From gars@speakeasy.org Fri Jan 30 01:52:23 2004 Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2004 15:13:03 -0800 From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews12.005 _ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 12, ISSUE 005 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 31, 2004 Kiowa kaguat p'a san/little bud moon Anishnaabe Gichi-Manidoo-giizis/Great Spirit 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; 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: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + ======================== "What white man can say I never stole his land or a penny of his money? Yet they say that I am a thief." "What white woman, however lonely, was ever captive or insulted by me? Yet they say I am a bad Indian." "What white man has ever seen me drunk? Who has ever come to me hungry and left me unfed? Who has seen me beat my wives or abuse my children? What law have I broken?" __ Chief Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa Lakota +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Indian Pledge of Allegiance | The Indian Pledge of Alleg- | | iance was first presented | I pledge allegiance to my Tribe,| on 2 December '93 during the | to the democratic principles | opening address of the Nat- | of the Republic | ional Congress of American | and to the individual freedoms | Indian Tribal-States Relat- | borrowed from the Iroquois and | ions Panel in Reno, NV. NCAI | Choctaw Confederacies, | plans distribution of the | as incorporated in the United | Indian Pledge to all Indian | States Constitution, | Nations. | so that my forefathers | | shall not have died in vain | Walk in Beauty! Night Owl +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Journey | In the summer and early fall | The Bloodline | of 1998 the Treaty Unity Riders | | rode a thousand miles on horse- | For all that live and live by law | back, carrying a staff and | We Stand, we Call, We Ride | praying each step of the way. | For All that fear and fear by sight | | We Hear, we Listen, we Ride | These prayers were offered for | For all that pray and pray by strength| each of us, and that the Unity | We Feel, we Move, we Ride | of all Peoples might happen. | For all that die and die by greed | | We Hurt, we Cry, we Ride | Tatanka Cante forwarded this | For all that birth and birth by right | poem on behalf of all the Unity | We Smile, we Hold, we Ride | Riders that we might stop and | For all that need and need by heart | ask if the next words we say, the | We Came, we Went, we Rode. | next act we make is for the good | | of the People or is it from ego | Treaty Unity Riders | for self. +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ O'siyo Brothers and Sisters! Judge Rodney Steele gave Bill Janklow 100 days of jail time, fines and some community service as "just punishment" for his manslaughter conviction after running down Randy Scott. I and my half-side, Janet, are volunteers to our brothers at a maximum security US Prison who are doing a lot more times for far less crimes. I can guarantee I would receive a conviction - in prison, not some damn county jail - for 5 to 10 years if I go out, speed and kill another human being through my negligence. Once again, American "Just-Us" has proven its true value system. My only solace is that this germ will be politically bankrupt. I sincerely hope the civil suit by Randy Scott's family will also leave him financially bankrupt. He was already morally bankrupt - just listen to the spirit of Jacinta Eagle Deer. --- This week a federal judge ruled housing that was built substandard at the direction of the BIA is the responsibility of the Blackfeet. Though the BIA specified, approved and managed the construction of housing in Montana with wood foundations that now rot and mold, it is NOT the BIA's responsibility to repair or compensate for the damage. Why not? Because the Blackfeet are a sovereign nation whose own housing authority should make repairs. It should not, but it absolutely amazes me how we have sovereignty only when it can be used as a hammer to beat us down. The occupation forces are even too cowardly to admit to this obvious duplicity. To borrow one of the occupation forces' quotes: "This too shall pass." 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 ---------- - A Trust Betrayed - Zuni's Historic Santo Nino - FarmBureau influencing has new Caretakers Indian Policy - Hospitals ordered to obey - One Nation opposition Indian Birth Rites to Enviormental Programs - Interior to open - Seneca Nation sues New York almost 9 Million Acres in Alaska over Internet ban - Jules resigns - Blood Quantum, as AFN Chief of Staff Identity and Arrested Development - Chre'tien subpoena - Tribes given voice by Natives in offing on Brucellosis Committee - A Community Member - Schaghticoke awaits BIA confronts Issac and Ross Recognition Ruling - Kanehsata:ke: What Happens Now? - NEWCOMB: - Me'tis adopt Definition Observations on U.S. v. Lara to include US Descendants - Native American Bank - Racist comments by Ontario Police offers new Mortgage Program on Videotape - Real Story of Code-talkers - Commissioner calls for inquiry - Indian tribes in Phoenix: into Man's Death Is anybody listening? - REPORT: Mexican Troops - Judge dismisses suppress Indian Town Blackfeet housing complaints - Sweat Lodge/Police Controversies - Seneca Nation sues New York - Janklow gets Jail Time over Internet ban - FBI, others seek leads - YELLOW BIRD: in Tribal death threats Seminars on Native Culture - Native Prisoner - American Indian Leader -- Leonard Peltier Solidarity pledges 1 Million Voters - Rustywire: Early Morning - Native Americans - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days to aid Zuni Dancer - Poem: In the Struggle we Stand - Upcoming Events --------- "RE: A Trust Betrayed" --------- Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 12:06:09 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DoI TRUST BETRAYAL" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/~C8816%2C1101040126-578961%2C00.html A Trust Betrayed? Native Americans claim the U.S. mismanaged their oil and gas legacies it promised to protect By MARGUERITE MICHAELS/SHAWNEE January 26, 2004 Ruby Withrow remembers the happy days she spent as a young child on her grandfather Moses Bruno's 80-acre homestead near Shawnee, Okla. There the extended Bruno family, members of the Potawatomi tribe, tended large gardens of vegetables and fruits and raised chickens, hogs and cows. On Sundays the whole family attended the Sacred Heart Catholic Mission just down the road. But all that changed soon after oil was discovered on the Bruno property. Lease agreements were arranged with oil producers, wells were dug, and pumping began in 1939. But family members say Grandpa Bruno never knew how much oil and gas were being taken out of his land or how much money he was due from their sale. All his royalty payments went into a trust fund managed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). If Bruno needed to buy something, he had to appeal to the local BIA agent, and he was rarely given cash. When he wanted to buy a cow, the price was deducted from his account and given directly to the seller. When he bought groceries, he paid for them with a BIA voucher. The wells were plugged just 28 months later - Bruno family members say the wells' operator never gave a reason for ending production - but in that short time, they say, the soil was ruined, and the Brunos were able to grow hardly anything on it. Younger family members moved away to find jobs, and the old folks limped along on public assistance until 1960, when Bruno and his wife Frances died within a month of each other. Their heirs decided to sell what remained of the land the next year. Such stories are common among Native Americans. Like legions of others, Bruno acquired his holdings under the Dawes Act of 1887. Its allotment program was an effort by Congress to break up the tribal structure by encouraging self-sufficiency among the Indians. The Dawes Act mandated that the land given to Natives be managed by the Department of the Interior's local BIA agent and promised that any profits from the property would be held in trust for its owners. The problem, say hundreds of families like the Brunos, is that the owners received relatively little of the money coming to them. Over the past decade, many of the families have begun actively pursuing what they say is their rightful legacy. In 1996 Elouise Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet tribe, filed a $135 billion class action against the U.S. government, claiming that billions of dollars belonging to some 500,000 Native Americans and their heirs had been mismanaged or stolen from accounts held in trust since the late 19th century. Through document discovery and courtroom testimony, the Cobell case revealed mismanagement, ineptness, dishonesty and delay by federal officials, leading U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth to declare their conduct "fiscal and governmental irresponsibility in its purest form." The BIA holds 11 million acres in trust for individual Native Americans. Money from timber sales and agricultural and oil leases of this property is distributed under the same program that dealt with Moses Bruno. Five years ago, his descendants began tracking their patrimony. Their experience shows how difficult it can be to prove past wrongs and have them redressed. Family members say Moses Bruno was never allowed to see his oil and gas account ledgers. It might not have done him much good if he had been, given that, like many Indians of his generation, he had never learned to read and could write only his name. When his eldest son Johnnie argued that the government was robbing him blind, the older man insisted that the Indian-agency people would never cheat him. After World War II, Bruno's children tried to sue the oil company for saltwater damage to their soil caused by the pumping from the wells. "But even though my dad Johnnie took photos," says Ruby Withrow, 69, "we couldn't prove Moses had not allowed the salty runoff. There was no paper trail at that time." Nor was there money to pay for a lawyer. Over the years, family members looked for documents that could prove the bureau had treated Moses Bruno badly. They went to the National Archives in Washington, visited historical societies in Oklahoma and requested records from BIA offices in Shawnee and nearby Anadarko, Okla. Always they were told that few records were available. The Cobell case reassured the Brunos that others had had similarly unhappy experiences with their BIA trust funds and motivated them to dig deeper for documents to support their complaints. Finally, after a 16-hour marathon on the Internet in the fall of 1998, Dana Dickson, Ruby Withrow's daughter, discovered on an obscure Indian arts-and-crafts site a link to Oklahoma Indian - agency files located at the regional National Archives in Fort Worth, Texas. A family delegation immediately made the trip. "I'll never forget the first time we went down there," says Dickson's cousin Johnnie Flynn. "Dana and I were pulling file after file. One of them was Moses Bruno's. It was three inches thick. I stopped and looked over at my mother and my Aunt Ruby. There were tears streaming down their faces." They found grocery receipts and bills from JCPenney for socks at 15 cents a pair and a coat for $14.66. The purchase order from the Indian agency for Moses' first car was there, as were numerous voucher slips endorsed with his tentative, spidery signature. Most important, there were pages of ledger sheets detailing his individual BIA money account. More than half a dozen visits later, Moses' grandson Leon Bruno has accumulated enough photocopies of documents to fill 19 loose-leaf notebooks. Papers show that Moses' entire 80-acre allotment first came under an oil lease in 1923. Six years later, according to BIA documents, 20 of those acres were sold to two local white men for $1,311, or $65.55 an acre. The family has found contradicting government estimates of the land's royalty value at the time, ranging from $50 to $400 an acre. And documents are unclear about whether Moses Bruno understood before the transaction was completed that the land was being sold. A well was drilled on these 20 acres in 1933 and still pumps to this day. In 1931 Bruno got permission from the BIA to withdraw 20 separate acres of his allotment from the trust, and he began selling percentages of his oil and gas royalty interest. Four wells were eventually drilled on the remaining BIA-controlled 40 acres and pumped from March 1939 to the end of 1941. It was the practice then for oil companies to send royalty-payment checks for Indian-owned property directly to the superintendent of the local BIA office. Each day the Shawnee office made a deposit via certified mail to the Federal Reserve Bank in Oklahoma City, Okla. The deposit sheet listed the source of each check, its amount and the day's total deposits. Daily entries were also made in the office's cash-receipts journal, registering the payment to each individual Indian account on a ledger card. Sorting through those old documents, with the lingering resentments the families have toward the BIA, can be confusing. When Dana Dickson began comparing the amounts posted to her great grandfather's ledger card with the sums on the deposit sheets for the same days, she discovered that 10% was routinely funneled from the oil check to a special-deposit account. Dickson and her relatives suspected that corrupt agents were taking the money for themselves. But Ross Swimmer, a Department of the Interior ombudsman working on behalf of Indian-trust beneficiaries, told TIME that the deduction, which was not exclusive to Moses Bruno's account, was simply a fee that the BIA charged for managing the oil and gas properties held by the trust funds. Nearly two years after the elder Brunos died in 1960, a Shawnee bureau agent suggested that the family sell its remaining 40 acres, along with the property's mineral rights. "[The minerals have only a] nominal value," the agent wrote in a letter to the regional BIA office in Anadarko. The family signed off on the sale, netting $3,022.50. In 1982 a new oil well was drilled on that land and is still pumping. The Bruno family acknowledges the pressure the BIA was under during the oil-boom years. In the 1935 annual report of the Shawnee agency, the superintendent called his office "woefully undermanned," handling 1,500 Indian money accounts with only one clerk, who had no modern accounting machines. "Maybe there were some mistakes made," says Leon Bruno. "[But] a lot of what went on was deliberate." The family estimates that Moses Bruno earned a total of $35,000 from his oil and gas leases. The production figures the descendants unearthed, on just one well on the land that was sold in 1933, amount to almost $70 million. It is not clear whether the family will ever receive compensation for any miscalculations that may have been made on their land sales and oil leases. Elouise Cobell's class action has stalled in the face of the Department of the Interior's estimate that it would take five years and $335 million just to account for the money from land and mineral leases covering a period of more than 100 years. And Congress is balking at the expense - even though its committees have issued more than one report over the years about gross mismanagement of Native American trust funds. In December the Bruno descendants decided to withdraw from the Cobell suit and hired a lawyer to pursue their own. "It's not about the money," says Moses' granddaughter Ruby Withrow, a nurse who administers a diabetes program for the Absentee Shawnee tribe. "I want some justice for a man who trusted the United States and was betrayed." The BIA has looked into the family's claims and says that while the records for Moses Bruno's account may not be complete, "no instance of malfeasance was found in the records that we examined." In a fax to TIME, the agency stated that "understandably, the family did not review these files with a historian's commitment to objectivity." Still, the search for what happened to Moses Bruno's land has produced a new sense of equanimity for his family. There have been several meetings to bring all the descendants - some 200 plus - up to date on the stories the documents tell. Leon Bruno has started a nonprofit corporation, funded by garage sales, raffles and donations from family and friends, that he hopes will eventually allow the family to pay for an organized study of its Potawatomi culture and language. He and his wife Veta attend the annual gatherings of the nine Potawatomi bands, now scattered over several states. Leon has gone through the training and fasting that are required of those chosen as the tribe's honored fire keepers. And he has built a roundhouse on his property in Tecumseh, Okla., where family members gather four times a year to light a sacred fire and pray for the memory of their ancestor Moses Bruno. Copyright c. 2004 Time Inc. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: FarmBureau influencing Indian Policy" --------- Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 20:12:23 -0600 From: "jkdowell" Subj: FarmBureau influencing Indian policy This proposed legislation comes straight out of Farm Bureau policy. Read for yourselves: www.okfarmbureau.org http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=3D1161320&TP=3Dgetarticle Legislator calls for oversight on tribal pacts 2004-01-19 By Carmel Perez Snyder Capitol Bureau A measure that will be considered in the upcoming legislative session could dilute the governor's power in negotiating tribal compacts. Rep. Forrest Claunch, R- Midwest City, wants compacts approved by the governor and the Joint Committee on State-Tribal Relations to require approval by the Legislature. "We have major public policy being decided by a group of 10 appointed people," Claunch said. "This typically does not happen with any other committee." Claunch said approval would be required by a simple majority of the Legislature, and should not affect the governor's ability to negotiate compacts. But Secretary of Finance Scott Meacham, the governor's point man on tribal compact negotiations, said the change is not a good idea. "Routine things, such as changing language in a compact or renewing a compact, would require legislative approval," Meacham said. "We would need to have special sessions all the time." Currently, the governor or his designee can negotiate compacts, such as the recently signed tobacco compacts, and need approval only from the Joint Committee on State-Tribal Relations. The committee is responsible for overseeing and approving agreements between the state and Indian tribes. The speaker of the House of Representatives and the president pro tempore of the Senate each appoint five committee members. Claunch said he's concerned the current system would allow for the expansion of gambling without legislative approval. "The governor wants to approve Class III gambling that means slot machines, and one way to do that without approval from the Legislature or voters is through a tribal compact," Claunch said. Henry has repeatedly said any gaming compact would be sent to the Legislature for approval. A gaming compact proposal that included allowing gaming at horse race tracks did not get approval from lawmakers last year, and both Meacham and the governor have said they plan to try again in the upcoming session. --------- "RE: One Nation opposition to Enviormental Programs" --------- Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 08:46:31 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JUSTIFYING RACISM" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=3596 One Nation leader details opposition to tribal enviormental programs "Kind of like putting a gun to my head" TULSA OK Sam Lewin January 22, 2004 A Tulsa conference on granting special status to Indian tribes to conduct their own environmental programs saw strong opposition from Oklahoma anti- tribal sovereignty group One Nation. One Nation Co-Founder Mike Cantrell appeared along with an attorney for the Cherokee Nation and a tribal ombudsman from the Environmental Protection Agency. They were guests of the Environmental Federation of Oklahoma. The EFO sponsored the event to, in their words, "hear everyone's point of view." Cantrell defended One Nation's opposition to tribes seeking federal permission to operate water and air quality standards. "I don't think we are all racists. We certainly don't think of ourselves that way. What we are concerned about, and I haven't seen anything here today that led me to be any less concerned, is the idea that we have governments within our governments that we have created that basically we are accountable to. When we started working on this effort we started to learn," said Cantrell. Cantrell said an incident involving the Sandia Pueblo in New Mexico shows why giving tribes state status is dangerous. "The tribe is six miles down river from the city of Albuquerque. Just read the newspaper accounts of what happened. The tribe got treatment similar to state status from the EPA. They set water quality standards for arsenic 100 times stronger than a fifty-seven mile stretch of the Rio Grande River before it got to Albuquerque. The effluent from the city of Albuquerque had to be cleaned up to a standard that was impossible to meet. The city of Albuquerque has, last time I checked, spent $800 million trying to meet that impossible water standard that the tribe had set," Cantrell said. EPA Ombudsman Mark Allen, an Oklahoma-born Indian, told Cantrell he didn't have his facts straight. "As far as Albuquerque is concerned, the money they were going to have to spend on that, they were going to be required to do that regardless of whether tribal governments were involved. They weren't meeting federal health requirements. They were going to have to spend that money anyway," Allen said. Cantrell said he didn't trust the motivation of a tribe seeking the state status. "So for our friends and neighbors in the Indian tribes of Oklahoma to say `don't worry about us, we are business friendly' is kind of like putting a gun to my head and saying `but don't worry there are no bullets' and the next thing is like `oh there are bullets, but we won't fire it,' " Cantrell said. He also criticized a federal energy bill that contained tax incentives for tribes to invest in gas and energy. Obtaining state status is solely up the federal government, said Environmental Protection Agency official Ben Harrison. "We are supportive of the tribes having their own environmental programs," Harrison told the Native American Times. "We have a trust responsibility to promote self-governance, and we are trying to fulfill that." Harrison is assistant regional council for tribal affairs in the EPA's region 6, an area covering Oklahoma. He said even though there are grants available to start environmental programs, no tribe has gone through the complicated permit process, although the Pawnee Nation is getting there. "The Pawnees have had an application for a water quality program that we have not acted on, but we are fairly close to a decision," Harrison said. Native American Times is Copyright c. 2003 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: Seneca Nation sues New York over Internet ban" --------- Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2004 12:44:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INTERNET SMOKE SALES" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.indiancountry.com/?1074965057 Seneca Nation sues New York over Internet smoke sales ban Pataki proposes postponement of sales tax collections January 24, 2004 by: Tom Wanamaker / Correspondent / Indian Country Today CATTARAUGUS RESERVATION, N.Y. - In a move to protect one of its strongest business enterprises, the Seneca Nation filed suit in federal district court challenging a New York state law banning the sale of cigarettes over the Internet. In its complaint, the nation alleges that the law is both unconstitutional and a violation of Seneca sovereignty. "If enforced, the (law) would severely restrict the manner in which Native American retailers in New York have been able to transact business for years, and would represent unlawful interference with the sovereignty of the Nation," wrote Seneca attorneys in court briefs. "Revenue generated through the sale of tobacco products by Native American retailers has assisted in increasing the standard of living for all members of the Nation." The Senecas are New Yorks most prominent online Indian tobacco retailers. According to a recent estimate, Seneca-owned businesses involved in the online cigarette trade employ some 1,500 people. The Nation licenses all tobacco merchants operating on its territory; proceeds from the licensing fees support a number of Nation-provided services. The law, originally enacted in 2000, prohibits the sale of cigarettes ordered both by mail and over the Internet. State officials began enforcing the measure last June after U.S. District Court Judge William M. Skretny declined to stop them. The legislation was originally touted as a measure to both protect public health and to limit minors' access to tobacco, but some critics believe its real intent is to force New Yorkers to physically purchase their cigarettes from actual New York stores, thus boosting state tax revenue. Two other legal challenges, both filed last year, to the Internet tobacco sales ban are also pending before Judge Skretny. One is led by the Online Tobacco Retailers Association and includes a Seneca retailer, out- of-state online retailers and disabled smokers. A pair of Seneca business owners filed the other action. Sales tax collection In other news of import to the Senecas and other New York tribes, Governor George Pataki on Jan. 20 asked the Legislature to postpone for a year its attempts to collect sales taxes on reservation transactions. The governor wants another 12 months to negotiate price or tax parity agreements with the various state tribes involved in retailing. "We appreciate the fact that the governor wants to engage in a dialogue with the Indian nations on this issue," said Rickey L. Armstrong Sr., Seneca Nation president, in a Jan. 20 press release. "We recognize this as a positive step by the governor in attempting to achieve a resolution to this issue that is respectful of our sovereignty." Facing a massive budget deficit, the state legislature last year directed Pataki to enforce the collection of sales taxes on reservation sales of fuel and tobacco to non-Indian customers. In 1997, Pataki halted attempts to collect state taxes on reservation transactions in the wake of blocked Interstates and threats of violence. He expressed his recognition of tribal sovereignty at that time. This experience surely swayed Pataki to pursue a negotiated settlement. This time, legislators had originally set Dec. 1, 2003 as the deadline to strike a deal with the tribes or to begin tax collections. As that date neared with no deals on the horizon, Pataki got the deadline pushed back to March 1. This still would have allowed legislators to book a month of tax revenue before the state's new fiscal year begins April 1. There was no immediate word from legislators regarding the 52-week postponement. To the pessimistic, the fact that Pataki wants a whole year could mean that no tribes are anywhere close to a tax agreement. Or it simply could reflect the fact that the complex inter-mingling of tax, land claim and casino revenue sharing issues will take some time to resolve, regardless of whatever progress may have been made to date. Copyright c. 2004 Indian Country Today. --------- "RE: Blood Quantum, Identity and Arrested Development" --------- Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 11:14:07 -0800 (PST) From: James Starkey Subj: feel free to forward Mailing-List: RezLife Blood Quantum, Identity and Arrested Development Hau Mitakiapi: It is more and more obvious we as Indigenous People in general and as the Tetuwan Oyate in particular are at the brink of a renewed awareness. Surviving generations of colonization, indoctrination, second-class status and outright genocide, our People are now taking inventory. We are searching beyond the simple symptoms of oppression to the root causes of our cyclic ills. As we do this, we are faced with a few dynamics, of which we must continually be aware. The first and foremost are of course, the dynamics of the re-awakening itself. The re-awakening was a period of renewed interest in identity. Constantly oppressed, depressed and repressed Peoples found an outlet. They found a voice, a whipping post for their pain. A pan-indian counterculture was born. Far from a panacea, the new pan-indian outlook should have been a simple wake up call. Specific Lifeways of the specific Indigenous Nations should have been nurtured. The "american indian" and "native american" monikers used in the beginning should have grown obsolete in the face of a nurtured awareness of each specific Ancient Lifeways. The pyramidal hierarchies of organizing should have given way to the Indigenous ways of the Circle. Accepting a status as "tribal" or as "activists" should have grown into awareness of a People and as a Relative. Should have. Instead, we are 30 years thence and now facing the repercussions of the continuum of pan-indianism. We are now dealing with the entry-level awareness of an arrested development. We now have to throw off the deep-rooted shackles of what was once a movement and now is an encumbrance. My Relatives, take a look around you. Why do those espousing the "struggle" consistently use the weights and measures of the oppressor as valid? When did this become so inverted? For example, "traditions" are seen as a way to keep blood-quantum high. This is problematic for a couple of reasons. First, because in our way we don't have "traditions", we don't have a "lifestyle", we have Lakol Wicohan, the "friendly Lifeways". The focus should be upon promoting and growing the infrastructure necessary within oneself first, then within one's Tiospaye to allow these Lifeways to flourish. It isn't about using these Lifeways as a vehicle for blood purity. It isn't about how things appear on the surfac e; it is about the essence of the thing. Look at our very Language. Look how often our own words go far deeper than the appearance, and to the very essence of being. It isn't about blood-quantum. The wasicu can see it how they will all day and it still wouldn't matter, not if our Lifeways and Tiospaye based infrastructure were intact. They could outlaw the Lakota Oyate today and it wouldn't matter at all, not if we held our Lifeways as paramount. Why focus so adamantly upon what the wasicu does, what the wasicu thinks and what the wasicu measures by and not upon your own circle? Why rant on about mascots in schools and not endeavor to augment the very curriculum of those schools with a truer understanding of Lakol Wicohan? Why rally against the IRA governments and not then rebuild our Ancient Infrastructure? Why oppose the hierarchical paradigm with another hierarchical paradigm STILL not of the Tetuwan Oyate? The second dynamic we must remember is the human desire for power. When a person has no means to know his/her own innate power, that being searches instead for empowerment. Usually this empowerment is manifested in some form of control. Usually the control is manifested against one's own People. This is an unfortunate symptom of oppression that winds its way throughout our current dilemma. Couple this false sense of power, this control and empowerment with our addiction to drama (another cyclic symptom of oppression) and we are then fervently chasing our own tail as a People. We then easily put on the trappings of the wasicu in an attempt at empowerment. We put on the clothes of oppression in an attempt to dress ourselves. In a poignant attempt at rebellion, we may turn the clothes inside out, pitifully trying to masquerade as "tradish". My Relatives, I urge you to continue your re-awakening. Continue throwing aside the shackles of pyramidal, hierarchical control, and to continue nurturing the simple Relations within your respective Tiospayes, thereby causing the Circle, the Hocoka to strengthen. Your most simple act of Relatedness outstrips the most audacious act of "activism" any day. Our struggle is not a struggle for rights. We seek neither civil-rights nor property rights. Our struggle is as deep as our Lifeways. Our Lifeways are not about rights. Our Lifeways, and indeed our struggle, is about Responsibility. Mitakuye Oyasin. James H. Starkey James H. Starkey http://www.oyateunderground.com --------- "RE: Tribes given voice on Brucellosis Committee" --------- Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2004 12:44:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BRUCELLOSIS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.casperstartribune.net/~/5465b61ddeda790187256e25007908bd.txt Tribes given voice on brucellosis committee By JEFF GEARINO Southwest Wyoming bureau Sunday, January 25, 2004 GREEN RIVER - Native Americans will get a seat on the Greater Yellowstone Interagency Brucellosis Committee (GYIBC) as a non-voting member, officials decided at a recent committee meeting. Members of the GYIBC formally endorsed a proposal to have Native American representation on the GYIBC's executive committee during a meeting Jan. 14 in Bozeman. The group decided to begin work on a memorandum of understanding to formalize the proposal. Wyoming Game and Fish Department Public Information Specialist Mark Gocke said while the executive committee voiced support for the idea, there are still some details to be worked out, such as who would represent the tribes and the specific wording of the memorandum. Last September, the Inter-Tribal Bison Cooperative, which represents 52 tribal governments, asked the executive committee to consider Native American representation on the committee. The GYIBC's membership is currently composed of representatives from 13 state and federal organizations, including the Game and Fish, that provide funding and personnel for the group. GYIBC officials believe the numerous tribes surrounding Yellowstone will be crucial to the implementation of management measures outlined in a strategic plan to eradicate the disease. The strategic plan calls for the committee to prepare Herd Unit Management plans for 25 elk herds and two bison herds living around the park. The GYIBC has set a goal of eliminating brucellosis from the Greater Yellowstone Area by the year 2010. Many bison and elk in Yellowstone National Park are believed to be infected with the disease, which can cause cattle to abort their first calves and in rare instances cause undulant fever in humans. A GYIBC subcommittee studying the tribes' proposal reported unanimous support for the idea of tribal representation and recommended Native Americans be added on the executive committee as a non-voting member, Gocke said in a prepared statement. Gocke said the non-voting status was recommended since the tribes do not possess management authority with regard to land, livestock or wildlife in the Greater Yellowstone Area . "The tribes expressed their desire to be a voting member, but agreed the (non-voting) proposal was reasonable," Gocke said. The next meeting of the GYIBC is tentatively scheduled for May in Pinedale. Copyright c. 2004 by the Casper Star-Tribune published by Lee Publications, Inc., a subsidiary of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Schaghticoke awaits BIA Recognition Ruling" --------- Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2004 12:44:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SCHAGHTICOKE" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.theday.com/~5B43-45A1-AEFC-D5BBA46AEBAF Tribe Awaits BIA Recognition Ruling Final Decision Expected Thursday By KAREN FLORIN Day Staff Writer, Casinos/Gambling January 24, 2004 The Schaghticoke Tribal Nation is waiting expectantly as the Bureau of Indian Affairs prepares to issue a final decision Thursday on the tribe's petition for federal recognition. Tribal leaders and their consultants have scrambled to bolster the tribe's application with new information on their social and political history since the BIA issued a preliminary denial in December 2002. They say a positive decision could enable them to enlarge their Kent reservation, provide better education, housing and health care for their approximately 300 members and, of course, venture into casino ownership. "We're sitting on the edge of our chairs," Chief Richard Velky said Friday from the tribe's office in Derby. U.S. District Judge Peter Dorsey has presided over a lawsuit involving the state and the Schaghticokes, and has overseen the BIA's schedule for reviewing the tribe's federal recognition process. Now the tribe's fate is in the hands of the BIA's Office of Federal Acknowledgment, which will make the final recommendation, and Aurene Martin, the acting assistant secretary of Indian Affairs, who will sign off on it. The tribe submitted nine additional volumes of documents to the BIA following the preliminary denial. In September 2003, as the deadline for submissions loomed, the tribe introduced a membership list that included members of a rival faction. State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal immediately objected to the last-minute submission. He said it was fraudulent and erroneous because the rival members had since attempted to renounce their membership. Both the tribe and the attorney general were able to submit additional information to the BIA to support their positions. Velky said Friday that he has yet to receive a letter from the members requesting that they be removed from the rolls. Blumenthal said it does not matter. "The bottom line is they have withdrawn, whether they have documented it in writing," the attorney general said. "There seems no dispute that they have either revoked their oral permission to use their names or they never intended to do so. The impact on the merits of the recognition petition is the same, regardless of how specifically they have denied permission to use their names. It undercuts, essentially, one of the key claims that the tribe's membership is broader than the BIA thought when it denied them (in the preliminary decision)." Blumenthal said the new material submitted by the tribe is "either irrelevant or unpersuasive." He is a longtime critic of the federal recognition process but agreed with the BIA's preliminary denial of the Schaghticokes. He said Friday that he is hopeful the BIA will uphold its preliminary decision next week. If they don't, he said he is likely to appeal. Velky said the tribe would reveal more information about its financial backers once the tribe is recognized and that the tribe is still looking for a host community for a casino. He said the backers are not one of the large gaming interests that have partnered with tribes in other states and that a casino is not the tribe's only economic development initiative. Velky said the tribe has spent millions on the federal recognition process and could never have done so on its own. "We wouldn't have been able to finance this," he said. "Although the BIA encourages tribes to do this on their own, it's totally impossible. At one time back in the '80s we could have, but since gaming became involved and it became more political, there's not a tribe that could finance it on their own." k.florin@theday.com Copyright c. 1998-2004 The Day Publishing Co. --------- "RE: NEWCOMB: Observations on U.S. v. Lara" --------- Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 12:06:09 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NEWCOMB: LARA" http://www.indiancountry.com/?1074527640 Newcomb: Observations on U.S. v. Lara January 19, 2004 by:Steven Newcomb/Indigenous Research Coordinator/D-Q University at Sycuan I'm confused. According to my dictionary, the word "inherent" means, "existing in something as a permanent and inseparable element, quality, or attribute." The word also relates to "inhere," namely, "to belong intrinsically." Thus, my confusion arises from the claim by some that Congress has the power to "diminish" or "restore" what is referred to as "inherent tribal sovereignty." If such sovereignty is "inherent," meaning "permanent" and "intrinsic" to the very existence of a given Indian nation or people then, logically and arguably, it cannot be diminished or restored, not even by the Congress of the United States. Such specific attention to semantic detail, however, has never been characteristic of the way federal Indian law and policy is dealt with in the United States. Now comes the case U.S. v. Lara, which the Supreme Court is about to hear. At issue is whether Indian "tribes" (I prefer the term nations) have the authority to prosecute the minor crimes of non-member Indians. In its 1990 Duro v. Reina decision, the Court held that tribes, through a dependent relationship with the U.S., had lost the authority to prosecute non-member Indians. Now the Court is asked to decide whether Congress restored such "inherent power" to Indian tribes. "Restored inherent power"? If such power is truly inherent then Indian nations could not have "lost" it, nor could Congress have rightfully "deprived" Indian nations and peoples of such power. But, instead of looking at the terminology in this manner, we're asked instead to set aside the ordinary meaning of the word "inherent" in favor of the plenary power doctrine. This doctrine, of course, is the idea that Congress, on behalf of the United States, has "plenary" (virtually unlimited) legislative power over Indian nations. (Where Congress supposedly got this power over originally free and independent Indian nations is a question not usually addressed) As Indian Country Today correspondent Jerry Reynolds recently wrote of an amicus curiae brief filed in the Lara case by the National Congress of American Indians: "NCAI notes as well that the congressional record in restoring tribal `inherent power' to prosecute non-member Indians plainly indicates that the restoration is not a delegation of federal authority, but a clarification of tribal authority." Here, then is the same confusion about "restoring" power said to be "inherent." In a dissenting opinion in an appeals court ruling in U.S. v. Lara, four judges for the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, express dissatisfaction that the majority did not base its opinion "on the Constitution, nor did the Constitution require the result that the Court reached there." Instead, said the dissenting judges, the majority had based its opinion "on federal common law, nothing more and nothing less." In the Indian Civil Rights Act (ICRA), said the dissent, "Congress exercised its plenary legislative power over federal common law in general and Indian affairs in particular to define the scope of inherent Indian sovereignty." And what did the dissent say about this "inherent sovereignty?" That "Congress restored to the tribes a power they had previously exercised but had lost over the years as a result of Supreme Court decisions." So, let us get this straight. The dissent referred to "inherent Indian sovereignty" as "a power" that Indian nations had "lost," not as a result of congressional action, but as a result of "Supreme Court decisions." Reflecting the same confused logic we examined at the outset of this column, the Eighth Circuit dissent depicts Congress as having "restored" through ICRA the "inherent power" that Indian nations had supposedly "lost" through a number of Supreme Court rulings. (The question of how originally free and independent Indian nations supposedly became subject to the U.S. Supreme Court is also never dealt with.) Fortunately, there is much in the Eighth Circuit dissent that expresses a powerful critique of the usual perspective on federal Indian law. For example we find the following sentence from the dissent regarding the majority opinion: "The court opines in the present case that `once the federal sovereign divests a tribe of a particular power, it is no longer an inherent power and may only be restored by delegation of Congress's power.'" (The question that the dissent does not address here is this: If "a particular power" was an "inherent power" to begin with - namely, "an intrinsic and permanent element" of a given Indian nation's existence - then how could that power have been "divested" or "restored" by "the federal sovereign"?) The dissent goes on to say: "This [the majority's] holding draws on statements in Supreme Court opinions that a tribe's inherent sovereignty consists of those aspects of sovereignty that the tribes `retained' despite the federal government's overriding sovereignty [citing Duro]... The court's apparent premise is that [an Indian nation's] power cannot be retained once the Supreme Court holds that it can no longer exist." Notice that that the dissent mentions an "overriding sovereignty" on the part of the federal government without ever identifying the actual basis of the claim that it is "overriding." Fortunately, however, the dissent did not step away from a discussion of the basis of the claim of an overriding sovereignty on the part of the federal government. First the dissent points out that, in its view, "the origin" of "the Spirit Lake Nation's ability to try Mr. Lara" is not "the ICRA amendments themselves but the full territorial sovereignty that the tribes possessed in the past." After making this point, the dissent then launches into an examination of the "foundation of federal Indian law: Johnson v. McIntosh ..., Cherokee Nation v. Georgia ..., and Worcester v. Georgia." "An examination of these cases," said the dissent, "shows that in forging the legal relationship between Indian tribes and the government of the United States, `The Supreme Court in the Marshall trilogy embraced pre-constitutional notions of the colonial process, rooted in the law of nations, involving both inherent tribal sovereignty and a colonial prerogative vested exclusively in the centralized government.'" The dissent goes on to say that "These principles, which the Supreme Court created from extra-constitutional sources, have `been consistently followed by the courts for a hundred years." To further explain the "extra-constitutional" [meaning, non- constitutional] basis of federal Indian law principles, the dissent then addressed the Johnson v. McIntosh ruling: "In McIntosh ...Chief Justice Marshall justified federal power over Indian tribes in terms of the right of discovery, a euphemism for the right of conquest." U.S. v. Lara provides Indian country with the opportunity to fully challenge the most foundational principles of federal Indian law instead of engaging in faint-hearted half-measures. Why should we accept for even one minute the idea that the United States has any rightful "federal power over Indian tribes" or nations, particularly on the basis of the "right of discovery," (which is more accurately stated as "a right of Christian discovery"). Why, in the 21st century, should we accept the antiquated claim of a U.S. "right of conquest" (albeit, cloaked in "euphemism") over our respective Indian nations? Such a claim stands in violation of our inherent birthright as free and independent nations, and our fundamental human rights. Clearly, it is long past time for Indian country to launch a concerted, well planned, and strategic challenge to such outdated, outmoded, and indefensible notions. ---- Steven Newcomb, Shawnee and Lenape, is director of the Indigenous Law Institute, and Indigenous Law research coordinator at D-Q University at Sycuan, on the Reservation of the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation and is a columnist for Indian Country Today. Copyright c. 2004 Indian Country Today. --------- "RE: Native American Bank offers new Mortgage Program" --------- Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2004 08:23:14 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NA BANK MORTGAGES" http://www.indianz.com/News/archives/003333.asp Native American Bank offers new mortgage program Wednesday, January 21, 2004 Denver, Colorado - The Native American Bank announced a new partnership with LenderLive Network and GreenPoint Mortgage. The creative partnership will offer a turnkey home mortgage program with Native American Bank and two of the industry's most prominent leaders. The program provides NAB with the ability to originate a loan for purchase, refinance or rehabilitation anywhere in the country. LenderLive will act as a retail operation for mortgage originations giving NAB the ability to work as a mortgage lender without the costs of hiring loan managers. GreenPoint will function as a broker partner, purchasing loans processed by NAB and LenderLive, and ultimately offering customers a full range of mortgage products at competitive rates. "The name of the game is leveraging," said Elouise Cobell, executive director for the Native American Community Development Corporation, the non-profit affiliate of Native American Bank. "Nowadays in banking, we don't have to recreate the wheel. I am very happy to have such strong partners as LenderLive and GreenPoint who know the area of home mortgaging. With NAB's strong footprint in the Native American community, it's a perfect fit. A win-win for everybody." Native American Bank currently originates mortgages through the Browning office that covers both the Blackfeet and Rocky Boy Indian communities. Under the new arrangement, mortgages will be originated in the name of Native American Bank with LenderLive providing the fulfillment capabilities of both a call center and Internet access to applicants. "We are thrilled to provide solutions and services that will directly lead to increased homeownership among the Native American community" said Rick Seehausen, chief operating officer for LenderLive. "This partnership opens the door to a seamless process for Native Americans to have the ability to apply for a mortgage," said Stephanie Harmon, housing director for Native American Community Development Corporation, pointing out that the biggest challenge in Indian Country is home ownership. "Going through the mortgage process is difficult; to settle is cumbersome. LenderLive will take care of that process for the customer," she explained. GreenPoint Mortgage, selected because of the development of their Tribal POINTTM Mortgage Program, will serve two functions. First, GreenPoint will purchase loans on fee simple land from NAB. All loans sold to GreenPoint will be on a whole loan basis with servicing released. NAB will earn origination fees and serviced released premiums through the sale of the loan. GreenPoint's second relationship with NAB will be a brokerage partnership. NAB and LenderLive will originate and process the loan application and will forward the package to GreenPoint for underwriting, closing, funding and servicing. "We are excited about this partnership with Native American Bank and Lender Live," said CeAnn Kelly, Vice President and director of GreenPoint's tribal lending program. "We specialize in meeting the needs of underserved markets, and this is clearly a market with a great deal of unmet demand for home ownership. We have worked hard to identify the unique needs of Native Americans wanting to purchase housing on tribal lands and to create a set of loan products to meet those unique needs. Through this partnership, we will be able to create greater housing opportunities than any of us could on an individual basis." GreenPoint has a proven track record in the development of new markets and lending opportunities. According to NAB president and CEO John Beirise, the ultimate objective in the partnership with GreenPoint is to create enough product to have a market for trust land mortgages, "just like there is a market for mortgages in the non-Indian communities through players like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, with the end result being cheaper financing for home buyers." NAB also plans to work with Tribal housing counselors who are working with individuals applying for a mortgage. The counselor will complete the information on-line while working with the customer and then will submit the mortgage application online for processing by NAB's team at LenderLive Network. "This partnership will provide NAB with the opportunity to become the dominant mortgage lender in the Native American market, believed to be the fastest growing emerging market in the United States," concluded Harmon. "LenderLive will arm NAB with the resources, experience and technology needed to compete for a greater share of Native American mortgage business, whereas GreenPoint is among the most profitable of the 50 largest banking companies in the country and has tremendous capital to fund the loans." Copyright c. 2000-2003 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Real Story of Code-talkers" --------- Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 08:08:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TRUE HISTORY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/2004/01/22/news/indiansbzbigs.txt Indian professor tells real story of code-talkers; sets history straight By GAIL SCHONTZLER, Chronicle Staff Writer January 22, 2004 Hollywood did a poor job telling the story of Indian code-talkers in the movie "Windtalkers," says a Native American studies professor from Montana State University. Walter Fleming, associate professor and author of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Native American History," said the World War II movie "sucks." He joked that it put an "Indian-deprived" actor, Nicholas Cage, and his "angst" at the forefront. The history of Indian code-talkers in war is more complex and interesting, he told a crowd of 50 people Tuesday at the Bozeman Public Library. His talk, "10 Things About Native Americans I Learned While Looking Up Something Else," was sponsored by the American Association of University Women. Not all code-talkers were Navajo, said Fleming, a member of the Kickapoo Kansas tribe who grew up on the Crow reservation in Montana. Choctaw, Comanche, Sioux and Crow soldiers also used their languages to help the U.S. Army communicate secretly and thwart enemy spying, he said. The first to do so were eight Choctaw Indians, who helped the Allies outmaneuver the Germans in the Argonne. Barney Old Coyote, a Crow Indian, flew more than 50 missions during World War II in Europe, and communicated with his brother Henry in another bomber, Fleming said. The Navajo used a "code within a code" to foil the Japanese in the Pacific. In Navajo they called the United States "our mother," Australia "rolled hat" and China "braided hair." In 2001, the Congressional Medal of Honor was awarded to the five survivors of the 29 originators of the code. One footnote to World War II was that a Crow soldier, Joe Medicine Crow, now 90, came home and found himself honored as a modern warrior chief, Fleming said. When Medicine Crow told tribal elders about his war experiences, they discovered that he had completed the four tasks required to become a warrior chief -- stealing an enemy's horse, taking an enemy's weapon, touching an enemy or counting coup with a stick, and leading a successful war party. Medicine Crow's commanding officer had asked him to steal the retreating Germans' horses, which he did as a lark. He had fought an enemy hand-to- hand, and also taken his weapon. And he had led a successful war party by crawling through mud to retrieve dynamite. Fleming also offered historic tidbits on the Lewis and Clark expedition. Lewis consulted a map made in 1801 by a Blackfeet chief named Feather, which should have answered the expedition's big questions. It clearly showed there was no water passage across the Rockies to the Pacific. Fleming said he has received mainly positive reactions to his "Complete Idiot's Guide," but there was a complaint from one California professor that it wasn't "edgy" or angry enough. "Humor I think is necessary," Fleming said. "It's a way of dealing with the tragic nature of history. It's not to make light of it, but to deal with it in a positive way, instead of negative." Gail Schontzler is at gails@dailychronicle.com Copyright c. 2003 the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. --------- "RE: Indian tribes in Phoenix: Is anybody listening?" --------- Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 08:08:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TRIBAL GATHERING" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.gallupindependent.com/012104indiantribesinphoeni.html Indian tribes in Phoenix: Is anybody listening? Ariz. governor praised by tribes Pamela G. Dempsey Dine' Bureau January 21, 2004 PHOENIX, Ariz. - Tribal leaders throughout Arizona gathered Tuesday at the Arizona State Capitol Building to accomplish just one thing: Have their voices heard. "We're not going to go anywhere, we're here to stay," said Vivian Juan- Saunders, chairperson of the Tohono O'odham Nation. The annual Indian Nations and Tribes Legislative Day, inspired by now- retired state Sen. Jack Jackson, brings together statewide tribal communities and the State of Arizona to encourage communication between the governments. "The main part is to hear our voice," said Mary Martin, Ms. Navajo Nation Elder and an observer of Tuesday's events. Politicians looking for a vote from the American Indian population should pay attention to issues surrounding it, such as health care, education, and housing, Martin said. Although the gallery was full of observers and tribal leaders, the House floor was absent of many legislators as a few tribes were given a chance to address Arizona's representatives. House and Senate committees met with tribal delegations throughout the day to hear input on education, natural resources, and agriculture, among other issues as representatives met individually with tribal leaders. "(With the) efforts of a man who taught us to judge a man not by the color of his skin but by the contents of his character (we are here today), " said Ken Bennett, Arizona's senate president, in reference to Martin Luther King Jr. "Good neighbors can have fences, not to keep each other out, but to keep the kids from causing trouble." Gov. Janet Napolitano was praised many times by tribal leaders for the quarterly tribal summits she held in 2003 at the Grand Canyon, Pinetop, Sells and Yuma to personally meet with tribal delegations to address issues affecting tribal education, health, housing and economic development. "Thank you for getting us involved," Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. told state representatives. "There's a myriad of challenges facing all of us, we are in this together." Napolitano cited the creation of Arizona's first full-time Policy Advisor for Tribal Affairs in her office as increasing communication between tribes and the state. "This strengthened relationship benefits both the tribal communities and the State of Arizona," she stated in a letter to participants. Hopi Tribal Chairman Wayne Taylor Jr., while reiterating issues from other tribes, emphasized two issues pertaining to Hopi tribe. "We want to deal with the State of Arizona as one government deals with another," Taylor said. He indicated his intention to address state laws concerning autopsies on the Hopi people, which lengthens the burial days although Hopi beliefs require burial within 24 hours of death. He also addressed dual taxation. "When the state exercises its taxing authority within boundaries of a reservation, it removes the tribe's taxing authority," Taylor said. "This results in dual taxation." As an example, Taylor used Peabody Coal Mine, which he said, is currently paying $50 million in state taxes to Arizona, less than it pays in royalties to the Hopi tribe. "When the state explores amending its tax codes, invite the tribe's input," Taylor said. The absence of many legislators did not go unnoticed. Speaker of the Navajo Nation Council Lawrence Morgan said the delegation "shied away." "The Indian nations spoke to each other," he said. Copyright c. 2004 The Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: Judge dismisses Blackfeet housing complaints" --------- Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 08:46:31 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BIA HOUSES/TRIBE'S PROBLEM" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.billingsgazette.com/~/01/23/build/state/64-blackfeethousing.inc Federal judge dismisses complaints about Blackfeet housing Associated Press January 23, 2004 GREAT FALLS - A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit seeking repair or replacement of 203 houses on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation that residents claim made them sick. An appeal is expected. U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon recently granted motions to dismiss the lawsuit filed in August 2002 against the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Blackfeet Housing Authority. Martin Marceau, a lead plaintiff, said the case likely will be appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Marceau and his fellow plaintiffs bought the houses, built in the late '70s and early '80s, under a rent-to-own program with the tribal housing authority. They say their families have suffered medical problems from asthma to sinusitis because the homes were built with treated wood foundations unsuited for the area. Moisture problems caused by the wooden foundations have exposed residents to mold, and the wood itself was treated with toxic chemicals, the plaintiffs contend. The suit asked for unspecified monetary damages and for the homes to be repaired or replaced, an undertaking estimated to cost $30 million. Haddon ruled that HUD can't be sued under the various laws that apply to the housing projects and the Blackfeet Housing Authority has "sovereign immunity." He said responsibility for maintenance of the homes falls with the housing authority and the plaintiffs. "We think he's dead wrong," said Tom Towe of Billings, attorney for the plaintiffs. HUD had a trust responsibility to maintain the homes because it funded construction and imposed long-term rules and regulations on the project, Towe said. At a hearing in mid-November, assistant U.S. attorney Timothy J. Cavan, who represented HUD, argued the federal agency has no authority over the sovereign Blackfeet nation and, therefore, did not force the tribal housing authority, which built the homes, to do anything. The new ruling, filed Jan. 12 in federal court in Great Falls, suggests that the proper venue for the suit would be the Court of Claims in Washington, D.C. It typically decides contract disputes involving the federal government. Other plaintiffs named were Candice Lamott, Julie Rattler, Joseph Rattler Jr., Mary Grant, Gary Grant and Deana Mountain Chief. Copyright c. 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Seneca Nation sues New York over Internet ban" --------- Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2004 12:44:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INTERNET SMOKE SALES" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.indiancountry.com/?1074965057 Seneca Nation sues New York over Internet smoke sales ban Pataki proposes postponement of sales tax collections January 24, 2004 by: Tom Wanamaker / Correspondent / Indian Country Today CATTARAUGUS RESERVATION, N.Y. - In a move to protect one of its strongest business enterprises, the Seneca Nation filed suit in federal district court challenging a New York state law banning the sale of cigarettes over the Internet. In its complaint, the nation alleges that the law is both unconstitutional and a violation of Seneca sovereignty. "If enforced, the (law) would severely restrict the manner in which Native American retailers in New York have been able to transact business for years, and would represent unlawful interference with the sovereignty of the Nation," wrote Seneca attorneys in court briefs. "Revenue generated through the sale of tobacco products by Native American retailers has assisted in increasing the standard of living for all members of the Nation." The Senecas are New Yorks most prominent online Indian tobacco retailers. According to a recent estimate, Seneca-owned businesses involved in the online cigarette trade employ some 1,500 people. The Nation licenses all tobacco merchants operating on its territory; proceeds from the licensing fees support a number of Nation-provided services. The law, originally enacted in 2000, prohibits the sale of cigarettes ordered both by mail and over the Internet. State officials began enforcing the measure last June after U.S. District Court Judge William M. Skretny declined to stop them. The legislation was originally touted as a measure to both protect public health and to limit minors' access to tobacco, but some critics believe its real intent is to force New Yorkers to physically purchase their cigarettes from actual New York stores, thus boosting state tax revenue. Two other legal challenges, both filed last year, to the Internet tobacco sales ban are also pending before Judge Skretny. One is led by the Online Tobacco Retailers Association and includes a Seneca retailer, out- of-state online retailers and disabled smokers. A pair of Seneca business owners filed the other action. Sales tax collection In other news of import to the Senecas and other New York tribes, Governor George Pataki on Jan. 20 asked the Legislature to postpone for a year its attempts to collect sales taxes on reservation transactions. The governor wants another 12 months to negotiate price or tax parity agreements with the various state tribes involved in retailing. "We appreciate the fact that the governor wants to engage in a dialogue with the Indian nations on this issue," said Rickey L. Armstrong Sr., Seneca Nation president, in a Jan. 20 press release. "We recognize this as a positive step by the governor in attempting to achieve a resolution to this issue that is respectful of our sovereignty." Facing a massive budget deficit, the state legislature last year directed Pataki to enforce the collection of sales taxes on reservation sales of fuel and tobacco to non-Indian customers. In 1997, Pataki halted attempts to collect state taxes on reservation transactions in the wake of blocked Interstates and threats of violence. He expressed his recognition of tribal sovereignty at that time. This experience surely swayed Pataki to pursue a negotiated settlement. This time, legislators had originally set Dec. 1, 2003 as the deadline to strike a deal with the tribes or to begin tax collections. As that date neared with no deals on the horizon, Pataki got the deadline pushed back to March 1. This still would have allowed legislators to book a month of tax revenue before the state's new fiscal year begins April 1. There was no immediate word from legislators regarding the 52-week postponement. To the pessimistic, the fact that Pataki wants a whole year could mean that no tribes are anywhere close to a tax agreement. Or it simply could reflect the fact that the complex inter-mingling of tax, land claim and casino revenue sharing issues will take some time to resolve, regardless of whatever progress may have been made to date. Copyright c. 2004 Indian Country Today. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Seminars on Native Culture" --------- Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2004 12:44:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: NATIVE CULTURE" http://www.grandforks.com/~/dorreen_yellow_bird/7785211.htm DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: Seminars on Native culture launch vital talks The first of five forums and discussions on American Indians issues is done. I left the discussion table feeling after all these years the secret is out, and the story is told. Yet, the book, "The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge," which was the center of the discussion Thursday in Barnes and Noble University Bookstore in Grand Forks, barely pricked the surface of what happened to Indians historically. Joe Starita's book is agonizing and raw. It is the story of a Lakota- Northern Cheyenne family, the Dull Knifes. Chief Dull Knife rode with Crazy Horse, escaped from forced relocation in Indian Territory (what is now Oklahoma) and led his followers on a desperate, 600-mile flight back to his Dakota Territory homeland. The book also is about George Dull Knife, who survived the Wounded Knee Massacre and toured with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show; Guy Dull Knife Sr., who fought in World War I and took part in the siege of Wounded Knee in 1973; and Guy Dull Knife Jr., who fought in Vietnam. But more than the circumstances surrounding the family, the book is about the atrocities that were committed against the Lakota and, broadly, Indians. At the discussion, I barely heard the conversations about what the people ate, their "by consensus" political systems, how they used humor and the roles of women in Indian societies. My mind was seeing the pictures of suffering that the relatives of Dull Knife painted in the book. I knew that this was the history of most Indians a history that has been left out of many history books. I knew, too, that without the tribal historians those who kept the history alive through the oral tradition the inhumane and outrageous treatment of our people would fade from books and the minds of the nation and even Indians. So, it was good to have people interested in hearing and talking about Indian history conversation promotes understanding. One of the participants told me to remember that not all white people were like those depicted in the book. Yes, I knew that was true, too. Some of the journals were written by white people who saw Indians starving and dying. In many cases, they wrote about it because that was the only way they could take action against it. Starita, a former investigative journalist and New York bureau chief for the Miami Herald, currently is associate professor of journalism at the University of Nebraska. He spent time interviewing the Lakota people and most of the Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge, S.D. This series of forums is a project of the American Indian Programs Council at UND. The goal is to provide linkages between Greater Grand Forks communities and Indian people, Greg Gagnon, associate professor at Indian Studies, told me. The forum was a suggestion of UND President Charles Kupchella, who funded the program because he thought it was important, Gagnon said. The university sees itself as trying to provide Indian education to the public. The more information that gets out there, the more these discussions will help allay some of the difficulties that have plagued the university, Gagnon said. Were they pleased with the turnout? "Oh, boy, were we," Gagnon said. They expected 50 people and 100 showed up. All the tables, chairs and space inside and around the bookstore's Tower Cafe were filled. It was a good place for a discussion. Some people sat in soft, cushy chairs and couches, and others sat at tables where they could write and take notes or drink hot coffee or tea. I liked the arrangement. Feb. 23, Starita, the author of "The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge," will be in Barnes and Noble for a discussion and book signing at 7 p.m. Jan. 29, Gagnon will explore the history of and common beliefs about Indian culture from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Herald's Community Room. March 1, Jim Grijalva, UND associate professor of law, will discuss current issues in Indian country from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Herald's Community Room. Last, Brian Gilley, assistant professor of indian studies and Russ McDonald, associate research director of the National Resource Center on Native American Aging, will explain the role of tradition in modern powwows in the Chester Fritz Auditorium from 7 to 9 p.m. April 1 This is a good opportunity to discuss issues about Indians. It is a good time to ask questions and find answers about the largest ethnic group in North Dakota. ---- 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: American Indian Leader pledges 1 Million Voters" --------- Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 08:08:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INDIAN VOTES PLEDGED" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.billingsgazette.com/~/build/nation/38-americanindianvotes.inc American Indian leader pledges 1 million voters in 8 key states Associated Press January 22, 2004 WASHINGTON (AP) - The president of the National Congress of American Indians pledged Wednesday to mobilize 1 million Indian voters in eight states this fall. "These are key states, these are key races," said Tex Hall, chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes in North Dakota. Hall said the Indian turnout in Arizona, South Dakota, New Mexico, Alaska, Minnesota, Michigan, Oklahoma and California will be "critical to our success in reclaiming other important rights - the right to adequate health care, quality education, the right to fully govern our lands, to protect our citizenry and the right to see our nation's commitments to tribes fulfilled." Hall made the pledge during his second annual "State of Indian Nations" address in Washington. He also outlined a number of areas where he said the federal government has fallen short in its responsibilities to Indian tribes. Those areas include funding of the Indian Health Service and schools, and the need for changes in the management of an Indian trust fund, he said. Congress created the fund in 1887 to manage revenue from land designated to each tribal member, but the money often was not collected, lost or stolen. Lawyers for a group of American Indians say that, with interest, the account should be worth as much as $176 billion. They also contend that tens of billions of dollars likely never made it to more than 300,000 Indian landowners. Hall asked Congress to boost funding to the Indian Health Service by $2. .3 billion. He said it would allow the agency to better fight diabetes, heart disease, cancer, suicide and alcoholism - "each disproportionately severe in Indian Country." Jacqueline Johnson, executive director of the national congress, said the group's overall priorities for the year include working to protect tribal sovereignty, resolving the dispute over the trust fund, boosting funds needed for Indian programs and getting Indians out to vote. Copyright c. 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Native Americans to aid Zuni Dancer" --------- Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 08:46:31 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HELPING GRANDFATHER MAHOOTY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.rochesterdandc.com/news/01236T31JOS_news.shtml Native Americans to aid Zuni dancer By Diana Louise Carter Staff Writer January 23, 2004 Two heart attacks in rapid succession prevented Chester Mahooty of Henrietta from giving the opening prayer and song at a Native American gathering in Tucson, Ariz., on New Year's Day. Mahooty, 75, a Zuni dancer and singer who has toured internationally, collapsed just before sunrise prayers on Dec. 30 at Zuni Pueblo, N.M., according to his wife, Barbara Bethmann-Mahooty. Mahooty made it through the heart crises and several surgical procedures but now must go through cardiac rehabilitation before he can leave the hospital in Albuquerque. On Saturday, the Rochester-area Native American community, which reveres Mahooty as both a cultural and spiritual leader, will gather and welcome others to join them at an Iroquois social dance aimed at raising money to help with the expenses the elderly couple have incurred. The event, beginning with a potluck supper at 5:30 p.m. and continuing with a dance from 7 to 10, will be at the Rochester Museum & Science Center's Eisenhart Auditorium. Bethmann-Mahooty, 70, has been staying in an Albuquerque hotel to remain near her husband of 10 years. They had been staying with relatives at Zuni Pueblo, one of the Pueblo Indian communities, about 150 miles from Albuquerque. Reached by phone on her way to the Heart Hospital of Albuquerque on Tuesday, Bethmann-Mahooty laughed at the irony of the social being held while the couple is away. Unable to get her Christmas cards out before the couple left for the Southwest, Bethmann-Mahooty had been considering holding a party when they got back. Now the friends will gather, but she'll be too far away to see them. "It's very kind of them to do this. People have been so nice," said Bethmann-Mahooty, who is Mohawk. The Young Spirit Dancers, the dance troupe affiliated with the Ganondagan State Historic Site in Ontario County, will host the Iroquois social. Mahooty, founding member of the American Indian Dance Theatre and leader of his own Zuni Rainbow Dancers troupe before that, taught Zuni dances to many of the youngsters and young adults who dance with the Young Spirit troupe. "Wherever they went, they were really great and got great reviews," G. Peter Jemison, site manager at Ganondagan, said of the American Indian Dance Theatre, which was extremely popular in the 1980s and 1990s. Jemison met Mahooty in 1992, when Jemison and some other Iroquois people worked with the dance theater to teach Iroquois dances to the troupe. While on tour in Alaska in 1993, Mahooty fell and smashed his kneecap, ending his dancing career. Mahooty is a medicine man in his Pueblo community. He also is a master silversmith and sells his work and that of other Southwest artists at Ganondagan arts and crafts fairs. Jemison said Rochester-area Native Americans turn to Mahooty for his spiritual wisdom. "He always was called upon to offer a prayer or song in a way to bring the minds of the group together," Jemison said. "Although our language is different, he didn't really see a difference in what we are offering thanks for." Bethmann-Mahooty met her future husband in 1978, when he was performing at Art Park in Lewiston, Niagara County. Then the teacher of the Native American cultural program in the Rush-Henrietta schools, she would take her students to various cultural performances for inspiration. The teacher looked the dancer up again at a St. Lawrence University performance to offer the suggestion that the dances be narrated to help the audience better understand their significance. "He told me, `They don't narrate the ballet,'" Bethmann-Mahooty recalled, suggesting a debate that still hasn't been settled between them. In October 1992, they met again, backstage at Nazareth Arts Center, and he told her he'd like to get to know her better. His wife had died three years earlier, and he said he was lonely, she recalled. They married in November 1993. Bethmann-Mahooty said she can't predict when her husband will be ready to leave the hospital, but she expects they will stay at Zuni to recuperate for a while before returning home to Henrietta. "It's all in the creator's hands," she said. DCARTER@DemocratandChronicle.com Copyright c. 2004 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. --------- "RE: Zuni's Historic Santo Nino has new Caretakers" --------- Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2004 12:44:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CHANGE OF CARETAKER" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.gallupindependent.com/012404ZuniPuebloshistorics.html Zuni Pueblo's historic Santo Nino has new caretakers Statue believed to be more than 400 years old by Pamela G. Dempsey Staff Writer January 24, 2004 ZUNI - The Santo Nino in Zuni, a small statue resembling Jesus Christ as a child, receives many things throughout the year jewelry, clothing, and money and, just recently, new caretakers. The Siutza family, its former caretakers until last week, was asked to leave the house of the Santo Nino, on Jan. 21 by the governor of Zuni after a traditional hearing between the Siutzas and the Kanastas, the overseeing family, was held. "I believe no other person has the right to take away from us what they took away from us," said Bob Siutza, the figure's former caretaker. The Santo Nino resides in a 11-room house in the middle of the Zuni pueblo. The house is open 24 hours a day so that believers of the faith can come and pray at anytime. The Saint, one of several throughout the world, is believed to be more than 400 years old. It rests in a glass case surrounded by candles and offerings of its many visitors. Although the house is community property, members of the Kanasta family bloodline are the only ones allowed to care for the spiritual figure, passed down from generation to generation since the late 1600's, "Eviction was not the case," said Arlen Quetawki, governor of the pueblo. "Nobody got evicted." Instead, he said, the Kanasta family asked for a traditional hearing to discuss the responsibilities and concerns of the Siutzas' care of the Saint. While the Siutzas claim they were evicted due to allegations by other family members of drinking, drug dealing, and domestic violence, Quetawki would not confirm any reason behind their replacement. "We are a neutral party in the case," he said. Kathy Siutza, a member of the Kanasta family, moved into the house early last year. "You feel like you have to treat (the Saint) with respect," she said. "You have to protect the Saint at all times with your life." The respect and dedication, they said, is what they gave 100 percent for the last year and the allegations are not true. "We are looking at the Saint as our infant," Bob said. "I want our dignity back." Their children, two daughters and a son, ran errands, paid bills, and did the shopping while Kathy and Bob kept vigil. A requirement, the Siutzas said, for anyone watching over the Saint seen in several locations worldwide. Beliefs surrounding the Santo Nino continue to grow. It is known worldwide for its reputed healing properties. Its shoes, believers say, new ones each day, are worn out by morning from the miracles it performs running around at night. Both national and international visitors from all over the world come to pay respects and ask for blessings from the Saint in exchange for jewelry, clothing, and money. In January, churches from all over the world celebrate the Feast of Santo Nino, where members reflect on its child-like qualities to remind them of the childlike qualities so revered in Christianity. "The Saint has been a miracle on our family," Bob said. "Money ain't the thing over here, it's life." The Siutzas said they feel sad to leave the house and the Saint as they make a new home on the north side of the village. "Hopefully, we'll start off new," Kathy said. Quetawki said the family agreed the Santo Nino is common property. "It doesn't belong to one individual," he said. The Kanasta family decided to give the full-time responsibility back to its former caretakers, a mother and daughter team. Quetawki said everyone, including the Siutzas, had a chance to speak on the matter. "The decision of the tribal council is the final decision," Quetawki said. "Commitments have to made to stay with her constantly and watch over the house." Copyright c. 2004 the Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: Hospitals ordered to obey Indian Birth Rites" --------- Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 08:08:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GUARANI" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=4176185 Hospitals Ordered to Obey Indian Birth Rites January 21, 2004 SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - The Brazilian state of Sao Paulo Tuesday ordered public hospitals near Indian villages to abide by ancient tribal customs when delivering babies for Guarani Indian women. The resolution, aimed at increasing the Guarani's trust in the modern health care system, obliges hospitals to allow midwives from the tribe to assist in childbirth and respect the Indians' traditional diet. That means removing foods like beef, pork, fish, beans, eggs, milk, salt, sugar and fruit from meals for 40 days after labor. Instead, Guarani mothers will be served chicken, rice, corn and a porridge made from the cassava root. Hospitals will also preserve the mother's placenta after childbirth so it can be buried in the tribe's village or kept with the community's most prized possessions, in accordance with Guarani traditions. "The Indians believe the ritual of burying the placenta has an impact on the rhythm of life of the newborn baby. We're just respecting their wishes," said Augusta Sato, who tracks Indian health issues for Sao Paulo state. Sao Paulo, Brazil's wealthiest and most populous state, is home to about 2,000 Guarani Indians who live in 15 villages scattered throughout the eastern part of the state. The Guarani can also be found in other parts of southern Brazil and in neighboring Paraguay, where 90 percent of the population speaks Guarani. Copyright c. 2004 Reuters. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Interior to open almost 9 Million Acres in Alaska" --------- Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 08:46:31 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WHAT ENVIRONMENT?" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~26794~1908305,00.html Interior to open almost 9 million acres in Alaska to drilling By JOHN HEILPRIN , Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON January 22, 2004 Interior Secretary Gale Norton signed off on a plan Thursday to open 8.8 million acres of Alaska's North Slope to oil and gas development, some in areas important for migratory birds, whales and wildlife. The Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management will use the plan to manage a northwest portion of the government's 23.5 million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Geologists believe that reserve may contain 6 billion to 13 billion barrels of oil. It is located just west of the 1.5 million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which President Bush wants to open to drilling as part of a massive energy bill stalled in the Senate. Environmentalists said the management plan threatens the health of Arctic tundra, ponds and lakes that are home to wildlife and migratory birds and provide a vital subsistence hunting and fishing ground for native Alaskans. "What makes this even worse is that BLM has failed to study the effects of oil activities on the environment like it has promised to do," said Cindy Shogan, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League. The plan makes 7.23 million acres available for energy leasing, but will defer leasing the other 1.57 million acres for a decade to see if more environmental studies are needed, Interior Department officials said. All energy leases will be subject to strict environmental standards, the officials said, while other provisions are meant to protect water quality, vegetation, wetlands, fish and wildlife habitats and subsistence uses. The Interior Department proposed the management plan in January 2003. With few changes, the plan includes creation of a 102,000-acre Kasegaluk Lagoon Special Area fenced off from leasing. It is considered particularly sensitive, as it is home to beluga whales, spotted seals and the black brandt, a migratory wild goose. The plan designates special study areas of more than a half-million acres each for the Pacific black brandt and caribou. It also requires habitat studies for eiders, a bird whose existence is imperiled, and yellow-billed loons, and sets restrictions to minimize loss of foraging habitat for raptors around the Colville River Special Area. Norton said oil and gas from the North Slope will help increase domestic energy production and stabilize prices in the long term. "This plan will help produce energy in an environmentally responsible manner with the best available technology, while protecting the important biological, subsistence and cultural values found in this area," she said. The reserve was set aside in the 1920s for potential energy development. Environmentalists said the management plan rewards Bush administration friends in the oil and gas industry. "This decision certainly gives big oil and gas plenty to be thankful for," said Eleanor Huffines, regional director in Alaska for The Wilderness Society. BLM can now modify or waive environmental safeguards on a case-by-case basis for economic reasons, environmentalists said. The bureau expects to hold a lease sale for oil and gas development on selected tracts next June. The Clinton administration had opened much of the eastern section of the reserve to oil and gas exploration in 1998, with tight restrictions and some areas fenced off. Copyright c. 2004 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. --------- "RE: Jules resigns as AFN Chief of Staff" --------- Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2004 12:44:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JULES RESIGNS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.ammsa.com/raven/topnews-Jan-2004.html#anchor743371 Jules resigns as AFN chief of staff Paul Barnsley, Raven's Eye Writer, Ottawa January 19, 2004 Just a few months after he was appointed chief of staff of the Assembly of First Nations, Manny Jules resigned. He was conspicuously absent from the chiefs' meeting on Dec. 9, the opening day of the Confederacy of Nations in Ottawa. It turned out there was very good reason for his absence. "The First Nation Fiscal and Statistical Management act is good for my community and many others. I will continue to strongly endorse it and support its passage through parliament. I realize my position is in conflict with the stated position of the assembly. I therefore feel it is necessary that I offer my resignation as chief of staff of the AFN effective immediately," Jules wrote in a letter he delivered to the executive during their meeting Dec. 8. He explained the recent developments to the chiefs on Dec. 10. "Up until recently I was the chief of staff for National Chief Phil Fontaine," he told the delegates. He said representatives of the Chiefs of Ontario asked what his position was on Bill C-19 [the financial institutions' legislation] after the AFN meeting in Squamish in October. The chiefs in assembly had directed the national chief and executive to not speak in support of the legislation.Manny Jules had worked for many years to push the legislation forward and the bill's political opponents wanted to be sure that the AFN's chief of staff was not disobeying that directive. Jules admitted that put him in a tough situation. "So, when I'm asked if I support Bill C-19, I found I could not do that within the Assembly of First Nations given the direction that was given to the national chief at Squamish. I want to let every one of you know exactly where I stand," he said. "I left the position of chief of staff so that I can carry on my work, which is to advocate national institutions for First Nations, for communities that want to make this change ourselves." He said he consented to take the AFN job in the first place because it was clear to him that institutions would have to be created in order to carry out the national chief's Getting Results Agenda. "There was a notion that institutions would have to be built in order for us to do that. After the Squamish meeting it was very clear that the chiefs in assembly, particularly those who've opposed the legislative format right from the beginning, were going to be continually active in that process. So I toughed it out as long as I could and I reached the conclusion that the Assembly of First Nations was not the best place for me to do the kind of work that I feel I've been put in this world to do," said Jules. Ironically, the job he held before joining Fontaine's staff had just been filled days before he made the decision to resign. He had been the founder and leader of the Indian Taxation Advisory Board. Newly-elected Siksika First Nation (Alberta) Chief Strater Crowfoot had just been appointed to fill that position. "I'm no longer chair or CEO of ITAB," he said. Asked what he would do next, he said "I will go back and advocate for C- 19. I've dedicated 15 years of my life to see that piece of legislation move forward and I want to see it through to fruition." His successor as chief of the Kamloops Indian Band, Bonnie Leonard, has announced her intention to run as a federal Liberal candidate in the next election. Jules said he has no such ambitions. "I'm not looking to government, for a place in the Liberal government to carry on this work. I'm looking to work with the First Nations institutions to see Bill C-19 through," he said. Jules was asked if he would do that lobbying as a private citizen, as John Q Public. "There has been an agreement from the institutions that I be their spokesman. So it's a little bit more than John Q," he said." Copyright c. 1983-2004 Ravens Eye AMMSA - Aboriginal MultiMedia Society. --------- "RE: Chre'tien subpoena by Natives in offing" --------- Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 08:46:31 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CHRE'TIEN" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.theglobeandmail.com/~/CHRETIEN22//?query=aboriginal&disp=e&end Chre'tien subpoena by natives in offing By JILL MAHONEY January 22, 2004 EDMONTON - Former prime minister Jean Chre'tien is being subpoenaed to appear as a witness by an Alberta native band that is suing the federal government for $1.4-billion. James O'Reilly, a lawyer for the Samson Cree Nation, said Mr. Chre'tien is key to the civil case because of his involvement in native issues during most of his 40-year political career. "He was a key actor for the Government of Canada in all of this and one thing about him is he's a straight shooter. He's going to answer the questions, I'm pretty sure, and we may take some hits, but I think that he'll be able to confirm our view as to what the federal government was doing and not doing," he said. The Samson Cree band, located north of Red Deer, Alta., is suing Ottawa over allegations it mishandled oil-and-gas royalties over the past six decades and deprived the band of higher interest returns. The federal government denies the allegations, saying it adhered to the law. Mr. O'Reilly said arrangements to serve the subpoena were made with Mr. Chre'tien's lawyers yesterday and the document is expected to be served soon. A copy was faxed to his legal counsel lawyers in Calgary and Ottawa yesterday. His lawyers did not return phone calls. Mr. Chre'tien, whose career in politics included a stint as Indian Affairs minister, has reserved his right to appeal the subpoena. "That's still an issue which we might have to deal with," Mr. O'Reilly said. The two-page subpoena says Mr. Chre'tien must appear in Federal Court in Calgary on Feb. 23 and may be required for five days. The document, which was issued Tuesday by a Federal Court senior registry officer, says, in capital letters: "If you fail to attend or remain in attendance as required by this subpoena, a warrant may be issued for your arrest." As well as the subpoena, Mr. O'Reilly is also serving a $3,550 cheque for Mr. Chre'tien's $30 daily attendance allowance for five days, Ottawa- Calgary return airfare allowance of $2,400 and hotel and meal allowance of $1,000. The payment is in accordance with Federal Court rules. The document notes: "If further attendance is required, you will be entitled to additional money." Crown lawyers opposed Mr. O'Reilly's months-long attempt to subpoena Mr. Chre'tien, calling it a political stunt. However, eight days before Mr. Chre'tien stepped down as prime minister in mid-December, Mr. Justice Max Teitelbaum of the Federal Court ruled that he could be called to testify in the case, which began nearly four years ago. The decision is believed to be the first time a judge has granted leave to issue a subpoena to force a sitting Canadian prime minister to testify at trial. In his written ruling, Judge Teitelbaum noted that Mr. Chre'tien's name appears on "numerous documents" relevant to the case. However, he also said he will not allow questions that indicate "a fishing expedition" or allow counsel to "engage in a political debate". Copyright c. 2004 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: A Community Member Confronts Issac and Ross" --------- Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 08:46:31 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OKA RECALLED" http://www.easterndoor.com/12-50/12-50-3.htm A Community Member Confronts Issac and Ross By: Ross Montour Eastern Door Volume 12 Number 50 January 16, 2004 While many Kanehsata:ke community members expressed outrage at the imposed return to their territory of Terry Isaac and Larry Ross, perhaps no one had greater cause than Walter David, whose brother Joe was paralyzed by a gunshot wound suffered during a raid led by Ross and Isaac in 1999. David channelled his anger to confront both men upon their arrival back in Kanehsata:ke. Joe David was one of the Warriors defending the Pines during the long hot summer that was the backdrop of the Oka Crisis of 1990. The Crisis and its aftermath left his brother Joe struggling with the effects of post- traumatic stress disorder, David explained. Joe David was in the throes of that disorder when Isaac and Ross led the assault on him four-and-a-half years ago. David recalled that Ross, originally from Akwesasne, came to Kanehsata:ke with a bad attitude toward Warriors. Joe, now wheelchair-bound, has never returned to live in Kanehsata:ke because of the incident which left him paralyzed. David talked about his reaction to the news that Grand Chief James Gabriel had brought the men he holds responsible for his brother's shooting. "I couldn't let these men come in here and not tell them what I thought about them. They, more than anyone, were responsible for the shooting of my brother, which I communicated to them in the police station. "I told them they were not welcome here. For James to specifically request these two men was beyond insensitive - but, then that's James. It's about time that people understood this issue. The Police Ethics Commission found them guilty. Joe now lives in Montreal and because he's still dealing with the trauma, he can't come back here," David shared. David said that his family dealt with their own feelings of having been abandoned by the community after the shooting of his brother. Asked how Isaac and Ross reacted to his statements to them, David said each man's response was different. "Larry couldn't look at me. He just turned away, but I kept on telling him what I thought of him. I wanted those other guys (police officers) to learn what kind of man he is. You know, before I talked to him, he was coming out in the front all the time trying to intimidate the women. But, after that he never came out again - he stayed in the back." David said that he felt that Ross' reaction suggested, to him, the man might have some remorse or at least shame for his behaviour. The same was not true of Isaac, as far as David was concerned. "When I spoke to him, he just stood there like it was nothing. It was like he was saying I don't care, I'm a cop and I'd do it again." Asked to comment on Gabriel's professed reason for bringing the two men back - to fight organized crime and, in particular, the drug problem in the community - David didn't mince words. "He's painting everything with a wide paintbrush by lumping cigarettes and drugs together. In all of those busts he talks about, not once were there ever any hard drugs. I don't support drugs - I never have. For James to do this is insulting. The real issue is that James wants personal control over the police and the commission." Regarding the concerns about the cigarette stores expressed by Gabriel in the press, David said, "If James had a problem with the cigarette stores, he should have sat down with them but he never did." What does David feel about Gabriel's comments that he will return to the community? "He's done a lot of damage to this community. There needs to be a public inquiry about him and the government's handling of James Gabriel. These actions are not about cigarettes or drugs or police - it's about power. This is all about James Gabriel's and the government's retribution over 1990. You know, trauma after trauma, crisis after crisis, they all lead back to James' door," David charged. "You know James' house was not 500 feet from my doorstep but not once after my brother's shooting did he ever come to my family to offer the slightest comfort. Instead, he claimed my brother was on drugs - that he was on heroin. There were no drugs in his system. James is full of s__t." David believes there needs to be a judicial inquiry over Gabriel's actions in sending in an outside police force led by Ross and Isaac. He believes Gabriel knew very well that it would be provocative to the people of his community. "It was deliberate - to see how far they could push," he said. In spite of all of his misgivings, David said he condemns the burning down of Gabriel's home. He worries that when individuals show willingness to take such actions, no matter what kind of political division exists between them and others, then they would be just as willing to turn on anyone who disagrees with them. "My wife was crying this morning," David said Wednesday. "She works with James' wife - she was in tears over what happened." Copyright c. 1997-2000 The Eastern Door/Kahnawake, QC/Mohawk territory. --------- "RE: Kanehsata:ke: What Happens Now?" --------- Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 08:46:31 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="KANEEHSATA:KE" http://www.easterndoor.com/12-50/12-50-3.htm Kanehsata:ke: What Happens Now? By: Ross Montour For a community long beset by internal strife, this week's crisis, though ended, requires Kanehsata:ke to act proactively and decisively if it is to move toward healing its wounds. Questions about James Gabriel's leadership remain unanswered - certainly the burning of his home will leave scars on the man and his family. On Wednesday evening a press conference was held at the Mohawk Council of Kanehsata:ke after a daylong meeting with community members and the three Chiefs who remain. One of those Chiefs, Pearl Bonspille called The Eastern Door after the press conference to talk about what was discussed. "About 50 people came to the office this morning and called the meeting. They said we couldn't wait for another assault to happen to the community. After meeting it was decided to call new elections as soon as possible. It was also decided that the election code must be amended as soon as possible," Bonspille related. She said that the community is determined that no government or court interference in the community's affairs would be allowed to happen again. "The people have always stood by the decision to remove James and Marie Che'ne' two years ago. The people are fed up," Bonspille stressed. Bonspille said that a public meeting has been called for Monday to address concerns about the governance of the community and its leadership. "This has to be dealt with before Kanehsata:ke can move forward. Some people want James banished - that's up to the community. It doesn't matter if James meets with Charest, it makes no difference. The community won't stand for any more interference and it will stand up for its decisions," she stated. While Gabriel has called on Charest to meet with him, Bonspille believes that leaders in either the provincial or federal government will likely distance themselves from Gabriel because of the latest crisis. Bonspille said that an assessment is being conducted on the damages caused in the police station - damages reportedly caused by the police contingent brought in by Gabriel. "We feel we must thank the Kahnawake and Akwesasne police and Councils for their help in bringing a peaceful end to the crisis this week. The people here were so happy to see the Peacekeepers arrive in our community to help with the removal of the outside police," Bonspille said on behalf of her community. Bonspille said that James Gabriel is not the only person the community holds accountable. "We're demanding the dismissal of Peter Fisher (Director General of the Solicitor General of Canada's Aboriginal Policing Directorate) and we're demanding he be made to answer for the secret deal he signed with James." Copyright c. 1997-2000 The Eastern Door/Kahnawake, QC/Mohawk territory. --------- "RE: Me'tis adopt Definition to include US Descendants" --------- Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 12:06:09 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ME'TIS DEFINITION" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://sask.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=metis_def040119 Chartier wins Me'tis definition approval REGINA - The Me'tis Nation of Saskatchewan is celebrating the adoption of a national definition of its members' status after the province's Me'tis general assembly approved it over the weekend. The Saskatchewan organization became the last to officially adopt the new definition on Saturday. Me'tis are now defined as Aboriginal people who originate from mixed marriages between Aboriginal women and Scottish or French fur traders in west-central North America. The definition includes parts of Montana and North Dakota. Saskatchewan Me'tis president Clem Chartier spoke before hundreds of people before the vote took place. "Somebody said over here we're all First Nations. Well, I beg to disagree. We're not," he said. "And if people feel that, then perhaps they're in the wrong room. We are Me'tis, and we should be proud of it and accept this definition once and for all." The vote passed almost unanimously. Chartier says finally having self-definition will help the Me'tis move forward. "We are just carving out our space in Canada," he said, "and this was one of the most important aspects of it. I will be doing several hunting and fishing Me'tis rights cases within the province of Saskatchewan within the next year or two and this definition certainly will help us." Getting the definition approved was Chartier's last job in office before becoming president of the Me'tis National Council. Saskatchewan Me'tis Council vice-president Lorna Dokken will be interim president until a general election in May. Copyright c. 2004 CBC All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Racist comments by Ontario Police on Videotape" --------- Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2004 08:23:14 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ONTARIO POLICE" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/01/20/ipperwash040120 Racist comments by Ontario police caught on videotape January 20, 2004 TORONTO - New details are emerging about events surrounding a native protest at Ipperwash Provincial Park in Ontario, in the late summer of 1995. About 30 native protesters erected barriers blocking access to the park in a dispute over land. During a confrontation one of the native protesters, Dudley George, was shot and killed. Now a videotape has emerged that gives some insight into the events leading up to the incident. A handful of Ontario Provincial Police officers posing as a media crew, were caught on tape having a shocking conversation. "Is there still a lot of press down there," one officer is says. "No, there's no one down there. Just a great big fat fuck Indian," replies another. The camera's rolling, eh?" "Yeah." "We had this planned, you know. We thought if we could get five or six cases of Labatts 50, we could bait them." "Yeah." "Then we'd have this big net at a pit." "Creative thinking." Works in the (U.S.) South with watermelon." It's a conversation rife with racist remarks, recorded just a day before the land dispute ended in gunfire. It was only released after an access to information request by a producer with The Fifth Estate. The request was for police surveillance material taken during the standoff, to provide insight into why it ended in the shooting death of Dudley George. The OPP says it doesn't condone the remarks and that the two officers in question have already been disciplined. One underwent native sensitivity training. The other was working on a contract that was not renewed. "The words were shameful and offensive and they should never have been said, and I can tell you our position with regards to this is pretty clear. It's just not acceptable behaviour," said OPP Superintendent Bill Crate. But the George family says the conversation points a damning figure at the OPP. "I think once they start to think like that then they start to downgrade a person to a certain extent. Then they start to feel that that person's not worth nothing. Then maybe it's all right to shoot them," said Sam George, Dudley George's brother. OPP Sgt. Kenneth Deane was convicted of criminal negligence causing death in 1997 shooting. A judge also determined that George and two other protesters were unarmed during the incident, in spite of police allegations to the contrary. Those allegations have added to persistent and lingering charges that police were under political pressure by then premier Mike Harris to take action. George family lawyer Murray Klippenstein has spent nearly a decade researching events at Ipperwash and pushing for a public inquiry - something the new Liberal government in Ontario finally announced last fall. But Klippenstein calls the conversation toxic and poisonous and says it adds a whole new dimension to the case. "This kind of attitude ... makes it pretty easy to shoot an Indian, and if an Indian has legitimate grievances about burial grounds you can joke about them and demean them. Shooting them not such big deal," he said. Klippenstein says this conversation will play a large part in the public inquiry into the death of Dudley George, which is likely to begin this September. Written by CBC News Online staff. Copyright c. 2004 CBC. --------- "RE: Commissioner calls for inquiry into Man's Death" --------- Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2004 08:23:14 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FRANK PAUL" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://vancouver.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=bc_paul20040120 Commissioner calls for inquiry into man's death January 20, 2004 VANCOUVER - B.C.'s Police Complaints Commissioner is recommending that the province order a public inquiry into the December 1998 death of an aboriginal man in Vancouver Police custody. Jail surveillance video shows Vancouver officers dragged a drunk, unconscious Frank Paul out of the police station and left in the alley. Police Complaints Commissioner Dirk Ryneveld says Paul was helpless and at the mercy of the police that night. "I believe that he was totally incapable of looking after himself," he says. "If that's so, the police in my respectful opinion have a duty of care." Ryneveld says Paul's death "cries out for a public airing of the facts." A public inquiry would compel witnesses to testify, something Paul's stepsister, Peggy Clement, has demanded for years. "We never believed anything like that could happen to someone under police protection," she says. "He was treated like garbage that they had to take out." B.C. aboriginal leaders have also been calling for a public inquiry into Paul's death. The First Nations Summit's Ed John says the justice system needs to gain the confidence of native people. "We hear ongoing litany of complaints around the kind of treatment our people get, so it's important for us to take a look at it in that respect," he says. B.C.'s Solicitor General is not ruling out a public inquiry, saying he still needs more information from the Police Complaints Commissioner. Rich Coleman says a full public inquiry is usually held only if there is a systemic problem. "It's one of the criteria under the Inquiry Act, that there's a bigger issue than the one incident. "But I think it would really be fair of me to look at the new information, and move forward from there, and that's what I'll do," he says. Coleman also says an independent investigator could be appointed instead of full-scale inquiry. Copyright c. 2004 CBC. --------- "RE: REPORT: Mexican Troops suppress Indian Town" --------- Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2004 08:23:14 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TWO KILLED" http://www.indiancountry.com/?1074631684 SPECIAL REPORT: Mexican troops suppress Indian town Two killed, others disappeared, during President Bush visit January 20, 2004 by: Jim Adams / Associate Editor / Indian Country Today TLALNEPANTLA, Mexico - Hours after President Bush held a summit meeting in Monterrey several hundred miles north, Mexican troops stormed this indigenous village in the state of Morelos over the night of Jan. 14, leaving at least two dead and scores missing, according to on-the-scene reports reaching Indian Country Today. This agricultural township of about 3000 people had just inaugurated an autonomous municipal council Jan. 11, rejecting the results of a state- sponsored election last year. According to the report reaching Indian Country Today, the council was modeled on the autonomous local governments of the Zapatista indigenous movement in Chiapas, which was just celebrating its tenth anniversary. According to an eyewitness from the United States, who filmed some of the events, starting at 1 a.m. Jan. 14: "Riot police stormed the town, killing at least two and sending hundreds of campesinos running for cover. I saw helicopters hunting campesinos in the hillsides. It is a disaster." The witness, whose identity is being withheld by this newspaper pending further communication, said the attack followed warnings from the state government against establishment of the autonomous council. After repeated threats from the government to dismantle the autonomous government in Tlalnepantla, Governor Sergio Estrada Cajigal ordered nearly 1500 riot police at 1 a.m., armed with assault rifles, to evict the autonomous government from Tlalnepantla. "Snipers and police gunmen filled the air with bullets, beat women and men over 80 years of age, and left two dead, many wounded and scores of people disappeared and as of yet unaccounted for. Illegal searches were conducted in dozens of houses in the town." A spokesman for the federal government in Mexico City said that the incident was in charge of the state government of Morelos and that he would be unable to provide information. He did confirm, however, that the police in the raid were state and not federal. Morelos State, the smallest in the country, is currently controlled by the PAN, the conservative party led by Mexican President Vicente Fox. According to the dispatch, establishment of the council and its suppression followed an electoral dispute last July. "Like thousands of indigenous communities in Mexico, and according to ancient custom," said the report, Tlalnepantla "has always elected its leaders in an open town council consisting of the entire adult population." In last July's elections, this way of selecting authorities was rejected by the Mexican electoral commission. The candidate who officially won at the polls was not selected by the full town assembly. The winning candidate, with less than 10 percent of the electorate's vote, is an unpopular political boss who has been accused of corruption in other political offices he has held. A majority of the population of Tlalnepantla subsequently called for an annulment of the electoral results and legal recognition of its ancient form of selecting leaders, but the Morelos state government ignored their plea. After months of discussion within the town, and in full accordance with the legal guarantees of the Mexican constitution, the people of Tlalnepantla declared themselves "autonomous" in the same way that EZLN [Zapatistia Army of National Liberation] affiliated indigenous communities in Chiapas have done. Tlalnepantla's declaration of autonomy came just as communities across Mexico and the world were celebrating the ten year anniversary of the uprising in Chiapas. The town is 17 miles away from the historic center of Cuernavaca, where many foreign students attend language classes. It is said to be an important producer of the edible nopal cactus, an important staple of the Mexican diet, and also grows peaches and sugar cane. But no further information about the situation was available over the holiday weekend. A duty officer at the U.S. State Department said no one was available on the Martin Luther King national holiday who would be aware of the events, and it appears not to have been reported in any major U. S. newspapers. Copyright c. 2004 Indian Country Today. --------- "RE: Sweat Lodge/Police Controversies" --------- Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 08:08:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SWEAT LODGE ISSUES" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=3588 Sweat lodge/police controversy in three seperate places "The officers probably thought it was a drunken party." TULSA OK Sam Lewin January 21, 2004 Law enforcement and Native Americans seeking to use sweat lodges and other cultural staples are butting heads in three recent, unrelated cases. In the first, the Boulder chapter of the American Indian Movement is blasting a decision to close down a sweat lodge ceremony on New Year's eve. Boulder police and sheriff's officers say they stopped the ceremony because the man conducting the event, Lakota spiritual leader Robert Cross, did not have a permit to use Boulder Open Space land on Valmont Butte. Cross and Boulder officials later confirmed that he did in fact have the right to use the land. A sheriff's department spokesman said they were not aware at the time that Cross, who had performed similar ceremonies at the same location, had permission. "He may have permission, but he needs to get clarification," Sheriff's Sgt. George Dunphy told the Rocky Mountain News. "The officers probably thought it was a drunken party." In Minnesota, a Native American prison inmate has enlisted the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union to press for his right to perform a religious ceremony that included smoking a ceremonial pipe and smudging sage and sweet grass. The man is incarcerated at the Kandiyohi County Jail. MCLU officials say they are looking into legal options after attempts to conduct a dialogue with jail officials were rebuffed. Sheriff Dan Hartog says a ban on tobacco is the reason for the problem. North of the border, Elaine North, a member of the Winnipeg-based Ebb and Flow First Nation, is demanding an apology from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. North said an RCMP officer interrupted a sweat lodge ceremony in December to serve her legal papers. RCMP officials say they have reviewed an audiotape of the incident and have decided there is no reason for the officer to apologize. North said she is frustrated that the RCMP does not realize how offensive their actions were. According to the Native American Sweat Lodge History, three basic forms of the sweat bath are indigenous to North America: the hot rock method, used by the Navajos and Sioux; the direct fire chamber, heated by blazing logs; and a more sophisticated type relying on a heating duct system believed to be of Mayan origin. Native American Times is Copyright c. 2003 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: Janklow gets Jail Time" --------- Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 08:46:31 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - -