_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 13, ISSUE 035 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 August 27, 2005 Kiowa aidenguak'o p'a/yellow leaves moon Passamaquoddy apsqe/feather shedding moon Potawatomi e'mnomukkises/moon of the middle Assiniboine capasapsaba/black cherries moon Lakota Wasuton Wi/moon when all things ripen Algonquin micheenee kesos/moon when Indian corn is edible +-------------------------------------------------------+ | 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; UUCP email; Frostys AmerIndian, Chiapas95-English, and Native American Poetry Mailing Lists 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: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + ======================== "Our traditional laws tell us we were placed here as caretakers of the land." "As part of the Western Shoshone Nation, we will not stand idly by and allow the U.S. federal government to cement its hold on our ancestral land base." __ Joe Kennedy, Western Shoshone +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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 Sister! Janet connects the dots... and draws a shadow, skulking in the dark corners of "midnight riders", that infringes on tribal sovereignty and enables industries and associations that would poison Earth. ---- On August 10, President Bush signed a massive transportation bill supported by Oklahoma senator, Jim Inhofe. A "midnight rider" that same Jim Inhofe added to the bill just before it came up for a final vote in the Senate provided that the state of Oklahoma could override any environmental standard imposed by tribes on their own land. There was no debate, no House or Senate review of the rider's contents. Except among Indians, there wasn't much notice of this end run around tribal sovereignty in Oklahoma as the Senate passed this bill. Clearly the President either didn't know or didn't care about the rider as he signed it, praising Senator Inhofe's work to get it passed. Why was this little provision important enough to Senator Inhofe that he would use stealth to enact it? Who profits? The energy/oil industry, a powerful lobby in the state of Oklahoma, and a notorious environmental offender, probably gains most. Could it be an accident that this industry was the largest contributor to Senator Inhofe's political campaigns (see http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?CID=N00005582&cycle= 2002)? Anti-tribal interests such as One Nation, which consist mostly of energy and agricultural conglomerate members, have been clamoring for this provision in the courts or in any legislation precisely because it gives them only one set of administrators and legislators to influence, and because it erodes Indian sovereignty (these goals are spelled out on the One Nation United Web site at http://www.onenationok.com/). Why is this one little rider so critically important to Indian Nations? Because lack of environmental controls has been killing them. At least in Oklahoma, the land once promised to Indians as their own territory, this removes any effective recourse Indian nations have against environmental threats to their people's health. As a precedent, it erodes the rights of all tribes to stand against states or their industries in their people's best interests. The Navajo are concerned about pollution of their water table by slurry coal mining, and poisoning of their land from uranium mining. In Montana and the Dakotas, cyanide used to leach gold from mines contaminated their land and water. The problems aren't just history In Canada a First Nation reports a study suggesting that ongoing industrial pollution may have genetic effects on their next generation. It shows devastating changes in recent births in the Chippewas of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation Community, changes that are also seen in wildlife near the Nation. Now, if something like this happens in the US, thanks to the added "feature" of the now-signed Transportation bill, an Indian nation in this position can do precisely nothing about it except suffer. If an industry in Canada pours toxic chemicals into the Great Lakes, with subsequent genetic consequences in Detroit -- would the US not have a right to insist that the company (or Canada) put a stop to it? The relatively equal power balance between the US and Canada, and the resources each have to of world regulatory bodies offers some assurance that Canada would "do the right thing." But First Nations/Indian tribes have no such parity of power or access to world regulatory bodies. US, tribes must now rely on the conscience of legislators and administrators who have purchased their offices with contaminating industries' donations. Sounds to me like Senator Inhofe helped the US legalize an updated version of smallpox infested blankets and undermined tribal sovereignty with one sneaky move. Anyone care to watch how his much his contributions from One Nation affiliated corporations and associations mushroom next time he runs for office? He's been a darn fine servant -- to them. +/// Janet Smith owlstar@bellsouth.net /*/+ P. O. Box 672168 OwlStar Trading Post + / * Marietta, GA 30008, U.S.A. http://www.owlstar.com * + ---- Dohiyi Ani Oginalii , , Gary Smith (*,*) wotanging@bellsouth.net P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org Marietta, GA 30006, U.S.A. ===w=w=== http://www.nanews.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ----------- - Drop in Male Births - Hecel Oyate Kinipikte raises serious fears - The Indigenous Rennaisance - Bill targets has begun! Tribes' Environment Rules - Aboriginal Vet's Association - EPA unaware of Inhofe Provision forgotten - Tribes' Environmental - NUNGAK: Guided by books Jurisdiction stripped of Wisdom and Knowledge - White Mountain Apaches - Inuit Life is not lauded for Conservation as they've known it - Protecting Fossil Creek - Mexican Rebels challenge for Yavapai decry leftist Candidate - Federal mandate - Columbia: could save Oklahoma a Lawsuit Acts against the People - Meth Ring targeted Reservations - A Tale of two Indian Soldiers - National Native Veteran from Arizona Music Video - Tohono O'odham - Native American Job Fair '05 Medicine Man slaying - Bush calls for new Judge - Native Prisoner in Cobell v. Norton Case -- New Oglala Jail - Editorial: Fix Trust Fund, - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days don't target Lamberth - Rustywire: Steamed Corn - Western Shoshone appeal - Group promotes Indian Farming for U.N. intervention - Lee Goins Poem: - Holdouts in BIA Housing A Crack in the Night say they're not leaving - Group proposes to revitalize - Kitt Peak hoping Bannock Language for O'odham Astronomer - Death of the Mohawk Language - YELLOW BIRD: Cornsilk weaves in Ahkwesahsne Tales of Home, Love - Upcoming Events --------- "RE: Drop in Male Births raises serious fears" --------- Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2005 09:20:13 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FIRST NATION AFFECTED BY ENVIRONMENT" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.canoe.ca//LondonFreePress/News/2005/08/19/1179111-sun.html Drop in male births raises serious fears JOHN MINER, Free Press Health Reporter 2005-08-19 There were calls yesterday for a major probe after researchers revealed twice as many girls as boys are being born in a Sarnia native community, raising fears environmental contamination has disrupted human reproduction. "This raises very, very serious concerns for the area," said Jim Brophy, a Sarnia doctor and executive director of the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers. The study, paid for by the University of Western Ontario, looked at birth records from 1984 to 2003 for the Chippewas of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation Community, formerly known as the Chippewas of Sarnia. The study, reported in the Environmental Health Perspectives Journal, was launched after members of the native community raised concerns over a decline in the number of male births. The study found the sex ratio was normal from 1984 to 1993. But starting in 1994, the percentage of male births began to fall sharply and the drop continued through 2003. In the five years from 1999 through 2003, only 34.8 per cent of the births were males. The normal birth ratio in Canada and worldwide is slightly more males than females -- 51.2 per cent in Canada. Studies in wildlife have linked a rise in the proportion of female births to chemical contamination that disrupts natural animal hormones. Scientists have found changes in sex ratios of fish, birds and turtles in the St. Clair River area, a region that's home to Sarnia's Chemical Valley industries and borders the native community. The study's authors, Constanze MacKenzie of the University of Ottawa and Ada Lockridge and Margaret Keith of Sarnia, checked the results from the Aamjiwnaang First Nation against another Chippewas community to see if there might be a link to the native population. But the other native community had the same birth ratio as the rest of Canada. The authors said they cannot say the sudden declining sex ratio in the community is due to environmental exposure, but the possibility needs to be studied because of its location next to large petrochemical, polymer and chemical plants. Brophy said there is no reason to believe the problem, if it is due to environmental exposure, is limited to the native community. The researchers were able to study the native births because the First Nation keeps precise records for legal reasons, he said. Such records are not available for the wider, non-native community. "There is no way of teasing that out at this point. We don't have a mechanism being able to do it," he said. If hormone disruption is the reason for the drop in male births, there could be other serious health problems, Brophy said. Other research has suggested hormone disruption can cause learning problems and increased risk of breast cancer, he said. THE FIRST NATION The study looked at 1984-2003 birth records from the Chippewas of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation Community Location: Southeast of Sarnia on the St. Clair River, next to the Chemical Valley Population: More than 600 Land base: 1,315 hectares Copyright c. The London Free Press. --------- "RE: Bill targets Tribes' Environment Rules" --------- Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2005 09:20:13 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INHOFE RIDER" http://www.newsok.com/article/1574870 Bill targets tribes' environment rules By Anthony Thornton The Oklahoman August 9, 2005 A last-minute "rider" on a $286 billion highway and mass transit bill would prohibit Oklahoma's American Indian tribes from regulating the environment on their land. The provision apparently responds to a state agency's lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency, which had authorized one of Oklahoma's 38 federally recognized tribes to set its own water standards. Critics attributed the rider's origin to Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa. But the senator could not be reached Monday. The language of the provision drew the ire of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. Along with several Oklahoma tribes, McCain complained his committee wasn't consulted about the provision. A spokeswoman for the Department of Environmental Quality said the agency is pleased with the provision, but didn't request it. Tribes expressed disappointment, with one lawyer calling it a "grave blow" to tribal sovereignty. It is the second rider on the 1,752-page bill to address Indian issues specific to Oklahoma. Another one seriously hampers a tribe's effort to build a casino in Oklahoma City's Bricktown area. The environmental rider gives the state jurisdiction over Indian country and veto power over tribal requests to exercise similar authority. Tribal attorneys said they didn't learn of the provision until after the massive transportation bill passed the House and Senate on July 29. President Bush has said he will sign it. Inhofe was the Senate's lead conference committee negotiator on the highway bill and chairs its Environment and Public Works Committee. A spokesman for that committee said the language protects the state against multiple and contradictory environmental standards. Environmental Quality spokeswoman Monty Elder referred questions about the provision's origin to Inhofe's office. Whoever suggested the provision "knew this thing was going to pass," said Charles Tripp, attorney for the Pawnee Nation. "Nobody was going to be seen as voting against highways. Nobody in their right mind was going to vote against it," Tripp said. Last November, the EPA granted "treatment-as-state" status to the Pawnee Nation for water programs. The designation allows the tribe to determine its own standards for water flowing through trust land it owns in Pawnee County, which could include parts of the Arkansas River. Almost two dozen other Oklahoma tribes have applied to the EPA for similar status. State officials including Environment Secretary Miles Tolbert have said that could open the state to a patchwork regulatory system. Theoretically, each tribe could establish water standards either more restrictive or more lenient than the state's, Elder said. In March, the Department of Environmental Quality sued the EPA over the Pawnees' status. The legislation's effect on that federal lawsuit was unclear Monday. A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Cheyenne, whose district includes the Pawnees' land base, said Lucas' office was unaware of the transportation bill provision. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, was in China on congressional business Monday, and Rep. Dan Boren, D-Muskogee, was on his honeymoon. If successful, the rider "could be used as a model to chip away at sovereign tribal rights throughout the United States," Oklahoma City attorney William Norman wrote in an Aug. 4 letter to tribal clients. Tripp said the Pawnee Nation and several other tribes have been drafting an agreement for one universal water standard similar to the state's. He said the state's concern has more to do with enforcement than with differing water pollution requirements. "The state wants to be the ones to enforce, because they don't want everybody in the state to know what a poor job of enforcement they've done for all these years," Tripp said. He said the state has protected oil and gas producers by letting environmental violations slide, something tribes would be unwilling to do. Bill Holbrook, spokesman for the committee Inhofe chairs, said if the EPA continues putting tribes on equal regulatory footing with the state, companies could end up being regulated by the state as well as one or more tribes. Tripp suspects scare tactics were used to pass the provision in conference committee. "Why would other senators care about what's going on in Oklahoma? There's really only one reason: Whoever sponsored this rider told them, 'Hey, this is going to happen in your state next,'" he said. "But it's already happened in other states. And those other states have had no real jurisdictional issues and no problems." Contributing: Chris Casteel in the Washington Bureau Copyright c. 2005 The Oklahoman/News 9 - Produced by NewsOK.com. --------- "RE: EPA unaware of Inhofe Provision" --------- Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2005 09:20:13 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INHOFE RIDER" http://www.news-star.com/stories/081405/new_20050814040.shtml EPA unaware of Inhofe Provision August 14, 2005 OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) A federal agency must enforce an environmental provision concerning Oklahoma tribes after U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe slipped it into a final version of a transportation bill. The provision gives the state veto power over certain environmental efforts initiated by state tribes. Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman Eryn Witcher said the EPA wasn't notified about the provision being inserted into the bill. As the bill headed toward final passage, Inhofe didn't ask for input from the EPA, Witcher said. She would not comment when asked whether the EPA supports the provision. The provision is now law and the EPA is responsible for implementing it, Witcher said. A review of that process is under way, she said. Last year, the EPA sent Inhofe a letter dismissing concerns over a pending application by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, which wants treatment-as-state status under the Clean Air Act. Those concerns were raised by the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association. Other officials were unaware of Inhofe's provision, as well. After the bill was passed, other members of the Oklahoma delegation confirmed that they did not know that the bill they had voted on contained the provision. Also, Inhofe did not inform Gov. Brad Henry about his action, though the state last spring sued the EPA for granting the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma treatment-as-state status for water programs. Henry had no comment. Though Inhofe did not offer an explanation for his actions, he did say most people didn't know of his provision. Lisa Pryor, chairwoman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party, said Inhofe moved against tribal sovereignty. "He is the senator for all Oklahomans and should be held accountable," Pryor said. "The environmental rider is completely unrelated to transportation and a questionable, at best, maneuver by Senator Inhofe." Under Inhofe's provision, the EPA could not grant treatment-as-state status to tribes unless they and the state have entered into an agreement following public notice and a hearing. Information from: Tulsa World, http://www.tulsaworld.com Copyright c. 2005 Shawnee News-Star. --------- "RE: Tribes' Environmental Jurisdiction stripped" --------- Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2005 09:20:13 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INHOFE RIDER" http://www.hsdwlaw.com/articles/2005/GM_05-118.pdf HOBBS STRAUS DEAN & WALKER, LLP Law Offices 2120 L Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037 Tel. (202) 822-8282 Fax (202) 296-8834 (www.hsdwlaw.com) General Memorandum 05-118 Congress Takes Away Oklahoma Tribes' Environmental Jurisdiction through a "Midnight Rider" on a Transportation Bill Late last week, Congress passed a law that in effect takes away the sovereign authority of Oklahoma Tribes to regulate the environment and gives this authority to the State of Oklahoma. The statutory language that will bring about this change was inserted into a transportation bill as a last minute "midnight rider" in conference committee. Under the new law, Congress has granted the State of Oklahoma the authority to administer federal environmental programs in Indian country if the State so requests. The law also gives the State a veto over any attempt by a Tribe to obtain "Treatment as a State" status to administer federal environmental laws within Indian country in Oklahoma. This is a grave blow to tribal sovereignty in the State of Oklahoma. In denying Oklahoma Indian Tribes the sovereign authority to regulate the quality of their air, land and water within the overall framework of federal law, the rider in effect says that Oklahoma Tribes are less sovereign than other Indian Tribes in the United States. The rider was never the subject of consideration in either congressional committee with jurisdiction over Indian affairs, that is, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs or the House Resources Committee. To avoid consideration by either of these two committees, the rider was attached to an entirely unrelated bill -- the "Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2005 (SAFE-TEA)," which authorizes the distribution of $286. 5 billion in Federal Highway Trust Funds (the pool of funding collected from federal gasoline taxes) over the next five years. These funds are distributed to states, federal agencies and tribes (through the Indian Reservation Roads Program) for road and bridge construction, as well as for mass transit, freight, and hazardous materials programs. After nearly two years of failed efforts to authorize a highway bill, a House-Senate Conference Committee finalized a bill, which was ushered rapidly through the Congress late last week and sent to the White House, which has announced that the bill will be signed on August 10. The Conference Committee was formed this spring to work out the differences between the House (H.R. 3) and Senate (S. 732) versions of the highway bill. Neither the House nor the Senate version of the bill included the anti-tribal language. Rather, the rider was introduced without the benefit of debate in the final hours of the Conference Committee negotiations, reflecting the powerful influence of Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and lead negotiator for the Senate in the Conference Committee. (1)In addition to the environmental jurisdiction rider, another Oklahoma- specific rider was added to the bill in conference. Section 10213 repeals the mandatory obligation (as distinct from discretionaryauthority) of the Secretary of the Interior to acquire trust lands for the Loyal Shawnee Tribe in Oklahoma. An earlier law bestowing federal recognition on the Tribe had contained such a mandatory obligation. Copyright c. 2005 HOBBS STRAUS DEAN & WALKER, LLP (www.hsdwlaw.com) --------- "RE: White Mountain Apaches lauded for Conservation" --------- Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2005 09:20:13 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TRIBAL ENVIRONMENTAL EFFORTS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0819B3-env-apache.html White Mountain Apaches lauded for conservation work Judy Nichols The Arizona Republic August 19, 2005 The White Mountain Apache Tribe has been selected as an outstanding example of conservation partnerships and will give a presentation at the upcoming White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation. The tribe, which has 1.6 million acres in eastern Arizona, was chosen for its stewardship and efforts to preserve rare fish and wildlife. Matt Hogan, acting director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, praised the tribe for its thriving economy based on logging, ranching, world-class elk hunts and endangered species conservation. advertisement The tribe started a co-operative program to preserve the Apache trout, the only trout native to the White Mountains. They established a rearing program in Fish and Wildlife Service hatcheries on tribal land, enhanced habitat along 21 streams and removed non-native and predatory fish. They also welcomed Mexican gray wolf packs on their land beginning in 2003 as part of the reintroduction efforts. Tribal Chairman Dallas Massey Sr. will discuss the initiatives at the conference in St. Louis on Aug. 29-31, co-hosted by the U.S. departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Defense and the Environmental Protection Agency Copyright c. 2005, azcentral.com. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Protecting Fossil Creek challenge for Yavapai" --------- Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 08:33:29 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PROTECTING SACRED WATERS" http://www.navajohopiobserver.com/ID=29&SubSectionID=41&ArticleID=4169 Protecting Fossil Creek a challenge for Yavapai Apache By Stan Bindell The Observer August 11, 2005 CAMP VERDE -- The Yavapai-Camp Verde Apache think its great that Fossil Creek is once again flowing freely, but they want to make sure that this sacred area is protected. Fossil Creek, located northwest of Payson, is a lush stream fed by mountain waters that attracts nature lovers. In June, Arizona Public Service stopped diverting the water from Fossil Creek for the use of two hydroelectric plants. The two energy plants had been used to power the mines of Central Arizona in the early 1900s and were later used for electricity for Phoenix. The Yavapai-Apache, American Rivers, Sierra Club, the forest service, Arizona Game and Fish, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and other government agencies worked together on the decommissioning. Yavapai-Apache officials call the decommissioning "a big success." The decommissioning has been hailed as a beautiful victory for the environment by the Arizona Republic, Arizona Highways and other publications, but Yavapai-Camp Verde officials remain concerned about what will happen when APS gives up the caretaking of Fossil Springs as the U.S. Forest Service is scheduled to take over in 2009. Forest Service officials, however, say they don't have money to take care of Fossil Springs. U.S. Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, has committed to introducing a bill that would include Fossil Creek in the national system of Wild and Scenic Rivers. This would automatically bring more caretaking funds to Fossil Springs. Chris Coder, an archeologist with the Yavapai-Apache, said the tribe was happy to be involved every step of the way and at the end of June held a celebration to show its happiness that the creek again gets to flow freely. Fossil Creek also holds historical meaning for the Yavapai-Camp Verde. About 1875, the Yavapai-Apache were forced off their reservation and many Yavapai-Apache fled to the Fossil Creek area. When the flume was built in 1906, many Yavapai-Apache worked either for the power company or the mine. "They were driven out of the area, but when they returned they had federal jobs," Coder said. "Fossil Creek was taken away and altered. Now, it's back to the way it was." Vincent Randall was serving as chairman of the Yavapai-Apache in 1999 when the decommissioning began. Former Chairman Randall said APS has done a good job of keeping the trails and roads up, but there is a question of whether the forest service can keep up the stewardship. "The decommissioning put the creek the way it was intended to be: free flowing," he said. Randall said Fossil Creek is sacred to the Yavapai Apache as they have held ceremonies there and continue to do so. "Many of the events of our history have been there," he said. Randall said an "ecological community spirit" among several groups helped the decommissioning become a reality. "My greatest fear is that people will come and not respect it. The great almighty created it and there should be good stewardship," he said. Coder said the forest service is obligated to take care of the land, but if they can't he's hoping that the environmental partners and Congress can get the Wild and Scenic River designation that will bring funding to protect it. "My biggest issue is that we need to keep the water clean," Coder said. "The biggest issue to the tribe is that the water continues to flow." Randall remains concerned that the forest service has told the tribe that there is no funding to take care of Fossil Creek. "But it's their responsibility," he said. "If they're not going to take care of it then give it to us. Then, if it's trashed, we'll put up an iron curtain." Randall said if the forest service gives the land to the tribe in trust status that it would allow them to protect Fossil Creek. "My fear is that it could be trampled to death if there is no oversight," he said. Randall noted that there is no camping at Fossil Creek and he feels that will protect it better. "That makes it easier to maintain," he said. Coder notes that the creek borders the Fossil Creek Wilderness Area and thus should be protected. There are other aspects to this as Arizona Game and Fish wants to protect the native fish by keeping the non-native fish out. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to protect a frog that moved into the dam. Coder said Fossil Creek has been one of Arizona's best kept secrets, but the recent publicity has brought more attention and more visitors to Fossil Creek. "In the past three months, there has been a lot more traffic precipitated by the event," he said. Coder said Fossil Creek is an unusual canyon with flowing water. "We just ask that people respect it," he said. (Stan Bindell, former Observer editor, is journalism and radio teacher at Hopi High School.) Copyright c. 2005 Navajo Hopi Observer, Inc. --------- "RE: Federal mandate could save Oklahoma a Lawsuit" --------- Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2005 09:20:13 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CONTAMINATED WATERS" http://www.cherokee.org/Phoenix/2005/PhoenixPage.asp?ID=1732 Federal mandate could save Oklahoma a lawsuit Lisa Hicks By Lisa Hicks Phoenix Staff August 2005 Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson can't see his toes anymore - at least not when standing chest deep in the Illinois River. High levels of phosphorus have spurred the growth of algae in the Illinois, turning the water a murky green. "It all comes down to pollution," Edmondson said. "Too much poultry waste is being dumped on the ground and it ends up in the water." Edmondson says the amount of phosphorus from poultry waste, or chicken litter, present in the Illinois River watershed is "equivalent to the waste that would be generated by 10.7 million people, a population greater than the states of Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma combined." It is deemed safe to swim and fish in the river, but those activities aren't very appealing if you stop to consider what is in chicken litter - a mix of manure-soaked wood chips, shavings and rice hulls. "We're not only talking about phosphorus," Edmondson said. "This waste contains arsenic, zinc, hormones and microbial pathogens like E. coli and fecal coliform." Farms along the Oklahoma/Arkansas border are generating tons of waste, waste that by contract belongs to the individual farmers. The poultry companies, or "integrators," own the chickens but don't lay claim to the smelly, contentious by-product. Farmers use a waste management plan to determine how much they can legally spread on their own lands. Most sell the excess to fertilize the farms and pastures of others - others who may not be so conscientious about soil testing and determining where the runoff will go. However, this has been a simple and economical solution for growers. Not anymore. Several years ago, the attorney general asked members of the industry to truck out the excess manure. They argued that it legally belonged to the growers and was therefore not their responsibility. As one representative for Tyson Chicken put it, "They want us to retain ownership of the manure, but the growers don't want that because it is an asset for them. Most growers don't want us to have more control of their operations. They want to retain ownership." Edmondson wants the integrators to take responsibility for the excess manure because most farmers can't afford to have it trucked away. So, if there is nowhere to go with it and no one wants to come and get it, what do you do? You can store it and compost it, but when you keep adding tons and tons of manure without being able to use it or get rid of it - is that something farmers really want to retain ownership of? After three years of negotiating and getting nowhere, Edmondson is resorting to legal action. He announced in June that his office filed a lawsuit. Is a lawsuit really the only way to keep our river clean? If what happened in Maryland in 1997 is any indication, legal action may be the only thing that works. Gov. Parris Glendening shut down sections of three rivers because of an outbreak of pfiesteria, a toxic algae, believed to have flourished because of excess phosphorus in the water. Glendening worked to make Maryland the first state to hold integrators responsible for managing the disposal of litter. Ultimately, integrators were required to manage the disposal of excess manure. In June 2003, Maryland's new governor, Robert Ehrlich, relaxed the rules set forth by the previous administration - rules that held poultry integrators liable for pollution caused by chicken waste. (The Washington Post found that poultry industry interests contributed about $150,000 to Ehrlich's election campaign.) Today, the industry picks up 50 percent of the tab for hauling the manure away. The other half of the tab is picked up by the state with subsidized trucking. That means Maryland's taxpayers are footing part of the bill for someone else's mess. If poultry integrators are held legally responsible for environmental damages resulting from the waste disposal management of their contract growers, the growers fear they will lose their businesses. (Tyson once threatened to pull out of Maryland and move their operations to Delaware where the rules were more relaxed.) On the flip side, growers don't have the kind of capital required to solve all the problems. We must keep our water clean, but we also need to keep our farmers in business. It is up to individual states to set water quality standards. Another state could easily attract the billion dollar poultry industry away from Oklahoma and Arkansas by offering fewer restrictions. If that happens, we'll lose livelihoods and thousands of jobs. Plus, we'll still have a mess to clean up. Polls show most Oklahomans support the lawsuit, but the problem with lawsuits is that in the end, the lawyers walk away with a chunk of money while the parties involved are left to recover what they can of their assets. The city of Tulsa sued six poultry companies and the city of Decatur, Ark., for damages in 2003. As a result of the settlement, Decatur was required to improve its wastewater treatment system (which serviced a chicken processing plant) and limits were set on the application of poultry litter in the lake's water basin. Lawyers got all but $200,000 of the $7.5 million settlement. Until integrated liability is adopted as a federal mandate that holds companies responsible for environmental violations and cleanup generated by their growers, there is going to be a tug of war between states, the industries that feed us, and doing what is right. Oklahoma State University has a Website, dasnr4.dasnr.okstate. edu/poultry/index.asp, designed to assist farmers with application and disposal of litter. They provide a network to connect sellers and buyers, as well provide a listing of haulers. For those not online, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture has a litter hotline, 1-800-583-7131. An operator will take your information and forward it to OSU for posting. Lisa Hicks, (918) 456-0671, ext. 2743 lisa-hicks@cherokee.org Lisa Hicks has served as the graphic artist for the Cherokee Phoenix nearly years. She earned her degree in mass communication from the University of Tulsa. Copyright c. 1998-2005. Cherokee Nation. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Meth Ring targeted Reservations" --------- Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2005 15:03:10 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INSIDEOUS PLOT" http://www.casperstartribune.net//417c31e54beae4ff87257063007c5f12.txt Meth ring targeted reservations By BRODIE FARQUHAR Star-Tribune correspondent August 21, 2005 LANDER - A ruthlessly planned and executed business plan developed by a Mexican drug ring targeted Indian reservations in the West for methamphetamine distribution. Leaders of that drug gang are in prison or on the run, say law enforcement officials, who broke up a meth distribution ring based in Ogden, Utah. The gang's tentacles reached deep into the Wind River Indian Reservation and surrounding Fremont County communities in Wyoming. Last month, Jesus Martin Sagaste-Cruz was convicted of distribution of methamphetamine and conspiracy, and sentenced to life in federal prison. Authorities said he executed a business plan to sell meth not only in Fremont County, but also the Rosebud, Pine Ridge and Yankton reservations in South Dakota and the Santee Sioux Reservation in Nebraska. Authorities estimate he directed the sale of 98 pounds of meth in and around the Wind River reservation. Cruz apparently believed he could exploit jurisdictional loopholes and barriers by focusing on the reservations, authorities said. Assistant Wyoming U.S. Attorney Robert Murray, an enrolled member of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe, helped prosecute and break up the drug gang's distribution ring. Murray said he was amazed and disturbed when he learned of the business plan used by the drug ring gangsters. "It actually started with a news article they read in the Denver Post a few years ago," Murray said. The article described how liquor stores in the tiny town of Whiteclay, Neb., were profitably selling huge quantities of alcohol to American Indians from the nearby Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. Gleaned from several sources in the investigation, the following picture emerged, Murray said. The drug gang business plan was based on the following information: * The Whiteclay liquor stores sold $4 million a year in beer and malt liquor primarily to residents of the nearby Pine Ridge reservation -- 18,000 Oglala Lakota Sioux. * The reservation had an alcoholism problem of epidemic proportions. * Liquor sales peaked each month shortly after monthly per-capita checks were sent in the mail. * Gang members reasoned that if people who were addicted to alcohol could be given free samples of meth, the addicts would quickly switch over to being addicted to meth. * The Mexican-national gang members figured they wouldn't stand out among American Indians. According to Murray, the plan identified a potential consumer base (Indians living on reservations or nearby); successful businesses that already preyed on addicts (the liquor stores); a regular source of income their customers could use to buy meth (the monthly checks); and the conviction that alcohol consumers could be switched over to being meth consumers (free samples of meth). "It was all there," Murray said, referring to the elements of a classic business plan. The gang led by Cruz and his brother, Julio Cesar Sagaste- Cruz could distribute the meth via customers who would be forced to become dealers to support their own habits. The meth could be supplied by "super labs" in California and Mexico, controlled by the Sinaloan Cowboys gang. Law enforcement officials traced the connections from the Sinaloan Cowboys (headquartered in Sinaloa, Mexico) to the Los Angeles-based 18th Street Gang, to the Cruz brothers' cell in Ogden. "They realized that if they could convert the addiction from alcohol to meth, they could reap the profits," Murray said. Executing the plan To execute the business plan, members of the Cruz cell moved into nearby communities of the above reservations, Murray said. The first thing the Mexican-national gang members did was to develop romantic relationships with Indian women. "Some of them even had children with these Indian women," Murray said. The women were introduced to meth with free samples, he said. "All of the low-level distributors said they started as recreational users," and all became severely addicted to meth. To support their new and expensive habits, meth customers became dealers and distributors themselves, using free samples to recruit customers, Murray said. From there, it was steady growth as customers became dealers/recruiters themselves, and their customers became dealers/recruiters in a deadly pyramid growth scheme. The growth of the customer base was equal opportunity, with meth sold to Indians and non-Indians alike. Brian Eggleston, a Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agent, said the key to breaking the Cruz ring was communication with local law enforcement offices, on and off the reservations. Sharing information and resources allowed for a gradual realization that they were dealing with a large-scale criminal enterprise -- much bigger than a few meth heads hanging around a reservation. Doug Noseep, chief of police for the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Wind River Agency, agreed that shared communications and resources were crucial. Noseep, an enrolled member of the Eastern Shoshone, is a federal police officer, a graduate of the federal law enforcement training center. When he was working for the BIA in Albuquerque, N.M., he began to hear rumblings about a Mexican-national gang targeting reservations. "When I came back to the Wind River reservation as the police chief in July 2003, I started hearing about four or five Mexicans living over in Arapahoe with some Indian females," Noseep said. "I kept hearing they were selling a lot of drugs." A January 2004 drug bust in Ethete convinced Noseep that he needed help. During that bust, with close to a dozen agents inside the drug house, customers kept coming up to buy drugs. As drug investigations progressed on the reservation, Noseep said the same group of Mexican nationals and their women kept cropping up. "They were tied into everyone we knew," he said. DCI "opened doors" for the Wind River police, Noseep said, providing a vehicle that could be used for undercover operations, a computer and a slot on the DCI Northwest Enforcement Team for one of Noseep's patrol officers. Tightening the noose As meth customers and dealers fell afoul of various law enforcement agencies, Eggleston and his partners in other law enforcement agencies were able to "turn" various meth addicts into informers or cooperators. A complex web of drug, business and romantic relationships emerged, not only on the Wind River reservation and throughout Fremont County, but in and around the other reservations as well. Here in Fremont County, a total of 17 men and women were swept up in investigation in the communities of Riverton, Lander, Pavillion, Kinnear and on the Wind River Indian Reservation. The noose tightened, and while authorities were able to catch, convict and sentence one Cruz brother to life in prison, the other, Julio, is still at large. "This is an ongoing investigation," Murray said. "The gangs thought they were safe on reservations," believing that reservation police departments were nothing to worry about, Noseep said. They were wrong, largely because of the new partnerships that have emerged among reservation, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies. "What I want people to know," Noseep said, "is that if they see something, they should report it and something can be done." He cautioned that it takes time -- months and even years -- to put together a solid case that stands up in court. The Cruz investigation dates back to 1999. "It can be frustrating, because when you see something, you want them busted right then and there. It takes patience," Noseep said. Murray said he's been told by some of the meth addicts who cooperated with the investigation that getting arrested probably saved their lives. All are in prison, he said, and participate in what may just be the best treatment program in the country -- 500 hours of a high-intensity residential program developed by the Bureau of Prisons. "Ultimately, our goal is to reach beyond Wyoming and work up the food chain to the super labs in California and Mexico," Noseep said. 'A business, pure and simple' In sentencing Jesus Martin Sagaste-Cruz to life in prison July 6, U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson said the following: "(This sentence) sends a strong message out to the public of the court's abhorrence of the poison of methamphetamine that is and has been, under this conspiracy, distributed in Wyoming and elsewhere and, more particularly, targeting Fremont County, Wyoming, and the problem-plagued society on the Wind River Indian Reservation... "The sentence imposed certainly does express the government's strong desire to inform the public and this defendant as to the danger and injuries that are caused by methamphetamine. It is a sad thing, certainly a sad commentary upon America, that there is such an appetite for this controlled substance so as to stimulate and offer incentives to men like Martin Sagaste-Cruz to violate the laws of the United States as a business. And that's what this was, a business, pure and simple, to distribute large quantities of methamphetamine. "Standing before me today is not a man who is addicted to drugs or is dealing with his own personal depression or demons in his life. He is a man who is part of a business organization which exists for the purpose of bringing his poison into the United States, over the borders, from California to Utah and onto Wyoming, for consumption by those people on the reservation and others throughout the state of Wyoming who do suffer from a wide variety of ills as well as disorders in their own lives that feed upon this appetite or a part of this appetite for methamphetamine." Copyright c. 2005 by the Casper Star-Tribune - published by Lee Publications, Inc., --------- "RE: National Native Veteran Music Video" --------- Date: Friday, August 19, 2005 1:25 PM From: Karen Francis [karenfrancis@navajo.org] Subj: FW: National Native Veteran Music Video I have been asked to forward this information. -----Original Message----- Date: Wednesday, August 17, 2005 9:31 AM From: Karen Tsinnie NATIVE AMERICAN VETERANS VIDEO SEPTEMBER 09, 10, 11, 2005 Are there any other suggestions anyone has? Please let us know by calling George Atcheynum at (306) 937-7796 or Karen Tsinnie at (623) 693-1365 Once again, the NNAVM Project ("National Native American Veterans' Memorial") is a non-profit organization. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Lorrie Church is shooting a music video called "Native American" to honor our Native American Veterans' and also to honor the memory of the late Lori Piestewa. All Native American Veterans are invited and welcome to take part and be in the music video. We have secured the services of Steven Goldman. Steven is one of the best music video directors in the world. He has done videos for Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw and Alan Jackson to name a few. We have Eagle Hills Productions and Asdza Shash Productions assisting with this project, both have been involved in donating their time for this memorial to become a reality. This video will be part of a larger project to build a "National Native American Veterans' Memorial". The music video will be shot on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona. Lorrie will be donating 100% of the profits from her next CD towards the completion of this memorial. We want Veterans from every state to be represented including tribal honor/color guards. All Native American Veterans will be welcome to take part and be in the music video. Keep in mind we will cover the cost of the meals at the video shoot for all who are there. I would like to see local veterans participate in this video. Please contact us (George or Karen) as soon as possible if you are a Veteran that would like to take part in this project or if you know of a Veteran or Veterans that you would like to participate. We will need to confirm each Veterans' participation in order to coordinate essential services in conjunction with the video shoot. We would prefer that you call and then fax the veteran(s) contact information. The date for shooting the music video has been set for September 9th, 10th and 11th, 2005. We will also be bringing in a television crew to conduct interviews with all the veterans in attendance. The interviews will start on the evening of Friday September 9th. VIDEO SHOOT LOCATION Due to the number of participants in the shooting of the "Native American", music video honoring our Native American Veterans, we will be unable to use Hopi lands. We are expecting upwards of 400 Veterans from all over the country and there is no one location on the Hopi reservation that can accommodate the filming that needs to be done. I want to thank Leigh Kuwanwisiwma from Hopi Cultural Preservation for all his assistance. See "VIDEO SHOOT AGENDA" for more details. VIDEO SHOOT AGENDA We will start the interviews with the Veterans on Friday evening (September 9th) at the Super 8 host hotel. We will continue the interviews at the video shoot location. We will be interviewing the WWII and Korean War Vets first then we will move to the Vietnam /Desert Storm and Iraqi War Vets. Depending on the amount of Veterans, we may not be able to interview every Veteran before the weekend ends. We will however do our best. We will be leaving to the staging area, from the host hotel(s), one and a half hours before sunrise on Saturday September 10th. We will stay at the video shoot sight until nightfall. Food and beverages will be provided throughout the day. We will be traveling by chartered busses each of which is air conditioned with bathroom facilities and televisions. The Veterans will be able to stay in the busses in between filming. We will also have dressing facilities for Veterans who need to change into their uniforms/ regalia / video clothing. We will be leaving the staging area, the host hotel(s), one and a half hours before sunrise on Sunday September 10th. We will stay at the video shoot site until all remaining shots have been completed. This may take until nightfall depending on the circumstances. Honor/Color guards. We will be filming and photographing each of the individual Honor / Color guards to be used in the music video and documentary. We will be filming and photographing any Vets that are in traditional regalia. We will also be filming and photographing participating dignitaries. For the local Veterans, we will be providing a map to the video shoot site on Lorrie Church's website once it has been finalized, you will be able to bring your vehicle to the outer perimeter where a shuttle will pick you up and bring you to the actual site. Our target date to finalize the exact shoot location is August 26th. We will fax maps out to local tribal offices and be leaving maps and directions at local specified convenience stores once this has been finalized. You may call George (306) 937-7796 or Karen Tsinnie (623) 693-1365 to get the shoot location/ local map pickup locations/ and local contact numbers after August 26th. CAN YOU HELP? ANY SUGGESTIONS, ASSISTANCE, DONATIONS IS HIGHLY APPRECIATED BY US. Please remember that the "National Native American Veterans' Memorial" project is a Federally Charted Non-Profit Corporation. Our success will be directly linked to the volunteer team. 1. Wranglers: We need 14 people to handle all the needs of the Veterans during the video shoot. It will be one wrangler for each 25 Veterans. The duties would include: developing and verifying a list of 25 Veterans that you will handle for the duration of the shoot, traveling with the Veterans on a charter bus to and from the video shoot site, handing out the food and beverages throughout the video shoot days to your Veterans, coordinating the interviews of your Veterans with the interview teams, informing your Veterans throughout the video shoot days as to the schedule (there will be minor changes throughout the day, depending on the circumstances), we will need you at the staging area (Super 8, Flagstaff, see host hotel) on the evening of Friday, September 9th. The project will cover your food and accommodation expenses. 2. Motorhomes or Trailers: Do you have air conditioned motorhomes or trailers that we could use? Would you be able to drive the motorhome/trailer to the staging area and then out to the video shoot site? We would be able to cover the cost of your fuel/food/accommodations. We need a total of 8. They will be used in the following manner: 1 for command central for the video shoot site, 5 for the documentary interview stations, 1 for special needs/disabled Veterans 1 for dignitaries We would need the motorhomes / trailers from Friday, September 9th through to Sunday, September 11th. 3. Charter Busses: The project has already put a deposit on 7 charter busses to be used for transporting the Veterans from the staging area to the video shoot site. Can you or your tribe help by sponsoring the cost of one or more charter busses? The cost for each bus is $1,400.00 for the two days of the video shoot. Any financial help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. 4. Police: We will need police services for the duration of the video shoot. A minimum total of 4 officers, preferably with at least one female officer. We will also need these officers to be in the music video. 5. Firetruck / Firefighters: We will need firefighter services for the duration of the video shoot. A minimum of 4 firefighters would be required. We will also need these firefighters to be in the music video. 6. Amublance / Medical Personnel: We will need ambulance services for the duration of the video shoot. A minimum of 2 paramedics would be required. We will also need these ambulance / medical personal to be in the musicvideo. 7. Shuttle Van(s): We are requesting the use of 2 shuttle vans with drivers to be used for the duration of the video shoot. These can be actual shuttles or personal 15 passenger vans with air conditioning. We will require these shuttles to bring Veterans in from Phoenix airport to Flagstaff, AZ, and also Veterans from the parking area to the video shoot site. We will cover the cost of fuel/accommodations if required. 8. Security: We will require 8 security personnel with one being a security supervisor. They will be needed to handle on site security and incoming traffic control. 9. Catering: We need volunteers to help with the preparation and distribution of meals and beverages for the duration of the video shoot. Meal preparation will begin several days before the actual shoot. We will most likely serve boxed lunches (sandwiches, subs and snacking food.) Does anyone know of any businesses that would be able to contribute food and beverages? We will need at least 6 people for this task. We can cover the food and accommodations of these volunteers. Even if you can donate a case of bottle water, we would appreciate it. 10. Communications: We will need a minimum of 20 high quality two-way radios with chargers to be used for the duration of the video shoot. Does anyone know where we can obtain some at no cost? 11. Cherry Picker: We need a one man truck lift to be used by our photographer. It must be capable of reaching a height of 25 to 30 feet. We need this for high vantage point photography. We would be able to cover the cost of fuel. 12. Flagpole: We need a 25 to 30 foot portable flagpole to be used in the music video. Does anyone have one that we could use and that they would be able to bring out? 13. Video / Documentary Shoot Personnel: We need 5 script supervisors / camera operators / PA's who must be detail oriented. We also need 5 grip electrics. We will cover the cost of your meals / accommodations. HOST HOTEL Super 8 3725 North Casper Flagstaff, AZ 86004 Dates : September 9th, 10th and 11th. Phone number: (928) 526-0818 Fax number: (928) 526-8786 General Manager: Ricky Patel Confirmation Code: VET-77614 Rate: $39.00 plus tax. (double occupancy) Super 8 Information Form to Fax in: Please contact the hotel directly and tell them that you are a Veteran with the "National Native American Veterans' Memorial" video shoot, then give them the confirmation code. You will require a major credit card to book your room. The Hotel has asked if each room to fill out the attached form and fax it to them if possible. If you are unable to do so, please let them know, they can then make arrangements to acquire this information from you directly over the phone. Once we fill this hotel, we will be adding additional host hotels as required, however we may not get the same rate. --------- "RE: Native American Job Fair '05" --------- Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 08:28:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="2nd ANNUAL JOB FAIR" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=6865 Native American Job Fair '05 slated for August 26th Resumes accepted via e-mail now TULSA OK Native American Times August 17, 2005 Indian Country is getting ready for the second Native American Job Fair of 2005. The last Job Fair was such a success for employers and applicants alike, that we are having a second Job Fair this year. Prepare your resumes to send to Native Times or get ready for a roadtrip to Tulsa, Oklahoma. (e-mail your resume to lizg@okit.com if you cannot attend and we will distribute it for you!) Our Job Fairs now have a reputation of attracting qualified talent to work in our nation's workforce, and top quality companies to hire those Native American applicants. This will all take place at the Tulsa Sheraton Hotel from 9-4 pm, Friday, August 26th. Location is Hwy 169 and 41st Street. "This free-to-the-public event is sure to draw a crowd with so many corporate and government recruiters in all fields of endeavor expected to showcase the many opportunities that exist in our fast-paced, growing economy," said Native American Times publisher Liz Gray. If you are a Native American looking for a quality job or a student needing a little inspiration in picking your occupation, this event is designed for you in mind. An example of the recruiting companies attending our August Job Fair specifically looking for Native American applicants are as follows: Hundreds of applicants are expected to come from the four-state area as they did in the last Native American Job Fair held in Tulsa. Tribal vans, school buses and carpools with qualified applicants of all ages who are looking to start a career or change their career are expected to attend. Even if you cannot attend the Job Fair, we can help! If you are a Native American applicant living out of state or cannot travel to attend the Job Fair, e-mail your resume to jobfair@nativetimes. com and we will distribute it to the attending companies for free! Please include your tribal affiliation with your e-mail. For more information, call 918-438-6548. Corporate America Benefits from Native American Tax Credit. With corporate America recovering from the recent economic downturn, the Native American Job Fair can help businesses stay competitive in a global economy by attracting the best and brightest in Indian country to attend the job fair. In addition to the high expectations of the Native talent pool is an added benefit for Oklahoma companies to take advantage of federal tax credits for Indian employees and their spouses. After extended work by the IRS and the Department of the Interior, the specific Oklahoma geographic boundaries related to special federal tax incentives associated with "former Indian reservations in Oklahoma" have been determined. These include all or part of 64 Oklahoma counties. Those incentives are an employment tax credit for employers of certain enrolled tribal members and their spouses who work within an Indian reservation, and an accelerated depreciation allowance for certain business property used within an Indian reservation. "Two years ago Congress had extended tax incentives and made some technical modifications, but the credit still has a limit of $4000 per employee," said Don Chambers, Principal Partner at Chambers and Jackson, C. P.A. Realizing the tax credits alone will not bring the kind of investment into Indian country, creating a skilled work force in the areas where employers are located is equally important. This year, organizers have enlisted the co-sponsorship of the Native American Employment and Training Center to assist in helping job fair attendees with hands on training throughout the day. -- If you are interested in a booth at the Job Fair or want more information, call 1-918-438-6548. -- The Native American Job Fair 2005 Friday, August 26, 2005 at the Tulsa Sheraton Hotel, Located at 41st and Garnett (near Hwy. 169). Parking is fee and there is plenty of space for buses and vans. Sheraton Hotel phone number is 918-627-5000. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Bush calls for new Judge in Cobell v. Norton Case" --------- Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 08:33:29 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BUSH STILL TRYING TO WHACK LAMBERTH" http://64.62.196.98/News/2005/009852.asp Bush calls for new judge in Cobell v. Norton case August 16, 2005 The Bush administration stepped up its campaign against the federal judge overseeing the Indian trust fund, asking an appeals court on Monday to assign a new judge to the case. In a 23-page motion, government attorneys repeated a host of familiar charges against U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth. They accused him of overstepping his bounds and being too harsh on the government. Pointing to a July 12 ruling in the Cobell v. Norton case, the administration called on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to intervene. They said Lamberth went too far in comparing the genocide of Native people to the mishandling of the trust fund. "The district court's sweeping, unqualified, and wholly disproportionate denunciations of the Department of the Interior and the Department of Justice create at least an appearance that the court will be unable to evaluate discrete undertakings by Interior - or discrete submissions by Justice - fairly, dispassionately, and on their individual merit," Peter D. Kiesler, an assistant attorney general and Bush appointee, wrote in the brief. "Reassignment is therefore warranted." The move is the latest in the administration's long-running attempt to take Lamberth out of the picture. Since taking over in 2001, attorneys for Interior Secretary Gale Norton have challenged every single decision the judge has made, going so far as to ask the D.C. Circuit to end the case altogether. The administration also mounted a disqualification campaign against a special master and a court monitor who were extremely critical of the government in their reports. Both officials were forced to resign from the case under extreme pressure. Separately, a group of past and present government officials and attorneys tried to stop Lamberth from moving forward with contempt proceedings. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to get involved and now the Department of Justice has taken up the cause. But the judge is not the issue, according to attorneys for the Cobell plaintiffs. Dennis Gingold pointed out that Lamberth was a conservative Republican nominee of the late president Ronald Reagan. "The government's problem is the district court making them account for 100 plus years of bad facts, its pattern of unethical behavior, and its persistent strategy of diversion, delay, and obstruction - of which this is only the most recent example," he said yesterday. The motion was filed as part of the government's appeal of a July 12 decision that requires the Interior Department to tell Indian beneficiaries of problems with the trust. The ruling was called unprecedented by both the Cobell plaintiffs and the Bush administration. "For the first time in the history of this case, the majority of Indian beneficiaries will be aware of the lawsuit, the plaintiffs' efforts, and the danger involved in placing any further confidence in the Department of the Interior," Lamberth wrote. The appeal is the third case currently before the D.C. Circuit. On September 12, the court will hear the administration's challenge to a broad historical accounting and structural injunction imposed by Lamberth. On October 14, the court takes on the contempt proceeding - a fallout of the special master disqualification campaign. Since 2001, the appeals court has struck down three of Lamberth's decisions at the administration's request. All three times, Bush officials claimed victory, although the victories appear to have been short lived and are still in dispute. In one instance, the D.C. Circuit lifted an order that would have required Interior to shut down its computer systems. At the same time, the court for the first time held that the Interior Secretary has a fiduciary responsibility to protect Indian trust data. The decision led to a 61-day evidentiary hearing into the state of information technology at the department. During this time, the Bureau of Land Management was forced to cut its Internet connection and embarrassing information was repeatedly aired during the trial. In the two other instances, the D.C. Circuit stopped the government from complying with a historical accounting and lifted contempt sanctions against Norton and former Indian affairs assistant secretary Neal McCaleb. Both times, however, the court refused to limit Lamberth's jurisdiction and left his findings against Interior undisturbed. Copyright C. 2000-2005 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Editorial: Fix Trust Fund, don't target Lamberth" --------- Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 08:28:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="EDITORIAL: FIX INDIAN TRUST" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/editorial/12398845.htm Justice delayed and justice reviled August 17, 2005 After years of judicial spankings at the hands of U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth, the federal government is now asking that the judge be removed from the case involving Interior Department mismanagement of billions of dollars in American Indian trust accounts. Rather than target the judge in a case that has brought embarrassment and contempt citations to the government, federal officials should close the book on this sorry story once and for all. Fix the trust system and pay account holders whose money has disappeared. The fix won't be easy, nor inexpensive. But the mess is of the government's own making, through a century of malfeasance and incompetence. The irony in the whole situation is the very nature of the government's trustee role: The federal government collects money for oil, timber and mineral leases, among other things, and holds it for Indian tribes and individuals, presumably because the tribes and individual account holders were incapable of managing their own money. That the government cannot say how much money it has collected over the years, how much it has disbursed and how much should be in individual accounts would be funny if it weren't so sad. The Indian plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the government, led by banker Elouise Cobell, have offered a detailed plan for settling the issue once and for all and have set a price tag: $27.5 billion. On the surface, that seems a steep price. But looking at it in context paints another picture. The settlement figure is roughly equal to the highway project earmarks granted to individual members of Congress in the pork-laden $286 billion federal transportation bill that passed last month. That seems a small price to pay to end a century of incompetence and injustice aimed at the poorest Americans. Copyright c. 2005 St. Paul Pioneer Press. --------- "RE: Western Shoshone appeal for U.N. intervention" --------- Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2005 09:20:13 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FIGHTING BLM THEFT" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096411425 Western Shoshone appeal for United Nations intervention by: Brenda Norrell / Indian Country Today August 19, 2005 GENEVA - In an urgent appeal to halt the assault on ancestral lands, the Western Shoshone Nation filed an urgent action request before the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in August. The request challenges the U.S. government's assertion of federal ownership of nearly 90 percent of Western Shoshone lands. Joe Kennedy, Western Shoshone, was among those urging immediate action to halt the United States and gold and energy corporations. "Our traditional laws tell us we were placed here as caretakers of the land," Kennedy said. "As part of the Western Shoshone Nation, we will not stand idly by and allow the U.S. federal government to cement its hold on our ancestral land base." The Western Shoshone land base covers approximately 60 million acres, stretching across what is now referred to as the states of Nevada, Idaho, Utah and California. The lands include the proposed Yucca Mountain high- level nuclear waste facility and lands targeted for expanded gold extraction. "Western Shoshone rights to the land - which they continue to use, care for and occupy today - are recognized by a ratified treaty with the United States," said the Western Shoshone delegation in Geneva, Aug. 8 - 19. In its 2005 CERD written request, the Western Shoshone seek a halt to all further U.S. actions against Western Shoshone and the expansion of any extractive or other activities permitted by the United States. Western Shoshone said the United States has conducted numerous military- style seizures of Western Shoshone livestock, has transferred alleged Western Shoshone trespass fines to the Internal Revenue Service and private collection agencies, and has reinvigorated federal efforts to open a nationwide nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. "In 2003, the U.S. Congress passed legislation allowing for distribution of a highly controversial Indian Claims Commission award for [the] alleged extinguishment of Western Shoshone land. "Since that legislation was passed, efforts to privatize Western Shoshone lands for transfer to multinational extractive industries and energy developers have been intensified," the delegation said. Western Shoshone asserted that these actions, justified by racially discriminatory legal doctrines enshrined in the domestic law of the United States, demonstrate a serious, massive and persistent pattern of racial discrimination against the Western Shoshone Nation and its people in accordance with CERD urgent action and early warning procedures. The U.N. committee established the early warning/urgent action procedures in 1993 in order to act quickly in preventing the further escalation of human rights abuses. Western Shoshone have also raised concerns before the U.N. Sub- Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. "The role of non-state actors, or multinational corporations, in the ongoing human rights violations against indigenous peoples is also being addressed by the delegation in response to the influential posture of the gold companies and the energy industry under the current administration," Western Shoshone said. Previously, CERD expressed concern about the ongoing struggle of the Western Shoshone people and the continued violation of indigenous human rights in the United States. In 2001, the committee questioned the United States' continued application of the "doctrine of discovery," a racially based legal fiction that was used to justify the genocide of Indian peoples and the taking of their lands due to their "inferior" status as non-Christians. The committee also questioned the U.S. delegation about why domestic law allowed the U.S. government to unilaterally abrogate Indian treaties, to which the United States never provided an answer. Western Shoshone said the situation has become even graver. CERD is slated to meet with U.S. government representatives in August to hear the government's response. Copyright c. 1998-2005 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved --------- "RE: Holdouts in BIA Housing say they're not leaving" --------- Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2005 09:20:13 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CHINLE LOCKS CHANGED" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.thenavajotimes.com/ Holdouts in BIA housing say they're not leaving By Cindy Yurth Special to the Times August 18, 2005 CHINLE - They changed the locks on her doors and stopped accepting her rent payments, but "Laurie" says she's not moving out of the Bureau of Indian Affairs-owned duplex she's occupied for years until "they tie me up in ropes and drag me away." The district court employee, who declined to give her real name for fear of retaliation, heads one of five families still holed up in the housing in spite of repeated attempts by the BIA to evict them. The BIA, which first issued eviction notices in October, cited high radon gas readings it had found in the houses during air quality testing, but Laurie and the other holdouts aren't buying it. In fact, said Laurie, she doesn't even believe the BIA tested her apartment. "They didn't come over while I was here, and I never noticed a radon canister lying around," she said. Laurie should know what radon-testing equipment looks like, because in March of this year, she called the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency and had the agency test her home. The tribal agency found radon levels of 1.7 to 1.9 picocuries per liter, well under the 4 picocuries per liter the EPA considers "actionable." Radon is an odorless, colorless gas produced by the decay of radioactive minerals such as uranium. It is known to cause lung cancer, even in small concentrations, when inhaled over a long period of time. A picocurie is the unit of measurement used to determine how much radon is in the air. What radon level the BIA found in the Chinle houses isn't known - so far the agency has refused to release test results, even to NEPA, citing legal concerns. The Navajo Times has filed a federal Freedom of Information Act request for the information. The BIA has not changed the locks on Navajo Police Officer Vanessa Yellowhair's apartment, perhaps because when they came by, she threatened to arrest them for criminal trespass. "I said, `If you're going to come into my home, let me see something from the court,'" Yellowhair recalled. Like the judicial branch of the Navajo Nation, the tribal police have for years contracted with the BIA to house Chinle-based employees in the duplexes, which were built in the 1960s to house BIA employees. In fact, the agreement covering judicial branch employees was renewed Feb. 7, despite the eviction notices sent out three months earlier. The housing in question, about 120 units where police, court clerks and social workers live, is in a run-down BIA development near the mouth of Canyon de Chelly. Five of the units are still occupied and 10 recently renovated units are inhabited by U.S. Indian Health Services employees who work at the Chinle hospital. A woman living in one of the apartments said she was told the IHS had remedied the radon problem when it renovated the houses. Elouise Chicharello, director of the BIA's Navajo Regional Office in Gallup, has maintained that remediation measures would be too expensive, leaving condemnation as the only alternative for the housing. Chicharello did not respond to repeated attempts this week by the Navajo Times to reach her for comment. Yellowhair said she's two years away from retirement and should be looking for another home anyway, but she's staying as a protest on behalf of her fellow officers. She also believes no police officer worth her badge would live 14 miles away from her station, referring to the BIA's offer to resettle the Chinle officers in BIA housing in Many Farms, Ariz., north of Chinle. "We're supposed to be 24 hours on call," Yellowhair said. "How can we respond from way out there?" Chinle Chapter President Dwain Billsie is doubly concerned about the housing situation because he's also the lieutenant at the Chinle police station. So far he's lost two officers because they could not find housing, but he doesn't want to speak as a police lieutenant because "everything I say has to go through (the chief of police in Window Rock)." He is happy, however, to speak as chapter president. And, as chapter president, he has taken up the matter with Chicharello, "She says the BIA wants to tear down those houses and put up new housing for their employees," Billsie said. "But if you know the ground is full of radon, why build more houses there?" Billsie said he tried to convince Chicharello to donate the land to the chapter for an open-air use. Personally, he'd like to see a skate park for the youth. If the BIA does tear down the houses, Billsie said he hopes they do it soon. "That many abandoned buildings sitting around are sure to attract vandals and partiers," he said, and possibly worse. "In Shiprock they've had a problem with people burning down abandoned buildings. I just hope that doesn't happen here." In addition to the duplexes, the BIA owns a parcel of land where a small number of government employees have been allowed to set up trailers. One of them, Pat Thompson, says the BIA is trying to evict her and her son as well. "They haven't said anything about radon, they've just said they're trying to get out of the trailer business," Thompson said. But she said two of her neighbors on the land, who do not work for the tribe, have not been bothered. Thompson recently retired from IHS and her son also works for the agency. She said she was warned her lease would be revoked when she retired, so she wrote a request to have it transferred to her son's name. "They never even responded, they just said `Get out,'" she said. "I guess my 40 years of government service doesn't count for anything." No place to move The reason the situation is so dire, all the evictees say, is that there simply is no housing for rent in Chinle. "My wife and I looked all around here," said Officer Rick Gravatt, who recently moved into one of the Many Farms apartments. "There's just nothing." Gravatt said there's a waiting list for the Many Farms apartments, and officers are squeezing in with friends and family until one becomes available. Gravatt himself stayed with his in-laws while he waited, and only got an apartment after "begging and pleading" with local BIA personnel. Chinle is paying the price for having a homeless police force, according to Billsie and Gravatt. "It's pretty hard to concentrate on your job when you're spending all your time looking for a place to live," Gravatt remarked. Yellowhair is just plain mad. She said she's tired of the Navajo police being treated like second-class citizens when they're an essential part of the community's infrastructure "The doctors have houses. The teachers have houses," she said. "We're just as important to the health of the community as they are." She's also disappointed in the townspeople of Chinle, who she expected to rally around their police force, and the tribal council. "Every time the good people of Chinle call, we come running," she said. "Now we need them. Where are they? Where is (President) Joe Shirley? Why doesn't he say, `If the BIA won't house our officers, let's set aside a week and start building houses for police officers'?" Actually, some powerful citizens have intervened on behalf of the evictees. Shirley wrote a strongly worded letter to the BIA opposing the evictions and asking the agency to back off. Navajo Nation Chief Justice Herb Yazzie wrote Chicharello, while Solicitor Randall X. Ramsey wrote Mike Smith, deputy director of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. The Navajo leaders asked that either the radon testing results be revealed or the leases on the apartments extended. Neither received a response from the BIA. And NEPA Air & Toxics Department Director Calvert Curley said he's offered to work with the BIA to retest all the units and resolve differences between the two agencies' test results, but the BIA is not interested. Meanwhile, the holdouts say they're not budging and are contemplating a class action suit. But mostly, they say, they just wish the BIA had approached things a little differently. "We've been good tenants," Yellowhair said. "We've paid our rent. For years, we've served the public. Can't they come to us to work out a settlement instead of kicking us out and changing the locks when we have nowhere to go?" Said another evictee, "They always tell us, `Go get an education and then come back and serve your people.' Well, we did that. Now look. We don't even have a place to live." Copyright c. 2005 Navajo Times Publishing Company Incorporated. --------- "RE: Kitt Peak hoping for O'odham Astronomer" --------- Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2005 09:20:13 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="EDUCATION OUTREACH" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/allheadlines/89329.php Kitt Peak hoping for O'odham astronomer By Anne Minard ARIZONA DAILY STAR August 19, 2005 As a boy, Hector Rios made class trips to Kitt Peak National Observatory from Santa Rosa School on the Tohono O'odham Reservation, and he dreamed of working on the mountain someday. Rios, 57, has been living that dream for 34 years. He started out as a maintenance man and is now a skilled craftsman, well-known for his steady operation of a crane that lifts multimillion-dollar equipment on and off the mountain's most celebrated telescope. Rios said he's stayed because he's friends with his co-workers, and he hasn't seen his boss angry in a decade. He lives with his wife of 17 years, Noreen, and their 13-month-old grandson not far from his work. "I want to be here because I gave this place most of my childhood," he said. He is one of a handful of tribal members who work at Kitt Peak, although the entire observatory is built on the reservation. That's long been a sore spot for the O'odham, and it came to light again when the tribe tried to halt construction on a new telescope complex earlier this year. Kitt Peak officials say they'd welcome more tribal members on the mountain, but they're battling funding cutbacks, low turnover and a dearth of qualified tribal applicants. That last point has proved frustrating to both Kitt Peak and the tribe, particularly in light of the observatory's 1958 lease that requires preferential hiring of tribal members when experience and training are equal. But a national push to recruit more American Indians into science careers - which is just now reaching Tohono O'odham Community College - could help. Eleven out of 40 staff members on the mountain are Tohono O'odham. They maintain the buildings and grounds, cook or man the visitors center. A very few, such as Rios, offer specialized skills. A smaller number of Kitt Peak employees work out of the Tucson offices of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which operates Kitt Peak and a number of other star-watching sites. None of the 13 Tucson-based employees, who handle most of the engineering and development work for the observatory telescopes, is O'odham. "Historically, Kitt Peak has hired tribal members for lower-level positions and not for middle- or upper-management positions," said O'odham Chairwoman Vivian Juan-Saunders. She said the tribe's impression is that Kitt Peak hasn't reached out enough to O'odham students. Doug Isbell, an observatory spokesman, said Kitt Peak has long offered a job-shadowing program for tribal members. There's also a job-training program its staff drafted years ago, which has now been incorporated into the curriculum at the community college. Katy Garmany, an observatory scientist, has offered astronomy classes in the past at the college and is scheduled to do so again this fall. But another effort, by the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science, has taken hold at other community colleges and at Arizona's three universities. And in some form, it's coming to the Tohono O'odham Reservation. Marigold Linton directs American Indian outreach at the University of Kansas and is the president of the Santa Cruz, Calif.-based society. She agrees that there are very few Indians who are prepared for jobs in science. But she and others are working to change that. At Haskell Indian Nations University, two miles from the University of Kansas, she's built the 500 Nations Bridge Program, where students from more than 100 Indian nations are pursuing doctorate degrees in about 30 departments, including engineering and biology. The National Institutes of Health contributes $200,000 a year to the efforts in Kansas as part of a national budget for tribal bridge programs that has hovered around $6 million a year since its establishment in 1992. The NIH is the largest funding source for such programs in the country, and it supports about 100 minority outreach programs, including several at Arizona's universities. Tohono O'odham Community College is doing some outreach of its own, recruiting Kitt Peak leaders to sit at the table with other interested parties to plan a comprehensive science program for tribal students using a $50,000 planning grant from the National Science Foundation. When the college was established in 1998 - it was accredited this year - it joined the ranks of about 30 tribal colleges across the country. The first was Dine College in Tsaile, on the Navajo Reservation in Northeastern Arizona, in 1968. Many of the tribal colleges now have some sort of science training program - and for good reason, said Joe Marlow, a professor at the Tohono O'odham college teaching math, Earth science and economics. "I think people are starting to realize that indigenous people have a lot to offer," he said. Marlow is one of the people working to develop the new science curriculum. Richard Green, Kitt Peak's director, said not all of the hiring difficulties on the mountain will change with the availability of more educated tribal applicants. There's the issue of funding: Kitt Peak's grant support from the National Science Foundation dropped to $3.8 million in 2004 from $8.3 million in 1998, Green said. And there's low turnover among those already working at the observatory. Mike Hawes, who runs the 17-member facilities crew with which Rios works, says the average age of employees is about 55. The best opportunities at Kitt Peak are for people who are trained in astronomy. Green said a tribal member with an astronomy degree would be a hot commodity throughout the field. But the best candidate "would be someone who went all the way to a Ph.D. That's yet a higher level, and one we would be thrilled to see." Contact reporter Anne Minard at 434-4086 or aminard@azstarnet.com. Copyright c. 1999-2005 AzStarNet, Arizona Daily Star and its wire services. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Cornsilk weaves Tales of Home, Love" --------- Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 08:33:29 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: CORNSILK" http://www.grandforks.com/mld/columnists/dorreen_yellow_bird/12392953.htm DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: Cornsilk weaves tales of home, love August 16, 2005 For Nebraska, the Corn Husker state, this is the month of the corn. And corn for the Sahnish (Arikara) and other native people has always been important because it maintained our lives in times of famine. Historians and the stories of our people tell of the path of this sacred plant. It started, they said, in the warm fields in Mexico and was carried north by our people. In each region, the corn was nurtured and coaxed to grow in cooler and cooler climates until its milky sweetness could be tasted in most places in this nation. Last week, I attended the Native American Journalists Association conference in Lincoln, Neb. As I and a Herald co-worker, Susanne Nadeau, drove south, we veered little until we reached Lincoln. The closer we came to Nebraska, the higher and thicker the cornfields seemed to be. It was hard to look on any side of the road without seeing the waving green leaves of corn. During the conference, we visited the Ho Chunk reservation. On our way there, we saw a stand selling corn. "We'll stop there on our way home Sunday," we decided. Then, on our way home Sunday, we took a "short cut" through back roads. I am used to doing that in North Dakota, but I found I wasn't in North Dakota anymore. I missed a turn somewhere and it wasn't until we reached Omaha that I realized we were some 70 miles off our path, and we missed the roadside stand selling corn. So no dried corn this year, I thought. Our family usually dries corn each year for the winter. Now, you're probably wondering why can't we just buy some frozen corn and be done with it. Here is what we do and why: First, it is not just about roasting and drying corn, it is about family. When we get corn - 20 or 30 dozen ears - it is brought to either my brother or my aunt's house. There we dig a pit for fire. We cover the pit with a grate used for so many years, I can't tell you what it was before it became our corn grate. After the wood burns down a little and there are more coals than fire, we begin. We fill a big washtub with water and put it on one side of the pit; the washtub, too, is pretty worn. The corn is dipped in the water and placed quickly on the grate above the coals, which are hot by then. You choose what role you'll play in the process just by standing or sitting where you want to work. The fire position is usually the hardest job because of the heat. That person has to stay there turning the corn and making sure it doesn't burn. Eventually, the corn is taken off the fire with a long fork, stick or whatever the fire person thinks works best. Then the corn is thrown on a mat or canvas to cool. That's when the older women begin to shell the corn. There are different methods of doing this, too. Some use a soup spoon, some just twist the corn and there are those who will take each kernel one at a time. I am a spoon person myself. The corn has a nutty fragrance from the roasting that is wonderful. Usually we sit and talk - about everything. We are a family who laughs a lot, so you will hear our howling laughter, at times, rolling over Lake Sakakawea. Mosquitoes, flies and kids circling our shade are part of the process, too. When the corn is shelled, it is put on screens, and the final phase - the drying - begins. The corn usually takes a day or so to dry, then it is packed into cloth bags or tins for the winter. It's used in soups, with beans, without beans, with meat (any kind), with suet; I throw a handful in most of my soups. To all of those dishes, the corn adds not only nutrition but also a nutty sweet flavor. Corn has changed from those old days, when its nutritional value was unmatched. Today, there probably is too much sugar hybrid into it, but the process we use is the same as if the corn was from the old days. I didn't get any corn in those Nebraska fields, and when I got home Sunday night after nine hours on the road, I was pretty tired. When I stepped out my Toyota, I could swear she lowered her tires and rested her bumper lightly on the ground, sighed softly and closed her bug-stained headlight-eyes. I whispered a thank you to the Creator for the safe ride, turned and went into the house to my own bed. When I closed my eyes, I saw visions of those long, green leaves of the corn. I saw a ripple of breeze shake the tall cornstalks as if they were dancing. Then, I walked into dreamland. ---- Dorreen Yellow Bird's column appears Tuesday and Saturday. Reach her at (701) 780-1228 or dyellowbird@gfherald.com Copyright c. 2005 Grand Forks Herald/Grand Forks, ND. --------- "RE: Hecel Oyate Kinipikte" --------- Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 08:28:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HECEL OYATE KINIPIKTE" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096411414 Hecel Oyate Kinipikte (so that the people may live) by: Carole Anne Heart August 16, 2005 Didn't you receive your parenting book in the delivery room? The complex and mystifying transition from childhood to adulthood is not clear to adolescents or parents. From the day a child is welcomed into the world, parents expect their child to achieve beyond what they have achieved. Parents live vicariously through their children, imagining and wishing for them great careers and a successful life. Then reality sets in, and parent's and children's expectations don't always match. Informal markers of the rite of passage for young people include drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, having sex, obtaining a driver's license or getting a vehicle. These benchmarks signal to a child their entrance into the realm of adulthood. But the question remains: are these appropriate markers that signify admirable and proper qualities we want our children to emulate? Tribal rites of initiation Indigenous cultures of the Americas developed a tested methodology that steered the passage from childhood to adulthood for young people. This process for young Lakota women was the Ishnati Awicha Lowanpi (womanhood ceremony) and for young Lakota men the Hanbleceya (vision quest), and was the culmination of a series of structured events in which young people participated with their relatives and other admired adults within the Tiyospaye (family structure). The structured events were teaching tools developed to assist young people to make the right choices, thus easing the difficult transition. These learning packets supplied the necessary ingredients, critical tools and information to young people about their role for successful adulthood. Tribal youth are no longer required to participate in the time-honored traditions that offered guidance, support, and a specific timeframe for entry into adulthood. Tribal youth now view their transition into adulthood using the same standard rites of passage as non-Indian youth. The once clearly defined transition from childhood to adulthood has become very fuzzy and difficult to determine by today's standards. Some young people begin smoking and experimenting with alcohol and other illegal substances before age 12. Some of our young girls conceive at the age of 13 or younger. Young men become fathers at the same age. When a child begins to experiment with alcohol, drugs, smoking or risky sexual behavior, it is the parents' responsibility to guard and guide them. Recent studies point to a threefold increase in the number of women who get drunk at least 10 times a month. Another study showed 40 percent of college girls binge drink. When the increased rates of teen depression, suicide, alcohol poisoning, sexual assault and pregnancies are considered together, it is clear that we are dealing with an epidemic of social issues that will be carried into adulthood. Young people who begin drinking at an early age are at an greater risk of developing heart disease, reproductive disorders, brain abnormalities and social problems. The long-term consequences of alcohol abuse are much greater for girls than boys. The brain To gain an understanding of teen physical development - particularly the brain, which is the command center for behavior - scientists found that the teenage brain continues to develop well beyond the accepted 18 years of age. The brain lays the foundation for behavior, habits and future choices up until a person is 25 years old. The teen brain goes through a period of pruning. Just as a gardener prunes plants, so the brain prunes brain cells that aren't being used. This period of development is very important for parents to understand. The teen brain finds it very difficult to plan ahead, think of consequences, to fully understand risky and destructive behavior, and to self-manage their emotions. Cultural traditions Our ancestors understood these important developmental stages and developed a system to respond to it. Young children were given guidance and nurturance from all the adults surrounding them. They were taught the rules for social behavior and interaction. Adults modeled the behaviors they hoped to see in their children. Repetition was used to affirm behaviors that parents desired in their children. Social and motor skills were continually tested and refined. Spiritual and moral values were an integral part of this learning period. There is a silent scream by our youth for the return of an established ritual that sets a standard for entrance into adulthood. As Indian parents we have a responsibility to formally set in place those concrete expected standards that once were a clear guide for what was expected of our children. Only in this way can we ensure that we affirm our cultural values and traditions for our youth. This is how we must protect our children and our future for generations. --- Carole Anne Heart is the executive director of the Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairmen's Health Board. She can be reached at (605) 721-1922 or execdir@aatchb.org. Visit www.aatchb.org for more information. Copyright c. 1998-2005 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: The Indigenous Rennaisance has begun!" --------- Date: Sunday, August 21, 2005 12:45 PM From: frostyca2000 [frosty@ipermitmail.com] Subj: IT LOOKS LIKE ONEIDA VS. SHERILL WIPED OUT `FEDERAL INDIAN LAW'! BRAVO!! THE INDIGENOUS RENNAISANCE HAS BEGUN! Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian IT LOOKS LIKE ONEIDA VS. SHERILL WIPED OUT `FEDERAL INDIAN LAW'! BRAVO!! THE INDIGENOUS RENNAISANCE HAS BEGUN! MNN. Aug 18, 2005. The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Oneida Indian Nation of New York v. the City of Sherill could be applied everywhere in the United States. And why not? The case was taken under federal Indian law. Federal Indian law is a creation of the Federal government. It can be changed by the federal government anytime to suit its needs. The federal government wants to eliminate Indian title throughout the United States. Using the Sherill decision the principle of "latches" can now be applied everywhere. This means that any Indian "tribe" set up under federal Indian law that did not take a court action on their land claims within a unspecified time cannot now do so. The time frame and Indian interest in land is decided by the federal government under their laws. This means that the Indians have no rights at all under federal Indian law. The fraud was started more than 20 years ago. Illegal "tribal" governments were set up under federal Indian law. St. Regis, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga and out-of-state tribes were encouraged to start land claims cases against New York State. Then they were to work out a "settlement" to extinguish sovereign Indian title in exchange for casinos. Even though they were municipal level governments they agreed to give up Haudenosaunee land, which is most of New York State. It almost worked. Most of the people did not know this was going on because New York State told their Indian "puppets" to keep it a secret. They thought that no one would take much interest in the dry and complicated details of phony administrative law. The Kanion'ke:haka aren't so easy to fool. Once we got wind of what they were up to, the Kanion'ke:haka/Mohawk constitutional government under the Kaianereh'ko:wa/Great Law filed a "constitutional jurisdiction question" in the St. Regis v. New York State case. We asked a simple and obvious question. It's the big question the colonizers always try to avoid. How did federal and state government entities get jurisdiction to sign over unsurrendered land that is protected by the U.S. Constitution? The New York State Courts refused to answer us. They had no law and no precedents. We went on to file the same question in the Sherill/Oneida and Onondaga cases. In St. Regis v. New York State, Judges McCurn and Lowe of the U.S District Court made a decision. They thought the only thing they could do was dismiss our question. This allowed us to appeal first to the Second Circuit. When it also ignored the constitutional question, then at last we were able to appeal to the United States Supreme Court. When it came to Sherill the judge had learned from the "mistake" of Judges McCurn and Lowe. In trying to address the constitutional question, they tripped all over themselves in the process. They went back to the time-honored fraudulent court strategy of willful blindness to the existence of the constitutional question that was staring them in the face. By not saying anything they thought they could close the loophole that we used to get the issue in. If they don't answer, we can't appeal because there is no final decision. They thought this would stop us in our tracks. Our case involves genocide - the deliberate attempt to destroy a people. So it is even more serious than cases involving the death penalty, where only a single individual's life is at stake. If someone is on death row, the court is petitioned with a "habeus corpus" to stop the execution. A refusal to answer the petition is the court's "final solution" reply. The execution is then carried out. The counterpart petition to habeus corpus when it is a nation rather than an individual is "quo warranto". In Sherill, the judge's failure to answer our quo warranto petition is the court's "final solution" reply signaling the death of the nation by judicial trickery. Because it implements a final solution it is an appealable final order. We thus appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and were assigned the number 05-165. . The judges figured their non-answer was their secret weapon. This is now our secret weapon. We have now brought Sherill into our US Supreme Court case No. 05-165. Sherill is the key. Sherill brought in latches, the principle that too much time has lapsed for Indians to make applications for settlement of their outstanding land claims. So the Indians have lost their interest to their lands for all time. Federal Indian law is an extinguishment device to get rid of Indian constitutional jurisdiction. Sherill could now be applied to federal Indian tribes all across the United States. However, Indian constitutional jurisdiction is timeless. It remains until there has been a consensual treaty according to the Kaienerekowa and the U.S. Constitution. This has absolutely nothing to do with and is completely unaffected by federal Indian law. Therefore, it is completely unaffected by the doctrine of latches. Latches cannot apply to the constitution. Our ancestors have been fighting for our rights since the arrival of the colonists. The attacks have been constant and varied. They're still trying to exterminate us by ignoring the constitutional question. Now it cannot be ignored. We have the US Supreme Court number. The inauguration of the rule of law is the antidote to genocide. The rule of law cannot function if the law itself is ignored. The era of ignoring the law is coming to close. We had a historical suspension while the Indigenous people were victimized. We are bringing a shameful chapter in North American history to an end, before the final solution has been allowed to fully run its course. Kahentinetha Horn MNN Mohawk Nation News Comments: kahntineta@hotmail.com For more information contact: 518-358-6012 or 518-236-7100 --------- "RE: Aboriginal Vet's Association forgotten" --------- Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 11:56:36 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NAVV LEFT OUT OF SMOKEY'S FAREWELL" http://www.meadowlakeprogress.com/story.php?id=179487 Aboriginal vet's association forgotten By Noemi LoPinto August 21, 2005 On August 13, 2005, Ernest "Smokey" Smith, the last living recipient of the Victoria Cross, Canada's highest award for valour, was commemorated with a military funeral, preceded by a two-kilometre procession through Vancouver, with thousands lining the streets. Smith's flag-draped coffin was carried on a vintage gun carriage to St. Andrew's Wesley United Church, accompanied by hundreds of military personnel from across the country. Except for a representative of the National Aboriginal Veterans Association (NAVAC), who were excluded from the guest list. "I don't know why we weren't invited," NAVAC President, Claude Petit said. "You'd have to ask them." The event was organized by Veterans Affairs Canada and the Department of National Defense, and attended by the Honourable Albina Guarnieri, Minister of Veterans Affairs, and Defence Minister, Bill Graham. On August 10, 2005, Petit wrote the Ministers a letter in which he expressed his profound disappointment at being excluded. "Smokey Smith had a very close and important role in the work of NAVAC," Petit wrote. "Smokey and I attended pilgrimages together, and he participated in many NAVAC activities until the very end of his life." Sgt. Smith was the Patron of the Year of the Veteran, 2005. He gave a great deal of time and energy to representing the Canadian Forces, and veterans, at countless historic and commemorative events across Canada and around the globe. "I knew him for many years," Petit said in the telephone interview from his home in Duck Lake. "We should have been invited to that funeral in Ottawa. You know, it's like everything else, they always seem to forget the Aboriginal people." More than 4,000 Aboriginal people in Canada fought in the First World War, and up to 12,000 First Nations people served in all three wars. However, many native soldiers were subject to racial discrimination and were denied benefits accorded to non-Aboriginal soldiers. "I was really upset with this bull----," Petit said. "It's sickening. But when it comes time they want your vote, they sure as hell can talk to you." Representatives of Veteran's Affairs Canada were unreachable by press time. Copyright c. 2005 Meadow Lake Progress. --------- "RE: NUNGAK: Guided by books of Wisdom and Knowledge" --------- Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 08:48:55 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INUIT FROM WHITE COLONIST VIEW" http://www.ammsa.com/windspeaker/windguest.html#anchor4574666 Guided by books of wisdom and knowledge Nasivvik Zebedee Nungak, Windspeaker Columnist August - 2005 In the annals of Arctic literature, there exist some writings unequalled for sheer colonial boldness, which deserve some quality attention. Frozen in time and the written word, such writings are capsules of a mind-set worthy of closer examination. In them, great wallops of gratuitous advice were dished out to Inuit, who were instructed, step by detailed step, on how to be better Eskimos than they already were. One of these, The Eskimo Book of Knowledge by George Binney, is a classic published by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1931. Binney describes Inuit then: "...They are hunters, trappers and seafarers for the most part -- happy-go-lucky, sporting folk, affectionate to their families, friendly and generous to all members of their community and on the best of terms with the White Men and Women who live among them. Through the enterprise of missionaries many of them have learned to read and write...They have, however, only one book in their language - the Bible...Upon these merry people, wholly ignorant of the Why and Wherefore of the World, the shadow of Civilization is now falling... Thus it has come about that His Majesty's most cheerful subjects, the Eskimo, have two books in their language where before they had one - a book for Sundays to which is now added this book for weekdays." As if to get on the bandwagon, Canada's Department of Mines and Resources produced The Book of Wisdom for Eskimo in 1947. Its table of contents exposes an attitude of graphic paternalism. Starting with "Where Sickness Comes From," and "How Sickness Spreads." It goes on to "The Clean Camp," "Clean Pots and Dishes," to "Clean Food." Another section includes "Family Allowances," "Care of Rifles," "Conservation of Game," and "Planning for Periods of Scarcity." Then there is A Letter From the Government to the Eskimo People, written by O.S. Finnie in 1931. This one is a gem of extreme colonial supervision- ism: a keeper, which belongs in a frame, to hang on the boardroom wall of every Inuit organization. Mr. Finnie writes: "You must have food. You must have clothing. You must have dog-food. You cannot do without food, you cannot do without winter clothing, nor can you do without dog-food. Your food, your winter clothing, your dog-food all come from your country; either from the sea or from the land. There is no other way to get them. "...Always 'cache' the meat. Do not throw it away, but dry it. Dried meat is better than canned meat: as for sea-shore Eskimos, seal meat is better than canned food...When you trade fox skins for white man's food, do not buy flour only, but also rolled oats and rice. These are better. It is not good to use baking powder all the time, nor to put too much of it in the flour.....Do not let the children drink strong tea, and give only milk to the smaller children." The authors practically invade the homes of their subjects to give them hands-on training on how to be civilized Eskimos! It's amazing to behold what saturated the thinking of people who were then in the best position to help Inuit. It's also somehow difficult to be bitter about it. In the mind-set of the authors, Inuit are primitive, uncivilized, dirty, louse-infested, un-hygienic and un-educated; fit to be transformed into something else by right-minded Qallunaat (white men). They don't know how to preserve their food, have never heard about conservation of wildlife, and are utterly ignorant about how to use government-issued family allowances. In short, Inuit are characterized as not having a clue about how to live life, and have to be trained-on-the-job to be proper, regimented Eskimos. Mr. Binnie writes: "This book - the Book of Knowledge - is the light of the sun: it will show you the path through the difficult places of life: it will provide you with further knowledge of the White Man: it will show you by what means you can make yourselves and your children more happy and prosperous. Read then this book - the Book of Knowledge - for in it you will find a great store of truth - a cache such as you make of your meat when you have it in plenty after the walrus hunt. It will fill you with understanding, which will strengthen you on the journey of life. Let those of you who read it, recite the book to those who cannot read. In your camps discuss the book; talk of it in your igloos at night time when your pipes are lit. Teach it to your children; this book will help them." One hates to intrude on these trains of thought, so well expressed! I'm left wanting to read every last word of this stuff! Copyright c. 2005 Windspeaker, Aboriginal Multi-Media Society - AMMSA. --------- "RE: Inuit Life is not as they've known it" --------- Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 11:56:36 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ARCTIC MELT-DOWN" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10341645 Inuit life is not as they've known it By Steve Connor August 20, 2005 The indigenous people of Alaska may become the first global-warming refugees as their frozen homeland goes through the quickest defrost since the end of the last Ice Age, around 12,000 years ago. The permafrost on which their houses are built is melting, the sea ice that protects their shorelines from the savage Arctic storms is retreating and the animals on which they have traditionally relied are in decline. Alaska's native human population - the Inuit - first began to voice concern at the end of the 1990s when they saw startling changes to the Arctic environment. First it was the thinning of the sea ice on which they trek in search of early winter game. It made hunting for bearded seals or "ugruks" more precarious, with the increased risk of falling through the thinner ice, said Benjamin Neakok, a resident of the north Alaskan outpost of Point Ley. "It makes it hard to hunt in fall time when the ice starts forming. It's dangerous to be out," he said in a testimony given to a report compiled in 1998. "It's not really sturdy. And after it freezes there's some open spots. Sometimes it doesn't freeze up until January." Then there was the melting of the permafrost, the permanently frozen ground that the Inuit rely on for support of the wooden piles on which their houses are built. Suddenly the ground began to melt. Some locals began to talk of "drunken forests", caused as the frozen earth beneath Alaska's forests of black spruce turned to mud. Trees collapsed. In some coastal areas, the retreating sea ice exposed the land to the full force of the harsh winter storms, allowing the sea to erode the land with an increased risk of flooding. "When I moved here, the sea was 40 feet [12.1m] from the house. Now it's about 10 feet [3m]," said Joe Braach, the headteacher of the school at Shishmaref, a town of about 560 on a small barrier island off the northwest coast of Alaska. Scientists are in little doubt the region is going through a period of dramatic warming - perhaps the most rapid for thousands of years. The Arctic is like a basin of frozen water surrounded by the northernmost coasts of America, Russia, Scandinavia and Greenland, and the frozen ice cap has always retreated during the long polar summer days. But the summer melting period is getting longer. Scientists say the period has been extended by about five days every decade, leaving less and less ice at the end of each summer. The sea ice has thinned by about 50 per cent since 1950. If the situation continues as it has done over the past 50 years, and man-made greenhouse gases continue to rise as predicted, computer models suggest there will be no sea ice at all at the North Pole by the summer of 2080. - INDEPENDENT Copyright c. 2005 New Zealand Herald, APN Holdings NZ Ltd. --------- "RE: Mexican Rebels decry leftist Candidate" --------- Date: Friday, August 19, 2005 12:41 PM From: Chiapas95-english [owner-chiapas95-english@eco.utexas.edu] Subj: En;AP,Mexican rebels decry leftist candidate,Aug 14 Mailing List: Chiapas95-English This message is forwarded to you by the editors of the Chiapas95 newslists. To contact the editors or to submit material for posting send to: . Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 23:33:31 +0200 From: "Dana" Mexican rebels decry leftist candidate August 14, 2005 CARMEN PATATE, Mexico (AP) - Southern Mexico's armed Zapatista rebels Sunday continued their verbal assault on the country's largest leftist political party and its strongest presidential contender in years, saying both were out to "destroy our country." Concluding a meeting with more than 60 Indian organizations from across Mexico, Zapatista spokesman Subcomandante Marcos laid into the Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, as he has done repeatedly in recent days. "We want to say here to the directors of the PRD and to the party's leaders, 'don't keep lying' and 'look for better arguments to debate' because, if you don't, not only will we think you're shameless morons, but we will conclude you're stupid," Marcos said to a smattering of laughter under the massive green tarp where two days of discussions with Indian leaders took place. It has been 11 years since the Zapatistas burst from the jungles of southern Chiapas state and briefly seized several communities in the name of Indian rights and socialism, and the group has remained virtually silent for the past four. But the rebels are nonetheless attempting a comeback ahead of the July 2006 presidential elections, promising to take their movement in a new direction, toward politics and an alliance with the left and away from armed conflict. As part of that effort, the group has summoned leaders from across the country to Carmen Patate and rebel-held corners of the Lacandon jungle near the border with Guatemala. Since reappearing in public this month for the first time since 2001, Marcos has spent much of his time attacking the PRD in its charismatic presidential hopeful Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. President Vicente Fox is barred by law from seeking a second, six-year term, and Lopez Obrador - whose lavish public spending and handout programs in the capital earned him a reputation as a firebrand populist - is the leading candidate to replace him. But not if Marcos has anything to say about it. On Sunday, he called one of Lopez Obrador's pet projects - the massive restoration of Mexico City's historic district - a ploy to line the pockets of Latin America's riches man, Carlos Slim, a key financial backer of the expensive renovation. The former mayor, who stepped down to begin a national campaign, has said he respectfully disagrees with Marcos, but won't argue with him. Answering critics who suggest that an attack on Lopez Obrador only helps the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which ruled Mexico from 1929 until when Fox was elected in 2000, Marcos countered that a PRD victory next summer would be little different than a return to power for the PRI. "There is a difference between an inconsequential left and a consequential right, the difference is they both do the same things, but one says they don't," Marcos said of Lopez Obrador's party. Copyright c. 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. -- To subscribe to this list send a message containing the words subscribe chiapas95 (or chiapas95-lite, or chiapas95-english, or chiapas95-espanol) to majordomo@eco.utexas.edu. Previous messages are available from http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/chiapas95.html or gopher to Texas, University of Texas at Austin, Department of Economics, Mailing Lists. --------- "RE: Columbia: Acts against the People" --------- Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 08:28:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ATTACKS AGAINST NATIVE PEOPLE" http://ghostchild.com/news+article.storyid+39.htm Columbia: Acts against the People: this year so far August 15, 2005 In an August 9 communique' marking International Indigenous People's Day, the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) reported that so far in 2005, 66 members of Colombia's indigenous communities have been murdered, 16 have disappeared, 111 were wounded, 124 arbitrarily detained, 9,250 threatened and 18,602 forcibly displaced. The food crops of at least 10 indigenous communities have been sprayed with the herbicide glyphosate, causing the death of two children. (The herbicide is used by the Colombian government in a U.S.-sponsored campaign against drug cultivation.) Most of the abuses against indigenous people have been carried out by rightwing paramilitaries (37.9 percent); the rest are by government forces (24 percent), leftist rebels (15.2 percent) and unidentified criminal groups (22.7 percent). (ONIC 8/9/05) The same day ONIC issued its communique', August 9, two Colombian soldiers from the Jose' Hilario Lopez Battalion attacked 19-year old indigenous student Emerita Guauna in Coconuco, Purace' municipality, in the southern department of Cauca. Wearing their uniforms and with their faces covered by ski-masks, the soldiers used their military weapons, along with physical force and threats, to overpower Guauna; one of them then sexually assaulted her, in the presence of an indigenous boy. The soldiers told Guauna: "We're doing this to you because you're a guerrilla. " The attack took place a short distance from a National Police outpost. On August 11 members of Guauna's community held a meeting with an officer named Velez, who admitted that a soldier was responsibl