From gars@speakeasy.org Fri Jul 16 01:13:27 2004 Date: Tue, 06 Jul 2004 16:21:23 -0700 From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews12.028 _ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 12, ISSUE 028 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 July 10, 2004 Passamaquoddy Accihte/ripening moon Blackfeet niipoomahkatoyiiksistsikaa to's/summer big holy day moon +-------------------------------------------------------+ | Much more happens in Indian Country than is reported | | in this weekly newsletter. For daily updates & events | | go to http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm | +-------------------------------------------------------+ Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin -- Blackfeet -- News for All the People Ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min -- Ojibwe -- We Are Talking About Ourselves Aunchemokauhettittea -- Naragansett -- Let Us Share News Kanoheda Aniyvwiya -- Cherokee -- Journal of the People O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse -- Creek -- People's New News O o O Acimowin -- Plains Cree -- Story or Account O o O Tlaixmatiliztli -- Nahuatl -- News O o o o o O Agnutmaqan -- Listuguj Mi'kmaq -- News O o O Sho-da-ku-ye -- Teehahnahmah -- Talking Birchbark O o O Un Chota -- Susquehannic Seneca -- The People Speak O Ha-Sah-Sliltha -- Ditidaht Nation -- News of the People Ximopanolti tehuatzin, inin Mexika tlahtolli -- Nahuatl -- For you we offer these words It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le -- Chickasaw -- Together We Are Talking Dineh jii' adah' ho'nil'e'gii ba' ha' neh -- Navajo Nation -- What's Happening among The People News Okla Humma Holisso Nowat Anya -- Choctaw -- People(s) Red Newspaper Hi'a chu ah gaa -- Pima -- The stories or the talk of the People Native American News -- Language of the Occupation Forces ++>If you speak a Native American language not listed above, please send us your words for "News of the People." We'd rather take up this whole page saving these few words of our hundreds of nations than present a nice clean banner in the language of the occupation forces who came here determined to replace our words with their own. email gars@nanews.org with the equivalent of "News of the People" in your tribal language along with the english translation <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is produced in straight ASCII text for greatest portability across platforms. Read it with a fixed-pitch font, such as Courier, Monaco, FixedSys or CG Times. Proportional fonts will be difficult to read. <================<<<< >>>>================> This issue contains articles from www.owlstar.com; www.indianz.com; www.pechanga.net; ndn-aim, Big Mountain, Chiapas-95, Rez_Life and Justice Network Mailing Lists; UUCP email IMPORTANT!! ----------- In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, all material appearing in this newsletter is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for educational purposes. <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is a way of keeping the brothers and sisters who share our Spirit informed about current events within the lives of those who walk the Red Road. ++ It may be subscribed to via email by sending a request from your own internet addressable account to gars@speakeasy.org ++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org <================<<<< >>>>================> +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | As historian Patricia Nelson | | Once a language is lost, it is | | Limerick summarized in "The | | gone forever | | Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken | | * Of the 300 original Native | | Past of the American West... | | languages in North America, | | "Set the blood quantum at | | only 175 exist today. | | one-quarter, hold to it as a | | * 125 of these are no longer | | rigid definition of Indians, | | learned by children. | | let intermarriage proceed as | | * 55 are spoken by 1 to 6 elders;| | it had for centuries, and | | when they die, their language | | eventually Indians will be | | will disappear. | | defined out of existence." | | * Without action, only 20 | | "When that happens, the federal | | languages will survive the next| | government will be freed of | | 50 years. | | its persistent 'Indian problem.'"| | Source: Indigenous Language | +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ | Institute | |http://www.indigenous-language.org| This issue's Elder Quote: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + ======================== "You have noticed that everything an Indian does in in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round." "In the old days when we were a strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation, and so long as the hoop was unbroken, the people flourished. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop, and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain, and the north with its cold and mighty wind gave strength and endurance. This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion." "Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same, and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where the were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. Our teepees were round like the nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation's hoop, a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children." __ Black Elk Speaks, John G. Neihardt, University of Nebraska Press +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! I am not telling anyone what they must or should do. I am not telling any reader to boycott any business. I am, however, going to exercise my right to tell any who are interested about a personal choice and why I made it. QuikTrip has a very large presence where I live. Their convenience stores are quite convenient. I refuse to spend one nickle in any of them. QuikTrip supports One Nation Oklahoma, a well-heeled, highly motivated organization founded for the explicit purpose of opposing tribal businesses. As soon as Indians crawled out from under the dominant sociaty's bootheel and showed signs of becoming self-supporting, organizations like One Nation Oklahoma sprang up to grind them back under. As you will read in this issue, officers within One Nation are now making bolder moves in the political arena. Like the conservative groups that took control of the Republican party, One Nation is now working to achieve its goals one entrenched politician at a time. Depite rhetoric to the contrary One Nation Oklahoma is anti-Indian and anti-Indian sovereignty. One of One Nation Oklahoma's major corporate sponsors is QuikTrip. I do not and will not support an entity that is feeding the hyenas that wish to ravish my family (I realize hyenas are not indigenous to this land, but then, neither are the people in One Nation). If you also choose not to support those who support anti-Indian groups you might also choose to spend your gas and snack money somewhere besides QuikTrip. Just as I have a right to make such a decision, so do you. If you are an Oklahoman you might also wish to call the Governor's office (405-521-2342) and tell them you are against official support for the following individuals, who spread racism in Oklahoma. - Mickey Thompson - OIPA Director/Lobbyist and One Nation Chairman - Kym Koch - Thompson's Wife, and Gov. Henry's Press Secretary. (Thompson mysteriously ended up with Gov. Brad Henry's media list in order to email anti-Indian propaganda to Oklahomans.) - Vance McSpadden - OPMA/Lobbyist - Bruce Stallsworth - OIPA/Lobbyist - Charlette Hearne - OSWA/Lobbyist - Jeremy Rich - OFB/Lobbyist and One Nation Co-Chairman Dohiyi Oginalii , , Gary Smith (*,*) 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 ---------- - American Indian voter rights - Indigenous Resistance debate heats up to Globalization - Shortbull: Repeal Photo I.D. law - AFN battle over Voting - One Nation Figure continues at Confederacy involved in Congressional Race - First Nation wants to partner - Ralph Reed's Gamble on Dawson Bridge - American Indians - Metis Hunting Rights being pushed to Polls up for Discussion - Sac and Fox Nation - Let Natives handle Luna to help Oklahoma's DOT - New Kahnawake PK Chief - Native Pride - Native Agency gets new Powers - Native Reporter - Court to review finds pride in Crow Event American Indian Tax Case - Code of Honor - Investigators fear worst - JIM SPENCER: Ancient Site of BIA Jail System a siren call to Looters - Native Prisoner - Fort Belknap grazing rates soar -- Justin Wing nears end of Walk - Peabody Coal bid - Rustywire: Sarah Watermelon Juice sets State Record - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - Tribes thrive on Store Sales - Rustywire Poem: - Gila River Tribe The Singers Have Gone Away plans to buy land in Park - Groups work to save - Hospital Sweat Lodge Minnesota's First Languages built to heal Body, Spirit - Native Corporation - A Fresh Perspective profitable again of Indian Culture - APTN still reeling - Giago: Casinos create culture from near-death experience of 'us' and 'them' --------- "RE: American Indian voter rights debate heats up" --------- Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2004 22:18:00 EDT From: MJLaBurt@aol.com Subj: American Indian voter rights debate heats up Mailing List: ndn-aim http://www.indiancountry.com/?1088438864 American Indian voter rights debate heats up Posted: June 28, 2004 - 12:06pm EST by: David Melmer / Indian Country Today RAPID CITY, S.D. - The complaints keep coming in from Indian country over problems with the June 1 special and primary elections in South Dakota. Affidavits continue to stack up mostly complaining about the new state law that requires a photo ID in order to obtain a ballot. Some people assert that the new law created very few problems and that it worked fine. Chris Nelson said some things had to be worked out but by the Nov. 2 election and that the process would go more smoothly. Bret Healy, executive director of the non-profit Get Out the Vote organization said that lawsuits would be filed in all three federal districts in South Dakota. "For the legislature to do what they did in 2003 was unconscionable to make it more difficult for Native Americans to vote. The practical effect of the law was vivid on June 1," Healy said. The voter photo ID requirement was passed by the state legislature in 2003. An argument used by opponents of the new law claim that because the American Indian vote was so instrumental in re-electing Democrat Tim Johnson, the Republican-led legislature passed the new rules. Healy claims the state was not vigilant in correcting early problems on election day as was claimed by Secretary of State Chris Nelson. Nelson said on June 2 that most of the problems occurred early in the day and were taken care of. An affidavit that was signed by Jesse Taken Alive, former chairman and present member of the tribal council of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, stated that he called the secretary's office at 5:30 p.m. to relay a complaint about photo ID problems. Indian Country Today also obtained a copy of a note signed by Dorothy Schuh, Corson County auditor that stated "Some voters are reporting that ID is not required. Please inform the voters that ID is in fact required." That comment came under the line on a sheet handed to the poll workers that stated in lieu of photo ID an affidavit could be completed. What one poll watcher saw was more in the line of chaos at the polls, little problems with the photo ID, but he did witness intimidation. "People were coming in and out of the building, and talking to people who were voting, in the voting booth," said Bruce Whalen. Whalen was a Republican poll watcher. "I saw a person representing Four Directions threaten a poll supervisor. I thought that was unprofessional," he said. Healy said he couldn't speak to the actions of the volunteer poll watcher. Whalen said he witnessed people challenging the photo ID law, but didn't see anyone turned away. He saw a person who left the building to retrieve his photo ID from the car. A Four Directions person complained that that person was denied the right to vote - which was not the case, Whalen said. Whalen said Republicans and the Four Directions had poll watchers at Precincts one, two, and three in Pine Ridge. All three precincts use the Billy Mills Hall in Pine Ridge as a polling location. The Democratic Party did not have poll watchers at Pine Ridge. Whalen also said there are three doors used to leave or enter the building and all were open with people coming and going the entire day. "It was more of a social event, it didn't appear to be a purposeful vote," Whalen said. He added that from what he saw everyone was accommodated. Healy said voting is a public event and people can come and go unless they are disruptive. Most people didn't know which precinct table to approach so one precinct table was subjected to a lengthy line from where people were directed to their proper precinct. "I didn't see a single person turned away for not having a photo ID," Whalen said. "I thought the voting went pretty smooth." He added that the poll watcher for the Four Directions organization came to the poll without a photo ID to challenge the poll officials and test the system. Healy said the Four Directions Poll watcher was a volunteer, and that the organization had many people around that not only were poll watchers, but were also drivers, taking people to and from the polls. "Four Directions is a non-profit, non-partisan organization and we follow the rules," Healy said. Whalen said there were some "hiccups" in the process, but on the whole the voting process went as smoothly as possible. Whalen's arguments counter some of the accusations people, who signed affidavits, and claimed there were problems with the new photo ID law. Complaints came from across the state, many from reservations and some from Rapid City, where there is a large American Indian population. "We have demonstrated evidence of many people turned away at the polls who had no photo ID. The big picture is that Native American voters were turned away at the polls. They [Republicans and critics] had better come up with a better argument then that to keep voters from voting," Healy said. Danielle Black Fox, Standing Rock tribal member, said she witnessed several voters at a precinct in McLaughlin, S.D. turned away for not having photo ID, one she said did not return. Her affidavit stated that poll official Dorothy Weist, Butte Precinct, required a photo ID and did not allow affidavits. Healy said he had an objection against the media and how it has treated there incidents, but most particularly he has a complaint with the Secretary of State's office and how it showed a "troubling lack of seriousness. He said if the tables were turned and there were 20 or fewer incidents of non-Indians not allowed to vote the FBI and media would be all over the incidents, Healy said. Healy complained that Sec. Nelson, was not at his office the morning of the election. Healy said Nelson told the media that all incidents were taken care of in the morning, but one complaint came in just 90 minutes before the polls closed and wasn't dealt with. "Isn't it the responsibility of the chief election officer of the state to be at his duty station, especially with this new election law in effect? He ought to be in the office," Healy said. Nelson was not available for comment before deadline. The 2002 election cycle also produced many accusations of voter fraud on reservations, stemming from mostly Republican sources. Indian people in South Dakota overwhelmingly support Democratic candidates. Both parties were engaged with Get Out the Vote campaigns for the June 1 special election. Democrat Stephanie Herseth defeated Republican Larry Died rich and is now seated in the U.S. House. A poll count suggests that Indian country brought enough votes to the polls to put Herseth in office. "The only thing we did wrong, according to our opponents, is to get voters out. Their complaint is that too many voters came out to not vote for their candidates," Healy said. ----- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. --------- "RE: Shortbull: Repeal Photo I.D. law" --------- Date: Fri, 2 July 2004 08:16:42 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SHORTBULL: REPEAL VOTER ID CARD" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2004/07/02/news/local/news02.txt Shortbull: Repeal photo I.D. law By Denise Ross, Journal Staff Writer July 2, 2004 RAPID CITY - Oglala Lakota College president and former state lawmaker Tom Shortbull will call on the state Legislature to repeal South Dakota's voter ID law. Shortbull announced Thursday that he will hold a news conference on Tuesday to discuss how the 2002 Help America Vote Act and the state law compare. Shortbull is a member of an advisory board to the federal Elections Assistance Commission, which was created by the 2002 law. "South Dakota is not under any federal mandate to require the photo ID to vote in national elections," according to Shortbull's news release. Shortbull declined to discuss his arguments for repeal of the state voter ID law before he holds the news conference on the Rapid City campus of Oglala Lakota College next week. A state law passed in 2003 has been central to complaints and legal action stemming from allegations of voters being turned away from the polls in the June 1 statewide election and in a June 15 city/school election in Lake Andes. The law requires voters to either present photo identification or sign an affidavit attesting to their identity. However, complaints have come from around the state that some American Indians were turned away because they lacked a photo ID and were not offered the option of signing an affidavit. Four Directions, a nonprofit voter advocacy group, has filed a lawsuit challenging the June 15 Lake Andes election and is preparing federal civil rights lawsuits based on allegations from June 1. Four Directions executive director Bret Healy has called for the state's voter ID law to go but said he was unaware of Shortbull's call for repeal of the law. "We applaud Tom's appeal to get rid of this bad law," Healy said. Shannon County Republican Party chairman Bruce Whalen was an observer at a polling place in Pine Ridge on June 1 and said he does not believe the voter ID law presents the obstacles to voting that Healy claims. "I don't see that there's any reason to kill it. I've talked to hundreds of people around here. They all have IDs. I've watched people come through the polls, and it wasn't a problem," said Whalen, an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. South Dakota Secretary of State Chris Nelson said he supports the law, although it wasn't his idea. "The law is on the books. It's my job and the job of county auditors to administer that," he said. "The purpose of the law is to make sure that every person who cast a ballot is who they say they are. I believe the law can do that as long as it is administered the way it's written." Nelson said he was neutral on the law during the 2003 session, then testified in favor of it after lawmakers added a provision he had pushed that allows people to vote early without giving a reason. "It certainly wasn't something that came from me or the state Board of Elections," Nelson said. But he said he believes there is support across the state for the voter ID law based on unsolicited comments he received while traveling the state during the 2002 campaign. Contact Denise Ross at 394-8438 or denise.ross@rapidcityjournal.com Copyright c. 2004 The Rapid City Journal. --------- "RE: One Nation Figure involved in Congressional Race" --------- Date: Fri, 2 July 2004 08:16:42 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RACIST POLITICS" http://www.pechanga.net/homepage.html http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=4661 One Nation figure getting involved in state congressional race Donates money to Choctaw woman's opponent Sam Lewin June 30, 2004 One of the leading figures in the anti-tribal sovereignty group One Nation has donated a couple thousand dollars to the candidacy of Dan Boren. Boren is running against Kayln Free, a member of the Choctaw Nation, for the Democratic Congressional nomination in Oklahoma's 2nd District, a region with one of the largest Indian populations in the country. Records show Mike Cantrell has given $2000 to the Boren campaign. Cantrell is a featured spokesman for One Nation, and is quoted prominently on the organization's website, which describes him as a "long-time oil industry leader and political activist." Boren spokesman Owen Shackleford said the donation doesn't mean Boren agrees with One Nation's positions. "Representative Boren and Mike Cantrell were friends long before Representative Boren decided to run for Congress. Mike is well aware of Representative Boren's position on One Nation. Representative Boren is opposed to the agenda of One Nation and has publicly said so. I would also remind you that Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anotatubby and Choctaw Nation Chief Greg Pyle are supporting Representative Boren's candidacy. No donor or candidate agrees with every candidate on every single issue," Shackleford said. Officials with the Free campaign wasted little time in casting the donation in the worst light possible. "Dan Boren is clearly the enemy of tribal sovereignty, as evidenced by the contributions he has accepted from the founder of One Nation and several of it's member groups and individuals," said Free spokesman Dave Parker. One Nation has been on the radar screen of many Native Americans since they formed two years ago. The group's stated purpose is to "raise public awareness of the growing threat to our state's economic future posed by the unprecedented expansion of the power of the Native American tribes." Mailers from the organization say they want to "...have an immediate impact on targeted tribal issues. We will participate in the call for better compact agreements for water rights tobacco and gaming." The name itself is not new. For years, "One Nation" has been the title of an Australian group devoted to such issues as anti-immigration legislation and increased access to firearms and an organization also calling itself "One Nation" formed in California to oppose bilingual education. One Nation now claims 180 thousand members and includes four main groups: the Southern Oklahoma Water Alliance, Oklahoma Farm Bureau, Oklahoma Petroleum Marketers Association and the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association. The Quick Trip Corporation is a member of One Nation. Native American Times is Copyright c. 2004 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: Ralph Reed's Gamble" --------- Date: Fri, 25 June 2004 09:16:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GAMBLING LOBBIEST" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi=20040712&s=newfield Ralph Reed's Gamble by Jack Newfield June 24, 2004 When Ralph Reed was the boyish director of the Christian Coalition, he made opposition to gambling a major plank in his "family values" agenda, calling gambling "a cancer on the American body politic" that was "stealing food from the mouths of children." But now, a broad federal investigation into lobbying abuses connected to gambling on Indian reservations has unearthed evidence that Reed has been surreptitiously working for an Indian tribe with a large casino it sought to protect--and that Reed was paid with funds laundered through two firms to try to keep his lucrative involvement secret. Reed has always operated behind the scenes, and apparently he didn't want to risk becoming a humbled hypocrite like his right-wing cohorts William Bennett and Rush Limbaugh. News accounts of the emerging scandal have focused on the two main figures under investigation: lawyer/lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Mike Scanlon, House GOP majority leader Tom DeLay's former spokesman and head of two campaign and public relations companies. But Reed has managed to slither below the media's radar--until now. Neither he, Abramoff or Scanlon returned phone calls. In early 2002 the Coushatta tribe of Louisiana was desperately trying to kill a planned competing casino that the rival Jena Band wanted to build in southwestern Louisiana. This new casino would have broken the Coushattas' geographical monopoly and cost the tribe--whose casino was grossing $300 million a year-- an estimated $1 billion in gambling revenue over five years. The Jena Band had hired former GOP national chairman Haley Barbour to make sure its casino compact was approved by the heavily politicized Bureau of Indian Affairs. So the Coushatta tribe, which already was in the process of paying Abramoff and Scanlon some $32 million over three years, also hired Reed, according to three witnesses and documents obtained by The Nation. This was not a crime, just furtive hypocrisy. Two casino industry lobbyists--Philip Thompson and Bill Grimes--say they were in a meeting in Baton Rouge early in 2002 and heard William Worfel, vice chair of the Coushatta tribe, say he was hiring Reed to lobby for the tribe with the BIA to neutralize the influence Barbour had with the Bush Administration. According to Thompson, Worfel, who also did not return phone calls, "said he was putting Reed on his payroll. He said, 'If they have Barbour, we need Reed.'" A third casino lobbyist at the meeting, who requested anonymity, says Reed helped "mobilize Christian radio and ministers against the casino." But, he says, "He wanted to be able to deny it. Or if it came out, he wanted to be able to claim he was against the Jena casino, without anybody knowing he was getting paid by a bigger tribe with a bigger gambling operation." The documents obtained by The Nation show that Reed sent bills to Abramoff and Scanlon and that one of his consulting companies, Century Strategies of Duluth, Georgia, received $250,000 from one of Scanlon's companies, Capitol Campaign Strategies. An invoice to Abramoff from another Reed company, Capitol Media, for $100,000, states only that the payment is for "Louisiana Project Mgmt. Fee." (The main thrust of the Justice Department investigation involves money laundering among Scanlon, Abramoff and Republican campaigns. Abramoff was fired by his firm for not disclosing $10 million in payments from Scanlon.) Reed's involvement with the casino effort followed his departure from the Christian Coalition in 1997 and his reinvention of himself as a corporate lobbyist and campaign hatchet man. One of his first clients was the Enron Corporation--a deal arranged by Karl Rove when George W. Bush was starting to think about running for President in 2000. Rove wasn't ready to put Reed directly on a campaign payroll but presumably wanted to cultivate good will from Reed toward the coming Bush candidacy. Enron paid Reed's Century Strategies more than $300,000 to generate support for energy deregulation. In the 2000 GOP presidential primary, Reed justified his big Enron fee by helping to smear John McCain during the South Carolina primary. Now McCain's Indian Affairs subcommittee is investigating Indian gambling in the context of lobbying abuses, kickbacks and money laundering, with public hearings scheduled for early September. Reed is in charge of Bush's 2004 election campaign in the Southeast, including Florida. In 2000, he was paid almost $3.7 million for helping Bush. In 1995, when he was still exploiting intolerance and fear, Time did a story on him that included the cover line "The right hand of God." Today God's right hand seems to be holding dice and a bloody political hatchet. Copyright c. 2004 The Nation. --------- "RE: American Indians being pushed to Polls" --------- Date: Thu, 1 July 2004 08:53:12 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="VOTE PUSH" http://www.pechanga.net/homepage.html http://www.theday.com/~42A5-B2D7-4ACC5BD60011 American Indians Being Pushed To Polls This Year Tribes look to increase voter participation in indian Country By KAREN FLORIN Day Staff Writer, Casinos/Gambling June 30, 2004 American Indians represent only a small percentage of the U.S. population, but a major effort is under way in Indian Country to make sure they are seen and heard in this November's election. The country has an estimated 4.3 million American Indian and Alaska Natives, according to the 2000 Census, which determined the total U.S. population was 281,421,906. The National Congress of American Indians is targeting "high-density focus districts" in areas where the native population is high enough to affect voting. Indians could determine the vote in several western states and in Alaska, where Indians represent 16 percent of the total vote. There was a lot of talk about native power at the polls last week during NCAI's midyear session at Mohegan Sun. "The visibility we have is going to change America, and people have to stand up and look at us for who we are," said Ernie Stevens, chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association. "We are noble Americans who have fought and died for this country." Casino tribes have become major donors to political campaigns in recent years, and the tribes are now funding the effort for greater participation at the polls. The Mohegans provided $10,000 in "key seed money" to the Four Directions Committee, a South Dakota non-profit group dedicated to registering Indian voters and ensuring they turn out on Election Day. "It's not about getting out Democrats or Republicans, it's about educating Native Americans on how important it is to vote," said Charles F. Bunnell, the Mohegans' chief of staff for external and governmental affairs. Connecticut is a concentrated state and it is easy for Indians to register and get to the polls, but that is not the case on reservations in other states, Bunnell said. "It's harder to get to the polls, and there are generational issues of mistrust in voting," Bunnell said. "I've spoken to people who have never missed a tribal election but have never voted for Congress. For them their leader is whoever their tribal chairman or council or chief is. The effort is to make it known that the people in Washington have more say over what happens in the country." The voter registration effort has had dramatic results in South Dakota, where Indians were credited with helping to elect Democratic Senator Tim Johnson in a narrow race in 2002. Participation is still growing there, with voter turnout tripling at South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation between June 2002 and 2004, according to Bret Healy, executive director of Four Directions. The state is expected to be narrowly divided in November's Senate race pitting Minority Leader Tom Daschle against John Thune. Healy said Four Directions has been asked to concentrate on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona, a remote reservation that has typically had low voter participation. "Historically, there's been some apathy because frankly, the process hasn't always treated Native Americans that great," said Healy. Individual tribes might endorse candidates, but Four Directions will only provide Indian voters with information, according to Healy. With the Mashantucket Pequots and the Mohegans. Contributions have been made to candidates in both parties, even though some tribal officials have been associated with one party or another. Bunnell, a nontribal member who once worked for Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd, has said the Mohegan tribal members range from liberal Democrats to conservative Republicans. The Mashantuckets' Chief Operating Officer, John Guevremont has been active with the Republican Party, attending the 2002 Republican convention as a delegate, but other tribal members have long been associated with Democrats. "As Indian people we have to work with both sides of the isle and with independents in the system as well," said L. Buddy Gwin, director of intergovernmental, media and cultural affairs for the Mashantucket Pequots. "The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation over the course of the last several years made it its priority to work with all of the parties." Gwin said a report that the tribe was trying to influence the critical South Dakota senate race by stopping a large contribution to Four Directions was untrue "to the best of my information." Henry Buffalo, a tribal attorney from Minnesota, alleged at the NCAI meeting last week that the tribe told slot machine manufacturer Sodak not to contribute to Four Directions, because it was perceived as a Democratic group working to keep Daschle in office. In terms of the Native Vote effort, "Our position is simply that to get out the vote is critical," Gwin said. "I think it's clear we are going to have an opportunity to affect the vote in a way that we have not been able to do historically, and we need to take advantage of it in a way that is at the very least bipartisan if not nonpartisan." k.florin@theday.com Copyright c. 1998-2004 The Day Publishing Co. --------- "RE: Sac and Fox Nation to help Oklahoma's DOT" --------- Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 11:15:03 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SAC AND FOX HELP STATE HIWAYS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.kotv.com/main/home/stories.asp?whichpage=1&id=64927 Sac And Fox Nation To Help Oklahoma's Department Of Transportation July 5, 2004 STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) - The Oklahoma Department of Transportation lacks money to repair the state's deteriorating roads and bridges, but the Sac and Fox Nation is helping fix the problem. ODOT's state appropriation dropped 6.8 percent between 1985 and 2004, and ODOT Director Gary Ridley has said the department does not have enough money to take care of its maintenance backlog. The Sac and Fox Nation is picking up the slack. The tribe has paid $31.5 million to improve roads and bridges on its land, in three counties and in four cities since it started the Sac and Fox Nation Highway Safety, Road and Bridge Program. The program exists to increase traffic safety and boost economic development. Truman Carter, the nation's attorney and treasurer, said tribal money is pooled with federal, state and local government money to repair roads and replace unsafe bridges. The nation has contributed to 22 road improvements and 37 bridge replacement projects in Pottawatomie, Lincoln and Payne counties and in the cities of Shawnee, Prague, Chandler and Stroud. Copyright c. 2004 KOTV, A Griffin Communications, LLC Subsidiary. --------- "RE: Native Pride" --------- Date: Sun, 4 Jul 2004 21:19:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JULY 4" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.recordnet.com/daily/lifestyle/articles/070404-l-1.php Native pride On the day the United States marks its birth, American Indians celebrate a deep connection to the land from which the nation was carved By Paula Sheil Record Staff Writer July 4, 2004 When Three Rivers Indian Lodge's annual pow wow concludes today, it will mark the end of another July 4 holiday, a day steeped in mixed emotions for American Indians. The colonialism that established the nation we cheer every July 4 caused the forceful relocation or death of American Indians. But it is a deep sense of belonging to the land, a bountiful universe that Europeans came to recognize for its "spacious skies," "fruited plain" and "purple mountain majesties," that indigenous people honor. "We've assimilated. We have taken on the national traditions just like any culture that has come to America," said Ramona Valadez, 57, executive director of the Three Rivers Indian Lodge in Manteca, sponsor of the pow wow, which often coincides with Independence Day. "The native people can see the wrongs -- the breaking of the treaties," she added. "But in the end, because we have been indigenous to this country over many generations, we continue to fight on behalf of this country." More than 562 American Indian tribes and Alaska native groups live within the boundaries of the United States. Each tribe has its own culture, history and identity. According to the 2000 census, there are more than 2. 4 million American Indians. California is home to more than 300,000. Valadez, a Comanche, grew up in Oklahoma. Her family gathered on Independence Day to observe a traditional gourd dance or went to a pow wow, she said. For nine years, she has directed programs for Three Rivers Indian Lodge. This year's pow wow, a gathering of 1,000 people from all over the Western states and Canada, includes dances, songs, drums, speeches and feasting, minus the Roman candles and the alcohol. The first weekend in July was chosen by organizers 27 years ago because the federal holiday provided a three day-weekend and plenty of time for people to gather from afar, she said. Pow wows often are scheduled around three-day holidays. Still, American Indians have figured significantly in several Fourth of July events as spectators and participants, said historian James Heintze, assistant university librarian at Washington University in the nation's capital. Heintze, 62, has combed thousands of newspapers, diaries and other firsthand accounts in order to assemble his "Fourth of July Encyclopedia," which will be published by McFarland Publishing in Jefferson, N.C. He has a year's work remaining on a manuscript that already totals 350 pages. "The Fourth of July celebrations each year are a microcosm of the heritage and tradition of the country. We seem to be aware today of just how extensive that heritage is," Heintze said. Early on, American Indians both celebrated the U.S. military victory against the British and denounced the government's duplicity in dealing with their own negotiations. In 1833, "a tribe of Pequoad Indians held a war dance in celebration of the day at their wigwam, south of Alexandria, Va.," Heintze said. "This is considered the end of the Federal Period in D.C., and there were Native Americans living within 10 miles." In 1854, Mohican John Wannuaucon Quinney became a U.S. citizen yet called himself "Native American," the first use of the phrase. At a July 4 speech in Reidsville, N.Y., Quinney redressed the U.S. government after his unsuccessful attempt to negotiate his choice of a permanent home for his people. Black Hawk, for whom the Army's Black Hawk helicopter is named, was a Sauk tribal leader. He gave what amounts to a concession speech in 1838 that was printed in East Coast newspapers. Black Hawk had been defeated at Bad Axe River in Wisconsin and imprisoned, yet later deemed an "illustrious guest" for a Fourth of July ceremony at Fort Madison, Iowa, where he had been resettled. "Rock River was a beautiful country -- I liked my towns, my cornfields, and the home of my people. I fought for it. It is now yours -- keep it as we did -- it will produce you good crops," Black Hawk said. Three Rivers' pow wow princess Raquel Williams wishes life was simpler and more peaceful. Born in Jackson, the 16-year-old claims Miwok and Maidu blood. She attends Manteca's Sierra High School and was an accomplished California Indian dancer and pine needle basket weaver and was participating in sweat lodge ceremonies by the time she was 6. "Growing up, July 4th was not really a big deal. ... A lot of American Indians are gung-ho about it, and some are really opposite. I know that American Indians have fought in World War I and II. Sure, I give my respect to them, but I don't see a point in fighting," said Williams, whose Indian name, Pachukalu, means Snowbird. But it's the warrior spirit of many tribal people that the U.S. military has come to depend on and documents throughout its history, from serving as scouts during the Revolutionary War to the Navaho Code Talkers in WWII, to the recent recognition of the death of Spc. Lori Piestewa, a Hopi woman, in the war with Iraq. There are more than 190,000 American Indian military veterans, and "it is well-recognized that, historically, Native Americans have the highest record of service per capita when compared to other ethnic groups," said Mike Burgess, the tribal administrator of the Comanche Nation, headquartered in Oklahoma. "Statistically, probably 60 percent of those who serve are volunteers." They are compelled both by strong family tradition and economic need, he added. Burgess is participating in the Three Rivers pow wow as the master of ceremonies. Studying American history at college helped him to shed the grade-school "indoctrination" of the white man's gift of democracy. Many of the tenants of representative government were already practiced by native tribes, he said. "The 4th can be seen as a reason not to celebrate America's independence. Yet to protest would demean the spirit of those who fought, and made the ultimate sacrifice, and of living veterans," Burgess said. Since 1777, a year after the Declaration of Independence was adopted and signed, the federal holiday has served, at different times, as a platform for dissent and discourse in addition to the fireworks and parades that have marked the occasion. Abolitionists, Suffragettes, anti-Prohibitionists, anti-war protesters and military veterans have marched on Washington, D.C. and elsewhere to point out the inequality still undermining the words of the document wherein it is written "all men are created equal." American Indians, however, have never formed a national protest around the holiday. Instead, they have focused their disagreement with history on Columbus Day, because the Italian explorer was unsuccessful in his search for a trade route to India and claimed the discovery of the "New World" when he landed in the Caribbean, said Alberta Snyder, 63, a member of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California. "He was lost. He called our whole world Indians, and now we are a mixture of intertribal people," said Snyder, who works in the Native American Indian Education program, based at Edison High School in Stockton. Snyder's aunts and uncles were taken from her grandmother by the time they where 3 years old and educated in Stewart Indian School in Nevada, which was run by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs and only closed in 1975. "My mother and my aunts refused to teach us Washoe because they were mistreated so badly if they spoke the language or tried to celebrated their culture," Snyder said. "We don't celebrate the Fourth of July, per se." Yet, her grandfather, uncles and aunts have served in the U.S. military "because they considered this our land, regardless of whether it was taken over," Snyder said. ----- To reach reporter Paula Sheil, phone (209) 546-8257 or e-mail psheil@recordnet.com Copyright c. 2004 The Stockton Record, All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Native Reporter finds pride in Crow Event" --------- Date: Sun, 4 Jul 2004 21:19:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JULY 4" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.billingsgazette.com/~/66-native-reporter.inc Native reporter finds pride in Crow event Jodi Rave REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK July 4, 2004 Let's go to Crow Native Days. A historic tribal reunion. Horse racing. Dance competition. Basketball stand-offs. An Ultimate Warrior challenge. It meant postponing my new start date for newspaper reporting by a couple of days, but after nearly a year away from journalism, it seemed another 24 hours out of the office could do no harm. June marked the completion of a yearlong journalism fellowship at Harvard University, leaving me some time to visit relatives on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. July marks my re-entry with Lee Enterprises. Instead of reporting from the Lincoln Journal Star in Nebraska, however, I now claim the Missoulian as my new reporting base. My cousin, son and I left North Dakota and made the six-hour trek to Crow Agency. Many fellow citizens of Fort Berthold's Three Affiliated Tribes, Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara, were already on the road, heading to Montana at the invitation of tribal leaders intent on officially reuniting the Hidatsa and Crow. The two tribes were united until one man's vision split them hundreds of years ago. The Hidatsa, the mother tribe, remained in North Dakota. The Crow, or Apsaalooke, settled in Montana. As all of the tribes settled in for the Crow Native Days competition, there was much talk about the upcoming Ultimate Warrior contest, an extreme athletic challenge for men and women of all tribes. I've had a number of years to observe the competitive Crow attitude. Given historical and familial connections to the tribe, I've come to appreciate the Apsaalooke. I have many Crow relatives who descended from Spotted Bear, a Mandan, who was my great-great-grandfather. The Ultimate Warrior challenge is a tribute to pride in horsemanship and athletic ability. All participants must have fleet feet, paddling power and hard-running horses. The contest evolved five years ago when former Crow Indian Health Service Unit Director Tennyson Donny worked with the tribal fitness center leaders to find a way to promote a healthy lifestyle. The night before the challenge, my cousin, Cory Spotted Bear of Twin Buttes, N.D., decided to compete in the Ultimate Warrior contest. A few setbacks forced him and his friend, Marty Young Bear of Mandaree, N.D., to start the race minutes late. Out of 17 contestants, they were the last to jump into their canoes. As they made their way down the Little Bighorn River, I dashed off to the grandstands to catch the end of the race. For a few moments, I contemplated the vast difference between the world I left behind in Cambridge, Mass., to the one I was seeing in Crow Agency. I had said goodbye to the Nieman Fellows, 25 American and international journalists, and felt as if had I stepped into a world of cowboys and Indians. Albeit, cavalry re-enactors were in town for festivities, too. In reality, the past year has given me time to reflect on what it means to be a reporter covering Native issues. Many of the stories I've written over five years reflect the hardships faced by this country's indigenous peoples: alcohol abuse, desolate economies, blatant racism, inadequate health care, social calamities. The stories are many. Yet, the Ultimate Warrior challenge also reminded me of the extraordinary spirit of Native peoples to persevere, to achieve great deeds, to live good lives. Young Bear and Spotted Bear, respectful young men both in their mid-20s, participate in Sun Dances, and live each day drug- and alcohol-free. I felt a sense of pride as each took an early lead. The crowd, my relatives and I cheered as the race drew to an end, and warriors began to cross the finish line. Isaiah Good Luck impressed everyone with a striking lead, allowing him to claim his third consecutive first-place finish. A Crow warrior indeed. Young Bear galloped in to take second. Shan Nomee claimed third. Spotted Bear, who ended up running four miles on gravel with nothing on his feet but a pair of cotton socks, still managed to claim fourth for prize money. Jesse Old Crow placed fifth overall. As I once again report news stories across Native America, the disheartening stories will arise. But I also won't forget the stories of ultimate warriors, the Native and non-Native defense forces, a cadre of men and women, young and old, who are leading healthy lifestyles and creating better living conditions for their communities. To all warriors: I salute you. After spending the past year at Harvard as one of 25 Nieman Fellows, reporter Jodi Rave is back on the Native issues beat for Lee Enterprises. Rave, who had been based at the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star since 1998, will now work out of the Missoulian newsroom in Missoula. She will continue to cover Indian Country for Lee's dozens of daily newspapers, including The Gazette. She is a citizen of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation and grew up in North Dakota. She joined Lee in 1998 to launch the Native issues beat. She can be reached at jodi.rave@lee.net or (406) 523-5299. Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Code of Honor" --------- Date: Sun, 4 Jul 2004 21:19:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CODE TALKERS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~2252681,00.html Code of honor By DIANA CAMPBELL, Staff Writer July 4, 2004 Samuel Smith lied to get into the military. He was really 17 but the recruiter let him say he was 18. He was spurred by bombing of Pearl Harbor to join the military but what really got to him was that during that attack the Japanese sank the U.S.S. Arizona, a battleship named for his home state. Over 1,000 servicemen went to a watery grave. "I was mad," Smith said. After boot camp Smith was turned away from becoming a pilot because he didn't have a high school diploma so he considered going into artillery with the Marines. But then commanders learned he was Navajo and the direction of his military career changed. "They took me to a place where there were a lotta, lotta Indians," he said. The group was gathered for communication training. When Smith finished, his high test scores landed him an assignment to a general in Maui to teach Navajo military code to other Navajo. He was one of two, he said. Smith, who thinks he is 79, is one of three Navajo Code Talkers in Fairbanks this weekend to celebrate the Fourth of July at the Midnight Sun Intertribal Powwow being held at the Tanana Valley Fairgrounds. Smith, Frank Thompson, 82, and Alfred Peaches, 79, are spending time during the powwow to sign autographs and greet well-wishers. All three were part of the 420 Native Americans who were trained to speak military code in the Navajo language for the U.S. military during World War II. All of the Code Talkers were given Congressional Medals of Honor. The popular movie, "Windtalkers," dramatized their stories. American Indian languages had been used as code before World War II, but one military adviser knew the Navajo language was largely unwritten and complex. It would do perfectly for military code. Previous methods were time consuming and causing an information bottleneck for the military during critical operations. The first code had some flaws and Smith was called in with other Navajos to help fix the original code. Altogether, he was in eight campaigns and was overseas for 2 1/2 years. Four of his brothers joined the military, too. Two did not come home. One was a pilot and was shot down. Another was captured by the Japanese and tortured to death in order to gain information when they learned he was Navajo. It was his duty to fight for his country, Smith said. The honors he's received pale in comparison, he said. Alfred Peaches was a Code Talker during the Battle of Okinawa, which saw some of the fiercest fighting in World War II. He and the group of men he was with were boxed in a foxhole for five days, he remembers. At 5 a.m. on the sixth day, orders came instructing the men to split up into two groups. Peaches and a platoon had to rush off the beach to a waiting boat and sail to a village harbor about three miles away. "We landed there at daybreak, rushed across the village," he said. "We went toward the front line. What they wanted us to do was attack from the rear." His job was to communicate their progress back to his partner, Robert Wally. The strategy was successful, he said. Each of the Code Talkers was assigned a soldier who had secret orders not to let anyone to fall into enemy hands. If they were about to be captured, then they were to shoot and kill them. Peaches said he never knew until after the war. "I was surprised," he said. Thompson, sitting at a booth with Peaches and Smith, joked with visitors during the powwow Saturday. The group traveling with the Code Talkers are selling books and posters and the men were giving autographs. Thompson pointed out that the Navajo were tied to Athabascans by a long genealogical journey of ancestors from Asia into North America. It was Thompson's first trip to Alaska, though. Talking with Athabascan elder Richard Frank, Thompson told him the thick air was really caused by smoke signals from Athabascans to the Navajo, inviting them to visit. "But it got out of control," he said. "We got the message though." Benno Cleveland, a member of The Alaska Native Veterans Association, said they would conduct fund-raisers to bring the Code Talkers back next year. The powwow continues today until closing ceremonies at 5 p.m. Food and craft vendors are open during the day. The Grand Entry line-up begins at 11:30 a.m. Drum groups from Louisiana, Minnesota, Kenai and Fairbanks will be playing. The entry fee is $7. ---- Diana Campbell can be reached at 459-7523 or dcampbell @newsminer.com. Copyright c. 2004 MediaNews Group, Inc. and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Inc. --------- "RE: JIM SPENCER: Ancient Site a siren call to Looters" --------- Date: Fri, 2 July 2004 08:16:42 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SPENCER: LOOTERS HIT HIDDEN SITE" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.denverpost.com/cda/~2C36%257E27772%257E2247614%2C00.html Jim Spencer: Ancient site a siren call to looters By Jim Spencer Denver Post Columnist July 2, 2004 Range Creek Canyon, Utah - Hundreds of tiny flags marked artifacts amid the ruins of a 1,000-year-old Fremont Indian village. The flags were the kind the cops use to identify evidence. So the place looked like a crime scene as much as an archaeological study. In a way, it was. University of Utah graduate student Joel Boomgarden stood amid the flags. He said a pair of 3-inch stone knife blades discovered a few days before were missing. Weeks after newspapers reported its existence, one of America's newest archaeological discoveries is under siege. By the time a national media tour made its way to the rugged, remote site southeast of Salt Lake City on Wednesday, thieves already had arrived to begin spoiling a secret that rancher Waldo Wilcox protected for half a century: Thousands of undisturbed ruins of ancient Native American habitats straddle a 12-mile stream here, dotting more than 1,000 acres and reaching as high as majestic mountain peaks. With the help of federal money, the state of Utah bought Wilcox's jewel. Whether the government can now preserve it is a crapshoot. "When the public gets in," Wilcox predicted, "it'll be destroyed." That was the reason Wilcox guarded the property. "I never pulled a gun on no one," said Wilcox, now 75. That doesn't mean he never carried a weapon. Wearing a pistol, Wilcox once told an uninvited visitor, "If you don't leave, I'm going to shoot you in the tail." The government can't practice this kind of historic preservation. If you go past the south gate of Wilcox's former property to other government-held land, Indian ruins are dug up, shot up and messed up, said Utah state archaeologist Kevin Jones. "Every pit house on BLM land has been looted," said Jones. Most have been vandalized. Beer cans, cigarette butts and bullet holes are the residue of a society that no longer appreciates its past. Jones isn't sure why. Maybe, he said, "we see things the Indians left as not relating to us. We don't care about their culture." Or maybe we're just greedy. With the Internet, said Tim Ahern of The Trust for Public Land, anyone can become an antiquities dealer. Ahern's environment-friendly group helped broker the government's purchase of Wilcox's property. But it can't protect it. Once locations of historic sites hit the Web, said Ahern, protecting them from treasure hunters is nearly impossible. But Jones also named another threat. Curious folks trampling through Range Creek Canyon to see, touch and perhaps take home a piece of Native American history could "love it to death." "If we just open the gates and let in the stampede," said Jones, "we wouldn't have a historic site in a few weeks." Access rules are being discussed. It may be limited to tours or permits. Nothing short of individual restraint seems likely to save the place. And judging from what's happened on adjacent land and the early pilfering from the Wilcox property, we, the people, may be too glib or greedy to assume responsibility. That bodes badly for a real treasure. It's a place where 1,000-year-old storage bins filled with corn peek from beneath the overhangs of red rock cliffs. It's a place where a natural ridge-top formation called Budge's Arch forms the gateway to a plaza and pit houses that student researchers nicknamed the "Dee-luxe Apartment in the Sky." It's a place where ancient hands etched images of snakes, bighorn sheep, elk, sunbursts and spirals that remain visible in stone 10 centuries hence. What's at stake here isn't just the past. It's a future we ought to share but can't seem to secure. Waldo Wilcox pointed at a flat expanse of rock jutting from a ridgeline. "I know I was the first gringo up there," he said, "because the arrow heads were still there. They are always the first thing to go." Jim Spencer's column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He may be reached at 303-820-1771 or jspencer@denverpost.com . --------- "RE: Fort Belknap grazing rates soar" --------- Date: Sun, 4 Jul 2004 21:19:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FORT BELKNAP GRAZING RATES" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.greatfallstribune.com/~/20040704/localnews/777290.html Fort Belknap grazing rates soar Ranchers fear fees will drive them out By JARED MILLER Tribune Regional Reporter July 4, 2004 LODGE POLE -- For the first time in his life, fourth-generation Assiniboine rancher Darrell Doney is nervous about his livelihood. After six years of crippling drought and the most brutal winter in 110 years, Doney and other Fort Belknap Reservation ranchers face a 51 percent increase in grazing fees on reservation land. He estimates the increase will cost him $25,000 this year. "I hope we ain't the last generation to do this," said Doney, who fears rising prices could block young ranchers from entering the business and hurt one of the reservation's only successful industries. With the increase, Fort Belknap ranchers pay the highest grazing rate on any reservation in Montana or Wyoming. And they pay more than the average fee for state-owned land, federal Bureau of Land Management property in Montana and private land in the Treasure State. The increase is the result of a routine price adjustment by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The increase will generate more income for owners of reservation trust land called allotments. But some Indian ranchers say the increase is based on a flawed new appraisal formula that allows non-Indians to price them off their own reservation. The Fort Belknap Indian Community Council appealed the increase, but the BIA ruled the appeal invalid. The BIA last raised the grazing rate at Fort Belknap in 1998. It increased the $7.50 fee to $10.57 per animal unit month, or AUM. That rate also was appealed, but the BIA rejected the arguments. Starting this year, Doney and other ranchers see the $10.57 rate jump to $16 per AUM. An AUM is a standard in the stock industry that measures the amount of feed required to sustain one cow and calf for a month. One more obstacle Home to the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre tribes, the Fort Belknap Reservation is about 45 miles east of Havre on the Hi-Line. Ranching is a vital industry on this 650,000-acre reservation, where unemployment is 70 percent. The largest Indian-owned cattle herds number less than 500 animals. Doney runs about 400 cattle on 8,000 acres near the heart of the reservation. Even at the old rate of $10.57 per AUM, Doney struggled to make money. Cattle forage last summer was unusually poor, and Doney's calves finished the year an average of 120 pounds underweight. That amounted to a loss of about $100 per calf at the sale barn. Then the record-breaking winter of 2003-04 hit. Snowdrifts were impossibly deep, and temperatures were frigid. Doney spent $30,000 -- or 40 percent -- more than usual on hay to keep his cows alive. That wasn't the only money he shelled out. "We spent about $8,000 on snow removal just to get to the stranded cattle," he said. With the new increase in the summer grazing rates, Doney says he's in trouble. He's not alone. Rancher Carletta Benson, an enrolled Gros Ventre, runs about 280 head of cattle on the reservation's northeast end. Benson said she expects to make about $7,600 less this year as a result of the new rate. John Hawley, an Indian rancher who owns about 30 cows on the reservation's southern end, said he won't know how much he'll lose until he takes his cattle to market in the fall. "Naturally, it's going to cost me more to run them," Hawley said. Setting the fees The formula for determining the reservation grazing rates is complex. Montana reservations are a mixture of tribal-owned land and allotments, which are owned by individual tribal members and managed by the federal government. The tribe sets its own grazing rates ($8.50 per AUM this year) on tribal land, while the BIA sets rates on allotted lands. Ranchers use a mixture of each. To get the new rate, a Department of the Interior office, the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians, completed an appraisal in December 2003. Created in 1994, the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians, or OST, manages income generated from Indian-owned land. It's the job of the BIA to act on behalf of the allotment owners to get the highest rates possible for their land, said Allan Hanley, supervisory rangeland management specialist at the BIA Rocky Mountain Region in Billings. The goal was to determine fair market value of lease rates for the land, Hanley said. "Appraisals are done based on comparable (lease) sales in the area," he said. Based on that formula, the OST said the new rate could be as low as $15 per AUM and as high as $16. BIA Superintendent Cleo Hamilton set the rate at $16. But ranchers question why the BIA puts a high priority on getting the most money for allotment owners but doesn't consider preserving the ranching industry and tradition. Doney noted that if Indian ranchers go out of business, allotment owners who receive the fees eventually will suffer, too. "They have to be reasonable," he said. Appraisal puzzling Ranchers also questions why the BIA changed its rate formula to only consider some of the highest-priced leases on the market. Under the old formula some 61 properties were considered, and Indian ranchers leased 51 of them. In the newest study, data was collected from just 18 land parcels, mostly bid on by non-Indians who paid as much as $29.82 per AUM. Indians lease only five of those parcels. The ranchers say that greatly skews the numbers. With lease rates now among the highest in the state, they feel they're being priced off their own reservation. "The reservation's for Indians, and we need to make sure we look after the Indians," rancher Hawley said. Some indicate that politics may be a factor in the higher rates. In a move apparently designed to ease grazing pressure on drought- stricken rangeland, the BIA in 2002 reduced the grazing season from six months to five months. The move upset allotment holders who saw their land returns plummet. Doney believes angry allotment owners may have pressured the local BIA superintendent to set the grazing rate at the high end of the spectrum. "It's just two-plus-two," Doney said. Hamilton, the BIA superintendent, did not return repeated phone calls from the Tribune. Allotment owners, on the other hand, say they are entitled to payment for grazing leases on their land. Retired Fort Belknap resident Elmer Main, for example, owns a 360-acre allotment and portions of several others. He receives $700 a year from grazing fees. Main doesn't rely on the money, but it contributes to his savings and compliments his retirement fund, said his wife, Elizabeth Main. Elmer Main put himself through college by selling one of his allotments years ago for $2 an acre. "He's got all this land, and why get only a little, tiny bit of income off it?" Elizabeth Main said. It is difficult to know how increased grazing fees will effect allotment owners on a larger scale. Information about allotment owners is held by the BIA and is confidential. Information, deadlines BIA and OST officials were not forthcoming with information on grazing rates. They refused to make public any documents related to the new appraisals. When they found out the Tribune had received copies from tribal members, OST officials would not answer questions about the issue. Calls to the Office of the Special Trustee offices in Billings and Albuquerque were referred to the Phoenix office, which did not return calls. The OST also would not release information on allotment owners, saying it's confidential. Meanwhile, the BIA dealt ranchers another blow when it released the new grazing rate two months after it was due. Tribal ordinance requires notification of new rates 180 days before the old rate expires. But ranchers didn't get word until Feb. 17, less than three months from the May 15 expiration date. By that time Doney and other ranchers had already completed annual budgets, and many had secured bank loans for the year's operating costs. As a cushion, Doney had even added a $3 increase per AUM to his loan to cover the price increase. When he finally learned of the $5.43 increase, he was forced to return to the bank. To secure more money, Doney agreed to sell his calves up front at what could mean a substantial loss. "They cost me, I figure, $25,000 by pushing me into an early contract," Doney said of the BIA. Many ranchers settled for the same disappointing deal. Staging a fight Doney worked 13 years as an oilfield roughneck, scraping and saving along the way, to buy his first cattle herd. He say's he'll fight to keep it. He and other stockgrowers are lobbying the BIA superintendent and the Fort Belknap Indian Community Council for relief. The Council filed an appeal with the BIA. But the appeal was invalid because it did not include a list of reasons for the appeal, Hanley said. A separate appeal by rancher Jake Crasco did not meet the deadline for the process. Doney filed an appeal of his own, which the BIA accepted, but he's not optimistic. "In the past, they accept your appeal, but they always reject lowering the price," Doney said. "It's like your appeal does no good." While Fort Belknap ranchers are running out of options to battle the increase, stockgrowers on other Montana reservation could face similar increases. The BIA adjusts reservation grazing rates every five years. The rate at Northern Cheyenne Reservation expires this year. The rate at Crow Reservation expires in 2005. On the Blackfeet and Fort Peck reservations, the rates are locked until 2008 and 2012, respectively. ---- Miller can be reached by e-mail at jarmille@greatfal.gannett.com, or by phone at (406) 791-6573 or (800) 438-6600. Copyright c. Great Falls Tribune, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Peabody Coal bid sets State Record" --------- Date: Friday, July 02, 2004 07:43 am From: Robert Dorman Subj: Peabody coal bid sets state record Mailing List: Big Mountain http://www.billingsgazette.com/~/news/2004/07/01/build/wyoming/50-coal.inc Peabody coal bid sets state record Associated Press July 1, 2004 CHEYENNE (AP) - Peabody Energy Inc. submitted a winning bid of $274.1 million for 2,956 coal-rich acres in the Powder River Basin of northeast Wyoming. Peabody's bid of 92 cents per ton of coal in the federal lease sale is a record for Wyoming. The bid averages to $92,701.28 per acre. Peabody made the bid through its subsidiary Powder River Coal Co. The lease contains an estimated 297 million tons of recoverable coal. The tract is adjacent to the North Antelope Rochelle Mine, which is owned by Peabody. The sale could net more than $130 million for the state in future taxes and other payments. It is also expected to add several years of work for a mine that employs some 800 people in Campbell and Converse counties. Powder River's bid was the only one made for the tract, according to the Bureau of Land Management. Peabody spokeswoman Beth Sutton said it became apparent within the industry that coal lease bids were going to increase substantially when Kennecott Energy paid 78 cents per ton on a federal coal lease in 2002. "Based on that, it was clear in our minds that bids would be somewhere north of the 78-cent per ton bid. We believe we bid competitively and didn't leave a lot of money on the table," Sutton said. Though no other company bid on the tract, Kennecott was considered within the industry to be a potential bidder because it also has a mine adjacent to the lease. Dick Price, coal analyst for Westminster Securities Corp., said there are a lot of good reasons why bid prices are on the rise in the southern Powder River Basin. "Demand is up 5 percent out of the Powder River Basin, year-to-date. Eastern low-sulfur production is down and you've still got more opportunity for Powder River Basin coal to penetrate Eastern markets," Price said. The lease purchased by Peabody is among five new federal coal lease tracts expected to come up for bid this year in the southern Powder River Basin, making available a total 1.5 billion tons of coal. At today's market price of about $7 per ton, the new reserves represent $10.5 billion in potential sales. Peabody holds about 9.2 billion tons of coal reserves worldwide and is the largest coal producer in the Powder River Basin. ========================================= Please visit http://www.theofficenet.com/~redorman/pagea~1.htm for more background on the Big Mountain relocation issue. To post to the list, email your message to redorman@theofficenet.com. To subscribe, send an email to: BIGMTLIST-subscribe@topica.com. --------- "RE: Tribes thrive on Store Sales" --------- Date: Tue, 29 June 2004 08:48:11 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SENECA SITUATION" http://www.pechanga.net/homepage.html http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20040629/1030144.asp Tribes thrive on store sales Unlike the Senecas, most Indian nations own businesses, and profits go to reservation By JERRY ZREMSKI News Staff Reporter June 29, 2004 When a few members of the Onondaga Nation south of Syracuse started their own smoke shops a decade ago, their fellow Onondagas didn't shut down any highways to protect the merchants from being taxed. Instead, Onondagas blockaded the Indian-owned businesses and shut them down. Unlike the Seneca Nation in Western New York, whose merchants made an estimated $162 million last year from their smoke shops and gas stations, the Onondaga government owns that tribe's only smoke shop and doesn't allow private competitors to spring up. "We had a time with the bandits here, too," said Oren R. Lyons, a chief on the Onondaga Council. "We just took their businesses right down." In barring such private smoke shops, the Onondagas are a typical tribe while the Senecas and a handful of other New York tribes are exceptions. Most tribes ensure that smoke shop profits go to tribal governments rather than a handful of merchants, Indian leaders from across the country said. "Sovereignty belongs to all of us. It's not for individuals to get rich," said Wendy Gonyea, community liaison for the Onondaga Nation. More than 200 tribes have agreements that resolve the thorny question of whether the state can tax sales to non-Indians on tribal territory. The Onondagas don't have any such deal with the state, which has struggled for years to find a way to collect such taxes. But they do have a cigarette business going just off Interstate 81. That smoke shop stems from a dispute that flared when a handful of merchants started selling tax-free cigarettes on Onondaga territory, just as the Seneca merchants do on the two Western New York reservations. "These people refused to give even a small percentage to our government," Gonyea said. And so the Onondaga leadership, a council of chiefs, closed those businesses and banished the Indians who started them from the nation's territory. In the wake of the controversy, the Onondagas started their own smoke shop. And before long, the nation - which refuses to take federal funds - was earning $200,000 a month. Revenue used wisely On the Onondaga territory, that revenue has gone to fund a new water system and a lacrosse arena, along with repair crews that fix homes on the reservation. Lyons said he didn't know how much richer the tribe is because of its smoke shop. "It's in the millions," he said. Other tribes nationwide are millions of dollars richer because of similar smoke shops. "In almost every example, the tribal government owns the business entity," said George Waters, a Washington lobbyist for several Western tribes. The Senecas' arrangement "is a sign of a very weak tribal government," he said. In contrast, the Reno Sparks Indian Colony of Nevada refuses to grant business licenses for smoke shops, said Arlan Melendez, the tribe's chairman. "Why would we propose making individual members to get rich when the tribe has so many needs?" Melendez asked. The Nevada State Legislature passed a bill in 1989 establishing a model tax agreement that tribes could adhere to. Under the measure, the tribes collect taxes on cigarettes that are equal to the state's sales and excise taxes. The tribe gets to keep the money, which has been a boon to the Reno Sparks people. "We've created our own tax base," which has been used to fund a new $12 million health center, Melendez said. Nevada's solution to its Indian sales tax problem looks a lot like a 1989 agreement between New York State and the Senecas, which the Seneca president at the time, Dennis Lay, vetoed. That was one of six Seneca laws aimed at making the wealthy Seneca merchants share their profits that have either been overturned or ignored in the past two decades. "If there is a trend, it goes toward the Nevada model," said John Dossett, general counsel for the National Congress of American Indians. "Washington and Arizona have adopted that policy." But the Senecas are having none of it. The Senecas' view "It's a suicide pact," said Joseph Crangle, a Buffalo attorney for several Seneca merchants, arguing that such an agreement would destroy the cost advantage that makes Seneca smoke shops so successful. Senecas also argue that they are in a stronger bargaining position on the tax issue than tribes nationwide. Whereas other tribes note that the Supreme Court has ruled that states can collect taxes on sales to non- Indians on reservations, the Senecas point to their 1842 treaty with the state. That treaty frees "lands of the Seneca Indians, within the State of New York, as may from time to time remain in their possession from all taxes, and assessments for roads, highways, or any other purpose." The Senecas rely on that language in their current court battle on the issue. "No one else has that treaty," said Beth Kelly, a spokesman for Seneca President Rickey L. Armstrong Sr. "Most would give their left arm for it." Then again, tribes across the country have maintained strong cigarette businesses without those treaty rights - and without the huge price advantage the Senecas enjoy. "We are extremely competitive in this market," said Stephen Moran, who heads the Reno Sparks Tribe's businesses. "Compared with probably everybody else, we offer low prices." Not always easy Tribal retailers can do that because the tax they charge is the only markup on top of the wholesale price; it is, in effect, the profit that the tribe makes. "My impression is that it's worked out really well," said Marty Loesch, an attorney for the Swinomish Indian Tribe in Washington, one of eight tribes to sign tax agreements with that state. Such tax agreements aren't always easy to come by. The Puyallup Tribe, located near Tacoma, Wash., has 23 private smoke shops and has fiercely resisted any taxation attempts. "It's much more difficult on those sorts of reservations to reach an agreement," Dossett said. That seems to be the case in New York. Tom Bergin, a spokesman for the Department of Taxation and Finance, said plans to try to collect those taxes are on hold. "The state doesn't want confrontation," which is what it got in 1992 and 1997 when Senecas shut down the Thruway in tax protests, Bergin said. Copyright c. 1999 - 2004 The Buffalo News. --------- "RE: Gila River Tribe plans to buy land in Park" --------- Date: Thu, 1 July 2004 08:53:12 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SAN TAN MOUNTAIN" http://www.indianz.com/News http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/tempe/articles/0701McityZ10.html Gila tribe may buy 1,200 acres in San Tan park Adam Klawonn The Arizona Republic July 1, 2004 12:00 AM With casino wealth in hand, the Gila River Indian Community is in line to buy 1,200 acres in San Tan Mountain Regional Park - one of three publicly owned sites near or within tribal borders that members intend to acquire. The tribe won early approval for the $8 million purchase this week from the Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Commission. There could be a public hearing as early as mid-August. The idea of buying a piece of the 10,200-acre park's southern end is to avoid more Ahwatukee-type developments on tribal borders, said Gary Bohnee, tribal spokesman. "It has always been a goal of the community to acquire lands that would essentially be a buffer," he said. But it was only in the past three years that members could afford it, thanks to revenues from the community's Wild Horse Pass resort and casino. The tribe also hopes to buy a 600-acre parcel on the community's southwestern side and another east of Sacaton, Bohnee said. The rub, however, is that everyone has a different idea on regional park development. Open space, say preservationists like Mike Evans. He says the tribe will honor the deal, keeping the land as a "conservation easement," which would abut a preserve area for wild ponies. "But that's not the point," he said. "We shouldn't be selling it. We should be keeping it for the citizens of Maricopa County and Pinal County to enjoy." Residents who don't live on the reservation would lose access. But a previous site proposal for a competitive bike track would, too - a major complaint of citizens nearby, said the county's park supervisor, Bob Ingram. It's a win-win, he said. The Indian community and park purists get open space while the county could gain revenue to fund previously unfunded park amenities. "If I were going to get rid of park land - which I don't like to do - then this is a good compromise," Ingram said. "At least the land stays open." Copyright c. 2004 Arizona Republic, azcentral.com. --------- "RE: Hospital Sweat Lodge built to heal Body, Spirit" --------- Date: Sun, 4 Jul 2004 21:19:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HOSPITAL SWEAT LODGE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=82944 Hospital sweat lodge built to heal body, spirit Oregon State Hospital's newest structure adopts Native American customs ALAN GUSTAFSON Statesman Journal July 3, 2004 Psychiatric medications and group counseling sessions are staples of therapy at the Oregon State Hospital. Patients now can partake in a different kind of medicine, steeped in ancient Native American traditions. During a Friday ceremony that featured Native American drumming, singing and dress, hospital patients and staff celebrated construction of a sweat lodge on the grounds of the state-run psychiatric facility. In keeping with age-old tribal customs, the lodge was built from 16 willows bent over into a half circle to represent the 16 ribs in a woman's body. Patients and staff can use the sweat lodge, officials said. It is designed to work this way: Fire-heated rocks are taken into the blanket-covered domed lodge, where water is poured on them to generate steam. As the heat rises, people pray, sing and meditate. Participants say body sweat and mystical forces combine to generate physical, mental and spiritual renewal. "The sweat lodge ceremony is basically a purification ritual - a time of prayer and reflection," said Gail Mason, an Ojibway Indian and psychologist resident at the hospital. "It's medicine that's both spiritual and physical in nature. When we enter the lodge, we pull negativity from our body. We let go of our grief and anger and heal from the tragedies and trauma that hold us back from being whole." Mason led an eight-monthlong planning effort that culminated in Friday's construction of the first sweat lodge at the Salem hospital since 1983. The lodge is within a fenced compound, tucked behind a sprawling hospital building on Center Street NE. Hospital Superintendent Marvin Fickle expressed his support for the sweat lodge. "This is really good for everyone here," he said. "It's helping people to reconnect with their cultural roots, to practice their own personal spirituality and to connect with others within their own community." Fickle anticipated that patients would use the sweat lodge every two weeks. Participation will be limited to those with sincere beliefs, he said. "We want to make sure this is not just a cultural passing fad, but that it's used in the way it's intended," Fickle said. More than 15 hospital patients took part in Friday's construction party. They drummed, dug a fire pit and helped erect the structure. Patient Steve Gonzales, who shoveled soil, said he looked forward to the transforming experience of the sweat lodge. "It means a lot to me," he said. "It's good therapy to have a sweat and get in touch with the great spirit." Patient Todd Van Dorn, who grew up on the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton, said working on the sweat lodge provided a welcome respite from hospital routines. "It's great to be out of the warehouse," he said. "It's great to be thinking about something outside the hospital." Van Dorn praised Mason as the driving force behind the project. "I think Dr. Mason brought out the Indian in everybody," he said. Conforming with Indian tradition, people entering the sweat lodge area were "smudged," or enveloped, with wisps of smoke from burning sage. That practice was aimed at warding off any bad spirits. Mason, who donned ceremonial Indian garb during Friday's celebration, said the sweat lodge is not just for Native Americans. "It's all-inclusive and for the use of all patients and staff, which will help bridge the many cultures at OSH," she said. Clearly, sweat lodge traditions are deeply rooted in Native American spirituality. "It's a ceremony that's designed to bring us intimately in balance with life - so we're in harmony with nature," Mason said. "The creator will bless the sweat, and it will come back as blessings in the form of clean air, clean water, plants and animals - all life that sustains us. "Native Americans with mental illness believe they have one foot in the spirit world. But we have to remember - they have a right to heal. They have a right to enter the lodge and keep themselves grounded." agustafs@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6709 Copyright c. 2004 Statesman Journal, Salem, Oregon. --------- "RE: A Fresh Perspective of Indian Culture" --------- Date: Wed, 30 June 2004 08:39:18 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LAKOTA SCULPTOR" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/~/news/news01.txt A Fresh Perspective of Indian Culture By Jomay Steen, Journal Staff Writer June 30, 2004 Sculptor's award bringing new attention to Lakota art On his father's ranch near Scenic on the northern border of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Kevin Pourier creates a vision. From a box of buffalo horns, he selects horn for carving, a feat that has earned Pourier a prestigious 2004 Southwest Association for Indian Arts Fellowship and Lifetime Achievement Award. The award has positioned Pourier among the finest Northern Plains artists in the Southwest region. The South Dakota man belongs to an elite group of 10 artists honored from the 1,200 American Indian artists who attend the Santa Fe Indian Market and the hundreds who applied for the fellowship. "We're really excited about this award," Pourier said. He and his wife, Val, returned home one evening last month to a cryptic phone message on their answering machine from the Southwest Association. "I didn't sleep all that night," he said. It was good news. He had won. Pourier, 45, had brought to the forefront the Lakota artistry of which many people are unaware when considering Indian art. The basic design he carves goes back to the days of his ancestors, the Pte Oyate kin - the Buffalo People. Yet this ladle will hold much more than broth or soup. "Contemporary Indian art is so rare," Pourier said. "The market demands that we do those same old things." But with research, participation in ceremonies and stories, Pourier retraces the cultural steps of evolving into the best of humanity, himself and his artistry. "I'm just bringing these age-old designs back. I guess through these awards, there will be education of the beauty of our culture," he said. In Pourier's collection, a spoon takes on an elegance of its own. On one spoon, Pourier has carved the bright orange wings of Monarch butterflies upon its sturdy bowl and delicate handle. They look as if they have been caught resting while on a migratory flight. Like sculptors before him, Pourier has brought out the delicate wings of a dragonfly, the scintillating beauty of the stars and the remarkable strength of horses from within the tough ebony surface of a horn. On Aug. 19, the Lakota sculptor will return to New Mexico for a weekend of ceremonies, a reception at Gov. Bill Richardson's mansion and the center booth at the Santa Fe Indian Market. "It will be the hottest ticket in Santa Fe that weekend," Pourier said. His buffalo horn art also will grace the pages of the Museum of Art & Design gallery catalogue and will be a part of the New York City exhibit of "Changing Hands Part II: Art of the Plains & Plateau" for 2005. He plans to make pieces for both the Santa Fe Indian Market and the museum exhibit, which will take weeks of work. Museum of Art & Design curators have been attending the shows for two years. "They loved what they saw and wanted me to create something for them," Pourier said. Fresh from interviews with "Cowboys & Indians Magazine" and "Native Peoples Art & Lifeways Magazine," both Southwest regional publications, Pourier and his buffalo horn artistry may be the best kept secret in South Dakota. "Everyone knows me there, but here it's a different story," Pourier said. A recent list of Lakota artists exhibiting their work at the new Oglala Lakota College's Historical Center caught Pourier's eye. With his studio 20 miles from the college's Kyle campus, he hadn't been invited to be a part of its inaugural season of exhibiters. "I wasn't even called," he said. "It's hurtful not to be included in things like that." OLC development director Marilyn Pourier, who is not related to Kevin Pourier, said she was aware of his art. With only 12 slots open, she had depended upon word of mouth to get artists to agree to show their art and organize the schedule. Asked if Pourier's work was being ignored, she denied that there was any conscious effort to keep him out of the summer exhibit. "Of course not," she said. "This is our first year of doing this." In the coming years, more artists would be invited, Kevin Pourier among them, she said. Pourier's art isn't the usual depictions of hunters chasing buffalo. As a Lakota artist, he wants his art to reflect the era and the life that he lives. "We have things to say today," he said. "When (Joseph) Stalin came into power, he killed the politicians, academics and the artists. I sometimes think about that and wonder if he would see what I made and say 'Get him.'" He hopes his audience finds his work truthful. He wants his art to be more than accents for interior design that heightens the color of someone's couch or wallpaper. "I don't want to do warm and fuzzy. I'll let the other artists do that," Pourier said. Pourier and his wife worked collaboratively to create a line of buffalo horn jewelry. Carved, shaped and inlayed with semi-precious stones, the necklaces, earrings, bracelets, pins and conch belts feature wildlife motifs and Native designs. In the afternoons, Pourier returns to his studio, a converted storage shed near the home of his father, Gerald Pourier. With Otis, his dog, and D.C., his cat, to keep him company, the self-taught artist begins creating a new spoon. Using a band saw, he cuts the horn into its ladle shape. Then he takes the spoon outdoors to the stone grinder, the same one used to sharpen the sickle bar of his father's mowing machine. The rough grinding will take out the outer layer of the horn. He returns to his shop and a finer grit-sander, preparing the horn's surface for finer and finer sanding. Using an ordinary pencil, he draws a scene on the ladle's surface. "Then I start carving," Pourier said. Using diamond-coated burs on an electric rasp, he delicately applies its edge to the horn, carefully creating the lines and gouges that will lift the scene to the horn's surface. The spoons bring as much as $4,500 at a show, and his concho belts, with large flat horn pieces displacing the familiar silver conchos, bring in $12,000 from collectors. Born and raised in Rapid City, Pourier moved with his family in 1972 to the reservation. A graduate of Wall High School, he turned to riding motorcycles and partying after receiving his diploma. "I rebelled after high school. I became a biker on a Harley," he said. For a more than a decade, he took a serious fall into drugs, alcohol and bad relationships. But he grew tired of that and changed. "I turned 30 and I just had enough," he said. "I've been clean and sober ever since." He has created relationships with the people who buy his pieces, not because it fuels his living but because they recognize the warmth and spirit he tries to convey. "People who buy or collect it have both feet on the ground," he said. "We've made a lot of relationships with people all over the world." Connected to the buffalo in indescribable ways, Pourier said he cannot bear to throw away the scraps left over from his artwork. In a small plastic tub are the remnants of all of his carvings, a concrete timeline of the past 10 years spent carving out his life as a serious artist. "I've always saved them," he said. "I don't know why." Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com Copyright c. 2004 The Rapid City Journal. --------- "RE: Giago: Casinos create culture of 'us' and 'them'" --------- Date: Thu, 1 July 2004 08:53:12 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GIAGO: CASINO CREATED ISSUES" http://www.indianz.com/News http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforksherald/news/local/9043695.htm VIEWPOINT: New gaming culture rises in Indian country By Tim Giago July 1, 2004 RAPID CITY, S.D. - If an election were held today on Indian reservations such as the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota to rescind or retain casino-style gaming, what would be the outcome? The scent of greenbacks has had an intoxicating effect upon the leaders of the many Indian nations of this country. But some of the traditional leaders are looking at the impact of gaming from the pinnacle of 16 years and are beginning to analyze its impact upon their people. The euphoria of Indian casinos has begun to diminish after nearly 17 years. The problems encountered were not those projected by the naysayers. Organized crime did not gain a foothold in Indian country as was predicted by state governments, nor did overall criminal acts jump in huge numbers. What has happened is that there is a new culture arising in Indian country. It is a culture that has existed in Las Vegas and in New Jersey since gaming became a legalized business. And now, it is spreading across America. When I worked in Harrah's Club in Reno, Nev., many years ago, I was a part of that culture. It is one that views customers as "them" and the casino workers as "us." We (the casino workers) learned to strongly distrust "them." It is a culture that, after many years, loses the respect for the almighty dollar and looks upon it as just so much paper. When I worked in the pit as a croupier, oftentimes our table divided tips that gave each of us more than $1,000 for a single night's work. Most of the time, I took the tip next door to Harold's Club and lost it forthright. To me, and I am afraid, to my fellow casino workers, it was just so much play money. Strangely enough, after I stopped working at the casino, I never have had the urge to gamble again. This is not the case in Indian country. Many tribes now are fighting to overcome the gambling addiction of their tribal members and especially the addiction of those who work in the casinos. This is a portion of the Indian gaming legend that is kept behind closed doors. After many classroom lessons while working in Harrah's on how to spot cheaters, everyone becomes suspect. Night after night, we would watch for those cheating at the 21 tables or at the slot machines, or even on the dice tables where I toiled. The methods employed often were ingenious. Where there is an abundance of money, there are those who will try to find a way to pull it into their own pockets. One cannot help but develop a feeling of paranoia about the customers frequenting the casinos. And this can overflow into one's personal life. As casino workers, we formed a clique that further separated us from the general public. The odd rotating hours of day, swing and night shifts served to further separate us from the norm. Many of us also found it hard to understand why we were paid bare minimum wages when we saw thousands of dollars passing through the hands of the casino operators on a daily basis. There was no union to speak for us in those days. The question I hear more often than not these days by the casino workers themselves is, "Why would I want to make a career out of working in a casino?" Many are looking for something better and simply are using the job at the casino as a holding pattern until something better comes along. It is hard to build a solid foundation on shifting sands. In the casinos, the wages often are low, the stress high and the opportunities for advancement limited. In Reno, Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Lake Tahoe, the Meccas of the non-Indian casinos, the influx of college students to fill the employee ranks is very high in the summer months. For the college students, it is all fun and games for three months and then back to college. For those locked into making the casino jobs career positions, the luster soon wears thin. Where all of this is going and how it will end up still is on the drawing boards. The question of whether this new culture will supplant the old, traditional culture also is open for debate. While new groups are fighting to get federal recognition so that they may join the casino craze, some of the older tribes are taking a second look at Indian gaming. I see powerful conflicts on the horizon. ---- Giago, an Oglala Lakota, is editor and publisher of the Lakota and Pueblo Journals. Copyright c. 2004 Grand Forks Herald. --------- "RE: Indigenous Resistance to Globalization" --------- Date: Sunday, July 04, 2004 11:26 pm From: Chiapas95-english Subj: En;ZNet,Indigenous Resistance to Globalization,Jun 26 Mailing List: Chiapas-95 - This message is forwarded to you by the editors of the Chiapas95 newslists. To contact the editors or to submit material for posting send to: . From: "Dana" Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2004 06:58:44 +0200 Indigenous Resistance to Globalization by toni solo June 26, 2004 ZNet http://www.zmag.org/weluser.htm "Negotiating a free-trade agreement with the U.S. is not something one has a right to - it's a privilege." 1 This quote from US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick came to mind when the BBC reported former head of Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, US army General Karpinski on policy at the US concentration camp in Guantanamo. Karpinski quoted former Guantanamo commander Major General Miller saying , "At Guantanamo Bay we learned that the prisoners have to earn every single thing that they have." She went on, "He said they are like dogs and if you allow them to believe at any point that they are more than a dog then you've lost control of them." 2 Lessons from that kind of psychological and physical torture are very evident in US government efforts to force through coercive "free trade" deals on weaker trading partners in Latin America. Disorientating high- pressure timetables, meagre incentives and seriously damaging penalities underlie the superficial, businesslike bonhomie. Over these trade-in-your- sovereignty negotiations hangs constantly the perennial imperial Damocles' sword - "comply.... or else". In the background, national and international media sound the endless confidence-eroding drip, drip, "there's no alternative....what choice do you have?....no alternative..." The idea that the poor majority in Latin America are unaware of the crude aggression and blunt contempt for their needs and interests on the part of the United States or complacent at their own governments' canine roll-over responses is false. Resistance is widespread to US government attempts to extend and consolidate imperial control of Latin America's resources on behalf of giant multinational corporations. One would never know that from the corporate-owned mainstream media. If it's bad news for US allies, it's a non-event - Colombia Only the most inescapable signs of that resistance in Latin America make the corporate media. The list of important events barely covered outside the countries where they happened reveals how popular protest is neglected. For example, the successful 37 day strike by national oil company workers in Colombia this year received virtually no coverage at all. Organized to resist continuing attempts to privatize the State oil company to favor multinational giants like BP-Amoco and Occidental Petroleum, initially the strike was declared illegal. Over 200 workers were fired. Seventeen strike leaders were arrested. The government militarised petroleum installations throughout the country. 3 Similarly, on May 18th around half a million public workers held a national strike. A massive protest in Cartagena was brutally repressed by the army. None of this received coverage in the North American or European media in any way comparable to the coverage given to the 2002 Venezuelan opposition lock-out. Army and paramilitary massacres in Colombia, such as those this May in Guajira and in Arauca, that would be headline international news if they happened in Venezuela, are simply not reported. Mexico Likewise, serious human rights abuses in Vicente Fox's Mexico also go mostly unreported. An overwhelmingly peaceful recent demonstration in Guadalajara outside the meeting between European and Latin American leaders was violently dispersed after provocations by a small number of aggressive protestors well infiltrated by government provocateurs. Hundreds of bystanders and peaceful demonstrators were rounded up, severely beaten and in many cases tortured during their subsequent detention. 4 In Chiapas, indigenous leaders continue to be assassinated and indigenous communities displaced and attacked. On June 7th indigenous leader Vazquez Alvaro was murdered by gunmen believed to be in the pay of local landowners. While Mexico has denounced Cuba for its human rights abuses, Amnesty International had this to report about Mexico "In May the UN Committee against Torture published its report on a five-year investigation into torture in Mexico. The report stated that incidents of torture "are not exceptional situations or occasional violations committed by a few police officers but that, on the contrary, the police commonly use torture and resort to it systematically as another method of criminal investigation". 5 AI also notes that a UN Special Rapporteur for the area expressed concern that Plan Puebla Panama threatens basic rights of indigenous communities in southern Mexico. The report observes "In June local human rights organizations opposed the threatened eviction of up to 42 indigenous settlements in the Montes Azules Biodiversity Reserve in Chiapas, on the grounds that communities had not been adequately consulted and the measures were intended to encourage private investment, not protect the environment." Ecuador All these abuses in Mexico tend to be played down in the international media. Similarly, in Ecuador, widespread popular protest against President Lucio Gutierrez precarious government is also under-reported. Protestors organized large demonstrations in Quito to mark the 34th general assembly of the Organization of American States in early June. Around the same time the major indigenous organizations declared they would no longer recognize the legitimacy of the Gutierrez government. 6 In the north of the country highways continue to be cut by demonstrators protesting Ecuador's growing involvement in the war in Colombia and against the upcoming "free trade" talks with US trade negotiators. Gutierrez is reported to have closed down press and radio media critical of his government. But the formula for the international media seems to be "Cuban censorship, bad: Ecuadoran censorship, so what?...." 7 So you only discover these reports on the web. The Bolivian referendum Just as all these events have failed to attract the same level of attention in the international media as similar events in Venezuela, coverage is largely absent of the referendum scheduled for July 18th which will decide the future of Bolivia's huge gas fields. Will they be ransacked by the Pacific LNG consortium of BP- Amoco, British Gas and the Spanish giant Repsol for sale in Mexico and the US? Or will they be exploited so as to benefit Bolivia's impoverished majority? The contrast between the virtually non-existent coverage of the rights and wrongs of this referendum and that given to Venezuela's referendum is sharp. Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in Latin America, with a population of just 9 million. It's mineral wealth has been looted for centuries by Europe and North America. It also has some of the largest natural gas reserves in the world, 52 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of proven or probable reserves and another 25 TCF of possible reserves. The importance of the Bolivian government's energy strategy for the country's future can hardly be overstated. In terms of Bolivia's future geo- political options and economic development its reserves of natural gas are fundamental. The discredited government of Sanchez de Lozada facilitated 78 natural gas concessions for foreign companies before popular outrage at the waste of national resources forced Sanchez de Lozada out of office and out of the country in October last year. The replacement President Carlos Mesa is desperately trying to defend his predecessor's largesse to the multinational oil companies against growing popular rejection. As part of the strategy to respond to demands from the popular majority his government has called a referendum on the sale of Bolivia's gas. President Mesa's government hopes the measure may provide some legitimacy to the knock-down disposal of the country's resources to foreign multinationals. Some history Rights to the country's fabulous gas reserves began to be privatized under the government of Jaime Paz from 1989 to 1993. From 1993 to 1997 Sanchez de Lozada's government deepened the privatization process, forcing State enterprises like the State energy company YPFB into public-private partnerships with foreign multinationals. Successive laws and administrative regulations throught the 1990s ate away at Bolivia's sovereignty over its natural resources. Much of this resulted from pressure to comply with creditors' demands permitting Bolivia to enter the first round of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Even after that "concession" Bolivia's debt in 1999 still stood at over US$6bn - nearly three times its Gross National Product. In addition, the Sanchez de Lozada government of that period signed agreements with World Bank and US government bodies guaranteeing giveaway investment terms in favor of foreign companies. Bolivia's low production costs - as low as a quarter of those in Venezuela or Mexico - are a powerful magnet for predatory multinational looters. They make exploitation of the gas fields viable in a pan-american market where huge US reserves tend to keep prices low. Apart from the Pacific LNG consortium, other companies anxious for a cut of Bolivia's gas wealth include France's Total and Brazil's Petrobras as well as Bechtel and BHP of Australia who want to use the gas to generate electricity for copper operations in Chile - Bolivia's traditional enemy. Geopolitics - a route to the sea after 125 years The geopolitical angle for many people in Bolivia is that Chile's need for cheap gas might be land-locked Bolivia's opportunity for a route to the sea. (Chile cut off Bolivia's access to the sea after war between the two countries in 1879.) The Chilean army, the US government and the multinational energy giants have other ideas. Reports of large troop deployments along the border - reports vary from 22,000 to over 50,000 - and information suggesting potential coup attempts all raise the pressure on the Bolivian government to play along with the status quo as much as possible. 8 The situation is aggravated by the decision by Argentina's President Kirchner to restrict sales of gas from Argentina to Chile as a result of the energy crisis confronting his government. That energy crisis itself is viewed by many as bogus, resulting more from attempts by the energy multinationals to fix prices than from genuine shortages. A powerful statement of that view is given by the Bolivian Coordinating Group for Defence of Gas and Life in an open letter to the people of Argentina, "There's much talk these days of an Energy Integration Plan for the Southern Cone. We are ready to contribute to it but to an integration between peoples in accord with the need of the peoples not with the businesses of amoral multinationals." 9 The questions 10 The Bolivian July 18th referendum asks voters if they are in agreement with five apparently non-controversial measures. These are: - the revocation of the current Hydrocarbons Law - the recovery of all well-head property rights over hydrocarbons by the Bolivian State - the re-establishment of YPFB as a State entity controlling the production of hydrocarbons - the use of Bolivia's gas to recover "useful and sovereign" access to the Pacific - the domestic industrialization of Bolivia's gas for internal development with up to 50% charges to private companies for rights to exploit the gas The Central Obrero de Bolivia (COB) the country's main workers union has rejected the questions arguing that they represent an attempt to facilitate the passage of a new Hydrocarbons Law to replace the discredited law of 1989. Opponents argue that whatever the result in the first two questions, the multinationals will still retain the rights granted by Sanchez de Lozada for 78 concessions lasting up to 36 years representing the country's most important gas reserves. The referendum touches nothing retrospectively, only new concessions will be covered by any change in the law. On question three even a "yes" would only permit the Bolivian government more say in the three privatized entities that resulted from the privatization of the State petroleum company YPFB. Final decisions would still rest with the majority shareholders - the multinationals. Question four is so vaguely worded that the government could use a "yes" vote to accept merely a commitment to negotiate on the part of the Chilean government while Bolivia's gas was still sold cheap for shipment to Mexico and the US. Question five conceals the fact that without full control of the gas reserves and a State company capable of exploiting those reserves it makes no sense to talk about industrialization of the gas for the benefit of the people of Bolivia. The question that is missing is: "Should Bolivia's gas reserves be nationalized under a State energy company?" That position is supported by around 80% of Bolivia's population according to various groups opposing the government. 11 Bolivian resistance - a civics lesson for Roger Noriega On June 21st the COB launched a campaign to collect a million signatures calling for nationalization of the country's gas reserves. The US government should send its representative on a basic civics class in Bolivia. Apparently after having been asleep during recent events in Bolivia, Roger "narcolept" Noriega woke up on March 2nd this year to tell the US Senate, "A principal objective of our democracy program in Bolivia is to draw the long-marginalized indigenous population into political life." 12 Arguably as crucial for the future of Latin America as the presidential referendum in Venezuela, very little of the national debate in Bolivia reaches the international media. The imperial "free trade" consensus has never had much time for genuine debate based on accurate and timely information. But the referendums in Bolivia and Venezuela are likely to deliver unmistakeable signals that the empire's subject peoples have had enough - whether the corporate media report it fairly or not. toni solo is an activist in Central America - contact : tonisolo01@yahoo.com NOTES 1 Speech to the International Institute for Economics in Washington. May 8th 2003 2 "General Karpinski : Iraq Abuse 'Ordered From the Top'" BBC , Tuesday 15 June 2004 posted in Truth Out 3 www.icem.org International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions. 4 "Due Process in Guadalajara Repression of Globalization Activists" by Patrick Leet, ZNet, June 17, 2004 5 http://web.amnesty.org/report2004/mex-summary-eng 6 "Ecuador - Las naciones indi'genas desconocen al Gobierno de Lucio Gutie'rrez", 06/06/2004, www.fundacionpacificar.org 7 http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/573/573p19.htm 8 "Coup d'E'tat Plot, Exposed, Shakes Bolivia" By Luis Go'mez, NarcoNews, April 22nd 2004 9 "Carta abierta al Pueblo Argentino De la Coordinadora de Defensa del Gas y de la Vida de Bolivia", 22-06-2004 , www.rebelion.org 10 http://www.bolivia.gov.bo/BOLIVIA/paginas/referendum.htm 11 http://www.cedib.org/pcedib/?moduledisplaystory&story_idx64&formathtml - http://www.rebelion.org/bolivia/040521referendum.htm 12 Testimony of Roger F. Noriega Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Department of State Before the Committee on Foreign Relations United State Senate, March 2, 2004 -- To subscribe from this list send a message containing the words subscribe chiapas95 (or chiapas95-lite, or chiapas95-english, or chiapas95-espanol) to majordomo@eco.utexas.edu. --------- "RE: AFN battle over Voting continues at Confederacy" --------- Date: Tue, 6 July 2004 08:53:42 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="AFN VOTING BATTLE" http://www.ammsa.com/birchbark/topnews-May-2004.html#anchor695428 AFN battle over voting continues at confederacy Paul Barnsley, Birchbark Writer, Ottawa July 2004 A Chiefs of Ontario letter shows that the fight over who votes and who doesn't at the Assembly of First Nations' twice-annual confederacy meetings will resume at the next chiefs' meeting in May. National Chief Phil Fontaine sent a letter to all First Nation chiefs and councils on March 18, announcing that "the next Confederacy of Nations to be held at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on May 18, 19, 20, 2004 will be conducted in accordance with Article 11 of the AFN Charter." Article 11 states the "the Confederacy of Nations shall be composed of First Nations representatives of each region on the basis of one representative for each region plus one representative for each 10,000 First Nations' citizens of that region." A two-page letter written in response on March 19 by acting Ontario Regional Chief Earl Commanda (who was filling in for Vice-chief Charles Fox while Fox was on leave seeking, unsuccessfully, the federal Liberal Party's nomination in Kenora-Rainy River) urged all Ontario chiefs to attend the meeting in Saskatoon. Since there are 134 chiefs in Ontario and the province has been allotted just 18 votes under the charter, that's a call to arms. "The Political Confederacy of Ontario met March 15 and agreed that Ontario's position would remain that all chiefs and proxies in attendance would retain the right to vote at this AFN confederacy," Commanda wrote. "The rationale for applying the AFN charter and breaking with convention and tradition that chiefs in assembly have come to expect is unclear." British Columbia and Ontario chiefs waged the same battle during the December confederacy meeting in Ottawa. The chiefs of British Columbia wanted the assembly to operate according to the charter with a set number of voting delegates for each region. Ontario led a group of chiefs that wanted things to continue as they have for the last dozen or more years with every chief in attendance entitled to vote. Since many chiefs had travelled to Ottawa intending to participate as voting delegates and had not been given notice they would not be able to vote, B.C. backed off after a heated three-hour debate. The issue exposed a number of the organizational problems the AFN faces. Aside from the fact that the organization has openly failed to follow its own written rules, the problem of who is in charge of the chiefs' organization was also highlighted. Although a national chief is elected, he is expected to be only a spokesman for the 600-plus other chiefs and to take direction from them. Last year, Fontaine sought to take the lead on an issue and publicly endorsed the federal government's proposed First Nations financial institutions legislation. He was brought into line when chiefs opposed to the legislation reminded him he must do what the chiefs in assembly tell him to do. This edict from the national chief's office about reverting to the charter is being seen as another attempt to assert authority over the chiefs in assembly by Fontaine and will be contested, Ontario sources say. The confusion over voting started when AFN rules for annual general meetings (held every July) were applied to confederacy meetings (held every spring and in December). At the AGM, the charter calls for all chiefs to have a vote. Chiefs who attended the confederacies also wanted to vote and the rules were ignored but never formally changed. For an organization to follow its own charter rules would seem to make sense but the AFN has not done so in recent memory, so it has become accepted practice for all chiefs who attend confederacy meetings to vote. This practice has become a key part of the political strategy employed by competing factions when debating contentious issues: if you want to ensure a favorable outcome on a vote, bring as many delegates as you can find and outnumber the opposition. Sources in B.C.say that since most meetings are held in Ottawa, Ontario chiefs have an unfair advantage because it's far less expensive for them to get to the meetings. AFN executive sources have said that tactic frustrates the will of the majority of chiefs and allows a small group to dictate the national agenda. The AFN is currently involved in a renewal process led by Wendy Grant- John and Joe Miskokomon. That process is far from complete. Commanda asked why the national chief and executive have decided to make a major change to the way the organization does business before the renewal commission makes its recommendations. That question will be asked again on the floor in Saskatoon. Fontaine's letter stated that "representative status accords members the right to vote, move or second resolutions and speak." The national chiefs' letter does not explicitly say that other chiefs who attend who are not recognized as delegates - or other observers - will not be allowed to speak. Based on the most recent statistics and the application of the rules in the charter, the total eligible for voting purposes is 88, Fontaine's letter said. The allocation of representatives by region is: Nova Scotia/Newfoundland, two; New Brunswick/PEI, two; Quebec/Labrador, seven; Ontario, 17; Manitoba, 12; Saskatchewan, 12; Alberta, 10; British Columbia, 12; Yukon, one; N.W.T., two and the national executive, 11. "The process and task of determining who the official representatives are for confederacy meeting purposes is a regional matter. The AFN secretariat will rely on the regional chiefs to address this issue in their own respective regions," Fontaine also wrote. Copyright c. 2004 Ontario Birchbark, AMMSA-Aboriginal Multi-Media Society. --------- "RE: First Nation wants to partner on Dawson Bridge" --------- Date: Sun, 4 Jul 2004 21:19:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TH/DAWSON BRIDGE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://north.cbc.ca/~filename=0702dawson_bridgeJuly022004 First Nation wants to partner on Dawson Bridge July 2, 2004 WHITEHORSE - The Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation says it wants to know what's happening with the Yukon government's P3 policy. The policy would give private businesses a chance to help finance government projects. The First Nation says it's interested in financing the Dawson City bridge this way. About a week ago the Yukon's minister of highways and public works, Glenn Hart, confirmed the government's P3 plans on the $30-million bridge. Hart isn't saying which businesses might cough up the money needed. But Darren Taylor, the chief of the Tr'ondek Hwech'in, says his band could pitch in. "We would generate funds through our partners," Taylor says. "I'm sure we could raise enough money to accomplish that task." About two weeks ago the government started working on its P3 policy. Since then an internal report questioning the economic viability of a P3 for the Dawson City bridge has surfaced. This worries Taylor. "We've always approached looking at the bridge in relation to a P3 process, probably up until the recent news articles," he says. "So I don't know what the next game plan is. Again, we're going to have sit down with the government and decide what that is." Currently there are no meetings scheduled between the First Nation and the government. Copyright c. 2004 CBC. --------- "RE: Metis Hunting Rights up for Discussion" --------- Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 11:15:03 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="METIS HUNTING RIGHTS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.tbsource.com/Localnews/index.asp?cid=68477 Metis Hunting Rights up for Discussion Tb News Source July 5, 2004 The Metis Nation of Ontario General Assembly may run for five days...but the focus is clearly on one particular meeting Wednesday afternoon. Metis leaders are scheduled to discuss the aftermath of a recent Supreme Court of Canada decision on Metis hunting and fishing rights. The court essentially ruled current hunting and fishing regulations don't apply to Metis people. The Ontario government and the Metis Nation of Ontario have been in discussions ever since, trying to establish new regulations they can both live with. So far, no deal has been reached. But Metis Nation President, Tony Belcourt, says with Metis leaders set to discuss the issue on Wednesday, they may opt to push ahead with new rules on their own. He feels it would be a bad idea to leave the industry unregulated for very long, noting a 'free-for-all' may develop. Copyright c. 2004 Thunder Bay's Source, All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Let Natives handle Luna" --------- Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 11:15:03 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LUNA" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.theglobeandmail.com/~/NATS05-3//?query=%22first+nation%22 Let natives handle Luna, international groups say July 5, 2004 Vancouver - Organizations in 10 countries are asking federal Fisheries Minister Geoff Regan to abandon the plan to capture Luna the orca. Twenty- nine groups have signed a letter asking Mr. Regan to let Vancouver Island's Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation lead the whale back to his pod by cedar canoe. Among the signatories are conservation groups from Australia, Switzerland, Japan, Mexico, England, Argentina and France. They object to natives being excluded from the process of reuniting Luna with his pod, and also to the plan to bolt a transmitter tag onto Luna's