_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 13, ISSUE 010 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 March 5, 2005 Kiowa kaguat p'a/bud moon Cree migisupizum/eagle moon Lakota Istawicanyazan Wi/moon of Snow blindness +-------------------------------------------------------+ | 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; Iron Natives and Indian Heritage-L Mailing Lists; UUCP email IMPORTANT!! ----------- In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, all material appearing in this newsletter is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for educational purposes. <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is a way of keeping the brothers and sisters who share our Spirit informed about current events within the lives of those who walk the Red Road. ++ It may be subscribed to via email by sending a request from your own internet addressable account to gars@speakeasy.org ++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org <================<<<< >>>>================> +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | As historian Patricia Nelson | | Once a language is lost, it is | | Limerick summarized in "The | | gone forever | | Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken | | * Of the 300 original Native | | Past of the American West... | | languages in North America, | | "Set the blood quantum at | | only 175 exist today. | | one-quarter, hold to it as a | | * 125 of these are no longer | | rigid definition of Indians, | | learned by children. | | let intermarriage proceed as | | * 55 are spoken by 1 to 6 elders;| | it had for centuries, and | | when they die, their language | | eventually Indians will be | | will disappear. | | defined out of existence." | | * Without action, only 20 | | "When that happens, the federal | | languages will survive the next| | government will be freed of | | 50 years. | | its persistent 'Indian problem.'"| | Source: Indigenous Language | +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ | Institute | |http://www.indigenous-language.org| This issue's Elder Quote: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + ======================== "This is a wonderful day," "Because of the courageous accomplishments of our ancestors, we have our homeland today, we will have it tomorrow, and we will have it forever." __ Herb Weyaus, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! How are things in Indian Country as we begin to see the first glimpse of Spring? There are some good things happening and some not so good things we should all be concerned about. As many readers know my half-side, Janet, and I have the honor of serving as volunteers to our brothers in USP Atlanta and a sister incarcerated in the Georgia Metro Womens' Unit. Things are tightening up throughout the prison systems, but not just with Native Americans. As this issue's Native Prisoner column makes clear, however, things are definitely not improving at some of the more notorious facilities. Get involved with this issue. Vermin like those that operate the Montana DOC do not thrive well in the glare of public scrutiny. Also, urge congressional support for PHS and IHS systems desperately in need of funding. If the urban Public Health Facility in Albuquerque is not reopened a lot of Indians will die. This is no exaggeration. It's just a sad truth. A truth people like those throughout the Bush administration are either oblivious to, or worse, callous to the pain of illness and death of poor urban Indians. On the plus side, several western tribes are realizing water rights agreements necessary to their continuance and continued life styles. It must also be a great relief throughout Indian Country that several attempts by the Bush Administration to sidestep the Indian Trust Case have been thwarted, Judge Royce Lamberth is still firmly in control and has enacted decisions to get the case back on track. Some tribal police have had jurisdictional powers returned or strengthened while others have seen cross jurisdictional agreements come to fruition that will make their jobs easier to enforce and life on some of the reservations a bit safer. Now, we just need to encourage the United States to quit punishing Mohawk in the northeast and Tohono O'odham in the southwest because they are too inept to deal with real problems on those borders. Wishing a great Vernal Equinox and spring powwow season to all. Dohiyi Ani Oginalii , , Gary Smith (*,*) wotanging@bellsouth.net P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org Marietta, GA 30010, U.S.A. ===w=w=== http://www.nanews.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ----------- - High Court - Learning a New Language won't remove Judge from Suit not a Foreign Concept - Agency told - Native Hawaiian Recognition Bill to account for Tribal Money another shot - Lamberth moves - A Survey of today's Cobell Trust Reform Case forward new Political Correctness - Open letter to the BIA - Native Leaders - Tribes explain opposition call for new Agencies to airport on BLM Land - Officials suspended - Sacred Site policy at First Nations University at Rainbow Bridge to stand - Bounty put on Eagle-Killers - Sacred Site Law spurs - McLellan under attack $50M claim from Mine Firm over Native-School Redress - Navajo Nation grapples - LAWYERS: Pay all with Uranium Mining Issue Residential-School Students - Southern Ute Solidarity in danger - Aboriginal Music - Oklahoma State Senate Industry Group launched kills Mascot Bill - Police release Videotape - Hate Crime shocks Paiute Reservation of missing Native Girl - Passamaquoddy Tribe - Family, Police divided over Gas Terminal search for missing Woman - Blackfeet seek role - John Graham to be Extradited in repair of Water System - Senate kills American Indian - More Technology on Parole Board makes its way to Navajo Nation - BOOK: Have You Thought - Nez Perce Water Agreement in Sight? of Leonard Peltier Lately? - E-mail highlights divide - Native Prisoner over Historic Village -- Urgent: Prayer Warriors - Duwamish Tribe seeks protection Need Your Support! for Foster Island - Rustywire: Longing for - A Big Bump on the Road to Riches Sweet Taste of Freedom - COLEMAN: Mille Lacs Band - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days will be here 'Forever' - Hawkdancer Poem: Life --------- "RE: High Court won't remove Judge from Suit" --------- Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 08:42:11 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LAMBERTH STAYS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/politics/10964930.htm High court won't remove judge from suit Associated Press February 23, 2005 WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the efforts of Interior Department officials to remove a federal judge from overseeing an 8-year-old lawsuit by American Indian landowners seek an accounting of trust funds set up on their behalf. The court declined to consider a last-ditch appeal by the government concerning U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth. A number of current and former Interior Department officials claim he is biased. Lamberth found President Clinton's Interior and Treasury secretaries, Bruce Babbitt and Robert Rubin, in contempt for failing to turn over documents; and found current Interior Secretary Gale Norton in contempt of court for failing to follow his orders, a ruling later overturned by the U. S. Court of Appeals. The suit alleges the government mismanaged oil, gas, timber and grazing royalties going back more than a century on behalf of more than 300,000 American Indians. The Interior Department says it has conducted more than 30,000 intricate accountings so far of individual Indian money accounts, found almost no discrepancies exceeding $1 and that the multimillion-dollar effort has turned up in total only hundreds of dollars in discrepancies. Meanwhile, Norton on Tuesday rejected Lamberth's latest entreaty to appear in his court to answer allegations her department retaliated against Indians who brought the suit. Lamberth two weeks ago gave Norton the choice of appearing in his court or facing the prospect he'll rule against her. Justice Department lawyers representing Norton filed a brief Tuesday saying she "respectfully decline(s)" the judge's request. They said she believes that his "principal finding of retaliation - that trust checks were withheld or ordered withheld - is not supported and, indeed, contrary to the record." Her lawyers also said that if such a hearing were required, "officials of a lower level than a Cabinet officer would more appropriately provide evidence." Lamberth ruled last October that the Bureau of Indian Affairs had acted as if it must end all contact with Indians about land sales and account statements to comply with an earlier order from him. Still in dispute is whether payments to Indians were ever actually stopped or delayed. Copyright c. 2005 Monterey Herald, Knight-Ridder Publications, Inc. --------- "RE: Agency told to account for Tribal Money" --------- Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 08:43:56 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DoI HELD ACCOUNTABLE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/05/02/24/100wir_tribal001.cfm Agency told to account for tribal money Los Angeles Times February 24, 2005 WASHINGTON - For the second time, a federal judge has ordered the Interior Department to account for billions of dollars in royalties that Indian tribes contend the government owes them. The ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth came in the long-running case of the Indian trust fund, which was established more than a century ago to hold and distribute fees from oil, grazing, drilling and logging leases on 11 million of acres of land west of the Mississippi River. Lamberth told the department to return within 60 days with a detailed plan for an accounting of the trust. He also ordered the department to issue subpoenas for records held by third parties to make sure those records would be preserved. The subpoenas would go to oil companies, timber firms and other companies that have done business on Indian land. According to government reports, the trust fund has been plagued with problems since at least 1915. The fund is believed to generate about $500 million a year. Copyright c. 1996-2005. The Daily Herald Co., Everett, Wash. --------- "RE: Lamberth moves Cobell Trust Reform Case forward" --------- Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 08:43:56 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JUDGE OPENS TWO NEW FRONTS" http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/006683.asp Lamberth moves Cobell trust reform case forward February 24, 2005 A federal judge opened two new fronts in the Indian trust fund case on Wednesday, ordering a broad historical accounting of billions in Indian money and pledging to resolve contempt allegations against dozens of current and former government officials. In a 15-page memorandum and order, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said he was frustrated with the failure to resolve the long-running Cobell v. Norton case. He placed the blame on the government, indicting both the Bush and Clinton administrations for continuing to challenge the government's trust obligations to hundreds of thousands of American Indians throughout the country. "Elderly class members' hopes of receiving an accounting in their lifetimes are diminishing year by year by year as the government fights - and re-fights - every legal battle," he wrote, calling on the Interior Department to complete the accounting of at least $13 billion in funds by January 2009. And in a separate order, Lamberth scheduled a hearing on March 3 to address contempt proceedings pending against former Interior secretary Bruce Babbitt and a slew of other past and present government officials and attorneys. He said the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to hear Babbitt's appeal this week "resolve[s] once and for all the question" of his authority to resolve allegations of records destruction. The twin actions came as three Department of Justice attorneys - including lead counsel Sandra P. Spooner - resigned from the case. In court documents, Spooner, Terry M. Petrie and Gino D. Vissicchio did not give reasons for their removal and no replacements were named. The move harkens back to late October 2001, when Interior Secretary Gale Norton replaced the attorneys handling the case with two new teams shortly before announcing her ill-fated BITAM proposal. Spooner, from Justice's civil division, joined the litigation at that time. Since then, the Bush administration has taken the case to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals several times. In subsequent rulings, the court lifted contempt sanctions against Norton and former Indian affairs assistant secretary Neal McCaleb, blocked the release of contempt reports, allowed Interior to reconnect its computer systems and set aside a broad historical accounting and trust reform order. The Bush administration hailed each step as a victory in a case they say has lost its "moorings." But the court refused the Norton's request to end the litigation altogether and rejected her attempt to limit the scope of the case. Lamberth referred to one of the latest rulings when he reinstated the accounting of the Individual Indian Money (IIM) trust. He noted that the appeals court failed to rule on the merits of his order based on a "bizarre and futile attempt" by Congress to impose a one-year delay in the case. The "midnight rider," as it has become known in Indian Country, was inserted in Interior's appropriations bill without prior consultation. Last week, associate deputy secretary Jim Cason denied "writing" the provision but the White House at the time backed the so-called time out. Since the rider expired at the end of last year, Lamberth said he was free to take action as the appeals court had envisioned. "Of course, December 31, 2004 has come and gone, and no legislative solution to the issues in this litigation is available or in the offing," he observed. Rep. Richard Pombo (R-California), chairman of the House Resources Committee, has pledged to work with the Cobell plaintiffs, Interior and other parties to seek a legislative solution. He held a hearing last week and blasted the delay in providing an accounting. But he also said the long-running litigation is taking away resources the Bureau of Indian Affairs That view is shared by lawmakers of both parties in the House and the Senate, who want to restore funding to education, housing and other programs that were cut by the Bush administration to pay for trust reform. The battle will resume in light of Interior's estimates that an expanded accounting will cost up to $12 billion and take several years. The department's current project is expected to cost $335 million over five years but Cason said last week the effort wasn't assured of success. "Congress needs to take a hard look at this," Sen. Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota), a member of the Indian Affairs and Appropriations committees, said yesterday of the funding sought for the accounting. The plaintiffs believe an accounting of any sort carried out by Interior is futile due to missing records and flawed systems. On the contempt issue, upwards of 50 people are accused of violating a court order by destroying electronic trust fund records. Interior admitted to losing the information but an internal investigation failed to assign blame. Separate from Interior, Babbitt led a group who sought to have Lamberth removed from deciding the matter altogether. The D.C. Circuit refused, saying the judge has not shown an "appearance of partiality" or acted improperly. The Supreme Court refused to hear the case on Tuesday. Copyright c. 2000-2005 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Open letter to the BIA" --------- Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 08:43:56 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="IONE BAND of MIWOK" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.ledger-dispatch.com/opinion/opinionview.asp?c=146115 Open letter to the BIA - By Nicholas Villa Jr., Ione Band of Miwok Indians February 23, 2005 Mr. Dale Morris: We are requesting a meeting with you to discuss our concerns regarding the inappropriate use of our federal funds provided by Bureau of Indian Affairs staff to individuals and in many instances, BIA staff immediate family relations. These persons are not associated with our tribe, tribal government, tribal land base or political entity. The Ione Band of Miwok Indians is a federally recognized Indian tribe and has an approved and accepted documented tribal constitution, with a government-to-government relationship, with an ancient historic land base, featuring a traditional and customary leadership and base rolls since at least 1916 and 1972 that was reaffirmed with the status correction of 1994. Those rights and privileges extended to this tribe are identified in the Federal Register: Feb. 16, 1995 (Volume 60, Number 32) [Notices] [Page 9249-9255] Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible to Receive Services from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs. Our tribal rights and individual rights under the Indian Civil Rights of 1968 could not have been extinguished by the illegal actions of BIA line officers and staff in 1996 by the Pacific Regional Office, the Central California Agency or the Department of Interior. All along, our hereditary tribal government has, without interruption, continued to function as a traditional tribal government as it has since time immemorial. However, because of the illegal actions by federal employees, we have struggled to become self-determined without the funds intended for the legitimate tribe allocated by Congress. Those funds, along with the non-gaming tribal trust funds from the state of California, are being exclusively provided to the individuals who hijacked the tribe outside of the legal authority of the BIA employees. Those BIA employees are now the persons of interest of several federal investigations. As for tribal services, the Pacific Regional Office-BIA stated that until we recognize its "superintendent approved" tribal government, we must do without tribal services for our historical tribe. We, the historic tribe and government, contacted the BIA from the very beginning by notifying the Interior Department and the BIA of the wrongful interference with our sovereignty. We asked the BIA to uphold its fiduciary responsibility by the enforcement of our existing tribal constitution, tribal laws and ordinances. Again, we ask the BIA to abide by and enforce the existing federal and tribal laws and stop the wrongful acts by its employees. Due to the exigency of these circumstances surrounding this issue, the abuse of federal funds expressly intended for this historic tribe, its government and land base by the BIA sponsored group, we are hereby demanding that the BIA return to us our federal funds and stop the continuing interference in our tribal self-governance. To date, the aforementioned federal funds have NEVER been used expressly for the tribe identified in the 1995 Federal Register, As for those individuals who have been illegally placed on our tribal rolls by the BIA, they have outnumbered the legitimate tribe without our consent, attempted to change the character of the tribe and abused our federal funding. The tribe has taken the appropriate action to remove those individuals. In addition, the legitimate tribe is cooperating and will continue to do so with federal authorities and investigators to prosecute those responsible for this inappropriate interference in our government-to- government relationship with the United States. Copyright c. 2005 Amador Ledger Dispatch, Jackson, CA. --------- "RE: Tribes explain opposition to airport on BLM Land" --------- Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 15:36:25 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MORE BLM DISENFRANCHISEMENT" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?issue_date=02-25-2005&ID=2005101694 Tribes spell out opposition to airport on BLM land By PAT MURPHY Express Staff Writer February 25, 2005 The tragic history of how American Indians were treated by white men moving west went a long way Tuesday night toward explaining why the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes oppose a new airport on a potential site south of the Wood River Valley. In a briefing that was alternately spellbinding and scholarly, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes' director of fish and game, Chad Colter, devoted 30 minutes at the eighth meeting of the Friedman Memorial Airport site selection committee building a case to eliminate consideration of a site on a Bureau of Land Management tract east of state Highway 75 and just north of the Blaine-Lincoln counties line. Colter's basic thrust was that placing an airport on BLM land or any government land would violate rights of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes guaranteed by the 1868 Fort Bridger Treaty with the U.S. government Article 4 of the treaty provides that Shoshone-Bannock tribal members "shall have the right to hunt on unoccupied lands of the U.S. so long as game may be found thereon, and so long as peace subsists among the whites and Indians on the borders of the hunting districts." The tribes' original reservation of nearly 2 million acres in southeastern Idaho has been whittled back over the years to some 554,000 acres, Colter said. Any further shrinkage would be damaging to the tribes. Headquartered at the Fort Hall Reservation, southwest of Blackfoot, the tribes have representatives on the site selection committee. One delegate, Carolyn Smith, a tribal cultural resources coordinator, told the committee and a roomful of attendees at the old Blaine County Courthouse that the tribes are "diligent in keeping their aboriginal rights." Even before Colter made his presentation, chances of the BLM plot being designated for a new airport appeared remote. A BLM official told the site selection committee several months ago that the bureaucratic and environmental hurdles for using BLM land are unavoidably difficult, and even unlikely to be overcome. Nevertheless, the committee asked the tribes to spell out their case. Colter explained that the tribes continue to use treaty lands for hunting and fishing and harvesting native plants for meals as well as medicinal purposes. Some of the tribes' projects, he explained, also are jointly conducted with federal and state environmental and conservation agencies. One oddity was pointed out by Colter. Government officials who wrote the Fort Bridger Treaty erroneously referred broadly to the "Kansas Prairie" as part of the treaty lands of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, rather than the correct name for "Camas Prairie" that surrounds present-day Fairfield. In his slide presentation, Colter not only dwelled on the treaty provisions, but also on the colorful history of tribal elders and pre- reservation days. A substantial portion of Colter's presentation is on the tribes' Web site: http://www.shoshonebannocktribes.com/fhbc.html Copyright c. 2005 Idaho Mountain Express, Ketchum, ID. --------- "RE: Sacred Site policy at Rainbow Bridge to stand" --------- Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 08:33:43 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RAINBOW BRIDGE REMAINS PROTECTED" http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/006656.asp Sacred site policy at Rainbow Bridge to stand February 23, 2005 A federal policy aimed at protecting a sacred site in Utah withstood another legal challenge on Tuesday. Without comment, the U.S. Supreme Court refused an appeal filed by a conservative group that is fighting protections for several sacred sites. Mountain States Legal Foundation contends the government's policies violate the rights of non-Indians. In Utah, the group opposed a National Park Service decision to place signs at Rainbow Bridge National Monument discouraging visitors from approaching and walking under Rainbow Bridge. The world's largest natural bridge is considered sacred by the Hopi, Navajo and other tribes in the Southwest. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the case last March. A three-judge panel ruled that the non-Indian plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the policy. But at the time, the court said it didn't reach the merits of the policy. For that reason, William Perry, president of Mountain States, said the case "will not go away" and predicted it would end up before the Supreme Court again. "We are very disappointed that the Supreme Court declined to hear this case, which concerns an increasingly important issue in the West, that is, the willingness of federal land managers to close public land because it is sacred to American Indians," Perry said. After years of battles, tribes have slowly convinced the federal government to be more active in protecting sacred sites located on public lands. In Wyoming, climbing is discouraged at Devils Tower National Monument during Sundance ceremonies. In Nevada, climbing is outright banned at Cave Rock, held sacred by the Washoe Tribe. State governments also have taken a stand. Arizona's Department of Transportation won't buy materials mined from a site that is sacred to the Zuni, Hopi and Navajo tribes. Mountain States, which formerly employed Interior Secretary Gale Norton, has taken a dim view of the protections, alleging they violate the U.S. Constitution's ban from establishing a religion or preferring one religion over another. The courts, however, haven't bought into this line of thinking. As recently as September, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Mountain States' challenge to Arizona's sacred site policy. "Native American sacred sites of historical value are entitled to the same protection as the many Judeo-Christian religious sites," Judge Betty B. Fletcher wrote for the majority. Despite the victories, tribal leaders and Native activists say safeguards for sacred sites, burial grounds and other important places are still lacking. Many point fingers at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency whose waterworks projects have destroyed countless sites throughout the nation. The public's understanding also has a long way to go. In Washington, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe has come under fire for opposing construction at an historic village where hundreds of ancestors are buried. The state is being pressured to restart work at the site but says it won't give in to the demands. Copyright c. 2000-2005 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Sacred Site Law spurs $50M claim from Mine Firm" --------- Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 08:33:43 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CALIFORNIA LAW TRIGGERS NAFTA CLAIM" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20050222-1717-ca-naftafallout.html California sacred lands law triggers $50 million NAFTA claim By Don Thompson ASSOCIATED PRESS February 22, 2005 SACRAMENTO - When California adopted a law to protect sacred Indian lands and the nation's toughest restrictions on open-pit metal mining in 2003, the twin actions spelled the end for a gold mine in the Southern California desert. Now the mine owner is seeking $50 million in compensation under the North American Free Trade Agreement. It's one of 42 such claims by corporations and investors so far, according to Ralph Nader's watchdog group Public Citizen. Public Citizen, the Sierra Club, the environmental law firm EarthJustice and two California state lawmakers said Tuesday the NAFTA provision lets foreign corporations undermine state and federal laws and regulations. They criticized the Bush administration for seeking to expand the free trade treaty and accompanying arbitration agreement to Central America. Yet, "The United States has never lost a single investor case filed against it ... nor has the U.S. government ever paid a single cent to settle such a case," responded Richard Mills, spokesman for the Office of the United States Trade Representative. "Groups such as this are trying to scare people and they don't tell the full story." Public Citizen contends an adverse judgment against the United States is just a matter of time. State Sen. Liz Figueroa, D-Sunol, who chairs the Senate Select Committee on International Trade Policy and State Legislation, called the report "a grim wake-up call." She introduced a bill that would require that California pass a law agreeing to any future international trade agreements that she said currently "threaten democracy and public well-being." Meanwhile, Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Sherman Oaks, decried the threat of a NAFTA compensation claim that he said "undermines our sovereignty" and prompted the veto of his bill requiring that more old tires be used in roadways in the form of rubberized asphalt. Currently there are $28 billion in claims pending against the United States, Canada and Mexico under NAFTA, by Public Citizen's tabulation, including $300 million by Canadian cattle producers for losses stemming from the United States' beef import ban after mad cow disease was discovered there in 2003. In 11 cases where judgments are final, $35 million has been paid to five corporations. The international arbitration provision cuts both ways. United Parcel Service is seeking $160 million from Canada for alleged unfair competition from the government's delivery service there, and U.S. firms are challenging Canadian bans on a pesticide and gasoline additive. Similar arbitration provisions are in some 2,000 treaties around the world, said John Murphy, vice president for Western Hemisphere Affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The United States is party to about 40 such provisions, which mirror protections in the U.S. Constitution that property cannot be seized without compensation. "These have proven quite helpful to American corporations," Murphy said, particularly in countries with slow or cumbersome legal systems. He said Public Citizen's tally of $35 million in successful claims "seems fairly accurate. ... The striking thing about that number is how small it is relative to the flow of foreign investment." Glamis Gold Ltd. of Reno says it already had invested $15 million in its proposal to mine federal land near the Quechan tribe's Fort Yuma Reservation near Winterhaven, in Imperial County, on part of the tribe's sacred "Trail of Dreams." The proposed mine was rejected by the Clinton administration because it encroaches on Quechan sacred land, but the Bush administration rescinded that ruling. California then enacted a law requiring that a metallic pit mine within one mile of an Indian sacred site be restored to its original landscape contour. Two days later, the California State Mining and Geology Board required mining companies to refill new open-pit metal mines and flatten mine waste piles back to nearly the natural landscape. Glamis Gold, a U.S. subsidiary of a Canadian firm, filed for compensation under NAFTA instead of in U.S. courts. "You use whatever means is at your disposal, where ever you think you have the greatest chance of success," said Michael Steeves, Glamis' vice president for investor relations. Copyright c. 2005 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. --------- "RE: Navajo Nation grapples with Uranium Mining Issue" --------- Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 08:43:56 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DEADLY HIDDEN LEGACY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=6057 Hidden legacy: Navajo Nation grapples with uranium mining issue Years of production leads to problems for tribe GALLUP NM Gerald Brown February 24, 2005 Those who know anything about the history of Gallup and McKinley County know that without the advent of coal mining, town founders may never have broken ground. David Gallup, namesake of the community and paymaster of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, came here to help initiate the industry that gave Gallup its future. Between 1880 and 1890, thousands of immigrants flooded into the area to reap a piece of the American dream, working hard to achieve their vision of prosperity for themselves and their families. According to a Gallup Historical Society pamphlet at the Rex Museum, 57 coalmines were in simultaneous operation at the peak of the mining period, pumping out 70 car coal trains on a daily basis. Today, those coal trains still run, however their previous numbers have been reduced to less than half of that tremendous volume from over 100 years ago. The legacy of coal mining is readily apparent. All one need do is take a stroll downtown and read the signs naming the main drag. Moreover, riding along the inner-loop mountain bike trail that begins behind the community service center, you become instantly overtaken by a very pungent odor that seems to come out of nowhere. Upon further inspection, you can discover the source of this smell, a 30 foot crack in the ground plastered with the dark residue of smoke coming from the smoldering remains of a subterranean mine. There is another type of mining that many four-corners transplants like myself aren't really aware of, a type of mining that has occurred in this area since the late fifties: uranium mining. The topic of uranium isn't anything new to locals. I, on the other hand, began learning about uranium mining only after living in McKinley country for a few months, and suspect many like me still don't know of its existence. I quickly found out that there was much more to learn than I had ever imagined, despite the lack of immediate information available on the subject. Driving down highway 566, one can pass many scenic formations en route to the interior Eastern Navajo Agency. Most people use the road as an access to side roads, leading to places like Superman canyon and Pinedale, or use it as a popular road biking venue. The reason it is paved all the way to its end isn't because of its popularity though; its because a uranium mine is at the end. If you keep following the highway to its terminus, you will be met by a sign informing you of a "dead end ahead." You have come to the one of the many mines owned by United Nuclear Incorporated, the predominant company to do business in this area. The fact is that there are more than 1,000 abandoned uranium mines scattered across the greater Navajo Nation, dozens within an hour drive of anyone's front door. Their proliferation occurred mainly during the seventies as nuclear power became the popular new way of meeting America's booming energy needs, not to mention Cold War weapons of mass destruction. It turned out that the geology of the area wasn't only great for coal extraction, but also the exploitation of the stuff that's locally known as yellowcake-"leetsoh" in Navajo. There is no celebration of uranium as there is coal however. You won't find uranium avenues, works of uranium public art, or uranium memorials. The closest thing you'll get to its outward recognition is the Uranium Cafe' in Grants. There are many reasons for the public's amnesia about uranium, some perfectly forgivable, some not so much so. The fact is that uranium is an extremely toxic substance that has quietly affected countless peoples lives across the greater Northwest New Mexico region. The connections between uranium and health are well understood by scientists who study its effects. Uranium exposure has been linked to kidney failure as well as various forms of cancer in laboratory tests. One can catch glimpses of stories about local people who suffer the effects of having experienced prolonged exposure to uranium. These people are usually retired Navajo miners. There has never been a comprehensive study conducted of the hundreds if not thousands of miners who performed the dirty work of extraction during production hey days. Perhaps it is too costly for any one government or group to take on. Perhaps the job of locating and organizing all these people is too much to undertake. Another reason is simply that many of the people most affected aren't around anymore, succumbing to illnesses of which you can make an educated guess about the cause. However, after a long struggle for compensation, the federal government finally recognized health claims made by some miners. In 1992, Congress passed RECA, a law that entitled qualifying miners up to $100,000 in some cases. What many ex-miners have discovered however is that even this payment amount isn't enough to cover the many costs associated with cancer treatments. Many don't have any form of life insurance whatsoever and $100, 000 doesn't go far enough to pay for extended hospital stays, radiation therapy and other forms of care. There is another kind of study going on these days regarding uranium. Gerald Brown is the Project Administrative of CRUMP, which stands for Church Rock Uranium Monitoring Project. What this group does is exactly what it says-which is to measure the amount of uranium contamination in communities that might be affected by past operations. Another facet of their mission is to lobby government bodies to legislate on behalf of those affected, mainly by providing money to clean up polluted areas and stop further mining from happening. CRUMP is now in its second year, having received the results from meticulous testing of radon emissions in the greater church Rock Chapter area (radon is a toxic gas that results from uranium decomposition). Brown was rather surprised at the study results, commenting that many areas he didn't suspect as high-impact zones gave heavy readings, while other area showed less contamination. We took a little trip up highway 566. I felt like I was on a tour of a place that I had never been before, even after traveling that way countless times before. A decrepit old building standing alone to the west of the road a couple of miles past the Mustang gas station marks the spot of a past mine sight. You can pull off the road, walk up to a faded "no trespassing" sign and gaze out at old cement foundations where old mineshaft structures once stood. Driving further up the road, a little ways past the paved turn-off to Pinedale, you come to the remains of the largest radioactive spill in US history. Back on July 16th, 1979, millions of tons of uranium wastewater breeched the damn holding back its tailings ponds. The flood roared down the Puerco River for two days before it finally came to a stop. No one was warned of the coming danger, and as a result many sheepherders and ranchers along the river suffered severe chemical exposure as the wastewater poured downstream. Even when the disaster ended, thousands of acres of lands had been polluted, leaving good grazing lands saturated with radioactive material. Just before the fence at 566's dead end, there is a turn-off to the right that leads to small community directly north of another mine site. We drove right on up and right through a little piece of reservation land, all the way up to where some peoples lots stood. They certainly had their own slice of paradise, with one serious drawback however. Many peoples homes were in the shadows of an enormous tailings pile sitting right upwind from the neighborhood. Little erosion gullies course down from its base right through peoples front yards, children playing in and around them. Gerald informed me that reading taken at the edge of their property, right at the edge of the piles, gave readings of up to twenty times what is considered normal. On our way back we turned off on pipeline road, a dirt spur leading east away from the paved highway. Not more than a couple hundred yards past the turn-off we came upon a massive flatland with countless white plastic pipes lying in rows across the expanse. Gerald explained that these were water monitoring devices put in place by UNC as mandated by federal law. We were now upon a Superfund site, which is an area so designated by the Environmental Protection Agency as a place needing special attention due to extensive "hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants released into the environment." The road splits, and we took the turn that leads right alongside of one the holding ponds, right where a large deposit of uranium-laced water once stood. No signs are in place warning you of the danger, no information posted about what happened more than 20 years ago and how the still extant uranium is extremely harmful. Gerald pointed out houses that lay directly behind the site. He mentioned that contaminated groundwater is seeping in their direction. The monitoring devices may be able to tell where the water is moving; they can't unfortunately prevent it from moving into neighboring wells. The problem with uranium is that it doesn't go away very easily. The half-life for the substance is over 100,000 years, meaning that it will be around for as many generations into the future as you can imagine. Companies like UNC have never been able to fully clean up the messes they create, and in fact have huge legal budgets to cover the cost of lawyer's fees. Their lawyers often argue that companies shouldn't be held liable for clean up at all. Oftentimes companies declare bankruptcy to avoid the costs of cleansing the land completely. There is a good chance that Hydro-Resources Incorporated, which is an offspring company of UNC, might start up mining operations again in our area. There exists the serious possibility that the groundwater supply could become contaminated for over 15,000 eastern Navajo Agency users. You might be wondering what that means for residents of Gallup. The fact is, no one really knows exactly how the aquifers operate and how they might be connected underground. Water likes to move around when it has the opportunity. Needless to say, if HRI has its way, life will become much more complicated for the people that call Northwest New Mexico their home. Pressing political issues and the primary organization confronting issues of uranium in the area: ENDAUM is a very good example of a grassroots environmental justice organization. Standing for Eastern Navajo Dine Against Uranium Mining, it's entire mission is to confront and stop all uranium mining from occurring on or near Navajo lands. In this mission they are unique. There exists no other organization in the state dedicated solely to fighting uranium mining. As many know there exists a long history of environmental and social injustice concerning indigenous Americans lands, and as a result many national organizations have been formed to redress issues of Native sovereignty. Consequently, ENDAUM has enlisted the help of numerous agencies to help counteract the threat of mining. This coalition is currently at a pivotal point in their lives because the actions taken by Navajo Council members in the next legislative session could potentially make or break their decade-long effort to stop mining. ENDAUM was formed back on February 2nd, 1995 out of a community-based effort to thwart a serious danger to the greater Crownpoint/Church Rock area. The danger was posed by an HRI mining proposal that met with acquiescent regulators at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is the federal agency responsible for authorizing mining permits. The organization's founders were two residents of Crownpoint, Mitchell Capitan and his wife Rita, who saw a dire need to do something about the problem HRI posed to exploit checkerboard land patterns and an uneducated populace here in McKinley County. Capitan's reaction was hardly complacent when he noticed a newspaper headline one morning that highlighted the proposed mine. He had worked as a lab technician for a small Mobil Oil pilot mine a few miles west of his community for six years; he knew a thing or two about uranium mining. Mr. Capitan didn't spend any time underground working to extract ore; his wasn't the run of the mill extraction mines of yesteryear. He worked at a different kind of mine called an In Site Leach mine (ISL for short). What he discovered working at this mine, combined with the news of Hydro Resources Incorporated's plan to apply for an ISL mining permit in the Crownpoint area, was more than enough to propel him and his wife to start educating their community about what could happen. What he learned was that unlike the more traditional form of mining, in which workers burrow underground to extract minerals manually, ISL mining operates in a more efficient yet hazardous way. Numerous scientific studies have shown that ISL mining leaves groundwater poisoned with the material it attempts to extract, namely uranium. The method of ISL mining is to construct a serious of wells that connect with underground aquifers, in this case the Westwater aquifer, which encompasses the area between Church Rock to Crownpoint. After contacting water, injection wells introduce a chemical solution into the aquifer that actually dissolves uranium minerals right off underground sediments, thereby releasing the uranium into the water itself. This solution of uranium is then pumped back up to the surface by 'production wells.' Unfortunately, it takes scientific evidence to confirm what common sense can immediately see; there's no way that all of the dissolved uranium can be captured safely back to the surface. Despite the best efforts of ISL mining companies to clean up affected groundwater, there has never been a case where aquifers are actually restored to baseline, that is, pre-mining levels. Public Awareness Gain On the first weekend of March back in 2004, ENDUAM, along with affiliated groups organized a eye-opening community event at Red Rock State Park. The event was originally designed as a town hall style debate. HRI was to send their representatives and ENDAUM theirs. It turned out that HRI went unspoken for that day. They claimed not to have known about the gathering, despite numerous letters sent out by Wynoma Foster, ENDAUM's executive director. Notwithstanding HRI's presence and the potential dialogue lost, the event was a powerful showing of exactly what can happen to the environment when ISL mining is conducted. That Saturday, ENDUAM introduced two expert parties to educate the community about potential ISL mining. Michael Wallace, who is a software designer and hydro geologist by trade, gave a compelling presentation based on extensive studies of area aquifers and underground geology. His conclusion was simple: ISL mining would easily contaminate a large portion of the aquifer due to the interconnected nature of water channels and chambers 2000 feet below the surface. HRI's argument has been that ISL mining would only affect isolated areas of the aquifer and not spill into other areas potentially used by people. Dr. Richard Abitz, a geochemist who is currently working for the federal government at an ISL cleanup site in Ohio, was able to make the trip to Church Rock that day as well. His manner of presentation was sobering and extremely blunt; he had the demeanor of someone who knew exactly what he was talking about. The point he made over and over again was simple as well: ISL mining is basically the deliberate pollution of groundwater. He stated that despite rigorous efforts over many years to clean up the site he worked at, the groundwater still hadn't been brought back to acceptable levels of purity. He mentioned that all other ISL projects used groundwater which was unfit for human consumption to begin with. He asked the crowd to imagine what it could do to water as pure as the Westwater aquifer, and the people of the Navajo Nation. Is short-term economic gain really worth the risk of long-term water contamination? Current Political Developments ISL uranium mining is a real and urgent threat to the people of the Navajo Nation, and those of the Church Rock/Crownpoint area in particular. This is the emphatic message that ENDAUM is taking to the floor of the Navajo Nation Government in Window Rock Arizona as the new Legislative Session began January 24th. I had a chance to speak with Wynoma Foster recently about the session. Here's how the conversation went: PB: What is so important about the legislation you are trying to pass? WF: This legislation is crucial to the protection of water resources for the Navajo people, especially here in the Eastern Agency. It is a powerful opportunity for our government to exercise its sovereignty in favor of protecting the resources of the people. Native peoples have endured a long history of exploitation at the hands of big business and the federal government. Now is our chance to voice our commitment to self-government in a clear and assertive way. PB: What are the implications if this legislation doesn't pass? WF: If the members of the council cannot reach an agreement this session, the possibility for successfully passing the legislation are grim. There is a group of Alotees who are actively organizing to stop our effort. Also, Sen. Dominici very well might propose federal legislation in the next energy bill barring the Navajo Government's ability to regulate uranium. This is why now is the time for our government to step up and protect its people and their resources. PB: If your legislation does pass, what will that mean for Navajo people as well as other tribes? WF: It will make it extremely difficult for outside entities to initiate mining in our area, even if its on private patchwork land. Any subsurface minerals will be included in the bill's language and fall under Navajo Nation law. Also, the bill includes a provision for RECA applicants. This will give radiation victims much more leverage at the federal level when applying for compensation. As far as other Native Peoples are concerned, the Navajos have a unique opportunity to set an example by enacting this legislation. Tribes across the country are facing threats of mining, illicit land use and unpaid royalties for minerals taken. We can set a precedent that will resonate across Indian country saying 'Hey, you have the power and responsibility to protect your natural wealth. If we can do it so can you.' Recently the Navajo Nation council decided to table this issue until their next session in the spring. It remains to be seen whether federal legislation will compete with Navajo sovereignty. The longer the tribe waits, the more difficult it is going to be to gain control over their land. For more information and to find out what you can do to get involved, you can contact Gerald Brown at crumpgb2004@yahoo.com. Also, refer to the websites endaum.org and Sric.org for detailed information about current happenings Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Southern Ute Solidarity in danger" --------- Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 15:36:25 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SOUTHERN UTE SCHISM" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.rockymountainnews.com//0,1299,DRMN_21_3578410,00.html Southern Ute solidarity in danger of coming unglued Feuding breaks out over how tribe's wealth is managed By Gwen Florio, Rocky Mountain News February 26, 2005 IGNACIO - The Southern Ute tribe is rich in traditions, with its Bear Dance, its legends of Sinawav, the creator, and Coyote. In recent years, a new story has been added: That of the tribe's success in parlaying its oil and natural gas resources into fabulous riches, largely without the corruption and infighting that has plagued some of the other newly wealthy tribes. But now that story line is in danger of unraveling. Last month, the tribe held a bitterly contested election to replace its Tribal Council chairman. Eight days ago, in apparent response to the election, the tribe's investment director and a tribal judge quit. Accusations of paternalism and counteraccusations of fiscal mismanagement accompanied both moves. Feuding broke into the open with investment director Robert Santistevan's resignation. Some members say the tribe has been too dependent on white advisers, while others advocate sticking with the cautious plan that nurtured the Southern Utes' Growth Fund to $1.7 billion in assets. The turmoil over their wealth - how it is managed, how it is dispersed - has brought a loss of face for a tribe that, despite some internal squabbles, prides itself on being a national model for others. More worrisome to some is the possibility that the strife could threaten the loss of the tribe's sterling financial reputation. In 2001, the Southern Utes were the nation's first to achieve a public AAA bond rating, a feat achieved by only one other tribe. "Management is a big part of the rating," said Jessalyn Moro of Fitch Ratings, and co-author of Tribal Governments in the Bond Market. Although the tribe's financial plan has built-in safeguards, she said the rating could be affected by "some sort of change in direction." But a change in direction is exactly what some in the tribe seek. Although Santistevan gets high marks even from his opponents, those same people accuse him and other former tribal leaders of enriching themselves at the expense of tribal members. "These (white) people were slick . . . They got some of the tribal people on their side," said Jimmie Jefferson, 71, who is among those pushing for change. "They used these people. That's what we're getting rid of now." 'The poorest millionaires' Orville Hood, an attorney who recently returned to the reservation after a 30-year career in Washington, said previous Tribal Council members "had never been in the corporate world outside this reservation. They were rubber-stamping everything the Growth Fund presented to them." The Growth Fund, managed by a mixed group of tribal members and corporate advisers, invests the tribe's earnings and returns some of the profits in monthly payments to members of the tribe. Pearl Casias, a former council vice chairwoman who ran unsuccessfully for president in last month's election, said people like Hood are the ones who don't understand the corporate world. "If you don't have stability in the government . . . it affects the accomplishments of the last eight or nine years," said Casias, who helped negotiate some of the agreements and investments that have made the Southern Utes one of the nation's wealthiest tribes. Kenny Frost, who also ran unsuccessfully for tribal chairman, dismissed Casias' contention that the deals made on behalf of the tribe have benefited individual members. Frost, along with Hood, seeks more transparency of the financial dealings of the tribe, which functions like a private corporation. For starters, he wants to know who gets paid what. That's because, he contends, the who rarely includes members of the tribe - at least, not when it comes to the big bucks. "We're millionaires on paper," said Frost, of the Utes' storied wealth, "but we're the poorest millionaires around." Indeed, little on the 24-mile drive south from Durango to Ignacio, the town of about 700 people that serves as the reservation's unofficial center, suggests a bastion of the nouveau riche. The reservation's boundaries include a checkerboard of private and Indian holdings, and most of the large ranches along the way are owned by whites. Other homes tend to be small bungalows. But mud-pintoed pickups often are parked beside the curvilinear pipes of natural gas wells, and those two things - the wells and the trucks - bespeak both the source and the reward of the Utes' good fortune. Chased into a rich corner As an ethnic group, Indians are the nation's poorest people. Only a handful of the 562 tribes within the United States have any money to speak of, and many of those owe their success to gaming. The Southern Utes are a rare exception. Their reservation south of Durango is one of only two in Colorado; the Ute Mountain Utes live nearby in the state's southwestern corner. Both tribes are small, with fewer than 2,000 members. Although the Utes originally roamed the Plains and the high desert Southwest, in the late 1800s the government forced them into this arid region that at first seemed rich only in scenery. "In a way, we can thank the U.S. government and the people who chased us around and put us in a place that didn't amount to nothing," said Everett Burch, the tribe's executive director. "Now they're crying." The reason is a development similar to discoveries throughout the remote regions of Indian Country: The reservation's rocky bluffs turned out to contain huge reserves of natural gas and oil. As did many tribes, the Utes received money, via the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, from the companies that extracted those resources. But it wasn't much. Each person in the tribe got $50 a month. But in 1991, the tribe sued the companies, and the millions it won in settlements became the basis for hugely profitable ventures that include its own energy company, Red Willow, and the Growth Fund, whose ventures support payments to individual tribal members that exceed the old BIA allotments tenfold. Southern Utes between the ages of 21 and 55 receive $520 a month, according to Casias. Much of that monthly payment accumulates in a trust fund from birth to 21, while elders get $57,000 annually, she said. But some members have grumbled for years that, given the tribe's overall wealth, it's nowhere near enough, especially compared with amounts distributed by other wealthy tribes. To cite other examples, members of California's Morongo tribe and Washington's Puyallups receive $2,000 per month, according to published reports, and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux in Minnesota reportedly receive hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly. Modest lifestyles The Utes' $6,240 annually "isn't going to support you," said Luana Herrera, 47, a single mother of three. Like most of the homes on the reservation, Herrera's is a small ranch-style home, with basic improvements - new kitchen cabinets and linoleum, and a deck with a sweeping view of mountain and mesa - funded in part by her "per-capita payments," as they're called. Herrera looked around her cramped kitchen and laughed. "People think we live in big houses and drive Lexuses. Well, that ain't true." Frost wants more than brawny new pickup trucks for the tribe. Frost, a cultural affairs consultant, wants jobs for the tribe, and not just any jobs. Along with Hood, Frost is agitating for more tribal members in the Southern Utes' top business entities, especially in the Growth Fund. Education is key, they said. With its new wealth, the tribe guarantees an education at any college or university for its members. "We need to get an education and get out in the corporate world. It's not only us stupid Indians these things happen to - look what happened to the shareholders of Enron," Hood said. Herrera said it's time for the outside advisers to go. But she gives grudging credit to them for providing some financial stability. "All good things must come to an end," she sighed. "It was good things happening all those years. Maybe it's coming to an end." floriog@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2361 Copyright c. 2005 Rocky Mountain News, The E.W. Scripps Co. --------- "RE: Oklahoma State Senate kills Mascot Bill" --------- Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 08:42:11 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RACIST COWARDS CAST VOTES" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=6042 Oklahoma State Senate kills mascot bill Measure to ban "Redskins" and "Savages" dies in committee OLKAHOMA CITY OK Sam Lewin February 22, 2005 Even though a proposal to bar two Indian mascot names has been defeated, supporters of the legislation say they are happy the issue even went up for debate. And they promise not to give up the fight. The bill, sponsored by Oklahoma State Senator Judy Eason McIntyre, would have banned the use of the words "Redskins" and "Savages" from Oklahoma high school mascots. McIntyre, a Tulsa-based Democrat from District 11, said she introduced the law because she realized the monikers were hurtful to some. Eighteen members of the Senate Education Committee did not agree, and the Oklahoma Racial Mascots Act died on a vote of 18-5. Members of the Tulsa Indian Coalition Against Racism, a civil rights organization that has long been opposed to the mascots, preferred to look at the bright side. "We are encouraged because two years ago this wasn't even an issue that people were discussing and today it was heard in the Senate," TICAR President Louis Gray said in a statement the day of the vote. Gray is a former editor of the Native American Times and remains a regular contributor. He said some good things came from the vote, including the fact that Oklahoma City legislators are now more educated about the topic and that the state's Native community became more involved in the political process. A rally in support of the bill took place at the State Capitol just days before the committee vote. Gray also acknowledged those lawmakers that supported the proposal. "We respect and are thankful that Senators like Bernest Cain, Judy Eason-McIntyre, Angela Monson and others care about the lives of all Oklahomans," he said. "Judy is a lawmaker of rare courage and compassion. Indian people now know they have loyal friend in the legislature." Prior to the vote, McIntyre asked other committee members to take the feelings of American Indians into account. She later said she was not surprised that the bill failed, but was taken aback by the large vote margin. Senators Don Barrington and Robert M. Kerr, in defense of their opposition, said the mascot names were ingrained in the tradition of many schools and were not meant to be offensive to Indians. The issue generated debate, with several state newspapers issuing various editorials both pro and con. Some contained inaccuracies. "In McClain County, there are the Washington Warriors, who have claimed that mascot since the early 1900s," wrote Susie Williams in the Purcell Register. "If the legislation passes, what will they do? Looks to me like they will have to go to a tremendous amount of expense and change their mascot to perhaps a dog, a cat or some other entity." In reality, the Washington Warriors would not have had to change a thing. The legislation only applied to "Redskins" and "Savages." Gray says that even with this year's defeat, the issue is not going away anytime soon. "One thing is certain. Those who maintain Indian mascots, and especially Redskins and Savages, are appropriate are running out of plausible reasons to keep them. The Senate Education Committee, like the Union School Board, could offer no intelligible reason for voting no against us, and certainly were not interested in debating the issue for public viewing," Gray said. Union is the Tulsa-based school that uses the "Redskins" mascot. The school, with an overwhelmingly Caucasian faculty and student body, features garish, Indian-themed performances during halftimes of sporting events. Vote breakdown: These are the members of the Senate Committee on Education and this is the vote tally for SB 567, the Oklahoma Racial Mascots Act. It failed in committee on Feb. 21 by a vote of 18 to 5. (D) Sen. Angela Monson - Chair (yes) ABSENT FOR VOTE: (D) Sen. Susan Paddack - Vice Chair (yes) (D) Sen. Stratton Taylor (R) Sen. Cliff Aldridge (D) Sen. Mike Morgan (R) Sen. Patrick Anderson (yes) (R) Sen. Cliff Branan (R) Sen. Don Barrington (D) Sen. Mary Easley (R) Sen. Cliff Branan (D) Sen. Bernest Cain (yes) Demos Voting Nay: (R) Sen. Glenn Coffee Sen. Johnnie Crutchfield (D) Sen. Johnnie Crutchfield Sen. Jay Paul Gumm (D) Sen. Mary Easley Sen. Robert Kerr (R) Sen. John Ford Sen. Charlie Laster (D) Sen. Jay Paul Gumm Sen. Daisy Lawler (D) Sen. J. Berry Harrison (yes) Sen. Richard Lerblance (R) Sen. Clark Jolley Sen. Jeff Rabon (R) Sen. Ron Justice (D) Sen. Robert Kerr (D) Sen. Charlie Laster (D) Sen. Daisy Lawler (D) Sen. Richard Lerblance (R) Sen. Mike Mazzei (D) Sen. Mike Morgan (R) Sen. Scott Pruitt (D) Sen. Jeff Rabon (R) Sen. Nancy Riley (D) Sen. Stratton Taylor (R) Sen. Kathleen Wilcoxson (R) Sen. James A. Williamson Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Hate Crime shocks Paiute Reservation" --------- Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 15:36:25 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RACISM SHOCKS BISHOP PAIUTE" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.indiancountry.com/feature=yes&id=1096410420 Hate crime shocks Paiute reservation by: Valerie Taliman / Indian Country Today February 25, 2005 Community unites against racism BISHOP, Calif. - Shock, fear and anger rocked the Bishop Paiute reservation recently when letters left at the tribe's education complex threatened to "kidnap, rape and dismember" young Paiute girls, aged 5 to 9. Three original letters, typed in red ink with a cover sheet signed "KKK," were left at the tribe's gymnasium and on the baseball field adjacent to the tribe's Head Start program and daycare center. Other copies were tossed on nearby roadsides, according to the tribe's chief of law enforcement services, Cal Stafford. The letters sparked a firestorm of outrage and anxiety on the reservation and in the surrounding city of Bishop, a small rustic town in the Sierra Nevadas. Addressed to the Paiute tribe, the letters promised retaliation for "your half-witted bucks taking another white life" and alluded to crimes involving tribal members dating back a decade. The letters were turned over to the Inyo County Sheriff's office, which notified the FBI. "This is a terrorist threat," said Bishop Paiute Vice Chairman Sandra Warlie, who spearheaded efforts to inform and protect tribal members. "Whoever did this meant to put fear in our hearts by targeting our children. We are stepping up security measures and we will do everything we can to protect our people." The threats are believed to be retribution for the death of a white liquor store manager, Dave Pettet, 48, who was allegedly shot by tribal member Wayne Bengochia in an alcohol-related incident four days before the letters were found. Begochia, 48, was charged with homicide and is awaiting trial. Stafford said it appeared that the author of the letter was trying to create racial tensions by exploiting Pettet's death as a crime against white people; ironically, Pettet was once married to an American Indian woman with whom he had two children. "This tragedy was not about race," Stafford said, "but someone's hoping to set off a race war by twisting things to turn people against the Paiute community." As word of the letters spread through the reservation, parents feared for their children's safety. Dozens of children were kept home from school, and many fathers and brothers on the reservation began arming themselves to protect their families. The Bishop Paiute Tribal Council immediately held a safety meeting with tribal, state and federal officials in attendance to brief tribal members on the contents of the letters and to call for appropriate precautions. Speaking to more than 600 people in a packed gymnasium, Chairman Michael Rogers said the tribe would use all its resources to protect families. He cautioned everyone to be especially vigilant in coming weeks and encouraged people not to be "held hostage to fear." At the meeting, Monty Bengochia, Wayne's brother, confirmed Pettet's death was not racially motivated. In a heartfelt condolence message to the Pettet family, he asked that the tribe not be blamed for the random act of violence committed by one individual. "I want to plead with all of you as we endure this tragedy not to get caught up in hatred and retaliation," he said. "We worked for many years to build relationships with the surrounding white community and we need to think about setting examples for our children." Dave Pettet's children, James and A.J., told the crowd that their father was not a prejudiced person and that they held no anger or animosity against the Bengochia family. "My father would never want anyone to use him as a reason for violence against Indian children," said James. "He wasn't racist - just look at us, his half-white, half-Indian children. Whoever wrote those letters didn't know my dad. We came here today to let everyone know we don't blame the Bengochia family. We all need to get through this together." After he spoke, James and his family hugged members of the Bengochia family, setting the tone for good will rather than retaliation. Police and school officials described additional safety measures put in place, including increased patrols at schools, bus stops and on the reservation. Parents were told that children should not walk home using hidden trails, and that family members should accompany children to and from bus stops. And while some law enforcement officials played down the possibility that Klu Klux Klan members wrote the letters, others were not so sure. "I lost my son to the Aryan Nation," Stafford told the crowd. "My son was beaten to death by the Aryan Nation in 2001 when he was only 18 years old ..." Stafford was the Paiute Tribe's administrator when his son, Christopher, was beaten to death in Bakersfield, Calif. where he had gone to buy a car. The FBI had warned Stafford that he and a former tribal chairman had been put on the Aryan Nation's hit list because they were trying to recover land that had been illegally taken years before. No one was ever prosecuted for Chris Stafford's death, and the crime remains unsolved. Following the community meeting, Warlie met with local officials from the city of Bishop, Inyo County and the school district in an effort to bring the community together to take a stand against hate crimes. Prominent members of the tribe, the city of Bishop and Inyo County released the following joint statement condemning hate crimes and calling for the protection of all children in the community: "In an effort to promote unity and cooperation, we have come together to issue a joint statement condemning hate crimes, racism or any act of violence against any member of the Inyo County community, especially our children. "We have worked long and hard over many years to achieve a peaceful community reflecting tolerance, understanding, acceptance and respect that allows us to live and work together for the benefit of all people. Threats against any child or any acts of violence in our community will not be tolerated. "We ask all our neighbors and friends to join us in helping to secure the quality of life we all have enjoyed." As the community adjusts to the heightened sense of security, many hope that this was a one-time incident perpetrated by one individual. But the incident also raised new questions about the ever-growing presence of white supremacist groups in rural areas, particularly near Indian reservations. Copyright c. 1998-2005 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Passamaquoddy Tribe divided over Gas Terminal" --------- Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 08:33:43 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LNG TERMINAL DEBATED" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.bangornews.com/news/templates/?a=109371 Passamaquoddy divided over $400M LNG plan Bangor Daily News February 23, 2005 PERRY - They both may be Passamaquoddy, but that is about all they have in common right now. Tribal Councilor Hilda Lewis and Linda Lingley, whose son Craig Francis works as an attorney for the tribe, disagree over the tribe's plan to build a $400 million liquefied natural gas terminal on Indian land at Pleasant Point. Lingley served as a volunteer at the Monday night information meeting in Perry held by the tribe and Oklahoma-based Quoddy Bay LLC, the developers of the project. Lewis, who said she was elected last year on an anti-LNG platform, was there to listen. Once built, it is expected that one ship a week would dock at the terminal. It would travel through Canadian waters between Deer Island and Campobello Island, New Brunswick, navigating northwest of Eastport to Gleason Cove, adjacent to Pleasant Point tribal lands, a company fact sheet said. A pier would jut out into the water about a half-mile from shore to where the waters are more than 40 feet deep. The gas is piped under the dock to the shore where it would be stored in two gigantic tanks. Lingley, who lives in Eastport, said the project would benefit everyone because it would provide the economic development that is desperately needed on the reservation. In addition to the LNG facility, the tribe also is working on an aviation maintenance facility. Lingley said she did not hold out much hope for that project because there were similar ventures in foreign countries where parts can be produced a lot more cheaply. Lewis disagreed. "The project is three-quarters done," she said. "And it looks like it is pretty positive, and I think that is a more viable economic development than this LNG." Lingley said both projects were needed. "We need something to fall back on instead of relying on grants that we have and general assistance," Lingley said. "Overall, we are being cut. There's not going to be any money left, nothing left for us to do. What do you want us to be able to do, go to an Indian agent and have our hand out? No, I don't think so." Lewis said she favored economic development, but feared the plant would destroy the aesthetics of the area. "I am looking at it as being this monstrosity that's in my back yard and I get up every morning and I look at this monstrosity where I used to look at the water and across the bay and the beauty of the bay, this is all going to be destroyed," she said. "That's why I am against it." Lewis said sacrificing Mother Earth was too big a price to pay. "I came back to this area because I love this land," she said. "And I just feel an LNG plant would be raping Mother Earth." But Lingley said the facility would not hurt the land or water. "It is going to help because it is cleaner than what we buy for fuel right now. LNG isn't going to do anything except brighten up this one area, and it's not going to be as noisy as people are making it out to be," she said. "It's [the land] not going to hurt or look any different from what it looks now." Copyright c. 2005 Bangor Daily News. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Blackfeet seek role in repair of Water System" --------- Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 08:43:56 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ST. MARY CANAL IN SERIOUS NEED of REPAIR" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.billingsgazette.com//build/state/30-baucus-canal.inc Baucus finds St. Mary Canal in need of repair Associated Press February 25, 2005 BROWNING - Sen. Max Baucus, who is trying to secure money for repairs to the aging St. Mary Canal near here, says his tour of the facility has raised even more concern that the structure isn't going to last much longer without extensive work. Baucus, D-Mont., toured the canal Wednesday with local officials and leaders of the Blackfeet tribe. The nearly 90-year-old system of steel tubes, concrete waterfalls, canals and reservoirs takes water from the St. Mary River basin that is headed northeast into Canada and moves it over a divide east of Glacier National Park into the Milk River drainage. The system supplies irrigation to roughly 110,000 acres of farmland along the Montana Hi-Line, and is a main water source for some 14,000 households, including the communities of Havre, Chinook and Harlem. Baucus marveled at the engineering of the system, but said he was troubled at some of the disrepair he saw, including crumbling concrete and buckled metal. "The deterioration, in particular of the canal and also the pipes and foundations of the pipes, indicates to me it's not going to last much longer," Baucus said. "And that means a lot of irrigators and Hi-Line towns are going to be without municipal water, and that just can't be. We've got to get going here and the earlier the better." Baucus is seeking a $6.25 million appropriation for fiscal year 2006 to help launch repair work, including replacing a county bridge that carries siphon tubes over the St. Mary River. That would only be a drop in the bucket. Estimates for the repairs needed on the canal operated by the federal Bureau of Reclamation top $100 million. The state Legislature is considering a $10 million bond request, which Montana's congressional delegation could use to leverage millions more in federal dollars. "It shows to members of Congress that Montana is investing in itself," Baucus said. But pulling the project together ultimately will require the cooperation of local governments, the state, federal agencies, the Blackfeet Tribe and the Canadian government, he added. "It's so critical that we work together," Baucus said. "We often talk about working together, but this is a project where it's critical because any one group or person could jam it up." Copyright c. 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: More Technology makes its way to Navajo Nation" --------- Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 08:33:43 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="QWEST ARRANGEMENT" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.daily-times.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/archive=11&num=17121 More technology makes its way to the Navajo Nation By Walter Rubel, Santa Fe Bureau Chief February 22, 2005 SANTA FE - A bill that would end a required $2 million annual payment by Qwest into a fund designed to extend phone lines in rural areas could result in millions of dollars being spent to bring modern telecommunications services to the Navajo Nation. The bill to allow Qwest to terminate payments to the Rural Extension Fund passed 27-12 in the Senate, with a mixture of support and opposition from both Republicans and Democrats. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa, said the fund was established nearly two decades ago and is no longer needed. "This is an archaic issue in statute," Cisneros said. "Qwest and only Qwest is required to pay into this fund." He said that Qwest pays $2 million a year into the fund, but that far less is being spent. The result, Cisneros said, is that the fund now has $15 million in unspent money. Under terms of the bill, any money remaining in the fund after all qualifying rural customers have been served could go toward "the installation of telecommunications infrastructure for digital subscriber lines or broadband or other advanced services." The fiscal impact report on the bill notes that Sacred Wind, a private company, has received a certificate from the Public Regulation Commission and has plans to construct a wireless phone network on the Navajo Nation. "This will help the Navajo Nation fund the turnover to a successor agency," said Senate President pro temp. Ben Altamirano, D-Silver City. But Sens. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, and John Grubesic, D-Santa Fe, both noted that the fund was first established in the mid-1980 when Mountain Bell, Qwest's successor, was forced to make an adjustment to its rates as a result of over earnings that came from a change in the federal tax law. Instead of lowering rates, Mountain Bell cut a deal with the Steve Corporation Commission (which has since be dissolved into the PRC) to pay $2 million a year into a fund to establish phone service in rural areas where the cost of land lines had been prohibitive. "Qwest has not lived up to its commitment," Smith said. "This fund was established in lieu of a rate decrease. Now they're saying, `We no longer want to do that.' Who does this money belong to - Qwest or the rate payers?" Grubesic asked if Qwest would now offer a rate decrease, using the $2 million it will no longer be required to put into the fund. Cisneros replied that rates have, in fact, gone down by $4 a month since 1987. The problem, Cisneros said, is that while the PRC has required Qwest to put $2 million a year into the fund, it has only spent about $500,000 a year on rural phone lines. "You have a company and you're holding them hostage by forcing them to contribute money that they aren't able to draw from," Cisneros said. "It punishes a company for trying to do business in New Mexico." Sen. Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, questioned why the Navajo Nation seemed to be first in line for the unspent funds. "There are places in the state that need development," he said. "The bill says the money can go to under-served areas. Why is all the money going to the Navajo Nation and not the Mescaleros? The other people don't even have the opportunity to ask for it. How is that fair?" But Sen. William Sharer, R-Farmington, said the bill will help fulfill a promise made by President Clinton when he visited Shiprock to bring modern telecommunications to the Navajo Nation. "This service would be available almost immediately if we get out of the way," he said. "What this bill does is get us out of the way." Sen Diane Snyder, R-Albuquerque, said that since Qwest provides service primarily to customers in Albuquerque, the fund amounted to a subsidy from customers in urban areas to provide services to those in rural parts of the state. "If you think for one minute that Qwest customers aren't paying this fund, you're foolish," she said. "If Qwest customers, who are mostly in Albuquerque, are going to pay for rural phone line extensions, then I'd like to have people in the rural areas paying the same property tax rate I'm paying." The bill now moves to the House for consideration. The bill is HB470, and can be found on the Internet at legis.state.nm.us. Walter Rubel can be reached at wrubel@lcsun-news.com. Copyright c. 2004 Farmington Daily Times, a Gannett Co., Inc. newspaper. --------- "RE: Nez Perce Water Agreement in Sight?" --------- Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 08:20:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NEZ PERCE WATER RIGHTS" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www2.kbcitv.com/~KBCI.xsl&AdGroupID=x5154 Nez Perce Water Agreement In Sight? By Starlyn Klein February 21, 2005 BOISE - The Governor says a water agreement with the Nez Perce Tribe is in reach. But others fear while the deal may be good for the state and the tribe the small private property owners or water right holders are left high and dry. Congress already approved the $193 million agreement and President Bush signed it. Now with a March 31st deadline looming it's up to the Idaho Legislature and the tribe to sign the deal. To some the Nez Perce water agreement is a legal mess that has been in search of a solution for 20 years. At stake: tribal water rights, land and millions of dollars. "It is going to open up all sorts of lawsuits. Right now we're just talking water rights and that's a misconception," said District 8 Senator Skip Brandt. "People's property rights are going to be affected by this so folks will be suing over that one," said Former Department of Justice attorney Mark Pollot. "Lawsuits can be made by anyone for any particular reason and I think this is something that I don't see anymore here then would be otherwise," said District 26 Representative and Chairman of Resource and Conservation Committee John A. Stevenson. The proposed agreement gives the tribe annual rights to 50,000 acre-feet of water in the Clearwater River and $80 million in cash and land. In exchange, the tribe drops its claims to nearly all the water in the Snake River and its tributaries. "The agreement took care of the large operators, the large timber companies and the large corporate farms but they overlooked the small farmers and the small timber people who will not have the resources to be able to acquire the additional water that they need. They will not have the resources to fight the regulations that will be put upon them," said Idaho Farm Bureau Federation Vice President and C.E.O. Rick Keller. "The impact it could have on most Idahoans is that it will solidify their water rights in the Snake River, it will give us protection from the endangered species act for 30 years and it will make permanent the water rights of the people mainly in southern and eastern Idaho," said District 34 Representative Dell Raybould. The Governor is inclined to agree. "Why not go with solutions that we have designed here in Idaho by the water users, ratify it, give them certainty and a firm state sovereignty of water," said Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne. It's a question still searching for a solution and time like water is running out. Anyone interested in commenting on the issue can attend a public hearing on Tuesday at 2 p.m. and Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. at the Jordan Ballroom at Boise State University's Student Union Building. Copyright c. 2005 KBCI-TV Boise. --------- "RE: E-mail highlights divide over Historic Village" --------- Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 08:20:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PORT ANGELES NOT OVER YET" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/sited/story/html/186648 Port Angeles city councilman's e-mail on graving yard issue increases debate by JIM CASEY February 22, 2005 PORT ANGELES - A city councilman who wrote fellow Realtors urging them "to draw a line in the sand" about land that overlies Native American ancestral sites says he meant "asking valid questions that need to be asked and hard questions that need to be answered." Larry Williams, in an e-mail to Port Angeles and Sequim real estate agents, wrote: "We need to draw the line in the sand here and now and assert the treaty agreements and purchases that have been made since the first `foreigners' landed." On Monday, he told Peninsula Daily News: "We have to drag out the treaties and examine the treaties for what kind of power the tribe can claim." The 1855 Point No Point Treaty cleared the way for non-Native ownership of land on the North Olympic Peninsula, including the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe whose Tse-whit-zen village was unearthed by construction of the Hood Canal Bridge graving yard. The Klallam had "usual and accustomed" hunting and fishing grounds from the Hoko River on the west to the Hamma Hamma River on the east, said Lower Elwha Chairwoman Frances Charles. `Foreigners' reference Williams said his reference to "foreigners" is "a characterization that is floating around out there." Charles said she has never used the word, speaking instead of "Europeans" who met indigenous peoples in the 18th century. As for that confrontation, she said: "We were here to greet you." She added that before the federal government allowed Native Americans to own land, "people moving into Port Angeles were running out the Indian people. They were chasing out our Native people from where they had grown up. "I would hope that some of it would come out right for what had occurred." In his e-mail, distributed in advance of last week's state Transportation Commission community meeting in Port Angeles, Williams called the state's decision to shut down the graving yard "the Three Mile Island of the harborside development industry and it needs to be shut down, contained, and cleaned up now before it spins out of control any further." Williams said Monday that the tribe's resolve that ancestral remains be left undisturbed on the 22.5-acre graving yard site is similar to issues occurring throughout the region and nation. Other transportation projects in question include a bridge over the Columbia River, the Evergreen Point floating bridge and the Alaskan Way viaduct in Seattle. "And that's just in our region," he said. Asserting claim asserted Williams told other Realtors that the Lower Elwha "are now asserting claim to the entire harbor from the Coast Guard station to Port Townsend" on behalf of other tribes on the North Olympic Peninsula. Williams said he had not spoken with Charles on that issue, but Charles said the notion that tribes want to claim the entire shoreline was "bulls-t." The Lower Elwha "have shared information with a lot of the other nations about how we are going to be challenged in the future," she said. "It is something we definitely talk to our neighboring tribes about. The Northwest tribes stand united." Charles added that her tribe had signed memoranda of agreement and understanding with the city and the Port of Port Angeles that the agencies would protect ancestral burials on the shoreline. "Maybe they need to go back and review those policies and those regulations and understand the laws," she said. Wide distribution His e-mail has been circulated to the Washington and National Association of Realtors, Williams said, although he said he did not speak for any real estate group. It also has had wide circulation to other computers on the Peninsula, including that of Native American activist Keith Hunter of Neah Bay. Hunter in turn e-mailed his supporters: "This is but one example of . . . recent attempts at escalating racial tensions and recklessly endangering civil rights protections . . . by local elected and civic leaders." "It's not the disagreement," he said Monday. "It's the way the disagreement is expressed." Williams said he has received "a couple of e-mails expressing appreciation for taking a stand." He said he sent his message to Realtors to draw them to the Feb. 14 open meeting about the graving yard hosted by the Transportation Commission in the Red Lion Hotel. "We need to be clear: If no graving dock construction can disturb the ancestors, then no other type of construction can take place there either, " he wrote. "It will be a grassy memorial park - period." Elwha Dam removal Williams also wrote: "The whole story about the Elwha Dam removal and numerous other simmering disputes are the tip of the iceberg. "We are now getting a glimpse at the true danger of inaction, and we need to get someone's attention about the gravity of this whole incident - now." Asked what the graving yard had to do with the Elwha Dam, "it all involves the tribe," he said Monday. Charles said Williams needed to read the federal legislation that initiated the dam removal - and another removal upstream - long before the Tse-whit-zen issue arose. Williams' e-mail also said the controversy could make the 26-year-old Boldt fishing-rights decision "pale in comparison. "The Boldt decision will seem like a grade school lunchroom food fight over fish sticks," he wrote. Williams said Monday: "My job as an elected official is to attempt to reconcile what's going on (at the graving yard site). My job as a real estate professional is to ask some very hard, probing questions." The e-mail also called the tribe's position an "attempt to reverse history." Absence of discussion On Monday, Williams characterized it as "the idea of shoving the invaders back into the sea, a modern-day Dunkirk in the absence of reasonable discussions around a table." Charles, however, said the tribe has invited such discussions but has had no takers. "We have not been contacted about this except by hearsay," she said, "just the rumors. We have offered many times to sit down with the local governments to talk to them. "I have never gotten a call." "We need to make this a government-to-government discussion. It's something we will work out together, but it is not going to happen overnight." Archaeologists have called Tse-whit-zen, where they found a 2,700-year- old firepit, one of the biggest Native American discoveries in the nation. Williams said Monday he wants more documentation "on just how world- class this site is." "If we can verify that this is indeed what at first blush it appears to be," he said, "we have other areas along the waterfront as an acceptable alternative (for the graving yard) while recognizing the historic and cultural significance of this find." Should it match archaeologists' expectations, Tse-whit-zen should be treated like Ayers Rock in Australia, the pyramids of Mexico and Central America, the catacombs of Rome, "and other similar archaeological, historical, spiritual finds around the world," he said. Williams said he deplored that individuals and organizations who disagreed with the tribe had been characterized as racist. "I am trying harder than ever to say the extremes on either side of this must be dealt with," he said. "When you don't have an open and free exchange of ideas, all it does is breed speculation." Charles thanked Williams for visiting the tribe in 2003 to outline economic opportunities the Lower Elwha shared with the city. She said, however, Williams' e-mail "makes it very difficult to have an open mind and a perception of that we all are involved to be united." She said the tribe still would "try to educate those who want to remain open-minded." Copyright c. 2005 The Peninsula Daily News, Horvitz Newspapers, Inc. --------- "RE: Duwamish Tribe seeks protection for Foster Island" --------- Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 08:20:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DUWAMISH PROTECTING SACRED" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/sited/story/html/186479" Duwamish Tribe seeks protection for Foster Island by Jeff Switzer Journal Reporter February 20, 2005 Duwamish Tribe members say Foster Island near the Seattle Arboretum is a sacred tribal burial site, and the tribe opposes pilings and excavations there for a new State Route 520 bridge. Duwamish Tribal Council chairwoman Cecile Hansen, great-great grandniece of Seattle's namesake chief, told the state she wants to be included in further discussions. The tribe calls the island sacred, and any plan to sink pilings is a "very serious matter" that "may desecrate this sacred Native site." "Excavations of any number and of any size violate the sanctity of this sacred Duwamish burial ground," Hansen told SR 520 bridge director Maureen Sullivan. The state Department of Transportation is studying the impact of building a replacement 4- or 6-lane floating bridge, including relocating the bridge and building new pilings. The bridge designs are estimated to cost $1.7 billion to $2.9 billion to build. As part of environmental analysis, the state is evaluating cultural impacts, including Foster Island's history as an American Indian burial site for the Duwamish villages on Lake Union, Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish. "I think this is the first time a tribe has come forward and said the whole island was sacred," Paul Krueger, SR 520 project environmental manager, said Friday. "We really need to sit down with them and develop a personal relationship. We're taking the whole issue of Foster Island being a burial ground very seriously." The highway department is especially cautious after excavations in Port Angeles uncovered burial sites and artifacts at Tse-whit-zen, a possibly 2, 700-year-old American Indian site. The state made the discovery during construction of a graving dock to build floating pontoons for the Hood Canal bridge, and later for the SR 520 bridge. Tse-whit-zen is being called the largest American Indian archaeological site in the state and among the most significant in the country. In December, the state shut down the graving dock project after spending $58 million, delaying the Hood Canal and possibly the 520 bridge project. The current bridge opened in 1963 and sits on Foster Island, home to thousands of crows and popular jogging trails. It is said to be a burial site for the Duwamish and other lake tribes, where the dead were placed in boxes tied up in the branches of trees, though burials below ground were also used earlier by the Duwamish, tribal officials said. Hansen said the state had not contacted the Duwamish regarding Foster Island, but she wasn't surprised. The Duwamish Tribe isn't federally recognized. "The Duwamish are left on the porch without the keys," Hansen said. "They're (the state) going to contact the Muckleshoots, who have no treaty but have a reservation by executive order." Hansen's point shows the continued bitter divide between Northwest American Indian tribes: The Duwamish -- the tribe that signed over the 54, ,000 acres that is Seattle-- are still arguing for federal recognition, while other tribes have recognition, funds and land, Hansen said. Federal recognition brings legal and financial muscle. The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe in Auburn has been in discussions with the state regarding the history of Foster Island on Lake Washington for more than three years. Duwamish Tribal Services Board member Tom Speer wrote the Journal on Friday defending Foster Island, or Stitici, pronounced Stee-tee-tchee, meaning "Little Island." "There is little doubt about the nature of Stitici," Speer said. "Pioneers knew it was a Duwamish tribal cemetery. Duwamish Tribe members today know that Stitici is a sacred site where their ancestors are buried." Speer and Hansen said driving pilings through Foster Island is like driving pilings through Evergreen Washelli Cemetery in Seattle. Hansen said she plans to discuss the emerging Foster Island issue with the Duwamish tribal attorney and tribal council. The Foster Island burial site isn't widely publicized for fear of graverobbers, collectors and vandals, Speer said. The state highway department "cannot sink more pilings into Stitici without desecrating ancient burials and violating the sanctity of this sacred site," he said. Speer, of Mercer Island, is also a founding member of an alliance, formed in defense of the American Indian excavation site at Port Angeles. Speer said the state Department of Transportation "needs to create solutions to their SR 520 problem -- such as offshore pilings -- that do not require despoiling the holy places of the Duwamish Tribe, the First People of Seattle." State officials said they were glad to hear from the tribe. "It's state policy to work with not only federally recognized tribes but also tribes like the Duwamish, tribes working toward federal recognition," Krueger said. "Sticking a shovel into an identified burial ground is not something we take lightly," Krueger said, noting that the location of any bridge columns has not yet been designed. The state proposes to build the new bridge flying over Foster Island, touching down only on a handful of columns-- possibly spaced out to avoid the island altogether. The Duwamish tribe has 571 members, Hansen said, and many other members have claimed memberships in other area tribes, including the Muckleshoot Tribe, which also includes Green and White river tribes. Jeff Switzer can be reached at jeff.switzer@kingcountyjournal.com or 425-453-4234. Montlake group proposes suspension bridge for 520 KOMO news and Journal Staff A bold new idea for State Route 520 would create a soaring signature suspension bridge between Interstate 5 and Lake Washington. The suspension bridge, proposed by a group of Montlake neighbors, would open up wetlands, add a ramp to the proposed light rail station at the University of Washington, and bypass the Montlake Bridge. Rob Wilkinson is one of the men behind the idea. While excited about the idea, Wilkinson knows there are hurdles to clear. "Our whole objective of doing this is to try to put it on the table as something people should take a look at, study, determine if it's a technically feasible project," he said. The state is evaluating structural and engineering feasibility and costs, and wonders where foundation towers might be built. Planners are already spending millions on environmental studies and concept designs on other options for SR 520, including 4- and 6-lane concepts that would cost $1.7 billion to $2.9 billion. AAA just named the bridge a traffic hot spot because it is congested and dangerous. In a major earthquake, the hollow support columns could implode. Exterior walls could crack and leak. AAA wants Congress to find the money. "We've sat around now for 18 months" without a federal transportation package, says AAA's Janet Ray. "It's time to move forward so the states have an understanding of what level of funding they can expect for various projects." And while the state needs that federal money, it cannot count on it. "It's not just expanding structures," said 520 project director Maureen Sullivan. "It's taking care of what we've got. We haven't had the money to do that either." And without the money, it doesn't matter how great the vision is. If funding from local, state and federal governments comes together, the state highway department hopes to start rebuilding a stretch of 520 from I-5 to Interstate 405 in 2009. Copyright c. 2005 King County Journal, Horvitz Newspapers, Inc. --------- "RE: A Big Bump on the Road to Riches" --------- Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 08:20:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BLM CONTINUES TO STEAL INDIAN LANDS" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/22/national/22indian.html?oref=login A Big Bump on the Road to Riches By CHARLIE LeDUFF February 22, 2005 PAHRUMP, Nev., Feb. 15 - This is a sagebrush saga about an Indian chief, a forgotten signature, four aging recluses and a male stripper and his oversize sidekick. This story shows two things about the new West: American Indians still sometimes lose land to the government through technicalities, and a family's hero no longer rides into town on a white stallion, but in a muscle car. Daron Cox, the stripper, knows a little something about the law. He plays a cop in an all-male revue off the Vegas Strip. And what he sees here in Pahrump, 45 miles west of Las Vegas, is "a miscarriage of justice," he says. "A modern-day land theft." Mr. Cox, 33, blew into Pahrump in his muscle car a few months ago, fresh off a divorce, hoping to mend his mind and get a suntan before striking out for Hollywood and a career in the moving pictures. He stopped in to see an old high school friend, Eddie Hill, a Paiute Indian as big as a bear. Mr. Hill lives on a ragged homestead of 160 acres with his mother and three aunts who never married. The women live in a two-bedroom surplus army barracks that has holes in the roof and windows stuffed with newspaper. There is no air-conditioning, stove or refrigerator even though the property is within spitting distance of Death Valley. Mr. Hill lives in his own shack out back. As it happens, Mr. Cox also knows something about land. He was a real estate broker before he discovered he could pay the bills with his good looks and big muscles. He reckons that the homestead land is worth $10 million. Las Vegas has grown that big. Mr. Cox had an idea: sell some of the 160 acres. Build the women a decent home with their own rooms. Mr. Hill would get some cash, Mr. Cox would get a commission. The two men would strike out for Hollywood, Mr. Cox as the frontman and Mr. Hill as the dutiful and powerfully built associate. "I'm going to be his sidekick," Mr. Hill said. "Everybody needs a sidekick." There is just one problem. The family - some named Sharpe, some named Hill - do not technically own the land. It seems that their patriarch, Louie Sharpe, neglected to have an official witness sign the deed to his homestead 60 years ago, and now the federal government has restaked its claim to the family's home. "Mr. Sharpe never completed his application," said Kirsten Cannon, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Land Management. "The family doesn't have true title. I know this sounds like evil government trying to kick these poor Native Americans off their lands, but that's farthest from the truth. No action has been taken to remove them." The bureau says it cannot overlook the forgotten signature and simply award the family its ancestral land, because homesteading was abolished by the federal government in 1976. The family does have the first right, however, to buy the land. When she thinks of $10 million, Imogene Hill, Mr. Hill's mother and the oldest of Louie's daughters, cries. She does not have a hundred dollars, much less a million. "I'm scared," Ms. Hill said, standing in the wind dressed in thin shoes and an old sweater. "We have nowhere to go if they throw us off. There's nothing left for the grandchildren." Her sisters wander around listlessly, saying little. They have known nothing except this windswept existence. When asked what they might do if the government takes their land, one sister, Laverne, stares blankly. But Eddie Hill has plenty to say. "I recognize it was a mistake and a technicality," he said. "But all the sudden they can't cut us a break? I hate saying it, but the white guys are taking the land from us red guys again. It's a land grab because the land is worth something to somebody now." Other disputes over Indian land also remain unsettled, especially in the West. In Nevada, the Dann sisters, two elderly Shoshone Indians, claim that their ancestors never ceded their land, about two-thirds of the state, to the United States. They fought a running battle with the Bureau of Land Management for 30 years, culminating in an unsuccessful appearance before the Supreme Court. The Hopi and Navajo in Arizona continue to fight over reservation borders that were changed to help coal companies mine Indian lands. A class-action lawsuit by more than 300,000 American Indians is wending its way through the federal courts. They claim that the Department of the Interior, which acts as a trustee of Indian land, swindled them out of as much as $137 billion in mining and grazing contracts over the last century. And so the 160-acre claim seems like pocket lint, until the clan's long history in the Pahrump Valley is considered. Mr. Hill's great-great-great- grandfather, Chief Tecopah of the Southern Paiutes, decided it was better to capitulate to the white man than to die by his gun. For this, he has gone down in American history as a great peacemaker. He settled in the valley in the mid-19th century. His great-grandson, Louie Sharpe, filed a claim on the 160 acres in 1946, in accordance with federal land law. There was no one out here to get the deed notarized, Mr. Hill said; no one lived in the scrub where summer temperatures top 110 degrees. The government sent a letter in 1957 telling him about the lack of notarization, but Mr. Sharpe either ignored the letter or the government lost his response. In any case, the county assessor collected property taxes from the family for more than 40 years. Las Vegas has exploded over the last 20 years, and Pahrump has become a bedroom community. Mr. Sharpe died a few years ago, and now developers are in line to stake a claim on the land. An elementary school recently went up nearby, and the subdivisions are not far behind. Mr. Cox said the family would not go without a fight. He has called on the county assessor, the Bureau of Land Management and Senator Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada. Audiences have been scheduled. Lawyers have promised pro bono representation. These are things the family would not have done for themselves, Mr. Hill admits. "Daron just goes to show that all white people aren't bad." And so Daron Cox and Eddie Hill, the runaway cowboy and his sidekick, fight on, dreaming of riches and Hollywood. Copyright c. 2005 The New York Times Company. --------- "RE: COLEMAN: Mille Lacs Band will be here 'Forever'" --------- Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 08:33:43 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MILLE LACS BAND of OJIBWE" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.startribune.com/stories/357/5255341.html Nick Coleman: Celebrating the homeland Nick Coleman, Star Tribune February 23, 2005 MILLE LACS INDIAN RESERVATION - It was Bud Grant who, a decade ago, summed up the average Minnesotan's knowledge of Indian treaty rights: "Don't know anything about those old treaties, and I don't want to know anything," he reportedly told an Ojibwe elder who had tried to engage the old Vikings coach in a treaty discussion. Even Bud may be paying attention by now. On a brilliant winter day, 500 members of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe came to the reservation community center Tuesday, across Hwy. 169 from a video sign advertising the imminent appearance of Frankie Avalon at the Grand Casino, and squinted in the glare from frozen Lake Mille Lacs, the heart of tribal life. Against all odds - surviving decades of schemes to steal their land, threats of violence, raids that burned villages to the ground and, in recent years, a constant stream of lawsuits and racial resentment from non-Indians - the Mille Lacs Ojibwe made it to their treaty's sesquicentennial. Waiting to serve the eldersRichard Tsong -taatariiStar TribuneWith a feast, speeches, prayers and a powwow, they marked the 150th anniversary of a treaty that was supposed to set aside the Ojibwe home for a "thousand years or more," but was under fire before the ink dried. "That treaty meant that this is our land, and we're going to be here today, tomorrow and forever, no matter what we have to go through," the band's elected leader, Chief Executive Melanie Benjamin, said while reservation children served a meal to tribal elders before the ceremonies. "Whatever they put in front of us, we aren't stopping." Last fall, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a lower-court ruling upholding the band's assertion that its reservation boundary follows the original lines, encompassing 61,000 acres (about 95 square miles) along the southwestern shores of this walleye hotbed, Mille Lacs. Only about 10, 000 acres are owned by the band, but efforts to coordinate governmental actions with local non-Indian officials have been frustrated by continuing frictions. After 150 years, the Mille Lacs Ojibwe are accustomed to the fight. "Almost as soon as it was created, there were attempts to take it away," said historian Bruce White of St. Paul, who has researched the efforts of corrupt lumber barons, fraudulent land developers and government connivers who tried early on to dismantle the reservation. "It was one of the worst chapters in Minnesota history, but a lot of it has been forgotten." Forgotten by non-Indians, perhaps. The Ojibwe remember the story. And tribal leaders promise it will still be told, 150 years from now. "We are tough," Benjamin said. "And as long as we have this treaty, this is our land, and we will face whatever comes before us." "This is a wonderful day," said Herb Weyaus, the tribe's secretary- treasurer. "Because of the courageous accomplishments of our ancestors, we have our homeland today, we will have it tomorrow, and we will have it forever." Weyaus' brother, Ken Weyaus Sr., commander of the American Veterans post on the reservation, also described the Mille Lacs story in terms of defending the tribe's "homeland." "We've always been warriors," said the 64-year-old Vietnam War veteran. "We're still here, after 150 years. But we almost didn't make it." White, the historian, told the gathering that the litany of efforts to pry the land from the Indians is a history of "tragedy, travesty, miscarriages of justice, outright corruption and misconduct," and all part of a long effort to "undermine and destroy this reservation and drive the Mille Lacs people off the land." Some people, he noted wryly, believe those efforts continue today. The efforts almost succeeded. By the 1920s, the amount of reservation land owned by the tribe had dwindled to 2,000 acres, many of the Ojibwe families who had lived at Mille Lacs for generations had their homes confiscated, and many families, succumbing to threats and grinding poverty, reluctantly agreed to resettlement on other reservations less enticing to non-Indians. Those who defiantly stayed behind earned the nickname "non-removables" and eventually formed the core of a small band of Ojibwe determined to uphold their treaty rights at Mille Lacs. After fending off challenges over fishing and hunting rights and to the band sovereignty, and after investing gaming revenue in schools, clinics, jobs and housing, the Mille Lacs band has 3,700 enrolled members. About 2,000 of them live on the reservation. The Mille Lacs story, White said, should inspire. "It's awesome pride, to be able to say I am a Mille Lacs Band member," said officer Susan Klapel, 38, a six-year tribal police department veteran. She had come over to a table where a large copy of the treaty was on view to make sure that the stranger scribbling with a pen (me) wasn't defacing the document. She was living in Nebraska and working in a department store when her parents urged her to come home. The band, using gaming revenue to increase educational and career opportunities, paid for her education and police training. "To be a tribal police officer, it's an honor," she said. "This is something I've wanted to do a long time, and I'm grateful that we are still here to celebrate. This is where our families come from. And we are tenacious." The invocation that began Tuesday's ceremonies was given in Ojibwe by Raining Boyd, an 83-year-old World War II veteran. He was born at Mille Lacs, on Wigwam Bay, before a law in 1924 recognized Indians as U.S. citizens. He was a native American who didn't have to leave home to become a "new" American. I didn't understand much of his 15-minute prayer in his native tongue, but I didn't have to: I was on the Ojibwe homeland. "A lot of things I don't know how to say in English," Boyd said. "But this has always been our home. It has always been that way. It is still that way." Nick Coleman is atncoleman@startribune.com. Copyright c. 2005 Star Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Learning a New Language not a Foreign Concept" --------- Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 09:11:52 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OKLAHOMA INITIATIVE" http://www.native-voice.com/fullstory.cfm?ID=918 Learning a New Language Not a Foreign Concept By Ginnie Graham Tulsa World TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Children in the Zarrow International School read books, talk about history and answer their teacher's math questions in Spanish. The Tulsa YWCA Intercultural Center encounters so many different languages that it must occasionally find interpreters through word-of- mouth. American Indian tribes are revitalizing their native languages, and schools are offering more foreign languages to its students. The diversity of languages in Oklahoma has become a top priority among state officials to bring an international focus to the state. "Becoming a global marketplace is one of Oklahoma's key goals," said Lois Lawler-Brown, director of professional development for the Oklahoma Commission for Teacher Preparation. "It's also important we study a second language and look at starting that at a very early age and incorporate it in appropriate ways." Students who begin studying a foreign language in high school often struggle for basic proficiency even in later college classes, said Lawler- Brown. In other countries, the traditional age to begin studying foreign languages is between six and 9-years old, said Lawler-Brown. "When you look at language, its perspectives and its products, it helps in understanding our own culture," said Lawler-Brown. "Research shows in different ways how having a second language and approaching a foreign language early enhances problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. And it gives a greater understanding of our own language." Oklahoma's population has grown 1.8 percent since 2000, with about 40 percent from international immigrants, according to the Census Bureau. About 94 percent of Tulsa County's growth comes from people who previously lived outside the country. Hispanics make up the largest block of immigration with a 108 percent increase since 1990. The Tulsa YWCA Intercultural Center helped more than 13,000 immigrants from 69 different countries last year, said director Maria Reyes. The nonprofit's translation department said most requests are for Spanish, Russian and Vietnamese interpreters. But there are needs in the other languages including German, Italian, French, Hmong, Cantonese, Arabic and several dialects in the Indian languages. On the business side, state officials say diversity in language among residents is an attraction for companies and provides more opportunities for local businesses to expand. Barry Clark, director of global business services for the state Department of Commerce, said about 96 percent of the world's consumers live outside America's borders. Clark said businesses must understand "the need for cultural sensitivity and awareness," and language is vital for communicating to customers and business partners. "While English is the language of business around the globe, most people prefer to deal with counterparts that are internationally conscious," Clark said. "It is not so much foreign language proficiency, but the effort to learn a phrase or two that conveys an acknowledgment that the world is bigger than the borders of the United States. This is something that international business people appreciate." Clark said more than 1,000 companies in Oklahoma do some type of international business. "When a foreign company looks to set up a business anywhere, it looks for pockets of international communities who are friendly and have an international presence inside their communities," Clark said. Several Oklahoma programs promote international knowledge such as the Model United Nations, Kids World annual festival by the Tulsa Global Alliance, International Student Day at the state Capitol, World Neighbors and the Oklahoma Consortium for Teaching about Asia. In addition to learning global languages, American Indian tribes in Oklahoma have been making efforts to preserve and teach native languages of the United States. "One of our strengths in Oklahoma is our heritage and culture in Native America," Clark said. "That is known all over the world. People are interested and fascinated and want to learn more about the Native American heritage. It is a real positive part of our community." The Cherokee Nation started a language immersion program about four years ago in Tahlequah, according to Harry Oosahwee, director of the immersion class and language supervisor for the Administration for Native American programs. Some families have moved to Tahlequah specifically for the school, and most of the preschool students are fluent in the language. The preschool will be adding a kindergarten class in the fall and plans to add a grade a year through the sixth grade. Parents of the children also learn Cherokee by attending a class each Thursday night. "It's more than language learning," Oosahwee said. "If a person learns a language, that person has an emotional tie, spiritual tie and cultural reasons for knowing the language. Research shows second-language speakers tend to do better academically in the long-range. But what is important in our language revitalization is not only saving the language but saving our people's culture and view of the world." Oosahwee said he would like to see all Cherokee Nation business conducted in the tribe's original language. He said by 2020 enough people should be bilingual in the language to make that move. Children speak the language in everyday conversation outside the classroom. They use Cherokee when eating lunch and playing with their toys. One bilingual 4-year-old is now learning Spanish, Oosahwee said. "The more languages you know, the better," Oosahwee said. "You look at things in a different perspective when you speak a different language. You understand how that particular culture may do things, why people do the things they do and react the way they react." Copyright c. 2003, all rights reserved, Native Voice Media. --------- "RE: Native Hawaiian Recognition Bill another shot" --------- Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 08:33:43 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NATIVE HAWAIIAN" http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/006634.asp Native Hawaiian recognition bill gets another shot February 22, 2005 A bill to recognize a Native Hawaiian governing entity is on the fast track in the Sen