_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 13, ISSUE 006 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, WOTANGING IKCHE - Lakota - Common News Wotanging Ikche and Native American News Copyright c. 1996-2005 nanews.org Aboriginal/AmerIndian Perspective about the First Nations of Turtle Island February 2, 2005 Cree cepizun/old moon Yuchi hodadzo/wind moon Kiowa kaguat p'a san/little bud 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 s ch mA mL tL squee Lux -- Okanogan -- News from 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; Frostys AmerIndian, Certain Home and Rez_Live 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: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + ======================== "We have secrets yet to be discovered." "Don't forget yourself; don't forget your way of life." __ Joe Shirley Jr., Navajo Nation President +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! Breaking news: Dave Anderson resigns! WASHINGTON DC January 31, 2005 Dave Anderson is resigning as head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs after just one year in the job, saying he can do more to help American Indians by working in the private sector. Anderson earlier removed himself from decisions on tribal recognition and Indian gambling to avoid the appearance of any conflict of interest, because of his past work in the gambling industry. An in-depth article will be included in next week's issue. =================================== Reading between the lines in some of the articles in this issue: A federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union alleges that the way Charles Mix County, South Dakota voting districts are drawn dilutes a bloc of Indian voters, limiting Native American opportunity to affect government. An inmate lawsuit in Alberta Province attempts to retain the right of Aboriginal prisoners to pursue their religeous path after a ban on smoking tobacco products has been extended to include the burning of Sweetgrass, a plant considered sacred to Aboriginal people and burned to send prayers to the Creator on the smoke. Please keep in mind several bands of the Blackfoot confederation have reserves in Alberta, and Sweetgrass is their primary sacriment. California's only tribal college is closing its doors. D-Q University had been struggling to stay afloat after the school's accreditation was revoked, but financial problems are forcing the shutdown. Similar problems at many other colleges have been addressed and dealt with by the state legislature where those institutions operated. Military veterans are planning a protest march to bring attention to problems on the Standing Rock reservation. Tribal elders asked veterans for help because they are frustrated by high heating costs, a shortage of homes and a high suicide rate. Recent articles in this newsletter have repeatedly addressed the issue of inadequate housing on reservations and the apathy the BIA and other supposedly responsible government agencies reflect when asked to resolve the situation. Dams on the Klamath and other western rivers has decimated the salmon population in those rivers. One of the consequences of this is a change in diet for native Peoples there, that has lead to increased instances of diabetes, heart ailments and other life threatening and life impairing issues. ---- When non-natives discuss (I am being polite - they usually argue and try to belittle) mascots, team names, housing needs, tribal sovereignty and other "current events" they invariably end with a sarcastic ... "You people need to get over the past." Well, home boy/girl, these articles tell me the past is present and I have zero intention of "getting over" genocide and efforts to minimize my elders and relatives. Dohiyi Ani Oginalii , , Gary Smith (*,*) wotanging@bellsouth.net 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 ----------- - Pawlenty Plan amounts to - Elder speaks to School Kids extortion of Tribes about Diversity - Bush won't bail out - Ancestors' Gene Urban Indian Health Center may be responsible for Fat - Veterans plan march - Best Artist Nominee to protest problems on Rez teaches through Art - New Mexico Governor lauded - CHUCULATE: Zuni wasted Money - Columbus Day Parade on Inaugural Trip likened to Cross-Burning - JODI RAVE: Ernie Pepion - NEWSUM: Denver's Columbus Day riding to Spirit World - Tribe fights Dams - Telesat wires to get back Diet 30 Aboriginal Communities - Munsee Descendants - Mohawks, Ottawa want to regain Recognition to discuss Land Claim - Navajo Allottees - Labrador Inuit locked out of Water Rights to create autonomous Nunatsiavut - D-Q Univ. Student Association - Raids net Thousands of Artifacts Press Release in Oregon - DQU closes Doors - Suit says Indian Vote diluted in Wake of Accreditation Loss - Native Prisoner - Two Early College efforts -- Sweetgrass burning banned now under way - History: Carlisle Indian School - Washington halts work - Rustywire: Native Born at another Tribal Site - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - Native Veteran's Organization - Rustywire Poem: Monument Valley - American Indian Man - Blackfeet will be taught alleges Boarding School abuse to all Tribal Staff - Tribally-owned Bank - Folk Songs reborn in Storybooks helps expand Indian Housing - Tribe fights to save Language --------- "RE: Pawlenty Plan amounts to extortion of Tribes" --------- Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 08:24:28 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PAWLENTY SEEKS TO FORCE BAIL-OUT" http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/SectionID=3&SubSectionID= Lawmaker says Pawlenty budget plan to use Indian gaming funds amounts to extortion By Brad Swenson Staff Writer bswenson@bemidjipioneer.com January 26, 2005 Gov. Tim Pawlenty's pitch to use $200 million from American Indian gaming amounts to extortion, says state Rep. Frank Moe, DFL-Bemidji. Pawlenty, in his 2006-07 biennium budget released Tuesday, called for a new tribal-state gaming partnership. While the budget speaks of working with "interested" tribes, Pawlenty has been actively working with the Red Lake, Leech Lake and White Earth bands of Chippewa in a partnership to locate a casino in the Twin Cities area. Under the budget proposal, those tribes that agree to participate in an optional compact would be eligible to be partners in a single metro area casino. There would be an initial licensing fee by "the managing entity" to the state of $200 million in 2006. After that, the state would receive annual revenues of about $114 million, starting in 2008. "I believe the northern tribes will have nothing of it," Moe said Tuesday night. "They should not mortgage their tribes to bail out the governor." The stumbling block, Moe said, is the upfront $200 million "licensing fee." Pawlenty wants the tribes to form a corporation, borrow the fee and pay the state even before the first slot machine is pulled, he said, adding the Republican governor believes the tribes can get their investment back eventually through gaming. "He wants the tribes to borrow the $200 million," Moe said. "It's a bad idea for the northern tribes, and I hope the tribes won't bail out the governor." Moe also said he was concerned about the governor's budget for higher education and for health and human services. While Pawlenty proposes an 8.4 percent increase in higher education funding 10.3 percent to the University of Minnesota and 8.5 percent to Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, MnSCU will see fewer operational dollars, Moe said. "MnSCU will be cut $24 million, which will be a big hit to Bemidji State and Northwest Tech," Moe said. Pawlenty increases MnSCU funding by $107.5 million over the two years, but calls for adhering to MnSCU's new allocation model rather than basing intuitional funding on enrollment. Under such a formula, BSU loses funding while the funding pot overall grows. "That provision won't get much support from Democrats, or hopefully from greater Minnesota Republicans," Moe said. The measure was also nixed by MnSCU students. While the governor's plan provides an $107.5 million increase to MnSCU, there is no allocation to pay for enrollment increases, the Minnesota State University Student Association said in a statement. "MnSCU needs $130.8 million just to serve the students already attending our state colleges and universities. Students have faced cuts in programs and services because there are more students attending the state's colleges and universities today than funds were allocated for two years ago." While enrollment at MnSCU institutions has increased by nearly 30,000 students since 1998-99, the state appropriation for the system has actually decreased slightly, MSUSA said. "While students appreciate the governor's willingness to fund important new initiatives, they are concerned that the $107.5 million in additional funding continues the pattern of a lack of investment in public higher education," it said. Moe said he agreed with Pawlenty that state revenues will increase by 8 percent, and that normally should cover any budget increases. He notes that rising health care cost is eating away at the budget, but disagrees with the way Pawlenty addresses it. Part of the governor's solution is to eliminate more people from health insurance coverage by MinnesotaCare. "I agree that the revenues should be adequate, but I'm not sure the governor is going in the right direction," Moe said. "I remain concerned with the governor's apparent willingness to shift the state budget burden on to our local property taxpayers," he added. "We will need to address this issue along with other concerns in his budget- the lack of support to public education, the absence of new funds for transportation and health care cuts that will mean the loss of coverage for potentially thousands more Minnesotans." Rep. Brita Sailer, DFL-Park Rapids, said in a statement she is also concerned with shifts to local government. "The state is facing a budget shortfall, and difficult choices about our priorities as a state will have to be made," she said. "Regardless of the rhetoric, state cuts to local governments have meant tax increases for Minnesota families. I remain concerned about the state shifting costs to our local units of government forcing property tax increases." Sailer said she remains committed to supporting local schools and affordable healthcare options. "We need to renew our commitment to our local students and our seniors in nursing homes," she said. "We must ensure that these citizens do not end up carrying the burden of balancing the budget as they did in the last budget fix." Copyright c. 2005 The Pioneer/Bemidji, MN. --------- "RE: Bush won't bail out Urban Indian Health Center" --------- Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2005 08:35:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ALBUQUERQUE IHS BUSH-WHACKED" http://www.indianz.com/News/2004/006254.asp Bush won't bail out urban Indian health center January 31, 2005 New Mexico's two senators blasted the Bush administration on Friday for denying funds to an urban Indian health facility that is facing closure within months. Sen. Pete Domenici (R) and Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D) reacted with disappointment after learning that the Albuquerque Indian Health Center will not receive the money it needs to stay open. The Indian Health Service (IHS) refused the senators' request for $5 million to ensure that 25,000 tribal members who make their home in the state's largest city will receive medical care. "Barring a last-minute reprieve, this center faces sure closure," said Domenici. "There is little chance that Congress can provide any immediate funding, and the IHS assessment is that it has no funding available." "This is an unacceptable situation," added Bingaman. "The Albuquerque Indian Health Center has already cut back dramatically on the care it offers Native Americans living here, and now the center is being forced to do it again." The bad news came from Dr. Charles Grim, the director of the IHS. In a letter last week, the Bush appointee said the request for additional funds "is not a viable option because of limited funds throughout our system t o deliver health care services." So he ordered a "downsize" and a "reduction-in-force" at the facility. "I am confident that the [Albuquerque] Area Office and the service unit will explore all opportunities to provide the highest quality health care to this population," Grim wrote. The center has been under financial stress for the past few years. Hours have been cut, staff has been reduced and services have been scaled back as funds have dried up. According to IHS, one source of the problem is that more money is going to tribal governments in the area for their own health programs. More than a half dozen Pueblos and Navajo Nation communities are within driving distance of Albuquerque, and six of the tribes have clinics and service units on their own lands. To stay afloat, the center said it needed $5 million in federal funds or it would close its urgent care clinic, the lifeblood of the facility, on January 1. An estimated 100 to 200 patients received urgent care every day. In hopes of preventing that from happening, Domenici and Bingaman last month asked Grim to use his discretion to reprogram $13 million in IHS funds. They wanted $5 million to stabilize services and $8 million to improve services. The center's existing budget is about $5.4 million. The crisis developed too late for the senators to include earmarks or special provisions in the fiscal year 2005 budget that could save the center. Still, Congress in November approved $3.0 billion for the IHS, an increase over the amount that had been sought by the Bush administration. Despite the influx of money, Grim insisted that there isn't enough to go around. In his letter, he said alternatives are being considered, such as working with the state of New Mexico and tribes and obtaining "fiscal support" from the Navajo area office, which just opened a $12.5 million expansion of an urban Indian clinic in Gallup. Domenici and Bingaman said they will continue to work to find a solution to the problem. Bingaman said he will write to Mike Leavitt, the new secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the IHS. Copyright c. 2000-2004 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Veterans plan march to protest problems on Rez" --------- Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2005 17:11:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="STANDING ROCK VETS PLANT STAFF" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/10768394.htm Veterans plan march to protest problems on Standing Rock Associated Press January 29, 2005 FORT YATES, N.D. - Military veterans are planning a protest march to bring attention to problems on the Standing Rock reservation. Tribal elders asked veterans for help because they are frustrated by high heating costs, a shortage of homes and a high suicide rate, said Wilbur Pleets, an Air Force veteran who lives near Fort Yates. Pleets said about 50 veterans plan to march to the tribal offices for Tuesday's tribal council meeting. He said that after a pipe ceremony, veterans will address the council with a list of concerns and suggested solutions. Pleets said the ceremony will give council members "the strength and knowledge to know something's wrong when (leaders) are not meeting the people's needs." The reservation, home to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border. Information from: Bismarck Tribune, http://www.bismarcktribune.com Copyright c. 2005 Aberdeen American News. --------- "RE: New Mexico Governor lauded" --------- Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2005 08:51:30 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="STRONG INDIAN AFFAIRS POSITION" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=5880 Richardson says all the right things New Mexico governor lauded after State of the State ALBUQUERQUE NM Native American Times January 26, 2005 Officials with the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department say they are pleased that Governor Bill Richardson has announced his support for a pet project of theirs. In his State of the State address, Richardson said he would push for passage of Tribal Infrastructure Fund-a measure that supporters say would help improve roads and housing conditions on the state's Indian lands. "And for the first time we're proposing an infrastructure fund for our Native Americans to make sure they are treated fairly in the capital outlay process and receive investments they need," Richardson said. "We are thankful that Governor Richardson supports the Tribal Infrastructure Fund. We excited that the Governor mentioned our legislative proposal in his 2005 State of the State address. The Tribal Infrastructure Fund will create great opportunities for our Indian Tribes and communities. We look forward to working closely with the Governor's Office, legislators, and the Tribal communities and Indian organizations so that the Tribal Infrastructure Fund succeeds this legislative session," said Cabinet Secretary Benny Shendo, Jr. of the Indian Affairs Department. Commission members also applauded Richardson for recognizing the importance of tribal colleges. "We also need to expand opportunities by adding a two-year wait-out period for students not ready for college right after high school, giving students a second chance if their grade point average slips below the minimum 2.5 and providing access to Native American students if they attend an accredited tribal college in New Mexico," Richardson said in his address. Native American Times is Copyright c. 2004 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: Columbus Day Parade likened to Cross-Burning" --------- Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 08:24:28 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RACISM RISING IN DENVER" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0%2C1413%2C36~53~2673787%2C00.html Columbus parade to march on By Howard Pankratz Denver Post Staff Writer January 26, 2005 The 2005 Columbus Day parade will go ahead as planned in Denver, one of its key organizers said Tuesday, even as several groups called for the repeal of Columbus Day as a state and national holiday. "It's ... celebrating our heritage. We will have our motorcycle guys, we will have our floats, the older people and the younger children," said George Vendegnia, founder of the Sons of Italy-New Generation and a parade organizer. Hours earlier, organizations representing the more than 200 protesters arrested for blocking last year's parade called for the repeal of Columbus Day as a state and national holiday. They also asked the mayor and City Council to take "the moral position that celebrations to Columbus are no longer welcome in Denver ..." "This is consistent with Mayor (Federico) Pena and Mayor (Wellington) Webb telling the Ku Klux Klan and the Nazis that they are not welcome in Denver," said Glenn Morris, one of the protest organizers acquitted last week. "We expect no less from the mayor and the council with regard to the racist celebration and veneration of Columbus," Morris said. On Tuesday, City Council members urged City Attorney Cole Finegan to draft stricter ordinances prohibiting people from blocking or disrupting assemblies such as parades. Councilman Charlie Brown said he wants the tighter ordinances passed before Columbus Day in October. "We've got to get the word out that we've got a new ordinance, and people's free speech will be protected," Brown said. On Monday, Finegan said that in the aftermath of the acquittal of eight protest leaders, rulings by three county judges that resulted in some charges being dismissed and some evidence being ruled inadmissible, he would drop cases against 230 other protesters. But Finegan said his office has begun work on drafting ordinances, modeled on state law, that make it illegal to disrupt a lawful assembly and to obstruct a highway or passageway. The protesters believe they have a legal and moral right to block the Columbus Day parade because they believe it is a celebration of the genocide of Indians. The protesters have based their argument on an April 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Virginia vs. Black. The Supreme Court held that people who burn crosses to intimidate others are not afforded the First Amendment protections of free speech. The Columbus Day demonstrators equate the parade to the intimidation caused by cross burners. "The First Amendment permits Virginia to outlaw cross burnings done with the intent to intimidate because burning a cross is a particularly virulent form of intimidation," the federal high court ruled. "Instead of prohibiting all intimidating messages, Virginia may choose to regulate a subset of intimidating messages in light of cross burning's long and pernicious history as a signal of impending violence." The protesters and their lawyers argued during pretrial hearings and at last week's trial that Denver's Columbus Day parade intimidates Native Americans, particularly their children. They claimed that parade participants hurled hard candy into the protesters in a malicious fashion and signaled displeasure with the protesters with obscene hand gestures and taunts. But Vendegnia denied that and said it has been the parade marchers who have been intimidated. He said he and his children have been repeatedly threatened. "I should let you listen to the blood-curdling threats I used to get about my children a few days before the parade," Vendegnia said. "They (Denver police) make me wear a bulletproof vest in the parade. I've worn them the last three parades because I lead the parade. Police surround me with unmarked policemen. They surround me to make sure nothing happens to me," Vendegnia said. The 2004 Columbus Day parade was delayed more than an hour when the demonstrators linked arms and knelt in the middle of the route. Staff writer Kris Hudson contributed to this report. Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com. Copyright c. 2005 The Denver Post. --------- "RE: NEWSUM: Denver's Columbus Day - exposed!" --------- Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2005 08:51:30 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DANI NEWSUM: DENVER COLUMBUS DAY PARADE" http://www.denverpost.com//0%2C1674%2C36%257E29079%257E2676835%2C00.html Denver's Columbus Day - exposed! By Dani Newsum DenverPost.com Blogger January 27, 2005 The acquittal of eight Columbus Day protesters and the subsequent dismissal of charges this week against the remaining 230 protesters, has provoked an hysterical outbreak on the local op-ed pages. A sampling: * "jury nullification!" (the Denver Post's Bob Ewegen); * "gullible" and "ignorant" jurors "who fail to see the link between Italian-Americans right to free speech and their own..."(Rocky Mountain News editorial); * "PC goon squad" (the Post's overwrought Ewegen); * "Even though the college catalog says that he holds a juris doctorate from Harvard, his understanding of American constitutional principles seems dubious, to say the least." (Post columnist Ed Quillen, questioning the bona fides of exonerated Columbus Day protester/ defendant Glenn Morris, a political science professor and chair of CU-Denver's political science department.) There's so much going on here that for the sake of clarity, I've divided this blog into two parts: the law and the parade. First, The Law: Bob Ewegen, the Post's deputy editorial page editor, is a man I know and like, and someone who I frequently share TV time with on the weekly talking-head program, "Colorado Inside Out." But Ewegen went way, w-a-y over the top in his column, responding to a jury's acquittal of the first group of eight protesters who had been charged with refusing to obey a lawful order during last October's Columbus Day Parade. A few excerpts: "...a Denver jury, in a blatant act of jury nullification, decided that the U.S. Constitution doesn't apply to anyone whose views offend Glenn Morris... "In a staggering display of chutzpah, this PC goon squad described themselves as `human rights activists' while labeling their victims, the Italian-Americans, as `practioners of ethnic intimidation.' "Actually, we the people of Denver call upon our mayor and city attorney to enforce the law and protect our rights... "Why should you care about the rights of Italian-Americans? Well, consider what Martin Niemoller wrote after the Holocaust: `First they came for the Communists but I was not a Communist, so I said nothing...And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no one left who could stand up for me.'" Earth to Bob: get a grip. Please. During the Holocaust, millions of human beings were exterminated by Hitler's Aryan death machine. It remains one of our world's greatest crimes. But n-o-b-o-d-y dies or as much as scrapes a finger during Denver's annual Columbus Day parade-and-protest. The protesters lining the parade route chant and clap, the police peacefully remove the protesters blocking the parade route, and the Columbus Day parade - all ten minutes of it - goes on its merry way. If Ewegen, Ed Quillen (another guy I really like), and whoever was responsible for the Rocky Mountain News' more restrained, but equally inaccurate editorial, actually had a law degree (from Harvard or anywhere else), they would have understood that the Constitution wasn't at issue here. They were charged with violating Denver's loitering ordinance and for refusing to obey a police order to leave based on that ordinance. Denver's loitering law reads in part: "Loitering shall mean remaining idle in essentially one location and shall include the concept of spending time idly; to be dilatory; to linger; to stay; to saunter; to delay; to stand around and shall also include the colloquial expression `hanging around.'" The problem with the city's case is that protesting on a public roadway doesn't fit within the definition of its own loitering ordinance. U.S. law books are full of decisions holding that such protest is not "idling," but is purposeful conduct intended to convey a political message. Not only is blocking a street in a political protest not outlawed by Denver's ordinance, such conduct is actually protected by the First Amendment's free speech guarantee. This is basic constitutional law. Unlike the frothing editorial writers and columnists, the three judges who presided over the protest cases and who dismissed the loitering charges against various defendants understood these basic principles of constitutional law. The principle is similar to the one at issue in the incident involving Sgt. Michael Karasek, the fool-of-a-Denver cop who ordered Shasta Bates to remove a "f---Bush" bumper sticker from her truck earlier this week. Several witnesses, including a Rocky Mountain News reporter, claim that Sgt. Karasek told Bates that the sticker violated a Denver law banning profane bumper stickers, and threatened to arrest her if she didn't remove it. But Denver doesn't have a law outlawing the display of profane bumper stickers. Therefore Karasek's removal order wasn't lawful, and neither was his threat to arrest Bates if she didn't comply. (Bates is lucky. At least Karasek didn't shoot her.) Press reports have made much of the argument advanced by the defendants and their attorneys claiming their actions were a permissible response to the "hate speech" and "ethnic intimidation" inherent in the Columbus Day Parade. The claim is novel, but not legally beyond the pale since the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that the Ku Klux Klan's trademark burning cross is a form of ethnic intimidation. In that case, the Court upheld the legality of a Virginia law that made it a criminal offense to burn a cross. But the real point here is that the "hate speech" argument didn't sink the prosecutors' case. The jurors who acquitted Glenn Morris and seven other Columbus Day protesters last week on the charge of failing to obey a lawful order correctly applied the relevant law. But after the judges dismissed the loitering charges, there wasn't much law left to apply, or at least any law that would have helped the prosecution's case. Since Denver's loitering law doesn't apply to the protesters conduct, there was no legal ground to convict them for refusing to obey the police order to scram. Bottom line: the eight defendants hadn't broken the law they'd been charged with breaking. Which is precisely why Denver City Attorney Cole Finegan, who announced the city's decision to drop the prosecution of the remaining arrestees, also announced that his office is now drafting ordinances that will make it illegal to disrupt a lawful gathering of people or to obstruct a street or other roadway. Whether those proposed ordinances will pass a constitutional challenge is a question for a future panel of judges. By the way, newspaper columnists weren't the only folks engaged in over- the-top puffing. Last week's victorious defense attorneys, David Lane and James Castle, compared their eight clients (most of whom I know personally, and all of whom I respect), to the freedom fighters of the 1850s who risked their lives helping slaves to escape the South along the Underground Railroad, and to civil rights protesters of the 1960s. Give me a break. Like the enslaved blacks they were helping, workers on the Underground Railroad risked whips, imprisonment (I'm not talking about two weeks in the county jail), and death. During the 1960s civil rights workers fighting for the right to vote and against racist segregation laws faced dogs, fire department water hoses and death at the hands of white supremacists, whose members included white law enforcement officials, judges and politicians. In stark, raving contrast, Denver's Columbus Day parade and protest is peaceful theater. Everybody gets to have her or his say - protesters and parade participants. The cops have guns and clubs, but don't use them. Arrested protesters spend a couple of hours in jail, and then go on their way. And there aren't any shotguns awaiting them when they exit the jailhouse. I'll take a morning in the gorgeous Denver sunshine protesting Columbus over a lynch rope or Bull Connors' dogs and hoses any day. I won't cheapen the heart-stopping danger faced by the freedom fighters of the 19th and 20th centuries by comparing my day in the sunshine to their days on the frontline. Part 2: The Parade. Denver's annual Columbus Day parade-and-protest is a well-choreographed fall ritual. Everybody knows his /her part. Those protesters willing to be arrested will symbolically "block" the parade route. Another group of protesters will line the parade route, like spectators at the Macy's Christmas Parade. I'm in this group. We stand on the curb; chant ("Hey hey, ho ho, Columbus Day has got to go..."); a few folks hold signs; we exchange waves and smiles with friendly parade celebrants (and on occasion return one- finger salutes to the less-friendly ones). The police know their part: they ring the parade route, forming a human barrier separating the parade participants from the protesters on the curbs. When the cops get the go-ahead from their commander, they begin arresting the protesters who are in the parade route, one-by-one. As each protester is led away, the bystanders whoop and holler. It's all very peaceful, and sometimes comical. I laughed last year watching Denver Safety Manager Al LaCabe attempt to calm an over- enthusiastic young male protester who couldn't wait to get arrested. He was so excited that he was hopping up and down like a spastic rooster, and fell out of his place in line. Like a kindly uncle, LaCabe patted the young man's shoulder, gently guided him back to his spot, and sat him down to await his turn to be hauled away. Last year's festivities featured another light moment: a spirited debate between a fellow protester who was standing curbside next to me and an elderly gentleman standing on the other side of the parade route. The older man was dressed in shorts, a t-shirt and a hat to block the sun. Both men were waving their arms energetically, shouting in Italian, and smiling. They were enjoying themselves. But except for the TV cameras and reporters who descended on the scene, the old man was alone; he had no backup. The ironic truth about Denver's October ritual is that if not for the protesters - those who will be arrested and those of us watching the shindig curbside - no one would see the parade at all. Nobody comes to this parade but the protesters, quite possibly because the thing is a bust. The parade, which lasts for all of ten or 15 minutes, features men and women in cars - nothing flashy - and quite a few on motorcycles (these are the ones most likely to greet curbside protesters with the one-finger salute, while revving their engines for emphasis). Teenagers on a few flat-bed trucks throw candy at the protesting spectators (a bit too energetically, thank you very much. Last year I almost lost an eye to a grape-flavored Jolly Rancher). There are Italian Americans participating in the parade and in the protests. I'm not anti-Italian. I'm anti-Columbus. I'm also perfectly willing to acknowledge that Columbus was an adventurous and courageous explorer. Unfortunately, he was also a brutal enslaver and greedy exploiter of human and natural resources. His Caribbean misadventures resulted in the degradation, enslavements and deaths of the Indian peoples who lived there first and, along with the commercial African slave trading he conducted for the Portuguese, were the sparks that would engulf the Western world, including the United States, in a horrifying centuries-long addiction to African and African American slave labor. Those are the facts, not allegations. I don't stand in the parade route because I don't believe the parade participants should be blocked, even symbolically. But I demonstrate curbside along with the rest of the multi-colored protesters, to ensure that the truth about Columbus the exploiter and slave trader is also paraded on "Columbus Day." --- Dani Newsum, a former civil rights attorney in the Colorado Attorney General's office, appears weekly on KBDI Channel 12's "Colorado Inside Out" (8 p.m. Fridays). Copyright c. 2005 Denver Post. --------- "RE: Tribe fights Dams to get back Diet" --------- Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2005 17:11:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="KURUKS, SALMON, DIET" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47525-2005Jan29.html Tribe Fights Dams to Get Diet Back Karuks Trying to Regain Salmon Fisheries and Their Health By Blaine Harden Washington Post Staff Writer January 30, 2005 HAPPY CAMP, Calif. - Centuries before federal nutritional guidelines told Americans how to eat healthfully, the Karuk Indians had figured it out. They ate wild salmon at every meal - about 1.2 pounds of fish per person per day. Isolated here in the Klamath River valley in the rugged mountains of northwest California, the Karuk stuck with their low-carb, low- cholesterol, salmon-centered diet longer than perhaps any Indians in the Pacific Northwest. It was not until the late 1960s and the 1970s, when dams and irrigation ruined one of the world's great salmon fisheries, that fish mostly disappeared from their diet. Salmon are now too scarce to catch and too pricey to buy. The tribe caught about 100 chinook salmon last fall, a record low. Eating mostly processed food, some of it federal food aid, many Karuks are obese, with unusually high rates of heart disease and diabetes. "You name them, I got them all," said Harold Tripp, 54, a traditional fisherman for the tribe. "I got heart problems. I got the diabetes. I got high cholesterol. I need to lose weight." On his first day as a fisherman for the tribe in 1966, Tripp remembers catching 86 salmon. Last fall, he caught one. "I mostly eat hamburger now," he said. To reclaim their salmon - and their health - the Karuks are using the tribe's epidemic of obesity-related illness as a lever in a dam re- licensing pending before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. In what legal experts say is an unprecedented use of the regulatory process, the tribe is trying to shame a major utility company and the federal government into agreeing that at least three dams on the Klamath River should be knocked down. The dams are quite literally killing Indians, according to a tribe- commissioned report that was written by Kari Marie Norgaard, a sociologist from the University of California at Davis. The report links the disappearance of salmon to increases in poverty, unemployment, suicide and social dissolution. "We can't exist without our fish," said Leaf Hillman, vice chairman of the Karuk, whose 3,300 members make up the second-largest Indian tribe in California. "We can only hope that this will be one of those rare instances where a true look at the cost and benefits of those dams will be a compelling argument." The tribe's demand for nutritional justice presents a prickly new problem to federal regulators at a time of major upheaval in the hydropower industry. Federal licenses for private dams, valid for 30 to 50 years, are expiring in droves, especially in the Northwest, where hydropower accounts for about 80 percent of the electricity supply. In the next decade or so, licenses are due to expire at more than half of the country's non-federal dams - 296 projects that provide electricity to 30 million homes in 37 states. The Karuks "have raised something that is novel, and FERC commissioners will have to grapple with it," said Mary Morton, a legal adviser to Nora Mead Brownell, one of President Bush's four appointees to the commission that rules on license renewals for private dams. Politically, it is hardly a propitious moment for Native Americans to demand that dams come tumbling down. Power rates have soared in California and across the Northwest in recent years. Bush has repeatedly spoken out against the breaching of federal dams on the nearby Snake River, saying it would be bad for the economy. His appointees as FERC commissioners are considered unlikely to force any utility to remove a dam, and his administration recently granted dam owners a special right - denied Indian tribes, environmental groups and local governments - to appeal Interior Department rulings about how dams should be operated. Still, the aging dams on the Klamath River are, at best, marginal producers of power. They were built without fish ladders (unlike most major dams in the Northwest), and there is widespread scientific agreement that their removal would revive several salmon runs. California, which could block a renewed federal license for the dams under provisions of the Clean Water Act, seems decidedly unenthusiastic about keeping the dams in the river. The state Energy Commission has said removing them "would not have significant impact" on the regional supply of electricity and that replacement power is readily available. The State Water Resources Control Board, which regulates water quality and could veto a renewed license, blames warm, sluggish reservoirs behind the dams for "horrible" algae blooms in the river, said Russ Kanz, a staff scientist for the board. In addition, the National Academy of Science and local officials in Humboldt County agree that dam removal is an option that should be examined to bring salmon back to the Klamath. But PacifiCorp, the company that owns the dams, did not list dam removal as an option in its application last year for a new long-term license. In the Clinton era, when tribes and environmental groups used the relicensing process to force utilities to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to retool or remove dams, PacifiCorp agreed to remove a hydro dam from the White Salmon River in Washington state - at a cost of $20 million. The company, which is owned by Scottish Power, has 1.6 million electricity customers in six western states. As part of its relicensing application for dams on the Klamath, PacifiCorp is trying to negotiate a separate settlement with the Karuks and other stakeholders along the river. Dam removal is now "on the table" in those talks, said Jon Coney, a company spokesman, adding that the tribe's health argument is part of the negotiations. Coney, though, said that the tribe's health claims are difficult to substantiate in a scientific or legal way. "How do you separate the health problems out from all the other societal things that have happened to the tribe?" Coney asked. To make their case, the Karuk Tribe offers tribal health statistics and stories of its people who have grown ill in the years without salmon. Diabetes and heart disease were rare among tribal members before World War II. Part of the reason was the super-abundance in their salmon-rich diet of omega-3 fatty acids, which research has linked with reduced risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. "We do know that the nutritional values of subsistence fish are superior to processed foods and convenience foods," said William Lambert, an environmental epidemiologist at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. With subsistence fish all but gone from the Karuk diet, the percentage of tribal members with diabetes has jumped from near zero to about 12 percent, nearly twice the national average, according to the tribe. The estimated rate of heart disease among tribal members is 40 percent, about triple the national average. A number of studies of Native Americans across the United States have shown that the loss of traditional foods is directly responsible for increasing rates of obesity-related illnesses. Steve Burns, a physician for three years in the tribal clinic in Happy Camp, said that diabetes and other obesity-related illness are "a huge and growing problem." "What is happening to the Karuk people is like something you would read about in a book on the destruction of a minority group in the old Soviet Union," he said. The change in the tribe's diet in the past generation has been so great that many Karuk concede that it will be difficult - even if the dams are knocked down and salmon runs are revived - for them to return to their traditional healthful diet. "Of course, we won't be able to eat salmon all the time like we did," said Ron Reed, a traditional fisherman and tribal representative to FERC hearings on the dams. But he said everyone in the tribe would eat vastly more than they do now and that children would once again be able to grow up with the staple food that has traditionally kept the bodies and spirits of the Karuk healthy. Last year, because of the record-low catch, tribal elders did not have enough salmon for religious ceremonies. So they bought some. Copyright c. 2005 The Washington Post Company. --------- "RE: Munsee Descendants want to regain Recognition" --------- Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2005 16:29:52 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MUNSEE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/10764218.htm Munsee Indian descendants want to regain tribe's federal recognition STEVE BRISENDINE Associated Press January 29, 2005 POMONA, Kan. - Clio Caleb Church's ancestors gave up their American Indian identity more than a century ago. She has been trying for more than three decades to get it back. The Munsee tribe's official history in the state ended in 1900. Facing a forced abandonment of its reservation in Franklin County and relocation to Oklahoma, the tribe - led by Church's great-grandfather, Ignatius Caleb - instead decided to surrender its federal tribal recognition. In exchange, Caleb and the others accepted American citizenship, land in Kansas and $491 per person - which would come to more than $11,000 today. Now, Church and other descendants of the Kansas Munsee want to regain that recognition and the benefits it carries: federally funded health care and education, as well as the right to operate tribal businesses as a sovereign nation. "My main intent is the education of my grandkids and their kids," said Church, 81. "That's what I've been fighting for these 35 years." Church's 1978 petition for restoration was rejected by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, meaning the Munsee will need an act of Congress. And for Rep. Jim Ryun, R-Kan., even to consider sponsoring such a bill, the tribe must first reorganize and elect a tribal council. "Until he receives some sort of formal proposal from the tribe, he has decided not to take one position or another," spokesman Nick Reid said Friday. Last weekend, a committee of Munsee descendants met in Pomona to discuss issues ranging from a tribal mission statement to eligibility for enrollment. There are about 250 descendants around the country, Church said. About 85 of them still live in the area. Some, like Church, show their heritage in their complexions. Others, like siblings Tom Plake and Linda Sparlin, are fair-skinned. But all of them are joined by 71 names on a list from 1900 - the final enrollment of the Munsee and Chippewa Indians who shared a hilly, 12- square-mile reservation southeast of Pomona in Franklin County. "We're not just a bunch of people sitting around 'playing Indian,'" said Sparlin, a concert singer and music teacher from Rolla, Mo. Nor, Sparlin said, are the Munsee motivated by the desire to cash in on casino gambling - although the tribe will not give up any gambling rights to win recognition. "Might there be a casino someday? I don't know, because I don't know what my grandchildren are going to do," she said. "Am I going to do it? No." The committee has selected a tribal name - the Munsee Tribe of Indians of Kansas - and worked on the first draft of a tribal constitution. It is based on the constitution of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians, a northern Wisconsin tribe. Another meeting is set for Feb. 26, also in Pomona. At that meeting, Plake said, those who can trace their ancestry to any roll of Munsee in Kansas from 1836 to 1900 will be eligible to vote on the proposed constitution. Copies and ballots also will be sent out by mail, he said. Plake, an attorney in Tulsa, Okla., said it could be March before a tribal council is elected. The Munsee, like many tribes who ended up in Kansas, were not originally a plains people. They are part of the larger Delaware or Lenape group of tribes - they prefer the latter term - and in the 1600s, they lived in what is now the eastern United States. The arrival of European colonists forced them into a series of moves, and they established villages in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. Many converted to Christianity under the teachings of Moravian missionaries, and in 1792 a number of Munsee moved to Canada to found the community of Fairfield. The migration to Kansas began in the 1830s. The Munsee - variously known as "Muncie," "Christian Munsee," "Christian Indians" and "Moravian Christian Munsee" - first settled in Wyandotte County, near the Kansas River. The area, home today to warehouses, salvage yards and trailer parks, is now part of Kansas City, Kan. Several businesses and two schools - Muncie Elementary and Muncie Christian - still recall the tribe's presence. From there, the Munsee moved north to what is now Leavenworth County - only to see their land illegally overrun by squatters and bought up by speculators after the Kansas-Nebraska Act created the Kansas Territory in 1854. An 1859 treaty gave them the Franklin County land, to be held jointly with the two Chippewa bands. The tribe still maintains a cemetery there, although it is owned by the Moravian Church in America. The Munsee hope to set up a nonprofit organization to take over ownership of the cemetery. The push for restoration will take money, too, to hire attorneys and fund expert research. But Church said she won't give up. "It's closer than at any time in the past," she said. "It sure would be nice if this would happen before I kick the bucket. But even if it doesn't, hopefully the children and grandchildren will get the benefits." Copyright c. 2005 Associated Press. All rights Reserved. Copyright c. 2005 Kansas City Star. --------- "RE: Navajo Allottees locked out of Water Rights" --------- Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2005 16:29:52 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NAVAJO ALLOTTEES EXCLUDED" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.daily-times.com/artman/publish/article_16704.shtml Navajo allottees locked out of their tribe's water rights settlement By Jim Snyder/The Daily Times January 29, 2005 HUERFANO - More than 25,000 Navajos living in the checkerboard area between Bloomfield and Crownpoint have found themselves locked on the outside of the Navajo Nation Water Rights Settlement Agreement on the San Juan Basin. Navajos who live on federal trust land - but not on the reservation - would not gain any Navajo water rights once the settlement is passed by Congress and the New Mexico 11th Judicial District Court. The Navajo allottee families who live on plots of land - some as big as 160 acres - have individual land rights held in trust by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. They have community chapter houses and delegates who represent them in the Navajo Council, just like the Navajos who live on the reservation. But for purposes of the water rights settlement, they are considered to be on their own. Their only option is to sue their own tribe in the future to turn over some of its water rights to them. The settlement, which would give the Navajo government 606,060 acre-feet of diverted water rights, but not individuals, ends at the reservation's borders. Boyd Whitehorse is a Navajo allottee who wants those water rights to be extended to the Navajos who have their own plots of land on the eastern border of the largest Native American reservation in the United States. The heart of the matter, he says, is the off-reservation Navajo allottees do not have titles or the deeds to their land. "I would like to have that deed. I want to pay taxes (to the county and the state). Then I would have my own water rights," Whitehorse said during a meeting Friday at the Huerfano Chapter House south of Bloomfield off Hwy. 550. In the meantime, Whitehorse said he would continue to support the Navajo water rights settlement because it is currently the only hope for the tribe to attain some of its ancestral rights on the San Juan River. "I'm not against my people, my tribe. I just want to have it fair for everybody's living water," he said, saying there was physical water and spiritual water. But he wants to see changes made in the settlement, changes officials representing U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., are asking whites throughout the basin to make - but not Navajo allottees. Those officials met last week with the city of Farmington, the San Juan Water Commission and the San Juan Agricultural Water Users Association to see what changes they wanted to make to their proposed U.S. Senate Bill before taking it back to Washington. The Navajo Council itself - which passed the settlement in a 62-18 vote Dec. 29 in the Navajo Council chamber - has not been asked to make subsequent changes. Whitehorse said he believed, perhaps in a hundred years or more, his family would lose their allotted land. But that did not keep him from voicing his opinion about getting water rights during the meeting. "Let's redo the clause where it says it's going to hurt our water rights. Put in where it's not going to hurt us, where it can benefit us," he said. An organization who represents the Navajo allottees - Shii Shii Keyah - has not filed a threatened injunction against the Navajo water settlement. Attorney, Richard Wade, with the tribe's DNA People's Legal Services, told the crowded chapter house it would be an option to file it in federal court. Wade made it clear, however, that he represented certain allottees but not the organization. Wade, at the request of Shii Shii Keyah President Ervin Chavez, came to the chapter to try to explain the complex water rights agreement - more than 200 pages long - to the Navajo allottees, many of whom are elders and do not speak English. Vern Lee translated throughout the morning what Wade was saying. Jason John, a Navajo Nation hydrologist, interrupted Wade's presentation, and called him a "liar" in front of more than 100 people. Wade responded by saying he was not a water rights attorney but was doing his best to explain the agreement. Chavez then asked John to let Wade continue his presentation, at one point asking John to take his seat. John then got up and left the room explaining he had a phone call to make. Navajo Nation Water Rights Commission members Ray Gilmore, Mike Benson and Bernadette Tsosie, seated in the audience, did not say anything during the exchange. No one from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which holds the allottee's land in trust, attended the meeting. Jim Snyder: jsnyder@daily-times.com Copyright c. 2004 Farmington Daily Times, a Gannett Co., Inc. newspaper. --------- "RE: D-Q Univ. Student Association Press Release" --------- Date: Wednesday, January 26, 2005 5:31 AM From: [asb_dquniversity@yahoo.com] Subj: D-Q University Student Press Release >To: gars@nanews.org The students of D-Q University students are inviting the public, Native American community, tribal leaders, students, alumni, and elders to come and spend the day showing their support of the students on their path towards and education. The event will be on the D-Q campus, begin at 10:00 am and last into the evening. We are also encouraging the community to attend the Board of Trustees meeting on Saturday the 28th of January at 9:00 am to show the support of education of our indigenous people. Thank you Associated Student Body Government of D-Q University ------------------------------------------------------------------------- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 25, 2005 Contact Persons: Andrea George (408) 806-5886 Candice Guthrie (916) 769-4798 Email address: asb_dquniversity@yahoo.com PRESS RELEASE PRESS CONFERENCE SCHEDULED FOR JANUARY 26, 2005 AT 11:00 A.M. IN THE REC. ROOM OF THE WOMEN'S DORMITORY ON THE D-Q UNIVERSITY CAMPUS. The Associated Student Body Government of D-Q University in Davis, California calls for the immediate removal of Victor Gabriel, campus President and Sheila McCampbell, Executive Assistant to the President. Currently, D-Q University is facing closure due to a litany of violations of mismanagement, neglect and incompetence. As a result, the accreditation of D-Q University has been denied by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The D-Q Associated Student Body Government President, Lynn Brown states, "We are here to stop the violation of our Civil Rights and make a stand for future generations. We the Associated Student Body Government of D-Q University want this institution to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law." According to the findings of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges in a letter dated on January 19, 2005, addressed to current President Gabriel, "The university must demonstrate that it has sufficient staff, with appropriate preparation and experience to provide the educational and administrative services necessary to support its mission and purpose." Also, "... the Commission (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) has grave concerns about the qualifications of the administrative staff to adequately lead the University." According to the Associated Student Body Government the D-Q students expressed the most immediate pressing needs are: keeping the utilities operating, wholesome and healthy food donations for the dorm students and the need for volunteer teachers to fill in the void created by the D-Q President and the D-Q Board of Trustees during this appeal process for re-accreditation. In addition, the students are also requesting all community leaders and elders to apply for D-Q Trustee vacancies to help support the school and make honorable decisions in the best interest of the students. At this time the students are currently seeking legal counsel to insure their civil liberties. --------- "RE: DQU closes Doors in Wake of Accreditation Loss" --------- Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2005 17:11:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DQU CLOSES" http://www.news10.net/storyfull1.asp?id=9153 DQU Closes Doors in Wake of Accreditation Loss January 29, 2005 California's only tribal college is closing its doors. D-Q University had been struggling to stay afloat after the school's accreditation was revoked, but financial problems are forcing the shutdown. Students at the two-year college have been told to vacate the premises by the end of the day on Sunday. According to DQU president Victor Gabriel, a shortage of operating funds dictates the school's immediate closure. "My problem is that I can't afford to keep the dorms open," he said. "We only have so much money. I'm downsizing right now and I will have to keep some staff on." Gabriel denied that the current problems mean the end of the university. He said plans are in the works to reorganize, regain accreditation, and reopen the school. DQU's accreditation was revoked last week by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, which cited rapidly declining enrollment, financial instability and leadership issues. D-Q University was founded in 1971 after American Indian and Chicano activists occupied a vacant 643-acre Army communications center near Davis and demanded the land and buildings be turned into a college for them. After lengthy negotiations, the federal government awarded DQU title to the land in 1971. When founded, the school was originally called Deganawidah-Quetzalcoatl University, but the name was later shortened to D-Q University. In addition to its accreditation problems, DQU has also been under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education over allegations that administrators mismanaged funds. Funding for DQU suffered recently when the federal Bureau of Indians Affairs cut its contribution to the college by $300,000 because of a decline in Native American enrollment. News10 is a Gannett Company Copyright c. 2005 Gannett Co., Inc. --------- "RE: Two Early College efforts now under way" --------- Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2005 08:51:30 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="EARLY COLLEGE CREDITS" http://www.times-standard.com/Stories/0,1413,127~2896~2676753,00.html Two early college efforts now under way By Sara Watson Arthurs The Times-Standard January 27, 2005 Youth in both Humboldt and Del Norte counties will be able to get high school and college credit simultaneously next year in two new "early college" programs. The Yurok tribe and College of the Redwoods are planning such a program in Klamath. Meanwhile, a separate partnership among CR, the Humboldt County Office of Education and the Fortuna Union High School District is also starting to take shape. The programs allow students to earn up to two years of college credit, or an associate's degree, along with their high school diploma. "The game plan is we capture students at the eighth or ninth grade level and prepare them very deliberately, systematically and individually to do college-level work," said CR Vice President David Throgmorton. Nationwide, close to half of American Indian teens drop out of high school, said Geneva Wortman, deputy executive director of the Yurok tribe. And those who do graduate seldom go on to college. "They have very few doors open," Wortman said. The Klamath River Early College of the Redwoods aims to change this in Del Norte County. While any student able to handle an intellectually rigorous, individually tailored curriculum is eligible, the school will specifically reach out to American Indian youth. "I think what's really unique about this particular school is there will be a focus on local native culture," Wortman said. She said they're modeling the curriculum after a school in Alaska that used Alaskan Native culture into the curriculum. That community, which had previously seen high rates of poverty, unemployment and substance abuse, saw a decrease in these problems as students took more pride in their culture and did better academically, Wortman said. For example, a student might go hunting with her father and demonstrate what she'd learned to her teacher. "It will be an experience-based curriculum, meaning that instead of sitting in the classroom and learning about the rivers, they will be down at the river," Throgmorton said. Klamath currently has no high school; students who live there commute to Crescent City by bus to attend Del Norte High School. The new school will open with about 40 students next fall, Wortman said. Students who sign up will be asked to commit to a minimum of three years. But, as Wortman points out, they'll be earning college credits tuition-free. CR received grants for both programs, principally from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Humboldt State University education professor Keri Gelenian has been hired as principal of Academy of the Redwoods, located on CR's main campus south of Eureka. Gelenian has been visiting with eighth-graders in Fortuna and surrounding communities. He said he's also heard from parents who homeschool their children but are interested in the early college. The Academy of the Redwoods will start off with about 65 ninth-graders this fall, adding another 65 to 70 students for each of the next three years, he said. A former middle school and high school teacher before joining HSU's faculty, Gelenian said he'd always dreamed of creating a school and is now able to help make it a reality. He said a team of administrators and faculty from CR, HSU, Fortuna Union High School District and the Humboldt County Office of Education have been working to make it happen. "Our early college high school may very well be the only one statewide where the teachers have been involved in every phase of school development," Gelenian said. Those teachers - Pam Barkdull, Steve Irwin, and Bruce McCarthy - will teach at the Academy of the Redwoods next fall. The trio previously worked together at Century Hall, Fortuna High's now defunct school-within-a- school. "It's going to be a different kind of program, but I think what the teachers bring is a real progressive attitude, an intellectual attitude, more of an adult message to kids about learning and intellectual activity and life," Gelenian said. "That's what makes them, I think, phenomenal." A community meeting on the Klamath proposal will take place Sunday from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the Yurok tribal office in Klamath. A parents' night is scheduled for Feb. 10 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Fortuna High School Library. Applications for the school will be due March 18. For more information, call 476-4177. Copyright c. 2005 Times-Standard, Eureka, CA. --------- "RE: Washington halts work at another Tribal Site" --------- Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 08:24:28 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MORE ARTIFACTS UNEARTHED" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002160921_dot26m.html Artifacts halt state road work By Lynda V. Mapes Seattle Times staff reporter January 26, 2005 A state road construction project near the mouth of the Columbia River has been delayed after archaeologists unearthed a rich trove of Indian artifacts and trade goods, including stone tools, arrowheads and glass beads. This is the second time in less than two months that plans for a state transportation project have been forced to change course because of important Indian finds. Work on rerouting a segment of Highway 101 across the river from Astoria was to begin on Monday. The realignment will create room for a nine-acre waterfront park commemorating Station Camp, the westernmost encampment of the Lewis and Clark expedition. The artifacts were unearthed in the past month during a pre-construction archaeological survey. Consultation is now under way with the Chinook Indian Nation, whose ancestors' use of the land may be documented by finds at the site. "We are trying to get some more information on the archaeology, and until we do we are not going to go out there and start plowing through dirt," said Colleen Jollie, tribal liaison for the transportation department. "We want to do the right thing and the best thing and make sure the Chinook Nation continues to be part of the entire project." Jollie said she is optimistic the project will be delayed, not stopped. The $1.1 million project is intended to realign a substandard curve on Highway 101. Currently, Highway 101 hugs the shoreline of the Columbia River from the Astoria Bridge to the Fort Columbia Tunnel. Last month, the transportation department left a major construction site in Port Angeles, after spending $58 million on a dry-dock project that inadvertently unearthed more than 300 intact skeletons of the ancestors of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, and Tse-whit-zen, an ancient Klallam village. Artifacts found at the Highway 101 site may document the first contact with Indians in the area by fur traders. The discoveries so far include what may be the planks of a seasonal structure used by the Chinook people; hearths; house posts; and trade goods, including Chinese coins; English ceramics; gun flints; and musket balls and a lead seal, probably from a bale of furs. Some of the early fur trade near the mouth of the Columbia occurred in about the 1790s and continued for decades. "It's a wonderful window into the meeting of two cultures," said Doug Wilson, archaeologist with the Fort Vancouver National Historic Reserve. Gary Johnson, chairman of the Chinook Indian Nation, said the state's decision to delay the project is the right choice. "That's our home territory, and our largest village and we certainly couldn't have bulldozers and heavy equipment in there, that's just not acceptable. We need to take time to see what they have found." The road was intended to be moved in time to open a new National Park Service park to commemorate Station Camp. It is significant in the Meriwether Lewis and William Clark story because it is there that the Corps of Discovery at last had full view of the Pacific Ocean in November 1805. The explorers knew they had reached the end of their 18-month westward journey, begun at the request of President Jefferson. Johnson said his people were probably not at the site when Lewis and Clark came through because they would have already moved to snug, inland winter camps. The site is also where the members of the Corps of Discovery, including Sacagawea, the expedition's Indian guide, and York, Clark's black slave, voted on the decision to over-winter at Fort Clatsop instead of journeying back to take shelter with the Nez Perce in Idaho. Chip Jenkins, superintendent of the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, headquartered at Fort Clatsop, said the recent finds are exciting. "What the archaeologists are now finding means ... the national significance of Station Camp is now even higher, and from what we are learning from the archaeologists, it will allow the Chinook people and the state of Washington to tell a much more accurate and broader story than just the story about 18 days of Lewis and Clark in Pacific County. "The site is embodying a pretty compelling sweep of history, which is wonderful." David L. Nicandri, director of the Washington State Historical Society, said that delaying the work is "the right thing to do. "I am kind of philosophical about this. In 15 or 20 years, no one will care whether full development took place in 2005. We are taking the long view of things. Sometimes being a historian has occupational benefits." Lynda V. Mapes: 206-464-2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com Copyright c. 2005 The Seattle Times Company. --------- "RE: Native Veteran's Organization" --------- Date: Friday, January 28, 2005 4:57 PM From: Janet Smith [owlstartrading@speakeasy.net] Subj: IMPORTANT - Vet gets word out about Native veteran's organization http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=5895 Vet gets word out about Native veteran's organization Oklahoma group offers resources to those that served OKLAHOMA CITY OK Thomas M Berry January 28, 2005 In October 2004 an entirely Native American Veterans Organization, the National Native American Veterans Association, began operations. The Association, headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK, is the first National Organization which has structured itself to work with both individual Native Veterans and Tribal Entities on a National basis. It is the Association's belief that every veteran deserves representation that understands and respect their unique needs and feels that Native American Veterans have long been overlooked in this regard. It hopes to fill the void by representing Native American Veterans with an emphasis on Native American Tradition and Heritage. Native Americans have historically provided more military personnel per capita than any other sector of the American population. On the other hand, Native Americans have utilized the benefits and entitlements earned through military service less than any other population sector. This is the underlying reason for the formation of the Association. The Association wants to ensure that every Native American Veteran and Active Duty military member is aware of the entitlements they have earned, and how to apply for and receive these entitlements. One such program, The VA Direct Loan Housing Program for Native American Veterans, provides direct loans from the VA for qualifying Native American Veterans up to $80,000.00 for housing on Tribal Trust Properties and Reservation Lands. The Association wants to educate Tribal Entities and Leaders how to integrate VA benefits and programs like this with their own Tribal Programs, which could save the Tribes millions of dollars in Programming funds. Other VA benefits include medical care, service connected injury compensation, non-service connected pensions, and education and retraining benefits. Many of the programs offered by the VA may be integrated with existing Tribal programs. Proper integration and use of the benefits earned by the Native American Veterans would reduce the amount of Program funds being spent by Tribes to provide the same services to Tribal members who qualify for VA benefits. While still a new organization, the Native American Veterans association currently has over one hundred members residing in twenty-two states, and from eighteen different Tribes. Membership is open to all honorably discharged Native American Veterans or current members of the Armed Forces. Auxiliary memberships are available for family members of Veterans or deceased Veterans, and a very limited number of Associate memberships for Non-Veterans are available. For information about the National Native American Veterans Association, you may visit their website at: www..nativeamericanveteransassoc.org or contact me at: NatAmerVets@aol.com Aia Achukma (Go with Peace) Thomas M Berry "Hashuk malli" Chairperson National Native American Veterans Association --------- "RE: American Indian Man alleges Boarding School abuse" --------- Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 08:24:28 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ST. JOSEPH ABUSE CLAIMED" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/10730559.htm American Indian man alleges boarding school abuse CARSON WALKER Associated Press January 25, 2005 SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - An American Indian man has sued St. Joseph's Indian School in Chamberlain, claiming he was physically, mentally and emotionally abused from about 1937 to 1943. Orrie Harry Charger, 74, of Eagle Butte, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Sioux Falls. The boarding school, Priests of the Sacred Heart, the U.S. government and former instructors Sister Joseph, Brother Mathias and Prefect John are named as defendants. Charger wants a jury trial and money for costs, punitive damages and other compensation. Steve Smith of Chamberlain, the school's lawyer, said Tuesday the complaint "would be completely contrary to anything we heard about what happened in the past in St. Joseph's earlier years." According to the lawsuit, Charger was about 8 when he entered the school. Those responsible for the abuse included nuns, brothers, priests and prefects, he said. Charger said he was punished and abused repeatedly because he spoke only Lakota. He wore his hair in braids and one of the nuns insulted him almost daily, he said. "This nun would find plaintiff and say something that plaintiff could not understand and then she would shake her finger in his face and pull his braids," the lawsuit states. Charger said that once, the nun hit him on the left temple and knocked him to the ground, and as she came at him again he made a fist and hit her. A priest and prefect took him to a boiler room, cut off his braids, hit him in the face and repeatedly kicked him as he lay on the floor, the lawsuit states. Charger said he was never given medical attention and has suffered back pain since. He said that X-rays taken when he was adult showed that his back had been broken in two places when he was a child. "Plaintiff remembers the isolation and loneliness and hunger at the school. Plaintiff also remembers the fear that he would be taken at any time and beaten again like that for no reason," he said. Sioux Falls lawyer Steven Sandven filed the lawsuit on Charger's behalf. He could not be reached for comment. Smith said physical discipline was a common practice in education in the early to mid-1900s but that Charger is the only former student at St. Joseph's ever to allege such abuse. "Brother Mathias is still regarded by the school and at the time of his death was considered to be an extremely good friend of Native American children throughout South Dakota," Smith said. Copyright c. 2005 Aberdeen American News. Copyright c. 2005 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Tribally-owned Bank helps expand Indian Housing" --------- Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2005 08:51:30 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BANK2 HOME LOANS" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.billingsgazette.com//build/business/50-bank2.inc Bank2's American Indian home loan program growing rapidly Associated Press January 28, 2005 OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - Three years after its creation by the Chickasaw Nation, an Oklahoma City bank has grown into the country's second-largest provider of home loans to American Indians. And, according to numbers provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Bank2 is gaining fast on top provider Wells Fargo. "We're trying to make a difference," Bank2 President Ross Hill said. "It's an exciting part of what the bank's doing." Hill said the bank has become Oklahoma's largest lender under HUD's Section 184 Indian Housing Loan Guarantee Program. Just over a year ago, Bank2 devoted more resources to its Section 184 program. Since then, the bank has developed a mortgage team focused on home loan needs of American Indians and opened a Tulsa mortgage production office. The bank has staged seminars across the country and, Hill said, now has brokered loans "from Florida to Alaska, from Hawaii to the New England area." The Section 184 program was created in 1992 to address the lack of mortgage capital in Indian Country. The program offers a loan guarantee to private sector lenders who make home mortgage loans to eligible borrowers for homes located in Indian Country. HUD officials have a goal of 1,000 Section 184 loans this fiscal year. It took more than eight years for the program to underwrite its first 1, 000 loans and nearly three years for the second thousand. The loan program has grown from about $27 million in loans in fiscal 2003 to $62.2 million last year. This year, HUD officials are aiming for $120 million in loans. According to Jan. 3 HUD statistics, there are more Section 184 loans in Oklahoma, 481, than any other state. Alaska is tops in the amount of dollars loaned under the program with $58.2 million; Oklahoma ranks second with $38.5 million in Section 184 loans. Hill said American Indians rank at the bottom for per-capita home ownership among minority groups. "Home ownership is the only way Native America is going to raise (its) economic level and position," he said. "It's home ownership that provides that security and provides that wealth equation that nothing else really does." Bank2's mortgage team put on a seminar last weekend at the Cherokee Casino in Tulsa and will host upcoming events in Michigan, Washington and Alaska. "Part of the problem is, quite frankly, people don't know about it," Hill said. Other banks are active in the American Indian home lending market, he said, "but not to the level and extent that we are." Copyright c. 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Elder speaks to School Kids about Diversity" --------- Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2005 08:51:30 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DIVERSITY" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=5878 Elder speaks to school kids about diversity Buffalo Tiger is the first Chairman of the Miccosukee MIAMI FL January 26, 2005 Buffalo Tiger, the first chairman of the Miccosukee tribe and author of A Life in the Everglades, spoke earlier this week to 600 students at Miami's Palmer Trinity School about embracing diversity and the importance of retaining and passing along cultural traditions to peers and future generations. Buffalo Tiger, 84, whose grandson Tristan Tigertail is a student at Palmer Trinity, explained the historic struggles of Miccosukees to gain recognition by the U.S. government and the tribe's continuous efforts to bring modernity to its people and share its rich culture and traditions with others. The presentation also featured brief introductions by faculty members of the school who are descendants of Native Americans. They included Mary Gross, head of the middle school, and William Johnson, academic dean, whose grandmothers were of Cherokee descent; Danny Reynolds, head of admission, whose grandmother was Choctaw; and teacher Justin Symington, whose great-grandmother was Mohegan. "It's quite an honor to have Buffalo Tiger on our campus to help our students learn about, understand and appreciate the Miccosukee Tribe and its influence on South Florida," said Sean Murphy, head of Palmer Trinity School. "Our school is committed to providing students with multiple perspectives of global cultures and encouraging them to develop respect for the cultural diversity found on our campus and in the greater community." Native American Times is Copyright c. 2004 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: Ancestors' Gene may be responsible for Fat" --------- Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2005 08:35:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YET ANOTHER LAND BRIDGE STORY" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1221630%2C0050.htm Ancestors' gene may be responsible for fat: report Press Trust of India January 31, 2005 Unable to shed fat? Dont' blame yourself but a "thrifty gene" acquired by your ancestors 30,000 years ago. Scientists are now postulating that the "thrifty gene" was acquired during migration from Asia across the land bridge at what is now the Bering Strait to North America. These genes might have given warriors an ability to store fat and metabolise it sparingly, a trait needed to survive the dark, cold months when food is scarce, Newsweek reports in its upcoming issue. Now that the land bridge has gone, the descendants of these first North Americans are stuck with the gene optimised for life in age, the same gene that allowed their ancestors to thrive in Artic weather, maybe making them uniquely vulnerable to the high-fat, high-cholesterol and sedentary American lifestyle, the report says. Members of the Pima tribe of Arizona, for instance, suffer from one of the world's highest rates of diabetes. Fifty per cent of adults over the age of 35 and 95 per cent of those suffering from diabetes are overweight, it says adding that the problem with evolution is that it cannot keep pace with the modern world. Asians are thought to possess many of the Pimas' thrifty-genome traits, which may explain why the number of obese Chinese doubled between 1992 and 2002 to 60 million, the Newsweek reports quoting figures from China's Health Ministry. Some Mediterraneans and Africans may not have acquired the thrifty genes of Arctic peoples, but their hunting-and-gathering ancestors did not leave them a whole lot better equipped, the report says. Asia News Copyright c. 2004 HT Media Ltd. India News. --------- "RE: Best Artist Nominee teaches through Art" --------- Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2005 08:34:50 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JAY BEGAYE" http://www.navajotimes.com/_content/entertain/Best_Artist.php Best artist nominee teaches through art, music By Jan-Mikael Patterson Navajo Times January 20th to 26th 2005 WINDOW ROCK - Jay Begaye believes in the power of art. Whether as a well- respected singer in the powwow community, or a committed teacher of children, he uses his art to teach important lessons. In music, Begaye is known as a Native American Music Award nominee, a Grammy nominee and an Indian Summer Music Award winner. He is the lead singer for the highly acclaimed northern style singing group, Cathedral Lakes, and is a solo performer as well. He is currently nominated for the Native American Music Awards' best male artist of the year, to be announced Feb. 10 at the Seminole Hard Rock Cafe' in Hollywood, Fla. Begaye received the nod for his latest solo release, "Songs Of Color," on the Canyon Records label. It is a mixture of Navajo songs, powwow songs, and Native American Church songs blended with round dance melodies. His impeccable gift for composing songs is evident on the CD. The recording celebrates life and education from the elders. His favorite songs on the CD are "Grandma's Teaching," "Navajo Birthday Song," and "Natay's Song." Grandma's song begins with a Native American Church intro that transcends into a round dance song with the Navajo words, "Shimasani' Nizhoni'go Naasgo Naadaalgo (Grandmother, may you always walk in beauty)." "To me, each song is a person," he said. "The songs are beautiful." This is Begaye's second nomination for NAMA's best male artist. In 1998, he was nominated for his first solo recording, "The Beauty Way." Since then he has released other solo CDs on the Canyon Records label. Begaye is Taabaaha' born for Tsenjikini'. Tsinnajinnie are his maternal grandparents and To'tsohnii are his paternal grandparents. He is originally from Steamboat Canyon, Ariz., and has three older sisters and two older brothers. "I'm really happy that I'm nominated (for a Nammy)," Begaye said with a broad grin. "I'm looking forward to it. "(The nomination) is for the Navajo Nation and for the kids," he said, referring to his other life as an art teacher at Ganado Middle School, in Ganado, Ariz. Begaye believes that art, in any form, can help children grasp the importance of culture. "I want our Navajo children to learn how to draw," he said. Begaye said children have their own perception of things and should be encouraged to express their view through art, meaning that there is no right or wrong way to draw. "That brings me to work every day," he said. "It's like going to a powwow to learn new songs with the group and meet new people. It's good feelings." Lucinda Swedburg, Ganado Middle School principal, says she forgets that Begaye is a celebrity in the music world. Although Begaye is a recognized performer, Swedburg said he presents himself in humble manner. "Jay is really a peer," she said. "He presents himself as a peer educator. He's a very gracious man and he's our colleague when he's in the building. We're just happy to have someone who is willing to share their God-given talent." Swedburg said Begaye has taught art for three years and has been instrumental in having students express themselves through art. And because of his background as a singer, he also teaches students about singing and drumming. Some of his music students have performed for school district functions, she said. "We received a lot of compliments from parents." Begaye believes art can be a window to opportunities. Behind his desk on the blackboard, Begaye displays a handmade sign that reads, "Art Can Take You Places You Never Have Been Before." It's a philosophy that drives his students to explore their artistic creativity. His own creative drive is firmly in place as Begaye works towards release of a new album soon and plans to compile a greatest hits album. To cast your vote in the Native American Music Awards, visit www.nammys.com. Information: Jay Begaye, jaybegaye@ganado.k12.az.us or visit www.canyonrecords.com. Copyright c. 2004 Navajo Times Publishing Co. Inc. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: CHUCULATE: Zuni wasted Money on Inaugural Trip" --------- Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 08:24:28 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CHUCULATE: ZUNI INAUGURAL TRIP" http://www.abqtrib.com//0,2565,ALBQ_19865_3499252,00.html Eddie Chuculate: Zuni wasted money on inaugural trip By Eddie Chuculate Tribune Columnist January 26, 2005 If the Zuni Pueblo band is so filthy rich that it has $11,000 to throw away by attending the inauguration of a president who has done almost nothing for the tribe, I'd like to hit it up for a small loan. The tribal band spent $11,250 in making the 65-hour round trip to President Bush's inaugural Thursday. They should finally be pulling back into Zuni right about now. If the Bush administration so desperately wanted some sort of American Indian representation in the ridiculous $40 million two-day affair, someone should have flown the players round trip, put them up in a hotel and given them a per diem. Instead, after enduring a 32-hour bus trip, they were rewarded by shelling out an additional $2,000 for lodging. If that wasn't bad enough, they were ordered to not even look at Bush as they passed his review stand. I wonder if band members wore horse blinders or saw his reflection in a French horn? It's revolting to stage such a meaningless display of financial excess during a time of war and apocalyptic natural disaster. There ought to be a rule that limits a president's second inauguration to just a swearing-in ceremony on the White House lawn. As the band's deadline neared for raising the money, U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, an Albuquerque Republican, stepped in and with a few phone calls drummed up $5,000 to help it make the trip. A couple of banking officials in Albuquerque pitched in $3,000 for meals, and ex-New York Sen. Al D'Amato's firm kicked in a grand. These people were throwing money around like it grows on trees. If only they could get as excited about improving health care or the economy. And for what? So, Domenici said in a statement, the parade could be enhanced "by the traditional clothing worn by this group to represent the authenticity of New Mexico." Whatever that means. I know Domenici has done good things for Zuni, such as helping obtain grants for the tribe to combat domestic violence and child abuse, but putting the band into a situation where it essentially flushed away more than $11,000 isn't helpful. That money could have bought a lot of books for the Zuni library or expanded an alcohol treatment program or strengthened a Zuni language and culture curriculum or improved conditions at the jail. You get the drift. Instead you get a bunch of people marching up and down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., banging drums and honking tubas. You could have seen dollar signs floating out of their flutes. Memo to Zuni band: Next time someone makes you an offer to march in a parade, tell them to show you the money. --- Eddie Chuculate (Creek/Cherokee) is a Tribune copy editor who writes about American Indian issues. His column appears on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month. Copyright c. 2005 Albuquerque Tribune. --------- "RE: JODI RAVE: Ernie Pepion riding to Spirit World" --------- Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2005 08:35:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JODI RAVE: BLACKFEET PAINTER ERNIE PEPION" http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2005/01/31/jodirave/rave66.txt Painter Ernie Pepion now riding to the Spirit World BY JODI RAVE of the Missoulian January 28, 2005 The Amazon-like, buxom woman with two long black braids stooped to walk through the doorway. Her eyes were locked on a wheelchair-bound man who watched her enter the room. She was his Venus, his goddess of love and beauty. The painting, titled "Welcome," like much of Ernie Pepion's work, reveals something perhaps a little beyond the nationally exhibited artist's reach, yet accurately reflects the crippled man's pains, needs and desires. When he died Jan. 13, the painter from the Blackfeet Nation left all that behind. His family was by his side as he lay in a Great Falls hospital bed. In his last moments, his sister, Elouise Cobell, asked: "Ernie, can you see the tall green grass?" "Yes." "Can you see the mountains?" "Yes." "Can you see the buffalo?" "I just see a bunch of people." With those last words, he left behind an empty wheelchair. And so began his journey to the Spirit World. Fifteen years earlier, Pepion, or Eewokso, painted "They Come at Night," a scene in which he envisioned his own death. In that picture, his Indian Venus sat atop a white steed, below the foot of his bed, a few feet from his crippled legs, while his father held his hand, and his mother and an ancestral chief looked on. Pepion - a rodeo cowboy, rancher, veteran and baseball hat-wearing artist - spent the last 33 years painting from a wheelchair after an auto accident left him able to move only his thumbs. Yet he defied his limitations. A fellow veteran taught him to paint. The Blackfeet man went on to earn a master's degree in fine arts from Montana State University in Bozeman. Since then, his art has been awarded and honored, including art exhibits from Japan to the U.S. Capitol rotunda. On Jan. 3, he received the 2005 Montana Governor's Award for the Arts in Helena. In the final year of his life, Pepion's body finally began to break down. "People were in denial about his mortality," said Steve Glueckert, exhibit curator at the Missoula Art Museum. The common thought was, "He's not going to die. There's just no way." To many, Pepion seemed larger than life. He painted that way, too. "Painting allows me to be a person beyond the limitations of racial prejudice and disability," said the artist in a Missoula Art Museum "Dreams on Wheels" exhibit catalog. He said he was often "pitied and belittled" for being Indian, and later as a quadriplegic. A paintbrush made him invincible. On canvas, he became a buffalo, butting his wheelchair high into the air. In other scenes, a stick pony became part of his wheelchair in which the rider wins horse races, or rides his chair along the Rocky Mountain Front, or effortlessly rides to a mountaintop where he sips a can of soda. But for a man who thought large, he also felt overwhelming despair. And he unleashed those thoughts on canvas, too. "My work does more than document my life, it expresses my feelings," he said. Women and children in his paintings tell of an "unfulfilled dream for family." His Red Man Series, a collection of 12 paintings, revealed despair. "There were some people who couldn't be in the same room with those paintings, it made them cry," said Renee Taaffe, a former teacher who attended the 2001 museum exhibit. "I think some people were offended by his brutal honesty." Lucy Lippard, art critic, theorist and author, has compared Pepion's use of imagery to artist Frida Kahlo, "the great Mexican artist who similarly transcended pain through creativity." The artist's husband, Diego Rivera, has described his wife's paintings as "agonized poetry on canvas." In his painting, "A Good Way to Die," Pepion's self-portrait shows an aged, white-haired man dying, lying in a fetal position - holding a paintbrush in each hand. That was the way he wanted to die, he told family. In January, Steven Powell stared out the hospital room window to a shop across the street. His uncle wouldn't live much longer. "I ran to the nearest store . . . I was just afraid that he was going to go before . . . I was trying to hurry . . . ." When he got back to the room, he handed a paintbrush to his aunt. "Elouise gave it to him, and he grasped it," said Powell. Holding that brush, he completed his circle in life. Pepion was buried on the Blackfeet Reservation, where he used to ranch and rodeo and enjoy a few beers and the company of a woman. Cobell said she can easily imagine him in the Spirit World. "I think he's on that white horse, probably on double with that beautiful lady, and they're probably riding around in that tall green grass . . . that's where he's at," said Cobell. "He's living it all." Reach reporter Jodi Rave at 1-800-366-7186 or at jodi.rave@missoulian.com Copyright c. 2005 Missoulian, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Telesat wires 30 Aboriginal Communities" --------- Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 08:24:28 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TELSAT WIRES NORTHERN TRIBES" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.theglobeandmail.com//Technology/?query=indigenous Telesat wires 30 Aboriginal communities SIOUX LOOKOUT, Ont., Jan. 19 - Telesat has joined Industry Canada and Aboriginal partners from Ontario, Que'bec and Manitoba today to launch the Northern Indigenous Community Satellite Network (NICSN). The network will bring telehealth, distance education, video conferencing and other critical services to 30 remote communities. Telesat provided two C-band satellite channels, or transponders, for the federal government to use to serve public institutions in remote areas of Canada. The NICSN will use this valuable capacity to provide high-quality video, audio and data communications to participating communities. In 1999, Telesat began working with Keewaytinook Okimakanak in Northern Ontario to explore ways of delivering broadband services to the satellite- served community of Fort Severn. This relationship expanded over the ensuing years as KO took on the challenge of managing Industry Canada's Aboriginal SMART Communities Demonstration Project. The federal government's National Satellite Initiative in 2003 provided the additional transponder space that allowed Northern Manitoba and Nunavik to join the network. Telesat's contribution of capacity represents an investment in NICSN of $20-million. This has been complemented by a government investment, through FedNor, of more than $12-million for community/satellite infrastructure. Copyright c. 2005 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Mohawks, Ottawa to discuss Land Claim" --------- Date: Friday, January 28, 2005 2:09 PM From: frostyca2000 [frostyca2000@yahoo.com] Subj: Mohawks, Ottawa to discuss land claim Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian Mohawks, Ottawa to discuss land claim Canadian Press Ottawa - The federal government and the Mohawks of Akwesasne are ready to open talks on a claim that the natives were robbed of 4,100 hectares of land in Quebec more than a century ago. The claim involves the township of Dundee, a tract in the westernmost tip of Quebec on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River opposite the Akwesasne Reserve. The Mohawks say they never meant to surrender the land in an 1888 purchase deal. "We view it as part of our traditional territory that has never been given up," Grand Chief Angela Wahienhawi Barnes of the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne said Thursday in a teleconference announcing the arrangement. She said the Mohawks believe that the 1888 deal is invalid and the $50,000 the federal government paid back then was far below the actual value of the land. The land had been the subject of a court case, but the two sides agreed to put the suit aside in favour of negotiations. Luc Beaudry, chief negotiator for the federal government, said the talks mark a "new beginning" in the relationship between the two sides. "I am really looking forward to working with the Mohawks of Akwesasne," he said. He and Chief Barnes said they could not guess how much money might be involved in compensation, nor how long the talks might take. "We're only starting negotiations," Mr. Beaudry said. Most of the land in question eventually fell into private hands, but Mr. Beaudry and the chief said no private property will be expropriated, no matter what the outcome of the talks. In other, similar claims native bands have been given money to buy back land if the current owners were willing, Mr. Beaudry said. --------- "RE: Labrador Inuit to create autonomous Nunatsiavut" --------- Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2005 08:34:50 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NEW INUIT TERRITORY" http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/nunavut/50121_01.html Labrador Inuit to create autonomous Nunatsiavut Deal would carve out territory spanning 72,000 square kilometres SARA MINOGUE Nunatsiaq News January 21, 2005 The Inuit of Labrador will sign a historic land claims agreement with the federal government in Nain today, bringing them one step closer towards their long-awaited goal of self-government. On Monday, it was business as usual at the Labrador Inuit Association, where the board of directors had convened to make final preparations to welcome several illustrious guests for the official signing ceremony. "There's a lot of anticipation," said William Andersen III, president of the Labrador Inuit Association, which has been working on the deal for 30 years. "Once the agreement is signed, I think there will be even more expectations and that's fair. People know what's happening and it's a great time for us." But Andersen stressed that the board was also "discussing the need to carry on business as normal." "I think the agreement is a good agreement but I still maintain that it's going to be really up to us to make it work. If we don't put our heart and soul into it, no matter how good the agreement is, it will not be of great benefit." The agreement will give 5,300 Labrador Inuit control over 72,000 square kilometres of land, approximately one-third of northern Labrador. "I think it's one of the most exciting periods for the Labrador Inuit," said Mary Simon, Canada's former ambassador to the Arctic and a past head of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference and Makivik Corporation. "They've worked very long and hard to settle some very difficult issues. Finally, it's becoming a reality and I think people are very proud and excited about the signing ceremony." Simon has spent the past several months on contract to the LIA, making sure that federal representatives understand and support the land claim. The government of Newfoundland and Labrador approved the claim in December. It's only the second provincial government to be affected by a comprehensive land claims agreement since the Nisga'a British Columbia agreement with Ottawa in 2000. The next step is legislation in the House of Commons. Simon is confident that Labrador Inuit have the support they need for the legislation to pass, but she plans to make sure that members of Parliament, ministers and opposition party members are all on board. "With a minority government, I think it's very important to make sure your consultation is done and that everybody understands the agreement and the different aspects of how this is not just good for Inuit, but good for Canada as well." Paul Kaludjak, president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., commended the LIA on "taking control of their own lives as we have tried to here in Nunavut." Now, he said, he hopes the federal government will live up to its commitments. "We have to keep knocking at the government's door to keep our implementation in line, and keep it active. We have an outstanding 10-year plan that is not being acted on by the government currently. "I hope they will not have the same difficulty that we have. I hope there will be quicker turnarounds and timely implementation practices." In the meantime, the LIA is preparing an interim government that can take over the leadership of the land claims area until elections can be held for the new Nunatsiavut Government. The group is "well into that process," Andersen said, having started the work immediately after a vote on May 26 where 76 per cent of Labrador Inuit supported the land claim. The Nunatsiavut Government will be a public body, made up of 16 representatives from five community councils representing Inuit and non- Inuit in the region. Together, they will manage the rights of beneficiaries' to the agreement, as well as write and enforce laws relating to cultural affairs, education, health, child and family services, income support, and justice in the territory. The deal comes with a $140 million capital transfer as well as $156 million in implementation funding from the federal government, which amounts to almost $350 million when adjusted for inflation since 1997, when the figures were negotiated. The territory must pay back $50 million of the capital funding to the federal government for legal expenses incurred during the 30-year negotiations. The Nunatsiavut Government will collect 5 per cent of revenues from Voisey's Bay, and a share in offshore oil revenues in some areas. It will have the power to impose tax, but residents will continue to pay federal and provincial taxes. Other dignitaries invited to the ceremony include the minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Andy Scott; the federal Environment Minister Ste'phane Dion; Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik; and the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Jose Kusugak. Copyright c. 1995- 2005 Nortext Publishing Corporation (Iqaluit). --------- "RE: Raids net Thousands of Artifacts in Oregon" --------- Date: Saturday, January 29, 2005 1:45 PM From: Peter Webster [peterweb@bendnet.com] Subj: pot-hunters busted Mailing List: Certain Home Mailing List: Rez_Live http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian//front_page/110700377420661.xml Raids net thousands of artifacts in Oregon A two-year effort that results in seizures of archeological and native relics from 22 sites points to the scope of the illegal market January 29, 2005 MICHAEL MILSTEIN Federal agents executing 22 search warrants this week across Central and Southeast Oregon seized thousands of archaeological artifacts thought to have been stolen from public lands in what they said is the largest case of its kind in the region. The seizures cap a two-year federal investigation into the suspected theft and sale of artifacts looted from sites that may date back thousands of years. Robbery of the native treasures is increasingly fueled by a wealthy, worldwide collectors market willing to pay top dollar for rare remnants of the past, experts said. Researchers say it's all but impossible to visit an ancient dwelling site in Oregon that has not been rifled for pot shards, stone tools or other relics. Federal law strictly protects artifacts on public lands, which cover more than half the state. Taking them not only defiles the deep cultural value of early Native American sites, experts said, but removal also undermines any scientific hope of learning about those who once lived there. "It's not getting any better, and that's probably because of the increasing international aspect and the money involved," said Richard Hanes, who leads historic preservation programs for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service in Oregon and Washington. No arrests have been made related to the artifacts. The confiscated artifacts will be analyzed, and evidence will be turned over to federal prosecutors before any suspects would be charged. But other crimes leading to arrests were detected in this week's searches. Officers looking for pilfered artifacts at a home in Terrebonne, north of Redmond, uncovered a methamphetamine laboratory, an elaborately concealed marijuana-growing operation with 64 plants, and numerous guns, including an assault-style rifle. Three people who lived at the home were arrested and charged with manufacture and possession of illegal drugs in connection with the find, and two more were charged with frequenting places where controlled substances are used or sold. They were decontaminated by the Redmond Fire Department because of the chemicals used in making methamphetamine and held in the Deschutes County Jail. "If they're manufacturing both methamphetamine and marijuana, they're not your run-of-the-mill operation," said Lt. Jim Porter of the Bend Police Department. He heads the Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team, which made the drug arrests. Federal authorities remained tight-lipped about the specific artifacts they recovered during their searches of 21 homes and one business in far- flung towns from Redmond to Lakeview. But they said the case is their largest in the Pacific Northwest based on the quantity of evidence recovered, the number of investigators involved, the geographic area covered and the number of search warrants issued. Recovered artifacts include items common to ancient sites in Oregon, said Margot Bucholtz, a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman. She said such items may include arrowheads, pot shards or other evidence of human habitation. All are protected on federal land. Their theft can carry federal fines of as much as $10,000 and sentences as long as a year in prison; penalties multiply if the artifacts are highly valued and according to the cost of repairing damage. Second offenses carry fines of as much as $100,000 and five years in prison. The value of the artifacts has not been determined, Bucholtz said. Agents also found illegal wildlife parts such as eagle feathers and talons, she said. The probe began when BLM officials received information about the suspected theft of artifacts, she said. The artifacts are believed to have come from BLM and Forest Service land. The two agencies manage more than 31 million acres in Oregon, more than half the state's total land area. It's such a vast area the agencies commonly rely on citizen volunteers to monitor archaeological sites for signs of illegal digging. The instant a site is disturbed, much of its scientific value is lost, said Hanes, an archaeologist who aided in the case. "The whole value is in the context," he said. "What we learn comes from putting all the pieces together. You need all the pieces to tell the story. When it's stirred up, they've completely disrupted the picture." He said Oregon is especially rich in archaeological sites because of its long human history and the arid environment east of the Cascade Range, which helps preserve them. But thieves know that, and they spend great time and energy searching out and pillaging such sites. In some cases heavy equipment, including a bulldozer, has been used to illegally uncover artifacts or scoop up dirt to be hauled away and sifted for valuable rarities, Hanes said. He said relics from Western states often bring the highest prices in distant regions such as Europe and Asia, where they are considered exotic. "It's a very pervasive problem," he said. "There's evolving sort of an antiquities market that's international in scope that really furthers the damage that's being done on the public lands." Michael Milstein: 503-294-7689; michaelmilstein@news.oregonian.com Copyright c. 2005 The Oregonian. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Suit says Indian Vote diluted" --------- Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2005 17:11:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NULLIFYING THE INDIAN VOTE" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.argusleader.com//501290310/1001/NEWS Suit says Indian vote diluted ACLU files complaint against Charles Mix County PETER HARRIMAN pharrima@argusleader.com January 29, 2005 Charles Mix County commissioners will respond Tuesday to a civil rights lawsuit filed this week claiming their county dilutes the Indian vote. Commissioners said they'll consider the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in federal district court in Sioux Falls by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of four Native American voters. The suit alleges the way county voting districts are drawn dilutes a bloc of Indian voters in the southern part of the county and reduces the opportunity for them to have an effect on elections proportional to their numbers. Plaintiffs say the county commission should have redrawn its voting districts after the 2000 federal census. They ask that they be redrawn now or, failing that, that Charles Mix County be forced to accept a redistricting plan from the court and that a special election be held for all three county commission positions using the new alignment. The next general election for the commission is in 2006. This is the seventh voting rights lawsuit the ACLU has filed in South Dakota since 1999, and it has been winning them. So far, five have been resolved in favor of plaintiffs, with one pending against the city of Martin. Jennifer Ring, executive director of the ACLU of the Dakotas, sees the situation in Charles Mix County as another example of widespread and longstanding racial discrimination against Indian voters in South Dakota that the ACLU has been working to correct with its lawsuits. "It's awfully hard to not see this as an effort by the powers that be in the white community to maintain control and not allow the Indians to share power," Ring said. 'We're not racists' But some Charles Mix County officials differ. Commissioner Keith Mushitz of Geddes said he and another commissioner, Carrol Allen of Lake Andes, were elected after the 2000 census, and he had only the vaguest notion of the controversy before the lawsuit was filed Thursday. "I heard in 2000 the Yankton Sioux Tribe wanted to change the districts around, but I didn't know what it was about," he said. Only Herman Peters of Avon was on the commission before the 2000 census. However, Mushitz said, if the council determines this week that its districts do disproportionately disfavor Indian voters, it probably will take action to make it right. "If we're in the wrong, we've got to get in the right," Mushitz said. Norman Cihak, county auditor and a defendant in the suit, insists the commission has acted in good faith in considering the impact of the last census on voting districts. "We're not racists," he said, and the county, in accordance with state law, held a public hearing about redistricting Feb. 5, 2002. "No action was taken because nobody showed up to contest it or wanted to change the districts," Cihak said. "We went over the census figures and left the districts the same as they had been in the past," he said. The lawsuit alleges Charles Mix County's voting districts violate the one-person, one-vote provision of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which requires state and local governments to establish voting districts "as nearly of equal population as is practicable." Deviation by more than 10 percent is considered unconstitutional. Plaintiffs say according to the 2000 census, an ideal county commission district in Charles Mix County would contain 3,117 people. They say District 1 is overpopulated by 326 people, a deviation of 10.46 percent; District 2 is underpopulated by 60 people, 1.92 percent; and District 3 is underpopulated by 267 people, 8.75 percent - creating a total deviation of 593 persons. According to the lawsuit, as the districts exist now, they effectively divide Indian voters who might otherwise constitute a bloc. "Native Americans in Charles Mix County are sufficiently numerous and geographically compact that they could constitute a majority in a single- member commission district," the lawsuit alleges. Cihak and Mushitz said the districts do not exceed the constitutional deviation, and Cihak said redrawing them to create an Indian-dominated district violates a tenet of state law that also is important: that voting districts be as "regular and compact in form as possible." "Our lines run straight. We don't take in part of one township," he said. "By having straight up-and-down vertical lines, we follow the 'regular and compact in form' provision." 2001 letter Bryan Sells, an ACLU lawyer who filed the lawsuit, said Charles Mix County officials ignored a request to change its voting districts after the 2000 census. "The most salient thing in this suit is, we warned them about this in 2001," Sells says. "After the census data came out, we looked at their maps, crunched the numbers and sent them a friendly letter saying, 'You are going to need to make changes.' We sent them maps saying, 'This is how we propose you make changes to avoid potential litigation.' "They chose instead to keep the district lines intact. I think that's the most important thing about this case." Cihak said the ACLU proposal for new voting districts "was not regular and compact in form. They run the line so jagged throughout the county, they divided it by race." The ACLU plan also split several communities in the county that had been in one district into two. "We felt that was very impracticable," Cihak said. "So we did what we did." For at least one of the plaintiffs, though, the issue has more to do with enjoying full and fair American citizenship than it does with lines on a map. Candidate complaint Sharon Drapeau of Lake Andes is the purchasing manager for Fort Randall Casino and was an unsuccessful county commission candidate last year. She ran against Allen. Drapeau joins Evelyn Blackmoon, Robert Cournoyer and Alan Flying Hawk as plaintiffs. "Our people are never going to get representation the way the districts are set up," Drapeau said. "It's only fair: one person, one vote. We'll never get that unless there is fair redistricting by the county commission. It is their responsibility to do it." Drapeau said she ran for the commission to help bridge the often- divisive white and Indian worlds in Charles Mix County. "I believe the commission has a responsibility to notify the tribe when things are going to happen that are going to affect (tribal members). I don't believe that is being done in a good way now. Also, I believe that we could develop a better working relationship between the county and the tribe if we had somebody there who kind of understood both worlds," Drapeau said. That notion of two worlds weighs heavily on another Indian voter, Charon Asetoyer, executive director of the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center in Lake Andes. White voters in Charles Mix County, Asetoyer said, "see Indian people as 'them and us,' and our only form of government to participate in is tribal government. "It's time they acknowledge we have a right to participate in all levels of government and we intend on doing it. "In the protection of liberty, one of the most important things is a person's right to vote. If they are being blatantly denied that participation, it means this is not a democracy for everybody." Reach Peter Harriman at 575-3615. Copyright c. 2005 Argus Leader. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Native Prisoner" --------- Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2005 23:01:13 -0700 From: Janet Smith [owlstartrading@speakeasy.net] Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - -- Sweetgrass burning banned http://www.ammsa.com/windspeaker/topnews-Feb-2005.html#anchor2023887 Sweetgrass burning banned Paul Barnsley, Windspeaker Staff Writer, Edmonton February 2005 In provincial jails in Alberta, a ban on smoking tobacco products has been extended to include the burning of Sweetgrass, a plant considered sacred to Aboriginal people and burned to send prayers to the Creator on the smoke. Andrew Reid says the decision to ban Sweetgrass use means freedom of religion is now something reserved for only the non-Aboriginal people at provincial correctional facilities and he's made up his mind to do something about it. The 46-year-old member of the Buffalo Lake Me'tis Settlement recently completed a four-month sentence at Fort Saskatchewan Correctional Institution (the Fort), located on the northeast edge of Edmonton. He was convicted of unlawful entry and incarcerated during the months after the smoking ban was implemented in September 2004. Reid said guards began confiscating Sweetgrass from inmates in August in preparation for the official start of the smoking ban. He contacted a lawyer through legal aid and began legal action to overturn the ban. "I'm going to fight it because it's wrong," he said. The Alberta Guards Union pushed the smoking ban in all provincially-run correctional facilities for health and safety reasons. The proposal was adopted by the Alberta government shortly after an Ontario court ruled that a waitress who faced long-term exposure to second-hand smoke in the workplace was eligible for workers' compensation. "Members of our union who work in Alberta correctional facilities are thankful that the province has introduced a smoking ban, which members have advocated for years," said Alberta Union of Public Employees President Dan MacLennan. Mike Rennick, another union spokesman, defended the ban on burning Sweetgrass in an interview with the Edmonton Sun. He said the inmates can simply go outside if they want to burn Sweetgrass. "If it's minus 25 and it's that important to you, then brave the cold," he told the Sun. "The Christian Bible doesn't kill me-Sweetgrass is carcinogenic." Reid said inmates are only allowed to go outside to smudge and pray for 30 minutes each day between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. He complained that it's hard to concentrate on spiritual matters when it's minus 25 degrees Celsius and points out that the Christian inmates don't have to go outside to pray. His lawyer, Charles D