_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 13, ISSUE 038 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 September 17, 2005 Abenaki Skamonkas/corn maker moon Blackfeet awakaasiiki'somm/deer moon Mvskogee Otowoskucee/little chestnut moon +-------------------------------------------------------+ | Much more happens in Indian Country than is reported | | in this weekly newsletter. For daily updates & events | | go to http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm | +-------------------------------------------------------+ Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin -- Blackfeet -- News for All the People Ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min -- Ojibwe -- We Are Talking About Ourselves Aunchemokauhettittea -- Naragansett -- Let Us Share News Kanoheda Aniyvwiya -- Cherokee -- Journal of the People O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse -- Creek -- People's New News O o O Acimowin -- Plains Cree -- Story or Account O o O Tlaixmatiliztli -- Nahuatl -- News O o o o o O Agnutmaqan -- Listuguj Mi'kmaq -- News O o O Sho-da-ku-ye -- Teehahnahmah -- Talking Birchbark O o O Un Chota -- Susquehannic Seneca -- The People Speak O Ha-Sah-Sliltha -- Ditidaht Nation -- News of the People Ximopanolti tehuatzin, inin Mexika tlahtolli -- Nahuatl -- For you we offer these words It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le -- Chickasaw -- Together We Are Talking Dineh jii' adah' ho'nil'e'gii ba' ha' neh -- Navajo Nation -- What's Happening among The People News Okla Humma Holisso Nowat Anya -- Choctaw -- People(s) Red Newspaper Hi'a chu ah gaa -- Pima -- The stories or the talk of the People s ch mA mL tL squee Lux -- Okanogan -- News from the People Native American News -- Language of the Occupation Forces ++>If you speak a Native American language not listed above, please send us your words for "News of the People." We'd rather take up this whole page saving these few words of our hundreds of nations than present a nice clean banner in the language of the occupation forces who came here determined to replace our words with their own. email gars@nanews.org with the equivalent of "News of the People" in your tribal language along with the english translation <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is produced in straight ASCII text for greatest portability across platforms. Read it with a fixed-pitch font, such as Courier, Monaco, FixedSys or CG Times. Proportional fonts will be difficult to read. <================<<<< >>>>================> This issue contains articles from www.owlstar.com; www.indianz.com; www.pechanga.net; UUCP email IMPORTANT!! ----------- In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, all material appearing in this newsletter is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for educational purposes. <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is a way of keeping the brothers and sisters who share our Spirit informed about current events within the lives of those who walk the Red Road. ++ It may be subscribed to via email by sending a request from your own internet addressable account to gars@speakeasy.org ++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org <================<<<< >>>>================> +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | As historian Patricia Nelson | | Once a language is lost, it is | | Limerick summarized in "The | | gone forever | | Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken | | * Of the 300 original Native | | Past of the American West... | | languages in North America, | | "Set the blood quantum at | | only 175 exist today. | | one-quarter, hold to it as a | | * 125 of these are no longer | | rigid definition of Indians, | | learned by children. | | let intermarriage proceed as | | * 55 are spoken by 1 to 6 elders;| | it had for centuries, and | | when they die, their language | | eventually Indians will be | | will disappear. | | defined out of existence." | | * Without action, only 20 | | "When that happens, the federal | | languages will survive the next| | government will be freed of | | 50 years. | | its persistent 'Indian problem.'"| | Source: Indigenous Language | +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ | Institute | |http://www.indigenous-language.org| This issue's Elder Quote: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + ======================== "We always look at seven generations to come. We want to maintain our land and traditional ways." __ Joni Ramos, President - Salt River Pima +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! It was my intent to devote this week's editorial space to the pathetic state of Indian Education in both Canada and the U.S. That will have to wait. Something we all already knew needs to be said. We are a giving people. It is part of our culture and part of who we are. We need to acknowledge that's the way we walk, and take a moment to give thanks we are real human beings and to be proud of each other. The lead article is just one of many I have read this past week telling over-and-over again how Native Peoples and Native Nations are giving to the Katrina storm victims. I heard about it this weekend at a powwow. Forty Houma and Choctaw were being cared for by one family in central Alabama and another twenty had just arrived. The church that had promised to help had backed out, yet the family was determined to provide for these relations in need and trust Creator would show them the way. In the lead article you are being given an opportunity to help provide bison meat for the victims. A few dollors from each reader will insure a steady supply of nutritionally superior bison for these families. Last Monday I was in the Atlanta Federal Prison SHU, Security Holding Unit (ie: Maximum Control or "the hole"), offering prayer support for brothers confined there. These men, who have very minimal income when they get out of the SHU, and pay exhorbitant prices in the commissary for their purchases, were passing their toiletries to the prison officials to be sent to the victims of Katrina. We are a unique people and I send thanks for each of you! 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 ----------- - Tribes need help - Groups seek protections for Women shipping Bison Meat to Victims - Tribes, Owner clash - Louisiana Coastal Tribes over Marr Property hardest hit by Katrina - Tribal Land issue smolders - Southwestern Tribes chip in - Mayans, American Indians disaster assistance explore shared Histories - Sandia gives $1M to Red Cross - Maine Tribe starts - Tulsa Native Americans Prescription Drug Business roll up their Sleeves - Navajos want control of Classrooms - Ntl. Organizations from State raise disaster relief Funds - YELLOW BIRD: - More Donatins, Close encounters of the Bear Kind Gulf Coast Tribes offer grim News - Chief talks about - While People suffer, new Education Manifesto IHS reserves Funds - Education picture - Rehnquist's tenure for Okanagan Natives saw erosion of Sovereignty - First Ministers - Nominee Roberts to tackle Aboriginal Poverty shaped limits on Sovereignty - Ten Years since Dudley George - Roberts could hear from was killed Native Hawaiians again - Mine report recommends - McALLISTER: Media lets DOI immediate remediation off the hook on Trust - AFN launches class action Lawsuit - Swimmer shifts Trust - Navajo CI looking for more Money responsibility to Landowners - Suspects in Woman's slaying - Clutching to a culture: appear in Court Arapaho reinvigorate Tribe - Native Prisoner - Eastern Pequots wait confidently -- Inmates seeking correspondence for BIA Decision - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - Schaghticokes Ad Campaign - Rustywire: Toadlena, on eve of decisions Where the Mountain is Split - Valley looks to Tribes - Del "Abe" Jones Poem: to open Lands for Roads - Old Albuquerque Indian School - Appeals Court refuses to rehear development plan Cayuga Land Claim - Safeguarding a Legacy --------- "RE: Tribes need help shipping Bison Meat to Victims" --------- Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 08:48:17 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="KATRINA RESPONSE" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.greatfallstribune.com//20050908/NEWS01/509080312/1002 Tribes need help shipping bison meat to hurricane victims By JARED MILLER Tribune Regional Reporter September 8, 2005 FORT BELKNAP - The Fort Belknap tribes hit a snag this week in their plan to slaughter 10 bison and donate the meat to victims of Hurricane Katrina. Coordinators of the relief effort don't have any way to ship the estimated 5,000 pounds of meat from Montana to refugee stations in other parts of the nation. Tribal officials are looking for spare room in a refrigerated truck headed to Utah, Colorado or Texas next week. "If anybody in the state has something going that way and had some extra space, we would appreciate being contacted," said Janice Hawley, coordinator for the tribes' relief effort. The Fort Belknap tribes joined others across the nation last week in offering assistance to victims of the hurricane. The Fort Belknap Human Services Department is stockpiling clothing, bedding and money to send to displaced victims. Another tribal department is collecting school supplies and children's books to replace those destroyed in one of the nation's worst natural disasters. The National Congress of American Indians last week set up a relief fund to assist tribes and their members in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. Six federally recognized tribes are located in the three states, which were hit by wind, rain and flooding. NCAI President Tex Hall has called for a unification of Indian Country to help the displaced tribes. About 10 Fort Belknap residents offered prayers and held a pipe ceremony Wednesday morning to prepare for the slaughter of the bison. "To slaughter the buffalo, to do those things, is a very spiritual thing," Hawley said. The actual slaughter probably won't happen until the tribally owned Little Rockies Meat Packing Plant in Malta has time to process the meat, probably next week, Hawley said. The animals also won't be killed until tribal officials are sure they have a way to ship meat to the hurricane victims, Hawley said. In addition to the transportation needs, the tribe must raise about $1,000 for butcher paper, tape and boxes, Hawley said. Between Havre and Malta on the Hi-Line, the Fort Belknap Reservation is home to the Fort Belknap Gros Venture and Assiniboine tribes. The tribes own about 600 bison, which live on the reservation. Meanwhile, the Chippewa-Cree Tribe of the nearby Rocky Boy's Reservation also is considering some type of hurricane relief measures. The Chippewa-Cree Business Committee could take up the matter on Friday, said Councilman Jonathan Windy Boy. Reach Tribune Regional Reporter Jared Miller at (406) 791-6573, (800) 438-6600 or at jarmille@greatfal.gannett.com. Copyright c. 2005 Great Falls Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Louisiana Coastal Tribes hardest hit by Katrina" --------- Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 10:36:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LOUISIANNA STATE COASTAL TRIBES" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096411535 Louisiana state coastal tribes hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina by: Brenda Norrell / Indian Country Today September 9, 2005 HOUMA, La. - Hurricane Katrina destroyed the homes of Louisiana-state recognized American Indian tribes on the Gulf Coast, and some have lost everything to hurricane damage and flooding. Tribal members say Hurricane Katrina did not discern whether tribal members were from federally-recognized tribes, but those lacking federal recognition have been largely ignored by federal agencies and the media. At least eight families of the state-recognized Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe, located in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, lost everything or received major damage. Patty Ferguson, member of the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe and the tribe's attorney, said three families from the tribe - one in New Orleans, one in St. Bernard and one in Mississippi - lost everything. At least five other tribal families living in Jefferson Parish have been displaced. As of Sept. 8, it was unclear whether their homes were spared in the storm. "The tribe also does not know the extent of the damage of three families living in St. Charles Parish and one in Kiln, Miss., where the eye of the storm passed through," Ferguson told Indian Country Today. Ferguson said there was other damage. "The Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe estimates that that at least 21 families have some roof/house damage." In southern Louisiana, five state-recognized Indian tribes felt the effects of Katrina, including the United Houma Nation which spreads across various settlements in that part of the state. The other tribes hit were the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe; the Isle de Jean Charles Indian Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha Confederation of Muskogees, located in Terrebonne Parish; the Bayou Lafourche Band of Biloxi- Chitimacha Confederation of Muskogees, located in Lafourche Parish; and the Muskogees, located in Terrebonne Parish. The United Houma Nation has about 4,250 members living in the region affected by Katrina, including St. Bernard, Orleans, Jefferson, and Plaquemines parishes. The entire parish of St. Bernard was flooded and those Houma Indians living there are now displaced. Some are in shelters, some in hotels, and others scattered throughout the state with relatives. A preliminary report from Pat Arnould, director of the Louisiana Governor's Office of Indian Affairs, on Sept. 6 showed that 70 Chitimacha families were affected in Orleans, St. Bernard, Plaquemines and Jefferson parishes. With reports still coming in, preliminary accounts show the numbers of United Houma Nation tribal members affected: 200 people in Orleans, 650 in St. Bernard, 400 in Plaquemines and 3,000 in Jefferson Parish. Arnould told ICT, "Please advise any tribal citizen affected in these areas to contact their tribal government with information on their whereabouts. At this time many will not know of the damage suffered, but we are very concerned with those who have evacuated." Members of affected tribes living in other states should also contact their tribal government. "I am getting many calls wanting to offer assistance but have no way of knowing the locations of our population," Arnould said. Arnould can currently be contacted at the State Office of Emergency Preparedness: (800) 256-7036. Her desk number is (225) 925-7445. Other numbers include (225) 219-7556 or, for Louisiana residents, (800) 863-0098. Elsewhere, Ferguson said members of the Bayou Lafourche Band of Biloxi- Chitimacha Confederation of Muskogees also have roof damage and are in need of assistance in making repairs. The main concern for this area is access to food and supplies. Bayou Lafourche Band of Biloxi Chitimachas Chief Randy Verdun arranged a food delivery to his community members through the assistance of churches in the Baton Rouge area. "Many of these bayou tribes are fishing communities," Ferguson said of the five state-recognized tribes in southern Louisiana. "It is unclear how Hurricane Katrina will impact the fishing industry. The catches have been minimal the last few nights, and the market for crabs has been reduced. "There is a fear that the crab, oyster and shrimp seasons may be finished for the year. The alligator season has been postponed due to mortality of alligators caused by the storm. Fishermen may be eligible for emergency unemployment because of the debris and pollution in the waters as a result of Katrina," she said. Debris and trash in the waters need to be removed to enable a productive fishing season. Most Indians in the area freeze enough seafood for the winter. "Tribal leaders are concerned about those families who do not have generators because their winter supply of seafood and other food products spoiled during the power outages. Families in affected parishes are also eligible for emergency food cards through the end of the week to assist in replacing spoiled food as a result of the power outage," she said. Electricity and phone service was restored to the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe, located to the southwest of New Orleans. Tribal members living in the community are grateful it was spared from the hurricane surge and are focusing on outreach to those members and individuals who have been hit the hardest by Katrina. Chairman Charles Verdin of the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe is concerned about roofs torn apart and the further damage that can be caused to homes if those are not repaired. Emary Billiot, former tribal council member and an elder, will be surveying the damage in the community to see if any of the tribal members living in Pointe-au-Chien need help to make repairs. Verdun said scores of homes would need repair from the strong winds of Hurricane Katrina. He said the three state-recognized Biloxi-Chitimacha Indian communities are along the Gulf Coast in Lafourche and Terrebonne. "All were hard-hit," Verdun told ICT. "Additionally, we have tribal members that reside in other parishes that were hard-hit as well. Some losing everything, many are still without power and need food and water. "The economic impact will last for years, especially for those that rely on the gulf and inland lakes to earn their living in the seafood industry." Due to hurricane damage to telephone lines, ICT was unable to reach the Houma Nation, Chief Albert Naquin of the Isle de Jean Charles Band of the Biloxi-Chitimacha or Chairman Marlene Foret of the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha. Copyright c. 1998-2005 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved --------- "RE: Southwestern Tribes chip in disaster assistance" --------- Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 08:48:17 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="KATRINA RELIEF" http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=6960 Southwestern tribes chip in disaster assistance Fort McDowell Yavapai send officers, Navajo leader appeals for donations WINDOW ROCK AZ Native American Times September 8, 2005 Tribes all across the Southwest are teaming up to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina The Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation sent two tribal police officers to give support to tribes in Louisiana and Mississippi that have opened up their land and resources to evacuees. Fort McDowell Yavapai officials say that Sgt. Michelle Vasey and Officer Tom Chaney went to Mississippi over the Labor Day weekend. Vasey and Chaney will spend at least two weeks in Mississippi helping to provide emergency services and address public safety needs. The two officers were dispatched in coordination with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. "Tribes in these devastated areas are being inundated with refugees in need of services," said Orlando Moreno, general manager of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation. "The Yavapai are honored to assist and volunteer our police officers." The Fort McDowell Yavapai is also asking their 300 employees to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina by making a monetary donation. The tribal council has promised to match whatever amount the employees raise. The tribe is located about 23 miles northeast of Phoenix. In the Arizona community of Window Rock, the leader of the Navajo Nation is urging tribal members to donate to hurricane relief efforts. "Many Navajos watched last week and weekend as the events of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans went from bad to worse. And we're told worse yet is still to come," said President Joe Shirley, Jr. "Like everyone else, Navajos want to help by giving." To give perspective on the damage caused by Katrina, Shirley said the area destroyed the coastlines in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama-an area three times larger than the Navajo's sprawling reservation. "Pictures showed thousands stranded in the Superdome, elders stuck in wheelchairs along highways, families camped beneath underpasses, children on housetops, people being pulled through the rafters of their homes, people drowning in their own homes," he said. "As during 9-11, most Americans have never seen such devastation, maybe never heard of it." In urging tribal members to donate, Shirley said Red Cross officials believe they need at least $1 billion more for rescue operations. "Our Navajo teachings tell us how our people traveled through previous worlds and floods to arrive at this, the Glittering World," Shirley said. "We came here to escape the rising water. Our teachings tell us we have been through much to survive, grow and prosper. Those teachings, prayers, songs and ceremonies sustained us and gave us the strength of heart and mind to survive." Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Sandia gives $1M to Red Cross" --------- Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2005 08:26:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SANDIA CONTRIBUTION" http://www.krqe.com/expanded.asp?RECORD_KEY[News]=ID&ID%5BNews%5D=11948 Sandia gives $1M to Red Cross Source: KRQE News 13 September 9, 2005 ALBUQUERQUE - The Red Cross is getting a big chunk of help from a New Mexico pueblo. On Friday, Sandia Pueblo donated a million dollars for relief efforts. The donation was made on behalf of the pueblo's tribal council members, community members, and employees of the pueblo. "Hopefully this money will go to help rebuild their lives, educate their children and begin the healing process for those who have lost so much," Pueblo of Sandia Governor Stuwart Paisano. Sandia Pueblo has a long history of contributing to local charities, including benefiting the Muscular Dystrophy telethon and the New Mexico Hispanic scholarship foundation. Copyright c. 2005 KRQE News 13. --------- "RE: Tulsa Native Americans roll up their Sleeves" --------- Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 10:36:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TULSA NAs HELP VICTIMS" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=6968 Tulsa Native Americans roll up their sleeves to help hurricane victims Assist in sending supplies to Baton Rouge TULSA OK Sam Lewin September 9, 2005 When the Tulsa Urban League needed to quickly send supplies to their sister office in Louisiana, local Native Americans were there to help. "Our New Orleans office is totally destroyed so they moved to Baton Rouge," Tulsa Urban League Programs Manager Carmen Pettie told the Native American Times. "But the Baton Rouge office is out of everything so we are sending them some things." "Clothes were literally chest deep," Louis Gray, a regular contributor to the Native American Times and a member of the Tulsa Indian Coalition Against Racism, said in describing the scene at the league's office this week. TICAR was one of the groups that volunteered to help by sorting, stacking and sifting through piles of donated items. Officials say the volunteers again proved when a call for assistance comes the Native American community and Oklahomans in general are there to render help. "People in Oklahoma have always been good about helping their brother," Pettie said. "It's probably because we live in the heart of the Bible Belt. Many of the people coming off the bus at Camp Gruber said that people in Oklahoma are the only ones that treated them like they are human." Gray agreed, pointing out that his tribe, the Osage Nation, just sent $50,000 in disaster relief aid. "Indian people are like everyone else-we are caught up in the immediate need of what is going on. The Indian community feels the same urgency that everyone else does." Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Ntl. Organizations raise disaster relief Funds" --------- Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2005 08:36:10 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NCAI, NGIA ASSISTING ALL NATIVES" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096411518 National organizations raise disaster relief funds by: Brenda Norrell / Indian Country Today September 6, 2005 NCAI will assist tribal members from tribes lacking federal recognition NEW ORLEANS - As American Indian tribal members on the Gulf Coast seek refuge in their home communities, the National Indian Gaming Association and National Congress of American Indians are raising funds for Hurricane Katrina disaster relief. NCAI President Tex Hall said all American Indian tribal members affected by the hurricane, including those from tribes that have not received federal recognition, would be assisted. "Let me say that I have been gathering as much information as I can on what has happened down there in the Gulf Coast," Hall said. "First of all, the hearts and prayers of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara people go out to all of those hurt by Hurricane Katrina. "Second, no one, I repeat, no one is going to be forgotten on my watch. I have asked my staff at NCAI to find out who has been hit by the hurricane, how to get in touch with them, and how to send relief to them." Nedra Darling, BIA spokesman, said there are six federally recognized tribes located in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi who were impacted by the powerful storm. The BIA said the Poarch Creek Band in Alabama, the Chitimacha Tribe, Coushatta Indian Tribe, Jena Band of Choctaw and Tunica-Biloxi Tribe in Louisiana, and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians in Mississippi, were impacted. Hall responded immediately when tribal members questioned whether the United Houma Nation in southeastern Louisiana, the Mobile-Washington Band of Choctaw Indians north of Moblie, Ala., and others lacking federal recognition, would receive disaster relief funds. Hall said, "The hurricane didn't care who was federally recognized or not, and neither does NCAI. We are going to work to make sure that the money sent in to NCAI gets to all of the Indian victims down there as soon as humanly possible." With a goal of raising $1 million, NIGA began its fundraising with a $5,000 contribution to its relief fund. Indian tribes in the hurricane's path survived with minimal damage, but many Indian homes in the Gulf Coast region were without power, water and telephone service on Sept. 5, Labor Day. "This is one of the worst tragedies in American history which demands our full-scale attention and concern as these regions begin rebuilding their lives, communities and economies out of the decimation that occurred earlier this week," said NIGA Chairman Ernie Stevens Jr. NIGA is working with the Spirit of Sovereignty Foundation and coordinating with the National Congress of American Indians. "NIGA and our member tribes are absolutely committed to assisting in the relief effort and are asking all American Indian tribes to help in this dark hour. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the victims, the survivors and their families at this time," Stevens said. "NCAI is gathering information on the areas of greatest need which will benefit the tribes who are dealing with refugee and disaster relief for both their members and others and will soon have an answer as to exactly where we will send the funds," Hall said. Most of the tribes received only wind and rain damage. However, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw's tribal government offices in Philadelphia, Miss., and several largely rural communities lay directly in the storm's path resulting in extensive physical damage and loss of telephone service and power, the BIA said. Mississippi Choctaw Principal Chief Phillip Martin said that his tribe has been providing emergency shelter to tribal members and non-Indians at the tribe's casino hotel. Now, they will be moved to other areas as power returns. "We're going to do everything we can to find a place for them," Martin said. "But we have our hands full trying to get water and power back to the reservation. Clean water is of the greatest importance right now - because so much depends on it." Mississippi Choctaw tribal member Farrell Jerome Davidson said his mother reached him by text messaging from his home community of Tucker, Miss. He said telephone land lines were still out on Labor Day. Davidson said electric power was restored, but there was no running water in the tribal community. Still, he said the community is resilient, with family members and community members looking out for one another. "When it comes to help, the door is always open." Remembering Hurricane Andrew and other storms which wrecked tribal communities and leveled trees, Davidson said, "It was like a lawnmower going through." American Indian tribes across the nation continued to send aid the week after the hurricane ripped through. The Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribe of Fort Belknap in Montana said it will donate meat from at least 10 bison from its herd. Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason said the BIA has undertaken its initial response, according to a statement released Sept. 1. "Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims of this devastating event and their families," Cason said. He said the BIA and other Interior agencies are working with Indian communities to meet their public safety, emergency access and emergency services needs. The BIA's Eastern Regional Office, headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., and Choctaw Agency in Philadelphia, are coordinating their recovery efforts with the Mississippi Choctaw tribal government. The BIA's relief efforts include arranging for fresh water to be trucked in from Arkansas, utilizing agency road equipment to help clear debris from roadways, exploring ways to bring in supplies of ice, fuel and food. The BIA is also assigning law enforcement personnel to protect lives and property. BIA Law Enforcement Services personnel arrived at the Mississippi Choctaw tribal headquarters shortly after midnight on Aug. 30 with a mobile command vehicle and Emergency Response Task Force to assist Choctaw police with their recovery efforts, the BIA said. Downed trees and power lines slowed their access to tribal communities. Currently, the BIA is accessing requests from affected tribes for financial assistance. NCAI donations can be sent to National Congress of American Indians, Hurricane Relief, 1301 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 200 Washington, D.C. 20036. NIGA donations may be made to the Spirit of Sovereignty Foundation, attn: Hurricane Katrina Fund, 224 Second St. S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003. For more information contact Suzette Brewer at 202-548-3817 or e-mail to sbrewer@indiangaming.org. Copyright c. 1998-2005 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: More Donatins, Gulf Coast Tribes offer grim News" --------- Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2005 08:41:22 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GULF COAST TRIBES" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=6978 More donations as Gulf Coast tribes offer grim news Cherokees, Pueblo of Sandia contribute, NCAI releases damage list Native American Times September 12, 2005 Native American tribes continue to donate to Hurricane Katrina's victims, while Indian leaders are offering a grim assessment of the situation. "We are just beginning to see the devastation brought upon the Indian people of the Gulf Region," said the National Congress of American Indians President Tex G. Hall. "NCAI's fundraising effort to help tribes in the affected region has had an overwhelming response and we are currently assessing the damage so aid will go to the communities that need it most." The Cherokee Nation meanwhile has announced plans to raise more than $30, 000 for Hurricane Katrina victims by hosting a No-limit Texas Hold'em Tournament on Saturday, September 17. "Strong community support is a key element of what Cherokee Casino Resort is all about," said David Stewart, CEO of Cherokee Nation Enterprises, the tribal corporation which runs Cherokee Casinos. "This is a great opportunity for us to show our support for the many people hurt by Hurricane Katrina." "This is just one of the many ways the Cherokee Nation is reaching out to help people affected by this natural disaster," said Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. The NCAI, the National Indian Gaming Association and the Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Indians of California have donated $50,000 to the American Red Cross towards relief efforts. Officials presented a check to Allan Stenehjem, Executive Director of the Burleigh-Morton Chapter of the American Red Cross in Bismarck at the 36th Annual United Tribes International Powwow. "It's a humble honor to stand here with President Hall and NCAI to contribute $50,000 to the American Red Cross towards Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Tribal nations across the country are sending their support to those who have suffered from Hurricane Katrina. Many hundreds of thousands of dollars, supplies and tremendous amounts of manpower from Indian country have already poured into the devastated areas. Indian country has also opened their doors to welcomed hurricane evacuees on their reservations. At this time, we are asking for tribes across the country for their continued support," said NIGA Chairman Ernie Stevens Jr. "I have a message for the nation. It is this - the thoughts and prayers of all Indian people are with the victims and their families at this difficult time. And I have a message for Indian Country - I want you to know that every donation to the NCAI and NIGA relief funds helps rebuild lives, and gives the people of the Gulf hope in the brighter future. Every donation, no matter how small, makes a big difference," said Hall. In New Mexico, officials with the Pueblo of Sandia announced a $1 million donation to the American Red Cross. "Everyone has seen the tragic images of Hurricane Katrina -- the devastation that it has left on our country is catastrophic. In response, the Pueblo felt compelled to take action," said Governor Stuwart Paisano. "I am touched by the generosity of the Pueblo's tribal council, community members and employees." In addition to their gaming tournament later this month, the Cherokees say they set up collection containers throughout town during the Cherokee Nation's annual national holiday on Labor Day weekend. Collection sites for donations are set up at Cherokee Casinos in Catoosa, Tahlequah, Siloam Springs, Roland and Fort Gibson and at the tribe's main complex in Tahlequah and Cherokee Nation Industries in Stilwell. Donations will continue to be collected through September 30. Stewart said the goal of the poker tournament is to fill 300 available seats, which would raise $30,000 for hurricane victims. The entire prize pool, including all re-buys, will be donated to the Cherokee Nation disaster relief program for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. On the Gulf Coast, tribal leaders gave bad news about the situation on the ground. "In our tribal communities closer to New Orleans, there is total destruction," said Principal Chief of the United Houma Nation Brenda Dardar Robichaux. "The storm has affected 3,400 people in our nation and I can't even begin to guess about the loss of life." Robichaux reported that the Louisiana parishes of St. Bernard, Jefferson, Plaquemines and Orleans, where a number of tribal members lived, were the worst hit on the Houma Nation where water levels in some areas are still up to rooftops. Tribal officials are working with area shelters in an attempt to locate tribal members, according to Robichaux. Pat Arnould, Director of the Louisiana Governor's Office of Indian Affairs, offered a grim assessment regarding the search for tribal members. "My concern is that we have lost lives," said Arnould. "Those that stayed during the hurricane to protect their homes and drowned can be identified easier than those that were floating in the street. We will have a lot of people that won't be able to be identified." The NCAI has furnished a damage assessment list: Louisiana Biloxi-Chitimacha Confederation Tribe Bayou LaFourche Parish: very little water damage but a lot of wind damage to homes: 20-30 homes affected Economic subsistence, fishing industry, is devastated Isle de Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha 4 homes with roof damage 52 homes received damages but did patch up work Jena Band of Choctaw Not directly affected 8 families displaced: 1 family from Grand Isle; 1 family from Biloxi; 1 family from Jackson; 5 families from Mobile No known environmental impacts Need FEMA assistance Point-Au-Chein Tribe No water damage Wind damage to roofs Members living in hard hit Orleans Parish No problem with water and sewage United Houma Nation Bayou La Fourche Parish Roof damage Recently got electricity back on Fishing vessels destroyed; no fishing season 15 homes with roof damage; no major structural damage New Orleans area: St.Bernard, Jefferson, Plaquemines and Orleans Parishes Total devastation to minor damages 3400 families affected Tribal Officials trying to contact with tribal members Working with shelters to locate tribal members St. Bernard Parish: Major oil spill which may prevent members from returning; water levels up Damage to roofs; total devastation; local cemetery affected No known number of fatalities as of press time Chitimacha No direct impact Families-tribal members living in hard hit Orleans Parish Need FEMA assistance Tunica-Biloxi Minor damage Housing Evacuees Seeking FEMA assistance Coushatta No reported damages Mississippi Mississippi Band of Choctaw No direct impact Minor damage Housing Evacuees Assisting other communities Alabama Poarch Creek Band of Indians No direct impact Minor damage Housing tribal members returning to reservation Assisting other communities Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: While People suffer, IHS reserves Funds" --------- Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2005 08:26:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GREAT PLAINS IHS WITHHOLDS FUNDS" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096411558 While people suffer, IHS reserves funds by: David Melmer / Indian Country Today September 12, 2005 RAPID CITY, S.D. - Some IHS-reliant Great Plains tribes question whether the regional office's withholding of "residual funds" has harmed the quality of their health care. The Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Association resolved to require a full accounting of expenditures and asked for monthly financial reports. IHS' Great Plains Area Office confirmed that $6 million is in the residual fund. Rick Sorenson, at the IHS area office, said the fund was to cover expenses for duties performed by federal officials. Some duties are federally inherent functions, he said. Sorenson could not speak on record about how the residual fund works. He did say the funding was negotiated with the tribes. In addition to the $6 million residual fund, there is an additional $6 million which the area office identified as unavailable for distribution. "In reality, there are not many functions the federal officials have to do by law," said Lloyd Miller, attorney with Sonosky, Chambers and Sachse. Detailed questions e-mailed to the area office were not returned. The tribal chairmen were not aware of the amount in the fund or how it worked. Charles Colombe, president of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said a series of meetings should be scheduled to set up a protocol on the funding issue with the IHS. The chairmen's association passed a resolution that would require a consultative process to identify resources within the area office that could be released and transferred to direct health services. The tribal chairmen also want the review of the additional, unavailable funds and that the IHS disclose to the tribes all area office funds. Colombe said the chairmen should require the IHS to provide the funding information on a monthly basis. The $6 million residual fund held by the Great Plains Area Office is double the size of the Phoenix Area's residual fund of approximately $3 million. The Alaska Area residual is less than $2 million. The argument by the chairmen is that if the Great Plains Area reduced its residual fund to $2 million, it would have $4 million to spend on direct health care. The chairmen said they want the IHS to pay attention to what is going on, that people were suffering and dying; and that bureaucrats in the IHS are more interested in protecting their position. The accusation went unanswered by the IHS. "They don't hear the cries of our people and they have the money up there. It makes a person angry," said Richard Sully, council representative from the Yankton Sioux Tribe. "What makes them think they need to hold on to that money when it can be used for health care?" asked Miller. The tribes have the option of using the Indian Self-Determination Act as a basis for a lawsuit against the IHS, Miller told the chairmen. Tribes in the Billings, Mont. area and in the Southwest have challenged the IHS concerning funding. Michael Jandreau, chairman of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, said it might appear that the tribes don't need the funding because they don't work the system. He said there was money available. The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe has a new solid waste project that was funded by the IHS, the Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency. "There are funding sources available, but we need to put a process in place to make the projects work. If the funds go untapped the funding is flat, and it will continue that way. The congressional people will say the money went unspent," Jandreau said. "We got money for a detention center, but none for longevity. It takes time and effort and a lot of beating on people's doors," he said. The construction budget for a proposed hospital on the Cheyenne River Reservation was cut to 26 percent of what the need is, therefore the project is on hold, said Harold Frazier, chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. "We don't have a clue on what is happening at IHS," Frazier said. The Great Plains tribes, among the largest in terms of population and land base, are often not properly represented when hearings on health issues and budget matters are held at the congressional level. On the suggestion by Cecilia Fire Thunder, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, the Plains tribes will be more aggressive in getting people on the hearing witness list. "We represent a large number of clinics," Fire Thunder said. Copyright c. 1998-2005 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Rehnquist's tenure saw erosion of Sovereignty" --------- Date: Tue, 6 Sep 2005 08:42:17 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="REHNQUIST" http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/010176.asp Rehnquist's tenure saw erosion of tribal sovereignty September 6, 2005 As an associate justice, then chief justice, William H. Rehnquist oversaw the near wholesale dismantling of tribal sovereignty in a slew of U.S. Supreme Court cases. During Rehnquist's 33 years on the bench, the court abandoned its traditional role as a protector of tribal interests. In decisions affecting jurisdiction, taxation and immunity, the justices began to discard the notion that tribes possessed inherent sovereignty, treating tribes separately from states and, when the two collided, favoring states. As a conservative proponent of states' rights, Rehnquist was at the forefront of this shift. In 1978, he started the trend with the Oliphant v. Suquamish decision, holding that tribes lack criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians because it is "inconsistent" with their status. "By submitting to the overriding sovereignty of the United States, Indian tribes therefore necessarily give up their power to try non-Indian citizens of the United States except in a manner acceptable to Congress," Rehnquist wrote in the precedent-setting opinion on March 6, 1978, seven years after he joined the court. Three years later, the court used Rehnquist's words to extend this philosophy to civil jurisdiction. In Montana v. United States, the justices held that tribes lack authority over the activities of non- Indians except in certain cases. "Though Oliphant only determined inherent tribal authority in criminal matters, the principles on which it relied support the general proposition that the inherent sovereign powers of an Indian tribe do not extend to the activities of nonmembers of the tribe Rehnquist would expand that philosophy to civil jurisdiction," the court wrote on March 24, 1981. Rehnquist joined the majority in the 6-3 case. Three years after that, Rehnquist voiced deep concerns about the very notion of tribal sovereignty. On September 10, 1984, he issued a stay in National Farmers v. Crow Tribe, a case that tested the limits of tribal court jurisdiction over non-Indians. Although the stay didn't resolve the underlying legal issues, Rehnquist nonetheless indicated where he stood on the matter. "But if because only the National and State Governments exercise true sovereignty, and are therefore subject to the commands of the Fourteenth Amendment, I cannot believe that Indian tribal courts are nonetheless free to exercise their jurisdiction in a manner prohibited by the decisions of this Court, and that a litigant who is the subject of such an exercise of jurisdiction has nowhere at all to turn for relief from a conceded excess," he wrote in the stay. Several months later, on June 3, 1985, the court issued its opinion in the case, holding that non-Indians must first exhaust their tribal court remedies before seeking relief in the federal courts. The following year, Rehnquist was elevated to the chief justice position by the late president Ronald Reagan. The next 19 years saw the court continue its trend of chipping away at tribal rights, culminating in the 2000-2001 term, in which tribes lost five out of six cases. Among the opinions that Rehnquist authored during this period was Seminole Tribe v. Florida, decided by a 5-4 vote. On March 27, 1996, he held that state sovereign immunity protected Florida from being forced to negotiate a gaming compact. Tribal leaders, and even some federal officials, believe the decision has contributed to adverse state-tribal relations and has led to increased demands by states for a greater share of tribal gaming revenues. Rehnquist didn't always go against tribal interests, though. In Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Citizen Band Potawatomi, his majority opinion refused to discard the notion of tribal sovereign immunity. In the February 26, 1991, decision, he wrote that Congress "has never authorized suits to enforce tax assessments" on tribes for failing to pay state taxes. But more often than not, Rehnquist was on the other end of the stick during his tenure as chief justice. In March 1999, he sided against treaty rights in Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band, a close 5-4 decision. His dissent criticized the majority for holding that the Mille Lacs Band enjoys off- reservation fishing and hunting rights in Minnesota. In another 5-4 case, Rehnquist filed a dissent in Idaho v. United States from June 2001. In this tribal-state dispute, he contended that the Coeur d'Alene Tribe is not entitled to ownership of the southern third of Lake Coeur d'Alene. Even in cases where he didn't author an opinion, Rehnquist's views were felt. The most significant case is Duro v. Reina from 1990, which extended Oliphant by holding that tribes lack criminal jurisdiction over Indians who are members of other tribes. Yet 14 years later, Rehnquist showed that he could change his mind. In Lara v. United States from April 2004, he agreed that an act of Congress "recognized" and "affirmed" inherent tribal jurisdiction over "all Indians." Some constitutional doubts, however, remain. In October 2004, the Supreme Court announced that Rehnquist had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. His health kept him from attending oral arguments in two Indian law cases. His absence wasn't a factor in Cherokee Nation v. Thompson. In an 8-0 decision on March 1, 2005, the court held that the Cherokee Nation is entitled to contract support costs for an underpaid federal health contract. But a few weeks later, Rehnquist joined the court in its most recent Indian law decision, one that has been roundly criticized as one of the most devastating. Even though he didn't participate in arguments for Sherrill v. Oneida Nation, he agreed with the majority that the passage of time can erode tribal sovereignty, an issue that wasn't briefed in the case. "The Rehnquist court's decisions, meandering from the settled principles and approaches embraced by all its predecessors, have created a judicial atmosphere that threatens economic development efforts as well as the political and cultural survival of Indian tribes," David H. Getches, a University of Colorado law school professor and noted Indian law expert, said in Senate testimony in February 2002. Copyright c. 2000-2005 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Nominee Roberts shaped limits on Sovereignty" --------- Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 10:36:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CHIEF JUSTICE NOMINEE NO FRIEND OF INDIANS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096411550 Chief justice nominee Roberts shaped limits on sovereignty by: Jim Adams / Indian Country Today September 9, 2005 Analysis WASHINGTON - For better or worse, Supreme Court nominee John Roberts knows more about Indian law than any nominee in recent memory. Now that his nomination has been upgraded to that of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, following the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, he could be the major force in the court's decisions on Native issues for the next generation. His hand is already evident in two important rulings. A look at his influence on State of Alaska v. Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government in 1998 and this spring's City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York suggests that it will be for the worse. (The Oneida Nation, loser in the Sherrill case, owns Four Directions Media, publisher of Indian Country Today.) Roberts contributed arguments - and one piece of misinformation - that helped severely limit the scope of Indian country and tribal sovereignty. In fact, the unanimous ruling in Venetie, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, tracks Roberts' brief so closely that it could count as one of his own. Supreme Court justices treated Roberts with unusual deference even when he was a private attorney, suggest the transcripts of Roberts' Dec. 10, 1997 oral argument in the Venetie case. Appearances before the Supreme Court can be intimidating and even brutal. The justices are in the habit of interrupting pleaders frequently, even in mid-sentence, with rapid-fire questions, and they will curtly cut off long-winded answers. But with Roberts they took a different tone right from the beginning. In introducing the case, recalled one participant, Rehnquist leaned over the bench and asked Roberts how to pronounce the name of the village. (For the record, it is "ven-ee-tEYE".) Rehnquist very likely had relied on Roberts for many such details when the nominee served as his law clerk in 1981. But the other justices turned to Roberts for what amounted to a tutorial in tribal sovereignty. Venetie, a village of the Gwich'in people, was asserting the sovereign right to tax, saying its land was still Indian country. (The issue in the case was whether Congress had abolished Indian country in Alaska when it passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971. Gwich'in leaders vehemently opposed ANCSA and had tried repeatedly to opt out.) Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg asked, "The label, 'Indian country,' apparently, if it's proper, would allow this tax; so what else is gained by having this label, 'Indian country'?" "Oh, it has broad jurisdictional significance," replied Roberts. "If land is Indian country, we start with the presumption that tribal and federal jurisdiction controls, and that state jurisdiction is generally displaced. "If land is not Indian country, state jurisdiction applies as it does in other areas; so it has significance not only with respect to taxes, but to environmental regulation, hunting and fishing, gaming regulation, health and safety regulation, a broad range of day-to-day regulation. It answers the basic question, 'Who is in charge?"' This is a much more balanced statement of sovereignty than Roberts gave in his own brief for the case, but he went on to argue for his client, the state of Alaska, which wanted to limit tribal control. ANCSA had given aboriginal land to state-chartered Native corporations, which could dispose of it as they wished (a useful if unnecessary condition for the impending exploitation of North Slope oil.) But if a corporation gave the land back to the tribe (the situation in Venetie), why, asked Justice Stephen G. Breyer, wouldn't it revert to Indian country? "The reason is," replied Roberts, "that the decision to create Indian country is up to Congress. It's not up to, as in this case, the two ANCSA corporations that received the land." The reversion to Venetie, he said, was "a unilateral act of the corporations not approved and not joined in any way by the government." The word "unilateral" sank in with the court. It resurfaced when Ginsburg wrote the 8 - 1 ruling in the Sherrill case this March 29. The court rejected the Oneidas' assertion of sovereignty over former reservation land it had repurchased because it was a "unilateral" act. "The Tribe cannot unilaterally revive its ancient sovereignty," wrote Ginsburg. Roberts gave the court misinformation in his Venetie appearance that also resurfaced in Sherrill. Justice Antonin Scalia asked him, "Is there any other Indian country where the land in question is owned by the Indians and not held in trust by the government?" After mentioning the New Mexico pueblos, which owned their land in fee, Roberts replied, "I'm aware of no other case, no case where the government doesn't have control over the land." He overlooked the lands of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederation within New York state. Reservations there of the Mohawk, Seneca and Oneida are restricted fee land, meaning they can't be sold, but they are not held in trust by the government. They have what the law calls allodial status, meaning their title does not derive from any other sovereign. But Ginsburg apparently relied on Roberts rather than the facts in New York when she framed the Sherrill decision. She wrote that the Oneidas had the option of the Interior Department's land-into-trust mechanism to re- establish sovereignty. She did not seem aware that this process had never applied to New York. BIA officials are still trying to figure out how to apply her suggestion. "It doesn't quite fit," said one. In the hearing with Roberts, at least one justice admitted that the Supreme Court was floundering on Indian law. Said Justice John Paul Stevens, "But it is true, isn't it, that ... if we mix it up and get it all wrong, Congress can always straighten it all out, either way." "Well, yes," replied Roberts. Copyright c. 1998-2005 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved --------- "RE: Roberts could hear from Native Hawaiians again" --------- Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 08:48:17 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NATIVE HAWAIIANS AND NATIVE ALASKANS" http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/010195.asp Roberts could hear from Native Hawaiians again September 7, 2005 A bill to recognize a Native Hawaiian governing entity has been delayed in the Senate but that doesn't mean lawmakers won't be discussing the legal status of Hawaii's first inhabitants. When the Senate Judiciary Committee starts confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominee John Roberts Jr., his work on behalf of Native Hawaiian rights is expected to be one of many issues raised. As an attorney in private practice, Roberts represented the state of Hawaii in its attempt to preserve a Native Hawaiian election. Harold "Buddy" Rice, a white rancher, challenged the election as a violation of the U.S. Constitution. On behalf of former governor Benjamin Cayetano (D), Roberts argued that Native Hawaiians enjoy a status similar to that of American Indians and Alaska Natives. "Congress has singled out Hawaiians as a beneficiary of a trust relationship, just like the trust relationship that is extended to American Indians," Roberts told the court on October 6, 1999. The court, however, didn't agree. In a 7-2 decision, the justices said that restricting the election to people of Native Hawaiian ancestry violated the Fifteenth Amendment. The ruling has since been used to challenge a number of education, land and other programs that benefit Native Hawaiians. Despite the negative outcome, supporters of Roberts cite the work as proof of his lack of a political ideology. The case came up during the January 29, 2003, confirmation hearings for Roberts' seat to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. "Although my Democratic colleagues are, and some in the Senate and elsewhere, have tried to paint you as an extremist, the truth is that you are a well-respected appellate lawyer, who has represented an extremely diverse group of clients before the courts," said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R- Utah), who was the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time. "In fact, you have often represented clients and what is considered to be the so-called 'liberal' position on issues." Now that Roberts is headed for the top seat on the Supreme Court, Native Hawaiian issues are likely to end up before him again. Two cases, one affecting a Native-only school admissions policy and the other affecting Native-only housing and land programs, were recently decided by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, a level below the Supreme Court. The landscape has some conservative Republican opponents of the recognition bill worried. "Roberts will probably be a fine Justice on other issues, particularly national security-related issues," conservative columnist Michelle Malkin wrote last month. "But an attorney who argued against colorblind policies in Hawaii should not be counted on to work for a colorblind America once he's on the Supreme Court." At a recent forum held by the conservative Heritage Foundation, a staff member for Rep. Jim Walsh (R-New York) also wondered whether Roberts could be biased in favor of Native Hawaiians and help their cause. "It would seem that if he actually supported this ... that he felt there was some reason for arguing the case on behalf of the Native Hawaiians," said the Walsh staffer. "It would seem as there are a number of Hawaiian- related cases that are going to be making their way to the Supreme Court." John Fund, a board member of the conservative editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, didn't think it was an issue, however. He said that Roberts was merely acting as an "advocate" for the state. "I can give you a long list of cases that Supreme Court justices have handled as private advocates or private lawyers ... in which they have voted the other way," Fund said at the forum. "I don't think we can judge John Roberts on the fact that he took on that case." Some Senate Republicans and conservative groups have mounted opposition to the recognition bill out of fear that it will rewrite the Rice v. Cayetano decision. They say that Native Hawaiians aren't like American Indians or Alaska Natives -- the argument that Roberts advanced in the case. "The Supreme Court has held that Congress cannot simply create an Indian tribe. Only those groups of people who have long operated as an Indian tribe, live as a separate and distinct community (geographically and culturally), and have a preexisting political structure can be recognized as a tribe," a Senate Republican policy paper stated. "Native Hawaiians do not satisfy any of these criteria." On August 2, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the admissions policy of the private Kamehameha Schools. In a 2-1 decision, the court said that restricting enrollment to Native Hawaiians violates a federal civil rights law. The judges, however, suggested that the law could carve out an exception or that Congress could pass other laws. On August 31, the 9th Circuit ruled that citizens of Hawaii can sue to stop funding for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. In a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel said that it wasn't necessary to wait until Congress decides the "political question" of Native Hawaiian recognition. Both cases are likely to end up before the Supreme Court in the coming years, when Roberts will already be seated. Historically, some justices have not participated in cases in which their bias or appearance of bias may be called into question. Roberts may address this issue during his confirmation hearings. Meanwhile, supporters of the recognition bill hope a vote can be scheduled in the coming weeks. Consideration was delayed due to efforts to deal with Hurricane Katrina and the death of chief justice William H. Rehnquist. Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, believes he has the votes to pass a "cloture motion." It takes 60 votes to approve the motion and force final consideration of the bill. Opening statements on Roberts' confirmation as chief justice will start on Monday. Questioning is expected to start on Tuesday and conclude by the end of the week. A committee vote could be held the week of September 22, with a floor vote targeted for the end of the month. Copyright c. 2000-2005 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: McALLISTER: Media lets DOI off the hook on Trust" --------- Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2005 08:36:10 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="McALLISTER: MEDIA LETTING DoI SLIDE" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://niemanwatchdog.org/~fuseaction=background.view&backgroundid=0053 Needed: A better memory in coverage of the Indian Trust Program COMMENTARY | September 06, 2005 A former Washington Post reporter who used to write about Indian affairs, now an activist, says the press has no institutional memory and is letting the Department of Interior off the hook in a law suit that is now almost ten years old. By Bill McAllister bmcallister@cox.net One of the biggest problems covering civil litigation that has lasted for nearly a decade is simply remembering who said what. That's an issue I have encountered in assisting a group that filed a lawsuit in 1996 over the federal government's long-troubled Indian Trust program. I covered the filing of the suit when I was a Washington Post reporter. None of the other reporters from those days are still around and, as a result, government officials are getting away with misstatements about the lawsuit, titled Cobell versus Norton. The tempo of their misstatements has increased as Congress has begun to explore ways of settling the suit by legislation. Here are the basics: The Indian Trust Program is run by the Department of Interior. It was created in 1887 to hold the proceeds of government- arranged leases of Indian lands, mostly in the West. The government then was attempting to break up tribal governments and to "civilize" Indians by making them farmers. It didn't believe Indians could handle their own finances. As it has turned out, the federal government has been unable to manage the Indians' money. The courts have declared that the Interior Department has mismanaged the trust from its inception. What is happening now is that Interior officials are attempting nothing short of trying to rewrite the history of the trust, contending that there are, in reality, few problems with the trust's current accounts. One example of a rewrite is a comment by Ross Swimmer, the senior Interior official in charge of the Indian trust programs, who says the Cobell lawsuit is not about mismanagement at all. That's not the way others see it. As the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said in 2001 in ordering the government to make an accounting of the Indian trust accounts: "These trusts were created over 100 years ago through an Act of Congress and have been mismanaged nearly as long." Yet the media are allowing Swimmer and other Interior officials to make such statements without challenge. Other rewritings of history by the Interior Department include recent claims of inability to find the massive fraud and mismanagement in the accounts that the Cobell plaintiffs have alleged. The fact is that Interior has already conceded fraud and mismanagement in court and congressional testimony. Here's the problem: Reporters are not asking Interior how many of the more than 500,000 trust accounts at issue have been examined by the department. Nor are they demanding to know what standards of accounting the department is using. Under questioning by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) at a July 26, 2005, hearing of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, James Cason, a deputy associate Interior secretary, conceded that Interior has examined only a small portion of the total accounts. And the ones it has examined are from 1985 forward - the most recent period, and the one in which accounts were placed on computers. Significantly, Cason could not tell McCain what percentage of accounts Interior has examined. He did acknowledge that more problems may emerge as they move back into periods in which account records were kept manually. Assuming that there is no corruption in the accounts today - something the Cobell plaintiffs do not concede - the government is ignoring times when abuses of the trust account system were widespread. Some news accounts report without qualification Interior's claims that it can find no problems with the trust accounts. The Cobell plaintiffs say that government's claims that the accounts are fine must be qualified to state that the government has examined only a small percentage of the accounts. Significantly absent from the government's claims are what standards they are using to judge the accounts are accurate. At the same time the government is saying the accounts are fine by their standards, it is significant that the courts have yet to approve a single account as properly reconciled. Not one. U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth, who has overseen the litigation for the past nine years, recently ordered the Interior Department to advise account holders that the department's data are so bad that they cannot be trusted to be accurate. Yet these are the same accounts that the government is telling the press are fine. The government's reaction to Lamberth's ire over the protracted litigation: fire the judge. Unhappy with the Reagan appointee's harsh language about trust abuses, the government has asked the DC appeals court to replace Lamberth as the judge hearing the Indians' complaint. Serious ongoing problems in the trust system were revealed in a recently concluded 59-day court hearing in Washington. Among them: * Hackers easily broke into government computers housing trust data. They testified they could have manipulated trust accounts. * A government computer expert testified supervisors threatened her job because she would not give false information about the security of government computers. * The Interior Department's own inspector-general gave the department an "F" for the lax security of the computers holding trust records; its former security officer gave it a "G." * Mary Johnson, an 80-year-old Navajo grandmother, told of having four wells on her land pumping oil non-stop for more than 50 years. "How can there be no money?" she asked a federal judge. Johnson said she gets only $600 a month under the government-arranged oil lease. * Two other native leaders told of continuing abuses on the Navajo Reservation and in Idaho. In both cases, Bureau of Indian Affairs officials still pressure Indians to sign oil and land leases that benefit oil companies and big farming groups, the Indians said. The government is claiming it now has thousands of trust records stored in a new federal storage facility in Kansas. But what about the thousands of key records that, according to court and congressional testimony, have been destroyed? Many of them were left to rot in barns or so fouled by rodents that they were deemed unusable. Worse still, many leases of Indian lands were never recorded by government land agents. How are these Indians whose lands effectively were plundered by the government to be made whole - if only records the government has in hand now are used? The government has acknowledged in court that it still doesn't know the number of trust beneficiaries it serves. It doesn't know the value of the Indians' accounts or even the number of accounts it is supposedly administering. How can the same federal agency that has made those admissions in court now say it can find no serious problems with the accounts? How can it say it is using the same accounting systems "as those used in major private trust corporations?" The truth is that it can say such things only as long as the press fails to remember how much the government has conceded in previous years. This was, after all, a case in which three Cabinet secretaries have been held in contempt of court for their actions. It is about what one of those three, Clinton administration Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, has said is "the long and sorry history of the department's mismanagement of the Indian Trust Funds." People in Indian Country remember. The press should not let the government cover up its long record of mishandling the lands and the monies of the nation's first citizens. ---- Bill McAllister spent most of his journalism career at The Washington Post, where he was a reporter, editor and columnist from 1975 to 1999. E-mail: bmcallister@cox.net Copyright c. 2005 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. --------- "RE: Swimmer shifts Trust responsibility to Landowners" --------- Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2005 08:39:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LATEST BUSH WHACK - BLAME THE VICTIM" http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/010219.asp Swimmer shifts trust responsibility to landowners September 8, 2005 Indian beneficiaries are responsible for determining whether they get a fair amount for the use of their land, Special Trustee Ross Swimmer said on Wednesday. Appearing on the nationally broadcast radio program Native America Calling, Swimmer said that federal law puts the burden on landowners to get the most for the oil, gas, timber and other assets. Only in certain cases does the Bureau of Indian Affairs play a stronger role, he claimed. "The way the statutes and regulations read, the leaseholders are themselves the first persons responsible for leasing the land," Swimmer said. "The BIA has to approve the lease of the land, and only in those situations where it's so highly fractionated ... does the BIA do the leasing." "It is a responsibility of individual Indian people to do the leasing and to ensure that they get what they want," he continued. The BIA's jobs is to conduct appraisals and oversee the deal, he said. Swimmer said the BIA historically acted as the primary leasing agent for Indians who are not deemed competent. He agreed with host Patty Talahongva that some beneficiaries may not be able to read or write English but only said interpreters are provided in those cases. Swimmer also said individual Indians have the ability to remove themselves from government oversight by taking their land out of trust and withdrawing any funds from their Individual Indian Money (IIM) account. He appeared to suggest that the only benefit to the fiduciary relationship is protecting the land from taxation. "If you want to take your land out of trust - whatever you own - or the money that you have in an account, you're welcome to do that at any point in time," he said. Swimmer's words came a week after Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff in the Indian trust fund lawsuit, appeared on the program. On August 29, she said the case has uncovered historic mismanagement of billions in Indian money. "We've been able to disclose, through the facts, horrible, horrible situations that Indian people have had to suffer," she told listeners. She said account holders have not received what is due to them for the leasing of their land. She also said a goal of the lawsuit is to fix the trust system so that problems don't resurface. A coalition that included the plaintiffs and major tribal organizations developed a set of principles to settle the case and institute reforms at the Interior Department. "They've been running this trust like a bank totally out of control," she said of the federal government. But Swimmer argued the case is not about trust reform. "The lawsuit is strictly about accounting - it's about money," he said. "It's not about, did you manage the land right, what happened one hundred years ago ... The issue is the money." Despite Swimmer's claims, the federal government, during both the Bush and Clinton administrations, has taken great pains to argue that progress has been made. In court filings, the Bush administration went so far as to call for an end to the Cobell case, based on reforms at Interior. And as recently as 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court spoke to the issue Swimmer raised. In two separate decisions, the court said the federal government's responsibility to Indian beneficiaries goes beyond protecting land from taxation due to the numerous "statutes and regulations" in place. "As the statutes and regulations gave the United States 'full responsibility to manage Indian resources and land for the benefit of the Indians,' we held that they 'defined ... contours of the United States' fiduciary responsibilities," Justice David Souter wrote for the majority in U.S. v. White Mountain Apache Tribe, quoting precedent in Indian trust cases. When the statutes and regulations are not specific as to the government's duties, the court said it will look to common trust law to determine what is owed to Indian beneficiaries. Copyright c. 2000-2005 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Clutching to a culture:Arapaho reinvigorate Tribe" --------- Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2005 08:26:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WIND RIVER" http://www.billingsgazette.com//2005/09/11/build/wyoming/25-arapaho.inc Clutching to a culture: Arapaho reinvigorate tribe Associated Press September 11, 2005 ETHETE, Wyo. - Two lines of women sit facing each other, hidden from the afternoon sun under a tent canopy behind the Wind River Tribal College. The hands of four of the women swing back and forth in time with beating drums, fists closed. Each woman hides a small stick in one of her hands. It is up to a player from the opposing team to guess where the sticks are hidden, earning points for her team in a traditional Arapaho hand game called koxouhtiit. About 100 yards away, under another canopy, Arapaho adults step in a circle as drums echo off the stone of the old mission building nearby. They are learning traditional social dances, or nii'eihii ho'eii. The games and social dances are not everyday activities for the Arapaho people living on the Wind River Indian Reservation, but they once were. Traditions as simple as games and dances, as integral as the Arapaho language and religion, have fallen by the wayside in recent decades. Some tribal leaders, however, are working to return such knowledge to their people. Last month, the college hosted a three-day immersion language camp for adults, teaching not only language, but also elements of religion and culture. "We teach on the protocol of the religion, the history of the tribe, wellness and health the way it used to be compared to now," said Eugene Ridgely, bilingual education coordinator for the college. "This afternoon, we get into traditional games, then some social dancing." Most participants won't walk away with more than a few words of Arapaho. But more important, some will gain a spark of interest in their culture, perhaps taking advantage of language classes offered at the college or of other cultural renewal activities sponsored on the reservation. The quest is about more than protecting a dying language and culture. It's about turning to the ways of the past to correct some of the modern challenges facing the Arapaho people. "If we had retained the language like we should have, the family structure would still be strong," said Zona Moss, Ridgely's secretary. "It lies within the language, within the culture." Ardeline Spotted Elk, a great-grandmother who has spent her life on the reservation, spent the three days teaching about kinship, or neito'eino', traditions in the tribe. Weeks earlier, she shared her memories of growing up and of how the world has changed in her lifetime. "We lived in real old cabins with dirt roofs and floors. We had to get water from the river. We had kerosene lamps. Everything was gravel," she said. "We learned Arapaho. We never spoke English until we went to school at St. Michael's (Mission). "It was a real nice, real enjoyable life. We just enjoyed our lives. There was no alcohol, no drugs; we just lived a real peaceful life. The way it is now is a real terrible life." Not everyone on the reservation agrees that life has changed so negatively, but some differences are indisputable, even if it's hard to pinpoint just how extreme the reservation's social and economic problems are. The Wind River Indian Reservation makes up a big piece of Wyoming's Fremont County, though most of the county's population is white. Fremont County consistently has the highest unemployment rate in Wyoming, and unemployment is even higher among American Indian workers, according to the 2000 census. Kathy Vann, who heads the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service office in Ethete, said many men lacked the education necessary to get the few high-paying jobs on the reservation. Most are forced to choose between travel-intensive work in the region's oil fields or staying home with their families. "I find that a lot of mothers work, and fathers, it's harder for me to find jobs than for women because there aren't that many jobs," she said. "Men have to go to the biggest employer, the oil fields, where they work seven (days) on, seven off." Even with some men working the oil rigs and making good money, families in Fremont County tend to bring home considerably less income than those in other parts of the state, making poverty a stark reality for reservation families. Many families turn to grandparents for help; American Indian grandparents are more likely than any other demographic group to live in the same households with their grandchildren. In Vann's family, for example, her ironworker sons gave up traveling throughout the West for work, and one's family moved in with her. "My (surrogate son) moved out of his mother's house and couldn't make it financially, so he moved back in, along with his wife and three kids," she said. "My sons got tired of living in hotels. I don't know if they thought about getting their own place. They probably did, but didn't see why," she said with a laugh. A shortage of housing on the reservation has left some families on waiting lists for generations. Vann said she believed some children were being raised by their grandparents because of rampant teen pregnancy and a culture of drug and alcohol abuse by parents. Residents of the reservation say alcoholism remains a chronic problem and methamphetamine use is on the rise. "Meth around here is getting crazy," said Margo Williams, who with husband Brian is raising seven children in a blended family. But while the numbers are somewhat worse on the reservation, many Arapaho people said the problems aren't limited to the reservation. "I don't know if it has anything to do with the situation on the reservation," Vann said. "I think, statewide, a lot of communities are like that. It reflects what's going on in Wyoming." The difference is that, in a community as small and tight-knit as the reservation, such issues hit every home. And on the reservation, people are looking to different kinds of solutions: those from the past. The Wind River Indian Reservation has several programs to combat its social troubles, including the Indian Health Service Center, Bureau of Indian Affairs Social Services and an Intergenerational Family Resource Help Center. Schools work with these agencies to provide services for children, and Arapaho language is part of the curriculum at Wyoming Indian elementary, junior high and high schools, though tribal elder William "Icky-John" C'Hair said it's given too little time in the school day. He wants to see a new immersion preschool program grow, introducing the language to 3- and 4-year-olds, whose linguistic abilities are the most ripe, and following them through their academic careers. This fall, Arapaho Charter High School will open near the town of Arapahoe. Designed to combat high dropout rates among reservation students, the school will focus on Arapaho language, culture and values and will use more hands-on and individual teaching styles to keep teens interested in education. The Arapaho Council of Elders also works to educate tribal members about traditional skills, from radio personality Big Joe's daily Arapaho language lessons to subsidized courses in language and nearly lost skills such as meat cutting. It's not just about history or identity, C'Hair said. He said the Arapaho language and culture provide a lifestyle guide that can help stem the tide of social challenges. "We believe, we firmly do believe, that the language was a gift from our Creator. As such, it is sacred to us," C'Hair said. "Without it, we cannot exist in the manner the Creator intended for us." Copyright c. 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Eastern Pequots wait confidently for BIA Decision" --------- Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 10:36:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SECOND SHOT ALL OVER AGAIN" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.theday.com/~re=c90ba38d-0601-4432-8b44-18b9a91c5527 Eastern Pequots Wait Confidently For BIA Decision Either way, casino is a long way off, says Blumenthal By KAREN FLORIN Day Staff Writer, Casinos/Gambling September 10, 2005 The Eastern Pequots are holding a vigil on their Lantern Hill reservation this weekend as they await the Bureau of Indian Affairs' final federal recognition decision on Monday. Tribal members lit a sacred fire in their powwow circle Friday and will tend it all weekend as they pray, listen to drums and share stories, said Wolf Jackson, the tribe's treasurer. "I don't think there's very much stress over the decision," he said Friday. "I think we're confident that we've done what we're required to do." The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs recognized the Eastern Pequots in June 2002, but a Department of the Interior Appeals board overturned the decision last month based on lawsuits filed by the state and the towns of Ledyard, North Stonington and Preston. The BIA's Office of Federal Acknowledgement's deadline for reconsidering the decision is Monday, and the agency is expected to inform tribal members and interested parties via conference call. The appeals board asked the BIA to reconsider several aspects of its decision to recognize the Eastern Pequots, including use of state recognition to fill gaps in the tribe's petition, the decision to recognize two factions of Eastern Pequots as a single tribe, the weight BIA put on reservation census data, and a "swelling" of the tribal membership rolls. Since the bureau did not allow the tribe or its opponents to submit additional information, there has been little information about the agency's work. "Nobody's hearing anything," said Nicholas Mullane, first selectman of North Stonington, who speaks regularly with the towns' attorneys at the Washington, D.C.-based Perkins & Coie law firm. "They're keeping the door shut on this," Mullane said of the BIA. The bureau also is reconsidering the Schaghticoke tribe's recognition, with a decision due Oct. 12. On Friday, Schaghticoke members and supporters launched a "campaign for fairness" in the federal acknowledgment process. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who has opposed the tribes because he says they don't meet the criteria for recognition, said this week that he anticipates a federal court appeal regardless of Monday's decision. Blumenthal said the tribe's plan to build a casino would not be able to go forward for some time even if the BIA recognizes them Monday. "As part of our appeal in federal court, we would seek an immediate stay to stop any specific steps toward a reservation or a casino," Blumenthal said. The tribe has said it would ask the Interior Department to take into trust its 225-acre state reservation and would seek trust land elsewhere to build a casino. Blumenthal said those efforts would come to "a dead stop" during the appeals process. Additionally, he said, the state repealed its Las Vegas Nights provision last year so that newly recognized tribes could not use the same loophole that was used by the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans to open their casinos. Federal law enables tribes to offer gaming on their reservations if it is offered elsewhere in the state. The Las Vegas nights law had authorized bingo and other games. "Our contention is that they have no right to establish a casino even if they have a reservation," Blumenthal said. He expects the tribe would challenge the Las Vegas Nights repeal in court. "In any event, they would need to negotiate a compact, which certainly the state is not about to do while their federal recognition is under appeal," said Blumenthal. "The bottom line here is that the road ahead is a long one, and certainly an arduous one, in terms of years of litigation even on the issue of recognition, not to mention the reservation or, separately, the issue of rights to establish a casino." The state compact would have to be acceptable to the existing gaming tribes. Both the Mashantuckets and Mohegans have expressed support for the Eastern Pequots and worked with them on various projects, from archeological digs to healthcare grants. But the two gaming tribes would be likely to ask the state for some concessions. The tribes pay the state 25 percent of their slot machine revenue each month in a so-called revenue sharing agreement that generates some $400 million a year for the state. "The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation has consistently and historically advocated for the federal recognition of a united Eastern Pequot nation," said Arthur Henick, a spokesman for the tribe. "The Mashantucket Pequots await the federal decision and do not presume to know what that decision will be, or its effects." "The Mohegans have always said that they would support a tribe's ability for economic self-sufficiency once they're federally recognized," said Charles F. Bunnell, chief of staff for external and governmental affairs. "That does not mean there would not be issues between the Mohegan Tribe and the state of Connecticut regarding the existing compact," Bunnell said. "The Mohegan tribe and the Mohegan Tribal Council has been pretty clear in the past that their responsibility is to provide for the health and well- being of the Mohegan tribal members." Knowing compact negotiations are not going to happen any time soon, he added, "we'll cross that bridge when we get to that." Copyright c. 1998-2005 The Day Publishing Co. --------- "RE: Schaghticokes Ad Campaign on eve of decisions" --------- Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 10:36:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RECOGNITION ADS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/~story?coll=hc-headlines-local-wire Schaghticokes launch ad campaign on eve of recognition decisions Associated Press September 10 2005 HARTFORD, Conn. - With major tribal recognition decisions looming, leaders of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation are launching radio and TV ads demanding fairness. The ads, funded by Subway restaurant chain founder Fred DeLuca, "urge all those involved in the process to be fair and to refrain from political interference in the process," said Schaghticoke Chief Richard Velky. The Bureau of Indian Affairs is expected to rule Monday on the federal recognition application of the Eastern Pequots in eastern Connecticut. That verdict may be indicate how the BIA will rule when it issues a decision about the Kent-based Schaghticokes on Oct. 12. Both tribes want federal recognition, which would allow them to open their own casinos. Two other tribes - the Mohegans and the Mashantucket Pequots - are federally recognized and operate highly successful casinos in eastern Connecticut. Opponents say the Schaghticokes and eastern Pequots are not surviving Native American tribes, at least under federal standards. The tribes say anti-casino and anti-Indian forces want to deny their heritage. "Powerful political forces are conspiring to deny our existence," Velky said at a press conference Friday. "This is about the recognition of my people that have existed in the state for nearly 300 years." A U.S. Department of the Interior appeals panel overturned BIA decisions recognizing both the Schaghticokes and the Eastern Pequots in May. The Schaghticokes have charged that a local citizens' group in Kent, working with elected officials and an influential lobbying firm in Washington, maneuvered behind the scenes to change the rulings. In 2002, U.S. District Judge Peter Dorsey had ordered parties involved in the case - including the state, the town of Kent and the tribe - not to have contact with anyone at the Department of Interior. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who have opposed the recognition bids, rejected the tribes claims that the state is applying improper political pressure. "There is nothing new and nothing truthful in the false accusations against public officials made by the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation today," Blumenthal said in a statement. "The simple reality is that the Schaghticoke fail to meet the criteria for federal recognition." The radio ads started playing Friday on 15 to 20 stations. The television ads will run on cable stations starting next week. --- Information from: New Haven Register, http://www.ctcentral.com and The Hartford Courant, http://www.courant.com Copyright c. 2005, The Associated Press Copyright c. 2005, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc. --------- "RE: Valley looks to Tribes to open Lands for Roads" --------- Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2005 08:36:10 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TYPICAL: THEIR NEED IS MORE IMPORTANT" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0907nativeroads.html As need for roads grows, Valley looks to tribes to pave the way Judy Nichols The Arizona Republic September 7, 2005 With more than 3 million people in the Valley and the population doubling every 20 years, there is intense pressure for faster ways to cross Indian islands that separate residential and commercial centers. Tribes have resisted, trying to preserve traditions of open land and farming. But instead of confrontational tactics like a road blockade decades ago, Indians have become hard-nosed negotiators, advocating their positions across bargaining tables and on regional transportation boards. advertisement "They understand urban growth issues and how it is impacting them," said Eric Anderson, transportation director for the Maricopa Association of Governments, which plans transportation projects across the Valley. "They are trying to balance being good neighbors and allowing development with maintaining their own interests as sovereign nations and making sure the rights of their own people are respected." Tribes say they have a fundamentally different view of land use and will develop as they see fit. And as they have exerted their sovereignty, surrounding communities have altered their perspective. "The recognition by non-Indians that Indians are in the process of nation building helps in looking at tribes through a different lens than they did in the past," said Manley Begay, director of the Native Nations Institute at the University of Arizona. "That lens is one of respect," he said. "It's not unlike places in the world where you see developing countries changing when their outside colonizers recognize their right to exist." The pressure from surrounding communities is building in all directions. The Gila River Reservation, 372,000 acres in the south-central part of the Valley, is getting squeezed from the north and south. People in Ahwatukee Foothills want a freeway on the reservation's northern border to get around South Mountain, folks in Tucson want Interstate 10 widened through the middle, and those in Maricopa to the south want a faster way across to Phoenix. The Salt River Reservation, more than 52,000 acres northeast of Phoenix, feels it from the east and west. People from Mesa want to cut across, and just about everyone wants to widen Pima Road on the west to get to north Scottsdale faster. In addition to widening Pima Road, current projects on Salt River land include widening McKellips Road to six lanes with a median and building a bridge across the Salt River, and improving Gilbert Road from Thomas Road to Arizona 87, also known as the Beeline Highway. But the leg of Loop 202 on the northern edge of the Gila River Reservation has been delayed, pushed to the 20-year transportation plan that begins in 2007.The Valley is unique in the way it has grown up to and around large Indian reservations, leaving blocks of open land coveted by developers and road builders. The roads have long been a flash point, with Indians resisting intrusion and outsiders pushing for more blacktop. Relations reached the lowest point in the 1970s and 1980s, when the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community blockaded Pima Road. The conflict can be seen in the history of Pima Road, which marks the border between Scottsdale and the reservation for the seven miles from McDowell Road to Doubletree Ranch Road. Pima Road was built right on the border, the northbound lane on the reservation, the southbound on Scottsdale land. In 1977, Indian landowners barricaded their half for about a week, saying Scottsdale trespassed when it paved their land. They also sued the city, and in 1982 a federal court ordered Scottsdale to pay the Indians $60,500 to settle the suit. Ten years later, after again blockading the road, this time for several months, the tribe won an increase in the Pima Road leases from about $8,000 per year to more than $400,000. The situation was resolved only after the state agreed to make the payments. Despite the confrontations over Pima Road, it is now seen by some as a model accommodation of tribal and non-Indian communities. It is the site of the Pavilions shopping center, the first private development of its kind on the reservation, which brings in income for the tribe and provides jobs for tribal members. In 1990, after Scottsdale decided it didn't want the Pima Freeway portion of Loop 101 built through developed areas, ADOT paid the tribe $250 million to allow it on the reservation. The blockades of Pima Road became a factor again in 1993 when the tribe bid on Saddleback Mountain, which it considers a sacred site. The land, which had been owned by a private developer, was auctioned by the Resolution Trust Corp. after the failure of the savings-and-loan industry. Although the tribe's bid was higher than Scottsdale's, the city threatened to condemn the land, which was within its borders, fearing the tribe would build a casino on Shea Boulevard or blockade the road. A settlement gave the road to Scottsdale and the mountain to the tribe. Scottsdale Mayor Mary Manross said relations have come a long way since the 1980s blockade. "There was some kind of miscommunication there," she said. "They have a transportation plan and we respect that. We all have to realize we're neighbors and we're all dependent and interdependent." Manross said the city coordinates with the tribe, following plans the tribe sets for itself, and isn't seeking more development. "There will be a pretty terrific impact just from the development they're doing and we're doing," she said. "If they were to change from agrarian development radically, it would put even more stress on the infrastructure." Salt River President Joni Ramos said that the tribe has wonderful relations with both Scottsdale and Mesa but that she sometimes has to explain the tribe's view of its land to new representatives. "It's a learning process for a lot of elected officials coming into office," Ramos said. "We always look at seven generations to come. We want to maintain our land and traditional ways." Begay said that means maintaining open land. "Pima and Maricopa Indians historically have been a farming society, and there is a lot of pressure to keep those farms going and maintain them culturally," he said. Indians weren't always included in road-building decisions. Interstate 10 and Arizona 347 slash across Gila River land and divide the Ak-Chin Reservation, and Arizona 87 snakes across Salt River land and the Fort McDowell Reservation. "Back in the '40s and '50s, when roads were being thought of and built, Indian people had very little control over their own land," Begay said. "That's not the case today." Today, Gila River, Salt River and Fort McDowell leaders all sit on the Maricopa Association of Governments. "They want to control their own destiny," said Anderson, of MAG. "They are very deliberate in their decision making. "Some say, 'Why do we need more traffic. Just because people choose to live in Maricopa doesn't mean we have to endure additional traffic.' " Sometimes for tribes, agreeing to one road project is the lesser of two evils. The Gila River tribe is less resistant to widening I-10, an existing freeway, in order to lessen pressure on other roads, such as Arizona 347. "A lot of people, like those in Maricopa, see the land and wonder why we don't blast a road straight through," Anderson said. "But others understand the historical context, and that that is not a viable solution. "It's like putting a freeway through an existing neighborhood in Mesa. They see it the same way, as destroying neighborhoods." Begay said Indians have always made accommodations to newcomers. "Indian tribes have bent over backwards all the way around when it comes to accommodating neighbors," he said. "If you take a broad look at the amount of land Indian people used to have and the amount of land we have today, it's dramatically different. The accommodation has been tremendous." But Begay said the accommodation can only go so far. "Something has to give," he said. "And tribes do not want their culture and the land to give at the expense of the want of their neighbors, especially for the future of the children who are present and those as yet unborn." Copyright c. 2005, azcentral.com. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Appeals Court refuses to rehear Cayuga Land Claim" --------- Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2005 08:39:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SHERRILL DECISION HAUNTS CAYUGA" http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/010239.asp Appeals court refuses to rehear Cayuga land claim September 9, 2005 A federal appeals court dealt two Cayuga tribes another blow on Thursday, refusing to give them another chance to prove ownership of 64,000 acres in New York. The Cayuga Nation of New York and the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma had asked a full panel of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider their land claim. The tribes said the court, in 2-1 decision on June 28, went too far in dismissing the decades-old case. But the court rejected the tribes' request, clearing the way for a possible appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a story published today in The Syracuse Post-Standard, leaders of the two tribes said they would keep fighting, a sentiment recently voiced by another tribal official. "We find that decision wrong and insulting and we intend to fight on in courts and do everything we can to have that decision overturned," LeRoy Howard, the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe's former chief, said at a House hearing on July 15. It was the Supreme Court that set the stage for the dismissal of the Cayuga case. On March 29, the court issued its decision in Sherrill v. Oneida Nation, a ruling that has had wide impacts on land claims in New York. By an 8-1 vote, the court held that the Oneida Nation couldn't "unilaterally" assert sovereignty over its 250,000-acre land claim area. The majority said the passage of time between the loss of the land and the tribe's reacquisition of it would "disrupt" the settled expectations of non-Indian communities. Relying heavily on the "disruptive" theme, the 2nd Circuit said the Cayuga tribes waited too long to make their case. The lawsuit was filed in 1980, although tribal leaders long complained about the theft of their land. In the 2-1 decision, the 2nd Circuit acknowledged that the land was taken from the tribes illegally. But the court nonetheless concluded that the Sherrill decision "dramatically altered the legal landscape" of tribal claims. "Under the Sherrill formulation, this type of possessory land claim - seeking possession of a large swath of central New York State and the ejectment of tens of thousands of landowners - is indisputably disruptive, " Judge Jose Cabranes wrote. But a third judge dissented, giving hope to the tribes that an en banc panel of the court would reconsider the case. In other circuits, split decisions often get a rehearing. The Bush administration, through the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has said it continues to support the land claim. Government attorneys had also asked the 2nd Circuit to rehear the case. Government support, however, couldn't convince the Supreme Court in the Oneida case. Although the U.S. wasn't a party, the justices asked the government to file a brief stating its views. The brief backed the Oneida Nation and urged the high court not to overturn the 2nd Circuit's 2-1 decision in the tribe's favor. The justices took on the case anyway, ultimately ruling against the Oneidas, who have since been hit with millions of dollars in property tax bills for land they own in two counties. The tribe is fighting the matter in court. The Cayuga Nation and the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe have been confronted with challenges as well. Local officials say they have a right to enforce their laws on properties that the tribes reacquired. The tribes also lost their settlement with the state of New York. Outgoing Gov. George Pataki (R) had previously agreed to end the lawsuit by giving each tribe a casino in the Catskills. The deal was put on hold after the Sherrill decision and might not be revived. Meanwhile, the Oneida and Cayuga tribes have submitted land-into-trust applications to the BIA. It could take years before the agency makes a decision. The Seneca-Cayuga Tribe, however, recently paid a $70,000 property tax bill on 229 acres it owns in New York. Copyright c. 2000-2005 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Groups seek protections for Women" --------- Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2005 08:39:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PROTECTING WOMEN" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.greatfallstribune.com//20050908/NEWS01/509080301/1002 Groups seek protections for women By DIANA MARRERO Tribune Washington Bureau September 8, 2005 WASHINGTON - Like so many tribal lands across the nation, the Blackfeet Reservation in northwest Montana is home to a staggering number of cases involving violence against women but few services that cater to victims, women's advocates say. Some relief could come in the form of a strengthened version of the Violence Against Women Act coming before Congress this month. The 1994 law is expected to expire at the end of this month unless lawmakers reauthorize it. "It seems like it's never a priority to help these victims," said Francis Onstad, a member of the Blackfeet tribe who often works with abuse survivors. "They've lived with it for so long they don't see it as a problem." However, national estimates from the National Congress of American Indians' task force to end violence against women tell a sobering story. One out of every three Native American women will be raped in their lifetimes - making them nearly twice as likely as the average American woman to be sexually assaulted. Their chances of being stalked are also roughly double that of the average American woman, and they are more likely to be physically attacked. "Indian women are not held in honor by this country," said Juana Majel- Dixon, a member of the Pauma tribe in San Diego, who is serving on the violence against women task force. "If this was happening to non-Indian women, there would be a cry across this nation to stop the violence." On the Blackfeet Reservation, there are about 500 cases of domestic violence a year, Onstad said. She said the number of rapes there is hard to gauge because so many of them go unreported. A new version of the bill would enhance the ability of tribes like the Blackfeet to prosecute perpetrators, increase the amount of research on violence against Indian women, boost federal spending for tribal services and ensure better cooperation between the nation's tribes and the federal government. One key provision would establish a national tribal sex offender and protection order registry so tribes could track offenders who move to other reservations. The bill would also allow tribal law enforcement agencies to search and add criminal information to federal databases. The additional federal support could not come at a better time for tribes struggling to stem the tide of abuse in their communities, advocates say. "If it wasn't for those federal programs, there would be nothing being done here," said Onstad, who helps run a domestic violence program on the Blackfeet Reservation and is developing services for tribal members who have been raped. "Everything we do needs to come from grants because the tribe doesn't have the money to fund it." Onstad dreams of building a women's shelter on the reservation someday. For now, she helps battered women find safe haven from abuse at a nearby hotel or at shelters as far away as Great Falls or the Flathead Reservation. Indian women tend to respond better to the services offered in Flathead, she said, because workers there are better prepared to deal with Native women. Culturally, many Indian women tend to keep their troubles to themselves, struggle with independent living skills and have trouble living in a bigger city after spending their lives on the reservations, Onstad said. Indian women must also deal with a unique set of obstacles that keep them from seeking the help they need, women's health experts say. Many live in rural communities without access to a phone or car. They fear reprisal from relatives of their assailants if they speak out. And many are so poor they feel they cannot leave their partners despite the abuse, advocates say. Alcohol, drug abuse, unemployment and poverty are among the biggest reasons for violence on the reservations, advocates say. "This was not a problem traditionally in our societies," said Karen Artichoker, of Sacred Circle, a national resource center for Native women based in Rapid City, S.D. Lax enforcement on the reservations and by the federal government reinforces a belief by repeat offenders that they can prey upon Indian women without facing any consequences, advocates say. Because of the special relationship between tribes and the federal government, only federal officials can charge non-Indians who commit crimes on reservations, and a federal law prohibits tribal governments from sentencing Native Americans for more than one year. "There's not one day that goes by without domestic violence happening here," said Dianna L.K. Main, a domestic violence supervisor and probation officer on the Fort Belknap reservation in northern Montana. "People don't realize the toll of domestic violence here." Limited resources, lengthy distances on the reservation and high gas prices restrict what they can do to help victims of domestic and sexual violence, she said. The clinic on the 700,000-acre reservation can be anywhere from five to 50 miles away from where tribal members live, she said. On the Flathead Reservation, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes help fund the Safe Harbour shelter, one of few shelters on Montana's reservations, said shelter manager Aide Talamantes. Safe Harbour also receives federal and state funds. The shelter offers women a safe home until they get back on their feet. The program is successful with Native American victims because many of the advocates there are Native themselves, she said. "It's a totally different lifestyle," she said. "They have a hard time sharing. They share more with a women of color because they feel they can trust you more." Copyright C. 2005 Great Falls Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Tribes, Owner clash over Marr Property" --------- Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2005 08:39:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SACRED TREATY LAND BULLDOZED" http://www.wallowacountychieftain.info/SectionID=9&SubSectionID=61 Tribes, owner clash over Marr property By Elane Dickenson General editor edickenson@wallowa.com September 8, 2005 The rhythm and singing of a Nez Perce drum group at the foot of Wallowa Lake on a sunny summer morning last week set the tone for a press conference held in response to recent bulldozing work on property the Nez Perce consider sacred. Speakers from both the Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla talked to a crowd of about 200 gathered near the burial place of old Chief Joseph on Aug. 31. "We should be honest with ourselves that we are here today out of anger," said Rebecca A. Miles, chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee. "... The land north of this cemetery - land that does not recognize the fences lying on it, land that we have testified in court and before commissions for decades is sacred - has been scarred." The K & B Family Limited Partnership now owns the land in question - 62- acres known as the Marr Ranch property. There an American flag was being flown near a newly bulldozed road on the property. It was at the center of a small rally during the Nez Perce gathering supporting Steve and Paula Krieger and their right to develop the property. The Nez Perce Tribe and others distributed a petition on the cemetery property, which is a site of the Nez Perce National Historical Park and managed by the National Park Service. During her speech, Miles referred to the 1855 treaty between the United States and the Nez Perce people that reserved them the Wallowa country. She called the scarring of the land illegal and criminal, saying that Oregon law protects archeological sites on public or private land from disturbance without a permit. "For years three tribes have testified to the archeological significance of that land as a timeless summer encampment of the Nez Perce people. Last year the Umatilla tribes expressly used the Oregon statute to say what we have all said before," Miles said. She called the bulldozing of the land without a permit "not just a desecration to the Nez Perce" but a crime to the state of Oregon, adding, "If Oregon will enforce its laws, there will be punishment." Miles said that the Nez Perce Tribe has worked hard in Wallowa County to be good neighbors, naming several examples, including the tribe's support of the Wallowa Lake Dam project, which she said is considered Wallowa County's highest economic priority. In the treaty of 1855 she said that tribe reserved the right to fish at "all usual and accustomed" fishing places in the Wallowa Valley, with the junction of the Wallowa River and Wallowa Lake among the most important. She said they reserve the right as recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court to access their fishing places across any land. "We are careful and considerate in our use of that access right," Miles said, adding, "But make no mistake that the right is federal law, and that when our tribal fishermen choose to exercise that right, it will pre-date any property ownership in this valley." Miles said that the tribes have worked for several years with government and conservation groups in an effort to acquire the land and to pay the landowner a fair market value. She said "nothing has worked" and they must continue to work with the state, county, city of Joseph, National Parks Service and private partners "to protect land that cannot protect itself." She concluded with a plea, "We came here today in anger, but we must do everything we can to make something good come of this. Please help us to do that." Others who spoke included Armand Minthorn, who represented the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla, and Peggy Kite-Martin, mayor of Joseph. "It's for no one to disturb an ancestor's resting place ... No one has that right," Minthorn said. He also urged collective action to help protect "what's important," adding, "What comes of this gathering is up to us." "I recognize that a strong attachment to our natural landscapes is a common bond that we share with the native tribes, and that our relationship to our landscapes is also in danger of being lost," Kite- Martin said during her speech. "As we re-open the City of Joseph land use plan and include all stakeholders in that process, we hope to provide strong leadership as we plan for the growth of our city and a future we can be proud of." The press conference by the Nez Perce Tribal Council was called just 24 hours before it took place in response to heavy equipment work done by Steve Krieger on the K & B property Aug. 26. K & B's attorney Rahn Hostetter said Krieger was improving access to the property - which is being used for grazing - for agricultural purposes, such as mending fences. He said that a strip dozed along the fence separating the monument property from K & B's was a firebreak. Hostetter said that any law which would allow the tribes to prevent development on the private property by designating it of archeological significance without proof is "unconstitutional." Miles said after the press conference that since the road pattern on the Marr Ranch property is "very similar" to an RV park which has been proposed by K& B, she found it "hard to believe" the roads have anything to do with agriculture. Last week a stop work order was issued by county commissioner and acting planning director Dan DeBoie, who stated in writing that the excavation and road building appeared to be the initial phase of proposed development. Hostetter strongly denied the roadwork had anything to do with development. On Tuesday afternoon, DeBoie said that he had met with Steve Krieger and Hostetter, and will be viewing the property himself in the next few days. Copyright c. 2005 Wallowa County Chieftain. --------- "RE: Tribal Land issue smolders" --------- Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2005 08:39:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="COW CREEK LAND INTO TRUST" http://www.newsreview.info/article/20050901/NEWS/50901015/-1/rss01 Tribal land issue smolders Capacity crowd listens as county commissioners, Cow Creek discuss Roseburg property issues JOHN SOWELL, jsowell@newsreview.info September 9, 2005 For the second week in a row, emotions flared at the weekly Board of Commissioners meeting over the county's opposition to have the downtown Roseburg land pegged for a convention center placed in tribal trust. A capacity crowd that packed the meeting Wednesday listened as a stream of speakers got up and praised Commissioners Dan Van Slyke and Marilyn Kittelman for raising concerns over having the property taken up by the Holiday Motel and the former Surplus Center removed from the property tax rolls and placed into trust. They were matched by others who criticized the two commissioners for carrying on a feud with the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians over a project they say will benefit the entire community. Two weeks ago, Van Slyke and Kittelman sent a letter to the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs questioning the wisdom of placing the land into trust. They said they were worried about the effect the loss of $16,000 annually in property tax revenues would have on various taxing districts in the county. The letter, which Commissioner Doug Robertson refused to sign, came in response to a letter from the BIA asking for the county's response to the request. Earlier this week, the same two commissioners sent a follow-up response to the federal agency. They asked for a moratorium on moving any additional land into trust and sought a study to determine the effects removing property from the tax rolls has on poor rural communities. Martin Burnett complimented Van Slyke and Kittelman for taking a stand in raising concerns about the tribe's application to obtain tax-exempt status for the properties. The Surplus Center and the motel, which the tribe plans to continue to operate, take up 1.5 acres. Previously, the tribe obtained trust status for the nearby parcel that formerly held the Douglas County Farmers Co-Op. Burnett, who lives in Camas Valley, said he was concerned about the tribe's increasing property holdings in the county. The Cow Creeks have purchased more than 4,000 acres of land that have been placed in trust. He questioned whether that was beneficial for the county. "We need to debate it. It needs to be brought out for all of the constituents in Douglas County," Burnett said. Don Kruse, who owns Kruse Farms in Melrose, said it hasn't been financially feasible for private interests to develop a convention center in Roseburg, although the idea has been talked about for more than 20 years. "I don't know of any businessman who would do what they're planning to do in downtown Roseburg," Kruse said. "I think it would be a shot in the arm and Roseburg needs a shot in the arm." Chuck Cates, who works for i.e. Engineering in Roseburg, told the commissioners he saw a lot of similarities between the tribe's activities in establishing the convention center and the county's plans to construct the Milltown Hill Dam southeast of Yoncalla. Both are meant to stimulate jobs and provide economic development, he said. The county bought up dozens of acres of land along Elkhead Road to construct the dam, a project that was abandoned seven years ago because of the cost of fish ladders that would have been required. County officials are currently investigating whether that requirement could be waived and the dam built. In both cases, land that had generated property taxes was taken off the property tax rolls for a greater good, Cates said. "I don't see a lot of difference between the convention center and Milltown Hill," he said. Canyonville resident Floyd West pointed out that the county had given generous tax breaks to North River Jet Boats, Fred Meyer and other companies to locate in Douglas County over the years. Part of the incentives consisted of breaks on property taxes. Sutherlin resident Jack Van Dolah said he was concerned about the tribe paying its own way after the property for the convention center is placed into trust but the Cow Creeks still require city of Roseburg services. "'If they would just pay for the police services and the fire services they use - which they get for free - that would be a good thing," Van Dolah said. The tribe is currently negotiating a contract with the city of Roseburg to pay for infrastructure improvements needed for the convention center and to pay for added public safety services. Melrose resident Martha Young accused the two commissioners of having "tunnel vision." Young, who is president of the Cow Creek Indian Foundation, which awards 6 percent of tribal gaming profits to charitable groups in Douglas County and adjoining counties, said the convention center project would benefit a great number of businesses independent from the tribe. Although Van Slyke and Kittelman have said they are looking out for the best interests of the entire county, that isn't so, Young said. "You've been given the public trust. Shame on you for squandering that trust," she said. Van Slyke pointed out that all three commissioners who were in office last year - Robertson, former Commissioner Joyce Morgan and himself - sent a similar letter expressing concerns when the tribe sought to place the co-op property into trust. It hasn't been just he and Kittelman who have raised the issue, he said. Robertson said he talked with officials from the city, the Roseburg School District and other agencies that stand to lose property tax revenue from the property going into trust. All of them support the convention center project and he said the $900 a year the county stands to lose isn't very significant. "To me, it didn't make sense (this time) to appeal or to write a letter at all," Robertson said. Norm Neal, who served eight years as county sheriff, questioned what rights local law enforcement agents would have on tribal property. Kittelman raised the same issue at last week's meeting. Sheriff Chris Brown, who did not attend the meeting, said the county has had a cordial relationship with the tribe and that there has never been a problem going on to the casino property in Canyonville when needed. Brown said there was once an issue on how to serve legal papers to people on tribal property. That was easily resolved, he said, when the tribe offered to serve the papers itself and have one of its security officers sign the necessary legal documents needed for court. Monte Smith, who retired last year from the Oregon State Police and who supervised law enforcement oversight of tribal casino operations in Canyonville, Klamath Falls and