_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 13, ISSUE 043 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 October 22, 2005 Yuchi Tsotohostane/corn ripening moon Zuni Li'dekwakkwya lana/big wind moon Western Cherokee Duninhdi/harvest moon Mvskogee Otowoskv-rakko/big 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; RezLife, Rez_LIfe, Inigenous Peoples Literature, and Native American Poetry Mailing List; 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: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + ======================== "If you look at the history of Native education, even though we have low test scores we have seen our biggest improvement ever just in a generation. It's like the salmon-always trying to swim upstream. There is something inside Indian people to make themselves better-but on their own terms" __ Dr. David Beaulieu, Minnesota Chippewa Tribe +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Indian Pledge of Allegiance | The Indian Pledge of Alleg- | | iance was first presented | I pledge allegiance to my Tribe,| on 2 December '93 during the | to the democratic principles | opening address of the Nat- | of the Republic | ional Congress of American | and to the individual freedoms | Indian Tribal-States Relat- | borrowed from the Iroquois and | ions Panel in Reno, NV. NCAI | Choctaw Confederacies, | plans distribution of the | as incorporated in the United | Indian Pledge to all Indian | States Constitution, | Nations. | so that my forefathers | | shall not have died in vain | Walk in Beauty! Night Owl +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Journey | In the summer and early fall | The Bloodline | of 1998 the Treaty Unity Riders | | rode a thousand miles on horse- | For all that live and live by law | back, carrying a staff and | We Stand, we Call, We Ride | praying each step of the way. | For All that fear and fear by sight | | We Hear, we Listen, we Ride | These prayers were offered for | For all that pray and pray by strength| each of us, and that the Unity | We Feel, we Move, we Ride | of all Peoples might happen. | For all that die and die by greed | | We Hurt, we Cry, we Ride | Tatanka Cante forwarded this | For all that birth and birth by right | poem on behalf of all the Unity | We Smile, we Hold, we Ride | Riders that we might stop and | For all that need and need by heart | ask if the next words we say, the | We Came, we Went, we Rode. | next act we make is for the good | | of the People or is it from ego | Treaty Unity Riders | for self. +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ O'siyo Brothers and Sister! Janet, my beautiful half-side, comments on language restoration... In this issue, an article from the Grand Forks Herald, "Indian Language Policy History" presents a timeline of the laws and policies in the United States relating to tribal languages. From an initial policy of mandating US-sponsored education that punished Native children, through current laws that give lip-service to tribal language preservation (but no funding to actually implement any such thing), the timeline shows one thing only - the US has not gone very far from from its original commitment to destroy Native languages. Fortunately, many tribes recognize the importance of their language to maintaining their culture, and even to laying the foundtation of pride and hope that may stem the tide of hopelessness and self- destruction so prevalent in many Native communities. Other articles in this issue, and in previous issues outline initiatives to restore tribal languages and culture, In many cases where these programs have begun, educators can show improved across- the-board educational achievement. It is clear that officials in states and communities such as recently seen in Connecticut, and businesses that are banding together in groups like OneNation USA, wish to eliminate sovereign Indian nations as a present-day reality. In addition to the benefits tribal language provides in maintaining cultural integrity and tribal identity, and the benefits to overall educational performance, maintaining and teaching a distinct national language becomes another evidence of "separate existence" that may help protect Native nations in the US from claims that they "doesn't exist" in spite of hundreds of years of recognized existence. +/// Janet Smith owlstar@bellsouth.net /*/+ P. O. Box 672168 OwlStar Trading Post + / * Marietta, GA 30008, U.S.A. http://www.owlstar.com * + ---- Dohiyi Ani Oginalii , , Gary Smith (*,*) wotanging@bellsouth.net P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org Marietta, GA 30006, U.S.A. ===w=w=== http://www.nanews.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ----------- - BIA ruling on Schaghticoke - Creek Great-Grandmother shows bad Process deployed to Iraq - Pequot Leader vows - Reno Tribal Leader Tribe will keep fighting named to U.S. Commission - Editorial: - GIAGO: Politicians' Interior answering to Enemies Knowledge of Indian Law vital - Bush charges bias in Cobell Case - YELLOW BIRD: - Anti-youth suicide event Elders' fault Tribal Management on Red Lake Reservation - AFN Convention begins in Fairbanks - Leaders seek Salmon fix - Native Times: - Legacy of the Maine Land Claims Indian Country Editorial roundup - Maine Land claims revisited - Urgent Call from Carlos Barrios, - The value of Indian Ed Mayan Elder - Symposium targets - Aboriginal Spirits brought Home rebuilding efforts - Only one Full-Blood Member - IHS Care subject to Limits, left of Tribe in Chile Rations - Janklow asks Court - Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw to Restore Law License get back Land - Native Prisoner - Legislation faulted -- 6th Circuit - Long Hair dispute for low Academic Performance - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - Educator implements - Rustywire: Denver an unusual Solution Day before Columbus Day Protest - Indian Language Policy History - Janice Truitt Poem: Stardancer - Seminole dodge IRS Fight - Upcoming Events --------- "RE: BIA ruling on Schaghticoke shows bad Process" --------- Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 08:27:19 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SCHAGHTICOKE DENIED" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.connpost.com/opinion/ci_3110825 BIA ruling on tribe shows bad process October 13, 2005 The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs' rejection of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation for federal recognition Wednesday highlights what has become a very broken process for Indian tribes. The controversy over that process has made very strange bedfellows out of Schaghticoke Chief Richard Velky and state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. They both think that the process that Indian tribes must endure to become recognized by the federal government is seriously flawed, but for different reasons. Blumenthal, who was soundly opposed to the Schaghticokes receiving federal recognition, says that the BIA has become corrupted by the interests of the billion-dollar gambling industry. He has fought to repeal the recognition of the Schaghticokes since they were first recognized by the BIA in 2004. Velky, too, believes that lobbyists and politicians have conspired in both Washington, D.C., and here in Connecticut against the federal recognition for the Schaghticokes - who have in the past said that, if recognized, they might pursue the possibility of opening a casino, possibly in Bridgeport. In one sense, they're both right: The process of federal recognition is seriously flawed and is in dire need of being overhauled. Wednesday's Schaghticoke ruling does nothing but magnify the shortcomings of the system. Federal officials said that one of the reasons the Schaghticokes were denied recognition was that, from 1997 to the present, numerous Schaghticoke Indians refused to be members of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation - an explanation that is just about as confusing as they come. The Schaghticokes have been recognized by the state and other tribes since 1736. There should be no question that they deserve recognition. And, perhaps if that recognition didn't also carry with it the ability to claim land from the state and own and operate a casino, they would have already received it. The Schaghticoke Tribal Nation should appeal to the federal courts, even though Blumenthal was quick to point out that no tribe has successfully appealed a rejection in federal court. The Schaghticokes deserve to utilize every legal option open to them in their recognition fight. However one may feel about a third casino in Connecticut, the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation is a very real Indian tribe and merits federal recognition. If the federal process were not corrupted, they would have received that recognition. Copyright c. 1999-2005 Connecticut Post, MediaNews Group, Inc. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Pequot Leader vows Tribe will keep fighting" --------- Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 08:27:19 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="EASTERN PEQUOT DENIED" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.norwichbulletin.com//20051013/NEWS01/510130302/1002 Leader vows tribe will keep fighting By ADAM BOWLES Norwich Bulletin October 13, 2005 NORTH STONINGTON - Just a few miles away from Foxwoods Resort Casino - a $1 billion-a-year Indian gaming operation - Eastern Pequot Chairwoman Marcia Flowers talked Wednesday about the sting of being denied federal recognition. The recognition gives tribes the opportunity, through the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, to pursue gambling operations on reservations. In Connecticut, recognized tribes would face further legal obstacles to a casino. "The Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation has never shied away from a challenge," Flowers said during a press conference held at the tribal community center on Route 2. "Today's decision is a disappointment, but it is far from the end of the long struggle to confirm the heritage we know is ours." She said the tribe would review the Bureau of Indian Affairs' decision in the next few days and meet with advisers to determine the next step. The tribe likely will appeal the decision to federal district court. Fourteen tribal council members sat behind Flowers as she spoke for 10 minutes and answered a few questions from the media. A tribal flag featuring a turtle on the back of a hawk - the animals represent the two clans - hung alongside a U.S. flag. Flowers said tribal members were shocked at the bureau's announcement because they felt they provided the same level of evidence that won federal recognition for the Mashantuckets and Mohegans, local tribes that operate two of the world's largest casinos. Chief Roy Sebastian, dressed in an Indian headdress, prayed in a deep voice for success in the tribe's quest to "celebrate and protect its sovereign rights." For 27 years, the Eastern Pequots have sought tribal recognition. Some of the nearly 1,200 tribal members privately gathered by a fire lit at daybreak at a ceremonial circle on the reservation in North Stonington. "In the 1600s, our ancestors welcomed Europeans to a new land, then lost their own land and their lives to the colonists' aggression in the Pequot War," Flowers said, in her opening comments at the news conference. "Scattered as they were, the survivors came together and lived quiet lives on the reservation the colony grudgingly created for them. "They struggled through hard times trying to find a way to exist in the new culture forced upon them," she continued. "Many left the reservation and made their way to towns and cities throughout the state. Although it was difficult, they managed to hold on to their heritage and their families and hand down a pride and determination that we see in our children today." ReachAdamBowlesat425-4255orabowles@norwichbulletin.com Copyright c. 2005 Norwich Bulletin. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Editorial: Interior answering to Enemies" --------- Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2005 09:03:18 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DoI CAVES IN TO ANTI-INDIAN FORCES" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096411764 A lack of Interior fortitude by: Editors Report / Indian Country Today October 13, 2005 The Interior Department's Oct. 12 reversal of recognition for two Connecticut tribes tells more about the federal government than it does about the very strong petitions of the Eastern Pequots and the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation. It says that senior Indian Affairs officials are too cowardly and careerist to be trusted to defend tribal interests. It also suggests to us that accusations of corruption at the White House level can no longer be ignored. One detail from Interior's action speaks volumes. Instead of telephoning tribal officials and speaking to tribal leadership directly, Associate Deputy Interior Secretary James Cason sent his decisions by fax. Aurene Martin, the last Indian to head the BIA, showed more courage last summer when she notified the Nipmuc Nation in a personal conference call about the equally dubious reversal of their recognition. We can understand the embarrassment and bad conscience at Interior, but this act of petty cowardice illuminates the deeper void in leadership at the BIA. Interior personnel are answering not to the tribes, but to their enemies. Since the departures of Dave Anderson and Martin from the BIA, the Bush administration has made no visible effort to appoint a successor. The caretakers supervising the bureau have not made any attempt that we've noticed to speak against a constant stream of slanders against its staff. In fact, the acting head took the occasion of a meeting of tribal leaders (the United South and Eastern Tribes' mid-year session in July) to criticize the competency of his underlings. The days when Kevin Gover would stand up to anti-Indian politicians are a distant memory. With this lack of support, it's no wonder that BIA professionals are demoralized and easily rolled. The force of outside pressure provides the only explanation for the abrupt about-face on the recent recognition reversals. The arguments in Cason's faxes go beyond the decisions from the Interior Board of Indian Appeals that voided the earlier positive determinations. Without any evident logic they repudiate key points of the earlier findings. In 2002, the BIA found historical continuity between the formerly feuding Eastern Pequots and Paucatuck Eastern Pequots and recognized them as one nation - a finding heartily endorsed by their brothers of the Mashantucket (Western) Pequot Tribal Nation. The Eastern Pequots, in fact, have healed their split - an inspirational example to all Indian country. But now Cason argues that the earlier split shows they failed to satisfy the criterion of continuous community: "The two separate communities after the early 1980s are not the same community that existed before that time." The BIA earlier pulled a similar trick on the Nipmuc Nation, completely changing the criteria it had used in 2002 to give it a positive determination. Don't bother looking for consistent logic. It's painfully obvious that Interior is arbitrarily changing standards, hair-splitting and imposing impossible conditions to reach a pre-determined result - no "new" federally recognized tribes. When the government says it has a process, and then keeps changing the process to make it impossible to satisfy, one has to wonder if it is in fact denying due process. This becomes a matter for the federal courts. Several recognition petitions have already wound up before properly appalled federal judges. The Schaghticokes, for one, are talking about a federal lawsuit, and they seem to us to have some very good issues. The first issue, of course, would be the arbitrary action of the Interior bureaucracy. But a further issue might take more than the courts to resolve. The Schaghticokes have caught a whiff of corruption about their treatment. They are charging that Connecticut politicians and the wealthy neighbors of their historic northwest Connecticut reservation used improper influence on Interior and the White House. The townspeople of affluent Kent hired the consulting firm founded by the well-connected Haley Barbour to lobby against recognition. The Schaghticokes have found evidence that the lobbyists arranged a White House meeting before the IBIA voided the Connecticut recognitions. This charge might sound ironic, given the high volume of the charges from Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and his fellow Indian-fighters that financial backers of the petitioners were corrupting the BIA recognition process to get casinos. Like much propaganda, these charges now sound like what the psychologists call projection: accusing your enemy of doing what you mean to do yourself. The documented evidence of improper conduct all concerns the opposition to the tribes. Blumenthal lobbied Interior Secretary Gale Norton in violation of court orders. The law firm representing the towns hired a former BIA recognition officer to help it beat the Eastern Pequot petition that she helped prepare. And of course the towns, state officers and, shamefully, the Connecticut congressional delegation kept up a vociferous, distorted and even lying campaign against the petitioning tribes, their backers and Indian country itself. The mainstream media largely swallowed this campaign and its underlying bigotry. Shoddily researched books by a certain Jeff Benedict and several imitators continue to be cited uncritically. They draw on an underlying hatred and resentment of Connecticut Indians that has to be experienced to be believed. This bigotry is surfacing more frequently in national discourse. Lou Dobbs can't go half a minute into his nightly broadcast on CNN without attacking "illegal immigrants." White supremacists have picked up the chant, and they are talking about the indigenous peoples of the continent, not Europeans. The leader of one fringe anti-immigrant group in Connecticut recently told the Hartford Courant that he could identify illegals by their "Mayan features." Indian country must and can unify to defeat this threat, but some soul- searching and purification will first be in order. Some recognized tribes have intervened in the recognition process, openly or not, to keep down would-be rivals. In the aftermath of the Oct. 12 decision, Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean cited this tribe-against-tribe lobbying as a reason for declining to criticize the Bush administration's action. Some of these interventions come from tribal histories of schisms and ancient rivalries. Others look simply like attempts to preserve market share for tribal casinos. Whatever the cause, this internecine sabotage hurts all of Indian country and will surely blow up in the face of the established tribes playing this game. In spite of these blemishes, this generation of tribal leaders has shown reserves of strength and wisdom that it will need as it faces a growing challenge, by itself. Anti-Indian forces have been smelling blood for some time. They are already re-energized, and the Connecticut experience will boost their spirits even higher. Indian country urgently needs to wake up and begin deploying its own resources to fight this threat. We are certainly not going to get any help in the struggle from the BIA in Washington, D.C. Copyright c. 1998-2005 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Bush charges bias in Cobell Case" --------- Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2005 08:48:51 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="APPEALS COURT HEARS CHARGES OF BIAS" http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/010810.asp Appeals court considers bias charges in Cobell lawsuit October 17, 2005 The Bush administration renewed allegations of bias in the handling of the Indian trust fund lawsuit at a hearing on Friday but faced probing questions from two appellate court judges. Thomas M. Bondy, a Department of Justice attorney, pressed the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to throw out three reports that were produced as part of the Cobell v. Norton case. The reports, authored by a former court investigator, were critical of the administration's trust reform efforts. In one report, Alan Balaran, a Washington, D.C., attorney who served as special master in the litigation, accused top Interior Department officials of hiding negative information about a costly computer system from the judge handling the case. The other two reports questioned the government's adherence to court orders that require the preservation of trust records. Bondy argued that Balaran's hiring of an employee of a Native-owned firm who had been working with Interior on the computer system tainted the first report. The other reports, issued several months later, were therefore biased even though they dealt with another topic, Bondy told the court. "They should count for nothing. They should have never been issued," Bondy said. "This is a judicial officer who did something fundamentally improper," Bondy said of Balaran's action. But two members of the three-judge panel that heard the dispute struggled with the administration's unusual request. Judge Donald H. Ginsburg and Judge A. Raymond Randolph questioned whether they could throw out reports that have already been released to the public and were included in the record by the government's own attorneys. "How do we vacate a report?" asked Randolph, an appointee of former president George H. W. Bush. "I don't know what that means." "The word is out," added Ginsburg, the chief judge of the court and an appointee of the late president Ronald Reagan. For the court to act, "we need some reparable harm," he said. Marc Levy, an attorney for the Cobell plaintiffs, responded that the administration was playing a "shell game" in its attempt to strike the reports from the record. He said there is no evidence that Balaran showed any bias by hiring the employee of Native American Industrial Distributors (http://www.naid.com), a Maryland-based company owned by a Native veteran. "There is no need for draconian remedies," he said of the government's request. "That's what Interior is seeking today." The appeals court panel, which also included Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, who didn't ask any questions during the 50-minute hearing, previously blocked the release of reports that Balaran prepared as part of a contempt proceeding. The judges ruled that Balaran obtained information out of the normal judicial process that could have tainted his views. Ginsburg and Randolph referred several times during Friday's hearing to their earlier decision and appeared to be concerned about opening the door to other allegations of bias in the case. The Bush administration has already asked the appeals court to remove U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth from the case, charging that has been too harsh on the government and has expanded the case to look at issues such as computer security. "Are you going to be back telling us that the information technology hearing was tainted?" Ginsburg asked when Bondy said Balaran's reports have been used in other parts of the case. Lamberth recently concluded a 59-day trial that examined the security of Interior's computer network. Balaran resigned the case in March 2004 amid long-running efforts to remove him. His resignation was preceded by the departure of Joseph S. Kieffer, the former court monitor whose reports were also highly critical of the government but who came under fire for alleged bias. Copyright c. 2000-2005 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Anti-youth suicide event on Red Lake Reservation" --------- Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 08:27:19 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ANTI-YOUTH SUICIDE EVENT" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7096 Anti-youth suicide event on Red Lake Indian reservation Event comes less than a year after teen gunman went on murder spree Sam Lewin October 12, 2005 Seven months after a teenaged gunman there killed nine people before turning the gun on himself, the Red Lake Indian reservation is hosting the second "Honor the Youth" spiritual run. The event is sponsored by the Native Crisis Hotline, which reports that Native youngsters between the ages of 15-24 have a 3.3 times higher suicide rate than the national average. Substance abuse contributes to the suicide rate, and Lorna Lague, an employee of the Minnesota-based White Earth Band of Chippewa, said that stems from one thing. "Boredom. We are so rural that our kids do not have anything to do. Transportation is an issue and we don't even have a movie theater on our reservation," Lague told the Native American Times. The run begins just before midnight on Oct. 17 and winds through the activities at Red Lake, the run will begin at midnight (October17th - 18th) carrying the Eagle Staff through the White Earth Reservation, the Sisseton, Wahpeton, Aberdeen, McLaughlin communities, ending at Fort Yates on the Standing Rock Reservation on October 23rd where a local crisis hotline has recently been started. The Minnesota Indian Affairs Council and The National Congress of American Indians sponsor both the spiritual run and the hotline. This year's spiritual run is the second annual and occurs under grim circumstances. On March 21, 16-year-old Jeff Weise killed a security guard, a teacher and five students at the school before killing himself. Weise also killed his grandfather and his grandfather's companion earlier at their home. The only person arrested so far has been the son of the Red Lake tribal chairman Floyd Jourdain. Weise's murder rampage stunned the nation and brought focus on something Minnesota Indians have been saying for years. "Here on the reservation we have known for a long time there is something wrong and we have tried telling that to our politicians and legislators," Lague said. "As horrible as the Red Lake situation was, it finally gave us some attention. The suicide rate here is in crisis mode." Organizers of the spiritual run are also hoping to get support from Native communities across the border in Canada. According to the Canadian Criminal Justice Association: "Suicide is a significant concern in many Aboriginal communities, is two to three times more common among Aboriginal peoples and is also five to six times more prevalent among Aboriginal youth than non-Aboriginal youth. According to Aboriginal tradition, suicide was rare in Pre-colonialism times because it was viewed as unacceptable. Those who did commit suicide were generally the sick or elderly who felt they could no longer contribute to their community and their deaths were perceived as acts of self-sacrifice. In First Nations communities today, suicide is more common among the young and usually results from feelings of hopelessness and despair." The Native Crisis Hotline number is 651-251-1601. Officials say that since its inception in August, the hotline has taken calls from youngsters in the U.S. and Canada and recently expanded to hire more staffers and counselors. You can reach Sam Lewin at sam@okit.com Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Leaders seek Salmon fix" --------- Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 08:27:19 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SALMON RESTORATION SOUGHT" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/5250844p-4767470c.html Leaders seek salmon fix Tribes say habitat restoration, not limits, will help fish live SUSAN GORDON; The News Tribune October 13, 2005 Increased catch restrictions alone won't revive dwindling runs of Puget Sound chinook salmon. And even if fisheries managers allow more salmon to escape for spawning, some river systems are so degraded that additional fish won't be able to survive. Those were among the messages delivered Wednesday at the University of Washington Tacoma, where U.S. Reps. Norm Dicks (D-Belfair), Brian Baird (D-Vancouver) and Greg Walden (R-Hood River, Ore.) held an informal hearing on salmon harvest issues. There's no sense trying to impose further cuts on sport, commercial or tribal fisheries, regulators told the congressmen. Strict limits have been in place for years, and more restrictions aren't likely to spur a fish population boom. "The Puyallup Tribe closed chinook (fishing) for 20 years ... and now they have a 12-hour fishery," said Billy Frank Jr., a Nisqually Indian leader who is chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. The organization represents 20 Western Washington tribes, including the Puyallups. Even if fishermen leave more fish to swim upstream, that doesn't mean they will survive, Frank said. As the human population grows, fish habitat deteriorates. "Water temperatures are increasing, the oceans are sick and parts of the Puget Sound are dying," he said. Each of the congressmen acknowledged the importance of habitat restoration as a means to recover endangered species, such as chinook salmon. But they also said they are troubled by the high cost. Baird, in particular, zeroed in on the expense of hydropower production lost when Columbia River dams spill extra water to sustain salmon. "We're got senior citizens who have to pay their bills this winter and it's going to be higher than it needs to be," Baird said. Susan Gordon: 253-597-8756 susan.gordon@thenewstribune.com Copyright c. 2005 Tacoma News, Inc. A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company --------- "RE: Legacy of the Maine Land Claims" --------- Date: Sat, 8 Oct 2005 10:32:39 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MAINE LAND CLAIMS PART 1" http://www.bangornews.com/news/templates/?a=121675 Legacy of the land claims Bangor Daily News By Jeff Tuttle, Of the NEWS Staff October 8, 2005 Editor's note: This is the first in a two-part series on the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act, which marks its 25th anniversary on Oct. 10. Part two will appear Monday. To passers-by on the stretch of Route 1 along Lewy Lake, the pile of gravel - now overgrown with weeds - hardly seems a monument to anything, let alone one of Maine's most controversial and consequential legal battles. "This is where the war started," John Stevens, a Passamaquoddy elder, half-joked as he recalled his tribe's 1964 protest on the spot in Indian Township through which a local white man had planned to build a road on what the tribe believed to be its property. "It's kind of a memorial for us now," continued Stevens, now 72, whose protest set in motion 16 years of legal, political and cultural tumult that resulted in the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act, which marks its 25th anniversary on Monday. The unique agreement, signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on Oct. 10, 1980, was full of promise, the result of four years of often tense negotiations among state, tribal and paper company officials. It marked a new chapter, its authors hoped, in the troubled tale of the state and its native population, particularly its two largest tribes, the Penobscot Indian Nation and the Passamaquoddy Tribe. "It was a new opportunity, which was a lot more than what we had before, " said former Penobscot governor Tim Love, who took his post just days before Carter's ceremonial signing. Depending on how one measures progress over the 25 years, much - and little - has changed on the state's three reservations, where poverty persists despite general improvements in housing, employment and education. Much of the gains have come with the federal government's official recognition of Maine tribes - a status confirmed by the settlement. The federal status brought with it millions of dollars over the years to run tribal housing, health, education and law enforcement programs. But to some tribal members, the stroke of Carter's eagle quill pen on their 1980 settlement with the state brought something far more valuable: land. The Penobscot and Passamaquoddy each received $26.8 million to buy more than 300,000 total acres of land - making them among the state's largest landowners. The Houlton Band of Maliseets, a smaller tribe in Aroostook County, received $900,000 to acquire land. The settlement also included an additional $13.5 million each for the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribes, to be held in federal trust accounts. The annual interest is paid to the tribes and can be used without restriction except for interest from $1 million that must be used to benefit tribal elders. The Houlton band did not receive a trust fund. In return for the $81.5 million in federal money - the largest settlement of its kind at the time - the tribes dropped their claim to 12. 5 million acres of land (about two-thirds of the state) and agreed to abide by most state laws and provide services similar to a municipality. Although 25 years is but a blip in Indian history, change - not all for the better - has come quickly in those years. They have brought legal, economic and political frustration to the tribes, which have chafed under certain terms of the settlement that deny them many rights - including the ability to operate casino gambling - afforded to other Indian tribes with equal federal status.From behind his desk on the Penobscots' 315-acre reservation north of Old Town, Love still bristles over the disparity that has kept his tribe, and the Passamaquoddy, at an economic disadvantage when compared to the rest of Indian country. "The state got something it didn't deserve," Love said. 'A deal is a deal' Two hours away, a much younger Love can be seen smiling in a group photograph hanging on the wall of John M.R. Paterson's law office in Portland's busy Old Port. Paterson, one of the state's chief negotiators of the settlement, also has a place in the photo, in which he and the rest of the agreement's architects stand in front of the West Wing of the White House after the signing. "A deal is a deal, and we made a deal," Paterson, 61, said matter-of- factly, dismissing the tribes' later contention that the agreement has been misinterpreted by the courts. "They understood every word, comma and period." Paterson, at the time deputy state attorney general under Gov. Joseph Brennan, recalls being responsible for a key phrase in the settlement that has stymied the Maine tribes' attempts to take advantage of a 1989 federal law allowing tribal casinos. Essentially, Paterson's addition prevented any federal Indian law passed after the 1980 settlement from applying to the Maine tribes, unless it specifically named them. Paterson isn't necessarily reviled by tribal members, and Love, who worked intently on the negotiations, refers to him as a "worthy adversary." The tribes, however, did work feverishly - and successfully - to scuttle Paterson's 1995 nomination to the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission, a joint panel created by the settlement to resolve disputes over its interpretation. While a deal may be a deal, in Paterson's words, it's a deal whose origins and intricacies fewer and fewer Mainers understand. Some evidence of that can be found within Paterson's own office, where many young lawyers, he said, puzzle over the framed photograph and offer blank looks when he recounts for them the groundbreaking case. "'Get out of my office,' I say," joked Paterson, although acknowledging that many of the new associates weren't yet born when the settlement was making national headlines. But a general misunderstanding of the agreement has fueled hard feelings over the years, said Tom Tureen, who, fresh out of law school, devised the legal strategy that allowed the Maine tribes to reclaim land and become eligible for federal benefits afforded to hundreds of other tribes across the nation. "To begin with, the other side wasn't afraid of us at all," said Tureen, now 61, noting that state attorneys ignored the case for several years, believing the unorthodox legal approach had little chance of success. "That eventually changed." Front and center in Paterson's photograph is a younger Tureen, and no one's smile is broader than that of the lawsuit's bespectacled mastermind. At the time of the photo, it had been 13 years since Tureen first set foot in Washington County as a summer researcher for Eastport attorney Don Gellers, the only local lawyer willing to represent the tribe when a handful of its members were arrested during the Lewy Lake protest. Eventually, all charges were dropped and Gellers had earned the respect of many in the tribe. In 1968, Gellers was also busy crafting a lawsuit in hope of regaining 6, 000 lost acres of 23,000 acres reserved for the tribe in a 1794 treaty with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which at the time included Maine. Three days after the lawsuit's filing, however, police arrested Gellers for marijuana possession. He was later convicted, but fled the state before serving any prison time. Stevens then asked Tureen, upon his 1969 graduation from George Washington University law school, to take over the case. He readily agreed, but, just as quickly, abandoned Gellers' strategy in favor of one that eventually would test the limits of the nation's judicial system and call into real question who owned most of Maine. 'Deep and difficult waters' In trying to reclaim some of the tribe's land, Gellers' case had relied on the 1794 treaty, uncovered by Stevens, reserving for the tribe 23,000 total acres - including the Lewy Lake tract. But Tureen, with the tribe's blessing, would argue that the treaty was null and void because it was made after Congress passed the Nonintercourse Act of 1790, which required that the federal government approve all Indian treaties. The Passamaquoddy' 1794 treaty, copies of which today reside within the Maine State Museum archives and the University of Maine special collections, had no such approvals. Meanwhile, the Penobscot Nation found itself in a similar situation. In 1796, it had ceded most of its land to Massachusetts in return for an annual payment of supplies including 500 bushels of corn, 15 barrels of flour, seven barrels of clear pork, one hogshead of molasses, 100 yards of cloth and 50 good blankets. That bargain also was struck without congressional approval. Penobscot leaders asked Tureen to include them in his 1972 lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior, attorneys for which had argued that the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy were "state Indians" who were not federally recognized and therefore not covered under the Nonintercourse Act. But Tureen would soon find out that the clock was ticking on his lawsuit because of an existing federal statute of limitations on Indian land claims nationwide that was set to expire in a matter of months. Tureen pled his case to U.S. District Court Judge Edward T. Gignoux, who ordered the U.S. Department of Justice to sue the state of Maine on behalf of the tribes to preserve the claim while he ruled on the merits of the case. The department complied and sued Maine for $150 million on behalf of both tribes. Nearly three years later, in 1975, the tribes won a major victory when Gignoux found that they were entitled to federal recognition and their land afforded the same protections as that of the more established Western tribes. After that decision was upheld by a higher court, the Justice Department amended its original lawsuit to claim a staggering 12.5 million acres on the tribes' behalf, much of which was owned by the state's powerful paper companies in northern and eastern Maine. "It was important because of the potential of it," said Suzan Shown Harjo, an American Indian writer living in Washington who became involved in the case first as a radio reporter and then as a special assistant in the Carter administration. "There was a feeling in Indian country that finally, maybe [the Maine tribes] were going to get some justice." The ruling itself, although significant, still didn't catch the attention of state leaders, including the man the tribes believed to be their biggest adversary at that time: Maine Gov. Jim Longley, who had taken office earlier that year. But it wouldn't be long before Longley - and nearly everyone else in Maine - would pay close attention to the case. In 1976, the threat of a federal lawsuit against the state threw the Maine bond market into turmoil. With the pending lawsuit, there would be no clear title to the vast area of disputed land, and the town of Millinocket was unable to borrow $1 million because it could not prove it had the authority to raise taxes on its land to repay the municipal bond. Shortly thereafter, a $27 million statewide bond issue failed to get the needed legal approval, and suddenly the case appeared on everyone's radar screen as funding for construction projects including roads, bridges - and the Bangor Mall - became hung up in the legal uncertainty. The next morning, Tureen's telephone rang. "I got a call at 4 a.m. from this madman [Longley] screaming at me and telling me he was going to Washington to fix this," said Tureen. Tureen, a pilot, jumped in his plane in an attempt to beat the governor there. "I pictured myself in a boat with suddenly huge waves," Tureen later recalled of the quick and powerful opposition, which included an effort - that ultimately failed - to pass a federal law designed to lock the tribes out of court and unconditionally extinguish their existing claim. "We were getting into some deep and difficult waters." Just a few months before the tribe's winning federal recognition in court, Tureen had attempted to explain the case to Longley during a car ride between Calais and the Passamaquoddy reservation on Pleasant Point. Longley, famed for his ability to forgo sleep for late-night letter writing, did something unexpected, according to Tureen: He fell asleep. But for the rest of his term, Longley - and later, Gov. Brennan - would devote many of his waking hours to making the tribes' suddenly strong claim go away. For Paterson, one of the state's top attorneys, that meant years of negotiations in hopes of settling the federal case, the outcome of which - should it be heard in court - was, at best, uncertain. "It was considered a real crisis," Paterson said. Settling on sovereignty Such a crisis it was that the Maine congressional delegation prevailed upon the Carter administration to intervene in the case, which was causing Maine property owners much consternation and in some quarters fueling anti-Indian sentiment. "There was a lot of fear ... fear of the unknown," Love said of public reaction at the time. "We had been subservient to the state for so long. Now that was going to change. "People were saying, 'Now they want their land back, what's going to happen to us?'" Love continued. "You can understand that, but at the same time, we wanted justice." In reality, many tribal officials knew that the likelihood of regaining the millions of acres they sought in their claim against the state was remote, at best. The courts, they believed, simply wouldn't allow such a drastic change in the ownership of an area where 350,000 Mainers now lived. So the tribes' justice was bound to come through negotiations, and Carter, sympathetic to the tribes' position, appointed a former Georgia superior court justice as a special envoy to the talks. The state - then among the poorest in the nation - was unyielding in its refusal to pay any of the reparations. Instead, it insisted that the federal government, which thus far had ignored the Maine tribes, pick up the entire tab. Eventually, Carter came up with $81.5 million - by far the largest settlement of its kind at the time. More importantly, it was enough to satisfy the tribes. With the money issue out of the way, there remained a more pressing concern: sovereignty. Longley had repeatedly expressed his unwillingness to create a "nation within a nation," and the Maine tribes were convinced they should be treated like the western tribes, which had broad powers to control their land without state interference. "There was no reason the Maine tribes shouldn't be just like other tribes," Tureen said during a recent interview at his comfortable South Portland home. "No reason at all." But without the approval of Maine's congressional delegation, the tribes had little chance of realizing the agreed-upon $81.5 million settlement. And with Carter poised to lose his 1980 re-election bid against Republican Ronald Reagan - who was considered less likely to deal with the tribes - the clock was ticking. "Things were moving very fast," Love recalled. "We had some decisions to make." Those decisions would ultimately lay the groundwork for a new era in tribal-state relations, but would also jeopardize the tribes' sovereignty and perpetuate decades of political and cultural conflict. Bangor Daily News PO Box 1329 491 Main Street Bangor, ME 04401 Switchboard: In-State Long Distance 1-800-432-7964 or 207-990-8000 Copyright c. 2005 All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Maine Land claims revisited" --------- Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2005 08:51:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MAINE LAND CLAIMS PART II" http://www.bangornews.com/news/templates/?a=121748 Land claims revisited Bangor Daily News October 10, 2005 Editor's Note: This is the second part of a two-part series on the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act, which marks its 25th anniversary today. Part one appeared in the Oct. 8 print edition of the Bangor Daily News, and also can be viewed at www.bangordailynews.com. By Jeff Tuttle, Of the NEWS Staff INDIAN ISLAND - A serious and somewhat sad expression comes over the face of Tim Love when he recalls growing up on this small island reservation of the Penobscot Indian Nation. Love, now 53, clearly remembers the days when agents from the state's Bureau of Indian Affairs - a notoriously underfunded department - parceled out food and firewood to families here, many of whom still went hungry and without heat during the long winters. "Tough. Real tough," is how Love, the tribe's former governor, described his early days on the island before the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980 and before the tribe won its right to much-needed federal housing, health and education services. Although tribal members disagree on the net impact of the settlement, which marks its 25th anniversary today, it did bring substantial changes to the reservation, where close to 600 people - about one-third of the Penobscot tribe's total membership - live today. In 1980, the reservation's population was 474. As recently as the 1970s, the tribe's annual budget, "on a good year," totaled about $11,000 kept in a shoe box under the tribal clerk's bed. Most of that money was used to pay electricity and heating bills at the tribe's run-down meeting hall and occasionally send a representative to Augusta or, even more rarely, Washington, D.C., where the tribe was just beginning to lobby for federal recognition. On a recent day on Indian Island, Love, now the tribe's economic development adviser, sat behind his desk piled high with papers at a new, modern office building on the eastern side of the reservation north of Old Town. The tribe's annual general fund now averages about $1 million - including about $250,000 per year from the tribe's high-stakes bingo operation - and Love, who recently moved back to Maine from Connecticut, finds the island a far cry from the place he left in 1989. Tucked behind one teetering stack of papers, Love's telephone rang several times, and he puzzled over one area code in particular popping up on caller identification. "Four-eight-four? Where's that?" Love asked aloud before curiosity made him pick up the receiver. The answer, it turns out, is Pennsylvania. The woman on the other end of the line was calling to discuss the parcel of tribal land she just purchased in coastal Steuben. The 2.5-acre lot, sold for about $180,000, is one of 13 waterfront parcels owned by the tribe, which as a result of the 1980 settlement has become one of the 20 largest landowners in the state. Today the tribe's 125,000 acres in central and northern Maine, bought with a portion of the $26.8 million received from the settlement, has helped it build a modest economic base, mainly through forestry operations. The Passamaquoddy Tribe in Washington County has done much the same with the 138,000 acres it bought with its equal share of the settlement money. While a far cry from the 12.5 million acres the tribes had claimed in their original lawsuit against the state, the combined acreage - much of which is held in trust by the federal government - has helped the tribes reclaim some of their lost land base. The federal government's trust relationship with the nation's native tribes - including those in Maine - is not well understood by the general population, many legal and native experts say. While the public at large might see federal protections and financial assistance - mainly in the areas of health, education and housing - as forms of welfare to the tribes, a more historically accurate view would define the services as restitution for millions of acres of native land ceded through treaties with the U.S. government dating back hundreds of years. But even beyond establishing federal status for the Maine tribes, which had languished in poverty under state authority, the major goal of the 1980 settlement was to reclaim some of the tribes' lost land base to help secure its economic future, according to its key architect. "The concept was to help the tribes survive and flourish and create opportunity at home," said Tom Tureen, the tribes' attorney whose lawsuit forced the federal government to recognize the tribes and, later, sue the state for the return of tribal land. "The goal was to make sure there would always be a tribe." Gambling on gaming Tureen, now 61, would become a pivotal figure for the tribes in the years after the settlement, acting as their financial adviser and devising a strategy in which the tribes would use some of the $53.6 million earmarked for land acquisition to acquire businesses outside their reservations. By pursuing existing businesses - particularly those with predictable revenue streams - the tribe could borrow money to help cover the purchase price and, in turn, develop much-needed banking and community connections for future business ventures on the reservations, Tureen said. The strategy, like the settlement itself, was unique at the time - but not always successful. Some deals paid off, such as the Passamaquoddy Tribe's 1983 purchase of Dragon Cement in Thomaston for $2 million and $23 million in loans. The tribe later sold the property for $80 million. Others, such as the Penobscot's $1.2 million loss on the Holden-based building company Schiavi Homes, did not. Besides giving the tribes the ability to purchase land, the settlement contained another unique aspect. It allowed the tribes to have their combined $27 million trust fund - which remains intact today - privately managed. Thus far, the tribes have not chosen to invest privately, instead allowing the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs to invest the money in government bonds. The resulting interest is distributed among individual members. While money was a key part of the settlement, Tureen didn't make a penny beyond his $31,500 salary as a legal services lawyer. He became a rich man afterward, however, advising Indian tribes - most notably the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe of Foxwoods casino renown in Connecticut - on business deals, land claims and casino gambling. In Maine, Tureen became a major player in a 2003 effort by the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes to build their own tribal casino. The $650 million plan, the grandest of all of the tribes' many gaming proposals over the years, failed miserably at statewide polls, with heavy opposition from southern Maine. Unlike the other 550-plus U.S. tribes, the Maine tribes cannot operate a casino without the state's consent because courts have ruled that the 1980 settlement supersedes the 1989 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, the federal law granting the tribes such gaming rights. The tribes' almost perennial pursuit of casino gaming since 1989 has produced more frustration than progress. This year that frustration intensified when the Passamaquoddy Tribe lost an effort to open a racetrack casino, or racino, in Washington County only after Gov. John Baldacci announced he would veto the bill when the Legislature returns in January. The tribe now is gathering signatures in hopes of forcing a 2006 referendum on the issue. Although the referendum process is under way, the tribes in some respects have moved on, Love said, continuing to pursue a variety of nongaming business ventures. "We should never find ourselves in a position where we are solely reliant on gambling," said Love, predicting the potential referendum in 2006 would be his tribe's last attempt to enter the gaming industry. "For a while anyway," he added. Whether gaming is part of any tribe's economic equation is not necessarily important, suggests a recent Harvard University study which found that tribes, left to their own devices, are closing the economic and educational gaps with the rest of the U.S. population. At a March seminar on native issues, Eric Henson of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development said those gains were closely linked with the ability of tribes to govern themselves. "Actual tribal sovereignty and 25 years of tribal decision making is lifting the Indian nations, gaming or not," Henson said at the Palm Springs, Calif., seminar for journalists. Cultural changes Even without casino gambling, some of the Maine tribes' economic endeavors have stirred controversy. Most notably, the Passamaquoddy Tribe's recent pursuit of a liquefied natural gas plant on its Pleasant Point reservation has prompted environmental concerns from within the tribe and without. One of the loudest voices of opposition from within the tribe has been that of Madonna Soctomah, a former Passamaquoddy representative to the Legislature who now lives on the Pleasant Point reservation. The plant, Soctomah argues, is not sound economic development and runs counter to the tribe's traditional practice of preserving the land. The settlement itself - namely the money that accompanied it - has produced similar cultural conflict, said Soctomah, by promoting an individualistic society on the once tight-knit reservations, she said. "I can remember when everybody took care of everybody else and that's how we survived," said Soctomah, 62. "We used to gather regularly and play games. Now there's no community life here. It's like everybody's a recluse." At the time of the settlement, tribal support for the agreement was high. Voters in both the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribes, eager to regain a substantial land base, approved the deal by a 2-1 ratio. Soctomah, who had just returned from Wisconsin at the time of the settlement, said she opposed the "rushed deal." Soctomah is not alone in her disapproval, and for many on the reservations, where poverty, unemployment and drug abuse remain problems, the 25th anniversary of the settlement is no cause for celebration. "In 25 years the state has really eroded our sovereignty," said Donna Loring, a former Penobscot representative to the Legislature. "With that, a lot of our hopes and dreams sort of vanished." While Soctomah blames the settlement in part for the loss of tribal culture over the years, experts say preserving a tribe's traditional ways in the modern era is a challenge under the best of circumstances. Protecting Indian culture has taken many forms in Maine, with tribes taking advantage of federal grants aimed at reviving native languages and traditional arts. On Indian Island, Carla Fearon, director of the Penobscot Nation's Boys and Girls Club, incorporated tribal culture into the club's popular summer-long program called Penobscot Days. "They loved picking fiddleheads. They loved making baskets. They loved collecting eagle feathers. They loved harvesting the traditional garden," Fearon said. "They loved doing these things, and they are part of Penobscot culture." In all likelihood, many more of the Penobscot children in Fearon's program will go on to college, many by way of the settlement, which grants tribal members free tuition within the University of Maine System. Increased access to higher education, many tribal members say, has been an undeniable benefit of the settlement, as evidenced on Indian Island, where in 2000, 46 percent of those 25 and older had some college education. That number now rivals the statewide average of 49 percent. In 1980 on the reservation, that number was just 10 percent. Forging ahead Whether cultural, educational, economic or political, the changes that came with the Mane Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980 have been felt most drastically on the state's three reservations at Indian Island, Pleasant Point and Indian Township. The changes have been gradual for John Stevens, the Passamaquoddy man whose early role in the lawsuit earned him the honorary title "father of the land claims." "You don't notice it until you take a step back and look at all the stuff we did," said Stevens, 72, while perusing historic photographs that line the walls of the tribe's airy government offices just over the bridge from neighboring Princeton. At Indian Township, a Passamaquoddy reservation north of Calais, individual tribal members receive between $250 and $400 a year from interest on the $13.5 million placed in a permanent trust for each tribe as a result of the settlement. While the modest per capita payments have done little to lift the reservation out of poverty, the federal services that came as a precursor to the land claims case have undeniably transformed the reservation, where nearly 700 Passamaquoddy live today. Today, in Stevens' town, the tar-paper shacks - including Stevens' first home - that lined the gravel road to Peter Dana Point have been replaced with modest and virtually identical homes funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Sitting prominently on a small hillside near the homes is a modern health center operated by Indian Health Services, a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It was the lack of adequate housing, education and health services that led an exasperated Stevens to rally tribal support around the lawsuits against the federal government and the state of Maine. "I was going around like a time bomb, frustrated and wondering what we were doing," he said. There have been court battles since over the meaning of the settlement, including whether the tribes had authority to regulate water quality, prevent public access to tribal government records, and conduct casino gambling. The courts - state and federal - have not been inclined to side with the tribes, ruling that their sovereign authority is, as the settlement states, akin to that of a municipality. Beyond court rulings, several books and newspaper articles during the past 25 years have studied the effects of the settlement, which gained national headlines and set a legal precedent for Eastern tribes that led to similar claims in Connecticut and Massachusetts. The Bangor Daily News, in its editorial pages in 1980, often critical of the tribes' pursuit of the land claims case, finally relented once a settlement was reached and predicted a thorough study of the evolving agreement in the coming years. "Only time will tell if the happiness is enduring and the sacrifice worth it," BDN editors wrote. Twenty-five years later, the merits of the settlement continue to be debated, and Stevens certainly doesn't count "enduring happiness" as one of its effects. But the father of the land claims does view the historic agreement as a necessary tool in helping his tribe survive. "To me [the settlement] is something we were owed and something we have to hold on to," he said. Copyright c. Bangor Daily News. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: The value of Indian Ed" --------- Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2005 14:29:17 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MONTANA LEARNS A LESSON IN INDIAN EDUCATION" http://www.gftribune.com//20051016/NEWS01/510160303/1002 The value of Indian ed By KEILA SZPALLER Tribune Staff Writer October 16, 2005 When Shirley Bollich's Native American students outperformed their 11th- grade classmates on tests last spring, she was ecstatic. "I am shouting their praises to everybody," said Bollich, C.M. Russell High School's Indian education coordinator. She should. Schools nationwide mostly fail to bring the academic performance of ethnic minority students to levels achieved by their white peers. Montana is no different. This year, though, the state finally funded a law that guarantees Montana pay attention in schools to the state's Native American heritage. The law, Indian Education for All, isn't about improving Native students' performance in school. But that is one effect it has. Like CMR, public schools in Great Falls that heeded the mandate - well before the state ever funded it - see minority students thrive. They see something else, too: Racial tensions dissipate. Resources, programs In 2005, the state allocated $4.4 million over the next two years to Indian Education for All. Tribal Colleges receive $1 million for educational equipment and preserving oral histories. The Office of Public Instruction gets $3.4 million. It's using $2 million for curriculum development. School districts are tapping into the remaining $1.4 million by applying for grants. It's hardly enough, some say. "I think our schools need far more than that," said Rep. Carol Juneau, D-Browning. Most schools, after all, have catching up to do when it comes to Indian Education for All. Earlier this year, the Montana Supreme Court upheld a ruling that declared the state was not meeting its constitutional obligation to fund education. District Judge Jeffrey Sherlock earlier pointed to a specific failing: "To have any meaning or effect, the Indian Education for All Act requires resources and programs, which in turn, require funding." A legislative committee continues to work on an elusive school funding formula. Some schools - including those in Great Falls - forged ahead years ago without state support. They witness results: Feats in test scores, minuscule achievement gaps between minority and white students, and abatement of racial tensions. These schools and their successes are the exception to the rule. At C.M. Russell High School, 2005 test scores show 11th-grade Native Americans ahead of all of their peers. They raised the building average, said CMR Principal Dick Kloppel. "I was just thrilled with our Native American kids," he said. "Just thrilled." They scored better than 71 percent of a comparable national group, one point better than all CMR juniors. In reading, CMR Native American juniors scored at 75 percent, four percentage points higher than the average score for all juniors. "These kids really worked hard," said Indian Education Coordinator Bollich. "It's not a fluke." By comparison, schools across the state usually watch their ethnic minority students flounder 25 to 40 percent behind their white peers. CMR's success didn't shock the Office of Public Instruction. "There's two systems in particular that are doing a good job (with minorities), and Great Falls is one," said Joe Lamson, OPI's communications director. Lake County in Western Montana is the other. CMR didn't necessarily set out to follow a law, Kloppel said. But he just reread the act: "I think we're doing all of it," he said. Younger students in Great Falls are seeing success, too. Longfellow Elementary School meets federal test standards every year, said Principal Cal Gilbert. That school, one of the most ethnically diverse in Great Falls, already lives and breathes Indian Education for All. There, teachers incorporate material about Native Americans into curriculum. Paper-plate dream catchers hang in one classroom. Students read books that show pictures and tell stories of Native Americans. And Longfellow students scored 12 percent higher in reading than the law required, according to the most recent test data available on OPI's Web site. Because teachers teach some of the poorest students in the district, they might be forgiven if their children fall short. But Gilbert won't make apologies. He points to the school's mission: Learning! Whatever it takes...(No excuses). Instruction at Longfellow is down to a science. Upon enrollment, students take a "quick and dirty" exam that shows teachers how well their children perform academically - "taking vitals," Gilbert calls it. An important component, Gilbert said, is that class sizes stay in the teens. Every day before classes start, teachers triage. Children get coats if they're cold and shoes if they're barefoot. It isn't about feeling sorry for them. "No excuses," Gilbert reiterates. Rather, teachers know that kids won't learn if they're cold. Teachers don't suspend students and send them home, either. That would be a waste of teaching time, Gilbert said. "I'm selfish," he said. "I know I have to make AYP." (Annual Yearly Progress is a federal benchmark students much reach. It jumps ever year.) Longfellow sees another gain from its rigorous and culturally attentive instruction. "It stopped the racial thing in our school," said Sandy Houle, Indian Education Coordinator at Longfellow. In the past, she heard racial slurs on the playground. "They don't do that anymore," she said. At Longfellow, the achievement gap between Native American students and white students is negligible compared with national and state averages. Across the nation, ethnic minority students can perform 35 to 40 percent below white students, said Christopher Lohse, a research analyst in the state's Office of Policy and Research Analysis. At Longfellow, that gap is just six points in reading, he said, and Native American students outperformed white students in math by a hair. A handful of racially diverse schools have only small achievement gaps or show even a "slight reverse achievement gap," Lohse said. "All of those schools, with the exception of West (Elementary), have made very strong commitments to Indian Education for All," he said. West isn't against the act, said Principal Bobby Ingalls; rather, its focus is on targeted, individual instruction based on frequent student assessment. Technically, Indian Education for All has nothing to do with closing the achievement gap and everything to do with making sure all students learn about Native Americans. But when Native American students see themselves in schools and in their school materials, they pay attention and perform better, and achievement the gap diminishes, educators say. At Great Falls High School, one group of students said education about Native Americans is new to them. Teacher Richard Franco teaches a course called Montana Government, similar to one offered at CMR. He spends part of the term teaching about tribal governments. Earlier this school year, Franco and a student leaned over a map of reservations in Montana. Franco pointed out a teeny blot on the map. "Was this (Rocky Boy Reservation) an afterthought?" he asked. "Yeah. It was the last one," said the student. Another student, Randy Pitzer, read "Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee" when he was a seventh-grader. Before this government class, that was the extent of his exposure to Native American culture at school, he said. Now, he wonders why his teachers didn't include more Native material in his courses. His classmates agreed. "The more you know about people, you can get better opinions about them, " said Chris Scherr. Indian Education for All won't solve all the state's educational woes. The stumbling blocks are many. Racial and socioeconomic segregation can thwart potential success among Native American students, said research analyst Lohse. So can large class sizes, Principal Gilbert said. And officials are not always honest about how well schools are doing in the endeavor. One administrator praised a school for implementing Indian Education for All. Then, when pressed, she admitted that she did not know whether her school had done any work at all toward the act. Another challenge is cultural. Incorporating Native American material into curricula remains a daunting undertaking for many educators, said Indian Education Director DeeAnna Leader. "You cannot believe the resistance and the confusion," she said. Nonetheless, in a few schools educators took seriously the constitutional mandate, and Indian Education for All is paying dividends. The pursuit might be less an academic one than a practical one. "If these kids are going to grow up and live and work and play together, they have to know about each other," Gilbert said. Reach Tribune Staff Writer Keila Szpaller at 791-1466, (800) 438-6600 or kszpalle@greatfal.gannett.com. Copyright c. 2005 Great Falls Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Symposium targets rebuilding efforts" --------- Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2005 09:03:18 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LAME BULL TREATY TILL NOW" http://www.greatfallstribune.com//20051014/NEWS01/510140311/1002 Symposium targets rebuilding efforts By JARED MILLER Tribune Regional Reporter October 14, 2005 BROWNING - Think of the 1855 Lame Bull Treaty as a sort of ground zero in Blackfeet tribal history. In official terms, the treaty signaled the end of the tribe's sometimes- violent struggles with the U.S. government. It also marked the start of a downward spiral for the tribe - one defined largely by poverty, few jobs, poor education and government dependency. Now, 150 years later, some Blackfeet scholars believe the fateful treaty could help restore the Blackfeet to their former status as a spiritual and economic powerhouse on the northern Plains. The treaty is the thrust of a four-day symposium this weekend. Events begin Friday at Red Crow Community College near Cardston, Alberta, and continue Saturday, Sunday and Monday at Blackfeet Community College in Browning and other sites in northcentral Montana. Teachers, lawmakers, leaders, elders, students, professors and the public are encouraged to attend. The price of admission varies for each. The symposium concludes at noon on Monday, Oct. 17, with a historic parade down Fort Benton's main street that will include the four chiefs of the Blackfoot Confederacy on horseback. "We want people to understand (the treaty) because we need to face it, not only as a Blackfeet Tribe, but as a state of Montana," said Carol Murray, an instructor of Blackfeet studies at BFCC, and a symposium coordinator. On Council Island The actual signing of the 1855 Lame Bull Treaty took place beneath a stand of massive cottonwoods at a spot called Council Island on the Missouri River below today's Judith Landing.. On Oct. 16, 1855, several hundred Blackfeet, 26 of their leaders and members of the Gros Ventre, Salish, Kootenay, Pend O'reille and Nez Perce tribes gathered there. Not one of them spoke fluent English. Leading the negotiations for the government was Colonel Alfred Cummings. At 300 pounds, Cummings was a formidable man, and successfully bullied his way to the head of the bargaining table, replacing Washington Territory Governor Isaac Stevens, who grudgingly gave way. After learning of the treaty terms, the tribal leaders retreated to their tepees for the night. They conversed for hours in their native tongues, and eventually agreed to support the treaty, which they believed would ensure peace. The tribesmen rose early the next morning and made their marks on a piece of parchment. The historic deal was done. "People have to realize that in 1855 our people didn't know English, they couldn't write English," said tribal Councilman William "Allen" Talks About, who called the symposium and its goals "very important" to the future of the Blackfeet Tribe. Shrinking lands Though the treaty entitled the tribe to ownership of a vast portion of what today is northcentral Montana, it shrunk by a considerable degree the tribe's original roaming area. During the 1800s, the four tribes of the Blackfoot Confederacy - the Blackfeet, Bloods, Siksika and Piikani - controlled an expansive portion of southern Alberta, northern Montana and the Dakotas. As part of the deal, the tribes of the confederacy agreed to allow Gros Ventre hunters on their land, and they vowed to let whites use the land unharmed. If the story ended there, Blackfeet tribal history might have been much different. During the next four decades, Congress and the American presidents sliced and diced Blackfeet land until it was a fraction of its original size. By 1888, the bison were gone, and up to one-fourth of the tribe starved to death. In desperation, tribal leaders sold much of their remaining land to the government for $1.5 million. The government bought what is now part of Glacier Park in 1896 for another $1.5 million. The land that remained was a chunk of the wind-whipped flatlands stretching out from the foot of the Rocky Mountain Front. Profitable farming was nearly impossible because of the harsh climate and short growing season, and the tribe had little money to buy cattle. Continuing struggle The Blackfeet still struggle to recover. Unemployment rates are high and education levels are low. Cultural values are a whisper of what they once were, Murray said. Browning, the largest town on the reservation and the hub for tribal government, has a rough reputation. Which is not to say that Blackfeet people are satisfied with the status quo. But Murray says the tribe cannot successfully battle back until its members - and non-Indian state and federal leaders - truly understand the 1855 Lame Bull treaty and what it signifies. Murray said the symposium will focus mainly on understanding what has happened to the tribe since 1855 and what needs to take place to encourage change. People need to sort through the trauma of the last 150 years of policy and problems, Murray said. It is critical to understand that the Blackfeet aren't living their chosen destiny; they were forced under threat of violence to follow a path littered with social and economic landmines. And they are victims of the systematic taking of tribal land that befell Indian nations across the United States and Canada. The 1855 Lame Bull Treaty marked the beginning of that process. "I see the power we have in that treaty," Talks About said. "We need people to take a look at the treaty, and take a look at what we're talking about." If you want to go ARTICLE 1. Peace, friendship and amity shall hereafter exist between the United States and the aforesaid nations and tribes of Indians, parties to this treaty, and the same shall be perpetual. Peace to exist with each other and with certain other tribes. ARTICLE 2. The aforesaid nations and tribes of Indians, parties to this treaty, do hereby jointly and severally covenant that peaceful relations shall likewise be maintained among themselves in future; and that they will abstain from all hostilities whatsoever against each other, and cultivate mutual good-will and friendship. And the nations and tribes aforesaid do furthermore jointly and severally covenant, that peaceful relations shall be maintained with and that they will abstain from all hostilities whatsoever, excepting in self-defense, against the following- named nations and tribes of Indians, to wit: the Crows, Assineboins, Crees, Snakes, Blackfeet, Sans Arcs, and Aunce-pa-pas bands of Sioux, and all other neighboring nations and tribes of Indians. Blackfoot territory recognized as common hunting ground. ARTICLE 3. The Blackfoot Nation consent and agree that all that portion of the country recognized and defined by the treaty of Laramie as Blackfoot territory, lying within lines drawn from the Hell Gate or Medicine Rock Passes in the main range of the Rocky Mountains, in an easterly direction to the nearest source of the Muscle Shell River, thence to the mouth of Twenty-five Yard Creek, thence up the Yellowstone River to its northern source, and thence along the main range of the Rocky Mountains, in a northerly direction, to the point of beginning, shall be a common hunting-ground for ninety-nine years, where all the nations, tribes and bands of Indians, parties to this treaty, may enjoy equal and uninterupted privileges of hunting, fishing and gathering fruit, grazing animals, curing meat and dressing robes. They further agree that they will not establish villages, or in any other way exercise exclusive rights within ten miles of the northern line of the common hunting-ground, and th at the parties to this treaty may hunt on said northern boundary line and within ten miles thereof. Provided, That the western Indians, parties to this treaty, may hunt on the trail leading down the Muscle Shell to the Yellowstone; the Muscle Shell River being the boundary separating the Blackfoot from the Crow territory. No settlements to be made thereon. And provided, That no nation, band, or tribe of Indians, parties to this treaty, nor any other Indians, shall be permitted to establish permanent settlements, or in any other way exercise, during the period above mentioned, exclusive rights or privileges within the limits of the above- described hunting-ground. Vested rights not affected. And provided further, That the rights of the western Indians to a whole or a part of the common hunting-ground, derived from occupancy and possession, shall not be affected by this article, except so far as said rights may be determined by the treaty of Laramie. Certain territory to belong to the Bla ckfoot Nation. ARTICLE 4. The parties to this treaty agree and consent, that the tract of country lying within lines drawn from the Hell Gate or Medicine Rock Passes, in an easterly direction, to the nearest source of the Muscle Shell River, thence down said river to its mouth, thence down the channel of the Missouri River to the mouth of Milk River, thence due north to the forty-ninth parallel, thence due west on said parallel to the main range of the Rocky Mountains, and thence southerly along said range to the place of beginning, shall be the territory of the Blackfoot Nation, over which said nation shall exercise exclusive control, excepting as may be otherwise provided in this treaty. Subject, however, to the provisions of the third article of this treaty, giving the right to hunt, and prohibiting the establishment of permanent villages and the exercise of any exclusive rights within ten miles of the northern line of the common hunting-ground, drawn from the nearest source of the Muscle Shell R iver to the Medicine Rock Passes, for the period of ninety-nine years. Provided also, That the Assiniboins shall have the right of hunting, in common with the Blackfeet, in the country lying between the aforesaid eastern boundary line, running from the mouth of Milk River to the forty-ninth parallel, and a line drawn from the left bank of the Missouri River, opposite the Round Butte north, to the forty-ninth parallel. How to enter and leave the common hunting ground. ARTICLE 5. The parties to this treaty, residing west of the main range of the Rocky Mountains, agree and consent that they will not enter the common hunting ground, nor any part of the Blackfoot territory, or return home, by any pass in the main range of the Rocky Mountains to the north of the Hell Gate or Medicine Rock Passes. And they further agree that they will not hunt or otherwise disturb the game, when visiting the Blackfoot territory for trade or social intercourse. Indians to remain in their respective territories except, etc. ARTICLE 6. The aforesaid nations and tribes of Indians, parties to this treaty, agree and consent to remain within their own respective countries, except when going to or from, or whilst hunting upon, the "common hunting ground," or when visiting each other for the purpose of trade or social intercourse. Citizens may pass through and live in the Indian Territory. Protection against depredations. ARTICLE 7. The aforesaid nations and tribes of Indians agree that citizens of the United States may live in and pass unmolested through the countries respectively occupied and claimed by them. And the United States is hereby bound to protect said Indians against depredations and other unlawful acts which white men residing in or passing through their country may commit. Roads, telegraph lines, and military posts, etc., may be established. ARTICLE 8. For the purpose of establishing travelling thoroughfares through their country, and the better to enable the President to execute the provisions of this treaty, the aforesaid nations and tribes do hereby consent and agree, that the United States may, within the countries respectively occupied and claimed by them, construct roads of every description; establish lines of telegraph and military posts; use materials of every description found in the Indian country; build houses for agencies, missions, schools, farms, shops, mills, stations, and for any other purpose for which they may be required, and permanently occupy as much land as may be necessary for the various purposes above enumerated, including the use of wood for fuel and land for grazing, and that the navigation of all lakes and streams shall be forever free to citizens of the United States. Annual payment for benefit of Blackfoot Nation. ARTICLE 9. In consideration of the foregoing agreements, stipulations, and cessions, and on condition of their faithful observance, the United States agree to expend, annually, for the Piegan, Blood, Blackfoot, and Gros Ventres tribes of Indians, constituting the Blackfoot Nation, in addition to the goods and provisions distributed at the time of signing the treaty, twenty thousand dollars, annually, for ten years, to be expended in such useful goods and provisions, and other articles, as the President, at his discretion, may from time to time determine; and the superintendent, or other proper officer, shall each year inform the President of the wishes of the Indians in relation thereto: Provided, however, That if, in the judgment of the President and Senate, this amount be deemed insufficient, it may be increased not to exceed the sum of thirty-five thousand dollars per year. Same object. ARTICLE 10. The United States further agree to expend annually, for the benefit of the aforesaid tribes of the Blackfoot Nation, a sum not exceeding fifteen thousand dollars annually, for ten years, in establishing and instructing them in agricultural and mechanical pursuits, and in educating their children, and in any other respect promoting their civilization and Christianization: Provided, however, That to accomplish the objects of this article, the President may, at his discretion, apply any or all the annuities provided for in this treaty: And provided, also, That the President may, at his discretion, determine in what proportions the said annuities shall be divided among the several tribes. Provisions to secure peace, and indemnity against Indian depredations. ARTICLE 11. The aforesaid tribes acknowledge their dependence on the Government of the United States, and promise to be friendly with all citizens thereof, and to commit no depredations or other violence upon such citizens. And should any one or more violate this pledge, and the fact be proved to the satisfaction of the President, the property taken shall be returned, or, in default thereof, or if injured or destroyed, compensation may be made by the Government out of the annuities. The aforesaid tribes are hereby bound to deliver such offenders to the proper authorities for trial and punishment, and are held responsible, in their tribal capacity, to make reparation for depredations so committed. War not to be made on other tribes except in self-defense. Provision against depredations of other Indians. Criminals to be surrendered. Nor will they make war upon any other tribes, except in self-defense, but will submit all matter of difference, between themselves and other Indians, to the Government of the United States, through its agents, for adjustment, and will abide thereby. And if any of the said Indians, parties to this treaty, commit depredations on any other Indians within the jurisdiction of the United States, the same rule shall prevail as that prescribed in this article in case of depredations against citizens. And the said tribes agree not to shelter or conceal offenders against the laws of the United States, but to deliver them up to the authorities for trial. Annuities may be stopped in case of violation of this treaty. ARTICLE 12. It is agreed and understood, by and between the parties to this treaty, that if any nation or tribe of Indians aforesaid, shall violate any of the agreements, obligations, or stipulations, herein contained, the United States may withhold, for such length of time as the President and Congress may determine, any portion or all of the annuities agreed to be paid to said nation or tribe under the ninth and tenth articles of this treaty. Provision against intoxication or the introduction of ardent spirits. ARTICLE 13. The nations and tribes of Indians, parties to this treaty, desire to exclude from their country the use of ardent spirits or other intoxicating liquor, and to prevent their people from drinking the same. Therefore it is provided, that any Indian belonging to said tribes who is guilty of bringing such liquor into the Indian country, or who drinks liquor, may have his or her proportion of the annuities withheld from him or her, for such time as the President may determine. This treaty to be in full for compensation. ARTICLE 14. The aforesaid nations and tribes of Indians, west of the Rocky Mountains, parties to this treaty, do agree, in consideration of the provisions already made for them in existing treaties, to accept the guarantees of the peaceful occupation of their hunting-grounds, east of the Rocky Mountains, and of remuneration for depredations made by the other tribes, pledged to be secured to them in this treaty out of the annuities of said tribes, in full compensation for the concessions which they, in common with the said tribes, have made in this treaty. The Indians east of the mountains, parties to this treaty, likewise recognize and accept the guarantees of this treaty, in full compensation for the injuries or depredations which have been, or may be committed by the aforesaid tribes, west of the Rocky Mountains. Annuities not to be taken for debt. ARTICLE 15. The annuities of the aforesaid tribes shall not be taken to pay the debts of individuals. ARTICLE 16. This treaty shall be obligatory upon the aforesaid nations and tribes of Indians, parties hereto, from the date hereof, and upon the United States as soon as the same shall be ratified by the President and Senate. In testimony whereof the said A. Cumming and Isaac I. Stevens, commissioners on the part of the United States, and the undersigned chiefs, headmen, and delegates of the aforesaid nations and tribes of Indians, parties to this treaty, have hereunto set their hands and seals at the place and on the day and year hereinbefore written. A. Cumming. [L. S.] Isaac 1. Stevens. [L. S.] Piegans: Nee-ti-nee, or "the only chief," now called the Lame Bull, his x mark. [L. S.] Mountain Chief, his x mark. [L. S.] Low Horn, his x mark. [L. S.] Little Gray Head, his x mark. [L. S.] Little Dog, his x mark. [L. S.] Big Snake, his x mark. [L. S.] The Skunk, his x mark. [L. S.] The Bad Head, his x mark. [L. S.] Kitch-eepone-istah, his x mark. [L. S.] Middle Sitter, his x mark. [L. S.] Bloods: Onis-tay-say-nah-que-im, his x mark. [L. S.] The Father of All Children, his x mark. [L. S.] The Bull's Back Fat, his x mark. [L. S.] Heavy Shield, his x mark. [L. S.] Nah-tose-onistah, his x mark. [L. S.] The Calf Shirt, his x mark. [L. S.] Gros Ventres: Bear's Shirt, his x mark. [L. S.] Little Soldier, his x mark. [L. S.] Star Robe, his x mark. [L. S.] Sitting Squaw, his x mark. [L. S.] Weasel Horse, his x mark. [L. S.] The Rider, his x mark. [L. S.] Eagle Chief, his x mark. [L. S.] Heap of Bears, his x mark. [L. S.] Blackfeet: The Three Bul ls, his x mark. [L. S.] The Old Kootomais, his x mark. [L. S.] Pow-ah-que, his x mark. [L. S.] Chief Rabbit Runner, his x mark. [L. S.] Nez Perces: Spotted Eagle, his x mark. [L. S.] Looking Glass, his x mark. [L. S.] The Three Feathers, his x mark. [L. S.] Eagle from the Light, his x mark. [L. S.] The Lone Bird, his x mark. [L. S.] Ip-shun-nee-wus, his x mark. [L. S.] Jason, his x mark. [L. S.] Wat-ti-wat-ti-we-hinck, his x mark. [L. S.] White Bird, his x mark. [L. S.] Stabbing Man, his x mark. [L. S.] Jesse, his x mark. [L. S.] Plenty Bears, his x mark. [L. S.] Flathead Nation: Victor, his x mark. [L. S.] Alexander, his x mark. [L. S.] Moses, his x mark. [L. S.] Big Canoe, his x mark. [L. S.] Ambrose, his x mark. [L. S.] Kootle-cha, his x mark. [L. S.] Michelle, his x mark. [L. S.] Francis, his x mark. [L. S.] Vincent, his x mark. [L. S.] Andrew, his x mark. [L. S.] Adolphe, his x mark. [L. S.] Thunder, his x mark. [L. S.] Piegans: Running Rabbit, his x mark. [L. S.] Chief Bear, his x mark. [L. S.] The Little White Buffalo, his x mark. [L. S.] The Big Straw, his x mark. [L. S.] Flathead: Bear Track, his x mark. [L. S.] Little Michelle, his x mark. [L. S.] Palchinah, his x mark. [L. S. ] Bloods: The Feather, his x mark. [L. S.] The White Eagle, his x mark. [L. S.] Executed in presence of- James Doty, secretary. Alfred J. Vaughan, jr. E. Alw. Hatch, agent for Blackfeet. Thomas Adams, special agent Flathead Nation. R. H. Lansdale, Indian agent Flathead Nation. W. H. Tappan, sub- agent for the Nez Perces. James Bird, A. Culberston, Benj. Deroche, Blackfoot interpreters. Benj. Kiser, his x mark, Witness, James Doty, Gustavus Sohon, Flat Head interpreters. W. Craig, Delaware Jim, his x mark, Witness, James Doty, Nez Perce interpreters. A Cree Chief (Broken Arm,) his mark. Witness, James Doty. A. J. Hoeekeorsg, James Croke, E. S. Wilson, A. C. Jackson, Charles Shucette, his x mark. Christ. P. Higgins, A. H. Robie, S. S. Ford, jr. Source: INDIAN AFFAIRS. LAWS AND TREATIES. ---- 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: IHS Care subject to Limits, Rations" --------- Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 08:48:03 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE ENOUGH TO MAKE YOU SICK" http://www.Indianz.Com/2005/010718.asp GAO report finds IHS care subject to limits, rations October 11, 2005 American Indians don't always receive the health services they need and in some cases are subject to rationed care, the General Accountability Office said in a new report. Based on a study of 13 facilities in the lower 48 states, Congressional investigators found that the Indian Health Service (IHS) offers a wide range of primary care to tribal members. But access to medical, dental, and vision services wasn't always guaranteed due to long waiting times, travel distances and lack of transportation, the GAO said. "For example, waiting times at 4 IHS-funded facilities ranged from 2 to 6 months for certain types of appointments, and 3 IHS-funded facilities reported that some Native Americans were required to travel over 90 miles one way to obtain care," the report issued September 30 stated. For care beyond the basics, the GAO found that IHS facilities generally offered certain ancillary and specialty services such as x-rays and obstetrics/gynecology. But due to limits in funding, staff and other resources, tribal members don't always get the help they need even under contracts with outside facilities, the report said. "Ancillary and specialty services that were unavailable on site or at other IHS-funded facilities could be obtained only through contract care, which was rationed by 12 of the 13 facilities on the basis of relative medical need," the GAO reported. According to the GAO's analysis, IHS regulations limit the use of contract health services. A patient must satisfy five criteria before even being considered for specialty services. But eligibility doesn't always guarantee care, the report noted. Based on a priority system that is divided into five levels, the IHS isn't required to pay for certain types of services. This means a woman could go without prenatal care or an elder could go without nursing care. "For example, tribal health board members at one facility described the case of an elderly woman who had complained of back pain and was diagnosed with cancer only when one of her legs broke," the report stated. "Tribal representatives at another facility cited the example of a young man whose lung condition was only properly diagnosed when, after months of treatment for pneumonia, he went to an emergency room and was found to have a tumor that killed him 3 weeks later." The system is somewhat complicated because each of the 12 IHS areas can set its own priority levels. Tribes that operate health facilities under self-determination or self-governance agreements can set their own priorities as well. A lack of funds also affects whether a patient receives care, the GAO added. "Facility officials said that demand for contract care could affect where they drew the line between services that met medical priority criteria and those that did not," the report stated. "For example, one facility reported that the definition of emergent and acutely urgent services narrowed over the course of the year as contract care funds were depleted." Despite some of the negative findings, IHS "substantially" agreed with the GAO. In an August 1 letter, Dr. Charles Grim, a member of the Cherokee Nation, offered just a few recommendations and changes to the report. The GAO delivered its findings to Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) and Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota), the leaders of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. The committee requested the report and have been leading efforts to renew the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, which seeks to raise the health status of American Indians and Alaska Natives. The bill has been tied up due to objections from the Bush administration. Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, who was Grim's boss, promised to work with the committee back in July 2004 but nothing major happened. In July, McCain and Dorgan joined a slate of tribal leaders in seeking passage of the bill. It is due to be considered at a business committee meeting next week on Wednesday, October 19. Copyright c. 2000-2005 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw get back Land" --------- Date: Wednesday, October 12, 2005 04:43 am From: Peter Webster Subj: Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw get back land Mailing List: Rez_Life Mailing List: Certain Home After 150 years, tribes get land back The Associated Press October 10, 2005 CHARLESTON, Ore. (AP) - After 150 years, the U.S government has returned a piece of land near here to the tribes who used to own it. The 43 acres is the former Coos Head Air National Guard Station, which was returned last week to the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw. "For 150 years that land has been occupied by the U.S government," said tribal administrator Francis W. Somday II. "And finally after 150 years it has been returned to its rightful owners." "This has been a sacred piece of land to the tribe forever," said tribal council Chairman Ron Brainard. For Somday, who has worked on acquiring the property for six years, it was hard to overlook the irony "I think it is ironic that this piece of property was one of the first properties that was taken from the tribe in the 1800s," Somday said. "It's also the first property that the U.S. government will return to the tribe." The property, just west of Charleston near Bastendorff Beach, has 13 buildings. The land had been used by various branches of the U.S. military since 1884. It was closed in 1996. Ever since, a chain-link fence has safeguarded barren dormitories, dining halls, storage areas and other vacant buildings. Last Thursday marked a changing of the gatekeepers. "They took their locks off it yesterday and we put our locks on it," Brainard said. The tribes intend to transform the property into a new seat of government, centralizing the tribes' court, police, administrative, health and education programs. The parcel had been declared federal excess. But the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs missed a deadline in the application process, opening a hole for others to bid on it. The tribes sued and were granted an extension, eventually winning the right to the property. While acquiring the land is a victory, the tribes aren't done. They want the return 11 acres at Gregory Point, including the Cape Arago Lighthouse. The property was an ancestral ceremonial ground. The tribes also want the return of 67,000 acres of forest in the Siuslaw National Forest. "We signed over 1.6 million acres for goods and services and we have yet to be paid because the treaty was never ratified," Brainard said. According to Somday, the treaty of 1855 called for the federal government to receive vast tracts of land from the Indians in exchange for goods, services and promises of other lands. Instead, Somday said, the treaty was lost, and the government marched tribal members to Siletz where they spent the next 19 years. More than a century later, Brainard, for one, is ready to look toward the future. "It's the start of a rebuilding of the tribe," he said. ---- Information from: The World, http://www.theworldlink.com Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. Peter Webster peterweb@bendnet.com http://disturbingthecomfortable.blogspot.com/ --------- "RE: Legislation faulted for low Academic Performance" --------- Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 08:27:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INDIAN CHILDREN BEING 'LEFT BEHIND'" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7087 Reports faults legislation for low academic performance Claims No Child Left Behind not fulfilling promises to Native students Sam Lewin October 11, 2005 Is the No Child Left Behind Act to blame for poor grades among Native students? A report by the National Indian Education Association finds fault with the 2002 law. The NIEA conducted a series of hearings in Indian Country to determine what impact the legislation has had thus far. While stating that many of the ideas behind NCLB are "positive," the report also charges that the law "resulted in major disruptions to the [Indian] education system." Dr. David Beaulieu, a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, prepared the report. Speaking to the Native American Times, he said that NCLB has a dearth of "culturally appropriate teaching materials." The National Education Association, long opposed to the NCLB, used the report to again criticize the legislation. "The NIEA report is just another example of how the so-called No Child Left Behind law doesn't help students," said National Education Association president Reg Weaver. "As we feared, the law's unintended negative consequences have led to the diminishment of Native languages and cultures. As a result, our nation's Native American children are being left behind." Beaulieu said that while not affiliated, the NIEA and NEA have a "partnership. We work together when we have issues of common ground." Even though the NEA is a heavy donor to the Democrats, Beaulieu denied that partisan politics played a role in the report, which is critical of the Bush Administration. "I don't know that anyone that testified at our hearings was a member of the NEA," he said. NCLB contained provisions to improve government-funded Indian schools. A lag in implementation has frustrated some Republicans. During a Senate Indian Affairs Committee meeting this summer, chairman Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), said not much has been done for Indian education since the legislation's passage. "It's interesting that you were testifying [about] all the things you're going do to comply with NCLB," McCain said to Office of Indian Education director told Victoria Vasques, a member of the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians. "What have you done so far to implement NCLB?" The Office of Indian Education's website contains a strong endorsement of NCLB. The law "recognizes the unique legal relationship between the United States and American Indian tribes, as well as a special relationship with Alaska Native entities. The order commits the Federal government to work with tribes on a government-to-government basis. It specifically states that the Bush Administration supports tribal sovereignty and tribal self- determination," reads the website. Responding to arguments that Native students fared poorly for decades before NCLB passed, Beaulieu said there are misconceptions about academic performance in Indian Country. "If you look at the history of Native education, even though we have low test scores we have seen our biggest improvement ever just in a generation. It's like the salmon-always trying to swim upstream. There is something inside Indian people to make themselves better-but on their own terms" You can contact Sam Lewin at sam@okit.com Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Educator implements an unusual Solution" --------- Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 08:27:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NATIVE STUDENT GROUP RESOLUTION" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7088 An unusual solution Native student group addresses controversial issue GLENPOOL OK Native American Times October 11, 2005 A Native American educator says that what was an unpleasant situation in her school system has been resolved in a way that pleased Native and non- Native students. "They really like it," said Kristi Collington, Director of Indian Education for Glenpool Schools. Collington said the problem began last year. "We had two non-Indian students and no one knows how they became mascots, but they started dressing up at games and events and acting crazy. A lot of kids came up to me and complained-not so much about how they looked but about how they acted," Collington told the Native American Times. Collington, Blackfeet/Cherokee, said about 30-percent of the students at the school system are American Indian. Members of the Glenpool Native American Student Association met to discuss ways to resolve the issue. The kids and their advisors decided to do research in the community before acting. "We talked to elders, people within the Creek Nation, even our chief of police," she said. The end result? Something a little unusual. "The [Native American Student Association] elected two Native Warriors to represent our school. They decided what they were going to wear and how they were going to act. Even though most of the kids are Creek, they decided they would dress neutral," Collington said. "Their dress includes buckskin leggings, ribbon shirts, moccasins and breech cloths. That's how they felt about it. They picked neutral things like buckskin because the leggings were worn by all tribes." Collington said the Native students selected to represent the school, including a member of the junior varsity football team, act completely different from the previous "mascots"- a word she doesn't like using to describe what is currently taking place. "They don't carry on and they don't run around. They just have a presence. That's the only way I can explain it. We have had nothing but positive comments." Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Indian Language Policy History" --------- Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2005 14:29:17 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TIME-LINE CHARTS LOST LANGUAGE SKILLS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/5670247.html Indian language policy history October 15, 2005 INDIAN LANGUAGE POLICY HISTORY 1879-1934 Indian children - by law - had to attend boarding schools, where they were banned from speaking native languages or practicing their culture. 1934-1970s Indians still sent to boarding schools to be educated; no longer mandated. 1972 American Indian Education Act. Under federal law, Indian education no longer means assimilation, but incorporating Indian language and culture to support quality education. 1990 Native American Language Act. Federal law is designed to preserve native languages; little funding. 2004 Minnesota Senate and House pass resolutions in support of the revitalization of native languages. No funding attached. Source: University of Minnesota American Indian Studies Department; University of Wisconsin Dakota language instructor Neil McKay Copyright c. 2005 Star Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Seminole dodge IRS Fight" --------- Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 08:48:03 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="IRS INDIAN TAX FIGHT" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096411695 over conduit tax-exempts by: Jim Adams / Indian Country Today October 11, 2005 HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - A major Internal Revenue Service fight with Indian tribes will have one less combatant, according to a spokesman for the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The Seminoles announced Sept. 25 that they intended to retire more than $430 million in "conduit" tax-exempt financing issued through Florida's Capital Trust Agency. In a controversial move, the IRS has challenged the tax-exempt status of the bonds, which allows them to be sold at a lower interest rate than bonds subject to federal income tax. The IRS Bond Division has brought a similar challenge to tribal bonds issued in California. According to The Wall Street Journal, IRS officials are reviewing about a dozen tribal issues. If the IRS prevails, people drawing interest from the bonds could be hit with a back tax bill, and the issuers could be open to lawsuits and federal fines. Several tribes have turned to state and local public financing agencies to issue bonds for their own economic development because federal law imposes stricter limits on tribal tax-exempt issues than it does on state and municipal ones. The conflict dates to the 1982 Indian Tribal Governmental Tax Status Act, which supposedly gave tribes equal treatment with states and municipalities on bond issues. But language inserted by then U.S. Rep. Sam Gibbons, R-Fla., permitted bond financing only for facilities serving "an essential government function." Although economic development is widely seen as a government function for states and municipalities, as the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed to great uproar in its recent Kelo v. New London decision, the IRS has been loathe to give tax breaks to anything connected with tribal casinos. It has intensified its crackdown in the past year. Rather than fight it through, the Seminole Tribe said it would issue about $730 million of its Gaming Division Bonds this October in a private transaction. The proceeds would used to refinance five series of the Capital Trust Agency revenue bonds and notes. Another $133 million would refinance loans and lease obligations. The remaining funds, it said, would "pay related fees and expenses" and be used for "general business purposes." Tribal officials were not available for comment. But the Seminoles are facing a major strategic decision, and possibly heavy capital investments, in their gaming operations. The tribe presently operates six Class II casinos, where the slot machines mimic bingo games. But state voters last November approved a constitutional amendment allowing "racinos," slot machine parlors at dog and horse tracks, in the two southern counties. The measure gives tribes possibly decisive leverage for Class III gaming on reservations, a development long vehemently resisted by the state government. The tribe said it plans to refinance the following Capital Trust Agency issues: * $258.3 million in Capital Trust Agency Revenue Bonds, Convention and Resort Hotel Facilities, Series 2002A. * $25 million Variable Rate Revenue Bonds, Series 2002B. * $26.5 million Revenue Bonds, Series 2002C. * $74 million Revenue Bonds, series 2003. * $50 million Revenue Bonds, Series 2004A. The Seminoles also intend to refinance $21 million of their own Taxable Revenue Bonds (Resort Gaming Facilities Project), Series 2003, $120 million of loans issued under its Senior Secured Term Loan Facility and $15.6 million of lease obligations under a Master Lease Agreement with PDS Gaming Corp. The bonds would not be registered under federal or state securities laws, meaning they would not be eligible for sale in public markets. According to a Seminole release, the transaction is expected to be completed this October. Information on potential buyers and interest rates was not available. Copyright c. 1998-2005 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Creek Great-Grandmother deployed to Iraq" --------- Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2005 11:07:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GREAT-GRANDMOTHER DEPLOYED" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://nativetimes.com/displayarticle&article_id=7104 Creek great-grandmother deployed to Iraq "I'm not scared at all. I have no fear." CATOOSA OK Sam Lewin October 14, 2005 Gloria Lowe says she is not worried about going to Iraq for the next six months. Quite the opposite. "I'm not scared at all. I have no fear. I am happy I have the opportunity to go over there. I have wanted to go ever since our troops were deployed," she said. Lowe, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation from Catoosa, is a Financial Specialist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. She will spend the next half-year at Camp Adder, located about 310 kilometers southeast of Baghdad. "It's an Air Force base so it's pretty safe," Lowe said. "People who have returned from there say it is fine." While in Iraq Lowe, 54, will assist Iraqi small business owners with securing contracts. As she sees it, her job is yet another aspect of a U.S. effort that has been woefully underreported in the national media. "There are a lot of good things that are not being reported. Our agency is rebuilding hospitals, schools and the water system. The ordinary Iraqi people don't get any of the attention-all the media focuses on are the radicals," she said. Lowe has two sons, ages 36 and 38, and recently became a great- grandmother for the second time. She says her husband of nearly four decades, Jonas, teased her about her true motives for going overseas. "Of course he doesn't want to go because he thinks I just want to get away from him for awhile," Lowe told the Native American Times. "I told him, `That has nothing to do with it and don't make it about you.' He said, `Oh, okay.'" In addition to helping improve the lot of ordinary Iraqis, Lowe wants her stay to remind her of something she wishes all Americans were aware of. "I'm hoping I will see a lot of the things that we take for granted here in the United States-things that they don't have in other countries," she said. "I want this to make me a better person. It's awesome that I get to go." Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Reno Tribal Leader named to U.S. Commission" --------- Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 08:27:19 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?feature=yes&id=1096411719 Reno tribal leader named to U.S. Civil Rights Commission by: The Associated Press October 11, 2005 By Scott Sonner - Associated Press RENO, Nev. (AP) - Arlan Melendez, who is only the second American Indian appointed to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, said Sept. 30 the civil rights violations of today are more subtle than those of the past. Melendez, 58, of Reno, chairman of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony the last 14 years, was appointed to the eight-member panel Sept. 29 by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. A Vietnam war veteran, Melenedez also serves as the Western regional vice president of the National Congress of American Indians. He said Sept. 30 he is honored to be appointed to the commission founded in 1957 and takes the job seriously. "Civil rights violations have been going on since the Civil War and they still go on today, but I don't think they are as clear as they were a long time ago," Melendez told The Associated Press. "In the 1960s, when someone had to ride on the back of the bus or was not able to attend a school, there was no problem recognizing that," he said. "Today it's more subtle. Things aren't really as visible when you talk about disenfranchisement and denying people their rights," he said. A good example is the commission's recent investigation of charges that racial bias affected voting during the 2000 presidential election, he said. "People say that is just a problem with the process and they will do better. But to the people who were denied the right to vote, it is a discriminatory practice," he said. Reid, as Senate minority leader, was allowed to make an appointment to fill one of two vacancies on the commission, which is split evenly among Democrats and Republicans. The president appoints four members, and the House and Senate leaders in each party appoint the other four. Melendez, a Democrat, campaigned actively for the Kerry-Edwards presidential ticket in Nevada during the 2004 elections. Melendez said Sept. 30 he's taking a crash course on the jurisdiction and responsibilities of the federal commission, which investigates charges of civil rights violations nationally and reports to Congress and the White House about the state of civil rights in America. One of the current vacancies on the commission is due to the recent expiration of the term of Elise Meeks, a member of the Ogalala Sioux Tribe who became the first American Indian appointed to the panel in 1999. "Elsie Meeks brought forth a number of issues for Native Americans, like health disparities and the trust responsibility of Congress to provide health care to Native Americans," he said. "College mascots will probably come up again. "It is one thing to identify issues where there may be discrimination. Enforcement is another thing ... Unfortunately, discrimination is in all of us to a certain extent." Copyright c. 1998-2005 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved --------- "RE: GIAGO: Politicians' Knowledge of Indian Law vital" --------- Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2005 08:51:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GIAGO: NEED OF KNOWLEDGE BY POLITICIANS" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7078 Knowledge of Indian law vital to politicians Notes from Indian Country Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji) October 10, 2005 I believe it was a forgone conclusion amongst the Republican hierarchy that Ellsworth Air Force Base in Rapid City, S. D. would not be closed. But they had to play out the game to the end. When the Base Realignment and Closure Commission put together its list of military bases to be closed, several months elapsed before the list was made public. When the news finally hit the streets there was fear and consternation in the communities that found themselves in the bulls eye. The people of Western South Dakota were frightened needlessly. The party in power stepped up to the plate to take care of its own, and in this case it was the freshman senator from South Dakota, Republican John Thune. But that is the way of politics in this country. The party in power can accomplish the near impossible with the right inducement. Both major parties know the in's and out's of how to get around a corner by going in a circle. Oftentimes it takes the right man or woman in the right position to bring about positive change. Tom Daschle was such a man. When Daschle lost his senate seat to Thune in last year's election, it was a major blow to the Indian people of America. Indians need a person thoroughly schooled in Indian law, especially in jurisdictional law, in order to get fair representation in Congress. To the nine Indian tribes in South Dakota, the loss of Daschle was a severe loss. He was a known fighter for the rights of Indians and he could secure the funds to support the Indian hospitals, schools, tribal governments and economic development. And he knew Indian law. So far, the same tenacity for supporting Indian rights has not been exhibited by Thune. His knowledge of Indian law has thus far proven to be rather limited. But critics of the Democrats have said for years that it speaks poorly of their leadership when many Indian people in South Dakota still live in abject poverty. But it takes a certain amount of political courage to stand up for the rights of the Indian people in this state because taking a strong stand could turn the non-Indian constituency against any politician. And although a united Indian voting block can make a difference, as it did when Sen. Johnson defeated the same John Thune a few years back, the non-Indian vote is still the vote of the majority and elections are won and lost, for the most part, based on that vote. It takes years for an elected official to learn Indian law. When any politician who has spent years learning is lost, it moves the Indian people back to square one. It is akin to working with an open-minded editor of a non-Indian newspaper for many years and when that editor moves to another job or retires, if you are an Indian writer, you have to start all over again. I have experienced this many times in my career as a syndicated columnist and journalist. But I believe that the Indian people have relied on one party to advance their goals for too many years. And yet, when the wealthier tribes invest millions to enhance their lobbying efforts in Washington, D. C., and have turned to Republicans like Jack Abramoff, a powerful lobbyist in his day, they find that their trust has not only been misplaced, but they also find that their money has been ripped right out of their pockets. Who in the world can they trust? When their venture into paying Republicans for support is thrown back into their faces, many tribal leaders go back to the safety of the Democratic net. There are still some true and knowledgeable politicians out there. They have made it their choice to study the law, history, culture and the needs of the Indian tribes within their state borders and they can still bring this knowledge to the table. Senator Pete Dominici of New Mexico, a Republican, is one such man. Having spent so many years in South Dakota I have come to know the politics of this state and I truly believe that there was no better friend of the Indian people than Senator Tom Daschle. He truly cared. And although we, at times, had our political differences, he was man enough to accept constructive criticism. But there are still two elected officials in this state who are so knowledgeable about Indians that I am impressed every time I hear them speak. South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson hosted a meeting I attended and I was absolutely impressed by his knowledge. The Indian audience fired question after question at him and he not only had an answer, he even had the knowledge to elaborate. Sen. Johnson should be placed on the list of tribal leaders across America as a friend. And last, but not least, Representative Stephanie Herseth (D-SD) is probably one of the most impressive members of Congress I have seen in my lifetime. Her heart is good and her knowledge about the Indian people immense. In thanking the voters who put her into office after the last election she said "thank you" to her non-Indian constituents and "pilamaya" to her Indian supporters. When tribal leaders across this great country look for support from Washington, they need look no further than Tim Johnson and S