimated the plant owners' share of the project costs at $100 million, and the tribes' at $12 million. He said the study would help verify those figures. Despite these efforts, not all tribal officials are sure they'll save Black Mesa Mine, convinced Edison is determined to permanently shut down the plant regardless. Resources Committee Chairman George Arthur said he took Edison's many conditions and apparent apathy as a sign that it wasn't committed to keeping the plant open and doubted a study of the "C" aquifer alone would go far in changing its mind. As Leeper and Rutherford told the committee, however, it may very well be the tribe's last chance to keep the plant, and hence Black Mesa Mine, open, and the accompanying benefits alive. Copyright c. 2003 the Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: Fort Yates Water woes continue" --------- Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2003 18:31:26 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FORT YATES" http://www.bismarcktribune.com/11-26-2003/nws02.html Water woes continue By MIKE ALBRECHT, Bismarck Tribune November 26, 2003 FORT YATES - Norma White Lightning hasn't had to melt snow for water since she was a child in the 1960s. But she and more than 5,000 area residents here were forced to find creative ways to fill toilet tanks after their water supply ran out Monday afternoon. "No one is using the bathroom until I fill that tank up," White Lightning said as she scooped snow from a bowl into a pot on the stove. "I just hope I don't have to do this all weekend." A low Missouri River is to blame for the loss of water that has affected about 10,000 Sioux County residents and the towns of Fort Yates, Cannon Ball and Porcupine. The water supply from Lake Oahe is treated in Fort Yates and pumped throughout the county. Cannon Ball and Porcupine have their own holding tanks but Cannon Ball's reserves ran dry Tuesday afternoon and Porcupine was expected to be out of water by Tuesday night. Dave Snider, marketing director with Prairie Knights Casino and Resort, said they're not affected. The casino has an independent water source and isn't in danger of closing. "We are cooperating with tribal officials in trying to find both a temporary and a permanent solution to the water problems," Snider said. Silt and sludge began plugging up the intake pipe from Lake Oahe on Thursday, and by Monday the water had quit flowing, crippling the county's water system. The Standing Rock Municipal, Rural and Industrial Water System and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation began laying an alternate pipeline above ground Monday afternoon, but the temporary fix ran into a snag. Equipment, including a trackhoe, a diesel pump and a pickup, got stuck in the soft earth along the river. To correct the problem, four front-end loaders were using dirt from the riverbank to construct a road out to the intake site. Arden Freitag with the Bureau of Reclamation said they could have water pumping by this afternoon. A diver from Minot arrived Tuesday morning to try to find what was clogging the primary water intake pipe. As of Tuesday afternoon, after numerous dives, he was unable to find the problem, mainly because of strong current and muddy water. "If we can find the intake and determine what's going on, we can fix it, " Freitag said. While crews work to restore water, Tribal Chairman Charles Murphy was coordinating a relief effort with state emergency management and businesses in the state. About 20,000 gallons of untreated water and about 3,000 bottles of drinking water had been delivered, and there was more to come. Trucks continued to haul untreated water, and the state planned to send five water buffalo -- trailers that hold 400 gallons of drinking water -- to the affected towns. The state also was contacting Flasher and Mobridge, S.D., for nearby sites to pick up more water. "There's not a drop of water in Fort Yates right now besides what we've brought in," Murphy said. "I'm scared that people will mix up water for drinking and flushing." Residents were picking up bottled water at the community center and untreated water at the high school Tuesday afternoon. By 3 p.m. more than 400 families had picked up their allotted six bottles of drinking water. The elderly and families with infants were given extra bottles. Among those stopping by the community center was Ardis Dogskin. She received 12 bottles of water to share with her three children and 1-year- old grandson. "This has been hectic since Sunday," she said. "You can't do anything. There's just enough to cook supper and that's it. We can't wash up or bathe." The schools, clinics, tribal offices and hospital were still closed Tuesday and likely will remain so for the rest of the week. Only two gas stations and the grocery store are open, Murphy said. In addition to working to solve the immediate problem, Murphy is looking at the long term. He said he anticipated the problem and sent the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers a letter earlier this month urging them to increase water releases from Lake Sakakawea. He said that even now, after running out of water, the corps only plans a slight increase in water releases. Reach reporter Mike Albrecht at 250-8261 or cops@ndonline.com. Copyright c. 2003 Bismarck Tribune. --------- "RE: BIA Water incident draws Unhappy Crowd" --------- Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2003 08:38:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BIA (NON)PERFORMANCE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.billingsgazette.com/~/2003/12/02/build/local/40-biawater.inc BIA water incident draws unhappy crowd to town meeting By JIM GRANSBERY Of The Gazette Staff December 2, 2003 Water users in four irrigation districts managed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs recited a litany of complaints against the BIA for Montana congressmen in Billings Monday. A BIA official from Washington, D.C. admitted his responses were "bureaucratic." Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., and Rep Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., found that answer about as sufficient as the water delivery this year. Rehberg wanted to know who was holding staff accountable for getting the water turned on this past spring. A delay of almost two months was cited by one of the districts. "After waiting 30 to 60 days they were not getting the damn water," Rehberg said. Ross Mooney, the branch chief for irrigation, power and dams for the BIA, said the short answer is the local project manager. He said information at the local level was not coming up the chain of command to him. "I know that is not the answer you're looking for," Mooney said. Burns concurred and demanded, "Who do I call when I cannot get water?' Mooney said that call should go to the project manager, the agency superintendent or himself. The precipitating event this year was a bureau mix-up that delayed water to the Fort Belknap Water Users Association. The request for water was made in March. The association wanted to begin irrigation sooner than normal because the water was running in the river earlier. But water is not turned into the canals until water users pay their yearly assessment based on the number of acres watered. Mooney said an administrative glitch resulted in users not being billed earlier, thus the delay in getting water to the fields. Mooney promised the agency would bill sooner. "It will not be a problem in the future," he said. Burns and Rehberg hosted the town hall meeting at Montana State University-Billings. About 200 interested parties attended. Representatives of irrigation districts on the Blackfeet, Fort Belknap, Crow and Fort Peck Indian Reservations testified. The districts represent both Indian and non-Indian water users. A majority of the complaints centered on lack of maintenance of the infrastructure of the irrigation systems. BIA officials explained that the yearly assessments for operation and maintenance only cover operation of the system, with little left over for maintaining the system. Mooney said the BIA oversees 17 water projects nationwide. The projects cover about 1 million acres with 25,000 individual irrigators. Annual assessments raise $17 million, of which $2 million comes from Montana. That money is returned to the regional office of the BIA in Billings for operating the four Montana projects. Because water rates have not kept pace with costs, maintenance has been deferred so long that it has become a new capital cost, Mooney said. And rates were held flat through the 1980s because of the poor farm economy. "Rates have been level until just recently," he said. There are only two ways to pay for capital improvements, Mooney said: Increased assessments or a congressional appropriation of taxpayer funds. Robert Smith of the Seville Water Users on the Blackfeet Reservation said members now pay $13 an acre for their water. A proposed increase of $36 an acre "would put each and every one out of business," he said. Keith Beartusk, the BIA regional director in Billings, said his agency is forced to do a balancing act each year. "There are limited funds," he said. "We do not have the money to maintain the systems. If we raise the rates, you cannot afford them He said more water specialists, engineers and technicians are needed. Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Organ Pipe Barrier expected to keep Drugs out" --------- Date: Mon, 01 Dec 2003 00:11:03 -0700 From: "Chris Milda (_Akimel O`odham_)" Subj: The new border: Organ Pipe barrier expected to keep drugs, entrants out (Fwd) Mailing List: News and Information Distribution Sunday, 30 November 2003 The new border Organ Pipe barrier expected to keep drugs, entrants out By Michael Marizco ARIZONA DAILY STAR SONOYTA, Sonora - A new $17 million vehicle barrier at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument promises to help keep out loads of illegal drugs and immigrants along one of the U.S. border's most popular smuggling routes. The barrier, old railroad rails buried five feet deep and welded into a ribbon of steel, will do nothing to stop foot traffic and is designed only to deter cars and trucks and the damage they do when they tear across protected plants and carve rutted paths in fragile desert soil. But agencies that manage border lands are eager to get similar barriers for their own property, in part because the fences they have now are no more than a hodgepodge of broken barbed wire, power poles and abandoned cars shoved into the gaps. The new barriers are popular for another reason, too: Agencies fear the new Organ Pipe fence will actually work, pushing smugglers' vehicles onto their lands. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, part of the Department of Homeland Security, is considering lining much of the roughly 1,900-mile U.S.-Mexico border with the so-called "smart border" barriers. The agency has not decided who should pay for it, said spokesman Mario Villarreal in Washington, D.C. The National Park Service isn't waiting. The agency came up with the money for its Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, at $700,000 per mile of barrier, after ranger Kris Eggle was shot to death there in August 2002 by a drug smuggler running from Mexican agents. The barrier, slated for construction in December, will help protect the 516-square-mile monument's organ pipe cactus, saguaros, bighorn sheep and desert tortoise, which are suffering as smugglers race through, said Bill Wellman, a monument supervisor. The park service also installed the vehicle barriers at Coronado National Memorial in Southeastern Arizona and will finish that project in the next two weeks. Sometimes, the smugglers' vehicles break down or catch fire and are abandoned - 3,994 of them on the Tohono O'odham Nation and 34 in Organ Pipe in 2002. This year, 2,882 vehicles were dumped on the reservation and five at Organ Pipe. Most of the existing U.S. border fence was built in the 1930s and 1940s, not to deter smuggling but to stop an outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease from Mexican cows, said Sally Spener, spokeswoman for the U.S. Section of the International Water and Boundary Commission, the agency that put up the old fence. It provides little benefit today, as a visit to the Lukeville Port of Entry near Organ Pipe shows: An abandoned, overturned 1970s Ford Thunderbird is plugging a hole in the torn chain-link fence, positioned there by monument rangers after the car was pushed onto a U.S. border road from Mexico, Wellman said. About 40 percent of the fence that borders Mexico with Organ Pipe, the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge and the Tohono O'odham land is in such condition, the Department of the Interior estimates. Building these barriers will take money away from uses more specific to the missions of land and wildlife managers, said Mike Lusk, the assistant refuge manager at Cabeza Prieta west of Organ Pipe. The refuge, with more than 55 miles of border with Mexico, is already saving up for its own barrier. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, set aside $2 million this year for a barrier and will add another $5 million each year for the next four years. "By putting that in, we basically bankrupt construction projects for the rest of the U.S. with national wildlife refuges," Lusk said. Still, about 100 abandoned cars are pulled from the refuge each year, so Fish and Wildlife considers the barrier a priority. "When Organ Pipe really starts sealing their border, the border crime is going to fall on us," Lusk said. The work should be a function of Homeland Security, said Roger DiRosa, the refuge manager. "I don't feel we should be the ones that have to fund it," he said. That view is shared by Dan Wirth, border security coordinator for the Department of the Interior and the Tucson-based leader of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association. "Why is the park service spending on a barrier the Department of Homeland Security should pay for?" Wirth asked. East of Organ Pipe, Tohono O'odham officials worry they'll see more smugglers on wheels along their 68 miles of border until they can get a barrier like Organ Pipe's. "The biggest problem is the drug loads," said officer Rupert Lopez while examining a snipped barb-wire strand near Papago Farms. "We don't know what they're bringing in." The Border Patrol is planning to install vehicle barriers along the Tohono O'odham border, said Carlos Escobar, a field operations supervisor at the agency's Casa Grande station. The barriers are similar to the design at Organ Pipe and plans include putting in an improved border road, Escobar said. But while the project has support from the two Tohono O'odham districts that border Mexico, the nation as a whole has not acted yet on the barriers, he said. A better barrier is long past due, said Tohono O'odham Police Chief Richard Saunders, whose nation is crossed every day by smugglers, thieves, cattle rustlers and illegal entrants. "It's absolutely ludicrous," Saunders said, "that we even think the establishment of this barbed-wire fence is even intended to stop the flow of all the above." That's the concern of some border policy analysts, too, one of whom says a stronger fence might mean more border crosser deaths as illegal entrants resort to crossing on foot instead of in vehicles. "These are desperate people," said Deborah Meyers, a policy analyst with the Washington, D.C.-based Migration Policy Institute. "No one takes the decision lightly." Further, a stronger fence might also boost the market for forged documents, Meyers said, as more illegal entrants try to cross through ports of entry such as Lukeville and Nogales. As long as the promise of a job in America remains, Meyers said, people will find ways to overcome barriers. Jose Francisco proved that point recently as he stood beneath a U.S. sign at Organ Pipe, which warns people against trying to cross the desert. Deported from California and Texas, where strong urban border walls were erected a decade ago in San Diego and El Paso, Francisco had heard it was easier to cross at Organ Pipe, where nothing would hamper him. "A friend drew a map for me of the mountains I need to follow," said Francisco, a 25-year-old Guanajuato man. The man, who said he had neither food nor water enough for the journey, said he expected to make the trip - 150 miles to Phoenix - in two days, breaking cactus open along the way to quench his thirst. Asked whether he feared for his life, he likened the trek to an adventure, said "adios," stepped over the broken fence wire and strolled away. Contact reporter Michael Marizco at 573-4213 or mmarizco@azstarnet.com. Copyright c. 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 AzStarNet, Arizona Daily Star and its wire services and suppliers. --------- "RE: Snohomish Indians denied Status as a Tribe" --------- Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2003 08:38:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SNOHOMISH DENIED RECOGNITION" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.heraldnet.com/Stories/03/12/2/17835150.cfm Snohomish Indians denied status as a tribe By Victor Balta Herald Writer December 2, 2003 The Snohomish Indian Tribe -- a group whose families did not move to the Tulalip Reservation -- was turned down Monday in its bid for federal recognition. Such recognition would have given the 1,711-member tribe such benefits as sovereignty, the ability to put land in trust and build a casino and access to some federal grants. The group, which has been working for federal recognition for 30 years, also was turned down in 1983. A 60-page fax from the U.S. Department of the Interior sealed the tribe's fate. "It was a terrible blow," said Bill Matheson of Port Hadlock, chairman of the Snohomish Tribe. "I just don't understand it. I don't know what's going on back there (in Washington, D.C.). I don't know if it's anti-Indian, or it's political, or funding, or what it is." The tribe has 90 days to file an appeal with the Interior Board of Indian Appeals. The Snohomish Tribe of Indians, which has an office in Edmonds, is made up of about 34 families who were part of the Snohomish nation before the signing of the Treaty of Point Elliott in 1855. That treaty established the Tulalip Indian Reservation, made up of 11 tribes, near what is now Marysville. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 combined the 11 tribes, including the Snohomish, and they were confederated as the Tulalip Tribes. Off-reservation Snohomish Indians did not get to vote on the 1934 act and believe that those who voted in favor gave up their tribal identity. The Tulalip Tribes adamantly opposed the Snohomish tribe's federal recognition, hiring attorneys and genealogy researchers to prepare volumes of testimony to block the recognition. While some believe the Tulalip Tribes are motivated by greed, spokesman John McCoy said it's a matter of principle and keeping continuity of the tribes on the reservation. McCoy, who is also the general manager of Quil Ceda Village and a state representative, said Monday that he wasn't surprised by the decision. "Based on the criteria set forth in the Federal Acknowledgement Program, that was the appropriate decision," McCoy said, noting that he didn't want to say anything else. "There's enough bad feelings about saying any more." To gain federal recognition, a tribe must meet seven criteria set by the federal government. The Snohomish tribe was rejected based on the same four criteria noted in 1983. Those included: the identification of the petitioner as American Indian from historical times; demonstration of a community from historical times; demonstration of political influence; and a list of tribal members. Matheson said the fight is not over. He said the tribe has attorneys reviewing the letter of denial. He said it could be two years, but that a lawsuit "will appear in court one way or another." Reporter Victor Balta: 425-339-3455 or vbalta@heraldnet.com. Copyright c. 2003 The Daily Herald Co., Everett, Wash. --------- "RE: Recognition: Municipal Leaders want louder Voice" --------- Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2003 08:38:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INVADERS WANT SAY ON WHO IS RECOGNIZED" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.norwichbulletin.com/news/stories/20031202/localnews/746806.html Municipal leaders ask for louder voice in tribal recognition By BRIAN LYMAN Norwich Bulletin December 2, 2003 Leaders of nearly three dozen towns and a government association have asked Connecticut's congressional delegation to open the Bureau of Indian Affairs' federal recognition process to third parties. "As many of us have indicated to you before on several occasions, the tribal acknowledgment process is seriously flawed, requires dramatic reform and should be subject to a moratorium until the necessary changes are made," the government officials said in their letter sent Friday. "The purpose of this letter is to call to your attention specific problems that have emerged in recent months and request your help in obtaining prompt action from the federal government." Thirty-four town and city leaders, including a representative of the Houstatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials, signed the petition. Officials from Brooklyn, Colchester, Ledyard, North Stonington, Pomfret and Preston also signed. Officials from Preston, Ledyard and North Stonington long have complained the BIA process is fundamentally flawed and does not give towns that could be affected by Indian gaming the chance to present evidence against recognition. Local town leaders said the letter was prompted by a BIA filing by the Schaghticoke tribal nation in late September. The Kent-based tribe submitted new information to the bureau in September, saying the tribe's Russell and Velky factions had united, but members of the Russell faction said immediately after the filing that they were not supposed to be counted in the census. The information was filed near deadline, and the state attorney general's office brought the BIA to court in order to give the state a chance to respond. "If the tribe submits documentation, there should be a mechanism for interested parties to answer the submittal by the tribes," Preston First Selectman and state Rep. Robert Congdon said. "The BIA develops a system where a tribe can wait until the last day and say 'Oh, too bad interested parties, your window of opportunity has been closed.'" A message left at the Schaghticoke tribe's offices was not returned. The letter specifically requests the delegation to work at making the process more open to interested parties and remove regulations the towns claim give tribes the "last word" in negotiations, which the letter said gives a "strong and unfair advantage to petitioners' groups." U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, R-2nd District, and U.S. Sens. Christopher Dodd and Joseph Lieberman, both Democrats, have proposed legislation in the past to allow towns greater input into the recognition process, but have not gotten very far. North Stonington First Selectman Nicholas H. Mullane II said the Schaghticoke situation underlined previously raised concerns over the federal recognition process. "I think this was a classic example of another example of how BIA is not looking to have a fair, equitable, open process with due process," he said. The letter also brings up local towns' complaints over the Historic Eastern Pequots' recognition status, arguing that tribe filed last-minute information to which "interested parties" could not respond. In a prepared statement, tribal Chairwoman Marcia Jones Flowers said the tribe had strictly followed the process outlined by the BIA. "The Eastern Pequots submitted one of the most heavily documented petitions ever sent to the BIA, which has been hotly contested and therefore has been one of the most meticulously scrutinized in BIA history, " Flowers said. "The federal, state and local governments asked us to follow the process, and that's what we have done to the letter for a quarter of century." The BIA is expected to rule on the Schaghticokes' federal status in late January. bmlyman@norwich.gannett.com Copyright c. 2003 Norwich Bulletin. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Pueblo of Acoma Culture Center construction" --------- Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2003 08:52:14 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ACOMA CENTER" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://albuquerque.bizjournals.com/~/2003/11/24/daily21.html?jst=b_ln_hl Pueblo of Acoma to begin construction on cultural center Eileen Garvin NMBW Staff November 24, 2003 The Pueblo of Acoma on Saturday will hold a ceremony to commemorate the start of construction on the new Sky City Cultural Center. The blessing ceremony is part of a two-day, annual arts and crafts fair, featuring pottery, jewelry, handcrafts, food and dancing. The 30,000-square-foot facility will be located at the base of the Pueblo of Acoma, which is set atop a 300-foot sandstone mesa an hour west of Albuquerque and 14 miles south of Interstate 40. The Jaynes Corporation won the contract to build the cultural center, which will take about one year to complete. "This is a challenging project because of the cultural resources that surround the property," said Brian Vallo, manager of the Sky City Cultural Center. "The contractor has a challenging but unique opportunity to work in the area, which is considered one of the oldest continuously inhabited villages in North America. Vallo declined to disclose the cost of the project, but said it is the single most expensive project undertaken by the Pueblo of Acoma to date. Two Santa Fe-based firms, Barbara Felix Architecture and Design and WoodMetalConcrete, are working on the project in a joint venture. "[The firms] have worked intimately with the tribal community to capture the needs and the major design elements for this particular facility," Vallo said. Vallo says the architectural style will demonstrate more than 1,000 years of Acoma's history, showing the evolution of Acoma building styles. "We have taken elements from our ancestral architectural styles that you see at Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon and have incorporated other architectural elements from other Acoma settlements and also considered existing architecture in new settlements of Acomita and McCartys Village." The basement of the two-story center will hold Acoma's first ever tribal archives. The main floor of the center will feature a museum, gallery, retail space, cafe, gift shop, theater and classrooms. The second floor will house a research library, a repository for documents and photos, office space, and a conference area. "This new center promises to be an exceptional facility, a wonderful place for them to both exhibit their art and teach the visiting public about their heritage," said Fred Peralta, secretary of the New Mexico Tourism Department, in a press release. The Pueblo of Acoma has approximately 6,000 members, 4,200 of whom live on the reservation. The blessing ceremony and holiday fair are open to the public. The blessing ceremony begins at 11 a.m. Gov. Fred S. Vallo will speak, as will Delbert Roughsurface, chair of Acoma business board. Copyright c. 2003 American City Business Journals Inc. --------- "RE: For Tribal Members, Elderly come First" --------- Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2003 18:31:26 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MORALES ELDERS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.pe.com/~/PE_Fea_Local_morales27.57e0e.html For tribal members, elderly come first November 26, 2003 By GREGOR McGAVIN / The Press-Enterprise Only crumbled plaster and flame-twisted metal remain where Robert Morales' home once stood - not much to mark where a man raised a family and found himself. But it's all the Paradise Fire left when it raged across the San Pasqual Indian Reservation one month ago. Since that first night, when the flames raced across the rocky hillsides and confusion reigned, Robert hasn't stopped working. He's working to keep clean water flowing to this community of about 100 tribal members, to bring home elders made homeless by the fire and to ensure that the flames aren't followed by floods and mudslides from the now-barren hills. Robert is working for his tribe because his tribe has worked for him. "Whether they pay me or not, I would do this job because I love these people," said Robert, a square-shouldered 47-year-old with a long black ponytail. "These are my people." Meanwhile, at the home he shared with wife, Sandy, and eight children and grandchildren, the rubble remains untouched - like an open wound not yet ready to heal. "Another $20,000 and it was already going to be paid off," he said of the three-bedroom home, bought through a federal program for low-income reservation housing. A tribal insurance policy covered the $60,000 home, but not what was inside. The Morales clan escaped with only a few prized photographs, papers and their lives. Federal disaster officials have loaner trailers that tribal members may use free for up to 18 months, but they require the home site to be cleared of debris first. With a dozen or so tribal elders displaced, the Morales family will have to wait. "I think they should go first anyhow - I always think they should go first," said Sandy, 47. Tribal housing officials say all 50 or so home sites should be cleared of debris in four or five months, opening the way to build anew. For now, the Moraleses are staying with daughter Desiree, 27. Desiree was waiting for the electricity to be linked to her home from a nearby power pole. The pole burned in the fire. Now the lights in Desiree's three-bedroom home are powered by a gas generator, and while the place isn't fully furnished yet, nobody's complaining. "It's a roof and it's more than other people have," Desiree said. Her double-wide mobile sits halfway down a rocky hillside from her father's and just a stone's throw from Joey's. All three occupy the 5-acre parcel Robert claimed when he took his place as a tribe member at age 18. Robert's people have lived on the San Pasqual reservation since its creation by the federal government more than a century ago, but his parents left the land before he was born. When he became a man, Robert returned to the reservation. There, he has embraced his people's spiritual beliefs and found his own identity as a member. A bonfire blazed and reggae music drifted from the open door of a pickup truck. "Everything that we lost is material," Robert said, pointing uphill to the ruins of his house. Then his gesture took in the friends and relatives gathered round the fire, and he grinned broadly in the firelight. Copyright c. 2003 The Press-Enterprise/Riverside, CA., Belo Interactive Inc. --------- "RE: Peace Walk" --------- Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2003 21:34:31 +0000 From: Robert Dorman Subj: Peace Walk coming to Hopi - Dineh area Mailing List: Big Mountain Moderator's Comment: Although a presidential canditate is mentioned in this post, as are alternative energy sources, I want to be clear that by posting this, I do not necessairly personally endorse either this canditate or the proposed alternative energy sources. Although it is indeed important to explore new energy technologies, I believe that they can only be phased in gradually as they are proven viable. In fact, my own invention, the LIAG (http://www.theofficenet.com/~redorman/LIAG.TXT) may someday prove to be such a technology, but using the prospect of alternative energy sources or technology to stop the coal mining in the near term may not be the most effective approach. Bringing the Dineh/coal mining issues to public attention via peace marches and other means seems to me a very good way to go for now. From: "David Crockett Williams" Subj: Peace Walk coming to Hopi - Dineh area to resolve Big Mountain problem Robert, and friends Please forward this advice to Big Moutain list and other networks about The American Peace March 2003-2004 schedule for early Feb.2004 to Navajo Nation Office, and to Hopi area with appropriate permissions towards reconciliation of Hopi-Dineh problems associated with the Black Mesa coal mining and behind the scenes pressure responsible for the "relocation" to acess more coal and uranium according to the documents sent you a few years ago uncovered by the American Indian Legal Foundation group in DC copied to Banyacya and from him to me some years ago showing Hopi Tribe map of exploitable coal fields under Big Mountain area determining where Joint Use Area split boundaries were redrawn etc. This energy issue is also at the root of the case of Leonard Peltier with behind the scenes pressures for access to Black Hills for uranium mining behind all the problems then. Many of us involved since 1976 trying to help Banyacya and others to stop the strip mining on Black Mesa, draining the water tables and impacting the environment with those polluting power plants that burn the Black Mesa coal, have felt even back since then that the ultimate solution (also for the Dineh in the relocation areas) is to make the mining of that coal for electricity obsolete and irrelevant by bringing to fruition the new energy tech genre to replace nuclear and fossil fuel power as we have discussed in recent years and as now coming to forefront edge towards mainstream news coverage due to Sept.5 Wall Street Journal science column authenticating the cold fusion genre and also Nov.6 letter of acknowledgement from the California Energy Commission which can influence the CPUC to shut down the coal burning at its Mohave Power Plant to retrofit with these new energy techs as we proposed earlier this year 2003 and Dr. Wood offered to participate as engineer. This American Peace March 2003-2004 project is tracking the schedule from Washington DC to San Francisco of the Steps for Peace Walk inspired and supported by presidential candiadate Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) who is aware of these new energy techs and whose candidacy recently got endorsements from Dennis Banks and Winona LaDuke et.al with strong outreach now to First Nations via campaign on his site http://www. kucinich.us This schedule includes New Year's Eve vigil for Leonard Peltier outside Leavenworth with camp at the nearby river for West Route and related date focuses at Wounded Knee and Little Bighorn national monument on Lakota Route starting Dec.8 Madison Wisconsin. Presently working towards visit by Nepali Tibetan Buddhist leader to come to the area in preparation to offer his Order's "True White Teachings" of red robed monks. This Steps for Peace "political" walk, promoting peace issues and initiated by a young college religious studies graduate, is today leaving Cleveland HQ of Kucinich campaign which is coordinating that walk schedule generally following the route I set for them at their request before walk start Oct.17 in Maine. They will be coming to Flagstaff area first week of February on way to end San Francisco Feb.29. What this has triggered as a sequel to the Global Peace Walk project walking across county in 1995 and 2000, receiving letters of support from so many on both sides of this issue, is APM route back across country starting SF 20Mar04 again coming through Hopi-Dineh area on way to DC 24Oct04 end marking close of UN Decade of World's Indigenous Peoples 1995-2004 inaugurated by the Global Peace Walk '95 from NYC to SF. Feb.6 is key date focus for all routes (28th year imprisonment anniversary for Leonard Peltier, 5year death day anniversary of Thomas Banyacya, as well as birthdays of both Bob Marley and President Reagan) with plans for that date APM East Route Beijing Tiennamen Square featuring Six Nations Tree of Peace planting ceremony after India, Nepal focus before Korea, Japan. This "Big Vision" has deep spiritual support and offers a "story" now that will help all participants locally draw attention to their progressive issues by tapping into and using/accepting this offer of "generic banner" of American Peace March with no central organizing or fundraising, ie, just a scheduling offering by someone with peace walk scheduling experience to "get this snowball rolling downhill" for global peace now. We want to do a new energy tech conference with supporters' help Feb. 6-7-8 in Flagstaff where one of our key scientists now lives, Dr. Fred B. Wood Sr, along with Dean House who http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/fwood.html knows all about this many years. The idea is to invite reps from all sides of the Big Mountain issue to participate and get the briefing then, and before then by internet etc, on how the Hopi and Dineh people, "traditionals and progressives united" can take advantage of this new info for everyone's benefit to help bring this new knowledge out to the public to end nuclear power and fossil fuel power while creating some kind of all indigenous nations new energy development entity started by the Hopi-Dineh consortium we hope to begin creating by this walk schedule, as per the wishes of my late friend Bruce DePalma who proposed this idea during his first meeting "with an Indian" back in Santa Barbara in the early 1980's when I introduced him to Archie Fire Lame Deer and they discussed this idea in a meeting that I tape recorded. http://www.depalma.pair.com Several scientists involved in the forefront of these various different new energy devices development have already been to Hopi and/or expressed an interest in this type of conference there to share their work publicly, including Joseph Newman http://www.josephnewman.com , and Hal Fox editor of the New Energy Journal http://www.padrak.com/ine and I think others such as Dr. Brian O'Leary mentioned in the CEC letter may also schedule to come if we can get this organized soon with Flagstaff locals' help on this walk schedule which can be seen from links at GEAR200 site below which folks can see the vision of this project by exploring the various info and routes of this American Peace March which will be building public awareness momentum bigtime before it arrives to Flagstaff area with ceremonies at Hopi subject to permissions by all parties now needed networking arrangements for that and outreach in all local areas where these four routes to the four directions from DC will be coming through on the way to Flagstaff area and on to SF since this will set the network for 2004 walk west to east and continually bring attention to need to resovle Big Mountain situation and related energy issues, stop nuclear testing, dumping, weapons, free Leonard, etc David Crockett Williams 661-822-3309 One human being living in Tehachapi, California gear2000@lightspeed.net Global Emergency Alert Response 2000 http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000 ========================================= Please visit http://www.theofficenet.com/~redorman/pagea~1.htm for more background on the Big Mountain relocation issue. To post to the list, email your message to redorman@theofficenet.com. To subscribe, send an email to: BIGMTLIST-subscribe@topica.com. --------- "RE: Protected Eagles may be killed to save Foxes" --------- Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2003 23:47:23 -0700 From: "Chris Milda (_Akimel O`odham_)" Subj: Protected eagles may be killed so endangered foxes may live (Fwd) Mailing List: News and Information Distribution Protected eagles may be killed so endangered foxes may live THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Friday, 28 November 2003 WASHINGTON - To control a bizarre gathering of eagles, pigs and foxes on California's Channel Islands, federal wildlife officials may have to kill a protected species in order to save an endangered one. Attracted by a plentiful supply of feral pigs rooting around the islands, a community of golden eagles settled in about 10 years ago to prey on piglets. But they also found that the island foxes, an endangered subspecies, made good meals. The population of pigs, which reproduce year-round, were little affected by the winged predators, but the foxes were decimated. In less than a decade, wild foxes disappeared from San Miguel and Santa Rosa islands and on Santa Cruz, the population of 1,500 was reduced to just 65. Fish and Wildlife Service experts are now capturing and removing the pigs and the eagles, but a new study suggests that if the process is not handled properly, wild foxes on the islands could disappear. The study, appearing in the journal Science, said the few remaining eagles will be enough to drive the wild foxes into extinction if all of the pigs are moved first. "You still have eagles on the islands," said Gary W. Roemer, a New Mexico State University biologist and first author of the study. "If you remove the pigs, you've only got 65 foxes running around that will make those eagles focus more intently on the foxes and drive them to extinction. The most prudent strategy is to get rid of the eagles first and then get rid of the pigs." Golden eagles are protected species, but they are not threatened with extinction. The unique island fox subspecies, however, is hanging by a thread, said Roemer. Killing the eagles "is an alternative that we will look into if we have to," said Bridget Fahey, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in California. Copyright c. 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 AzStarNet, Arizona Daily Star and its wire services and suppliers. --------- "RE: Navajo Guide helps Visitor see Beauty" --------- Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2003 17:13:42 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MONUMENT VALLEY GUIDE" http://www.journalnet.com/2003/11/28/features/outdoors05.txt Navajo guide helps visitor see beauty in Monument Valley By Ron Cobb - Knight Ridder-Tribune News November 28, 2003 MONUMENT VALLEY, Utah - It's 6:30 a.m., an hour before sunrise. Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park is pitch black, and I'm the only person at the locked gate outside the visitors center. In a few minutes, headlights appear on the road leading into Monument Valley. I'm hoping it's Tom Phillips, the 54-year-old Navajo guide who is going to take me on a sunrise photo tour among Monument Valley's imposing sandstone monoliths. "I think I need a 9-to-5 job earning minimum wage," a sleepy Phillips complains as he steps out of his Jeep Cherokee, holding a mug of coffee. "I think I'd like it better." Phillips has been leading tours into Monument Valley "off and on" since 1979, and about five years ago he started his own small company, Keyah Hozhoni Tours. Now he's burning the candle at both ends, leading sunset tours that finish after dark and then coming back before sunrise for more. Phillips enjoys photography and specializes in tours for photo enthusiasts, although the hours wear on him. Stradding the Utah-Arizona border, Monument Valley and its haunting rock formations are a mecca for photographers. Monument Valley has captured the public's imagination for decades, since director John Ford began using the area as a backdrop for his Westerns. I'm in the front seat with Phillips as he steers his small SUV over the ragged dirt roads that serve as the infrastructure inside Monument Valley. The roads are more suitable for all-terrain vehicles, but Phillips knows every boulder to avoid and every dip to negotiate. He grew up on the huge Navajo reservation, which occupies a large chunk of northeast Arizona and also extends into southeast Utah and northwest New Mexico. Monument Valley lies on Navajo land. Our destination is Totem Pole, Phillips' favorite monolith for sunrise photos. But on this morning in mid-October, the sun rises behind a curtain of clouds, so there will be only soft light to work with rather than the kind of light that turns Monument Valley's rocks a flaming red. Fewer photo opportunities allow more time for talk - about things like the valley's spiritual connection for Navajos. This is said to be sacred land. "A lot of people use this area for prayers," Phillips says. "For me, I wouldn't say it's any more spiritual than another place. But people would disagree with me. "When I was in Austria, I saw mountains reaching up so high, I had a spiritual-type feeling. I wake up here and have the same feeling. I've felt the same way in Death Valley." Spirituality, he is saying, is more a matter of the person than the location. "The spiritual belief is very much home-based," he says. "I remember my grandmother while she was cooking. After she finished and pushed the coals back into the fire, she'd have her prayer. "When people say they're going to have a prayer, people think you've got to go to church. Who says you have to? You can walk out in the middle of the sagebrush and yell your prayers as loud as you want, and you'll be heard as well as you would in church. "You can have prayers for livestock, prayers for your home, prayers to get rid of your neighbors ..." Or prayers for your children. Phillips recalls a time when he was in the Marine Corps and his mother felt it was necessary for a special prayer. "I got orders to go to Vietnam," he says. "My mother felt very uneasy about my orders. She brought in a medicine man to say prayers. "I went to Camp Pendleton, but I was the only one to be held back. My orders were diverted. It was a very strange feeling. I got orders three more times, and each time they got deleted, or I was sent somewhere else." Although I want to see all the famous rock formations that I've seen in movies or in coffee-table books, Phillips takes me into the backcountry, eager to show that Monument Valley offers more. As a permit-carrying guide, he's allowed to veer off the main road. We see rock art and ruins left behind by the valley's earliest inhabitants. Phillips finds two pieces of rock that he says are fragments of arrowheads, and he tosses them back into the dirt. "When I was growing up around here, there were ruins around, and the children were told to leave them alone," he says. "So we did. Now the young people don't have as much respect. "It hurts to see them disrupt things and sell them as artifacts. The two biggest changes for our people are money and television." Phillips' truck takes a pounding on Monument Valley's bumpy roads, which are akin to an obstacle course in some spots. In this part of the country, these kinds of roads are referred to as native roads. The Navajos want Monument Valley to remain as close as possible to its natural state. Out here, there's nothing but rocks, dirt, sagebrush and a few other desert plants. "People ask me, 'Why don't they pave the roads?' If the roads were paved, it would be like driving in downtown Los Angeles," Phillips says. "Monument Valley can be very frightening to people because people are so used to their luxuries, their electric power and their conveniences. They come out here and see none of what they're used to. People ask me, 'How can you live out here? There's nothing out here.' " Monument Valley, although one of America's most beautiful places, is also one of its most remote, far from any city. It's nothing like a national park that is operated and maintained with tourists in mind. Beyond the visitors center and an adjacent campground, there's not a single amenity inside Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park - not even a drinking fountain. These are factors that visitors should weigh when they visit Monument Valley. They can choose to drive the 17-mile loop road on their own, in their own vehicle. They can sign up for a tour at Goulding's, a lodge situated a couple of miles away. Or they can leave the driving to a guide such as Phillips or any of the Navajos who congregate like taxi drivers outside the visitors center. A 1 1/2-hour tour costs $30 a person; a 2 1/2-hour tour costs $35 and includes a stop to see petroglyphs and a Navajo home. Owners of large RVs and vehicles with a low clearance are advised not to drive on their own. "People who go on their own are on their own," Phillips says. "The road has taken its share of oil pans, tires and radiators. I've seen people get stuck in the sand or lock themselves out. We save them wear and tear on their cars." Phillips has more advice for visitors. Basic necessities: "Always have two things with you - water and a flashlight." Photography: Don't rush it. "Allow yourself plenty of time," he says. "A lot of people are so in a hurry. The saddest thing is to see people drive up to the visitors center and go up to the edge and take a picture, and then they're off. They think they've captured Monument Valley. People are in such a rush, they forget what they're here for. "One thing I try to do is to get people to have a feeling for this place instead of just shooting a few snapshots, to understand what life out here is like, so they can leave here a little more informed. "Even if people have a point-and-shoot camera, I'll still work with them and show them how they can improve." Common courtesy: Don't rush up to a Navajo and take a photo. Ask first; a small gratuity is welcome. At the Hopi reservation in Arizona, Phillips says, cameras are forbidden. "What people don't understand - they think we're here for them, for their amusement," he says. It's 10 a.m. when our tour ends, and Phillips is ready to head back home to do some paperwork before his next tour. He lives a couple of miles away, in a sparsely populated area outside of Monument Valley. The wide-open spaces appeal to him. "I hate crowded places," he says. "I had offers to go to New York once. "I turned them down." IF YOU GO: GETTING THERE: Monument Valley is 380 miles from Salt Lake City, 317 miles from Phoenix, 400 miles from Las Vegas and 352 miles from Albuquerque, N.M. While Grand Junction, Colo., is only 260 miles away, flights into that city are generally more expensive. TRIBAL PARK: Entry fee is $5; visitors 9 and under are free. Telephone: 1-435-727-5874. KEYAH HOZHONI MONUMENT VALLEY TOURS: Tom Phillips offers tours of 1 1/2 hours ($30), 2 1/2 hours ($35), a half day ($45) and a full day ($100). He offers camping tours and will provide equipment such as tent and sleeping bags if needed. Photo tours range from $20 an hour to $200 for a full day. Call 1-928-309-7440 or go to www.monumentvalley.com. Goulding's doubles as lodge and museum of movie Westerns MONUMENT VALLEY, Utah - Monument Valley might not be nearly so famous if it weren't for a sheep inspector named Harry Goulding. Goulding was living in Colorado in the 1920s when he rode through Monument Valley on a business trip. He loved what he saw, and he and his wife, Leone "Mike" Goulding, moved there and established a trading post. In 1938, the Gouldings heard a radio report that movie director John Ford was in pre-production on a Western, "Stagecoach." They believed Monument Valley would be the perfect setting. So they gathered some photographs and drove to Ford's office in Hollywood, where Harry Goulding threatened to set up camp on the doorstep unless he was allowed to see the director. When Ford saw the photos, he was impressed. He flew to Monument Valley, and a month later, filming began there. "Stagecoach," starring John Wayne, was the first of nine Westerns directed by Ford that used Monument Valley as a backdrop. A quarter-century later, Ford would describe Monument Valley by saying, "I have been all over the world, but I consider this the most complete, beautiful and peaceful place on the Earth." On each trip to Monument Valley, Ford used Goulding's trading post as his home base. Over the years, the Gouldings added a lodge; today, Goulding's Lodge consists of 72 guest rooms, including Nos. 312 and 313, the rooms in which Ford and Wayne stayed during the filming of some of their later Westerns. "We don't really advertise that," says operations manager Ronnie Biard, "but if people ask for those rooms and they're available, we'll give them to them." The small, two-story structure that originally served as both a trading post and residence for the Gouldings is now a museum that showcases movie memorabilia and some of the Gouldings' photos and possessions. Among the items on display are one of Ford's director's chairs; saloon doors from "My Darling Clementine"; actor's chairs tagged with the names Harry Carey Jr. and Joanne Dru; and personal notes sent to the Gouldings from movie celebrities such as Ford, Ward Bond, Henry Fonda and Wayne, who made reference to Monument Valley when he wrote, "Harry, you and I both owe these monuments a lot." After Harry Goulding died in 1981, the lodge was sold to Knox College of Galesburg, Ill.; the college apparently viewed the property as an investment. Today the lodge is owned by Gerald and Roland LaFont. Goulding's has evolved into a complex that is akin to a small town. Besides a full-service restaurant, Goulding's offers a grocery store, gas station, convenience store with fast-food fare, car wash, coin-operated laundry, indoor pool, landing strip for aircraft and medical clinic. A model of a Navajo home, called a hogan, is on display, offering demonstrations by Navajo women of rug-weaving - they also will braid guests' hair, Navajo-style. Copyright c. 2003 Pocatello Idaho State Journal. --------- "RE: Opinion: Native Spirituality" --------- Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:28:46 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NATIVE SPIRITUALITY" http://www.ammsa.com/buffalospirit/2003/sincewelastspoke.html Since we last spoke... Native spirituality Authentic Native spirituality, in my experience, is shared not taught and is rooted in the joys and suffering of distinct peoples, their lands-all their relations. It is fundamentally about respect and integrity of personhood. Frank Supernaught, a Cree Elder, once shared his people's spiritual traditions around the medicine wheel to a largely white audience at St. Andrews-Wesley Church in Vancouver. Without bitterness, he spoke first about the history of Native-settler relations, the land, treaties, residential schools, alcoholism and suicide in Native communities. He was most eloquent, however, about the need to heal the distrust, fear and anger between our two peoples. Speaking from the heart and as a Cree, the medicine wheel then became a powerful symbol of beauty and reconciliation, not a spiritual gimmick for white seekers. The sale and consumption of new age Native spirituality by white people embarrasses me as a white person. It suggests, not merely a spiritual vacuity, but a spiritual sickness. How could we feel it is legitimate to cherry-pick Native spiritual practices, ignoring the devastation of Native cultures caused in good part by our greed and duplicity, our imposition of an alien faith? I once had a dreadful vision of new agers traipsing around Wounded Knee in 1890, collecting pretty bits and bobs of spiritual regalia from the frozen bodies of Indian women, children and Elders, to the tune of "Tiptoe through the tulips. . ." I always felt uncomfortable in China, when white Canadians proudly presented to their Chinese hosts gifts of First Nations carvings and paintings. Health and welfare statistics on Native Canadians are so damning; did we not feel some contradiction in offering up Native art as quintessentially Canadian? And yet, the art was so true to the spirit of the land called Canada, its mountains and lakes, animals and birds, big skies and vast North, that I kept my reservations to myself. Subconsciously it was also a tribute to the beauty and vision of First Nations peoples, who indeed have not vanished. In today's pluralistic world, spiritual practices are mingled and shared. I am a Christian, but the teachings of Confucius, the Dalai Lama and Native Elders have profoundly enriched my understanding of life and death, joy and suffering, justice and healing. At heart, however, all of these traditions are about respectful and loving relationships in a community, not individual gratification or salvation. This, I think, is what authentic Native spirituality is all about. First Nations people have been very generous with their insights from the Creator, and I thank them for it. -Cynthia Copyright c. 2003 Buffalo Spirit, Aboriginal Multi-Media Society. --------- "RE: Stevens alters Stance on Justice Grants" --------- Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2003 09:05:58 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="STEVENS BILL" http://www.news-miner.com/~/0%2C1674%2C113%257E7244%257E1800423%2C00.html Stevens alters stance on justice grants New proposal would form commission for unified system By SAM BISHOP News-Miner Washington Bureau November 30, 2003 WASHINGTON - Sen. Ted Stevens has dropped a controversial effort to divert federal funds away from tribal courts and police and into similar state functions. Stevens instead is seeking congressional approval of a commission that would propose a unified law enforcement and justice system that addresses rural Alaska's needs. Stevens said this week that he has dropped an earlier amendment to the U.S. Department of Justice's annual spending bill that would have cut off several million dollars worth of tribal justice grants in Alaska. Under that amendment, the money would have gone to the state for increased village public safety officers and rural magistrates. The amendment created "a little bit of a furor," Stevens said Tuesday. "But at least it brought people together and it got them working together and thinking together and got the state involved," he said, "and I think we have been successful now in finding a route to a solution." Julie Kitka, president of the Alaska Federation of Natives, said she hadn't seen the details of Stevens' commission proposal but was pleased with the direction. "We're delighted the senator went forward with the idea of a commission and created an opportunity for the Native people and rural folks to get together with the state and take a look at the rural law enforcement and justice system ... and make it better," she said. Most Alaska tribes will be able to receive their justice grants in the coming year, Stevens said. However, the revised language, if it passes, would stop money for tribes with fewer than 25 members and those within boroughs, he said. The language is in a proposed seven-part federal spending bill covering the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. The House expects to vote on it Dec. 8. Stevens said the Senate may as well, but it could decline to reconvene until January. Stevens has complained in recent years that Alaska's approximately 230 tribes want more and more federal money to carry out various governmental functions. Giving the money to each tribe would be inefficient and would generate backlash from Lower 48 tribes, he has said. Tribal advocates, though, argue that the federal funding often allows villages to solve local problems without high-priced professionals that the state has been unwilling to place in smaller communities. Tribal court judges, for example, often are staffed by volunteers who are trained at conferences paid for by the federal grant money. Kitka said "access to adequate enforcement at the local level" is of great importance to villages. The commission will look at these issues and come up with a suggested solution, Stevens said. His new amendment brings together federal, state and local agencies "and directs them to work together to find a way to ensure that there is adequate law enforcement for rural Alaska," he said. The new amendment also "speaks to establishing the kind of court systems that might be required there," he said. Stevens, earlier this fall, also said he believes some tribes are exceeding their legal authority by issuing regulations, claiming immunity from lawsuits and enforcing criminal laws. Tribal law experts have disputed his assertions, though. Stevens didn't indicate the commission would tackle those issues. Kitka said she understands the commission will make recommendations on three general topics: forming an enforcement and court system for rural areas; coordinating to get the maximum benefit from all law enforcement officers; and addressing alcohol control, domestic violence and child abuse. Stevens didn't concede that his original proposal to divert tribal funding was ill-conceived. Rather, the commission idea represents the "logical evolution" of that proposal, he said. "We worked things out with the Alaska Federation of Natives," he said. "This a result of the initiative we took to direct the money to the state if there wasn't a plan. Now I think we have a mechanism for making a plan and we're working together." Kitka said the deadline is May 1, which she viewed as extremely tight. "They're going to have to get very serious once it's formed," she said. Washington, D.C., reporter Sam Bishop can be reached at sbishop@newsminer.com or (202) 662-8721. Copyright c. 1999-2003 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Inc. --------- "RE: Grassy Narrows: Still fighting to Live" --------- Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2003 21:55:27 -0500 From: "Frosty" Subj: Fw: TheStar.com - Grassy Narrows: Still fighting to live Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian ----- Original Message ----- From: Russell Diabo ----- Original Message ----- From: fourarrows Lest we forget to support Grassy Narrows . . . Rarihokwats http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/~pageid=3D968332188=492 Grassy Narrows: Still fighting to live KATE HARRIES ONTARIO REPORTER Nov. 30, 2003 GRASSY NARROWS-Hydro-electric development flooded the land around them, their reserve was arbitrarily moved, their children were lost to the horrors of residential schools and the fish that was the staple of their diet was poisoned. The people of Asubpeeschoseewagong (Grassy Narrows) have undergone untold trauma in the past 50 years. They've received compensation - but far less than the subsidies given to the pulp and paper companies whose discharges spread toxins through the lakes and rivers of this sparsely beautiful northern landscape. Then the trees started to fall in great swathes, hundreds of square kilometres that once were intimately familiar berry-picking or trapping territory suddenly razed, unrecognizable and empty. They fought back, using the administrative and legal procedures available to them. They travelled to Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal to lobby. They held protests. But the logging machines moved ever closer. Last fall, work started on a new road within a few kilometres of the 36-square-kilometre reserve, home to 700 people. "It was like an alarm for us," said resident Judy DaSilva. The blockade went up Dec. 3 on Jones Rd., just off Highway 671, 80 kilometres north of Kenora. It was a challenge to Abitibi-Consolidated, largest producer of newsprint in the world, and a challenge to the Ontario government, which makes the rules on the Crown land it leases to forest companies. Spearheaded by women and young people, rather than the official band leadership, the protest has lacked the macho style of other high-profile aboriginal land use disputes. In the first couple of months, there were angry words when logging contractors tried to get through. But the exchanges never turned physical and no charges were ever laid. Local OPP have kept an eye on the situation, with an officer dropping by from time to time, but they have not been a constant presence. A team from Christian Peacemakers, a group that's on the front lines of more notorious hot spots like Hebron, Palestine and Chiapas, Mexico, is camped at the blockade, on hand to cool things down. Members of the Warrior Society, prominent during the 1999 Oka crisis, have been here, but have played by the rules set by the locals. Ironically, if there had been violence, it's likely that this David and Goliath battle would have attracted more media coverage than the regular reports that appear in environmental or social justice outlets like the Taiga Rescue Network or the Turtle Island Native Network News. But aggressive tactics would also probably have sparked a punitive response, DaSilva said. "They might have sent in the SWAT team ... Us being mothers at the front line, it has been really peaceful." After a year, the quiet face-off in the bush has produced a change. For the first time, Abitibi-Consolidated, which has a natural resources ministry licence to take timber from the 11,000-square-kilometre Whiskey Jack Forest, has come to the table. General manager Don Hopkins and other company officials travelled to Kenora from their Montreal headquarters and met with a group from Grassy Narrows two weeks ago. Abibitibi's offer: To stop logging within 10 km of the community, and use harvesting practices that don't involve clearcutting within 20 km, along with funding for youth education and job creation programs for the First Nation. The 20-kilometres radius provides for a zone of 1,250 square kilometres, said company spokesperson Marc Osborne, who denied that the offer resulted from publicity associated with the year-long blockade and recent Grassy Narrows approaches to the U.S. McClutchy newspaper group, an Abitibi client. "The issue is not the blockade," Osborne said in a telephone interview, explaining that Abitibi wants to work out a partnership with the First Nation. Just last week, in another departure for the company, Abitibi announced a partnership with World Wildlife Fund-Canada to identify forest areas that should be preserved for environmental or social reasons. Grassy Narrows leaders, who claim their traditional land use area covers 6,500 square kilometres, have been guarded in their response to Abitibi's offer. "I think it's a beginning," Chief Simon Fobister said in a telephone interview. "Their statement that they're willing to change their way of harvesting opens the door that there's something here that we can maybe build on." Fobister emphasized that Grassy Narrows is not opposed to logging in the area. But "this clearcutting policy is madness. Why can't there be another way?" He favours selective harvesting methods like those practised in Scandinavia that preserve the forest habitat and allow for logging to take place concurrently with other uses like trapping, hunting or eco-tourism. It's a position espoused by many environmental groups who disagree with much of the science behind current natural resources ministry policies, and especially clearcutting, a practice the ministry says simulates a forest fire, which is how the boreal forest renews itself. But a forest fire is a chemical process that enriches the soil and breaks the dormancy of northern seeds, Fobister contends, while clearcutting is mechanical, removing nutrients and exposing the thin soil to erosion. "We have big rains here, all the soil will be gone. There'll be clear rock. Sediments and soils will plug up the creeks, impact the spawning grounds," Fobister said. "It's causing irreparable damage." The dispute is one of many hot topics facing the new Liberal government. Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay said in an interview that he's aware of the Abitibi offer and is waiting to see what the band's response will be. "My message to all the parties involved and certainly to this ministry is that First Nations are part of the boreal forest, they always have been," Ramsay said. "We're starting a new beginning." -------------------------------------------------------------------- `Your legs go, your arms go, your lungs go and then you can't breathe.' Deputy Chief Steve Fobister -------------------------------------------------------------------- Fobister said Abitibi's proposal is the first move by the company following years of foiled attempts to make contact, the most recent being a visit in September to Montreal when he and deputy chief Steve Fobister met with John Weaver, the company's president and CEO, and other officials. The meeting was a disappointment, Fobister said. "They told us their company were experts in clear-cutting and the Ontario government was the one that came up with the clearcutting policy and basically they were implementing that policy." Grassy Narrows leaders then decided to take their case to a wider audience. In October, Steve Fobister wrote to Gary Pruitt, president of the McClatchy company, headquartered in Sacramento, Ca., asking that the group stop buying newsprint from Abibitibi's Kenora mill. The Star-Tribune in Minneapolis is the group's largest paper. Pruitt responded with a statement published in the Sacramento Bee, saying Star-Tribune officials were discussing the situation with Abitibi. Earlier this year, the Bee featured Grassy Narrows in a series called `State of Denial,' which reported that as logging has declined in the U.S. for environmental reasons, it has increased in Canada. Osborne confirmed there were discussions. "We gave them our side of the story," he said. The episode prompted an angry response from Kenora Mayor Dave Canfield, who denounced the band to the local media. Forestry is a key source of employment in Kenora, where 390 Abitibi workers will be on a month-long temporary layoff starting Dec. 12. "You don't bite the hand that feeds you," Canfield said. That infuriated Grassy Narrows residents. "We always fed ourselves from what the Creator has given us - the land and the fish and the birds," said Simon Fobister. "Before the 1970s, we were big commercial fishermen, we guided, our people, took care of themselves." The small Ojibway tribe has contended with a litany of disasters in the last half-century, resulting in the traditional symptoms of an alienated community - alcoholism, family breakdown and unemployment. The first drastic change came in the 1950s when generating stations built by Ontario Hydro caused massive flooding, drowning furbearing animals and destroying wild rice fields. The hardest blow came in 1963, when community members were pressured by the federal government to move to a location by a just-completed highway from an isolated spot by the Narrows. The major lure was that there would be an elementary school, meaning that the young children wouldn't have to go to a residential school where they were cruelly mistreated. The move was highly disruptive. At the old reserve, people lived according to the clan system, with the homes of each clan at least a kilometre apart. The new reserve is laid out European-style along the road. "It was a new thing for us, living with your neighbours, who are not closely related," said former chief Bill Fobister Many people now in their 50s remember this painful time, when parents turned to alcohol and became abusive or neglectful. In 1970, the public learned that a chemical factory opened in 1962 by Reed Ltd. in Dryden, 320 km upstream of Grassy Narrows, had been dumping mercury-contaminated effluent into the English-Wabigoon river system - an estimated 10 tonnes over eight years. The economic fallout for the Lake of the Woods area was magnified on the two Indian reserves - Grassy Narrows and Whitedog - where most employment was in either the commercial fishery that was closed down, or in the tourism sector devastated by the adverse publicity. The mercury's still there, at the bottom of the rivers and lakes, although its effect on the environment is decreasing. Environment ministry tests on walleye found mercury concentrations of 2.69 parts per million in 1972, and 0.91 this year. Restrictions on consumption are advised above 0.45, with no consumption at all above 1.57 ppm. The mercury is still there, in the living tissue of Grassy Narrows residents, even though, for most, it's well under Health Canada's risk level of 30 ppm. Some have been born with congenital abnormalities, many more suffer from symptoms associated with mercury poisoning, which include tingling, loss of balance, walking and hearing difficulties, tremors or tunnel vision. Complications include diabetes, thyroid problems and strokes. Dr. Masazumi Harada revisited Grassy Narrows in September, 2000, in a bitter-sweet reprise of his first visit at the height of the mercury crisis, in 1975. In a report issued this summer, he found that 45 of 57 people tested, or 80 per cent of the sample, showed symptoms of mercury poisoning, and recommended further research. One case was an 8-year-old girl. Harada also noted that 19 people he identified as having mercury poisoning had been rejected for compensation by the mercury disability board, set up in 1986 by the federal and provincial governments as part of the compensation to the Grassy Narrows and Whitedog First Nations. A Health Canada official said it's difficult to differentiate between mercury poisoning and other disease such as Huntington's, muscular sclerosis, Alzheimer's or vitamin deficiency. Deputy Chief Steve Fobister looks at the tremor in his hands and the way he sometimes finds himself unable to speak. With a mercury level of around 50 ppm, he fears that he knows the fate that awaits him. "My brother Matthew was 200 ppm," he said. "He died at the age of 43. ... I know what the end looks like and it's a terrible end. Your legs go, your arms go, your lungs go and then you can't breathe." After Steve and Simon Fobister travelled to Ottawa to meet him in September, Indian Affairs Minister Bob Nault agreed to help fund a meeting of the parties to the mercury disability board in the New Year, to reassess eligibility rules. The band has tried to tackle the forestry issue through the courts. In 2000, Sierra Legal Defence Fund launched a suit on behalf of three Grassy Narrows trappers, arguing that the province's forestry practices infringe treaty rights to hunt, trap and fish that were guaranteed by the federal government when it signed Treaty 3 in 1873. As the case laboriously makes its way through the courts, the forest around Grassy Narrows has been disappearing. For many, DaSilva said, the problems seem insurmountable. "We realize that a lot of the older generation say it's a lost cause," she said. "I think it's because they've had so many fights." But a new generation has a different take, she said. "The youth here have said, no clearcutting, no negotiation and no compensation. They didn't want money because they've seen from the hydro flooding and the mercury poisoning that we were left with nothing." To those that say the deal proposed by Abitibi is a good first step, DaSilva responds that it would be a step in the wrong direction. Abibitibi follows rules made by the Ontario government, and that's who Grassy Narrows should be dealing with, she said. "When we started way back, we knew that was the bottom line, we need to change the laws. ... I don't want the first step to be with Abitibi. I want it to be with the lawmakers." Copyright 1996-2003. Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. --------- "RE: Nunavut Tunngavik join Land Claim Coalition" --------- Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:28:46 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INNUIT LAND CLAIMS" http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/nunavut/31121_01.html NTI joins land claim coalition Inuit, First Nations frustrated by pace of implementation JIM BELL November 21, 2003 Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. is building a united front with aboriginal land claim groups across Canada to press Ottawa for a new way of implementing comprehensive land claim deals. NTI and five other aboriginal organizations who have signed, or are about to sign modern land claim agreements issued the call last Friday, at the end of a two-day conference in Ottawa. If the coalition's lobbying efforts are successful, they could force the first major change in federal land claim policy since 1986, when Brian Mulroney's Tory government created the current one in response to the findings of a task force headed by consultant Murray Coolican. Last week's conference, which brought together more than 200 delegates, many of them aboriginal, from across Canada, looked at one major issue: the implementation of comprehensive land claim agreements. And whether they are Inuit or First Nations, many conference participants said they're frustrated by the federal government's foot- dragging and hair-splitting attitude to the implementation of promises made to aborginal people in land claim deals. "For all the stakeholders, whether it be First Nations or Inuit, there seems to be a lot of implementation problems from the government side. There seems to be slow-moving implementation from the government side," said Joanasie Akumalik, NTI's new director of implementation, and a co- chair of the conference. The gathering was organized by a diverse group of aboriginal organizations: Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the NWT Aborginal Summit, the Grand Council of the Crees, the Council of Yukon First Nations and the Nisga'a Lisims Government. Akumalik said many conference participants invoked the spirit of the early 1980s, when Canada's aboriginal peoples joined forces to battle for the recognition of aboriginal rights in Pierre Trudeau's new constitution. "Everybody kept referring back to 1980-82 when Section 35 was being dealt with. A lot of comments were made from the First Nations and the Inuit that those organizations stuck together and made some changes as a result of getting together and fighting for their rights... That was the general consensus, that there be a coalition of some sort," Akumalik. Because of Section 35, land claim agreements are, effectively, part of the Constitution. So the new aboriginal coalition that emerged from last week's gathering plans to remind Ottawa that land claim and self-government agreements are "constitutional in nature" when they press for better implementation of their agreements. They say a new federal land claims implementation policy must include the following: - Recognition that the "Crown in right of Canada" and not DIAND, is party to aboriginal land claims agreements; - Ottawa must commit to the "broad objectives" of land claim and self- government agreements with a "new relationship," rather than narrow "technical compliance"- this must include adequate funding to achieve those objectives; - Implementation must be handled by federal officials who represent the entire government; - There must be an independent body, separate from DIAND, to audit and review the implementation of land claim agreements. This could be the Auditor General, or some other office that reports directly to Parliament. Several organizations, such as NTI, are in the process of re-negotiating the 10-year "implementation contracts" attached to those agreements. Implementation contracts are legal agreements that set out who's responsible for doing what, and who's responsible for paying the bills in carrying out land claim agreements. The coalition's leaders, made up of people like NTI president Cathy Towtongie, William Andersen III of the Labrador Inuit Association, Violet Pachanos of the James Bay Cree, Edwin Erutse of the Sahtu Dene, Ed Schultz of the Council of Yukon First Nations, and Edmond Wright of the Nisga'a Nation, met behind closed doors last Friday afternoon to start plotting their next moves. They'll soon set up a working group of officials to work out more detailed positions on implementation issues. "We'll be getting some direction from the leaders. I 'm expecting that a working group will be set up soon," Akumalik said. Efforts to negotiate a new implementation contract for the Nunavut land claims agreement have so far failed to produce an agreement. Negotiations have been held up by at least two unresolved issues: financing for Nunavut's Inuit-government shared management boards, and a demand by NTI and the Nunavut government for millions of training dollars to implement the Inuit employment provisions in Article 23. Akumalik wouldn't comment on where those difficult talks stand. Copyright c. 1995-2003 Nortext Publishing Corporation (Iqaluit). --------- "RE: Rumour Mill linked Officers to Stonechild" --------- Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2003 09:05:58 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="STONECHILD INQUIRY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.canada.com/national/~2C4C-4414-A83E-9C936BD19A2D Rumour mill linked officers to Stonechild, Maddin says Betty Ann Adam The StarPhoenix November 29, 2003 Jim Maddin, a former Saskatoon city police inspector and former Saskatoon mayor, said he heard stories within the police department that connected two constables to the Neil Stonechild case. But Maddin, who was a corporal working in police detention in 1990 when the Saulteaux youth was found frozen to death in the north industrial area, on Friday told the inquiry looking into the death that the news came to him through the rumour mill and he had the impression that senior officers knew about it, too. Public questions about why the inconclusive file on the death was closed after less than three days' investigation surfaced 10 years later, when, in 2000, allegations arose that police had that year abandoned aboriginal people on the city's outskirts in freezing weather. The renewed interest in the Stonechild case focused on the allegation of the youth's friend, Jason Roy, who has maintained he saw Stonechild in the back seat of a police car, bleeding and handcuffed and screaming, "they're gonna kill me," the night of Nov. 24, 1990, when Stonechild went missing. Stonechild's body was found five days later. There were scratches on his nose, but otherwise, no obvious signs of trauma. The death was ruled accidental, by freezing. An RCMP task force looking into Roy's allegations did not result in charges but led to the public inquiry. Maddin was not involved in the Stonechild investigation but he recalled hearing about the death. He never heard any allegations of police wrongdoing in connection with the case, he said. He was aware that another officer who was not involved in the case, Const. Ernie Louttit, had taken an interest in it and had made some inquiries. Maddin worked on the same shift, or "platoon," as Louttit but did not work directly with him and said he never talked to him about the Stonechild case. Louttit and retired sergeant Eli Tarasoff have said they were concerned enough about the investigation that they spoke to lead investigator, Keith Jarvis, about it. Louttit also made a copy of the Stonechild file and kept it at home. "I do recall, hearing around the station, at some point in time since the discovery of Mr. Stonechild's body and before my retirement, a connect of two police officers with the Stonechild case. What the connect was, I have no detail, whether they had been involved or had something to do with the case or whatever," Maddin said. He had heard that constables Larry Hartwig and Bradley Senger had been linked to the case but he never heard any suggestion that they had done anything wrong. The inquiry has heard that Hartwig and Senger were dispatched to a complaint about Stonechild the night he went missing, but computer records show they entered a code that he was gone when they got there. Maddin could not remember who told him the rumour. He thought he heard it sometime between 1990 and 1997 but didn't know exactly when. He didn't think he was the first person to hear the talk and assumed that whatever the connection between the two officers and the Stonechild case, it was being handled by the normal chain of command. "It would have been difficult for senior people not to know" about the rumours, he said. According to the transcript of a June 2003 interview with an investigator from the RCMP task force looking into the case, Maddin said he would be "surprised if someone could prove to me that senior people didn't know." "I know it was known that these guys were being looked at," Maddin told the RCMP. Senior police from the time have said they don't remember anything about the death. Former police chief Joe Penkala vehemently denied ever knowing about the death and said he didn't know there had been a front page StarPhoenix story in which Stonechild's family criticized the incomplete investigation. Maddin was questioned about statements he made in a June 2003 CBC interview, in which he said there was concern in the police service about the Stonechild file and that there was knowledge two officers may have had some involvement with the youth "about the time of his demise." Maddin stood by his opinion that there were groups working within the department who kept information "contained," or restricted. It is common for police to need to keep some information private so as not to tip off others about things such as sting operations, he said. Cliques sometimes form and keep information so close to themselves that two different groups could be working on the same thing and not realize it, he said. Copyright c. 2003 The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) --------- "RE: Man arrested in theft from Tribe" --------- Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2003 19:24:49 -0700 From: "Chris Milda (_Akimel O`odham_)" Subj: Man arrested in theft from tribe: The Pinetop-Lakeside resident is accused of stealing and selling ceremonial items belonging to the Fort Apache Indians (Fwd) Mailing List: News and Information Distribution http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/~112703c3_state_briefs Thursday, November 27, 2003 STATE BRIEFS Man arrested in theft from tribe The Pinetop-Lakeside resident is accused of stealing and selling ceremonial items belonging to the Fort Apache Indians. The Associated Press PHOENIX - A Pinetop-Lakeside man was arrested for allegedly stealing selling ceremonial items from the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. Bergen Tyrone Cowan, 36, was indicted by a federal grand jury for and allegedly stealing nine Gaan ceremonial headdresses and six Gaan ceremonial prayer wands. The items were allegedly taken between Oct. 1 and Nov. 5 and were sold for $6,000 to an undercover agent, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Cowan, who was indicted Tuesday, faces 15 counts of illegal trafficking in American Indian cultural items and one count of theft of tribal property. --------- "RE: Protest against removal of Indian Children" --------- Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2003 16:52:24 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WHITE ADOPTION" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.imdiversity.com/Article_Detail.asp?Article_ID=20953 Protest Against Removal of American Indian Children by AP, The Associated Press November 28, 2003 Sioux City, Iowa (AP) - Members of the Winnebago, Omaha, Ponca and Santee tribes of Nebraska chanted, sang and beat drums outside the Woodbury County Courthouse on Wednesday to protest Iowa's handling of child welfare cases. "Our children feed this system and we're here to tell them it has to stop," said Frank LaMere, of South Sioux City, Neb. LaMere and others contend the system ignores state and federal laws designed to keep American Indian children housed with family or other tribal members if they have been removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect. Protesters say once an Indian child is removed from his or her home, the odds are gr