From gars@speakeasy.org Tue Jan 20 20:48:23 2004 Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 15:04:20 -0800 From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews12.004 _ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 12, ISSUE 004 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, WOTANGING IKCHE - Lakota - Common News Wotanging Ikche and Native American News Copyright c. 1996-2004 nanews.org Aboriginal/AmerIndian Perspective about the First Nations of Turtle Island January 24, 2004 Western Cherokee unolvtana/cold moon Blackfeet aisstoyiimsstaa/causes cold weather 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 speak a Native American language not listed above, please send us your words for "News of the People." We'd rather take up this whole page saving these few words of our hundreds of nations than present a nice clean banner in the language of the occupation forces who came here determined to replace our words with their own. 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; ndn-aim 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: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + ======================== "The difference between the white man and us is this: You believe in the redeeming powers of suffering, if this suffering was done by somebody else, far away, two thousand years ago. We believe that it is up to every one of us to help each other, even through the pain of our bodies. ...We do not lay this burden onto our God, nor do we want to miss being face to face with the Spirit Power. ...We want no angel or saint to gain it for us and give it to us second-hand." __ Tahca Ushte (John Fire Lame Deer), Minneconjou Lakota +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Indian Pledge of Allegiance | The Indian Pledge of Alleg- | | iance was first presented | I pledge allegiance to my Tribe,| on 2 December '93 during the | to the democratic principles | opening address of the Nat- | of the Republic | ional Congress of American | and to the individual freedoms | Indian Tribal-States Relat- | borrowed from the Iroquois and | ions Panel in Reno, NV. NCAI | Choctaw Confederacies, | plans distribution of the | as incorporated in the United | Indian Pledge to all Indian | States Constitution, | Nations. | so that my forefathers | | shall not have died in vain | Walk in Beauty! Night Owl +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Journey | In the summer and early fall | The Bloodline | of 1998 the Treaty Unity Riders | | rode a thousand miles on horse- | For all that live and live by law | back, carrying a staff and | We Stand, we Call, We Ride | praying each step of the way. | For All that fear and fear by sight | | We Hear, we Listen, we Ride | These prayers were offered for | For all that pray and pray by strength| each of us, and that the Unity | We Feel, we Move, we Ride | of all Peoples might happen. | For all that die and die by greed | | We Hurt, we Cry, we Ride | Tatanka Cante forwarded this | For all that birth and birth by right | poem on behalf of all the Unity | We Smile, we Hold, we Ride | Riders that we might stop and | For all that need and need by heart | ask if the next words we say, the | We Came, we Went, we Rode. | next act we make is for the good | | of the People or is it from ego | Treaty Unity Riders | for self. +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ O'siyo Brothers and Sisters! My half-side, Janet, has some well-chosen thoughts regarding the dominant society's penchant for picking and choosing when we are soverign nations. In the Lara case the absolute irrationality of the government's claim is beyond infuriating. Janet's Editorial: The article below about the Billy Jo Lara case illustrates the U.S. Government's penchant for whimsical acknowledgement of Native Nation sovereignty, but only when it meets a U.S. government purpose. The U.S. was not satisfied with the tribal punishment meted out to Billy Jo Lara and wants to pile on its own penalties. Seems that in this instance, they think the official Billy Jo was convicted of slugging in tribal court was working for the U.S. government as well as his own nation. Prosecuting Billy Jo is, according to the U.S. attorney on the case, not double jeopardy because the tribe and the U.S. are two sovereign governments. However, tribal sovereignty doesn't count for so much when a state wants to tax people on their own nation. It doesn't count for so much when they want to determine for how people on their own nation may make a living (or whether they should be directly paid for their resources) on their own land. Sovereignty doesn't mean so very much if the U.S. covets a mineral or other natural resource that happens to be on tribal national property. Sovereignty does count when the U.S. wants to take an Indian to court after his own government has already done so. Interesting values. This particular case defies all logic, though. If the tribe is a sovereign nation whose government is independent of the U.S., as the U.S. prosecutor argues, how is it possible that a tribal officer was by virtue of that position, in fact, also a U.S. government official? ---- begin article ---- ND Attorney to Argue Before Supreme Court AP - A Grand Forks attorney is preparing to argue a case before the U-S Supreme Court. Alex Reichert is representing Billy Jo Lara, who was arrested in 2001 for assaulting tribal police. Lara pleaded guilty in tribal court and went to jail. He was later charged by federal authorities, who said the tribal police officer he punched also was a federal officer. Reichert says a federal charge violates the Constitutional protection against double jeopardy -- or being charged twice for the same crime. Prosecutors have argued that the tribe and federal charges came from separate sovereign nations. Reichert is scheduled to argue the case on Wednesday before the U-S Supreme Court. The 33-year-old says he has prepared by observing arguments in other cases before the high court. Bismarck attorney Lawrence King has appeared before the court. He says it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity -- particularly for a lawyer from North Dakota. ---- end article ---- Janet Smith +/// owlstar@speakeasy.org P. O. Box 672168 /*/+ OwlStar Trading Post Marietta, GA 30008, U.S.A. + / * http://www.owlstar.com * + 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 ---------- - U.S. withdraws support - Alaskan Tribe for Indian Ag Loan Program sets Refuge Precedent - Black Mold invading Tribal Homes - Alaska Pipeline agreement - Norton and Aides - Mohawk Chief's Home in Quebec should be held in Contempt burned in Dispute - PIMENTEL: - Quebec AFN 'Squaw' unfit even in Casual Talk backs Mohawk Grand Chief Gabriel - Fort Yates Residents - Saskatchewan Natives warm to PM prepare for Water Outage - Shootings targeted - Nez Perce seek Red Lake Law Enforcement Fisheries Enforcement Funding - Miccosukee Water Pump Case - Nez Perce Tribe is suing tests Federal Law over Logging - Federal Judge dismisses Lawsuit - Darrington-area Tribe against OHA buys Land for its Future - BIA Agent says - Muddy Ridge Lands he's Victim of Retaliation ceded to Feds Century ago - Judge denies Janklow's request - Saving a place in History for Acquittal - Grant helps Tribes - S.D. Indians will watch with preserving Traditions Janklow's sentencing - Tribe presses Alameda - Hopeful Writ of Habeas on Klamath River Issue for Leonard Peltier - Native American Tribe - John Graham gets Bail sues for Pennsylvania Land - Native Prisoner - Casino-Hunting Tribes -- Women Native American inmates lay claims to Colorado offered spiritual healing - Gambling supporter - History: Carlisle Indian School says Towns clamoring - Rustywire: - Our Health improved...on Paper Eagles and Chicken Spirits - YELLOW BIRD: A Story of Triumph - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - YELLOW BIRD: - Poem: Leonard Peltier: Grandmother always will be with me Justice and the President - Subsistence Hunters lose in Court - New Eyre Film: Edge of America --------- "RE: U.S. withdraws support for Indian Ag Loan Program" --------- Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2004 08:11:45 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="AG LOANS WITHDRAWN" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.billingsgazette.com/~/2004/01/15/build/state/65-indianag.inc U.S. withdraws support for Indian ag loan program By MIKE STARK Of The Gazette Staff January 15, 2004 Federal support has been suspended for a Montana-based program that helps American Indians obtain agriculture loans in 28 states. In a letter last Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency told the National Tribal Development Association (NTDA) in Box Elder to stop working on behalf of a federal credit outreach program geared toward American Indians. FSA Administrator James Little said his agency "has become aware of serious questions" about how NTDA was using government money, according to the letter. The Agriculture Department's inspector general is reviewing records related to "financial irregularities" to determine if an official investigation should be launched, Little wrote. The FSA also has asked NTDA to return a $402,000 check issued Dec. 22. Neal Rosette, NTDA's chief operating officer, called the decision "very premature" and that his agency worked diligently to deal with allegations of financial improprieties, which he said involved one "bad apple." NTDA immediately notified FSA of that problem, agreed to have its operation audited and implemented more financial controls to make sure it doesn't happen again, Rosette said. The FSA shouldn't jump the gun by suspending funding for the credit program until a full investigation, if it's called for, is complete, he said. "Our program has opened the doors to a source of economic development that Indians have never really had access to," Rosette said. "It has been very successful and can continue to be very successful." Because of the letter from FSA last week, the NTDA immediately had to stop working on behalf of FSA. Many NTDA staff members continued to work this week - not representing FSA but tying up loose ends on work that had already begun - but Friday will be the last day of work for 18 employees in Montana and elsewhere, Rosette said. "It's a travesty," he said. FSA officials in Washington, D.C., said the situation may be resolved soon. They said the agency had been advised by its lawyers to suspend funding temporarily, and that a resolution of the problem was being sought. They declined to comment further. In 1997, Stone Child College on the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation proposed a pilot project to provide credit outreach, pre-loan information and loan application preparation services for ranchers, farmers and young people living on the seven Indian reservations in Montana. Later that year, the FSA agreed to fund the FSA Credit Outreach Pilot Project. The project soon showed that Indians who participated in pre-loan education and counseling appeared to be 50 percent less likely to default on an FSA loan than the national average, according to NTDA. As the program grew and discussions turned to expanding it to serve American Indians throughout the lower 48 states, college officials in 2001 passed it to NTDA, a Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation-based nonprofit group formed by 15 tribal leaders in 1995. The program has been expanded to include 28 states. Plans to include 20 more states have been put on hold because of budget restrictions. "It's been very, very effective," Rosette said. "We've always viewed it as an economic stimulus program for Indians." Since its inception, the program has helped "hundreds of American Indians" obtain "millions of dollars" in financial assistance, he said. But last summer, NTDA officials became aware that one of their employees, who no longer works there, may have used agency money for personal use. NTDA notified FSA as well as local and federal law enforcement officials. They also agreed to conduct an internal audit and tighten up financial procedures. "We did the responsible thing by exposing this and letting them know," Rosette said. On Oct. 24, FSA's Little sent a letter to the NTDA praising the credit outreach program's "considerable accomplishments" over the years but said he could not yet commit to NTDA's 2004 budget proposal because Congress had not acted on domestic spending. He said FSA would agree to fund NTDA at 2003 levels and reassess financial support once Congress moved on 2004 appropriations. As the year drew to a close, NTDA officials, who took out bank loans to cover operating costs, urged the FSA to sign an agreement to ensure funding for 2004. Instead, the federal government wrote a $402,000 check to NTDA for the year's first quarter. Rosette said the FSA soon asked NTDA not to cash the check right away because legal questions had arisen about whether administration of the credit program should be subject to competitive bidding, a point that NTDA officials say is not supported by federal law. Last week, John Sunchild, NTDA's chief executive officer, told his staff to deposit the check into the credit outreach account to cover the previous loan and money that had been expended for operating costs in January, Rosette said. A day later, Little sent his letter to NTDA, announcing that FSA was suspending its support for the credit program and wanted the $402,000 check returned. Little, in his letter, also stated that FSA had received reports of "financial irregularities" related to Rosette and a private operation he owns called BrotherZ and SisterZ Inc., and that NTDA funds had been paid to that consulting agency. Rosette denied the allegations and said those claims have not been fully investigated. FSA officials said the agency would be in contact with NTDA this week. Copyright c. 2004 The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Black Mold invading Tribal Homes" --------- Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2004 14:37:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BIA QUALITY FOUNDATIONS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=3564 Black mold invading tribal homes Estimated cost of $91 million to wipe out problem WASHINGTON DC Sam Lewin January 16, 2004 According to a recent study by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, black mold can be found in 15 percent of tribal homes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, black mold, also known as Stachybotrys Chartarum, can grow on material with a high cellulose and low nitrogen content, such as fiberboard, gypsum board, paper, dust, and lint. Growth occurs when there is moisture from water damage, excessive humidity, water leaks, condensation, water infiltration, or flooding. Officials say it would cost about $91 million to wipe out the problem nationally. "Indian County has waited a long time for some attention to be drawn to mold in our homes. This study documents the problem that many tribes have already experienced, tribes such as the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and Blackfeet. Although HUD allows funding for its lead paint program to be used for mold damage, more funding must be set aside, because the study clearly states that it may cost $25 thousand per unit to address the mold, " said Gary Gordon, Executive Director of the National American Indian Housing Council. Native Americans have the highest percentage of households without adequate plumbing, 12 percent, and kitchen facilities, 11 percent. But, "there is currently no data or reports to indicate whether tribal lands experience a higher incidence of mold problems than the rest of the nation, " Gordon said. "As tribal homes age, the more likely there is serious wear and tear. Housing components like furnaces and roots are not meant to last forever, meaning thousands of homes are long overdue for serious maintenance and repairs." NAIHC says they recommend that tribes work with federal agencies to resolve mold issues. Indian Health Services, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency are all listed as possible sources of help. Although there have been sporadic claims that black mold causes serious respiratory problems, and the issue has generated litigation, officials say there is insufficient evidence to confirm the extent of its health dangers, although prior research revealed mold could affect allergies and asthma. Native American Times is Copyright c. 2003 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: Norton and Aides should be held in Contempt" --------- Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2004 16:24:39 -0500 From: "Bill McAllister" Subj: NORTON, TOP AIDES AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT LAWYERS SHOULD BE HELD IN CONTEMPT, LAWYERS TELL JUDGE IN TRUST CASE WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 - Interior Secretary Gale Norton, her top aides and Justice Department lawyers should be held in contempt of court for deliberately misleading a federal judge about her department's failure to protect Indian Trust records from computer hackers, the lawyers for a class of more than 500,000 American Indians said today. In a motion filed in U.S. District Court, the lawyers urged Judge Royce Lamberth to again hold the secretary, her aides and legal counsel in contempt, citing a series of recent government reports that refute Norton's claims that she has protected electronic trust records. Lamberth previously held Norton and former assistant secretary Neal McCaleb in civil contempt for perpetrating fraud on the Court and other litigation misconduct. However, a federal appeals court reversed the civil contempt judgment against Norton and McCaleb, holding that the established findings did not rise to the level of criminal contempt. Lamberth also has referred Associate Attorney General Robert McCallum and other Justice Department lawyers to the Disciplinary Panel of the U.S. District Court for an examination of their conduct in the trust litigation, which is now in its eighth year. As of now, no action has been taken against the lawyers by the Disciplinary Panel of the U.S. District Court. In the new filing, lawyers in the class-action lawsuit over the government's breach of trust in its management of trust assets informed Lamberth that newly disclosed evidence compels the imposition of civil and criminal contempt sanctions against Norton and others. 20 Justice Department lawyers cited in the pleading include Associate Attorney General Robert McCallum, Jr., Assistant Attorney General Peter Kiesler, and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart Schiffer. Among the Interior officials named are Deputy Secretary Steven Griles and Deputy Associate Secretary James Cason.20 "Simply put, Norton and her senior managers and counsel knowingly and willfully have violated this Court's orders and knowingly and willfully covered-up debilitating weaknesses in IT [Information Technology] Systems that they reconnected -- or left connected -- to the Internet," the motion says. At the same time that Norton was filing reports with the district court saying that she made major improvements to the department's notoriously bad computer systems, other, previously concealed government reports -- including confidential reports from the GAO and the Interior Inspector General -- confirmed that the department's security was a failure. Computer security has been a major issued in this litigation for several years. With the Judge's approval, a computer security expert was able to hack his way into the trust management systems undetected and open a bogus trust account. Lamberth first ordered Norton to disconnect all insecure IT Systems from the Internet on December 5, 2001, but Norton has refused to do so. Elouise Cobell, lead plaintiff in this case, lamented Norton's callous disregard for her trust duties and the disrespect Norton and her counsel have shown for the authority of a United States District Court judge. Cobell again called for the appointment of a receiver to protect more than 11 million acres of Individual Indian Trust land and billions of dollars of revenue generated by those lands. "How much more harm must we be forced to endure from an unfit trustee who routinely breaches her trust duties and violates court orders with impunity? Why are the courts afraid to hold high government officials accountable for their repugnant behavior," Cobell asked. "All we ask for is justice." For Additional Information: (Media Calls Only) Bill McAllister 703-385-6996 or 202-257-5385 --------- "RE: PIMENTEL: 'Squaw' unfit even in Casual Talk" --------- Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 08:24:23 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SPITEFUL REPUBLICAN GESTURE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.azcentral.com/news/opinions/columns/articles/0115pimentel15.html 'Squaw' isn't fit for use even in casual talk O. Ricardo Pimentel Republic columnist January 15, 2004 The continuing argument over Piestewa Peak can be settled with just one question. Is "squaw" a racial slur? Forget the history lessons about the word's origins. Here's the test for those who are surreptitiously making a pitch to get the peak renaming reversed by again attacking the process. If they were making a speech to (and I'm making this group up) the Native Americans of Arizona Association, would they say, "Thank you for inviting me to speak today. Squaws and gentlemen, let us now discuss the weighty topic of. . . . " Of course they wouldn't. It's a slur. You know it. I know it. They know it but will never admit it. So if the word isn't fit to be in a speech or in casual conversation, why is it OK to grace a public landmark? And if it's a slur, why wouldn't we want it changed, like, yesterday? The major public complaint about the name change was that Gov. Janet Napolitano unduly influenced a state panel to make the change shortly after Piestewa's death. Such a change for geographical places would normally take about five years. Piestewa, of Tuba City, killed in Iraq, was reportedly the first Native American woman to die in combat for the United States. But it's all about the principle of adhering to process, the folks who have objected to the name change have said. And if you believe that, I've got jackalopes grazing in the back yard. There are two things at work here. One has to do with the past and the other the future. There may well be folks out there, disdainful of so-called present-day political correctness, who want the peak renamed simply to retain historical purity. That's what our forebears named it. It's what everyone has called it ever since. Folks have grown fond of it. End of discussion. But the reluctance to countenance the change probably also has something to do with the desire to not sully our forebears. You see, if we buy the notion that squaw is a slur, it was probably a slur when the peak was first named. And that would make Arizona's pioneers racist. OK, maybe it wasn't a slur to the ears of those who named the peak, but how about to the folks who originally owned the land on which it sits? I doubt if anyone discussed it with them. Let's say you want to convince me that even Native Americans themselves used the phrase back then. Well, you'd have to convince me that Pimas and Apaches, for instance, used what some sources say probably started as an Algonquin word. Not likely, which means that, if Native Americans hereabouts used the word at all, it was given to them by their conquerors. Consider the source. The word's historical antecedents are irrelevant in any case. In virtually any context today, it is offensive. The second real reason for wanting to restore the name has to do with the future, one in which Republicans see the governorship restored to their party. I know, let's characterize the governor as a bully with no regard for due process. (And, psst, by the way, she just loves political correctness.) Napolitano acknowledges that the way she got the name changed was flawed but that the outcome was the correct one. The flaw has to do with the pressure one of her aides exerted to get it done. He was reprimanded. Resurrecting the controversy is simply about keeping it alive. It will be interesting to see what sort of renaming frenzy occurs when former President Reagan, suffering from Alzheimer's, regrettably passes. There will be little patience for waiting five years if a geographical place seems suitable. Look to have building names changed much sooner, and there'd be nothing wrong with this. But, there will be strict adherence to the process, anti-renaming folks insist. They cite the scuttling of city of Phoenix efforts to rename Sky Harbor International Airport after Barry Goldwater in 1998, a few months after his death. Sorry. It's apples and oranges. The uproar, a reading of the record indicates, wasn't so much a matter of people upset about the process as just plain fondness for the name Sky Harbor. So then the question is whether fondness for what is a patently racial slur is appropriate reason to keep it on public places. A perverse part of me hopes for success for the 38 GOP legislators who have signed on to the bill. They would replace the panel that renamed the peak to one mostly appointed by legislators. Its key sponsor is Rep. Phil Hanson. If, as they really hope, it becomes Squaw Peak again, I want to see how folks run on a campaign that touts restoring a racial slur. It's clear. They would much prefer the process that retained the slur than the one that rejected it. Reach Pimentel at ricardo.pimentel@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8210. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Copyright c. 2004 The Arizona Republic. --------- "RE: Fort Yates Residents prepare for Water Outage" --------- Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2004 12:44:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TRIBAL WATER (NON)SUPPLY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2004/01/18/news/local/nws02.txt Fort Yates residents prepare in case faucets go dry again By MIKE ALBRECHT, Bismarck Tribune January 18, 2004 FORT YATES - Shelby Zahn was a month away from delivering her son when faucets ran dry here in late November. Rather than go without showers and haul water to operate toilets, Zahn squeezed into her car and made an uncomfortable trip to Solen where well water still flowed. She spent more than a week at her grandma's house there. The water supply ran dry here along with Cannon Ball and Porcupine when silt and sludge plugged up the intake pipe that provides the communities with water. Low water levels on Lake Oahe was the ultimate cause of the four-day drought followed by five days without potable water. From a crowded waiting room at the Fort Yates clinic Tuesday, Zahn said she doesn't worry that she and the more than 5,000 people in and around the town will run out of water again. But as she pulled a corner of a knit blanket over the face of her newborn, she admitted that she has five or six gallons of water set aside "just in case" -- enough to tide them over until they can make the trip back to her grandma's house. Zahn was one of several residents here who are prepared for the worst. Isabelle and Elmer Laundreaux have 25 gallons set aside and Cedric Good House said he's telling folks to fill up extra water jugs. "I'm worried in the sense that litigation has nothing to do with the human element, just recreation and economics," Good House said. "I think the tribal government has to be more aggressive to assure this doesn't happen again." Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Charles Murphy says the concerns are justified. "We're not out of the woods yet," he said. "We're just doing the Band- Aid effect to take care of the problem right now." It's a big Band-Aid. The banks of a low Lake Oahe are a crisscross of newly constructed roadways and pipelines. Duane Krogstad with the federal Bureau of Reclamation said the "long- term, temporary solution" is a 12-inch, plastic pipe buried 7 feet under ground. The pipeline is currently fed by an electric submersible pump, housed in an insulated wood shack at the edge of the river. The pump situation is expected to change sometime this week. Plans are to drive a 1,200-square-foot box made of metal sheet pile into the bank of the river to house two submersible pumps. An inlet will then be dug to allow water to flow through. As backup, two diesel pumps and three pipelines -- two above ground and one below ground -- were installed upriver. The original pipeline was abandoned but not forgotten. Krogstad said if water levels rise as predicted, they'll be able to send divers down this summer to deal with the plugged intake. "With the high velocity of the water, it's not safe for divers to work in the river right now," he said. Another permanent is a berm extending to the edge of the river. The trail of dirt standing about 6 feet above the lake bed is being riprapped to withstand a rise in the water level. Plans are to use it to maintain the pumps. Murphy praised the efforts of the Bureau of Reclamation, the Garrison Diversion Conservatory District and the Standing Rock Municipal, Rural and Industrial System, to return water to the reservation, but he said he won't feel comfortable until Lake Oahe water levels rise. Jodi Farhat with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said they anticipate Lake Oahe levels will increase this summer, but they don't have any up-to- date predictions as to how much. What was once a lake outside of Fort Yates is now a narrow river channel. "We expect Lake Oahe to come up, but I don't know if that will put them (Fort Yates) in lake conditions," Farhat said. While tribal officials worry about keeping the water on, school and health officials are still trying to recover from the week without. Schools, clinics, tribal offices and the hospital had to close during the water outage. Standing Rock Indian Health Services had to move inpatients to Bismarck hospitals, bus dialysis patients to Medcenter One and defer emergency room services to hospitals in Bismarck and McLaughlin, S.D., said Dr. Jackie Quisno, clinical director. The pharmacy in Fort Yates remained open, operating without water. "The hospitals were great in stepping up and helping us," Quisno said. Plans are to call on the nearby hospitals again if there is a reoccurrence. The hospital also is looking into building its own well. "There's a lot of people thinking it's going to happen again this winter, ," Quisno said. "Now that we've gone through it, there are some ties in place. So hopefully it won't be as tough." Tim Krahler, assistant superintendent of schools, said the water outage forced them to cancel school for six days. They will have to find a way to make up those days unless the state Department of Public Instruction says otherwise. "It caused a disruption in our school calendar," Krahler said. "Any time there's a long extended disruption, it takes a while to get the children back in their routine." State law requires 173 school days per year. There are two extra days figured into the Fort Yates school calendar in case of winter storms. Even if weather conditions remain mild, that still leaves four days to make up. Krahler said they may have to forgo some holidays or extend the school year into June. "A lot of circumstances are completely out of our control," Krahler said. "We have to be flexible as a school and have to adapt. If we have to extend our school schedule, that's what we'll do." Long-term plans for the water system are to try to get about $30 million in federal funds appropriated. They'll use the money for a new water treatment plant, storage tanks, intake pumps and a pipeline. Murphy estimates the project could take more than two years to complete. "We have to start all over," he said. (Reach reporter Mike Albrecht at 250-8261 or cops@ndonline.com.) Copyright c. 2004 The Bismark Tribune. --------- "RE: Nez Perce seek Fisheries Enforcement Funding" --------- Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 08:54:46 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NEZ PERCE FISHERIES ENFORCEMENT" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.idahostatesman.com/Story.asp?ID=58833 Tribe seeks fisheries enforcement funding January 19, 2004 LEWISTON - The Nez Perce Tribe's Fisheries Enforcement Department may run out of money if Congress or the Bonneville Power Administration doesn't step in and financially help the program. Financial problems and changes in funding priorities at the BPA prompted the agency to drop support for the program this year. The agency also dropped support for the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission's enforcement program. Now, tribal officials are attempting to find money for tribal conservation officers through Congress. However, it could be up to two years before the money shows up, said David Johnson, director of the tribe's fisheries program at Lapwai. The tribe requested $511,000 to fund the program, which employs 10 to 11 full-time officers. Johnson said he fears the officers, who are federally trained, will be laid off when money runs out in February, and many will seek other jobs. When funding is secured in the future, he said the tribe will have to start the program from scratch. U.S. Sens. Larry Craig and Mike Crapo wrote a letter to the Council of Environmental Quality at the White House last week asking the president to request funds for the program in the 2005 budget. The senators also urged the Bush administration to find interim funding for 2004 to prevent the "loss of the multiyear training investment for each laid-off officer." Johnson said the tribe would ask the Northwest Power and Conservation Council Tuesday to provide interim funding. The BPA markets power generated by federal dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers, and is obligated by law to mitigate for the negative effects that dams have on fish and wildlife. Each year the agency pays for habitat restoration, fish hatcheries and other programs. The agency's 2004 budget includes $139 million for regional protects. But the agency is in the midst of a budget crisis of its own and has had to reduce fish and wildlife expenditures. Judi Danielson, chairwoman for the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, said the tribe will have to find funding for its conservation officers on its own. She met with tribal officials Thursday at Lapwai and said the council is unable to do anything to help because there's no allotted money in the budget. She said the council believes tribal conservation officers should be funded through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Copyright c. 2004 The Idaho Statesman, Boise, ID. --------- "RE: Nez Perce Tribe is suing over Logging" --------- Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 08:54:46 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FORESTRY SUIT" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.idahostatesman.com/Story.asp?ID=58842 Tribe is suing over logging, planning January 19, 2004 LEWISTON - The Nez Perce Tribe is suing the Clearwater National Forest over its North Lochsa Face timber sale and restoration project. The tribe also is suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service for their analysis of the planned work, which the agencies said would not harm threatened fish. Tribal officials said they believe the work would harm bull trout and wild steelhead, both of which are on the endangered species list. "When the federal government promised we could recover fish without breaching dams, it was based on the promise that upstream habitat would be protected and restored. This project flies in the face of that project," said Anthony Johnson, Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee chairman. The North Lochsa Face project calls for 42 million board feet of timber to be harvested, 12,500 acres to be treated with prescribed fire, 600 acres of streamside plantings and 66 miles of old logging roads to be obliterated. The work, considered a restoration project by the Forest Service, would occur on the north side of the Lochsa River between Pete King Creek and Fish Creek. The tribe and the environmental groups Friends of the Clearwater, Idaho Conservation League and the Wilderness Society asked officials from the northern regional office of the Forest Service at Missoula, Mont., to stop the project last year, but the request was denied. Some of the environmental groups said in October they would sue over the timber sale, but have not yet gone to court. Larry Dawson, Clearwater supervisor at Orofino, declined comment. Rick Eichsteadt, a lawyer for the tribe at Lapwai, said the Forest Service should have considered a plan for the area that did not include logging. He said the tribe wants the Forest Service and the fisheries agencies to re-analyze the project. Copyright c. 2004 The Idaho Statesman, Boise, ID. --------- "RE: Darrington-area Tribe buys Land for its Future" --------- Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2004 12:44:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SAUK-SUIATTLE LAND BUY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://heraldnet.com/Stories/04/1/18/18045671.cfm Darrington-area tribe buys land for its future The Sauk-Suiattle Tribe says a casino is unlikely, but it is considering development. By Scott Morris Herald Writer January 18, 2004 DARRINGTON - The Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe has been buying land near this isolated mountain town, fueling concern among residents who wonder what the tribe has planned. The tribe owns 5 acres off Highway 530 just west of town, where it recently built a new police station. The station is marked only by a sign at the gravel driveway leading to the station, which is out of view from the highway. No more than a mile away, the tribe also bought two larger parcels of land on either side of the highway just east of the bluegrass festival site and rodeo grounds. Tribal Chairman Jason Joseph would not say how big the two most recent purchases are, but acknowledged that one parcel includes a portion of a tree farm near or inside Darrington's urban growth area across the highway from the police station. Mayor Joyce Jones said she was told the two parcels near the bluegrass grounds are 17 acres each, and she has heard rumors of even bigger deals nearby. Jones and her predecessor, Leila Dempsey, attended a recent tribal council meeting to learn more about the purchases. "We wanted to see what effect their land would have, since it's neighboring Darrington," Jones said. Joseph said it's too early to tell. "We haven't really identified any plans for the recent purchases," he said. The tribe's priorities are economic development and housing, not necessarily in that order, he said. Unlike the Stillaguamish Tribe in Arlington, Joseph said the Sauk- -Suiattle do not plan to build a casino on the land, which he said is too isolated to make such a business profitable. "I can't say no, but then if it is something we were considering, it'd be the last thing on the list," Joseph said. "We'd rather do other things. It's getting to the point of a dying market with casinos." Some of the tribe's purchases are near where NASCAR racetrack officials expressed interest in looking at land in 2003, but Joseph said the timing was an unfortunate coincidence that only fueled gossip. His tribe has never had an interest in a racetrack, he said. The racing representatives canceled a visit to Darrington last summer, and Snohomish County officials who are still pursuing the track have directed their focus on the Marysville and Monroe areas. Joseph said much of the land recently purchased is nondevelopable anyway. "It's got power lines and wetlands. It'll probably stay in its natural habitat," he said. The 200-member tribe, which has a 20-home village several miles north of Darrington in Skagit County, currently lists a total land base of about 200 acres. That includes 50 acres acquired in the past few years around Caskey Lake in Skagit County, the 25-acre village at Bennettville and the 5 acres at the police station, Joseph said. A search on the Snohomish County Web site so far shows only the two 17- acre parcels and the 5-acre police station property. Joseph said the tribe's plans are vague right now because council members have to decide whether to first build more housing or pursue economic development. Once the tribe begins focusing on economic development, Joseph said it might consider developing recreational opportunities on its land. "We'll probably design it like a parklike setting for RVs or trails, tying in with the Centennial Trail for hiking and biking," he said. That sounds good to Richard Anderson, owner of Sauk River Trading Post, an outdoors store that sells hunting, fishing, camping and hiking equipment. He is worried about what the enormous flood damage from last October on Forest Service lands is going to mean for his business. "So many campgrounds and roads have been destroyed and washed out, so anything to do with recreation will help us," he said. Anderson worked with the tribe after it bought the land at Caskey Lake and was encouraged by tribal plans to build a fishing lodge at the lake, which he thought would complement his business. On the other hand, he and other business owners don't want to see the tribe go into competition with them. "I don't really want to see competitive businesses, because there's not enough business to support us as it is," Anderson said. Laurence Larsen, owner of Darrington Hardware and Supply, said he was concerned that the tribe might gain federal trust status for its land, giving it a competitive advantage on how sales taxes are collected. "My concern as a business person would be that the tribe has the same footing taxwise as the rest of us," Larsen said. "I'm not jumping to conclusions about what they have planned. It may be positive. It's hard to say what their intent is." Jones said tribal leaders will keep town leaders informed as their plans develop. The tribe reciprocated Jones' visit to the tribal council by sending a representative to Wednesday's Town Council meeting. The mayor said she was impressed at the tribe's meeting by the variety of professionals they had helping them. She said the plans did appear to be very preliminary. The relationship between the town and the tribe has not always been a good one, Anderson said. "The key thing is, I hope the town and the Indians work together," he said. "Sometimes it seems to be going that way. Then they seem to work away from each other." Reporter Scott Morris: 425-339-3292 or smorris@heraldnet.com. Copyright c. 2003 The Daily Herald Co., Everett, Wash. --------- "RE: Muddy Ridge Lands ceded to Feds Century ago" --------- Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2004 14:37:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SHOSHONE/ARAPAHO LANDS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.casperstartribune.net/~/f628b6c1245e9b1087256e1e0008acf3.txt Muddy Ridge lands ceded to feds century ago By JEFF GEARINO Southwest Wyoming bureau Saturday January 17, 2004 GREEN RIVER - The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes are requesting that about 56,000 acres of excess federal lands within their Wind River Reservation be transferred back to the tribes as required by the federal excess property laws. The area, known as Muddy Ridge, has a long history. In 1903, the tribes ceded approximately 112,000 acres within the Muddy Ridge area of the reservation, at a price of about $1.50 per acre, according to interviews with tribal officials and federal documents. The land is located about 10 miles north of Riverton along Muddy Ridge and includes Muddy Creek and Five Mile Creek. In 1918, the Bureau of Reclamation (BuRec) withdrew much of the land for irrigation purposes. The government began a three-phase irrigation project that included the construction of irrigation canals within what is called the Riverton Unit in the Midvale area. In the 1960s, farmers in the Midvale area began grazing on the acreage and established the Midvale Grazing Association. The association has about 30 members that currently graze on the acreage. In 1975, Congress enacted a law that states that excess federal land within a reservation shall be transferred in trust for the tribe. The act is not discretionary and was enacted to enhance economic benefits to the tribes. In 1976, as part of the new Federal Land Policy Management ACT (FLPMA) requirements, the BuRec began a review of withdrawn lands, including the acreage within Muddy Ridge, to determine the land's use and status. In 1990, the BuRec completed the review of the withdrawn lands in the Riverton Unit and identified approximately 56,296 acres of land surplus to the agency's needs within the unit. The agency determined the acreage no longer meets the purposes for which they were withdrawn, irrigation, and are being used instead for grazing purposes. The BuRec, in accordance with the FLPMA, then submits a report reviewing the withdrawn lands to the Bureau of Land Management to implement the relinquishment of the lands no longer required by BuRec. In October 1993, the BuRec's Commissioner of Reclamation Dan Beard sent a memorandum to the director of the BLM recommending the excess lands within the Riverton Unit be returned to public domain, and in conjunction with the termination, the lands be transferred to the tribes. BuRec, BLM, tribal representatives and the Bureau of Indian Affairs began meeting in 2000 to discuss options for returning the lands to the tribes. The lands are also addressed in ongoing discussions on the Wind River Water Rights Implementation program between the Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes, the state of Wyoming and the Department of the Interior. In the meantime, the BuRec continues to administer the lands until the lands are transferred from their jurisdiction. Copyright c. 2004 Casper Star-Tribune published by Lee Publications, Inc. --------- "RE: Saving a place in History" --------- Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2004 08:11:45 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="POINT ELLIOTT TREATY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.heraldnet.com/Stories/04/1/15/18039114.cfm Saving a place in history Mukilteo woman helps keep memory of treaty alive By Lukas Velush Herald Writer January 15, 2004 MUKILTEO - No one may ever know exactly where the Point Elliott Treaty was signed, but the document that played such a key role in the history of the north Puget Sound region will never be forgotten, if Mukilteo resident Pat Kessler has her way. Accounts are mixed as to where, on Jan. 22, 1855, Territorial Gov. Issac Stevens, Chief Sealth (also known as Chief Seattle) of the Dwamish and Suquamish tribes, and other area tribal leaders signed the treaty that guaranteed tribes in northern Puget Sound perpetual fishing rights, among other things. For its part, the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1931 decided that the treaty had been signed in Old Town Mukilteo. So, with 3,000 people on hand, including the governor and tribal leaders of the era, the Marcus Whitman Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution on May 2, 1931, dedicated a monument honoring the treaty at what is now the Rosehill Community Center. But even then, two historians of the day couldn't agree if the treaty had been signed at the DAR monument location in Mukilteo, or near the mouth of the Snohomish River, which would put the signing in Everett. "I don't think we'll ever know where the treaty was signed," said Kessler, a history buff who has spent the last six months studying the treaty and its place in the region's history. The location of the 1931 monument isn't in doubt, however. To honor the treaty, Kessler hopes to memorialize the monument - a bronze marker set in a slab of granite - and the activities that took place on that spring day in 1931 by asking the National Park Service to list it on the National Register of Historic Places. To that end, she has petitioned the Governor's Advisory Council to first put it on the Washington Heritage Register, and then to forward the application to National Park Service. Her application goes before the advisory council at 9 a.m. Jan. 23 at the council's meeting in Richland. If the council says yes, the proposal will be sent to the National Park Service, where a decision could be made within 45 days. A yes vote in Richland also means the monument would be placed on the state register. "I think it's a great possibility," said Michael Houser, the state's architectural historian. "This (monument) was the first recognition of the actual treaty signing." Houser encouraged Kessler to submit the proposal. "Pat did an excellent job," he said. "Her research was very thorough." The treaty and others like it - Stevens signed 10 with tribes in the Northwest - guaranteed tribes the right to half the salmon and shellfish in the Puget Sound area, said Sasha Harmon, an associate professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Washington. "The treaties gave the tribes a very real property right," Harmon said, adding that the treaties have withstood legal challenges over the years. Still, tribes gave up their right to all but a few small pieces of land, which were converted into reservations. Also over the years, tribes have sued, charging that medical and education benefits promised in the treaty were never provided. More recently, tribes have used the promised rights to assert their sovereignty, which has allowed them to build full casinos on their lands. State Rep. John McCoy, D-Tulalip, declined to weigh in on whether the treaties were good or bad for the tribes, but the Tulalip Tribes member did say the treaties, especially the one signed in Mukilteo, are worth honoring. "Yes, that location and that monument should be well marked," McCoy said. The treaties established how the tribes operate and are part of their cultural history, he said. "I have no objections to listing it on the National Register of Historic Places." Kessler said she had no idea that the history behind the treaty would be so rich. "If felt like, oh my God, I never expected anything like this," she said. "It doesn't stop. It keeps going and going." Kessler ended up putting together a book filled with copies of the old documents she found, including a copy of the treaty and an essay she wrote about what she had found. She was able to print only a handful of the books, which she said she would make available at some local libraries. With the treaty set to turn 150 years old in 2005, Kessler and others are talking about having a ceremony to honor it then. Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@heraldnet.com. Copyright c. 2003 The Daily Herald Co., Everett, Wash. --------- "RE: Grant helps Tribes with preserving Traditions" --------- Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2004 14:37:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="$1.2M PRESERVATION GRANT" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.billingsgazette.com/~/build/local/30-grant.inc $1.2M grant helps tribes with preserving traditions By MARY PICKETT Of The Gazette Staff January 17, 2004 With the help of a new $1.2 million grant, a history project is "reawakening the memory of the Northern Cheyenne," a member of the tribe said Friday. The American Indian Tribal Histories Project at the Western Heritage Center will help preserve threatened culture and traditions of several Montana tribes. Instead of disappearing, that knowledge now can be passed on to future generations, said Rubie Sootkis, a field director for the project. The project is rescuing traditional and contemporary tribal history by transferring it into books, educational DVDs and museum exhibits. The project was recently awarded the $1.2 million by the U.S. Department of Interior to fund its second year. Last year, the project received $1 million to start work on Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations. The new grant will help the project expand to the Fort Belknap Reservation home to Gros Ventre and Assiniboine-Sioux tribes, said Francine Bear Dont Walk, director of the program. During its first months, the project hired two field directors, Sooktis, a writer and filmmaker who has spent years documenting Northern Cheyenne culture, and Mardell Plainfeather, a Crow historian who has worked for the National Park Service and Little Bighorn College at Crow Agency. Six students from Montana State University-Billings, Rocky Mountain College, Little Bighorn College and Chief Dull Knife College have been hired as interns. The students are being trained in interview and research techniques and in how to use audio and video equipment. Interviews with current tribal members, "the meat of the project," will begin in February, Bear Dont Walk said. The tribal members interviewed will be those who are knowledgeable in many areas including lullabies, classic stories, art, music and traditional skills such as tanning hides. The information will be used to create a DVD for each tribe that can be used in schools both on and off reservations. The DVD, which may be available as soon as November, will be an encyclopedia of primary sources of Indian traditions. If a teacher wants students to learn about a sun dance, for example, students can listen to a tribal expert talk about the ceremony. Because each tribe's culture is continuing to evolve, information about 21st century music, athletics and rodeo will be included. Interviews and music recorded in the past that Sooktis and Plainfeather have tracked down also may be incorporated into each DVD. Exhibits of each tribe's unique history and culture will be presented at the Western Heritage Center in February 2005. A book on contemporary members of each tribe is expected to be published in November 2005. The book will be a snapshot of "who we are today," said Bear Dont Walk. The tribal history project has been a dream come true for Bear Dont Walk. Less and less cultural information is being passed down to younger generations each year. Bear Dont Walk, who is in her 30s, doesn't speak Northern Cheyenne and knows of few young people who speak it fluently. Even the Crow language, considered one of healthiest among all tribes in the United States, is in danger of disappearing, Plainfeather said. Many parents now work and don't have time to talk about traditions with their children, Sooktis said. Extended, multigenerational families, once the norm in Indian country, are beginning to disappear. Not only is the project helping American Indians learn more about their own tribes, but about other tribes as well. Even though Crow and Northern Cheyenne tribes have lived side by side on neighboring reservations, Sooktis is learning new things about Crow history and culture. Jona Charette, a Northern Cheyenne who is the administrative officer for the project, said it has special meaning for her family. Charette's 7-year-old daughter, Savannah, is half Crow and will be able to learn of about both sides of her family with the project's help. Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Tribe presses Alameda on Klamath River Issue" --------- Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2004 08:11:45 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="KLAMATH" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.timesstar.com/Stories/0,1413,125~1486~1892675,00.html Tribe presses Alameda on river issue Island would have to switch from hydropower to fossil fuels to help Indians restore river By Kristin Bender, STAFF WRITER January 15, 2004 ALAMEDA - Environmentalists and Native Americans from the Hoopa Valley Tribe are gearing up to pressure Alameda city leaders to withdraw support from an ongoing lawsuit blocking restoration of the Trinity River. The river, which arises in the Trinity Alps in Northern California, flows through the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation and continues into the Klamath River, has been diverted for decades to service a burgeoning population in the state's parched but heavily irrigated Central Valley. The Central Valley Project, completed many decades ago, diverts upwards of 90 percent of the river through a tunnel into the Sacramento River. Native Americans living on reservations have long called for a return of the Trinity's waters. "For at least 10,000 years, Native Americans along the rivers have depended on healthy rivers and sustainable salmon populations as part of their culture and economy," said Spreck Rosekrans, a senior analyst with Environmental Defense in a letter to the Alameda City Council and Island residents. Diversions were later reduced, but fisheries have not recovered and populations of both chinook and coho salmon are at a small fraction of their levels before the diversion, said Rosekrans. Alameda Power & Telecom is part of the Northern California Power Agency (NCPA), a consortium of 14 public agencies that get hydropower from the river. Under the restoration plan, the Alameda utility will keep access to 90 percent of the federal hydropower it now receives, said utility general manager Junona Jonas. Still, the decrease will have to be replaced, at least for the short term, with fossil fuel-fired generation, costing the utility $186,000 more annually, Jonas said. "If we give up our Trinity allocation, we do have to replace it and in the short run it will be with fossil fire," Jonas said. "We want the City Council and public utilities board to understand both sides of the issue. It's a hard deci- sion. Do I want to replace Trinity generation with fossil (fuel)-fired generation? It's good for the Trinity River people, but bad for the folks who are concerned about greenhouse gases." Environmentalists will make their appeal to city officials at 7 p.m. Jan. 27 during a special meeting of the City Council and the Public Utilities Board at City Hall. The groups are asking Alameda to follow the lead of the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District, the city of Palo Alto, and the Port of Oakland by withdrawing support from the lawsuit and supporting restoration. A NCPA representative will attend the Jan. 27 meeting in Alameda, said power agency spokesman John Fistolera. "We hate to have to reduce (green power), but if it has to be done for the environment then the public utilities board will have to balance that," said Alameda's utility board President Karin Lucas. Environmentalists are also urging other cities and public agencies, including Roseville, to pull support for the suits. "It's an education process," said Tod Bedrosian, a spokesman for the Hoopa Valley Tribe. "We have found that once you (give) the facts to people and let them know what is going on, they say they don't want to ruin the river." NCPA, along with the Westlands Water District in the southern San Joaquin Valley, filed lawsuits opposing the joint federal-Tribal Trinity River restoration plan that was signed by former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt more than three years ago. Wire services and Staff Writer Douglas Fischer contributed to this report. Copyright c. 1999-2003 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers. --------- "RE: Native American Tribe sues for Pennsylvania Land" --------- Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 08:24:23 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DELEWARE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.enn.com/news/2004-01-16/s_12149.asp Native American tribe sues for Pennsylvania land By Jon Hurdle, Reuters January 16, 2004 PHILADELPHIA - A native American tribe from Oklahoma filed suit Thursday claiming the right to ancestral land in Pennsylvania in an effort to establish a casino in the state. The Delaware Nation from Anadarko, Okla., filed the lawsuit in U.S. district court here, seeking court recognition that it is the rightful owner of 315 acres in Forks Township, near Easton, Pa., currently occupied by private houses and a factory. The land was given to Chief Moses Tundy Tetamy, an ancestor of the tribe, in 1738 by a son of Pennsylvania founder William Penn. The Delaware Nation said in a statement there is no record of the tribe having relinquished title to the tract. In an effort to generate revenue, more than 300 Native American casinos have sprung up since the late 1980s as smaller tribes won federal recognition as sovereign entities. "This is property that belongs to the Delawares, and it is clear ... that the Delaware's title to the land was never validly extinguished," said Stephen Cozen, an attorney with the Philadelphia firm of Cozen O'Connor, representing the tribe. The tribe wants to establish its ownership of the land as part of a plan to obtain gaming rights in Pennsylvania because it can't get those rights without becoming a land owner. The tribe says it has no plans to build a casino on the Forks Township land because it does not wish to disturb residents there. Instead it hopes to build a casino elsewhere in the state. The Pennsylvania General Assembly is preparing to debate legislation authorizing slot machines at some sites around the state, and the tribe is pressing for favorable treatment. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell is named as a defendant in the suit as are the property owners on the disputed land and the state of Pennsylvania. A spokeswoman for Rendell said he would evaluate the case. Many smaller tribes nationwide who were passed over for federal recognition in the 19th and early 20th centuries have won that status under federal legislation passed in the 1980s, which grants certain exemptions from state law and has helped fuel a boom in casinos on Indian land. Copyright c. 2004 Environmental News Network Inc. --------- "RE: Casino-Hunting Tribes lay claims to Colorado" --------- Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 08:24:23 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CHEYENNE-ARAPAHO" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://news.yahoo.com/~story&u=/ap/20040116/ap_on_re_us/indian_casino_1 Casino-Hunting Tribes Lay Claims to Colo. Jananuary 15, 2004 By DAN D'AMBROSIO, Associated Press Writer DENVER - Two American Indian tribes are laying claim to about 40 percent of Colorado - including metropolitan Denver and secret military posts - in hopes of giving it up in exchange for a new, 500-acre reservation where they can build a casino. The Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes of Oklahoma have prepared a detailed claim to 27 million acres covering the entire northeast section of Colorado. The claim could set off years of litigation in a state where casino gambling has been limited to three historic mining towns. The tribes hope to soon submit a plan to the Interior Department in which they would drop the claim in exchange for a reservation where they would build a $150 million casino, travel center and cultural center, said Steve Hillard, a venture capitalist who has organized financing for the project. "From an economic standpoint, it's 65 to 70 percent of the value of the state," Hillard said Thursday. Officials with the tribes did not return several telephone messages. Tribes are claiming ancestral land across the country in hopes of building lucrative casinos. Another Oklahoma-based tribe, the Delaware, filed a federal lawsuit Thursday to claim 315 acres in Pennsylvania to build a casino. Tribal officials have been negotiating for months with New York Gov. George Pataki about settling tribal land claims through state gambling compacts. The Colorado land claimed by the two tribes was designated as traditional Cheyenne and Arapaho land by the federal Indian Claims Commission, which operated from 1946 to 1978 to settle land disputes between tribes and the government. The commission's work "provided a basis for monetary compensation from the U.S. government to the tribes, but didn't transfer title to the tribes, " said Paula Molloy, program officer for the National Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Even with land, the tribes would need to enter into a compact with the governor to open a casino. Gov. Bill Owens opposes any expansion of gambling in Colorado, a spokesman said. Copyright c. 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. 2004 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Gambling supporter says Towns clamoring" --------- Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 08:24:23 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="COLORADO TOWNS OFFER THEMSELVES" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.insidedenver.com/~/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_2577886,00.html Gambling supporter says towns clamoring Indian casino backer reports much interest By Deborah Frazier, Rocky Mountain News January 15, 2004 Several northeastern Colorado towns have offered to be the locale of a proposed Indian casino and cultural complex, proponents said Wednesday. "A lot of communities want, and need, a project like this," said Steve Hillard, a Longmont-based venture capitalist who has assembled financing for the project. However, Hillard wouldn't disclose which communities are seeking consideration. The Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes of Oklahoma are proposing a $150 million casino, travel center and Plains Indian Cultural and Media Center to be built on 500 acres. The Homecoming Project, as it has been named by the tribes, "would allow us to return to a presence on our ancestral lands, participate in the economic energy of our home and earn money to meet the basic needs of our people," said James Pedro, chairman of the tribes' business committee. Before the gold rush and homesteading, the tribes roamed northeastern Colorado, where numerous communities and streets have kept the Arapaho and Cheyenne names. After gold was discovered in Cherry Creek, the Cheyenne and Arapaho were evicted and sent to reservations in Oklahoma, Wyoming and Montana - thus, the homecoming reference. "When we brought the elders up to Colorado, they looked at the sky, the streams, the valleys, the mountains; it opened their eyes to things they remembered," Pedro said. "The elders who came and learned about this plan said it would benefit all the people," said Clara Bushyhead, who works with the tribal council. When the preliminary proposal was presented to the tribe, there were only a few no votes, Pedro said. The two tribes have treaty claims to 27 million acres in Colorado but say they will settle the claims by buying 500 acres in the state's northeastern quarter and creating a reservation, which would be the locale of the project. "These are real tribes with real land claims," Hillard said. "This is not a 48-hour wonder. This is not going to go away." Gov. Bill Owens, an opponent of all gaming, is against the proposal. However, casinos and other businesses on Indian land don't require state approval. "There are a lot of administrative hoops to go through, and it's a very iffy proposal," said Medill Barnes, a consultant to the Black Hawk Gaming Association, a group of mountain-casino owners who oppose gambling elsewhere in the state. "It would be devastating to us, but we're not jumping out of our skin yet," Barnes said. Hillard said the project would create 1,500 construction jobs, 4,000 permanent jobs for state residents and more than 1,000 jobs for 12,000 Cheyenne and Arapaho. "It's the biggest thing on Colorado's table right now for economic development," Hillard said. "It deserves serious consideration." The Homecoming Project is funded by the Native American Lands Group, a consortium of American Indians in Alaska and several private venture- -capital firms. "The tribes want to escape the cycle of poverty," Hillard said. "They want to create their destiny on this 500 acres." Hillard hasn't been involved in gaming projects before, but his Council Tree Communications has put together other profitable investment packages for Alaskan American Indians. "This would benefit the tribes in Oklahoma, especially with money for the elderly, health care, education, the children," Pedro said. "It would be a boom for everyone." The Homecoming Project won't involve the reparations promised by Congress but never paid to the Arapaho and Cheyenne relatives of the Sand Creek Massacre victims, Hillard and tribal leaders said. In 1864, U.S. soldiers and a voluntary militia from Colorado attacked a camp of sleeping Cheyenne and Arapaho, mostly women, children and the elderly, in eastern Colorado. About 164 Indians were killed and their bodies were mutilated. While no major Denver-area business group has taken a stand on the casino project, Ben Sherman, executive director of the Western American Indian Chamber, supports it. "It's truly a tribal venture, and I'm glad the tribe is taking the lead, " Sherman said. "In this business and economic climate, even a casino would be welcome." He said Indian gaming was regulated by the federal government and a tribal commission. The state would have oversight, said Don Burmania of the Colorado Division of Gaming. Gaming revenues in the state were $719 million last year, he said. Hillard said he's focusing on gaining consensus and a fair way to settle the treaty claims, and he hopes to start winning local, state and federal approval by 2005. Copyright c. 2004 Rocky Mountain News, The E.W. Scripps Co. --------- "RE: Our Health improved...on Paper" --------- Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2004 17:54:47 -0800 (PST) From: Carter Camp Subj: 'We Improved!' Mailing List: ndn-aim 01/14/2004 @ 5:21pm [permalink] E-mail this Post This is yet-another of those hilariously depressing tales of how our President's boys and girls, when confronted with inconvenient science, simply rewrite it. White people get better health care in this country. That's no secret. It's been so extensively documented that a few years ago, Congress instructed the White House to study the problem, with help from our top medical scientists. Those top medical scientists even wrote a small book of guidance for their Health and Human Services (HHS) colleagues running the study, one that begins by characterizing the issue as "among this nation's most serious health care problems," and continues, "minorities receive poorer quality care in such important areas as cardiovascular disease, cancer, asthma, and diabetes." In June 2003, the HHS scientists came out with a draft of their report on how race factors into health care. This version agreed that we have "national problems" with getting equal care to minorities, and that a built-in unfairness is "pervasive in our health care system." It went on to describe these problems in detail. Six months later, on December 23, 2003, the final National Healthcare Disparities Report was released -- in an upbeat version edited by Bush appointee Tommy G. Thompson. Gone is a substantive discussion about how minorities receive poorer quality care; gone is reference to this as a serious national problem. Instead, the sunny new opening is: "The overall health of Americans has improved dramatically over the last century." After much more of this oh- hoorayism, the report reveals it will not, in fact, be focused on why minorities get poorer medical care; its new focus -- if you can call a set of generalizations "focused" -- is that all sorts of people at times get less- than-standard care, including women, children, the elderly, the sick, the low-income, and minorities. The Washington Post paraphrases HHS officials as saying this Thompson- driven rewrite reflects his "strategy of triggering improvement by focusing on the positive." Ah, yes. The old "bring about improvement by arguing it's unnecessary" trick. "That's just the way Secretary Thompson wants to create change," explains a spokeswoman for the HHS agency that drafted the report. "The idea is not to say, 'We failed, we failed, we failed,' but to say, 'We improved, we improved, we improved.' " The Post did not elaborate on whether, while speaking, the HHS spokeswoman closed her eyes and clicked the heels of her ruby slippers. "They whitewashed the issue away," says Congressman Henry Waxman of California, who with seven other members of Congress wrote to HHS to protest this as "a case study in the manipulation of science." (Check out Waxman's marvelous new website, www.politicsandscience.org.) --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: A Story of Triumph" --------- Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2004 17:11:19 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: SPIRIT LAKE DAKOTA" http://www.grandforks.com/~/dorreen_yellow_bird/7676354.htm DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: A story of triumph: The Spirit Lake Dakota January 10, 2004 Several years ago, after I had made a presentation at a conference, I fielded a question from a reporter in the audience that stunned me: "How can I cover stories on the Spirit Lake reservation without being attacked or raped?" she said. I must admit, I bristle at this kind of comment, and it took me a few seconds to be understanding. I bristle because I've lived on the reservation and feel as safe or safer there than I do in Grand Forks. But I do understand, because I know that on the surface, the crime rate at Spirit Lake (as on many reservations) is high. Here's what many people don't understand: Crime committed at Spirit Lake generally is alcohol-related and domestic in nature, meaning it takes place among families or acquaintances. Very rarely is it random violence of the sort you might find on Washington, D.C.'s streets. Second, before you pass judgment even on that fraction of the population who are alcoholic, you should travel the same path as the Dakota. The Dakota - the Spirit Lake people - had the misfortune to be in front of the first European settlers in what now is Minnesota. The U.S. government soon realized that when it appropriated "Indian" lands for itself, the Native people didn't always move on. July 18, 1851, the government negotiated a treaty with the Traverse Des Sioux, the upper Dakota Sioux. The treaty essentially coerced them into relinquishing all their claims to what is now Minnesota and a small portion of South Dakota. They received $1.66 million. But the government didn't give up the money easily as they promised. A large sum of the money went to settle traders' debts (these were bills presented by traders, often without a Dakota signature), provide an annual cash annuity for goods and provisions and build schools, blacksmith shops, mills and farms. The treaty opened farming areas of Minnesota to settlement. By the summer of 1862, the land was filled with settlers. The food promised the Dakotas for their land as a result of the treaties never made it beyond St. Paul. The Dakota were starving and frustrated. They rightly felt cheated out of their land and that their treaties were violated. In 1862, there was a long, hard winter, and crops failed. The previous year wasn't any better, and the Dakota were starving. But the government was financially strapped because of the Civil War and didn't make their promised payments to the Dakota. Some of the frustrated and starving Dakota broke into the agency warehouse and took 100 sacks of flour. Little Crow, traditional chief of the Dakota, urged the promised supplies to be given to the starving people. "When men are hungry, they help themselves," he said. Andrew J. Myrick, a trader, refused, saying, "So far as I am concerned, if they are hungry, let them eat grass." When the remarks were translated, the Dakota were outraged. Little Crow's band attacked and killed settlers, hoping to clear the valley of settlers. In October 1862, the army subdued about 400 Dakota. In Mankato, Minn., 38 Dakota men (some of whom were no part of the attacks on the settlers) were hanged in a mass execution - the largest mass execution in this nation's history. After the Dakota Conflict, few remained in Minnesota. Most were driven or fled into the Dakota Plains or Canada. In 1867, a treaty setting up the Lake Traverse or Sisseton reservation in eastern Dakota and another reservation south of Devils Lake provided for some wandering groups of Dakota. The Fort Totten reservation sat across the lake from a squatter's town called Creelsburg, which is now Devils Lake. From 1878 to 1930, Fort Totten was boarding school for Indian children. The impact on the reservation of this boarding school was tremendous. It was part of the "civilizing" policy of the government. Dakota children were made to wear suits or long dresses. Their hair was cut, they were taught industrial skills and punished for speaking their language. This rugged group of people who were starved, displaced and their culture essentially excised, survived and are prospering. Addictive alcohol was introduced to Native people when they were at their lowest. The need to find something to make them feel good made alcohol an elixir many couldn't resist. The tribe continues to make a tremendous effort to erase the scars of the past. The Spirit Lake tribe has a college, a prosperous (alcohol-free) casino, factories and its own police, clinic, tribal complex, museum and court system, to name a few. All of these are more than 80 percent managed by Native people. These are people who work 8 to 5, five days a week, take care of their families and live well. The tribe makes efforts to provide programs for alcoholism for those who are addicted. The Catholic church and other religious organizations played a significant role in taking Native culture from Native people. There is, however, a strong movement at Spirit Lake to keep the Native way of life (religion) intact, and it's proving to be a major influence. Most Dakota people at Spirit Lake are gentle people who have lived through difficult times. They have survived. ------ Yellow Bird writes columns Tuesday and Saturday. Reach her by phone at 780-1228, (800) 477-6572, extension 228, or by e-mail at dyellowbird@gfherald.com. Copyright c. 2004 Grand Forks Herald/Grand Forks, ND. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Grandmother always will be with me" --------- Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2004 14:37:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: GRANDMOTHER PHILOMENE" http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforksherald/news/opinion/7731977.htm DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: Grandmother Philomene always will be with me January 17, 2004 When I was a child, I liked to watch my grandmother comb her long, black hair. It was a ritual she enjoyed because she smiled and sometimes hummed softly to herself while she stroked her hair with that wide-toothed comb. That memory of lying on the bed and staring up at her combing her hair is on my mind today. She seems to be here. My grandmother, Philomene Little Sioux, was an important part of my life and the lives of our family. She influenced how I think and live. My memories of her are snapshots that seem to bring her back. At times, I see her combing her hair and twisting it in a tight roll on the back of her head. Then, I see her standing at the wood stove, feeding the fire with chunks of wood or dipping warm water from the reservoir beside the stove into a basin so we could wash up. And I even can smell eggs cooking and salt pork frying. My grandmother always rose with the sun. When it was peeking over the hills and the red glow of the day was touching the big rocks above the house, she'd be preparing for the day. The house stood on a hill below a hill. The deep coulee surrounding the house looked like a half moon. Three springs converge in the valley filling a creek bed that runs toward the Missouri River. That's before the lake turned lazy and full. In the spring, after a hard winter with lots of snow, the melting white creates waterfalls in every crevice and small ravine. The icy water would race over jutting rocks and sand to the creek below. These waterfalls emptied high-ground snow into the coulee, making a sound and sight that resonated throughout the area. I would stand beside my grandmother and watch the newly created falls. Philomene was a strong woman. Ritual and culture had to be absolutely correct. There was no halfway about it when she was teacher. My father would agree. In fact, he would tell us that if we couldn't do the ceremonies correctly, we shouldn't do them at all. Those words would come back to haunt us because when much of the knowledge was buried, we were unsure of our steps. I remember when we gathered for the last rite for my father. During that Death Feast, my grandmother told me to prepare my father's food for the journey. She watched me like a hawk from the sidelines. I remember glancing over at her as I prepared his dish. I was nervous. With the help of my two brothers, the ceremony was completed. My grandmother learned from her father, Little Sioux. In his later years, when it was difficult for him to take care of himself, she took care of him. His wife, Helen, died years before him. He was strict, my mother and grandmother told me. In fact, he constantly chided his daughter, Philomene, but she learned the ways. He lived when rituals such as sun dancing, fasting and cleansing sweats were commonplace. He was a healer and carried a Sacred Pipe. I don't remember when my grandmother became a healer for the people, but I do remember this: We were camped in Fort Yates, N.D., at the powwow, and it was a hot summer day. We went to powwows and ceremonies often in those early years. As I stepped into our tent that day, she was sitting in a chair with several older people sitting at her feet, and they were listening to her. I knew they came for healing. Some simple things bring me a clear image of my grandmother. Sometimes, when I hear a Sahnish song, I will hear her singing. Sometimes, when I can't pronounce a Sahnish word, I listen for my grandmother voice and hear the Sahnish words. When I see hawks flying with wings extended, I can feel her standing beside me watching the bird. Combing my hair sometimes reminds me of her. Most important, when my lips touch the stem of the Pipe, I remember her. I am thankful that she visits me in my memories and dreams. Nahwah, atika'. ---- Yellow Bird writes columns Tuesday and Saturday. Reach her by phone at 780-1228 or (800) 477-6572, extension 228, or by e-mail at dyellowbird@gfherald.com. Copyright c. 2004 Grand Forks Herald/Grand Forks, ND. --------- "RE: Subsistence Hunters lose in Court" --------- Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2004 14:37:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="STATE GAINS GREATER CONTROL" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/4637832p-4595384c.html Subsistence hunters lose in court CLOSED AREAS: Residents of areas near urban centers wanted a state exemption. By TOM KIZZIA Anchorage Daily News January 17, 2004 The Alaska Supreme Court strengthened the state's ability to make broad decisions about closing areas to subsistence hunting in a decision handed down Friday. The court overturned a lower court ruling that could have granted priority subsistence opportunities to residents of Ninilchik, Eklutna and Knik. State regulators had declared the villages ineligible when they declared most of the Cook Inlet region a "nonsubsistence area." Friday's decision only affects the state's subsistence program. Subsistence hunters have a priority on state land under state law, just as they do on federal land under federal law. But under state law, every resident may qualify for subsistence, not just rural residents. This can create a crunch on state and private lands near cities. In 1992, the state closed the Anchorage region, among others, to subsistence. Tribal governments for the three villages appealed in court, first attacking the constitutionality of "nonsubsistence" areas and then saying they'd been unfairly lumped in with Anchorage. The case volleyed through the court system for a decade. In 2000, the villages won a decision under Superior Court Judge Mark Rindner. But his decision was overturned Friday, bringing the long case apparently to an end. The Supreme Court said the joint state boards of fish and game had acted reasonably when they created the nonsubsistence area including the three villages. State law sets out a list of socio-economic criteria for determining such areas, weighing the relative importance of subsistence in those more urbanized regions. Also losing in the case was the Kenaitze Indian Tribe of Kenai, which had intervened to seek subsistence rights. The decision will have no immediate practical effect, because people in those communities had been barred from local subsistence hunting pending resolution of the case, said Goriune Dudukgian, an Alaska Legal Services lawyer who represented Knik and Eklutna. "Most of the time it's pretty clear if an area is subsistence or nonsubsistence," Dudukgian said Friday. "Nobody's arguing there should be subsistence fish wheels in Ship Creek. But on the margins, in places close to urban areas, that's where the problem is." Federal land managers are now undergoing their own review of how to determine if an area is "rural" and qualifies for subsistence priority under federal law. Some of the same issues, and the same villages, enter the debate on the federal side. Most subsistence fishing issues fall under federal jurisdiction. The state's nonsubsistence areas cover the Anchorage-Kenai-Mat-Su region and zones around Fairbanks, Juneau, Ketchikan and Valdez. Reporter Tom Kizzia can be reached at tkizzia@adn.com or in Homer at 1-907-235-4244. Copyright c. 2004 The Anchorage Daily News. --------- "RE: Alaskan Tribe sets Refuge Precedent" --------- Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 08:24:23 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ATHABASKAN WILDERNESS PLAN" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.leaderadvertiser.com/index.asp?Sec=News&str=1816 Alaskan tribe sets refuge precedent By Linda Sappington of the Leader January 15, 2004 POLSON - A historic agreement between federal and tribal government involving managements of National Wildlife Refuges was reached Saturday, Jan. 3. The tentative final Annual Funding Agreement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Council of Athabascan Tribal Governments in Alaska sets aside $46,000 for tribal duties at Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge for the fiscal year 2004. This is the first such agreement regarding National Wildlife Refuges between federal and tribal government, raising the question of what kind of precedent that sets for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes management negotiations of the National Bison Range in Moiese. "The National Bison Range and Alaska's Yukon Flats are separate refuges in an entire system, and we strive to keep them separate, but it is really important to look carefully at what is being proposed," Matt Kales said. Kales is the congressional liaison for the Fish and Wildlife service, Region 6 out of Denver, Colo. What is important, Kales said, is to remember that circumstances vary, including timeframes and priorities of individual tribes. "A decision in Alaska may not affect a decision in the National Bison Range, yet people look to a good precedent, as well as a bad one," Kales said. While the refuge system is an integrated network of lands and waters that the Fish and Wildlife Service manages consistently pursuant to their policies, each refuge is unique, according to Kales. "We consider the effects of every decision on each individual refuge, yet as far as the potential impacts on the National Bison Range negotiations, I can't comment." Kales said what they may do is look at each individual annual funding agreement and use bits and pieces from those who have gone before. "They have done it, and know how to get it done," he said. Tribal duties within the Yukon Flats agreement include four main areas: maintenance of fish and wildlife facilities and equipment; documentation of wildlife that has been hunted; recording trail easements and informing residents of the locations; and environmental education and outreach for local students and villages. While the duties being turned over don't sound like much, according to author Susan Campbell Reneau - a vocal opponent of tribal management of public lands - the impact will be felt at all 542 national refuges and all national parks, monuments and preserves, she said. "The agreement at Yukon Flats is the start of a landslide of Indian tribal governments wishing to take over major portions of technical duties, budget and management duties at national refuges and national parks near or beside them," she said. The tentative agreement is currently being reviewed by the fish and wildlife department. When approved for release, it will be available to the public for a 45-day comment period. Meanwhile, negotiations for tribal management of the National Bison Range continue. "We're still working, still negotiating with tribes in good faith," Kales said. Although there is no time frame for release of a draft annual funding agreement, the tribes were scheduled to meet with Fish and Wildlife Service yesterday and today, Wednesday and Thursday, in Denver. Factors including poor weather and travel conditions often cause the negotiations to be delayed, Kales explained. "Until we actually get everyone in the room ... I wouldn't count your chickens just yet," Kales said. When a draft funding agreement is finalized, it will be available for a public comment period. Copyright c. 2002 Leader Advertiser Copyright, Polson, MT. --------- "RE: Alaska Pipeline agreement" --------- Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 08:24:23 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CANADA/KASKA NATION ACCORD" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.canada.com/~/story.html?id=9DEDECC9-31D3-48A7-8A54-FC0276C4D9CB Canaada, Kaska Nation agree to work together for Alaska pipeline Canadian Press January 15, 2004 WATSON LAKE, Yukon (CP) - A division of pipeline giant TransCanada Corp. and the Kaska Nation in southeastern Yukon have agreed to work together to encourage construction of a natural gas pipeline along the Alaska Highway. The agreement in principle enables the Kaska and Calgary-based Foothills Pipe Lines "to achieve mutual objectives relating to the advancement of this project," the company said Thursday. The agreement includes the establishment of a joint advisory committee and strategies on human resources and environmental issues, said Kaska Tribal Council Chief Hammond Dick. The Kaska Nation, which includes five First Nations in southeastern Yukon and northern B.C., said its main interest is to provide input in the planning stage for a potential Alaska gas pipeline. TransCanada, through its Foothills subsidiary, holds many of the certificates needed to build the Canadian portion of the pipeline. TransCanada spokeswoman Hejdi Feick called the deal part of "initial steps" in construction of the pipeline. "This has been an ongoing process for some time and we recognize the importance of working with local communities and including the First Nations groups, like the Kaska, in the development of this project," she said. Even though there are vast natural gas reserves in Alaska's North Slope, it remains uncertain whether a pipeline will be built. Estimates by international energy giants such as BP say a pipeline could cost up to $20 billion US and they've said several key concessions are needed from governments to help reduce risks in such an large investment before they proceed. The latest U.S. energy bill, which included billions of dollars in project loan guarantees, has been stalled in the U.S. Senate with faint hope that it will be passed into law. On the Toronto stock market Thursday, TransCanada Corp. shares (TSX:TRP) fell 15 cents to $27.15. Copyright c. 2004 The Canadian Press. --------- "RE: Mohawk Chief's Home in Quebec burned in Dispute" --------- Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2004 08:33:56 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="KANESATAKE TOBACCO FUED" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/01/14/~ Indians, angry at crackdown, besiege tribal police headquarters in Quebec By Colin Nickerson, Globe Staff January 14, 2004 KANESATAKE, Quebec - Indians angry over attempts by tribal authorities to crack down on cigarette bootleggers and marijuana operations besieged tribal police barracks and blockaded a Quebec highway in this Mohawk community yesterday near Montreal. The actions came after self-described "warriors" torched the home of Grand Chief James Gabriel on Monday night after he and his family fled the Mohawk community in fear for their lives. Quebec and Canadian federal authorities appeared unwilling last night to send riot squads to end the showdown between militants and tribal authorities, despite appeals from the newly appointed tribal police chief, Terry Isaac, who was trapped with more than 50 other aboriginal police officers inside the station without food and other necessities. The community, long a flash point for Indian anger, is 25 miles west of Montreal, near the Quebec community of Oka, and is home to about 1,300 people. In 1990, Indians at Oka made international headlines during a 78-day standoff between aboriginal militants and Canadian army troops who had rushed to the scene after a Quebec police officer was shot dead by protesters. That violent history may explain why authorities in Ottawa and Quebec City, the provincial capital, seemed reluctant to act in the seige at the settlement. Negotiations between Indian groups in Kanesatake were underway last night to end the standoff, and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said the federal government is keeping close watch. "We obviously want to defuse this situation," he told reporters at the Summit of the Americas in Monterrey, Mexico. "So we'll be very actively involved along with Quebec." The protest erupted late Monday after Grand Chief Gabriel appointed Isaac as the new head of the community's police force and summoned dozens of Mohawk law enforcers from 18 other aboriginal communities in Quebec, apparently in preparation for raids against more than a dozen cigarette smuggling operations and suspected hydroponic marijuana farms, which have given Kanesatake a reputation for lawlessness. The prospect of the raids touched off anger among aboriginal activists, who accused Gabriel of betraying the community to "outsiders" -- apparently referring to Quebec and federal police who have put some pressure on Kanesatake Mohawk authorities to crack down on blatant cigarette smuggling and marijuana operations, both believed linked to organized crime. "Our people are angered because we've been invaded by an outside force," said Mavis Etienne, a community activist, alluding to the Indian police drawn from outside the area. "This isn't about cigarettes or pot, it's all politics." Canadian law permits Indians to import cigarettes tax-free from the United States for their own use, but the settlement has become infamous for roadside vendors peddling cheap smokes to bargain hunters from nearby urban areas as well as to Montreal bars controlled by organized crime. The Kanesatake Mohawks are also believed to be a source of marijuana sold by the Hells Angels and other biker gangs that run Quebec's illicit drug trade. Gabriel, speaking from hiding, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation yesterday that the torching of his home was a murder attempt, not just arson. He said that he and his family became targets because of his tough stand on crime, including plans to smash the cigarette bootlegging rings and arrest marijuana growers whose flagrant operations have long riled the provincial police force, known as the Surete du Quebec, and federal Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Other Indian reserves also have become centers for smuggling and marijuana production because political sensitivities make federal and provincial authorities reluctant to take action. "We narrowly escaped being burned alive in that building," Gabriel said, adding that he had summoned Mohawk law enforcement officers from outside the community and sacked the former police chief, Tracy Cross, only as a last resort "to restore law and order to our community." Gabriel's dog was killed in the blaze, which destroyed the home as well as the family's car and a tractor. A Quebec highway near Oka was closed by trees felled by angry Mohawk protesters, who also built a barricade of blazing logs outside the police barracks, hurling rocks and debris at police seeking to flee the brick structure. About 40 protestors maintained angry vigil outside the barracks last night. There was a sense of potential violence, as smoke from the chief's ruined home drifted through the settlement and young Mohawk men -- faces concealed by ski masks, some wielding baseball bats -- affixed a "warriors' banner" to the chain-link fence surrounding the police offices. The showdown started when Isaac arrived in the community Monday with some 50 other Indian officers from other tribal areas after the former police boss was fired by Gabriel. Speaking by phone, Isaac said that his mission is to restore law and order to Kanesatake. And that he will do so just as soon as the militants allow police to resume their duties. "The protesters are still outside," he said "We're still inside." Copyright c. 2004 Globe Newspaper Company. Copyright c. 2004 The New York Times Company ---------" Re: True Portrait of Kanesatake" --------- Date: Fri Jan 16, 2004, 8:11 AM From: frosty@kahonwes.com (Frosty) Subj: If you want information about Kanesatake Newsgroup: alt.native Many things are being written about the events in Kanesatake. Read the following from the eyes of someone that works there but is from Kahnawake. I will try to upload information that speaks about the problems and are not slanted away from the truth. Portrait of Kanesatake unfair Not all dope dealers. Community development, not more police, needed to tackle crime, band teacher says MICHAEL RICE Freelance The past two days, as I have watched the events and media coverage in Kanesatake set my blood to boil.. The media seem to portray everyone in Kanesatake as criminals involved in growing pot. The press failed to observe that many people in Kanesatake stayed away from the protest at the Kanesatake Mohawk Police station and the burning of James Gabriel's home. Painting a picture of Kanesatake and its people as criminals only adds further misunderstanding to a deplorable situation. Just recently, The Gazette published an article on a major marijuana bust in Barrie, Ont., showing that the problem of narcotics is not the exclusive preserve of Kanesatake. The anger and frustration expressed by the protesters have a great deal to do with neglect by the federal government. Unlike other First Nations, Kanesatake does not have legal title to its lands, nor is it classified as a reserve under the Indian Act. The postage-stamp of land that Kanesatake's people do possess is not large enough for agriculture, manufacturing or residential growth. Compounding this is the lack of economic development to encourage the growth of businesses and creation of jobs in the community. Until recently, many people in Kanesatake who were unemployed and receiving social assistance were earning extra income working in the local cigarette shops. They do not have other alternatives because the community is saddled with debt and lacks the land base and financial and technical resources to create employment. Kanesatake and its residents are unable to get loans for business and new home construction because they do not have legal title to their lands and homes, and so neither the band council nor the residents have collateral to guarantee loans. Is it any wonder why people are working in the tobacco shops? Is it a surprise that some people might be involved in drug dealing? When you deprive a people of lands and resources, how do you expect them to make a living? This occurs while municipalities and corporations benefit from the use and occupation of the natural resources of the area. If the federal government is interested in fighting crime in First Nations communities, it needs to stop attacking the symptoms. The frustration and anger that have boiled over in Kanesatake are a manifestation of the division in the elected band council system introduced into Kanesatake and other First Nations. How do you expect to achieve harmony when you impose an outdated Canadian political structure that gives political power to one party even if it has only 51 per cent of the votes? What happens when the other 49 per cent of the community do not agree with the majority? This system was set up to create division and conflict in native communities and its inventors can look proudly on their success. The fact that the federal government is willing to advance money to send 60 additional native police officers into a community of 1,200 people is disturbing. Canada has not been able to settle the land title at Kanesatake. It has not offered additional funds to help the community pay off its creditors. It has not provided more money for economic development. It has not been able to increase funding for education, such as for special-needs students and for the local high school, which does not have a science teacher. It does not have extra funds for health care. It has no money for sports and recreation facilities. Yet it can advance special funds for 60 additional police officers to fight crime and drugs in Kanesatake. If the government is interested in fighting crime and drugs, it should begin by working on prevention. It would have more success in the long term by consulting and working with the people of Kanesatake on community development. They will achieve greater success when they address the underlying causes of the tensions in Kanesatake. ---- Michael Rice teaches school at Kanesatake. Copyright c. 2004 Montreal Gazette. --------- "RE: Quebec AFN backs Mohawk Grand Chief Gabriel" --------- Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 08:24:23 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="AFN BACKS CHIEF" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1074211133121_5/?hub=Canada Quebec AFN backs Mohawk Grand Chief Gabriel Canadian Press January 16, 2004 QUEBEC - Crime can't rule on reserves and aboriginals must unite behind a chief whose house was torched during a policing dispute, the Assembly of First Nations said Thursday. The assembly's Quebec chapter said it supports Mohawk Grand Chief James Gabriel, who had fled the Kanesatake reserve near Montreal before the fire broke out, and asked other aboriginals to support him. The assembly announced it has set up a fund to help Gabriel and his family rebuild their home and replace their possessions. His home was burned Monday night when tensions broke out between Gabriel and opponents who didn't support his initiative to replace the band's police chief and bring in outside aboriginal officers to fight organized crime, particularly marijuana growing operations. "We certainly don't endorse crime on our First Nations," said Chief Allison Metallic of the Listuguj nation from Quebec's Gaspe region. "We cannot let crime rule," Metallic told a news conference. Chief Ghislain Picard, head of the assembly's Quebec chapter, said Gabriel is still the chief until he is democratically replaced. "We reiterate our support for Grand Chief James Gabriel," he said. Picard criticized the Quebec government for the deal it brokered to end the standoff and put the fired police chief back in power. "It's deplorable and unacceptable that the government of Quebec negotiated with a minority whether they're elected or not," he said. Picard didn't mention organized crime or marijuana but he acknowledged aboriginal communities are "vulnerable" to outside influences. In Kanesatake, west of Montreal, provincial police were on hand to investigate the charred ruins of Gabriel's house, RDI, Radio-Canada's all-news channel reported. Copyright c. 2003 Bell Globemedia Inc. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Saskatchewan Natives warm to PM" --------- Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2004 14:37:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PM MARTIN START OF NEW ERA" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.canada.com/national/~F31CB340A8BA Saskatchewan Natives warm to PM Martin's visit to reserve seen as start of a new era Jana Pruden Saskatchewan News Network; Regina Leader-Post January 17, 2004 REGINA - Paul Martin became the first prime minister in two decades to visit a Saskatchewan First Nation Friday, in a move some believe may hearken a new era in the government's relationship with aboriginal communities. "This is a tremendous, tremendous day for me," said Martin, speaking to about 150 band members, elders and political leaders at the Gordon First Nation near Punnichy, about 150 kilometres north of Regina. Martin visited the reserve after flying into Saskatchewan Friday morning. While at Gordon First Nation, he dropped into a school that has been hailed as a unique partnership between the federal government and a Native band. The George Gordon Education Centre is also the former site of one of the province's controversial residential schools. Martin said the visit was intended to symbolize two of the most important issues his government has to deal with: providing opportunities for First Nations people and promoting education. "Being here with you very much brings those two objectives together," he told the crowd, who applauded and cheered throughout his speech. Martin also affirmed his commitment to working more closely with Canada's aboriginal communities. He arrived at the community flanked by an honour guard and was welcomed into the school with a ceremonial drum performance. Martin accepted a number of gifts, spoke briefly to the crowd and then toured three classrooms, talking with students and posing for pictures. Martin spent about an hour and a half at the reserve before heading to Regina for a roundtable meeting with agricultural leaders. Chief Bryan McNabb said Martin's visit "is a moment in history" for the Gordon First Nation. "To me, it's telling me something, I feel it's the start of something for our Indian people," said McNabb. "When I was in Toronto I called him our 'Great White Hope.' He's said that he's going to deal with the issues, and I believe him." Friday's trip to Saskatchewan was part of Martin's first official visit to the Prairies as prime minister. Don Ross, a Gordon First Nation band member, longtime Liberal supporter and aboriginal activist, said he believes Martin's visit is a turning point for the community, and will resonate with other aboriginal communities around the country. "Gordon Residential School is one of the most severe cases of abuse out there, a lot of our kids and people are healing from experiences there, and I think it's symbolic that Paul is being a part of that healing," adding he believes the visit, however brief, wasn't just a symbolic gesture. "This visit is very important as a symbol of his commitment to aboriginal issues. He has put our agenda at the top of his agenda, and he's taking a risk by doing that. "He's not making (empty) statements here, these are major initiatives, not just political promises, he's implementing a whole new way of doing business with Aboriginal people." Bryan McNabb, the school's principal, agrees the visit could set the tone for a new generation. "We're starting to move ahead and try to forget the past," he said. "I like to look at our school as a role model for other schools, and I hope the kids have a sense of pride that the Prime Minister came to their school." Copyright c. 2004 The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon). --------- "RE: Shootings targeted Red Lake Law Enforcement" --------- Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2004 08:33:56 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RED LAKE SHOOTINGS" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.startribune.com/stories/468/4316411.html FBI, police investigate series of shootings at Red Lake The Associated Press January 13, 2004 RED LAKE, Minn. - New information is coming in, but no arrests have been made in a series of drive-by shootings on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, police said Tuesday. The FBI said shots were fired early Saturday at six residences belonging to or associated with Red Lake law enforcement personnel. Several shots also were fired at the Red Lake jail and at the Red Lake Police Department, hitting several vehicles, the FBI said. No one was injured, but the FBI said there were children in some of the buildings that were shot at. The shots were fired between 1:15 and 2:15 a.m. Saturday. Red Lake Police Chief Pat Mills said on Tuesday they have received quite a few calls with information, but no one has been taken into custody. Mills said he could not comment on details because of the investigation. The FBI said that anyone with information is asked to call the FBI at 1- 218-751-0610, or the Red Lake police at 1-218-679-3313. The FBI is offering a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for the shootings. Tipsters can remain anonymous. Copyright c. 2004 Star Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Miccosukee Water Pump Case tests Federal Law" --------- Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2004 08:33:56 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MICCOSUKEE CASE" http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/14/national/14WATE.html Water Pump Case Tests Federal Law By FELICITY BARRINGER January 14, 2004 FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Jan. 9 - For nearly half a century, a pumping station in South Florida has been pouring millions of gallons of storm runoff annually into the Everglades, keeping the farms and backyards of western Broward Country dry but filling the wetlands with water often tainted by pollutants, mainly from phosphorus-rich fertilizers. The station, known as S-9, is not a filthy factory, leaching mine or toxic dump. It is a large pump in a squat, nondescript building at the intersection of two levees. But its role in raising the level of phosphorus in the Everglades puts it at the center of a Supreme Court battle that could end up changing the reach of the Clean Water Act, the landmark 1972 law that established a federally controlled system for keeping the nation's waterways clean. The core question is this: Is S-9 a polluter, subject to regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency and state agencies that protect the nation's water supply? Or is it merely a neutral conveyor of water, a cog in a vital infrastructure that, along with thousands of other water systems, keeps flood plains dry and reservoirs full while slaking the thirst of cities, subdivisions and farms? The court, which will hear arguments on Wednesday in a lawsuit brought by a small Indian tribe against Florida water authorities, will decide whether, legally speaking, the pump is adding pollutants to the Everglades or is simply transferring them between bodies of water that belong to the same large national system of waterways. If the court decides the pump adds pollutants, S-9 and similar pumping equipment could become subject to a stringent system of permits and pollution controls required under the Clean Water Act. The court is stepping in at a time when the nation's water agencies and developers are engaged in huge efforts to tap and reroute water to quench the thirst of expanding suburban communities. The lawsuit was filed six years ago by the 500-member Miccosukee tribe, which argued that high levels of phosphorus in the runoff are imperiling the ecosystem of the Everglades, where the tribe has lived since the early 1800's. The Miccosukee (mik-ko-SUE-kee), whose tribal headquarters sits on the Tamiami Trail in the Everglades in western Dade County, won federal recognition in 1962. In due course, they built a gambling business. This gave them the financial wherewithal, one tribal elder said, to mount a series of legal assaults on the South Florida Water Management District, which operates the pump. One lawsuit took aim at S-9, whose discharge of phosphorus in recent years has averaged 20 parts per billion, twice the level at which many native plants thrive. In 2002, a federal judge ruled that the pump should be regulated under a section of the Clean Water Act requiring "point" sources of pollution - like factories and mines - to obtain permits under a program run by states. The suit, now before the Supreme Court, pits the Bush administration - which filed a brief in support of the water district - and a broad array of city water planners, Western water districts and 11 Western states, led by Colorado and New Mexico, against 14 mostly Eastern states, led by New York and Pennsylvania, as well as the Association of State Wetlands Managers and environmental groups like the National Wildlife Federation. The Eastern and Midwestern states that have sided with the Miccosukee have an abundance of water and of polluting industries, and thus a keen interest in controlling water quality. New York, for example, filed a brief in the case arguing that the states needed to ensure that their "finely tuned programs to assess, protect and improve the water quality of each surface water body within their borders are not frustrated." But in the arid West and Southwest, where states must devise elaborate ways to transport large amounts of water over long distances, merely getting enough water is often the most pressing need. These states have sided with the Water Management District in South Florida, fearing that many structures that bring water to dry ranches and suburbs will be newly regulated. So has New York City, whose water comes from an intricate network of upstate reservoirs. The city argues that its supplies could be threatened if silt-laden water was subject to quality tests as it moved through tunnels en route to city taps. Supporters of the Miccosukees argue that if the tribe loses, the regulatory framework that keeps waterways clean would be undone. The tribe's opponents focus on the need to be nimble in controlling the movement of water. What they fear is not the dismantling of needed regulatory controls but the imposition of what they see as new, superfluous requirements for federal permits that would usurp the states' rights and ability to manage their water resources. Strict permit rules, they fear, would bring delays, citizen lawsuits and requirements for expensive antipollution equipment. "Take the worst-case scenario," said Robert Bennett, a spokesman for the Central Arizona Project, that state's major water agency. "All of that is going to slow down and reduce the amount of water we could deliver. The sucking sound you hear would be the people of Phoenix turning on their taps." The Miccosukee say their goal is to protect the Everglades by forcing the water district to get a permit for the pump and, eventually, to detoxify its discharge. For now, the Everglades appear to be healthy along the Tamiami Trail. About 50 miles to the northeast, where sugar cane and sod fields bound the wetlands and the runoff is laced with higher concentrations of phosphorus, the Everglades have become a very different place. Thick, tall stands of cattails, which thrive on phosphorus, have elbowed out the saw grass, and many other kinds of plants and fish have vanished. "The cattails show the destruction of everything," said Ronald D. Jones, an Everglades expert who is a professor of biology at Portland State University. Gary Goforth, the chief consulting engineer for the Everglades Construction Project, disagrees. The water district is fulfilling the mandates of the state's Everglades Forever Act, Mr. Goforth says, by building containment areas that use a variety of methods to remove phosphorus, including biological allies like underwater plants and surface algae. In addition to their gambling business, the Miccosukees have a modest tourist operation offering traditional crafts, alligator wrestling and airboat tours of the Everglades. One airboat outfit bears the name of Buffalo Tiger, an 84-year-old tribal elder. While water managers and environmentalists see the battle over S-9 as a critical test of wills, for Buffalo Tiger cleaning up the Everglades is simply the right thing to do. But, he added: "You can't fix it. You can only patch it up. Then in 30 to 50 years, you'll have to do it again." Copyright c. 2004 The New York Times Company. --------- "RE: Federal Judge dismisses Lawsuit against OHA" --------- Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2004 08:11:45 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HAWAII" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Jan/15/ln/ln03a.html Federal judge dismisses lawsuit against OHA By Vicki Viotti Advertiser Staff Writer January 15, 2004 A federal judge yesterday dismissed a case challenging the constitutionality of government programs for Native Hawaiians, ruling that the court should not interfere with the ongoing congressional debate over Hawaiians' political status. U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway found that Congress had in recent years recognized a "special trust relationship" with Hawaiians of varying blood quantum levels, drawing them closer to becoming a political class akin to Native Americans for whom separate benefits are allowed. H. William Burgess, attorney for Earl Arakaki and 10 others who filed the challenge, said he would appeal the case to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. But the judge's action in the Arakaki v. Lingle case ends, at least for now, the latest attack on the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the last remaining target named in the lawsuit. OHA was established by a 1978 state constitutional amendment for the benefit of Native Hawaiians. Mollway earlier dismissed the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and other defendants from the case. OHA supporters were enthralled yesterday. "I think she (Mollway) recognizes that it's for Congress, not the courts, to determine the question of whether native people are going to be accorded special benefits, and to what extent," said attorney Sherry Broder. Broder's motion to dismiss the case contended that recent acts of Congress shepherding Hawaiian programs have fueled a political process that the courts should not interrupt. Burgess maintained last night that his clients' claims were made merely against state agencies such as OHA and DHHL, and that the issue of whether Hawaiians are comparable to a Native American tribe is irrelevant to the case. "But I've read the decision, and it's specific and clear," he said. "It's done and we can move on, and that's what courts are supposed to do." The original lawsuit, filed almost two years ago, continued a series of challenges against Hawaiian-only benefits. They began five years ago with the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Rice v. Cayetano decision. In that case, the court found that restriction of OHA elections to Hawaiian voters as a racial group was unconstitutional. Another case opened candidacy for OHA trustees to all voters. The Arakaki lawsuit sought to extend the equal-protection claim to OHA programs as well as its elections. The suit was dealt a serious blow when Mollway decided the plaintiffs did not have standing to challenge the constitutionality of federally mandated programs, which meant the plaintiffs had no claim against Hawaiian homesteaders. But OHA contended Native Hawaiians are recognized as a political entity rather than a racial group with the Akaka bill pending in Congress and federal laws providing educational and health benefits for Native Hawaiians. "Congress is not silent here," Mollway wrote. "It is speaking, but what it will conclude is unclear. It is in recognition of the continuing debate in Congress that this court defers to Congress." OHA Chairwoman Haunani Apoliona offered thanks in Hawaiian to the spiritual realm: "Mahalo i ke Akua, mahalo i na 'aumakua." But she also acknowledged that Haw