From gars@speakeasy.org Wed Dec 24 15:44:46 2003 Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 14:52:42 -0800 From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews11.051 _ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 11, ISSUE 051 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 20, 2003 Kiowa ganhina p'a/real goose moon Blackfeet misa'miko'komiaato's/long night moon +-------------------------------------------------------+ | Much more happens in Indian Country than is reported | | in this weekly newsletter. For daily updates & events | | go to http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm | +-------------------------------------------------------+ Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin -- Blackfeet -- News for All the People Ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min -- Ojibwe -- We Are Talking About Ourselves Aunchemokauhettittea -- Naragansett -- Let Us Share News Kanoheda Aniyvwiya -- Cherokee -- Journal of the People O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse -- Creek -- People's New News O o O Acimowin -- Plains Cree -- Story or Account O o O Tlaixmatiliztli -- Nahuatl -- News O o o o o O Agnutmaqan -- Listuguj Mi'kmaq -- News O o O Sho-da-ku-ye -- Teehahnahmah -- Talking Birchbark O o O Un Chota -- Susquehannic Seneca -- The People Speak O Ha-Sah-Sliltha -- Ditidaht Nation -- News of the People Ximopanolti tehuatzin, inin Mexika tlahtolli -- Nahuatl -- For you we offer these words It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le -- Chickasaw -- Together We Are Talking Dineh jii' adah' ho'nil'e'gii ba' ha' neh -- Navajo Nation -- What's Happening among The People News Okla Humma Holisso Nowat Anya -- Choctaw -- People(s) Red Newspaper Hi'a chu ah gaa -- Pima -- The stories or the talk of the People Native American News -- Language of the Occupation Forces ==>If you want your Nation represented in the banner of this newsletter<== email gars@nanews.org with the equivalent of "News of the People" in your tribal language along with the english translation <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is produced in straight ASCII text for greatest portability across platforms. Read it with a fixed-pitch font, such as Courier, Monaco, FixedSys or CG Times. Proportional fonts will be difficult to read. <================<<<< >>>>================> This issue contains articles from www.owlstar.com; www.indianz.com; www.pechanga.net; Frostys AmerIndian Mailing List; Newsgroup: alt.native UUCP email IMPORTANT!! ----------- In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, all material appearing in this newsletter is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for educational purposes. <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is a way of keeping the brothers and sisters who share our Spirit informed about current events within the lives of those who walk the Red Road. ++ It may be subscribed to via email by sending a request from your own internet addressable account to gars@speakeasy.org ++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org <================<<<< >>>>================> +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | As historian Patricia Nelson | | Once a language is lost, it is | | Limerick summarized in "The | | gone forever | | Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken | | * Of the 300 original Native | | Past of the American West... | | languages in North America, | | "Set the blood quantum at | | only 175 exist today. | | one-quarter, hold to it as a | | * 125 of these are no longer | | rigid definition of Indians, | | learned by children. | | let intermarriage proceed as | | * 55 are spoken by 1 to 6 elders;| | it had for centuries, and | | when they die, their language | | eventually Indians will be | | will disappear. | | defined out of existence." | | * Without action, only 20 | | "When that happens, the federal | | languages will survive the next| | government will be freed of | | 50 years. | | its persistent 'Indian problem.'"| | Source: Indigenous Language | +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ | Institute | |http://www.indigenous-language.org| This issue's Elder Quote: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + ======================== "I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Toohulhulzote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led the young men [Joseph's brother, Ollokot] is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them have run away to the hills and have no blankets, no food; no one knows where they are - perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me my chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever." __ Chief Joseph (Thunder Rolling in the Mountains), Nez Perce +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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 titled "Rapid City wakes up to Diversity" and speaks of the growing multicultural environment that embraces all. There is also an article extolling Oconee County's incorporation of Cherokee symbology in its new county seal, proudly displaying the Native heritage in the area. Seems promising. But is it progress, or window dressing? I vividly recall standing in a checkout line at the Wal-Mart in Rapid City, SD watching a clerk humiliate a Lakota Grandmother who was trying to cash a relatively small check by making her produce all manner of identification. Seconds later this same clerk cashed a fortyish white woman's much larger check without so much as an eye blink. I also recall similar treatment of Cherokees in Bryson City, NC and Navajos in Gallup, NM. These obvious, flagrant disparities of treatment incense me. The evident racial and ethnic typing is symbolic of the dominant society. When I quit witnessing crap like this I will believe a "REAL" effort to accept diversity is manifest. Unfortunately, there is also an article about holding cells at Chemawa Indian School and how they contributed to the death of a young girl. There are also articles that examine the racist policies on One Nation Oklahoma and the petrochemical companies that support their anti-Indian policies. These articles explain my rejection of the notion that true diversity is anywhere near reality, and my belief that you can paint a pig any color you want to, but underneath it's still just a pig. You can proclaim diversity all you want to, but until I see it in practice at the local Wally World it's still "Just-US" dominants and the rest of you wannabees. , , 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 ---------- - Rapid City wakes up to Diversity - Inuit: Climate an issue of rights - New Seal has Cherokee - Nault casualty of Cabinet Changes Stamp of Approval - B.C. Appeals Court - Anderson finally receives nod overturns Financial Ruling to take over BIA - White Earth Nation - DOI fares poorly signing new Police Agreement on Computer Security Report Card - Youth Gangs flourish - Judge tosses on Indian Reservations Indian Vets' Money Suit - Few leads in Four Deaths - Chemawa Cells troubling of N.C. Tribal Members before Death - Arrests made in Crow - Quapaw Suit targets Mining Firms Reservation Double Murder - New Water Source - Juvenile held found for Peabody for Crow Reservation Murders - Empty Promises/ - Life Sentences handed out Hollow Health Care to Quadruple Murderer - Water Plan revised - Boy and Man to protect Indian Rights allegedly kill Shiprock Man - Gorge Chinook runs look strong - Native Prisoner - One Nation, One Protest -- Manuel Redwoman Follow Up - New head of Oklahoma Chamber - Rustywire: Bitter Winds member of One Nation - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - WHISPER: One Nation - Poem: Broken Reservation Road a Castle built on Sand - Upcoming Events - Yellow Bird: Thoughts of Sitting Bull's Death --------- "RE: Rapid City wakes up to Diversity" --------- Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2003 15:47:43 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MULTICULTURE AWARENESS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/~/opinion/top/opin01.txt City wakes up to diversity December 13, 2003 By Tom Katus, a business development consultant and member of the Rapid City Cultural Diversity Committee and Bridges for Intercultural Understanding. Last month after attending Mayor Jim Shaw's "Undoing Racism" meeting, I was appalled that only less than a quarter present were non-Indians. I was especially struck that there were so few established leaders present. Following the meeting, I privately sent e-mails to approximately 50 Chamber of Commerce and business leaders. When none responded, I took my frustration and concerns to the Rapid City Journal and it was published on its Forum page. I challenged all of us to respond to the very real problems that affect our culturally diverse community. I stated that there were no representatives from our congressional delegation and only one Native American clergy present. I was subsequently told that there was indeed a representative from Sen. Tim Johnson's office present as well as one non-Indian clergy. Please accept my sincere apologies for overlooking these individuals. I suggested some upcoming venues where people could attend if they were really concerned. Wow, what a response! On Nov. 14, Mayor Shaw, Jim McKeon, president of the Rapid City Area Chamber of Commerce, and Qusi Al-Haj, first vice chairman of the chamber, all addressed an Empowering Native Americans Workshop Forum hosted at Oglala Lakota College. The forum had representatives from tribal colleges from throughout Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota and focused on nonpartisan voter registration and education. All three Rapid City leaders expressed their personal commitment to addressing the problems of race in Rapid City. As a result, the regional tribal college organizers decided to hold a much larger forum in Rapid City, in conjunction with Lakota Nation Invitational Basketball Tournament on Dec. 18-19. On Nov. 19, the Cultural Diversity Committee of the Rapid City Chamber met at Ellsworth Air Force Base, which was celebrating Native American Month. We had our best turnout in months. Three OLC business students presented their local American Indian Business Leaders (AIBL) chapter and the request for internships for their 15 members with local businesses. As a result, they were invited back to the December meeting where they presented a matrix of all their students requesting specific internships. They have since been asked to host the Jan. 5 monthly meeting at noon at Oglala Lakota College. The AIBL chapter students will prepare a traditional meal and all members of the business community are welcome. Following our meeting, our small delegation joined with hundreds of EAFB airmen in a traditional Native American meal and an excellent speech by Dr. Jeff Henderson. Dr. Henderson, who has established his own cancer research institute in Rapid City and was recently honored by the chamber, stressed how he felt racial reconciliation was key to the ultimate good health of both Native Americans and non-Indians. On Nov. 30, a newly organized group, Bridges for Intercultural Understanding, hosted their first public forum, Children of Abraham: Commonalties Between Judaism, Christianity and Islam. More than 150 citizens packed the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology classroom to an excellent forum presented by Drs. David Salomon, William Hughes and Ahrar Ahmad. There was such interest in the discussion that many participants remained more than one hour afterwards in separate breakout sessions. There was particularly heavy interest in both Judaism and Islam. Perhaps, most importantly, on Dec. 2, Mayor Shaw hosted his second "Undoing Racism" meeting. This time, more than 150 people showed up and there was outstanding representation from our established leadership. The chairman of the Rapid City Area Chamber of Commerce, many staff and members all attended. There was broad representation from the professions and political leadership as well. On Dec. 4, the First People's Fund sponsored for Rapid City the "first" Community Spirit Award for American Indian Artists. This multicultural event held at the Journey Museum was addressed by Gov. Mike Rounds. The theatre was packed for the ceremonies honoring six Native artists and crafts people from throughout the Northern United States. What was most striking was that the youngest recipient was my age and the other five were clearly elders in their 70s and 80s. South Dakota's own Ollie Napesni, Sicangu Lakota, beadworker, quilter, doll maker and storyteller was the eldest at age 86. The world-class music of the Ulali a capella group and dance interpretation of Rapid City's own Miss South Dakota, Vanessa Shortbull, knocked the socks off of most of us present. What a wonderful uplifting event. Maybe next year it can be moved to the Civic Center Theater, which can accommodate 10 times the audience of the museum. Hats off to the staff of First People's Fund, Lori Pourier, Randy Ross and Michelle Negarvy, their board and the 57 Rapid City members who served on Mayor Jim Shaw's honorary host committee. I believe it remains the responsibility of all of us to continue to support these activities, which clearly makes us all a better community. Sustained commitment is required from all of us. Later this month, Dec. 17-20, Rapid City will host the 26th Annual Lakota Nation Invitational Basketball Tournament. This tournament and its many auxiliary activities has become the largest winter event in the five- state region. We need to all welcome our regional visitors of many races and cultures, especially our youth. In January, both the mayor's "Undoing Racism" task force and Bridges for Intercultural Understanding will hold follow-up forums. I encourage all of us to continue to make Rapid City a multi-cultural beacon of the Northern Plains, for which we have very real potential. Thanks to the response of hundreds of my fellow citizens to our racial problems and celebration of our cultural diversity as exemplified by First People's Fund, I am once again proud to be a Rapid Citian. Copyright c. 2003 the Rapid City Journal. --------- "RE: New Seal has Cherokee Stamp of Approval" --------- Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2003 15:47:43 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OCONEE COUNTY SEAL" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.andersonsc.com/~/0,1886,AND_8203_2500400,00.html New seal has Cherokee stamp of approval By David Williams Independent-Mail December 12, 2003 WALHALLA - Oconee County has always been able to boast its mountains, rivers and Cherokee heritage. Now it has a seal that combines all three. County officials along with Jerry Wolf of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation unveiled the new symbol Friday in ceremonies at James M. Brown Elementary School. Mr. Wolf said he was proud to see the vast array of cultures represented by the students at James M. Brown. "There is a beautiful bouquet in this room," Mr. Wolf said, calling the seal a bridge between all the people involved in its creation. The seal's upper portion in the middle represents the mountains and the seven bands of the Cherokee nation. The lower portion represents the five rivers found in Oconee County, all bearing Cherokee names. A red circle, a Cherokee symbol for the circle of life, surrounds the outline of Oconee County. The words on the seal, "Land beside the water," are the translation of the Cherokee word Oconee. The symbol soon will appear on county vehicles, uniforms, stationary and a large version will hang in the council's meeting room at the Oconee County Administrative Offices. Luther Lyle, a history teacher and member of the Oconee County Arts and Historical Commission, worked with tribal leaders of the Cherokees to create the seal. Council member Bill Rinehart, who proposed a seal for Oconee County, told the students that, "from now on, you will be able to tell everyone, even your own children about what our seal means." The county has never had a single representative seal in its 135-year history, Mr. Rinehart said. Council member Steve Moore presented Mr. Wolf with a print of Oconee Station, the frontier outpost named in 1792 for a nearby Cherokee village called Oconee on Oconee Creek near the base of Oconee Mountain. Part of Friday's ceremonies also included the planting of a white oak tree at Oconee Station. Bill Head of Head-Lee Nursery donated the tree, which is a native species. Mr. Head's great, great grandmother, called "Moonbeam," was a Cherokee born in the Keowee village on the border of Oconee and Pickens counties. Lake Keowee now covers the village site. "It is symbolic that the roots of this tree will grow in the soil of the site of the roots of our county," Mr. Lyle said. David Williams can be reached at (864) 882-0522 or by e-mail at williamsde@IndependentMail.com Copyright c. 2003 Anderson Independent-Mail/Anderson, SC. Independent Publishing Co., part of The E.W. Scripps Company. --------- "RE: Anderson finally receives nod to take over BIA" --------- Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 08:33:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DAVE ANDERSON/BIA" http://www.indianz.com/News/archives/002920.asp Anderson finally receives nod to take over BIA December 10, 2003 In one of its last actions before adjourning for the year, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Dave Anderson, the founder of a national chain of barbecue restaurants, to head the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Anderson, a member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe of Wisconsin, will be the ninth assistant secretary of the agency. He replaces Neal McCaleb, who resigned from the post a year ago this month amid scrutiny over the handling of billions of dollars of Indian money. The trust fund is just one of the many challenges Anderson will face in the coming months. In a statement, he said his "first order of business is to continue to immerse myself in the issues at hand and to work and hand- in-hand with the American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments." "Next, I look forward to setting the state for a new positive direction in Indian Country for our youth, one that is full of achievement and accomplishment," he added. As he moved through the Senate, Anderson was a largely non-controversial nominee. During his hearing before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs this October, he avoided discussing any subject in depth, including trust reform, the federal budget and sovereignty. The panel quickly endorsed Anderson but the Republican-led Senate was slower to act. After two delays, including one unrelated to his position, he was confirmed yesterday by unanimous consent. "Dave Anderson's inspiring vision, proven management expertise and compassion for India issues will help us improve our ability to support tribal governments," Interior Secretary Gale Norton said in response. Anderson, a resident of Minnesota, is best known as the founder of the Famous Dave's barbecue restaurant. Since first opening near the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation in 1994, the company has expanded to 87 locations in 23 states. Last year, the publicly-traded chain reported $90.8 million in revenues. Anderson has stepped down from all duties at the company. He also promised to recuse himself from matters affecting a former business partner who has decisions pending at the BIA, and to divest his shares in Park Place Entertainment, the largest gaming company in the world. Park Place has partnered with several tribes with decisions before the agency. With just several months before the 2004 election, Anderson's confirmation comes at a critical time. The BIA is undergoing a major reorganization affecting its operations in Washington, D.C., and throughout Indian Country. Tribal leaders say they have been left out of the process. There is little Anderson can do to influence what is already in place. The central office in D.C. has already been reshuffled and the top deputies that a nominee would normally have a say in have already been chosen. Changes at the 12 regional offices are underway. Anderson also has little role to play in the BIA budgets for the two coming years. Funding for 2004 has been signed into law and the 2005 budget, to be announced in February, is in the final stages of approval within the White House and the administration. In a statement, Sen. Mark Dayton (D-Minn.) said he was "happy" to learn that Anderson has been confirmed. "I look forward to welcoming him to Washington. I am anxious to help him in anyway I can when he assumes the duties of the Interior's new Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs including working together to improve conditions for Native Americans across Minnesota," he said. The BIA is the main point of contact within the federal government for more than 560 federally recognized tribes in the lower 48 and in Alaska. It is responsible for providing services to more than 1 million American Indians and Alaska Natives. The agency oversees more than 180 schools that educate about 50,000 Indian children. Copyright c. 2000-2003 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: DOI fares poorly on Computer Security Report Card" --------- Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 08:24:13 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DOI COMPUTER SECURITY (NOT)" http://www.indianz.com/News/archives/002957.asp DOI fares poorly on computer security report card Thursday, December 11, 2003 For the fourth year in a row, the Department of Interior has been given an 'F' for computer security, one of the worst grades in all of federal government. In their annual Federal Computer Security Report Card on Tuesday, lawmakers on the House Committee on Government Reform evaluated computer security measures at 24 agencies. They assigned letter grades and numeric scores based on how well each implemented and planned for the protection of critical information. Based on Interior's score of 43, the department is one of the lowest- performing. Only four other agencies -- Agriculture (40), Homeland Security (35), Housing and Urban Development (40) and State (39.5) -- fared worse. In court papers filed yesterday with the federal judge overseeing the Indian trust fund case, government attorneys pointed out that the department's score was as an improvement from 2002. It was. Last year, the lawmakers gave Interior a 37. But the department is one of the few agencies whose progress has actually declined since the report card was first issued in 2000. Interior's score in that year was a dismal 17, the lowest of all agencies. The following year, the score jumped to 48. The failing assessment reflects some of the major problems Interior has had in recent years. Even though the department, as a trustee, is responsible for the accurate collection and distribution of billions of dollars in Indian funds, information technology officials never put in security measures. The weaknesses left Indian money prone to computer hacking. In the summer of 2001, security experts hired by a court investigator in the Cobell trust fund lawsuit were able to do just that. Without detection, a firm from New York broke into several computer systems that contain leasing, title, payment and other Indian trust data. A Bureau of Indian Affairs subordinate in charge of the agency's computer network in suburban Washington, D.C., downplayed the attacks at the time. Top officials believed everything was fine and did nothing to change the situation. But in November 2001, special master Alan Balaran released a detailed report on the security failings. The experts, he wrote, were able to breach the BIA and Interior network through an ordinary public Internet connection. Those findings prompted U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, two years ago this week, to order Interior to disconnect the Internet connections of systems that house or have access to Indian trust data. Government officials responded by pulling the plug on every single computer -- including those that distribute payments to Indian and tribal beneficiaries. The action left many without money for the holiday season. "[Secretary] Gale Norton is the Grinch who stole Christmas," a tribal leader said at the time. Thanks to the addition of network firewalls and other measures, the systems have been restarted but they have not been reconnected ot the Internet. Neither have tens of thousands of computers used by BIA employees to carry out their jobs. According to a September 8, 2003, report Norton sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget, the department doesn't "have the necessary security capabilities to facilitate more open access via the Internet." Despite Interior's woes, the agency is in comparable company. The overall grade for all 24 agencies on the report card was a 'D'. "We must come to the stark realization that a major Achilles heel is our computer networks," said Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla), the chairman of the Government Reform subcommittee that compiles the report card. "Unfortunately, the history of our nation -- in heeding warnings of imminent danger -- doesn't lend itself to very much optimism." The 2004 budget that was just signed into law contains major boosts for information technology at the BIA and throughout Interior. Indian programs were subject to an across-the-board cut to provide this money. Copyright c. 2000-2003 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Judge tosses Indian Vets' Money Suit" --------- Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 08:24:13 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NATIVE VETS DISSED" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.abqjournal.com/~/news/metro/120352metro12-11-03.htm Judge Tosses Indian Vets' Money Suit December 11, 2003 By Scott Sandlin Journal Staff Writer Paychecks of Native American soldiers and sailors were for decades shortchanged by military authorities who withheld state income taxes. The practice, dating to World War II, changed after pressure from native groups in 2001, but a group of veterans has gone to court seeking recompense of money they say never should have been withheld in the first place. A federal judge's dismissal of the class action lawsuit Tuesday means they'll have to try their luck in state court. The lawsuit was filed by Albuquerque attorney Jason Bowles on behalf of Lloyd Felipe and 14 other named plaintiffs, most from New Mexico pueblos. It claims the federal government had unjustly deprived them of their private property, a violation of their Fifth Amendment rights. Their "home of record" when they entered the military and during their time of service was Indian country, they said in the lawsuit. Native Americans earning income within Indian country are not subject to state taxation, the lawsuit says. The withheld pay was later turned over to the respective state treasuries under federal-state agreements. The lawsuit alleged the United States knew the practice was wrong and fraudulently hid it from Native American vets. But government lawyers responded that the federal government hadn't waived immunity and that the affected parties must seek redress from state taxing authorities. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Martinez argued the case was not one of illegal taking. "My name is Elizabeth and I may claim to be the Queen of England, but that doesn't make it so," she said. Senior U.S. District Judge C. LeRoy Hansen repeatedly questioned whether federal court was the appropriate venue and in the end concluded it was not. But that does not mean the case will go away. Bowles plans to refile in state court, where legal questions dealing with class actions keep bubbling up. The New Mexico Court of Appeals heard oral arguments last spring in two cases on the question of whether New Mexico will permit nationwide class actions to be filed here. The matter is pending. Two Acoma Pueblo veterans of the Korean War came to Tuesday's hearing hoping for a different outcome. Eugene Paytiamo, 71, and Marvin Hailstorm, 63, both members of American Legion Post 16, estimate 300 veterans are from Acoma Pueblo alone. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., led efforts to reverse the practice of withholding state income taxes from the paychecks of Native American military personnel. Miller's office issued a statement in December 2000 announcing success in persuading the Defense Department to change its policy, saying the decision "could mean thousands of dollars more each year for Native Americans in the military." In the statement, Miller said he was "disappointed that states will not automatically refund previously withheld wages." He added that veterans could apply to their respective states for refunds, subject to statutes of limitations. Copyright c. 2003 Albuquerque Journal. --------- "RE: Chemawa Cells troubling before Death" --------- Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 08:39:19 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CHEMAWA HOLDING CELLS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/~/front_page/1071406705282590.xml Chemawa cells troubling before death New concerns rise for the Indian school in Salem after an intoxicated student dies in a holding area, the use of which experts widely oppose December 14, 2003 KARA BRIGGS and JULIE SULLIVAN A high-ranking psychiatrist with the Indian Health Service warned her superiors more than a decade ago that students should not be placed in holding cells at the Chemawa Indian School in Salem. "I said you are going to have children die in there," recalled Dr. Delores Gregory, who retired in 1991 as director of psychiatry for the Portland IHS office. Her fears were realized Dec. 6 with the death of Cindy Gilbert Sohappy, 16, of Warm Springs. Friends and relatives say the teenager had been drinking and died after she was placed in a cell at the boarding school. Experts in alcohol abuse, as well as police and administrators at other schools, said they do not put intoxicated teenagers in holding cells because of the inherent dangers. Several said they immediately head to hospital emergency rooms or call 9-1-1 if a student is obviously intoxicated. A Marion County fire official disclosed Friday that Sohappy had died before paramedics arrived last Saturday night, shortly after a call to 9- 1-1. A Salem fire engine and Marion County medic unit were dispatched at 11:22 p.m. "It was obvious that she was no longer alive and there was nothing we could do about it," said Chief Roy Hari of Marion County Fire District 1. Sohappy's death is being investigated by the FBI and the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, which runs the high school. Both agencies have refused to release key information, including the girl's identity, how long she had been in the cell, how closely she was monitored and whether she had been evaluated by medical staff at the school. The Oregonian has confirmed Sohappy's identity through various other sources. It is not clear whether the school's procedures are inadequate, or the staff failed to take the proper action the night Sohappy died. Chemawa officials have refused to comment. Indian Health Service doctors are on call nights and weekends, but Dr. Richard Hedlund, a psychiatrist with the IHS health center adjacent to the school, declined to say whether one was summoned for Sohappy. The center has offered mental health and substance abuse programs for Chemawa students since 2001, providing such treatment to 80 percent of them, Hedlund said. Officials with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, of which Sohappy was a member, said Friday that they had received no official information on her death. Follow-up on concerns unclear Gregory, the former IHS official, told The Oregonian that when she worked at Chemawa in the early 1990s, she was concerned about the use of four cells to hold students who were intoxicated, fighting or out of control. She said that such students were not monitored closely enough and that the staff was ill-trained to deal with them properly. Gregory said she also feared that students might commit suicide while no one was watching. She expressed her concerns in a letter to Dr. George McCoy, then the deputy director for mental health and social service programs at IHS headquarters in Maryland. In a telephone interview Friday, McCoy said Gregory's letter prompted a visit to Chemawa by a team of IHS officials. He and the rest of the team recommended a further review of the school's alcohol-abuse program, McCoy said, but he could not recall whether any changes were made. Chemawa is the oldest of four federal boarding schools for Native American high school students in the country. Some of its 410 students come from troubled homes or have histories of substance abuse. Others come for the academics and Native American culture, or because their families have attended for generations. The cells at Chemawa are in a maintenance building on the sprawling campus. Gregory and others describe them as concrete block rooms measuring about 8 feet by 9 feet, with locking metal doors and a drain in the floor. Students sleep on thin mattresses and are held from a few hours to as many as three days, according to former staff. Students and former employees said the cells are equipped with video cameras that can be monitored from a nearby office. Staffers also are supposed to check on the cells' occupants every 15 minutes through small windows in the doors, and then note their conditions in a log. Chemawa employees who do the monitoring come from all parts of the school and are trained in first aid and CPR. One former worker, Roger Sargent, said he would occasionally watch the cells to earn overtime pay - -- even though he was a school cook. "You could at all times watch students," said Sargent, a former union steward. "But if they're laying there not moving for a couple of hours they could be passed out, or they could be dead." Cells were especially busy on weekends and may hold several students at a time, said Sargent, who often clashed with Chemawa administrators and was fired in 2000 -- the same year he was named employee of the year. He said intoxicated students were given Breathalyzer tests before being placed in the cells. Gregory said some students were restrained with plastic handcuffs. "It's pretty crude down there," she said. Pat Lacey, who retired as Chemawa's social services director in 1998, said the holding cells were an improvement over the alternative -- having intoxicated students sit in chairs in her office until they sobered up. Lacy called the cells "safe rooms," where intoxicated students could lie down and not risk falling from a chair or a bed. She said staff followed detailed procedures, including calling parents and IHS doctors who were on call nights and weekends. "When I started there we did call 9-1-1 when I or someone else felt a student needed help," Lacey said. "I have taken many students (to the hospital) for accidents or for being drunk." Experts against youth cells Health experts said in interviews last week that cells should not be used to hold intoxicated children. "Teenagers who drink have neither tolerance nor experience, so therefore they can get to life-threatening levels pretty quickly and easily," said Dr. Ken Bizovi, a toxicologist with the Oregon Poison Center. "Young people who are obviously intoxicated need to be evaluated." Teenage girls are among the most vulnerable to the toxic effects of alcohol because of their generally low tolerance to it, Bizovi said. Ounce for ounce, alcohol is also deadlier for girls because they metabolize it differently and tend to weigh less than boys drinking the same amount. As little as six to eight mixed drinks or eight beers can be life- threatening for teens who become drowsy, experts say. In a deadly scenario played out on college campuses nationwide, novice drinkers die after falling asleep and aspirating their vomit. Most agencies take no chances with impaired teens. When juveniles are found drunk in Pioneer Courthouse Square, "We take them to the hospital and have them medically cleared before transporting them in our custody," said Sgt. Cheryl Robinson of the Portland Police Bureau. Portland Public School employees immediately call the child's parents -- and then the school nurse. "If we had a kid in distress and were concerned about alcohol, we would call 9-1-1 or get them to a hospital," said Sheryl Lahey, and intervention specialist for the district. At MacLaren and Hillcrest, two state youth correctional facilities in the Salem area, children with any sign of impairment are first sent to the facility nurse or medical doctor on duty. Dr. Beverly Bauman, pediatric emergency medicine physician at OHSU Hospital, said medical evaluations are vital because factors other than alcohol also might be at work. For example, methamphetamine can raise body temperature to a life- threatening level that can only be reduced in a hospital setting. Dehydration also is a significant concern. Sargent, the former Chemawa cook who delivered food and juice to children in holding cells, said staff sometimes turned up the heat in the cells "to make the students sweat out the alcohol." He said they were often very thirsty. Counselors at Northwest Behavioral Healthcare, a 50-bed residential treatment center for youths ages 13 to 18 in Gladstone, said they have a doctor on call 24 hours and nurse practitioners to evaluate anyone who may be impaired. Employees monitoring intoxicated children must remain "within the line of sight" of intoxicated children. Staff counselor Reginald Snow said that never letting them "just sleep it off" is the most important safety measure of all. "Roll them over on their side and stay with them," he said. "Don't leave them, ever. That's a cardinal rule. You just don't do that." ---- Kim Christensen and researcher Lynne Palombo of The Oregonian contributed to this report. Kara Briggs: 503-294-5936; karabriggs@news.oregonian.com Julie Sullivan: 503-221-8068; juliesullivan@news.oregonian.com Copyright c. 2003 OregonLive.com. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Quapaw Suit targets Mining Firms" --------- Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2003 15:47:43 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TAR CREEK" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.joplinglobe.com/story.php?story_id=70377 Suit targets mining firms By Sheila Stogsdill Special to the Globe December 13, 2003 QUAPAW, Okla. - The Quapaw Tribe filed a lawsuit this week against seven mining companies, claiming the companies are responsible for the pollution of Indian land in Northeast Oklahoma. The tribe filed the suit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Tulsa against Asarco Inc., Blue Tee Corp., Childress Royalty Company Inc., The Doe Run Resources Corp., Eagle-Picher Industries Inc., Gold Fields Mining Corp., and NL Industries. Plaintiffs listed in the lawsuit are: Quapaw Business Committee Chairman John Berrey, Colleen Wilson Austin, Edwina Faye Busby, Reberta Hallam Kyser, Florence Mathews, Ardina Revard Moore, Jean An Lambert and Edward Rodgers. Jason Aamodt, attorney for the plaintiffs, said the lawsuit will ask for property damages and money to restore the 40-square-mile area, known as Tar Creek, back to its natural resources. Aamodt said the residents' health issues are being addressed in a class- action suit filed against the mining companies earlier this summer by residents of the Picher-Cardin area, and the city of Picher, the Picher Housing Authority and the Picher School District. In addition to the class-action lawsuit, nine families have filed lawsuits against the mining companies after health problems associated with lead contamination surfaced in their children. "We want Tar Creek cleaned up," Berrey said. "We want the environment and the health of residents living in Quapaw to improve." Berrey said he didn't know how much it would cost to clean up Tar Creek, but said the mining companies have assets in excess of $10 billion. Tar Creek was considered the lead and zinc mining capital of the nation from the late 1880s to 1960. The Tar Creek area consists of Picher, Cardin, Quapaw, Commerce and North Miami and has held the distinction of being the top Superfund site of the Environmental Protection Agency. During the mining era, tribal members leased land to the mining companies and received royalty payments for its use. The mining companies left behind lead contamination in the soil and large piles of mine tailings, or chat, which are also contaminated. More than $100 million has been spent in the past 20 years to clean up the Tar Creek site. The area is still covered with up to 75 million tons of lead-tainted mine tailings, acres of sludge ponds, open mineshafts and polluted creeks. The Quapaw tribal members own 70 percent of the area's chat piles on the land allotted to their families. The tribe itself only owns a small portion of the chat. The defendant mining companies have denied any wrongdoing, claiming they lawfully conducted business. U.S. Rep. Brad Carson, D-Claremore, has proposed voluntary buyouts of residents living in Picher and Cardin. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, head of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, is proposing a $45 million cleanup plan led by the University of Oklahoma. Copyright c. 2003 The Joplin Globe Publishing Company. --------- "RE: New Water Source found for Peabody" --------- Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 08:39:19 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BLACK MESA SLURRY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.gallupindependent.com/12-13-03newwatersourcefoun.html New water source found for Peabody Jim Maniaci Dine' Bureau December 13, 2003 WINDOW ROCK - A potential water source for Peabody's Black Mesa coal mine and slurry line and the Hopi villages and Navajo chapters in the area was revealed Thursday. A group represented by lobbyist Jeff Groscost, former speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, visited Navajo officials Thursday to offer a potential water source which would allow Peabody Energy to keep its reservation coal mines open as well as solve Southern California Edison's problem with the water-dependent fuel supply for its beleaguered Mohave Generating Station at Laughlin, Nev. Up to 15,000 acre-feet of water, about one-fifth more than is currently listed as needed, would come from the Sacramento Valley west of the Kingman, Ariz., suburb of Golden Valley. Groscost said it is along the existing right-of-way for the slurry line which runs about 275 miles. Peabody would construct a new pipeline and increase its water use from 4, 400 acre-feet to approximately 6,000 acre-feet a year, pumping the water uphill several thousand feet to Black Mesa, mix it with the ground coal and send it back downhill to Laughlin, about 20 miles west of the water's origin. The existing pipeline would be relined and pressurized, pump stations added to force water uphill about 5,600 acre-feet for reservation residents. One acre-foot is around 325,000 gallons. Groscost admitted there are many things "left to be fleshed out." Changing laws Navajo Nation Council Speaker Lawrence Morgan said Arizona law must be amended to allow an inter-basin transfer of the water, for example. "We should know by March at the latest if we can be successful there," Groscost added. The speaker also likes the idea that it is outside water being brought into Navajo. "However," Morgan said, "the oversight committees, affected chapters and the Navajo Nation Council have to wade in and consider this proposal. This could be a dandy proposal, but it needs a lot of work. Right now it is only at the discussion stage and there is no commitment on our part. It is just one of many proposals we get here at the central government." Groscost said a meeting with President Joe Shirley Jr. went well. "The president had fairly direct and probing questions about what our proposal would and wouldn't do and our political chances of success," the lobbyist said. Meetings with the two branch chiefs followed a lunch with the Resources Committee before whom the lobbyist said he expects his group will be asked to make another presentation. Groscost said it all began last year when he was working with the Navajo Nation on a cement plant north of Prescott, above the Verde River headwaters, with fierce opposition from the Verde Valley's leaders making it almost impossible to succeed. However, the same attorney as now, Tom Connolly, was involved, so the lobbyist and his unnamed partners learned of the lawyer's unnamed client whose land by the slurry line right-of-way sits over a separately contained water basin, and thus is not endangered by fast-growing Kingman's aquatic desires.Perfect dynamics"The local dynamics are perfect," the lobbyist said. Groscost said his proposed deal also would be in the best interests of Arizona's water giant, the Salt River Project. SRP operates the Navajo Generating Station. Some of the Black Mesa water goes to the bigger Kayenta Mine which ships its coal about 85 miles via an electric railroad to the NGS, east of Page in the Le Chee Chapter on the south shore of Lake Powell. SRP has done a much better job of maintaining and upgrading the NGS, built about the same time with the same basic design by the same contractor, as Edison has the plant in which it owns 56 percent and therefore is the managing partner. Groscost believes his project can be built, if everything else can be worked out, in a short time and at less cost since land does not have to be acquired for the right-of-way. Edison, the Los Angeles-area electric utility, will have to shut down its ancient 30-year-old power plant in southern Nevada after Dec. 31, 2005, to meet a consent decree imposed by environment groups which objected to the lack of modern air pollution controls on the two-unit generating station. Tribal legislators recently were told this will be at least until 2009, even if Edison decides to spend about $600 million as its share of more than $1 billion needed to modernize the plant which is within a stone's throw of the nine Laughlin gambling halls. About 300 high-paying jobs on the reservation are endangered, along with four-fifths of the Hopi tribal treasury and about one-fourth of the Navajo's general fund. Tribal water officials currently are pushing for a well field west of Winslow in the Coconino "C" Aquifer to replace the eight deep Navajo "N" Aquifer wells, with an 11,600 acre-foot a year line to serve both residents and some expanded mining which will be needed to meet the demand of an improved Mohave station. MGS is the only electric generating facility in the country supplied by a slurry line, which required an act of Congress to cross state lines. Copyright c. 2003 the Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: Empty Promises/Hollow Health Care" --------- Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2003 15:47:43 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INDIAN HEALTH FAILURE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.argusleader.com/specialsections/2003/emptypromises/ Empty Promises/Hollow Health Care December 13, 2003 Government builds Indian hospitals, but fails to staff them properly Indians saw it as a promise. In exchange for their land, and the end of their way of life, they would receive medical care at a level expected in the rest of the United States. - Indian Health Service facilities in S.D. Kevin Dobbs kdobbs@argusleader.com Originally published: 11/2/2003 Indian Health Service operates in 35 states in 12 regional units, including the Aberdeen Area region, which serves the tribes of the Northern Plains. IHS runs 50 hospitals and 500 clinics. It also contracts with outside facilities for specialty service on a budget of about $2.9 billion. Able to bill Medicare, private insurance and Medicaid for some services, the IHS has an overall budget of about $3.4 billion. Native Americans can use the facilities without charge. IHS has medical centers on reservations throughout South Dakota. Here's a look at those facilities: 1. - STANDING ROCK (Straddles North and South Dakota) A 16-bed hospital at Fort Yates, N.D., has a staff of four physicians and a dialysis unit. Dental care is provided. An outpatient health center at McLaughlin has one staff physician. There are also health stations at Cannonball, Bullhead, and Wakpala. The health stations provide minimal outpatient care. 2. - CHEYENNE RIVER The IHS Hospital in Eagle Butte has 27 beds and an outpatient clinic. When fully staffed, it has five physicians and is the only inpatient facility on the reservation. Dental care is provided and it has four satellite clinics operated by the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. 3. - RAPID CITY INDIAN COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER The Rapid City Service Area provides health care to Native Americans in Rapid City and is unique in that it is not located on a reservation. The 32-bed IHS Hospital has a staff of 10 physicians who provide inpatient and outpatient adult, pediatric, and prenatal care. Major surgery and obstetrics, including complicated cases referred from other service units, are performed at Rapid City Regional Hospital. 4. - PINE RIDGE The town of Pine Ridge has a 46-bed hospital that offers obstetrics, pediatric services and emergency care. Clinics in Wanblee and Kyle, supported by the Pine Ridge hospital, each have a doctor and full clinic staffs. Together, they serve a patient population of 17,000, the largest in the state. 5. - ROSEBUD The town of Rosebud has a 35-bed (27 in use) hospital with obstetric and pediatric services. Several field clinics are staffed by about 12 physicians, nurses and midwives, and physician assistants. Obstetrics, surgery, primary medical care and dental care is also offered at the hospital. 6. - CROW CREEK/LOWER BRULE Both reservations have outpatient health centers staffed by two physicians and dental clinics. Emergency patients are seen after hours at hospitals in Chamberlain, Pierre and Sioux Falls. Inpatient care is contracted to area hospitals. 7. - YANKTON SIOUX The Wagner Health Center is an ambulatory care unit with 24-hour emergency room service. Included are mental health and optometry services. Obstetric care is provided by contract with a hospital in Yankton. Contract specialists hold clinics at the facility. 8. - FLANDREAU SANTEE SIOUX The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribal Health Clinic is unique in that the tribe paid $800,000 to build the clinic and also manages it on a contract basis with IHS. The ambulatory facility has a full-time doctor, physician's assistant, nursing staff, dentist, dental assistant and dental hygienist. 9. - LAKE TRAVERSE The Sisseton Service Unit in Sisseton operates a five-physician, 18-bed medical center with inpatient and outpatient care as well as a dental clinic. Programs administered by the Sisseton-Wahpeton Tribe include an alcohol treatment program, family planning, maternal and child health services. - Statistics Originally published: 11/2/2003 Budget Numbers Poverty is not the sole impetus of Native Americans' poor health. Limited access to underfunded health care facilities perpetuates problems, tribal leaders say. The U.S. government in the late-1800s promised in treaties made with the Great Sioux Nation and others to provide American Indians with health care that is on par with societal norms. But today it spends less than half as much on Indian Health Service as it does on other federal health plans. The fiscal 2004 IHS budget is about $2.9 billion, a 3 percent increase from the previous year. South Dakota Sens. Tim Johnson and Tom Daschle say it needs to be twice as much. With collections from Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance, the total IHS revenue hovers at $3.4 billion. National studies by tribal leaders say as much as $7 billion annually would be needed to lift IHS standards of care to levels other Americans receive. Another $15 billion is needed for new clinics, hospitals and equipment. Health Statistics Soaring rates of disease among Native Americans are widely attributed to an economically deprived and geographically dispersed population in which unemployment and unhealthy lifestyles abound. A third of Native Americans live in poverty and unemployment is 2.5 times higher than the national rate. On the poorest reservations - including South Dakota's Pine Ridge, Rosebud and Crow Creek - more than half in reservation towns live in poverty and as many as 70 percent do not have jobs. As a result, Native Americans have disproportionately high mortality rates when compared to Americans overall. Life Expectancy - Based on data reported in the 1990s - Native Americans: 70.6 years (On South Dakota's largest reservations - Pine Ridge and Rosebud - health officials estimate the average lifespan is about 57 years.) - All U.S. races: 76.5 years Enfant Mortality - Native American infants die at a rate of 8.9 per every 1,000 live births - All U.S. races: 7.2 per 1,000 Leading causes of death All Native Americans - Heart disease - 21.6 percent of total deaths - Malignant tumors - 15.9 percent - Accidents or homicide - 14 percent - Diabetes - 6.6 percent - Liver disease and cirrhosis - 4.5 percent Native Americans in the IHS Aberdeen Area (North and South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska) - Heart disease - 21.1 percent of total deaths - Malignant tumors - 15 percent - Accidents or homicide - 14.4 percent - Diabetes - 7.5 percent - Liver disease and cirrhosis - 6.3 percent All U.S. races - Heart disease - 31.4 percent - Malignant tumors - 23.3 percent - Stroke - 6.9 percent - Pulmonary diseases - 4.7 percent - Accidents and homicide - 4.1 percent Cancer Overall, Native American have lower cancer death rates (161 per 100,000) than the U.S. population as a whole, where the average is about 205. But in the Northern Plains region, which includes South Dakota, Native Americans post dramatically higher numbers - 292 cancer deaths per 100,000. Death rates among Native Americans - Alcoholism - 770 percent higher than all races combined - Tuberculosis - 500 percent higher - Diabetes - 420 percent higher - Accidents - 280 percent higher - Suicide - 190 percent higher - Homicide - 210 percent higher - Safe water supply and waste disposal is lacking in about 7.5 percent of Native American homes, compared with 1 percent among the overall population. Leading causes of death outside of cancer and heart disease. Rates per 100,000 people. Accidents - IHS nationally - 94.7 - Aberdeen area - 130.5 - All U.S. races - 30.1 Alcoholism - IHS nationally - 46.5 - Aberdeen area - 87.4 - All U.S. races - 6.3 Diabetes - IHS nationally - 52.8 - Aberdeen area - 82.9 - All U.S. races - 13.5 Tuberculosis - IHS nationally - 1.5 - Aberdeen area - 3.3 - All U.S. races - 0.3 Source: IHS. Note: These statistics come from IHS's 2000-2001 Regional Differences in Indian Health study and recent interviews with IHS administrators.Data for some diseases among the overall population are as current as 2002, but figures reported earlier are used for purposes of comparison. Condition Critical: Chronic underfunding means sick people suffer more at Indian hospitals Kevin Dobbs kdobbs@argusleader.com Originally published: 11/2/2003 'We give pretty darn good care. We just don't have much of it' ROSEBUD SIOUX INDIAN RESERVATION - In this desolate land, engulfed in a long struggle with poverty and prejudice, a $27 million medical center embodies hope - and dread. The gleaming, 93,000-square-foot Rosebud Comprehensive Health Care Facility contrasts the dilapidated buildings of Rosebud village. Inside are 35 hospital beds and a birthing wing, a surgery suite and emergency room, a clinic and first-rate labs. A rarity in sparsely populated rural South Dakota, the federal Indian Health Service opened the medical center in 1990, hoping the marvels of modern medicine would curb a scourge of disease on this reservation of more than 10,000 people. But IHS, beholden to annual congressional appropriations, has never had enough money to fully staff the Rosebud hospital. Through treaties signed in the 1800s with Native Americans, the federal government promised medical care on reservations that met national standards. Yet what Congress spends on the average IHS patient is less than half what it puts into other federal health plans such as Medicare. The consequences, people here say, are severe. Gayla Twiss, administrator at the Rosebud hospital, says her roughly $21 million budget - $12 million from IHS and $9 million from Medicare and Medicaid collections - is little more than half of what she needs, referring to a federal formula that determines need based on disease burden. Liz Lestenkof, the nursing director, says she's short 18 nursing positions. The result: eight of the hospital's inpatient beds sit unused because she can't staff them. Clinical director Dr. Timothy Ryschon says he'd have to double his physician staff to about 24 to meet demand. Even among those on staff, turnover is constant, owing to marginal pay and the hospital's location. "If you don't have a permanent medical staff, you can't ever really get out of the blocks," says Ryschon, who has stayed with the hospital for seven years, longer than almost anyone else. Rosebud is but one example. IHS has been able to show desperate need and secure one-time funding for new facilities on reservations across Indian Country, yet its budget does not go far enough to fully staff them. A lack of money forced the closing of inpatient hospital beds on the Yankton Sioux Reservation. Nurse positions are often short of patient need at the Pine Ridge hospital. The Sisseton-Wahpeton hospital was built for 32 beds, but with its budget trailing medical inflation, it staffs only 18. For patients, the situation is profoundly distressing. They complain of long waits at clinics, of rarely seeing the same doctor twice, of rushed treatment and even failures to test for potentially fatal diseases despite obvious symptoms. The Rosebud reservation makes up the fifth-poorest county in the nation. As in Third-World countries, poverty breeds malnutrition and illness. People here die about 20 years younger on average than other Americans - from soaring rates of alcoholism, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Lost in the statistics are the travails of people such as Waylon Kills In Sight, 29, a tall and once-strapping warehouse worker from Rosebud whose primary source of health care is IHS. A year ago, what he thought was heartburn kept him up at night. Exhausted and struggling to eat, he went to the IHS hospital in Rosebud seeking a diagnosis. He says a doctor gave him an antacid and sent him home. Over the following year, he made several more trips. Each time he left with Tums or Rolaids and no idea what was causing his pain, he says. Then, in early September, a withering Kills In Sight, low on blood and struggling to stay conscious, finally was referred to a Rapid City hospital. A doctor there ordered a battery of tests and returned with news that both relieved and enraged Kills In Sight and his family. Diagnosis: stomach cancer that had spread throughout his body. At least he knew the cause of his misery and, perhaps, surgery to remove a tumor could save him. But he was furious, too, for if he'd been diagnosed months earlier, chemotherapy on a local cancer would have dramatically improved his odds. During surgery, performed in mid-September, doctors determined the tumor was too big to remove. Kills In Sight would have bled to death, his family says. In October, gaunt and frail, he returned to the IHS hospital in Rosebud to rest and pray for a medical miracle to reverse end-stage cancer. "I'll beat this thing. If I do, it'll be despite the care I got in Rosebud," says a man whom family members describe as remarkably determined yet crushed by misfortune. His older sister, Eleanor Larvie, says the family has been warned of a bleak outlook. And she lays the blame on the doorstep of a government that, in exchange for much of the Northern Plains, promised but failed to provide her brother and other Sioux with decent health care. "I'm hoping for a miracle," Larvie says. "But I'm a realist. I've prepared to bring my brother home, and I've prepared for his funeral." Widespread problems Daryl Russell, deputy director of the IHS office that oversees South Dakota's nine reservations, says his agency cannot comment on specific cases, citing patient privacy laws. But he says IHS provides the best care it can with limited resources. To be sure, IHS being the main source of medical care for more than half of the 60,000 Native Americans in the state, the agency provides invaluable services to many. One recent afternoon at Rosebud, the emergency room is full. Dozens of parents trot children into the clinic for shots and routine checkups. Upstairs in the hospital, two new mothers and their babies recover from successful deliveries. Staff throughout the building work diligently and resourcefully. Ryschon taps doctors and nurses fulfilling two-week military training obligations to help an overworked staff. Technicians use telemedicine to get crucial input from specialists in Sioux Falls and Rapid City. Tina Stead, a 27-year-old mother resting with her newborn son, says its hard to see a doctor or get inpatient care. But when she does, the staff "is wonderful." "They do what they can to help us," the working mother of three says. "It's too hard to pay the bills, have food and pay" for health insurance. "I know I couldn't," she says. "And there are a lot of people here with big families and no jobs at all and no way to get anywhere else for a doctor. They wouldn't have anything without this place." Still, with funding at 60 percent of need or less at IHS facilities, Russell concedes Rosebud's services are lacking. When referring patients such as Kills in Sight to private hospitals, the agency has only enough to cover a third of such costs. "So we refer only life-and-limb level of cases," says Russell, a member of the Lower Brule tribe. "We give pretty darn good care. We just don't have much of it," he adds. "It's rationing of care, and we've been doing it forever. It's real tough on patients, but even though there are treaty rights, Congress has not, for some reason, elected to raise rates" for IHS. History's promises In the 1800s, the United States' westward expansion ran over Native American lands. Battles raged. Tribes fought for their hunting and ancestral territories. White settlers pushed on, lured by gold and West Coast land. The U.S. government sought to bring peace through a series of controversial treaties. It would take more than 400 million acres of Native American land - including South Dakota, much of which belonged to Sioux tribes - but as compensation, it would establish the reservations and provide food, education and health care. Beginning in the 1830s, treaties started to include provisions for medical care. Though most imposed time limits of 20 years or less, IHS says the government adopted a policy of so-called "gratuity appropriations, " under which it would continue to provide health care as compensation for land. Native Americans interpret that as a promise of indefinite payback, tribal leaders say. "The Indian people gave up huge tracts of land in exchange for health care and the government should live up to that," says Carole Anne Heart, a Rosebud native and executive director of the Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairmen's health board, which represents tribes in South Dakota and neighboring states. In the early 1930s hospitals were built on reservations. In 1955, as medicine entered a new era of technological advancement, IHS - today under the Department of Health and Human Services - was created. Ever since, Native Americans have been able to use IHS hospitals and clinics without charge. IHS was designed to provide medical, emergency, dental, psychiatric care and pharmacy services at its hospitals; family practice at its clinics. It also branches into public health, building water and sewer systems in remote areas and providing immunizations to prevent disease. For 20 years, starting in the 1950s, IHS made important progress. It helped mothers deliver babies in hospitals, lowering infant mortality rates. It cleaned up water systems, reducing the frequency of gastrointestinal diseases. It vaccinated children against a range of diseases. Dr. Charles Grim, national director of IHS under President Bush, says the agency continues to make strides today. He cites several upgrades to an urban hospital that serves an increasing number of Native Americans living in and around Rapid City. And new ambulatory clinics are planned for the Cheyenne River Sioux and Sisseton- Wahpeton. "We really are trying to do everything we can with what we have," Grim says. Festering problems But the system fails many. Those who devised it did not account for the effects of long-term poverty that now intersect with double-digit spikes in medical costs. Many reservations, especially those in western South Dakota, are far removed from economic hubs. Private business is almost nonexistent in many towns. Unemployment tops 70 percent in places like Rosebud. Economic depression has spawned a cycle that most tribes still struggle to break. Resulting behavioral health problems - malnutrition and alcoholism - exacerbate already thorny conditions, from obesity to heart disease to diabetes. But, IHS must focus its best efforts on the very ill rather than prevention or even management of early-stage diseases. The successes of the '50s and '60s are muffled by today's shortcomings. This year's IHS budget is about $2.9 billion for more than 1.5 million patients. IHS doctors can bill patients who have Medicare, Medicaid or private plans, and that could bring total revenue to $3.4 billion, Grim says. IHS's Aberdeen area office, which oversees the Dakotas, Iowa and Nebraska, has a roughly $200 million budget for 120,000 patients. In total, more than 200,000 are eligible to use the service. A national study by tribal leaders concluded that $7 billion annually is needed to provide care similar to what other Americans receive. Another $15 billion in one-time money is needed for new facilities and equipment. "It's just unbelievable to me. You can have hospitals, but if you don't have the money to staff or equip them, what good are they?" Heart asks. The per-patient figures are telling, she says. IHS spends about $1,900 per patient annually. That compares with the $5, 900 the government spends per patient on Medicare, $5,200 on Veterans Affairs and $3,800 on federal prison health, an IHS analysis shows. Private health plans spend about $5,500 per person. Sen. Tom Daschle, the Senate minority leader from South Dakota, has pushed to increase IHS's budget. He and a handful of others say they'll keep trying but concede Native Americans fall low on Washington priority lists. "There has to be hope or we'd give up the fight," Daschle says. "But I would say the odds are overwhelmingly against us." Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., says IHS is "grossly underfunded" and the government is obligated to put more into it. But, he says, outside of a handful of states like South Dakota, where Native Americans have pressed their congressional delegations, most lawmakers' constituents don't understand historical obligations to tribes. Votes reflect that. Misconceptions about reservation life also impede funding, tribal leaders say. One is the picture of tribes growing rich on casino profits. But outside of the Flandreau Santee Sioux north of Sioux Falls, no tribe in South Dakota earns enough from gaming to significantly supplement health care. Some South Dakotans say privately - they asked not to be named for fear of being labeled racist - that their tax dollars are wasted on the reservations, where health programs, no matter how much money is poured into them, consistently fail. That, replies former Yankton Sioux Vice Chairman Bobby Cournoyer, is even more discouraging, for it is rooted in prejudice and bolstered by ignorance. "People say, 'Why should we pay for the sins of our fathers? We've done enough.' They say, 'Look at those Indians. We throw money at them and all they do is fail.' Well, it hasn't been enough. They give us just enough to try and fail," Cournoyer says. "Health care is the perfect example. No other health system would try to function on this kind of money. But people expect us to, and then all they see is our bad health, our failures. "The treaties have not been fulfilled. The least they can do is live up to the treaties. That's all we've asked for. That's all. The poor in just about any non-Indian community probably have better services than our people do. But as far as funding, whenever we go to Congress, it always seems to fall on deaf ears." Huge health hurdles Back in Rosebud, that leaves no alternative to rationed care. It could use more people like Dr. Romeo Vivit, the hospital's only general surgeon, who has been here for five years. "I came to a point in my life when I'd done my job as a father, when my kids had grown up and moved on, and I wanted to devote my work to the missionary level, to help the poor," he says. "And this is the place to do that." But he's a rare find. Vivit made "far more" at the practice he ran for 15 years in Chicago. He says the Rosebud hospital desperately needs a second surgeon, more general practice doctors and others. But surgeons, for one, can make twice as much in large cities, he says, and few young doctors coming out of medical school have ever been to a reservation, much less thought of living and working on one. Twiss, the hospital administrator, says two or three years is a solid stint for an IHS doctor. Regardless, the budget wouldn't allow the hospital to hire all it wants anyway. Irma Annis, an X-ray and ultrasound technician, says her area needs five technicians but only has three, and one of those plans to leave. We're so understaffed that sometimes, when we're on call, we're up 24 hours straight," she says. Dr. Matt Cazan, a family practitioner, sums it up as he races from patient to patient: "The need here is obvious." The deficiencies are overt to patients as well. One afternoon at the hospital, James Henry, 27, paces in a hallway as his 5-year-old daughter sleeps in her room. Henry grumbles about her being here for four days before a doctor could spend enough time to evaluate and diagnose her with a strep infection. "You take what you can get, and you appreciate it," he says. "We don't have money to leave the rez. But when you're sitting around all day, or days, waiting for a doctor to see your sick child, it's scary." Pete Cordier shakes his head in agreement. Cordier, 27, tells of his 8- month-old daughter being diagnosed with pneumonia yet having to wait two days after the diagnosis to get a prescription medication. "All I can say is that it's real frustrating," he says. Dr. Ryschon, the clinical director, says he tries to lobby for more staff. But for now, what he can do is help the sickest of the sick and teach people like Cordier how to avoid the pitfalls that spiral into chronic disease and overwhelm the tribe. Though prevention efforts are limited, IHS tries to work in concert with the tribe on public education projects. This past summer, for example, the two teamed up to run youth camps that taught children how to eat wisely and exercise regularly - aimed at trimming obesity, a precursor to diabetes. Ryschon says IHS finds a use for every penny it gets: "I don't think there's another health plan out there that can provide so much for so little. We're getting a lot done despite what seems an impossible appropriations scenario." Yet he knows much more should be done. Grim, the IHS head, offers a mixed outlook on funding. "I am optimistic and I do think that day will come. But with all we're facing as a country right now, I don't think that's going to happen in the next couple years," he says, referring to the war on terrorism and homeland security. "There is a great realization of what is needed, but we're facing an unprecedented number and level of priorities right now." Dying for a cause Waylon Kills in Sight, the Rosebud man battling end-stage cancer, has a simple wish: He wants to live. "I'll fight it 'til I can't fight it anymore," he says. His family clings to that optimism but feels compelled to prepare for the end. Because surgeons had to remove part of his stomach to slow the cancer, family members are learning how to clean his colostomy bag, how to administer pain medication and operate a feeding tube. Barring a swift turn of fate, they want to bring him home for his final days. The realistic hope, his cousin Lila Kills in Sight says through tears, is that he can leave the hospital before the paralysis of winter. He wants to get outside one more time. "He's taken this cancer and he's battling it every day, but the government wasn't there to help him. For them to have saved money, it's costing Waylon his life," she says of the IHS policy of referring only the sickest of patients to private hospitals, which she thinks allowed his cancer to spread. "You get so discouraged watching your loved one die. I don't think people can understand it until the day it happens to them." Lila Kills In Sight, 33, says that, like her cousin, she has possible symptoms of stomach cancer. IHS repeatedly gave her antacids. After months of complaints, she says her cousin's misery sounded the alarm that got her an appointment for tests. Results are pending. She prays that such attention is only a beginning, that somehow her cousin's struggles will trigger new interest in Native American health. Waylon Kills In Sight's sister, Eleanor Larvie, says she, too, sees promise in the family's sorrow. "I hope above all else Waylon doesn't die, but if he does I hope it's not in vain," she says. "I hope others see this, and someone gets more staff at that hospital. I hope someone cares because I don't want another family to go through what we've been through. It's tragic." Other Topics in this article are as follows: (You really do want to check out the whole article. The facts are there for all to read. Just-US also applies to Health Care.) Living sicker, dying younger: Doctors blame poverty for health problems indians endure YANKTON SIOUX INDIAN RESERVATION - A two-decade bout with diabetes has steadily sapped life from Rosemary Rouse's 73-year-old frame. She needs a wheelchair now, for when she walks the disease swells her ankles so badly that infected sores burst open. Small clinics in cities do their best with little funding Tucked into a ground-floor corner of an apartment building on the fringes of downtown Sioux Falls is a tiny clinic trying to fight a health crisis. Cherokee doctor will bridge gap between native, Western healing Self-confidence put Chris Jones in medical school. Fate put him in two cultures. The combination leads Jones to see a role for himself in translating Western medicine to Indian patients. Woman dreamed of becoming doctor since fourth grade VERMILLION - The Big Foot ride, a horseback trek across South Dakota the last two weeks of December, commemorates the violent death of Sitting Bull and the subsequent flight of Hunkpapa and Minneconju tribal members that ended tragically in the Wounded Knee massacre in 1890. Reservation plague: Preventable deaths WINNER - He's buried two children lost in a house fire and a baby who died of dehydration. There was the man, too, who hanged himself and another who never awoke after poisoning his own body with alcohol. All were Native American. Copyright c. 2003 Argus Leader. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Water Plan revised to protect Indian Rights" --------- Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 08:24:13 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NEW MEXICO WATER" http://www.sfnewmexican.com/print.asp?ArticleID=36969 Water Plan Revised to Protect Indian Rights By BEN NEARY | The New Mexican Thursday, December 11, 2003 In response to public comments, state officials have revised the proposed state water plan to give greater emphasis to protecting American Indian and acequia water rights and to securing new sources of water to ensure the state's continued economic growth. New Mexico Interstate Stream Engineer Estevan Lopez announced Wednesday that the final version of the plan is complete and scheduled for consideration next week by the Interstate Stream Commission. Gov. Bill Richardson, in one of his first acts upon taking office early this year, ordered state water officials to develop the state water plan by the end of this year. The continuing drought makes water planning critical, he said. In developing the plan, state water officials held meetings around the state and collected public comment about what the plan should address. However, many criticized the draft version of the plan as being little more than a compendium of feel-good statements. Lopez said Wednesday the revised plan is much improved over the draft. "It's really important for us to get control of our water," Lopez said. "What are we going to do if the drought continues? How are we going to make sure that high-priority uses can continue? This kind of lays out the policies that are going to enable us to do that." Recent years of low precipitation have left New Mexico's reservoirs at low levels. "We're already in a pretty dire situation over the precipitation over the last two years, and if we don't get any significant snowpack this winter, we're going to be in, I would say, a dire situation for our water resources," Lopez said. People who use acequias, or traditional irrigation ditches, expressed concern that the draft plan called for pushing a free-market trade in water rights that would allow cities and others to buy agricultural water. Some Indians, likewise, said they were concerned the draft didn't express adequate state respect for their sovereign water rights. The revised plan, however, says the state will respect such senior, traditional water rights. "Nothing in the State Water Plan will impair or limit the claims that these senior water-rights holders assert," it states. The plan also calls for the state to focus on developing additional water supplies by processes such as desalination of salty groundwater and development of other groundwater that lies farther from river systems. "We've recognized the importance of water in terms of the economic vitality of the state," Lopez said. "The fact is that we need to make sure that we ... have adequate drinking water for everyone in the state." The state is preparing to cut off junior water-rights holders on the San Juan River next year if people along the river don't agree to a shortage- sharing agreement as they did this year, Lopez said. The state is also looking at the Gallinas River, near Las Vegas, N.M., and other critical areas around the state as probable areas for state intervention if necessary. The New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission is scheduled to consider the plan at its meeting Wednesday in Santa Fe. The plan is available at the state engineer's Web site at http://www.ose.state.nm.us. Content c. 2003 The New Mexican, Inc. --------- "RE: Gorge Chinook runs look strong" --------- Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2003 08:33:19 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CHINOOK" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.columbian.com/12112003/sports/98748.html Gorge chinook runs look strong Thursday, December 11, 2003 By ALLEN THOMAS, Columbian staff writer Another year of strong spring chinook salmon runs are forecast for the Wind and Klickitat rivers plus Drano Lake in the Columbia River Gorge. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is predicting 12,700 adult spring chinook will enter the Columbia River destined for the Wind River in Skamania County. The forecast is for 8,400 adult chinook headed for nearby Drano Lake. The lake is a 300-acre backwater of the Columbia River at the mouth of the Little White Salmon River. State fish biologist Rich Pettit said the prediction is for 3,500 adult spring chinook to return to the Klickitat River. The combined forecast of 24,600 compares with returns of 49,700 in 2002 and 36,000 in 2003. Pettit said the forecast for the total spring chinook run upstream of Bonneville Dam will be public next week, and is expected to be second only to the 416,000 return of 2001. Sport-fishing seasons are expected to be similar to those of 2003 for the Wind, Drano and Klickitat. Sports seasons have to be dovetailed with tribal fishing needs upstream of Bonneville Dam. All three mid-Columbia waters will have surplus spring chinook. Carson National Fish Hatchery on the upper Wind River needs 1,200 adults back, while Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery needs 1,200 and Klickitat Salmon Hatchery needs 700. Trollers in 100 or more boats a morning pull Magnum Wiggle Warts, herring or prawn spinners in Drano Lake and at the mouth of the Wind River in April and May. Later in the season, angling from shore is big in the Wind River canyon and even upstream near Carson hatchery. Construction has started on the long-awaited $1.23-million expansion of the Drano Lake boat ramp. Todd LeFevre of the Skamania County Department of Public Works said the ramp will be closed through March 31 while 18,000 cubic yards of fill are added and the approach off state Highway 14 modified. The existing ramp and parking will be open in April and May. The facility will be closed to all recreational use in June and July. The new ramp will open for public use with limited facilities about Aug. 1, LeFevre said. Fishing slows in June and July then heats up in August for steelhead and in September for fall chinook and coho. Last week, the department announced its forecasts for the three lower Columbia tributaries in Washington with spring chinook salmon runs. Those numbers are 15,900 in the Cowlitz River, 6,000 in the Kalama River and 5,400 in the Lewis River. If those returns materialize, they will be the best in many years. Copyright c. 2003 by The Columbian Publishing Co./Vancouver, WA. --------- "RE: One Nation, One Protest" --------- Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 08:33:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ONE RACIST NATION" http://www.reznetnews.org/news/031124_onenation/ One Nation, One Protest December 2003 By Craig Henry OKLAHOMA CITY - Demonstrators from across the state, including many Native American college students, gathered outside the annual Oklahoma Farm Bureau conference here Sunday to protest One Nation, a national organization opposed to tribal sovereignty. "We found out about Farm Bureau's involvement with the anti-Indian sovereignty organization, One Nation," said JoKay Dowell, head of the Eagle and Condor Indigenous Peoples' Alliance, one of the groups participating in the protest. "Our reason for being here is to let people know what Farm Bureau is, what it really is." One demonstrator held a sign that read, "One Nation=Corporate KKK." In addition to Dowell's group, based in Tahlequah, Okla., members of the University of Oklahoma Chapter of United National Indian Tribal Youth (UNITY), plus several staff and faculty members from OU, were among the more than two dozen protesters. One Nation is sponsored by the Oklahoma Farm Bureau and many other companies and individuals. Its Web site claims One Nation is "currently representing more than 200,000 people." One Nation's goal, according to its Web site, is to "push back against the massive expansion of tribal authority and the various disruptions and inequities created by sovereignty-based policies ... (and) to correct inequities created by virtue of special treatment afforded businesses and industries owned by Native American tribes." The group's co-chair, Jeramy Rich, who is also the public policy director for the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, disputes the characterization of One Nation's opposition to tribal sovereignty as "anti-Indian." He told the Native American Times: "It's not correct. The group we're involved in is in no way anti-Indian." Rich could not be reached for comment for this story. Allegation of Abuse One Nation's national director, Barbara Lindsay, says the organization does not object to Native Americans but to the sovereign governmental powers of tribes. "Some, not all, but some tribal leaders are abusing their sovereign powers," Lindsay said in a telephone interview from California. "There is no need for additional government that we don't have a voice in." Lindsay describes herself on the One Nation Web site as an enrolled member of the Western Cherokee Nation of Arkansas & Missouri. The group, headquartered in Paragould, Ark., is not recognized as a tribe by the federal government; neither is it a state-recognized tribe by Arkansas or Missouri. However, Chief Lola Smith Scholl said in a telephone interview that she's on the verge of submitting application for federal recognition of the Western Cherokee Nation, whose enrollment she puts at about 30,000 members. Scholl confirmed that Lindsay is an enrolled member. A major concern of One Nation, according to Lindsay, is the purchase of land by tribes outside their reservations and claiming jurisdiction over those lands. "We want them to be economically prosperous, but they don't have to take away land from non-tribal members," Lindsay said. "Tribal leaders and members should respect the law of the land. They cannot regulate non- Indian land and businesses. It's just not fair." Dowell of the Eagle and Condor Indigenous Peoples' Alliance says One Nation's views are at best uninformed. "They jump out there and say these things because it comes out of their true racist beings, and they do it without checking facts," Dowell said. Dowell added that One Nation and the Oklahoma Farm Bureau also are "lobbying for English-only legislation, trying to repeal the Voting Rights Act, opposing the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) and anti-environmental legislation." 'Outrageous' Claims Lindsay called the One Nation protesters and their claims "outrageous." "We are the one's being wronged here," she said. "We're the defendants, not the aggressors." Another major objection of One Nation is tax-exempt land owned by tribes. Lindsay says tribes are taking away money from the state that could be used for educational purposes because they do not pay property taxes. But according to the Cherokee Nation's Web site, in 2002 the tribe committed 38 percent of its revenue from the sale of Cherokee Nation license plates to help fund public schools within its jurisdiction. The tribe reportedly committed $1.2 million in 2002 alone. Rick Abraham, the environmental consultant for PACE International Union, was also present at the demonstration. "I'm down here today representing myself and the PACE International Union because of the policies of the Farm Bureau and One Nation," Abraham said. "They are anti-union, anti-environment, and I think they are certainly anti-Native American. The fact that they want to take away the sovereignty rights of Native Americans is outrageous." Lindsay says One Nation wants tribal members to be prosperous and to rise out of poverty but that tribal governments are an obstacle to that. "When are we going to end the disputing and honor the peace treaties that we signed?" Lindsay asked. ---- Craig Henry, Cherokee, attends the University of Oklahoma in Norman. He is a 2001 graduate of the Freedom Forum's American Indian Journalism Institute. Henry is the public relations officer of the University of Oklahoma Chapter of United National Indian Tribal Youth (UNITY), which took part in the protest. Copyright c. 2003 Reznet. Reznet is a project of The University of Montana School of Journalism and the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. --------- "RE: New head of Okla Chamber member of One Nation" --------- Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2003 08:33:19 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OK CHAMBER" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=3381 New head of Oklahoma State Chamber a member of One Nation group Nichols member of Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association OKLAHOMA CITY OK Sam Lewin December 11, 2003 The new chairman-elect of the Oklahoma State Chamber is a member of one of the groups that strongly supports, even helped create, the anti-tribal sovereignty organization One Nation. The Oklahoma State Chamber describes itself as "Oklahoma's association of business and industry." One Nation officials say the goal of the organization is to "raise public awareness of the growing threat to our state's economic future posed by the unprecedented expansion of the power of the Native American tribes... we refuse to be intimidated by the scare tactics of these tribes, whose leaders do nothing for their constituents and are puffed up with their own sense of self importance." The Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association is a founding member of One Nation. J. Larry Nichols, the state chamber's new chairman-elect, is a member of OIPA's board of directors. He will take over chairman-elect duties at the state chamber next year. Nichols is also the chairman and chief executive officer of Devon Energy Corporation, listed in the American Stock Exchange as the largest U.S.- based independent oil and gas exploration company. Reached for comment by the Native American Times, Nichols said he does not know enough about One Nation to comment. "I don't know enough to talk about it,"Nichols said. "There is considerable confusion over what the ultimate goal of Indian sovereignty is. One hears a variety of Indian representatives saying a variety of things" Nichols is also a member of many other state and national organizations. One Nation has caused concern among tribal leaders since its inception earlier this year. Leaford Bearskin, Chief of the Wyandotte Nation, said One Nation "is loaded with falsehoods bordering on extreme racism and inflammatory statements that can only lead to a cancellation of all efforts we have made toward improving relationships between our two sovereign governments." "A group like this could set back race relations for 20 years," said Jim Gray, Principal Chief of the Osage Tribe. In addition to the OIPA, One Nation includes three other groups: the Southern Oklahoma Water Alliance, Oklahoma Farm Bureau, Oklahoma Petroleum Marketers Association. One Nation claims 180,000 members. The Farm Bureau's annual meeting last month was the target of protests staged by Jo Kay Dowell and others who are opposed to the Farm Bureau's support for One Nation. Native American Times is Copyright c. 2003 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: WHISPER: One Nation a Castle built on Sand" --------- Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2003 08:33:19 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ONE NATION LIES!" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=3383 The Whisper The Indian Gossip Column ANYTOWN OK December 11, 2003 The Whisper always thought One Nation was a castle built on sand. Now it appears the group may be losing members and support. At the annual convention of the Farm Bureau, Native American protestors railed against the group's support of the anti-Indian One Nation group. Some were appalled and embarrassed. Some members didn't know they were opposing Indian people. Some want to pull out, Groups opposing water sales to Texas were early supporters of One Nation. It seems they are now saying they were misled by One Nation organizers. They didn't know they were signing on to a racist organization. They are wanting out from what we hear. Some who signed on early believe the anti-Indian group was formed to create jobs for the organizers. Supporters believe Mke Cantrell has fanned the flames of racism to create a bundle of cash for him to spend and pay himself. Sad to hear Cleata Deathridge Mitchell is running legal interference for One Nation. She was once known as a friend to Native Americans when she was in the legislature. Ever wonder what Nation One Nation is talking about? Must be the one with no Indians in it. Native American Times is Copyright c. 2003 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: Yellow Bird: Thoughts of Sitting Bull's Death" --------- Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 08:33:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: SITTING BULL" http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforksherald/news/opinion/7447339.htm COLUMNIST DORREEN YELLOW BIRD: December brings thoughts of Sitting Bull's death It might have been snowing, like it is today, when tribal police set out to arrest Sitting Bull on Dec. 15, 1890, at the Grand River in South Dakota. He was one of the chiefs and holy men of the Hunkpapa Lakota people. He was killed at a place where I've spent a week every summer for the last 11 years. There are conflicting stories among those who write about Sitting Bull, but this is the most common and is my edited version. Most reports of that fateful day say James McLaughlin, who was superintendent of the Standing Rock agency, sent about 43 Lakota police officers to arrest Sitting Bull at his cabin near the Grand River. He was dragged from his cabin and in the fray, shot and killed. His crime? Fear among the whites that he would instigate another uprising like the 1876 Battle of the Little Big Horn, where the Lakota fought and defeated Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. Most experts will tell you Sitting Bull may have been at the battle, but he was not the war chief. It was, however, his vision of soldiers falling from the sky, foretelling the Lakota victory, that provided the warriors with inspiration. After the battle, Sitting Bull and a small band of his people moved to Canada out of the way of the gatheringU.S. military forces. When he returned from Canada, he was ordered to stay on the reservation. In 1885, he was allowed to join Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, where he earned $50 a week for riding once around the arena. He was billed as "the slayer of Gen. Custer." Ironically, William F. Cody, "Buffalo Bill," the owner of the show, was an Army scout after the Battle of the Little Big Horn. He also bragged that he killed 4,280 buffalo in seventeen months. The wanton killing of the buffalo on the Plains caused famine among the Native people. That slaughter was one of the reasons the Lakota went to war. Sitting Bull only stayed with the show for four months. He couldn't tolerate white society, reports said, but he did shake hands with President Grover Cleveland. He took that as evidence that he still was regarded as a great chief. It is said Sitting Bull's only wish was to be left alone and to be able to live peacefully with his two wives and children. His cabin near the Grand River seemed to provide that solace. Even though he chose not to learn the white man's ways or be a part of their Christian religion, he did send his children to a nearby Christian school to be educated because he wanted them to learn to read and write. I travel to that place where he was killed every year for a Lakota ceremony called Sundance. It isn't an easy pilgrimage. The journey begins on interstates 29 and 94, then onto a road that turns into two lanes. Eventually the two lanes turn into gravel and then graded dirt. Finally, you take a winding prairie dirt road that weaves sideways and up and down through the bench lands above the Grand River. I image Sitting Bull must have been most impressed with that first view of the place where he was born. You are standing hundreds of feet above the valley. When it rains, that steep downhill road of clay and gumbo turns into a muddy slide. There are plum, buffalo berry and chokecherry trees on each side. The pungent smell of brush sage tickles your nose as does the dust that the car kicks up. Sitting Bull's cabin sits several feet from the river. When we're there in the summer, the river is small and girlish. It giggles and runs a winding path south. The log cabin sits among the trees. Some trees are tall and reach far above the cabin. There are good stands of willow, too. These trees surely witnessed the killing of Sitting Bull - the time when his blood turned the earth red beneath their trunks. The Sundance leader is one of Sitting Bull's relatives. He had a vision that would turn Sitting Bull's old homestead a site of a Sundance. That was many years ago. The ceremony is sustained by the prayers of those faithful to the Sundance. That was a time in history for Native people that is painful - though I do wonder sometimes if the enemies of Sitting Bull's time were easier than they are today. Native people knew the enemy by name back then and how to deal with them. Today, our enemies are subtle. They are diseases such as diabetes, cancer and alcoholism and social ills such as racism. ---- Yellow Bird writes columns Tuesday and Saturday. Reach her at 780-1228, (800) 477-6572 ext. 228 or dyellowbird@gfherald.com. Copyright c. 2003 Grand Forks Herald/Grand Forks, ND. --------- "RE: Inuit: Climate an issue of rights" --------- Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2003 08:33:19 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INUIT SUE US" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/~/INUIT11//?query=Inuit&disp=e&end Climate an issue of rights, Inuit say By CHRISTINE BOYD Thursday, December 11, 2003 - Page A7 The world's Inuit intend to launch a human-rights case against the United States, condemning its role in the global warming that they say threatens them with extinction. Inuit Circumpolar Conference, which represents the 155,000 people who live within the Arctic Circle, argues that Washington has violated their rights by refusing to sign the Kyoto accord and resisting attempts to lower the country's emissions of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide. It intends to invite the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to observe first-hand how the Inuit way of life is being destroyed as the Far North, particularly the sea ice the Inuit use to hunt key parts of their diets, melts away. "What is at stake here is the cultural survival of the Inuit as a people, " Sheila Watt-Cloutier, the group's chairwoman, warned a United Nations meeting on climate change in Milan yesterday. The conference was the first since Russia began flip-flopping over whether it would sign the 1997 accord. Under the protocol's rules, it must be ratified by industrialized countries accounting for at least 55 per cent of the world's greenhouse-gas emissions, as of 1990, before it becomes binding. So far, 120 countries accounting for 44 per cent of emissions have signed on, while the United States -- which produces 36 per cent -- loudly backed out two years ago, with President George W. Bush announcing he feared U.S. industry would be hurt if it met the treaty's reduction goals. Kyoto will die if Russia, which produces 17 per cent of global emissions, does not sign. Ms. Watt-Cloutier said her organization was not invoking the threat of the Washington-based commission, similar to the European court of human rights, in an "adversarial spirit." The commission has no enforcement powers if it rules against the U.S. government, but the Inuit hope the case will draw attention to their plight. Copyright c. 2003 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved --------- "RE: Nault casualty of Cabinet Changes" --------- Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2003 15:47:43 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NAULT OUT" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/default.html Nault casualty of cabinet changes By Mike Aiken For the Miner and News December 13, 2003 Andy Mitchell has been named the new Minister for Indian and Northern Affairs in Paul Martin's cabinet, replacing Kenora-Rainy River MP Bob Nault, while Denis Coderre will take on the responsibility for settling Indian Residential School claims, as well as Metis issues. In what amounts to a massive facelift, old cabinet stalwarts such as John Manley and Sheila Copps, both from Ontario, have been replaced by Anne McLellan and Ralph Goodale, who are from the West. Those who stayed, but shifted responsibilities are Lucienne Robillard, who moves from Treasury Board to Industry, Pierre Pettigrew, who shifts from intergovernmental affairs to health. Thunder Bay MP and Martin loyalist Joe Comuzzi gets his just reward, as he becomes the new head of FedNor (Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario). Jim Peterson of Toronto inherits the softwood lumber negotiations as minister for international trade, while cabinet newcomer Jim Efford of Newfoundland tackles Natural Resources. Nault, who was on the bubble for much of the transition period, seemed to get a bit of a boost when the date was moved up from February to mid- December. However, his ties to the old regime under Jean Chretien and his controversial push to reform the Indian Act seemed to have sealed his fate, as he was left off the list of the new cabinet. Rather than being amidst the trappings of Rideau Hall, Nault celebrated his 16th wedding anniversary at home with his wife and family. "I want to congratulate the new prime minister and his cabinet," he said in a press release Friday. "I am certain that they will approach their new tasks with professionalism and energy." Nault also repeated his intention to seek the nomination for the riding in the upcoming election. The list of parliamentary secretaries, who would gain new power as members of the powerful Privy Council, had not yet been released at press time, so it wasn't known if Nault was included on that list. Some former cabinet ministers, such as Manley and Copps, had also received offers of appointments. Again, there was no word of such an offer for the Kenora-Rainy River MP, as of early this morning. As some pundits had predicted, Martin kept some experienced hands to steady his new government. They include David Anderson, who remains in Environment, Bill Graham, who keeps Foreign Affairs, and Claudette Bradshaw, who stays with Labour. Reg Alcock takes over Treasury Board, while another Winnipeg MP, Rey Pagtakhan, retained his seat and cabinet by moving over to Western Economic Diversification. The Kenora-Rainy River MP, who has 15 years experience on the Hill, including the last four as Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, was not available for comment Friday. During that time, he came to national attention through his attempt to pass the controversial First Nations Governance Act, also known as Bill C- -7, as part of a trio of bills designed to overhaul the Indian Act. While heavily criticized by aboriginal leaders from coast-to-coast for his attempt to modernize a colonial-era document, Nault persisted on the grounds that bands needed to formalize fundamental tools before becoming self-sufficient. These included such things as written codes for election procedures, land-use planning and the creation of an ombudsman's office. The Kenora-Rainy River riding is one of the largest in Canada in terms of geography. It also has a large concentration of First Nations, containing a total of 51. In an effort to meet the promise made by former Prime Minister Jean Chretien in his last Throne Speech, which was to close the gap between aboriginal communities and the rest of Canada, Nault increased spending on economic development from $25 million to $125 million, which in turn resulted in more than $400 million in financing for aboriginal communities across the country. Governance, accountability and transparency have also been buzzwords of his four-year term. While the ill-fated governance act died on the order paper during the last parliamentary session, his department nevertheless started pilot projects in more than half of the First Nations, investing close to $5 million on such things as the development of election codes, financial management systems and means of redress. He also helped with the creation of the First Nations Government Institute in Vancouver, which will help blend modern tools of government with traditional ways. Before his promotion to cabinet, he served as parliamentary secretary for labour, as well as human resources development. He has also served on several committees, such as health, natural resources and a special committee on CN commercialization, a fitting appointment considering his previous post as president of the local railroad union. While in opposition during the Mulroney years, Nault served as associate critic for labour and aboriginal affairs, as well as energy, mines and resources. During that time he was also chairman of the Northern Ontario Liberal Caucus. "Five years in opposition did me a lot of good," he said. "I spent a great deal of time figuring out how Parliament works, because I always figured that it would make it easier to do my job. I'm not sure I would have been able to do that if I were in government and under pressure." After serving three terms on city council, he was approached to win back the riding for the Liberals, after their first defeat in 40 years. Nault had just married Lana Jardine a few months before hitting the campaign trail. The couple have two children, Daniel and Samantha. Originally born in Richer, Manitoba, the Nault family moved to Kenora when he was 10, including his nine brothers and sisters. After a career in junior hockey and stints at both the University of Winnipeg and the University of Alberta, he joined the railroad, eventually emerging as union president. Copyright c. 2003 Kenora Daily Miner and News. --------- "RE: B.C. Appeals Court overturns Financial Ruling" --------- Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2003 15:47:43 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.canoe.ca/~/CANOE-wire.Residential-Appeal.html B.C. Appeals Court overturns financial ruling on residential schools December 12, 2003 VANCOUVER (CP) - A 1998 landmark court ruling on native residential school abuse that meant churches could be liable for potentially millions of dollars in compensation to victims of abuse has been unanimously overturned by the B.C. Court of Appeal. The ruling by five Appeal Court justices makes the government 100-per- cent liable for compensation due to former students involved in seven cases in which the trial judge found "allegations of pedophilic sexual assault to have been established." The trial judge had concluded that Canada and the United Church were jointly liable, with Canada assuming 75 per cent of the liability and the church the rest. But in the appeal ruling released Thursday, Justice William Esson wrote there have been "significant developments" since the lower court's judgment, including a judgment by the Supreme Court of Canada. "It appears that the fact that the church is in the category of a non- profit charitable organization is one which weights in favour of not imposing vicarious liability upon it in circumstances where, as in this case, the injured party can make full recovery from Canada," Esson wrote. Keith Howard, a spokesman for the B.C. Conference of the United Church, said the church had no intention of abandoning its responsibilities even if it appeared to be off the hook financially. "What both B.C. and the national (church) are committed to is that irrespective of what is found on the financial part, to try and deal with the relationships and the hurt that we heard expressed during the trial," said Howard. He said the United Church wants to "continue to work at efforts towards reconciliation and try to make sure we respond to people's particular needs." Nicole Dauz, spokeswoman for a federal government department known as Indian Residential School Resolution Canada, said the government would comment later. "The government is still reviewing it. We're taking careful consideration to review the entire reasons before commenting on it." The decision dealt strictly with the United Church but it has implications for the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches which also ran residential schools where sexual and physical abuse took place. The Anglican church in British Columbia declined comment. "We await a formal comment from the national church's spokespeople. This is a national issue," Gordon Lee, chairman of the church's Honouring Our Commitment campaign, said in a prepared statement. He said Anglicans entered into a binding agreement with the federal government and promised to provide funds for residential school survivors through that agreement. The money is going to survivors and not to fund litigation or dispute resolution costs. The local campaign, said Lee, is to raise funds to help survivors of the residential schools system. "What the Anglican Church has done is the responsible and moral course," said Lee. "The decision to help survivors was taken as a moral, not a legal, obligation." Copyright c. 2003, CANOE, a division of Netgraphe Inc. --------- "RE: White Earth Nation signing new Police Agreement" --------- Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 08:24:13 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WHITE EARTH POLICE" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4261187.html Mahnomen, White Earth to sign policing agreement today Robert Franklin, Star Tribune December 11, 2003 Two years ago, Mahnomen County ended a cooperative law enforcement agreement with the White Earth Indian Reservation in northwestern Minnesota. Tribal police were spending too much time patrolling Hwy. 59 and not enough on community policing, the then-sheriff said. Today the county and the White Earth Band of Chippewa are to sign a new agreement that will change the way laws are enforced in the reservation- dominated county. And it will give tribal police primary responsibility for the county's most notorious trouble spot for crime and drugs. The pact also will end a bifurcated law enforcement system under which sheriff's deputies couldn't give traffic tickets to Indians and tribal police didn't have clear criminal arrest powers. The changes will enhance a movement by federal, state, local and tribal officials to fight gangs and drugs on northern Minnesota reservations, U.S. Attorney Thomas Heffelfinger said. Some of those drugs make their way to the Twin Cities area, and the agreement "is a real great step for the whole region," Heffelfinger said. He expects to attend a ceremony today in which county and tribal officials will sign the agreement at the Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen. So will Kenith Bergeron, a U.S. Justice Department conciliation specialist who mediated negotiations for the agreement. The White Earth Reservation sprawls across all of Mahnomen County and parts of Becker and Clearwater counties. Becker County has had an agreement with tribal police for years, but Clearwater dropped out along with Mahnomen in 2001. It will watch Mahnomen's progress under the new pact, Clearwater Sheriff Dennis Trandem said. Heffelfinger said the reservation is such a patchwork of ownership and jurisdiction that "in some places . . . you practically have to have a GPS system to figure out whether its Indian or non-Indian land. That's not a good way to practice police work." New cooperation Even before the agreement, there was enhanced cooperation among Mahnomen's law agencies. Brad Athman, who was elected sheriff last year, stationed a deputy to work with tribal police in Nay-Tah-Waush. With about 450 residents, it's the largest predominantly Indian village on the reservation and has accounted for as much as 85 percent of county crime, said Athman and White Earth Police Chief Bill Brunelle. Under today's agreement, White Earth police will have primary responsibility for law enforcement there, but the deputy will remain. "As a tribal entity, we could establish better rapport, better relationships, working together more effectively in the community with tribal members," Brunelle said. "People would feel at that point that they have a stake." The State Patrol will have primary responsibility for patrolling state highways, Athman said, and the changes will allow for more sheriff's patrolling of the county's eastern townships. It has taken about two years to get past old feelings and into a new agreement, which was canceled under Sheriff Richard Rooney, who has since retired. Athman explained: "Under the last agreement, no responsibility or ownership was given to White Earth police, and that caused a number of problems. They were here, they were there, they were everywhere and they were nowhere." Brunelle said his officers did concentrate on communities such as Nay- Tah-Waush, but because of alcohol-related crashes "we needed to clean up our highways as well. We had people getting killed on our highways at a higher rate than most of Minnesota." Mahnomen has 13 sworn sheriff's officers for the county. White Earth has 18 state-licensed officers for the entire reservation. The nine-page agreement spells out responsibilities for referring cases to state or tribal courts, cooperating in dispatching and records, and maintaining insurance. Still, there are concerns. Heffelfinger said he attended a meeting about six weeks ago in which residents raised questions about "who has jurisdiction to do what." Brunelle said he expects concerns about people being stopped, but he hopes to have the continued support of the sheriff and the County Board. "It's a new type of enforcement," he added. "It's up to us to continue to educate people." Robert Franklin is at rfranklin@startribune.com. Copyright c. 2003 Star Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Youth Gangs flourish on Indian Reservations" --------- Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2003 08:33:19 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YOUTH GANGS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N08206637.htm FEATURE-Youth gangs flourish on Indian reservations By Alan Elsner, National Correspondent December 11, 2003 WOUNDED KNEE, South Dakota, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Over the past 15 years, violent youth gangs have invaded Indian reservations, bringing terror, drugs and vandalism to societies that were already in deep distress. On the Pine Ridge Reservation of South Dakota, inhabited by 15,000-20, 000 members of the Lakota Sioux, police believe there may be 3,500 acknowledged gang members. "In the village of Pine Ridge alone, we have a dozen gangs -- Outlaws, Wild Boyz, Trey Trey, Nomads, Iggy Boyz, Aimster Gangsta, Wild Girls, Bad Ass Bitches, Southside Boyz, Northside Boyz and Gangsta Disciples," said John Mousseau, an officer with the Bureau of Indian Affairs tribal police who specializes in combating gang activity. "Every little community on the reservation has its gang or gangs. There's one little place -- Potato Creek. It only has 40 residents but it has a gang with 15 members," he said. The gangs deal in cocaine, marijuana and increasingly in methamphetamine. Some, like the Nomads, have a command structure with a ruling council and a set of laws. "Gang members are responsible for close to 70 percent of crimes on the reservation -- assaults, sexual assaults, intimidation, harassment, burglaries,