_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 13, ISSUE 044 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 29, 2005 Eastern Cherokee Nvda tsiyahloha/harvest moon Anishnaabe Binaakwe-giizis/falling leaves moon Cree Opinahamowipizun/moon the birds fly south Potawatomi E'sksegtukkisis/moon of the first frost Blackfeet Sa'aiksi itaomatooyi/moon when ducks leave +-------------------------------------------------------+ | Much more happens in Indian Country than is reported | | in this weekly newsletter. For daily updates & events | | go to http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm | +-------------------------------------------------------+ Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin -- Blackfeet -- News for All the People Ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min -- Ojibwe -- We Are Talking About Ourselves Aunchemokauhettittea -- Naragansett -- Let Us Share News Kanoheda Aniyvwiya -- Cherokee -- Journal of the People O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse -- Creek -- People's New News O o O Acimowin -- Plains Cree -- Story or Account O o O Tlaixmatiliztli -- Nahuatl -- News O o o o o O Agnutmaqan -- Listuguj Mi'kmaq -- News O o O Sho-da-ku-ye -- Teehahnahmah -- Talking Birchbark O o O Un Chota -- Susquehannic Seneca -- The People Speak O Ha-Sah-Sliltha -- Ditidaht Nation -- News of the People Ximopanolti tehuatzin, inin Mexika tlahtolli -- Nahuatl -- For you we offer these words It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le -- Chickasaw -- Together We Are Talking Dineh jii' adah' ho'nil'e'gii ba' ha' neh -- Navajo Nation -- What's Happening among The People News Okla Humma Holisso Nowat Anya -- Choctaw -- People(s) Red Newspaper Hi'a chu ah gaa -- Pima -- The stories or the talk of the People s ch mA mL tL squee Lux -- Okanogan -- News from the People Native American News -- Language of the Occupation Forces ++>If you speak a Native American language not listed above, please send us your words for "News of the People." We'd rather take up this whole page saving these few words of our hundreds of nations than present a nice clean banner in the language of the occupation forces who came here determined to replace our words with their own. email gars@nanews.org with the equivalent of "News of the People" in your tribal language along with the english translation <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is produced in straight ASCII text for greatest portability across platforms. Read it with a fixed-pitch font, such as Courier, Monaco, FixedSys or CG Times. Proportional fonts will be difficult to read. <================<<<< >>>>================> This issue contains articles from www.owlstar.com; www.indianz.com; www.pechanga.net; UUCP Mail; Rez_LIfe, CERTAIN Home, CERTAIN Talk, and Native American Chat Mailing List 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: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + ======================== "I wonder why they call us outside agitators. I am from Oklahoma, but I wouldn't be from Oklahoma if their ancestors hadn't run my people out of Illinois." __ Michael Haney, Seminole +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Indian Pledge of Allegiance | The Indian Pledge of Alleg- | | iance was first presented | I pledge allegiance to my Tribe,| on 2 December '93 during the | to the democratic principles | opening address of the Nat- | of the Republic | ional Congress of American | and to the individual freedoms | Indian Tribal-States Relat- | borrowed from the Iroquois and | ions Panel in Reno, NV. NCAI | Choctaw Confederacies, | plans distribution of the | as incorporated in the United | Indian Pledge to all Indian | States Constitution, | Nations. | so that my forefathers | | shall not have died in vain | Walk in Beauty! Night Owl +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Journey | In the summer and early fall | The Bloodline | of 1998 the Treaty Unity Riders | | rode a thousand miles on horse- | For all that live and live by law | back, carrying a staff and | We Stand, we Call, We Ride | praying each step of the way. | For All that fear and fear by sight | | We Hear, we Listen, we Ride | These prayers were offered for | For all that pray and pray by strength| each of us, and that the Unity | We Feel, we Move, we Ride | of all Peoples might happen. | For all that die and die by greed | | We Hurt, we Cry, we Ride | Tatanka Cante forwarded this | For all that birth and birth by right | poem on behalf of all the Unity | We Smile, we Hold, we Ride | Riders that we might stop and | For all that need and need by heart | ask if the next words we say, the | We Came, we Went, we Rode. | next act we make is for the good | | of the People or is it from ego | Treaty Unity Riders | for self. +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ O'siyo Brothers and Sister! It looks like Janet, my beautiful half-side, is seeing one of her visions for our nations coming to life... Finally, tribes are taking the action I was waiting for. Ten years of legal wrangling has passed, while the lies, stonewalling, and ineptitude (the kindest interpretation) by the BIA continue (which nobody bothers to deny, the guilty just make excuses, or attack the messenger). All the while, Native people have paid legal bills, trying to enforce "trust" accountability by a far wealthier and far more powerful government. Knowing that there was nothing to trust in the past, and nothing to trust in the future, tribes and individuals continue to permit the BIA to continue to negotiate contracts for them, and receive and allocate their payment. Finally two tribes get the point. Sure, we need to continue to try to obtain reimbursement from that which was wrongfully taken -- certainly the BIA should not be let off the hook as far as past performance is concerned, but tribes also need to take their business into their own hands. An article below announces that the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho officials are considering forming a tribally-run mineral development company to manage resource development. We hope they do it, and we hope their example inspires other tribes to follow suit. A tribal spokesman was unwilling to state unequivocally that the tribes would turn a greater profit on their own, but it's hard to imagine that they could do more poorly than the BIA. Simply standing up and taking the power to make their own business deals, a power that never should have been taken from the tribes, is worth a great deal. For once, the tribes would be able to choose their own partners, manage their own resources, and maintain oversight over their own money. It's been a long time coming, and we've tolerated a lot of abuse based on our supposed "primitive innocence" along the way. The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho are ready to say "we don't need to be 'protected' anymore." +/// 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 ----------- - Tribes explore - Officials focus on Indian Ed forming own Minerals Company - Indian Education Law gets new twist - Tribes say they'll examine - Burt Lake Ceremonies Coalbed Pollution issues Honor Spirit of Ancestors - Appeals Court - Navajo Nation on its way skeptical of Government Claim to greater Sovereignty - Senators assail Miers's Replies, - Navajo Pipeline deal unlikely ask for Details - Quyana Alaska celebrates - Damage Control Native Culture, Spirit - Snow Bowl Trial recessed - GIAGO: Saddened by loss - Commerce and Religion of two wonderful Friends collide on a Mountainside - Conciliator chides both sides - Carrie Dann speaks of in Land Claims dispute Shoshone Land Struggles - Communities unite to reclaim - Interior wins Internet reprieve the Highway of Tears - Senate Panel - Duluth Police Chief approves Arctic Drilling hammered with Racism Claims - ANWR drilling backers pare Bill - Indian Country Crime Roundup - Natives in the Arctic - Young Indian Woman found affected by climate change murdered in Missouri - Sioux assist each other - Ojibwe who scuffled with Police - Legal Battle over Battle Site dies in Duluth - Leaders of feuding Tribes - Native Prisoner break Bread together -- Penpal Requests - Indians file Voting Rights Lawsuit - History: Carlisle Indian School - Bush plan to screw Salmon - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days and Indians shot down - Rustywire: The Other Brother - Makah Whale-hunt options aired - Del "Abe" Jones Poem: - Pombo introduces Chief Quanah Parker Pro-Makah Whaling Resolution - Traditional Lingo gets new spin - NAIC looks at - Keeping American Indian Indian Education problem Language alive --------- "RE: Tribes explore forming own Minerals Company" --------- Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2005 08:48:51 -0700 From: Janet Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WINDRIVER ARAPAHO AND SHOSONE MINERAL RIGHTS" http://www.billingsgazette.com//build/wyoming/60-tribes-explore.inc Tribes explore forming own minerals company Associated Press October 17, 2005 RIVERTON - Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho officials are considering forming their own minerals development company, saying contracts negotiated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for resource development on the Wind River Indian Reservation aren't paying the tribe enough. "My elders, maybe they weren't as educated and they weren't able to get good contracts," said Valeria Arkinson, a member of the Shoshone Business Council. Mineral royalties are the primary source of the per capita payments that are made each month to tribal members. Richard Brannan, chairman of the Northern Arapaho Business Council, said the current contracts provide little flexibility, meaning the tribes don't benefit as much when prices are high, as they are now. "Yes, gas prices have gone up, but the contracts negotiated weren't in the benefit of the tribes," Brannan said. At a meeting last week between tribal officials and state lawmakers, Rep. Del McOmie, R-Lander, said the tribes might be able to increase their revenue by changing the way minerals are valued - a move he said generated massive profits for the state. Still, the change might not make a tremendous difference, said Heidi Badaracco, acting director of the tribes' mineral compliance office, because the oil extracted from the reservation was a lower-grade product used for making asphalt, not fuel. Copyright c. 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Tribes say they'll examine Coalbed Pollution issues" --------- Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 08:54:28 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WIND RIVER CONSIDERS COALBED METHANE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.billingsgazette.com//build/wyoming/38-coalbed-issues.inc Tribes say they'll examine coalbed pollution issues Associated Press October 18, 2005 RIVERTON - Tribal leaders say they're carefully considering whether to allow coalbed methane development on the Wind River Indian Reservation. On the one hand, the reservation suffers from high unemployment, poverty and insufficient housing, Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho leaders told state lawmakers Monday. But if the environment is harmed, they said, all would be for naught. "There's a lot of potential with coalbed methane, but we have to look at the environmental impact," Heidi Badaracco, acting director of the tribes' mineral compliance office, told the Select Committee on Tribal Relations. Added Kassel Weeks, a Shoshone Business Council member: "We could be making all the money in the world, but if we start tearing up the land, that's going to be a detriment to our children." Devon Energy Production Company has proposed drilling up to 336 coalbed methane wells southeast of Riverton on the reservation. If approved, wells would be spaced 40 to 80 feet apart on an area covering 13,804 acres. Drilling would take place over 10 years and gas would be produced for 20 to 40 years. Weeks told lawmakers he was concerned about the byproduct groundwater and hydrogen sulfide gas produced by coalbed methane wells. "That gas is poisonous," he said. "It will kill you in a few seconds." Coalbed methane is extracted by pumping water off saturated coal seams and separating the gas dissolved in the water. The water is usually high in sodium and other materials. Valeria Arkinson, Shoshone Business Council member, told legislators that mineral development - coalbed methane or otherwise - is not the answer to the tribes' economic woes and may run against the American Indian ethic of respecting the environment. The Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Land Management have been taking public comments on Devon's proposal. Two more comment periods are planned before a decision on the development is made. Copyright c. 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Appeals Court skeptical of Government Claim" --------- Date: Friday, October 14, 2005 09:45 pm From: Bill McAllister Subj: APPEALS COURT SKEPTICAL OF GOVERNMENT CLAIM IN INDIAN TRUST CASE For Immediate Release: FEDERAL APPEALS COURT JUDGES SKEPTICAL OF LATEST GOVERNMENT CLAIM IN LONG-RUNNING INDIAN TRUST CASE WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 - Members of a federal appeals court expressed strong skepticism Friday about the government's efforts to vacate the reports of a former special master who documented serious problems with the Interior Department's handling of Indian Trust accounts. Chief Judge Donald H. Ginsburg and Judge A. Raymond Randolph of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia sharply questioned a Justice Department lawyer about the government's unusual request for an order that would expunge reports that have not been adopted by the federal district court. This appeal is one of many the government has filed during the nearly 10-year-old lawsuit over its admitted mishandling of the trust accounts. "What does that mean?" asked a puzzled Randolph as he attempted to dissect what the government meant by its request to "vacate" reports written by former special master Alan Balaran in the Indian Trust case. Balaran's reports are matters of public record and attorneys are obviously free to ask questions about them, the judge noted. Ginsburg cautioned the government that it was seeking an extraordinary action by the appeals court, especially in a case where it had shown "no tangible consequences" of the Balaran reports affecting the litigation. Mark Levy, an attorney for the Indian plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Interior Secretary Gale Norton, argued that Justice Department lawyer Thomas M. Bondy had vastly exaggerated problems with Balaran's reports. Balaran's findings were, in fact, well founded on evidence that the government does not dispute, he said. Levy also told the three-judge appeals panel that there was "no need for draconian remedies" the government was seeking in the trust case. The government's concerns are based on Balaran's use of a government- recommended former employee of a government contractor, the lawyer pointed out. The former special master turned to the contractor only after the Interior Department repeatedly failed to produce numerous documents that he needed in his investigation of the truthfulness of the Interior Secretary's 8th Quarterly Report to the Court on the status of trust reform, Levy said. The appeals court panel did not indicate when it would rule on the government request. A separate government motion, also pending before the appeals court, seeks to remove U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who has presided over the lawsuit, titled Cobell versus Norton, since the inception of the case in 1996. Lamberth has been highly critical of the government's mishandling of the case and its poor treatment of Native Americans. The court has not set a date for a hearing on that request. Bill McAllister Independent Writer --------- "RE: Senators assail Miers's Replies, ask for Details" --------- Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2005 08:51:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="KNOCK OFF ANSWERS PISS OFF SENATORS" http://nativetimes.com/News http://www.washingtonpost.com//2005/10/19/AR2005101902402.html Senators Assail Miers's Replies, Ask for Details By Charles Babington and Michael A. Fletcher Washington Post Staff Writers October 20, 2005 The top two members of the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday complained about the written responses they received from Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers this week, and warned her to expect tough questions from Republicans and Democrats alike when her confirmation hearing begins Nov. 7. Barely concealing their irritation during a 35-minute news conference at the Capitol, Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and ranking Democrat Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.) called the lobbying on Miers's behalf "chaotic," and said the answers she provided Monday to a lengthy questionnaire were inadequate. "The comments I have heard range from incomplete to insulting," Leahy said. They sent Miers a three-page letter asking for more detailed responses in several areas, and Specter said he has asked the Bush administration for more documents concerning her work as White House counsel. Specter said Miers must provide "amplification on many, many of the items" included in the first questionnaire. Miers quickly replied, writing that she would comply with the new request. She also wrote that "as a result of an administrative oversight," her Texas law license was suspended for 26 days in 1989 because of unpaid dues. On Monday, Miers disclosed that her D.C. law license was briefly suspended last year because of unpaid annual dues. Announcing plans to start the hearing Nov. 7 despite Democrats' request for more time, Specter told reporters: "This is going to be an unusual hearing where I think all 18 senators are going to have probing questions." The panel has 10 Republicans and eight Democrats. The two committee leaders - both of whom voted to confirm John G. Roberts Jr. as chief justice last month - said they are bothered by accounts of telephone conference calls in which supporters of Miers reportedly have assured conservative activists that they will be happy with her political views on abortion and other subjects. "I think it's been a chaotic process, very candidly, as to what has happened, because of all of the conference calls and all of the discussions, which are alleged in the back room," Specter said. "We're looking into them." A recent Wall Street Journal column reported that on Oct. 3, the day President Bush nominated Miers, two Texas judges who know her conducted a conference call with conservative leaders and assured them she would vote to reverse Roe v. Wade , the landmark Supreme Court ruling giving women the right to abortion. "A good part of what I'm talking about as chaotic is not the White House," Specter said. "What I'm referring to are all of the forces which are at work out here commanding media attention and commanding public attention." Leahy said: "We're working hard to carry out our responsibilities, not have this thing taken by winks and nods and quiet promises over conference calls. We'd actually like to know what the heck is going on." Despite strong conservative opposition to Miers, the nomination is not in trouble, Specter said, but he said the process is among the strangest he has seen in 25 years. "There has been more controversy before this nominee has uttered a formal word than I have ever heard," he said. The Specter-Leahy letter and news conference came a day after Miers disclosed that as a Dallas City Council candidate in 1989, she pledged to actively support a constitutional amendment banning abortion except to save a woman's life if Congress passed such an amendment. Liberal advocacy groups, which mostly have been silent as conservatives wrangled over the nomination, stepped up demands yesterday for more information about Miers's record. In a letter to Specter and Leahy, the liberal Alliance for Justice complained that Miers "has produced almost nothing in writing to provide the American people a window into her judicial philosophy." "Given her sparse public record, it is unclear whether she has a basic working knowledge of the issues that the Supreme Court regularly confronts," wrote Nan Aron, the group's president. At yesterday's news conference, Specter appeared to be annoyed with Miers on several points. He said his staff gave him a "big binder" of legal cases she had handled in private practice, but "she gave us a skimpy little group" of material describing those cases in response to the questionnaire's request for details of her most important cases. "No reason we should know more about her cases than she does," he said. Specter said he remained perplexed by a disagreement Monday stemming from his meeting with Miers in his office, after which their accounts differed on what the nominee had said about Supreme Court rulings that preceded Roe . In dealing with 11 Supreme Court nominees, Specter said, "I've never walked out of a room and had a disagreement as to what was said." He smiled politely as Leahy said, "I've never known him to make a mistake on what he heard." Meanwhile, several constitutional law scholars said they were surprised and puzzled by Miers's response to the committee's request for information on cases she has handled dealing with constitutional issues. In describing one matter on the Dallas City Council, Miers referred to "the proportional representation requirement of the Equal Protection Clause" as it relates to the Voting Rights Act. "There is no proportional representation requirement in the Equal Protection Clause," said Cass R. Sunstein, a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago. He and several other scholars said it appeared that Miers was confusing proportional representation - which typically deals with ethnic groups having members on elected bodies - with the one-man, one-vote Supreme Court ruling that requires, for example, legislative districts to have equal populations. Some Republicans played down the significance of the Specter-Leahy letter. "Requesting more information from a nominee is part of the confirmation process," said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), past chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Another committee Republican, Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), said seeking more information on Miers's White House work was "a reasonable request." Leahy held open the possibility that Democrats would seek a one-week delay between Miers's hearing - expected to last four or five days - and a committee vote on whether to recommend her to the Senate. Committee member Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the decision will depend on how much additional information about Miers the White House releases. "We want to see how much information is forthcoming between now and the 7th," he said. In a speech last night at a Hispanic Bar Association dinner in Washington, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales sought to reassure Hispanics who "have expressed disappointment" in the Miers appointment. "You and I know that there will be a Hispanic on the Court," Gonzales, who had been considered for the high court nomination, said in prepared remarks. "But I also know that Latinos want the same thing in a Supreme Court justice that the President wants: someone who can ably and faithfully interpret the Constitution and apply the law. And, I believe, we have that person in Harriet Miers." Staff writers Amy Goldstein and Dan Eggen contributed to this report. Copyright c. 2005 The Washington Post Company. --------- "RE: Damage Control" --------- Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2005 06:35:55 -0400 From: "Kay Lee" Subj: DAMAGE CONTROL DAMAGE CONTROL The day you know the truth but cease to speak it is the day you begin to die." ~Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As you may have read in many Florida newspapers, the FDOC is currently being investigated by the FBI and FDLE for steroid abuse among guards, inmate labor on private projects, pilfering large amounts from the recycling fund, and hiring people who get paid for not working, just playing ball. And you, fellow citizens, voters, taxpayers, are as usual, swallowing the losses. These are just a minor sampling of all the illegal and immoral activities going on in the department. Although most of the activities looked at so far have involved recently 'retired' Region Director Allen Clark and his personal favorites, the ballplayers, there is so much more and so many more that should be investigated and charged or fired or retrained. And it all has to go back to Clark's friend, relative and admitted mentor, James Crosby, the man who was told about guard Timothy 'Big Red' Thornton's proclivity for beating prisoners before Thornton helped brutally murder inmate Frank Valdes at Florida State Prison in 1999. Crosby was the warden there at the time. Crosby chose to ignore the warnings, and shortly after the jury let all the murdering guards go free, he was promoted to top dog, secretary of the Florida DOC. All too often that's is how it goes in the DOC. The guards get promoted over professional officers. If officers complain, they get the worst shifts and duties, are shunned or get fired. Allen Clark's reign of terror is over, thank God. But Crosby, the little man with no compassion, is still in his position of unearned power. He went publicly silent for a couple of weeks when all the poop hit the fan, but behind the scenes he's been running around threatening anyone who might talk. He was definitely shook. We almost had his resignation last week, but he got an unexpected reprieve from the man who hired him in the first place. Florida's governor Jeb Bush, little brother to George, has expressed total support for his prote'ge', advising him to ignore the people giving him grief. I don't know what he says to him in private, but Bush publicly has nothing but praise for the little man with the big temper who shirks his responsibilities, allows criminals to wear the uniform of professionals, and uses the department for his own personal gain. Bare in mind, James Crosby forces department employees to support the governor with donations and coerced attendance at political functions. Members of the legislature are claiming that Crosby is a nice fellow (as if that's the quality that makes a good warden) whom all employees like, despite the fact that every letter I get and every phone call the reporters of several newspapers get from correctional officers ends with "don't use my name, I am in fear of retaliation". Florida's spineless legislatures have decided to turn their backs on all the information we've been giving them, on all the people who serve in a prison system with no focus on ethics, in order to support the governor's man. These officers need and deserve the legislator's intervention, but so far it's been withheld. So, with Jeb Bush's blessing, Crosby feels he is back in the saddle again. After his meeting with Jeb, plans for damage control have most likely began in earnest. What you see from here on is most likely orchestrated, at least in part, by Bush or people who are experts at making weak men look powerful and bad men look good. It'll be a professional attempt to protect someone who doesn't deserve protection. How obvious does it have to get? When the man at the top is nasty, the wall of silence wraps around him like a cloak and everything about the system begins to stink. The Florida prison system has become a cesspool of corruption, nepotism, favoritism, and racism, with a core of good and professional officers trying desperately to hold it all together with no help from their superiors. Among these employees moral is rock bottom, fear is sky high, and an air of defeat is immanent. Crosby is trying to get things together for a big public relations campaign. He's going to try to counter all the negative things that's been exposed. It is possible Jeb is going to try to let him skate. For that reason, I must emphasize to the officers that if you really want a safe and fair place to work where you move up according to your own efforts, now is the time to push harder. I know some of you are thinking of giving up because you believe that Crosby is going to survive, that the bad guys are going to win again, which is exactly what James Crosby wants and desperately needs you to believe to keep his job. Remember Crosby's favorite saying, "If you go after the king, you better not wound him"? Well, we've wounded him. We can't walk away now and hope for the best. We've got to forge ahead full force. Right now you've got media attention, legislators under pressure and the boss stressed out. Where before no one would listen, you've now got a real voice! If you don't do this now you will never know your power. We need you, we're counting on you, and we can amplify your voice. A few more leads, a little more truth and you'll see, all things are possible. And when you win, and the department begins to do the things it takes to get dignity back into corrections, we'll go after pay raises. STAY AWARE: There are meetings planned for next week, ordered by Crosby, where Wardens and other high level administrators will be made to submit positive things from their facilities, This isn't the first time Crosby has coerced your support. BE PROACTIVE: I believe there is one topic that can expose James Crosby's abuse of his position to the satisfaction of the legislators. I am particularly interested in the illegal political activities. That is a crime that can't be covered up. I know many of you have felt the pressure to be supportive of Jeb Bush at your own expense and/or on your own time. Are there any of you who will confirm the allegations in the packets below? Please offer any information that I can check out through public records or other means of investigation? PACKET PAGES FROM REGION 1 EMPLOYEES Opening page of Packet http://www.angelfire.com/oz/today/acpackage1.html Extortion In It's Many Forms http://www.angelfire.com/oz/today/acpackage2.html To Area Ministers and Local Leaders http://www.angelfire.com/oz/today/acpackage3.html To The Florida Democratic Party http://www.angelfire.com/oz/today/acpackage4.html To Bill Warner, FSECC Fiscal Agent http://www.angelfire.com/oz/today/acpackage5.html I can offer you anonymity, I can get the public records requests done, the media is more than ready and willing to run with it, we just need your input. If you have any information on illegal activities, please contact me, Kay Lee, at Kay Lee kaylee1@charter.net 2683 Rockcliff Road Southeast Atlanta Georgia 30316 404-212-0690 Forum: http://www.floridastateprisons.net Or contact these concerned reporters: Florida Media Steve Bousquet, SP Times Florida Media Marc Caputo Miami Herald ; Florida Media Karen Voyles, Gainesville Sun ; Florida Media Follick, Tampa Tribune ; Florida Media Bill Cotterell, political editor, Tallahassee Dem. Palm Beach Post svdate@att.net Florida Media Kathy Johnson, Bradford County Times tcnews@gtcom.net Florida Media Crystal Cameron WMBB TV ccameron@wmbb.com READ ABOUT JAMES CROSBY on MTWT http://www.angelfire.com/oz/today/jamescrosby.html "There is no way to know the strength it takes to lift a weight until the weight is lifted...and that is strength enough. To say what we see and what we feel requires strength, not a mere one but a significant one... as to love, to simply love takes strength, not a mere strength but a significant one... May we find the strength we need." Michael Bridge http//www.co-intelligence.org/P-gestures.html --------- "RE: Snow Bowl Trial recessed" --------- Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2005 08:51:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TOILET BOWL TRIAL ON POTTY BREAK" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.daily-times.com//20051020/NEWS01/510200302/1001 Trial surrounding ski resort's use of sacred mountain recessed By Ryan Hall The Daily Times October 20, 2005 FARMINGTON - The trial pitting several Indian tribes against the Snow Bowl ski resort and the U.S. Forestry Services has been recessed until Nov. 2, according to Harold Shanker, lawyer for the tribal plaintiffs. The trial began Oct. 10. in U.S. District Court in Prescott, Ariz., and continued through Tuesday. The trial was recessed because the courtroom is being used for another case that began Wednesday. At issue in the case is whether the proposed expansion of the ski resort along with the use of reclaimed waste water to make artificial snow is a desecration of the San Francisco Peaks, one of the four Sacred Mountains to the Navajo, according to George Hardeen, communications director for Navajo Nation president Joe Shirley Jr. The peaks are held as sacred by 13 other tribes as well. Shirley was scheduled to testify Tuesday but did not take the stand. His testimony was rescheduled for 9 a.m. Nov. 2, according to Shanker. "They just ran out of time," Hardeen said. He noted that once the trial resumes, the burden will be on the tribes to prove the expansion of the ski resort and the use of reclaimed waste water impacts the practice of religion on the peaks. If that can be proven, then the action would be in violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Hardeen noted that through the years, the land, resources and language of Native Americans have been taken or reduced by the federal government, leaving only their spiritual practices. "Now, once again, the federal government is affronting Native people. The last thing Native people have (left) is their spirituality. Once again, we have the federal government assaulting the spirituality of Native Americans. It is absolutely appalling to put this on the mountain that everybody knows is sacred," Hardeen said. "They're talking about something of a spiritual nature and not of a physical nature. You have competing paradigms confronting each other," he noted. The trial itself is still in the plaintiff's testimony phase with Shanker expecting to sum up his case and hand the trial over to the defense witnesses on Nov. 2. He said it was too early to tell what the outcome would be, but felt the case was proceeding favorably for the tribes. "As it is, I think the tribes have made a strong case," he said. Copyright c. 2005 Farmington Daily Times, a Gannett Co., Inc. newspaper. --------- "RE: Commerce and Religion collide on a Mountainside" --------- Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2005 08:18:10 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SNOWBOWL" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/23/national/23peaks.html Commerce and Religion Collide on a Mountainside By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD Published: October 23, 2005 FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - In the view of American Indians here, the spirits that inhabit the San Francisco Peaks, towering 12,000-foot-plus mountains rising from the desert here, certainly did not appreciate it when a ski run was built a quarter of a century ago on one slope. The national forest is not on tribal land but is within ancestral boundaries claimed by several tribes. So imagine, tribal leaders ask, what the spirits will think - or worse, do - when treated wastewater is piped up from Flagstaff and sprayed on the mountain so the resort, the Arizona Snowbowl, can make more snow to ski on? A lawyer for one of the tribes likened it to "pouring dirty water on the Vatican." In a trial that began this month, 13 Indian tribes who regard the peaks as virtual living deities of the highest order argued that the plan would interfere with their religious practices, including the gathering of mountain water and herbs they say the artificial snow would taint. "The mountain is like a power plant," Frank Mapatis, a spiritual leader in the Hualapai tribe, said in court. "You plant a feather there, and it is like plugging into a power plant." The case pits economic interests against traditional practices, and culture versus science, the kind of clashes that are becoming increasingly common in the West as population booms and development pressures butt against Indian desires to reassert ancient practices. Operators of the Arizona Snowbowl, one of the few ski resorts in the state, said it could go out of business without making snow because winter precipitation is so erratic in the high desert here. The resort, which has proposed the snowmaking under a plan to expand the ski runs, and the Forest Service, which approved the plan, both say the water would be cleaned to the highest degree, A-plus in the industry vernacular, though falling short of potable. The federal government has said that even with the expanded ski runs, the resort would be using only about one percent of the peaks on the otherwise undeveloped mountain. Eric Borowsky, a principal of the resort, said in an interview that despite bountiful snows last season, most other recent years have been dry. In the winter of 2001-02, the resort was open only four days and revenue was only 1.5 percent of the budget. "No business in the world can stay in business if you miss 98.5 percent of your revenue," Mr. Borowsky said. The 777-acre resort pays the federal government 1.5 percent of its annual revenue in rent, which in 2004 was $138,957. To stress their sensitivity to the tribes, the Snowbowl hired Bruce Babbitt, a former Arizona governor and interior secretary under President Bill Clinton, as a consultant. Mr. Babbitt, as secretary, was instrumental in closing down a pumice mine on the mountain that he called a "sacrilegious scar." The pumice had been used to make stone-washed jeans, and in a gesture of thanks, the tribes gave Mr. Babbitt a pair. Demonstrators outside the courthouse in Prescott, incensed at what they perceive as Mr. Babbitt's turnabout, have taunted him with signs shaped like underpants (as in give back the jeans). Mr. Babbitt said he would not comment while the trial was under way. Indian tribes unsuccessfully sued to block the resort in 1979. The current lawsuit, aided by environmental groups including the Sierra Club, was brought under more recent laws and regulations that require federal agencies to consult with American Indian groups when considering development on federal land and to take into account the effect on religious practices. The resort sits amid the vast Coconino National Forest and while not on tribal land, is within the ancestral boundaries claimed by several tribes. "I think that if the tribe can demonstrate that this site is central and essential to its religion, it has a good chance of success in this case," said Robert Anderson, a University of Washington law professor who specializes in Native American legal issues. The defendants, he said, must show there was a "compelling government interest" in the decision. The groups also charge that the defendants, the Snowbowl and the Forest Service, did not adequately study whether the effluent could harm people, especially children, who consume artificial snow - on purpose or not. The Snowbowl and Forest Service said in court papers that they made a good-faith effort to consult with the tribes - the Forest Service in an environmental report said it held 41 meetings, made 205 phone calls and exchanged 245 letters with members of the tribes - and found nothing environmentally egregious about using the treated sewage, known as reclaimed water. The resort balked at using fresh water because it is so scarce in Arizona, Mr. Borowsky said. Nora B. Rasure, the supervisor of the Coconino National Forest, wrote this year in the report that the resort "has and continues to provide a valuable recreational experience to many people, and that in order to continue providing that experience in today's physical and business environment, changes are needed." Ms. Rasure noted that none of the tribes performed ceremonies or maintained shrines within the resort property and that the improvements would involve only 205 acres. Ms. Rasure, through a spokeswoman, declined an interview. The trial, before Judge Paul G. Rosenblatt and expected to last into next month, has posed challenges for plaintiffs and defendants alike, as some Indians are reluctant to divulge closely guarded religious practices. Mr. Mapatis, the Hualapai spiritual leader, to the surprise of some other Indian leaders, told the court that he gathered plants and flowers for use in healing ceremonies and that after a woman gave birth he brought the placenta to the mountain to ensure the newborn has a healthy life. Members of his tribe use water from the mountain in sweat lodge ceremonies, and the peaks figure prominently in the Hualapai creation story, as well as other tribes'. Mixing mountain water with water that in an earlier, untreated form may have included waste from mortuaries or hospitals, Mr. Mapatis said, could infect members of his tribe with "ghost sickness," a disagreeable state difficult to cure. "It's like putting death on the mountain, which would be a form of witchcraft or black magic," Mr. Mapatis said. "I won't be able to practice my religion." But Bill Bucky Preston, a spiritual leader in the Hopi tribe, which has a reputation for secrecy about their practices, refused to describe in detail what practices he would no longer be able to do or how the mountain figures in Hopi lore. And that was when his own lawyer was questioning him. "It is very difficult to be put in this position to reveal this information," Mr. Preston said. "We are told by our uncles and grandparents that it is sacred and cannot be revealed to anybody." On a visit to the mountain earlier this month, Jeneda Benally, a Navajo advocate, said the very notion of making snow, regardless of the purity of the water, could offend the kachinas, the spirits on the mountain. "The kachinas are the snow makers," she said. "When man makes snow what does that tell the deities?" Copyright c. 2005 The New York Times Company. --------- "RE: Carrie Dann speaks of Shoshone Land Struggles" --------- Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2005 08:51:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CARRIE DANN SPEAKS" http://nativetimes.com/News http://www.sacredheartspectrum.com/news/~Land.Struggles-1026151.shtml Carrie Dann Speaks of Shoshone Land Struggles By Shanna L. Rasmussen Staff Reporter October 20, 2005 Native Americans have been fighting for their rights since Columbus first landed in America. Carrie Dann, a Native American advocate, came to campus to explain the modern-day struggles of the Shoshone tribe. Dann and her assistant, Julie Mitchell, came to campus on Thursday Oct. 6 to speak in a lecture open to students, teachers and the general public. Dann and Mitchell took turns speaking about the problems that the Shoshone face as they try to reclaim the 60 million acres that were illegally taken from them by the United States government. "Shoshones continue to use and occupy this land," said Mitchell. Mitchell explained that the United States gave non-Indians permission to use some of the land owned by the Shoshone for mining, ranching, building roads and railroads. The government also agreed to compensate the Shoshone for the use. "The U.S. agreed to fairly compensate the Western Shoshone for any uses, damages and minerals taken," said Mitchell, "Both sides agreed to peace." According to Dann and Mitchell, the government has claimed 90 percent of the Shoshone land. Both Dann and Mitchell do not believe the Shoshone have been properly compensated. "The United States is currently claiming that the Western Shoshone are trespassers on their land," said Mitchell. The Shoshone land is spread across Nevada, California, Idaho and Utah. The government allows it to be used for mining and nuclear testing. It is estimated that about 10 million ounces of gold lies in the mountains of the Shoshone land. The mountains are being destroyed by mining, while the Shoshone are extremely upset. The mountains are a place of burial and the topic of many tribal stories. "It is a spiritual and cultural area for the Shoshone," said Mitchell. Mitchell clarified that the Shoshone territory is the second largest gold producing area in the world. For this reason, the United States government is very set on having the mines utilized. The tribe is distraught at the fact that much of the gold being mined is under the water table. Water, which is a sacred resource to the Shoshone, must be pumped out, and therefore it is wasted and is often contaminated. The tribal land is also used for nuclear testing. Mitchell showed pictures of a place where geysers once erupted that is now a nuclear power plant. After Mitchell spoke, Dann took over. "You don't learn about these things we're going to talk about in the educational system," said Dann. Dann spoke about her feelings towards the government of the United States. She explained her concern for the future of the Western Shoshone tribe. "You may think of Democracy as freedom," said Dann, "I, as an indigenous person, don't think of it in those terms." Dann feels as though her tribe was wronged. Throughout the lecture she elaborated on the points given by Mitchell. One of Dann's most prevalent concerns was the nuclear testing being done so close to the tribal people. Dann warned the audience about the dangers of nuclear waste. The land is the site of the Counter Terrorism Facility where nuclear and biological warfare is tested and developed. It has been used for nuclear- related activity for more than 30 years. "I have a son who is mentally retarded and slightly deformed," said Dann, "Nuclear radiation causes deformities." Dann believes that her son's health problems are the result of radiation caused by nuclear waste stored on the Shoshone land. "Nuclear waste is live and active for thousands of years," said Dann. "It's real scary to have a nuclear waste dump in my back yard and your back yard." "I learned how the U.S. government can run around their own laws to get their way," said Mike Smith, senior, Canton, Mass. "It made me upset." Dann and Mitchell aim to spread their truth to the public as they travel around the country. They urge everyone to write to their state representatives with their thoughts on the situation of the Shoshone Native Americans. "I thought the way [Dann] talked was very powerful. She's a very powerful woman. She's very brave," said Alex Parisi, freshman, Fairfield. Anyone interested in helping save the Shoshone land is encouraged to visit wsclp.org and nodirtygold.org. Dann stressed that every little bit of help counts. Copyright c. 2005 Sacred Heart University Spectrum, published by College Publisher Boston, MA 02108. --------- "RE: Interior wins Internet reprieve" --------- Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2005 07:52:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DOI LEAVES TRUST SITE OPEN TO HACKERS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/local&story_id=102205a3_indianmoney A judge had ordered the department to disconnect from American Indian trust accounts. The Associated Press October 22, 2005 WASHINGTON - The Interior Department won a reprieve yesterday from a judge's order to disconnect from the Internet all computer systems with access to accounts it manages for American Indians. In a motion filed in federal courts, officials had said disconnecting the computers would cause "massive injury to the public interest and the operations of government." An appellate court yesterday granted a stay. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ordered the shutdown on Thursday, saying the department's computer security was so bad that hackers could easily break into the system and access and manipulate the Indians' accounts. He directed the department to disconnect all but those systems necessary to protect from fire or threats to life, property or national security. Department officials say the order would affect as many as 6,000 computers across the country plus "an undetermined number" of others with indirect access to trust information. Lamberth's order was much more extensive than his previous opinions, which required the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other Indian agencies to go off-line to protect trust data. In an almost 10-year-old class-action lawsuit, tribes contend the government has cheated them out of more than $100 billion by mismanaging oil, gas, timber and other royalties on their land since 1887. A major issue in the case is whether the government has kept accurate and secure trust data. Lamberth has frequently tangled with the department, harshly criticizing its treatment of American Indians' trusts. On Thursday, he wrote that during tests, government-contracted computer experts were able to access several Interior Department computer systems for days at a time. Interior officials say they are continuing to work to improve computer security. Copyright c. 2005 Tucson Citizen, All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Senate Panel approves Arctic Drilling" --------- Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2005 08:51:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ANWR" http://nativetimes.com/News http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/20/national/20anwr.html Senate Panel Approves Arctic Drilling By FELICITY BARRINGER October 20, 2005 WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 - The Senate Energy and Commerce Committee approved a measure on Wednesday to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas production, moving it an important step closer to becoming official. The committee voted 13 to 9 to add the measure to the budget reconciliation legislation, which under Senate rules cannot be filibustered. The House has already approved a similar measure. Aides to the committee's chairman, Senator Pete V. Domenici, Republican of New Mexico, predicted that a vote by the full Senate on the reconciliation measure was likely within two weeks. The drilling proposal was eligible for inclusion in the bill because of its implications for the federal treasury, which, its supporters said, stands to benefit from more than $2 billion in royalty payments from energy leasing. After the vote, the senators on the committee quickly passed through the third-floor hall of the Dirksen office building, where Mr. Domenici gave a hug and kiss to Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, who had just thanked him for the committee's action. Ms. Murkowski had followed the lead of her Republican colleague, Senator Ted Stevens, and her father, Gov. Frank H. Murkowski, in pushing relentlessly to overcome two decades of opposition by national environmental groups, for whom protecting the wildlife refuge has been a signature issue. Virtually all those groups have been determined to prevent the industrial energy production complex that has grown up around the Prudhoe Bay oil fields on the North Slope of Alaska from sending its tendrils into the 1.5-million-acre coastal plain of the wildlife refuge. The plain is a way station on the annual migration of thousands of caribou and many more migratory birds. It is also part of the range of musk oxen, grizzly bears, arctic foxes and a whole suite of other wildlife that regularly journey through the coastal flatlands at the edge of the Beaufort Sea. The Department of Energy has estimated that the coastal plain and the area immediately offshore sit atop reserves of 10 billion barrels of oil, and the Bush administration argues that increasingly tight and increasingly expensive supplies of gasoline, home heating oil and natural gas require the nation to exploit available resources, like those in the refuge. One committee Democrat, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, made reference to these arguments in an unsuccessful effort to amend the legislation to ban the export of Alaskan oil. The committee chairman, Mr. Domenici, said he favored the move, but reversed himself in the face of vocal opposition from several Republican colleagues, including Ms. Murkowski, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Jim Bunning of Kentucky. The amendment was defeated 12 to 10. Copyright c. 2005 The New York Times Company. --------- "RE: ANWR drilling backers pare Bill" --------- Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2005 08:18:10 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="'JUST A LITTLE' GAME" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://hosted.ap.org/ANWR_NEGOTIATIONS_AKOL-?SITE=AKFAI&SECTION=HOME ANWR drilling backers pare bill in hopes of winning approval October 24, 2005 FAIRBANKS (AP) - A small paragraph disappeared this month from the last page of a U.S. Senate proposal to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. The paragraph, a nonbinding request that unions and oil companies sign an agreement for work in the refuge, has been part of most drilling proposals for years. Senators who back ANWR drilling killed the language. They made the sacrifice to satisfy Senate budget bill procedures. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved drilling language Wednesday in a budget "reconciliation" bill, a measure designed to reconcile federal law with the federal budget plan adopted last spring. Pro-drilling senators chose the method because reconciliation bills can pass the Senate with a simple majority of 51 votes. Other attempts to pass ANWR on standard legislation have drawn threats of filibusters. Filibusters require 60 votes to shut down, and that's more votes than the pro-drilling camp can count on. The reconciliation bill poses challenges of its own. When it reaches the Senate floor sometime in early November, it will be subject to a rule crafted in 1985 by Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.V. The Byrd rule says any provision not related to federal revenues can be killed by any senator who successfully raises a "point of order." With an eye on the Byrd rule, pro-drilling senators trimmed their 30- page ANWR proposal to six pages, leaving out clearly non-revenue provisions. That drew criticism from the committee's top Democrat. "There are no minimum royalty rates, there are no enforcement provisions, there are no required inspections, there are no limits on the size or duration of leases, no requirement that operation plans be approved," said Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. Still, the proposal comprises much more than "thou shalt drill," and that poses a potential conflict with the Byrd rule. For example, the language would "deem" that a leasing program is compatible with the purposes of the refuge. It also declares that a 1987 environmental impact statement is adequate to let the Interior Department start writing up a leasing program, and any updated impact statement could only analyze two options - both that must include drilling. The language requires lawsuits to be filed within 90 days of any action. Finally, it would limit oil development's "footprint" to 2,000 acres. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said the limitations on environmental and judicial reviews are clearly related to ANWR's revenue potential and so shouldn't be "Byrdable." The federal budget plan calls for about $2.5 billion in new revenue by 2010. "To get the revenues that we were required to raise in the Energy Committee, the $2.5 (billion), we have got to have leases sold and moving and revenue into the treasury within the time frames that have been set out in the legislation," she said. "If you have to start all over with a brand new EIS, you are not getting to that available revenue." That's also why Murkowski helped defeat an amendment Bingaman proposed to further strip the bill by removing all language streamlining environmental and judicial reviews. Under Bingaman's amendment "you literally begin from ground zero" with such things as environmental reviews, she said. Mike Steeves, a staff attorney with the environmental law group Trustees for Alaska, disputed Murkowski's assertion that streamlining is necessary. The Minerals Management Service, he said, has proven the point with recent offshore leasing work in Alaska. "They did a programmatic EIS, a separate EIS on each sale and completed two sales, all within 3 1/2 years," Steeves said after the committee meeting. "Why can't it happen on the Arctic refuge?" Peter Van Tuyn, an Anchorage attorney and the Trustees' former executive director, said Republicans want to limit reviews for another reason. "This program is to hide the environmental effects" of drilling in ANWR. Murkowski also argues that the 2,000-acre limit is revenue-related and therefore should survive a Byrd rule challenge. Murkowski said the reconciliation bill could hit the Senate floor by the first week of November. That's when she and other drilling supporters will see whether their work satisfies Senate Parliamentarian Alan Frumin. He could be asked by any senator to offer an opinion on whether the ANWR language satisfies the Byrd rule. Frumin does not have the final say. The Senate's presiding officer will either accept or reject Frumin's reading, Van Tuyn said. --- Information from: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, http://www.newsminer.com Copyright c. 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. 2004 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Inc. --------- "RE: Natives in the Arctic affected by climate change" --------- Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2005 08:51:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BIG MELT" http://nativetimes.com/News http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/20/science/earth/20arctic.html Old Ways of Life Are Fading as the Arctic Thaws STEVEN LEE MYERS, ANDREWC. REVKIN, SIMON ROMERO and CLIFFORD KRAUSS October 20, 2005 TIKSI, Russia - Freed by warming, waters once locked beneath ice are gnawing at coastal settlements around the Arctic Circle. In Bykovsky, a village of 457 on Russia's northeast coast, the shoreline is collapsing, creeping closer and closer to houses and tanks of heating oil, at a rate of 15 to 18 feet a year. Eventually, homes will be lost, and maybe all of Bykovsky, too, under ever-longer periods of assault by open water. "It is eating up the land," said Innokenty Koryakin, a member of the Evenk tribe and the captain of a fishing boat. "You cannot do anything about it." To the east, Fyodor V. Sellyakhov scours a barren island with 16 hired men. Mammoths lived here tens of thousands of years ago, and their carcasses eventually sank deep into sediment that is now offering up a trove of tusks and bones nearly as valuable as elephant ivory. Mr. Sellyakhov, a native Yakut, hauls the fossils to a warehouse here and sells them for $25 to $50 a pound. This summer he collected two tons, making him a wealthy man, for Tiksi. "The sea washes down the coast every year," he said. "It is practically all ice - permafrost - and it is thawing." For the four million people who live north of the Arctic Circle, in remote outposts and the improbable industrial centers built by Soviet decree, a changing climate presents new opportunities. But it also threatens their environment, their homes and, for those whose traditions rely on the ice-bound wilderness, the preservation of their culture. A push to develop the North, quickened by the melting of the Arctic seas, carries its own rewards and dangers for people in the region. The discovery of vast petroleum fields in the Barents and Kara Seas has raised fears of catastrophic accidents as ships loaded with oil and, soon, liquefied gas churn through the fisheries off Scandinavia, headed to markets in Europe and North America. Land that was untouched could be tainted by pollution as generators, smokestacks and large vehicles sprout to support the growing energy industry. But the thaw itself is already causing widespread anxiety. In Russia, 20 percent of which lies above the Arctic Circle, melting of the permafrost threatens the foundations of homes, factories, pipelines. While the primary causes are debated, the effect is an engineering nightmare no one anticipated when the towns were built, in Stalin's time. Coastal erosion is a problem in Alaska as well, forcing the United States to prepare to relocate several Inuit villages at a projected cost of $100 million or more for each one. Across the Arctic, indigenous tribes with traditions shaped by centuries of living in extremes of cold and ice are noticing changes in weather and wildlife. They are trying to adapt, but it can be confounding. Take the Inuit word for June, qiqsuqqaqtuq. It refers to snow conditions, a strong crust at night. Only those traits now appear in May. Shari Gearheard, a climate researcher from Harvard, recalled the appeal of an Inuit hunter, James Qillaq, for a new word at a recent meeting in Canada. One sentence stayed in her mind: "June isn't really June any more." Changing Traditions In Finnmark, Norway's northernmost province, the Arctic landscape unfolds in late winter as an endless snowy plateau, silent but for the cries of the reindeer and the occasional whine of a snowmobile. A changing Arctic is felt there, too. "The reindeer are becoming unhappy," said Issat Heandarat Eira, a 31-year-old reindeer herder and one of 80,000 Samis, or Laplanders, who live in the northern reaches of Scandinavia and Russia. Few countries rival Norway when it comes to protecting the environment and preserving indigenous customs. The state has lavished its oil wealth on the region, and Sami culture has enjoyed something of a renaissance. There is a Nordic Sami Institute, a Sami College, a state-sponsored film festival and a drive-in theater where moviegoers watch from snowmobiles. And yet no amount of government support can convince Mr. Eira that his livelihood, intractably entwined with the reindeer, is not about to change. Like a Texas cattleman, he keeps the size of his herd secret. But he said warmer temperatures in fall and spring were melting the top layers of snow, which then refreeze as ice, making it harder for his reindeer to dig through to the lichen they eat. He worries, too, about the encroachment of highways and industrial activity on his once isolated grazing lands. "The people who are making the decisions, they are living in the south and they are living in towns," said Mr. Eira, sitting inside his home made of reindeer hides. "They don't mark the change of weather. It is only people who live in nature and get resources from nature who mark it." Other Arctic cultures that rely on nature report similar disruptions. For 5,000 years, the Inuit have lived on the fringe of the Arctic Ocean, using sea ice as a highway, building material and hunting platform. In recent decades, their old ways have been fading under forced relocations, the erosion of language and lore and the lure of modern conveniences, steady jobs and a cash economy. Now the accelerating retreat of the sea ice is making it even harder to preserve their connections to "country food" and tradition. In Canada, Inuit hunters report that an increasing number of polar bears look emaciated because the shrinking ice cover has curtailed their ability to fatten up on seals. In Alaska, whale hunters working in unusually open seas have seen walruses try to climb onto their white boats, mistaking them for ice floes. Hank Rogers, a 54-year-old Inuvialuit who helps patrol Canada's Far North, said the pelts of fox, marten and other game he trapped were thinning. As for the flesh of fish caught in coastal estuaries of the Yukon, "they're too mushy," he said. Slushy snow and weaker ice has made traveling by snowmobile impossible in places. "The next generation coming up is not going to experience what we did," he said. "We can't pass the traditions on as our ancestors passed on to us." Even seasoned hunters have been betrayed by the thaw, stepping in snow that should be covering ice but instead falling into water. And on Shingle Point, a sandy strip inhabited by Inuvialuit at the tip of the Yukon in Canada, Danny A. Gordon, 70, said it was troubling that fewer icebergs were reaching the bay. It has become windier, too, for reasons people here cannot explain. "In the summer 40 years ago, we had lots of icebergs, and you could land your boat on them and climb on them even in summer," Mr. Gordon said. "Now in the winter they are tiny. The weather has changed. Everyone knows it. It's global warming." Sinking Cities Vorkuta, a coal-mining city of 130,000, is crumbling. Many of the city's homes and factories were built not on hard rock, but on permafrost, a layer of perpetually frozen earth that covers 65 percent of Russia's territory. If the permafrost underneath melts, the ground turns to mush. "Everything is falling apart," said Lyubov I. Denisova, who lives in a cramped apartment on Lokomotivnaya Street. The ceiling has warped, the walls cracked, the window frames splintered. Some buildings have been declared unsafe and abandoned. Vorkuta lies on the edge of Russia's permafrost boundary, and some scientists predict that continued warming could advance that border hundreds of miles northward, weakening the earth beneath the vast infrastructure built during the days of the Soviet Union's industrialization of the Arctic. According to the Permafrost Institute in Yakutsk, the average temperature of the permafrost has already increased a degree or two. While most Arctic climate experts say the warming trend is driven by heat-trapping emissions and is unlikely to reverse, many scientists and officials in Russia predict the warming of the last 30 years will give way to a new period of cold. Vorkuta's mayor, Igor I. Shpektor, hews to that line. He said the damage in the city - 80 percent of all buildings show signs of it, one study found - resulted from faulty construction or maintenance, not a general thaw. Still, Mr. Shpektor acknowledged, "the permafrost is unforgiving." Any significant warming, said Anatoly A. Chumashov, the city's chief engineer, would leave officials like him scrambling to save the city. "It is an example of how fragile it is and how careful we should be," he said. But he added: "If the permafrost melts, this city will not collapse overnight. There is time to adjust, but it requires very serious investments in labor and money." Spills and Depredation "One oil spill would be the end of us," said Borge Iversen, a fisherman on the Lofoten Islands, a striking archipelago north of the Arctic Circle in the Norwegian Sea. As recently as 2000, Russian tankers were rarely spotted passing the jagged peaks and sheltered inlets, surrounded by seas with the world's largest stocks of cod and herring, as well as killer and sperm whales. So far, there has not been a major accident, but the ships appear more and more, a harbinger of Russia's expanding efforts to extract oil and, increasingly, gas in the Arctic. As much as a quarter of the world's remaining oil and gas resources are believed to exist in the Arctic. And as technology improves, oil prices rise and the seasonal ice cap retreats, countries like Norway and Russia are acting with startling speed. Oil shipments from the White Sea and the coast of the Barents Sea have soared, said Mikhail M. Kalenchenko, director of the World Wildlife Fund's branch in Murmansk, the Russian port. "It was supposed to increase over the next 10 years, up to 20 million tons of oil," he said. "It's 20 million this year," or 146 million barrels. At this rate, he said, "we can expect up to 100 million tons, over 10 to 20 years, to be transported through our area." Russia's history of environmental protection is a poor one. The Soviet drive for industrial development paid little heed to the natural spaces around its mines, factories and ports. Its disregard is evident in the poisoned wasteland around the nickel smelter in Monchegorsk, south of Murmansk, where hundreds of square miles of what was once forest is now almost entirely devoid of life. Western countries have paid millions to help Russia dismantle its aging fleet of nuclear submarines in the area and safely store the nuclear material aboard them, but Mr. Kalenchenko said far less attention had been paid to the environmental risks of expanding oil shipments in the same area, most in single-hull tankers. "What has never happened before is a big accident in the high seas in the Artic," he said. For the entire Barents region, he said, Russia has only two bases with the equipment necessary to fight an oil spill. "In Norway, they have at least 50 bases of this kind," he said. David Dickins, an engineer from San Diego who has spent 30 years studying how to clean up oil spills in icy waters, said that while the ice impeded the use of tools like booms that hold a slick in place, the ice also naturally contained the oil, giving response teams more time to act before environmental damage occurred. "People ought not paint the Arctic in some sort of raving sense where a spill is somehow going to be catastrophic," he said. But he added: "A spill is always serious. In the Arctic it will naturally take longer to clean up because there is less wave action, and breakdown is slower in colder temperatures." That is what worries Mr. Iversen, who sails each morning from the village of Ballstad, into the coastal waters around the Lofoten Islands. The village's history, islanders say, reaches back to the Vikings, and fishing is central to the region's social and economic life. "We've fished these waters for centuries, and while it's a hard life, we've survived in doing so," he said. Although the fishing industry accounts for less than 1 percent of Norway's gross domestic product, as against the nearly 18 percent brought in by oil and gas, the fisheries are Norway's second-largest earner of foreign exchange and are viewed as a more sustainable resource. "We need a policy for the Arctic that considers the next 100 years, not just the next 10 years," Mr. Iversen said. Such sentiment goes far in Norway, where fishing is still part of the oil-rich nation's soul. On Oct. 13, a new leftist coalition upheld a ban on drilling in the waters around the Lofoten Islands until 2009, while allowing exploration to proceed further north in the Barents Sea. As for the tanker traffic, Oslo is looking at other ways of advancing its concerns. Norway and the seven other Arctic nations have started to discuss ways to protect the environment they share in a forum called the Arctic Council, established nine years ago. In 2002, the council issued guidelines for offshore oil drilling, calling for drilling projects to be preceded by studies on environmental effects and the availability of cleanup equipment. The guidelines come with no enforcement powers, but several experts say they think they will have some effect, particularly because Russia is preparing for entry into the World Trade Organization and seeking closer ties with the European Union. A Less Wild Future One day last summer, the 1,200 residents of Pangnirtung, a windswept outpost on a fjord in Nunavut, Canada's Inuit-administered Arctic territory, were startled to see a 400-foot European cruise ship drop anchor unannounced and send several hundred tourists ashore in small boats. While small ships have stopped in the Canadian Arctic, visits from large liners are increasing as interest grows in the opening Northwest Passage, said Maureen Bundgaard, chief executive of Nunavut Tourism, a trade association. Ms. Bundgaard has been training villagers how to stage cultural shows, conduct day tours and sell crafts and traditional fare - without being overrun. "We're not prepared to deal with the huge ships, emotionally or in other ways," she said. Inuit leaders say they are trying to balance tradition with the inevitable changes that are sweeping their lands. The Inuit Circumpolar Conference, which represents 155,000 Inuit scattered across Canada, Greenland, Russia and the United States, has enlisted lawyers and movie stars like Jake Gyllenhaal and Salma Hayek to draw attention to its imperiled traditions. The group's leaders hope to submit a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in December, claiming that the United States, by rejecting a treaty requiring other industrialized countries to cut emissions linked to warming, is willfully threatening the Inuit's right to exist. The commission, an investigative arm of the Organization of American States, has no enforcement powers. But legal analysts say that a declaration that the United States has violated the Inuit's rights could create the foundation for a lawsuit either against the United States in international court or American companies in federal courts. But some Inuit question the wisdom of the petition. They ask, how can they push countries to stem global warming when the Inuit's own prosperity in places like Nunavut is tied to revenues from oil and gas, which are sources of greenhouse gases when burned? Sheila Watt-Cloutier, the elected chairwoman of the group, said the goal was not to stop development but to make sure that native cultures had a say in how development was carried out. "It's how we do the business that's more important," she said. "There are more environmentally friendly ways in which we can do development and still live a certain way, with a way of life and business that can balance both." While it is the people of the Arctic who will feel the melt and the rush for development most directly, the world, too, will have to give up something - its treasured notion of the Far North as a place of wilderness, simplicity and unspoiled cultures. In a report on Arctic development, the United Nations Environment Program estimated that 15 percent of the region's lands were affected in 2001 by mining, oil and gas exploration, ports or other industrial incursions. But that figure is likely to reach 80 percent in 2050, it said. The Arctic, then, is probably making the same transition that swept the coastal plains of the North Slope of Alaska starting 38 years ago when the first oil was struck in Prudhoe Bay, said Charles Wohlforth, an Alaskan and author of "The Whale and the Supercomputer," describing Arctic climate change. Since then, a lacework of pipelines and wells has steadily spread west and east from that central field, ending the sweeping sense of emptiness that defined the Arctic landscape through the ages. "Even if you support oil development and think it makes sense, there's a point at which it becomes West Texas or the Gulf of Mexico and is not really the Arctic any more," Mr. Wohlforth said. Craig Duff contributed reporting for this article. Copyright c. 2005 The New York Times Company. --------- "RE: Sioux assist each other" --------- Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2005 08:51:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SHAKOPEE MDEWAKANTON HELP CHEYENNE RIVER" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7126 Sioux assist each other Shakopee Mdewakanton help Cheyenne River build senior housing PRIOR LAKE MN Native American Times October 19, 2005 There are certainly some generous tribes out there, but even the most benevolent would be hard-pressed to match the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. The tribe has announced plans to loan the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe $3 million to build senior citizen housing. "There is urgency in bringing our elders home to the reservation. Not only is this where they want to be, but they will also bring with them a culture that is being lost. Having our elders close to us will allow them to teach us...the language, our history, a forgotten value system. It will also show them that they have not been abandoned. Our elders need to come home because we need to save the culture, and because we need to rejuvenate their minds and spirits. Having a nursing facility close to home will accomplish that," wrote the Cheyenne River Sioux when they sought grant funding for the project. The need for homes for the elderly is exacerbated by the high unemployment on the reservation, with almost eight out of every ten adults without a job. With little steady income it is difficult for children to support their aging parents. "We are happy to be able to assist the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe's efforts to keep their elderly at home on the reservation. We know that it is the wisdom of the elders that keeps a people strong. We think this will be a good project which will support and encourage their cultural ways as well as help provide good jobs for their tribal members," said Shakopee Mdewakanton Chairman Stanley Crooks. "With the efforts of the Shakopee Tribe we are able to accomplish the development of the Elderly Village," said CRST Chairman Harold Frazier. This is not the first time the one tribe has helped out the other. The Shakopee Tribe has used proceeds from their lucrative casino and other business ventures in Minnesota to fund a number of programs on the Cheyenne River Reservation over the past few years including $1 million for construction of a new Bingo Hall, $250,000 for a youth center, $50,000 for a diabetes clinic, $6,000 for a suicide prevention program, and $27, 200 for hay for buffalo and wild horses. The SMSC has also donated to several Cheyenne River Pow Wows. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Legal Battle over Battle Site" --------- Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2005 08:51:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CUSTER BATTLEFIELD" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.billingsgazette.com//build/state/20-battle-site.inc Legal battle over battle site By GREG TUTTLE Of The Gazette Staff October 20, 2005 GARRYOWEN - A small piece of the historic battlefield where members of the U.S. 7th Cavalry led an ill-fated charge against an American Indian village is at the center of a fight involving tribal sovereignty and private property rights. In place of repeating rifles, this fight is being waged with conflicting restraining orders issued by two courts. On Friday, the two sides will meet in U.S. District Court before Judge Richard Cebull in the latest legal skirmish over a gravel parking lot on less than an acre of land. The dispute began in July, when Janice Smith received a letter from a Billings attorney representing the Custer Battlefield Preservation Committee. Smith, a former Laurel grade school teacher, and her partner, Robert Nightengale, an author and amateur historian, own the Fort Custer building near the unincorporated community of Garryowen. The couple bought the property at auction in 2002 and plan to open a museum and interpretive center in the 10,000-square-foot building. The Custer Battlefield Preservation Committee is a private nonprofit group that uses donations to purchase private land around the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument with the goal of returning the land to the federal government for preservation. The letter from the committee's attorney informed Smith that a recent survey showed she was encroaching on the committee's property by using a driveway leading into the existing parking lot as the entrance and exit for the future museum. As a result, Smith was told, the committee "is in the process of building a fence" between the two properties and "will be removing certain obstacles" in the future. Harold Stanton, an attorney in Hardin, serves as president of the preservation committee. In court records and in a recent interview, he said the committee bought a large parcel of land in 2001 from a rancher, and the purchase included the area that is being used as a parking lot adjacent to Fort Custer. The preservation committee is concerned, he said, that Smith and Nightengale will attempt to develop the land, a prospect that is at odds with the committee's goal of preserving as much of the historic battlefield as possible. "What we are doing is protecting the land that we bought," Stanton said. "I can't back up at all on that, and I won't." Smith and Nightengale said they own the parking lot in question through an easement granted by the original owner, and that the preservation committee is attempting to increase its holdings by forcing them to abandon the museum project. "They are trying to get our land, but they don't want to pay for it," Smith said. A fence would block the only driveway to the Fort Custer building, Smith said. And Smith said the "obstacles" to be removed include the only well and septic system on the property. "It's a land grab," Nightengale said. "You can't tell someone you own their property." Nightengale said the museum property sits adjacent to what is believed to be the skirmish line between soldiers and Indians during the first exchange of fire at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Shortly after receiving the letter, Smith filed for a temporary restraining order against Stanton and the preservation committee in Crow Tribal Court. Although she is not a member of the Crow tribe, Smith said she is a member of a federally recognized tribe in Washington state. As a result, she said, she was advised by the Bureau of Indian Affairs that she needed first to take her case to Crow Tribal Court because it has jurisdiction over any and all tribal members within the reservation. On July 25, Crow Tribal Judge Rena Birdinground granted a 10-day restraining order, prohibiting Stanton and the preservation committee from communicating with Smith in any way or damaging "any property in which (Smith) has any interest." The restraining order notes that any violation "may subject you to mandatory arrest and criminal prosecution" in Crow Tribal Court. Birdinground issued a second, similar restraining order on Aug. 8, extending the period for 30 days and setting a hearing. Stanton said he was never served with the original restraining order, but obtained a copy on his own and hired an attorney. Stanton and the attorney, Michael Rapkoch of Billings, attended the hearing on Sept. 19. The issue was tabled when the sides agreed to try to reach a resolution. Eleven days later, Stanton filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Billings against the Crow Tribal Court and Smith. The lawsuit contends the Crow Tribal Court does not have jurisdiction over the preservation committee or its land. The complaint also asked for a restraining order preventing the Crow Tribal Court from holding any further proceedings related to the disputed parking lot. Stanton said in court records that any order by the tribal court affecting the private land owned by the committee would "create a cloud" over ownership that would have to be resolved by legal action in state court. On the morning of Oct. 12, Cebull, the federal judge, signed a restraining order against the tribal court barring it from holding further proceedings in the case "until such time as this court has had the opportunity to consider and rule upon the jurisdictional issues." Later that day, Birdinground held another hearing in the case. Nightengale and Smith appeared, as did Crow Tribal Prosecutor Brad Stovall. The tribal prosecutor said he was confident the federal judge eventually would rule that the tribe does have jurisdiction to order a restraining order in the case. "This is an infringement on our sovereignty," Stovall told the tribal judge. Birdinground delayed any further ruling at Stovall's request after Stovall said he wanted to research the ownership history of the parcel. Copyright c. 2005 The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Leaders of feuding Tribes break Bread together" --------- Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 08:36:29 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NAVAJO AND HOPI LEADERS MEET" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7111 Leaders of feuding tribes break bread together Shirley and Taylor attend fair, receive cheers and applause Sam Lewin October 18, 2005 In making a historical appearance together, the leaders of two tribes with long-standing disagreements say unity is important for the future. Hopi Tribal Chairman Wayne Taylor joined Navajo leaders, including President Joe Shirley and his wife Vikki, during the 37th Annual Western Navajo Fair in Arizona. Acknowledging that there are possibly hundreds of people with both Hopi and Navajo ancestry, both Taylor and Shirley said they would shoulder any criticism for their joint appearance. None materialized as Taylor and Shirley received cheers and applause when they showed up, on horseback, to travel the parade route together. The two tribal leaders also attended a luncheon together and later went to the 4th Annual Tuuvi Gathering in Moencopi Village. The primary source of friction has been the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute, a struggle over resources that has been going on for well over a century. Historians trace the start of the disagreement to the 1882 Executive Order issued by then-President Chester A. Arthur which deemed 2.4 million acres "for the use and occupancy of the [Hopi] and other such Indians as the Secretary of the Interior may see fit to settle upon." Three little words led to bickering and lawsuits that continue until this day. "The Navajo Tribal Council through the years has interpreted the phrase 'other such Indians' as including them. The Hopi Tribe on the other hand has interpreted this as not specifically stating Navajos and that all the 1882 Executive Order Reservation is theirs," wrote researcher Harrison Lapahie. As recently as this past summer the Senate Indian Affairs Commission held hearings on the issue. Navajo officials say the meeting between Taylor and Shirley was the first time since the early 1980s that Navajo and Hopi leaders spent time together socially. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Indians file Voting Rights Lawsuit" --------- Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 08:51:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="VOTING RIGHTS SUIT FILED" http://www/pechanga.net/ http://www.casperstartribune.net//dff9e9244e69655f872570a10005c2ac.txt Indians file voting rights lawsuit By TOM MORTON Star-Tribune staff writer October 21, 2005 The at-large method of electing Fremont County commissioners violates the voting rights of residents of the Wind River Indian Reservation, according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday against the five commissioners and county clerk. So five reservation residents - members of both the Shoshone and the Northern Arapaho tribes - want the federal court to prohibit Fremont County commissioners from using the at-large method, and to not block an election for a redistricting plan for single-member districts, according to the complaint filed by the plaintiffs' attorneys Andrew Baldwin and Berthenia Crocker of Lander. If the commissioners don't conduct timely elections for a redistricting plan, the plaintiffs want the court to implement a redistricting plan and schedule the elections so the county complies with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, according to the complaint. "The at-large method of electing the Board of County Commissioners of Fremont County was enacted or is being maintained with the discriminatory purpose of diluting the voting strength of Native Americans in violation of plaintiffs' rights guaranteed by Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act ... and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments," according to the complaint. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson in Cheyenne. The plaintiffs are James E. Large, Gary Collins, Emma Lucille McAdams, Patricia Bergie and Pete Calhoun. Four attorneys with the Atlanta office of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation Inc. also represent the plaintiffs. The Baldwin & Crocker P.C. law firm referred questions to Laughlin McDonald of the Foundation, but he was not available for comment. The defendants, who are sued only in their official capacities, are commissioners Doug Thompson, Lanny Applegate, Jane Adamson, Gary Jennings and Pat Hickerson; and County Clerk Julie Freese. Fremont County Attorney Ed Newell has not seen the lawsuit and could not comment on it, but he suspected that it might be coming because of recent requests for voting records, he said. "I need to look at it, read it, and get an answer to it," he said. Newell is aware of similar litigation in Montana and South Dakota, but he doesn't know how those cases were resolved, he said. County Clerk Freese said after the Nov. 2, 2004, general election, representatives of the ACLU began asking for voting records of every race and every election going back several years. "The ACLU has been asking for tons of returns, and abstracts of returns," Freese said. Fremont County had debated commissioner representation 13 years ago, she said. In 1992, Fremont County voters turned down a ballot initiative proposal to create five commissioner districts, Freese said. The county has a five-member board of commissioners who are elected from the county at-large. The four-year terms of office are staggered, and the elections are partisan, according to the complaint. The next election for commissioners is in 2006. Fremont County has 35,804 residents. Of those, 7,113 or 19.9 percent are Native Americans. Native Americans compose 16.3 percent of the voting age population of the county, according to the complaint. American Indians are numerous enough and geographically compact that they would constitute a majority in at least one single-member county commission district, according to the complaint. They have organized for political purposes; tend to vote as a bloc; share common social, economic, historic, tribal and other characteristics; have a unique political status with the United States; have been subject to individual and official discrimination including the right to participate equally in the political process; and bear the effects of discrimination in education, housing, employment and health services, according to the complaint. Voting in Fremont County is racially polarized, which has discouraged American Indians from running for the board of county commissioners, according to the complaint. "The at-large method of elections for the Board of County Commissioners denies or abridges the right of plaintiffs and Native Americans to vote on the basis of race or color, or membership in a language minority." Reporter Tom Morton can be reached at (307) 266-0592, or at Tom.Morton@casperstartribune.net. Copyright c. 1995-2005 Casper Star-Tribune, Lee Enterprises, a subsidiary of Lee Enterprises, Incorporated. --------- "RE: Bush plan to screw Salmon and Indians shot down" --------- Date: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 05:42 pm From: Peter Webster Subj: Bush plan to screw salmon and Indians shot down Mailing List: Rez_Life Mailing List: CERTAIN Home Mailing List: CERTAIN Talk The anti-ESA and anti-Indian groups are going to be furious about this. Which means Greg Walden (R-2nd District) will be speechifying and introducing legislation to overturn the court's decision. Court tosses Bush plan for Klamath water Water: A federal judge says the irrigation plan for farmers doesn't help threatened fish October 19, 2005 MICHAEL MILSTEIN The Oregonian A federal appeals court on Tuesday threw out the Bush administration plan to deliver irrigation water to Klamath Basin farmers, saying it does not do enough for threatened coho salmon in the Klamath River. The ruling probably will mean more water must be shifted from farmers to fish in the basin's emotional tug of war over the precious resource. "This clearly could be a worse picture for us than what we had in terms of water for irrigation," said Greg Addington, executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a federal government strategy to phase in higher river flows for salmon over 10 years was arbitrary and capricious because it overlooked the immediate needs of the fish under the Endangered Species Act. "It is not enough to provide water for the coho to survive in five years, if in the meantime, the population has been weakened or destroyed by inadequate water flows," the appeals court, based in San Francisco, ruled. The government plan pledged to provide the fish with all the water they need in the final two years of the 10-year span -- 2010 and 2011. But the fish may not have enough water to complete their lifecycles in the meantime, the judges said. "If that happens, all the water in the world in 2010 and 2011 will not protect the coho, for there will be none to protect," they wrote. They sent the case back to a district court to impose corrective measures, which could include more water for fish. The case resulted from a lawsuit filed by the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, the Oregon Natural Resources Council, Waterwatch of Oregon and other conservation groups. They argued that the government strategy left salmon to struggle in a low river while water flowed to farms. The Klamath Basin entered the national spotlight in 2001 when irrigation water to farms was restricted during a severe drought so it would be available to salmon and endangered suckers in area lakes. The Bush administration later routed more water for farms under a plan that promised eventually to increase water dedicated to fish. Government agencies argued it was their best judgement as to how to protect the fish in the face of scientific uncertainty over how much water they require. But judges said the government did not fully explain how it would avoid harming fish in the early years of the plan. Farmers said the ruling was evidence that the Endangered Species Act has gone too far and must be reformed. But tribes countered that it was evidence the act serves as a final line of defense for families and tribal cultures that depend on salmon. Copyright c. 2005 The Oregonian. Peter Webster peterweb@bendnet.com http://disturbingthecomfortable.blogspot.com/ --------- "RE: Makah Whale-hunt options aired" --------- Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 08:36:29 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MAKAH WHALE-HUNT" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002569755_whaling19m.html Whale-hunt options aired By Kimberly Wetzel Medill News Service October 19, 2005 WASHINGTON - Makah tribal members and animal-rights activists squared off at a National Marine Fisheries Service hearing yesterday over the tribe's request to hunt 20 gray whales as part of its cultural traditions. Six years ago, the Makah Tribe killed its first gray whale in 70 years off the Washington coast. But a 2002 ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals requires the tribe to obtain a waiver of the Marine Mammal Protection Act to conduct another hunt. The tribe, which has hunted gray whales for the meat and for ceremonial purposes for more than 1,500 years, requested the waiver in February. Patricia Lane, an attorney for the Humane Society of the United States, said that granting the waiver would weaken the Marine Mammal Protection Act and set a dangerous precedent. The law, passed in 1972, protects whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals and sea lions. "It will open the door to allow all sorts of groups for all sorts of requests," Lane said. Yesterday's meeting was intended to gather suggestions on alternatives to hunting and how the environment might be affected if hunting were allowed. The comments will be part of an environmental-impact study, the first step in deciding whether to grant the waiver. The activists' suggestions included placing the gray whale back on the endangered-species list, and finding ways the Makahs could perform ceremonial activities involving whales without killing them. "There's no humane way to kill a whale," said Naomi Rose, a marine- mammal scientist with the Humane Society. Tribal leaders said the fisheries agency should consider how the tribe would be affected by not being able to hunt whales. "Each time I sit through one of these things I think, 'Why are these people debating the history of my culture?' " said Dave Sones, Makah tribal council vice chairman. "There's a lot of frustration in the tribe." The Makahs want to hunt 20 whales over a five-year period, with a maximum of five kills per year. The tribe says an 1855 treaty between the Makahs and the U.S. gives them the right to hunt whales. "If we can get through these processes and secure our legal means as a tribe, our children won't have to go through this again," Sones said. Sones said the Makahs hunted whales long before U.S. and international whaling communities established guidelines protecting the animals. He also noted that it wasn't Native Americans who hunted the whales to near- extinction. The meeting was the last of four in a long process the tribe must go through to secure the right to hunt gray whales, which were taken off the endangered-species list in 1994. The National Marine Fisheries Service held yesterday's meeting in Silver Spring, Md., at the request of animal-rights activists who weren't able to attend the first three hearings. The draft environmental impact study should be ready next fall, said Donna Darm with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the fisheries agency. It's unknown when a final decision might come. "We fully anticipate additional lawsuits," Sones said, "and we fully anticipate that the permits will be issued." Copyright c. 2005 The Seattle Times Company. --------- "RE: Pombo introduces Pro-Makah Whaling Resolution" --------- Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 08:36:29 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MAKAH WHALE HUNT" http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/010842.asp Pombo introduces pro-Makah whaling resolution October 19, 2005 Rep. Richard Pombo (R-California), the chairman of the House Resources Committee, has introduced a resolution in support of the Makah Nation's whale hunt. The measure, H.CON.RES.267, cites the tribe's 1855 treaty with the United States. It is the only treaty that guarantees a right to hunt whale. But the resolution states that treaty has been wrongly abrogated by the courts. Last year, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the tribe has to seek a waiver under the Marine Mammals Protection Act. "Congress expresses its disapproval of the abrogation of the Tribe's treaty rights and that the Government of the United States should uphold the treaty rights of the Makah Tribe," the measure states. Pombo's committee will take up the resolution today. The markup takes place at 10am in Room 1324 of the Longworth House Office Building [Agenda]. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is considering the tribe's waiver. A public meeting was held in the Washington, D.C., area yesterday, drawing tribal leaders and opponents of the hunt. Makah vice chairman Dave Sones said he expects more lawsuits. The NOAA is using the meetings to prepare a draft environmental impact statement on the hunt. An official told Medill News Service that the study will be ready by next fall. Copyright c. 2000-2005 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: NAIC looks at Indian Education problem" --------- Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 08:54:28 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INDIAN EDUCATION" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.kotatv.com/localnews/story.asp?ID=21777 National American Indian Conference looks at education problem Bill Sutton October 16, 2005 With only 50-percent of American Indian students in South Dakota graduating from High School, educators at a national conference in Rapid City today hope to change this alarming statistic by using techniques from more than dozen states aimed at teaching American Indian students the importance of education. The focus of this afternoon's meeting was on "education redesign," so the more than 10-percent of American Indian students that attend public schools in South Dakota can better identify with their curriculum. "Unfortunately our test scores, ACT scores, and graduation rate aren't where they should be with our kids ... So, it's a wonderful opportunity to collaborate with other states, other schools and discuss key issues hurting our American Indian students today," says Keith Moore from the South Dakota Department of Education. Over the next three days, educators will also address literacy, poverty, and health issues among American Indian students. Copyright c. 2005 KOTA - Rapid City, SD. --------- "RE: Officials focus on Indian Ed" --------- Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 08:54:28 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INDIAN EDUCATION" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2005/10/17/news/local/news07.txt Officials focus on Indian ed By Andrea J. Cook, Journal Staff Writer October 18, 2005 RAPID CITY - Officials from 16 states and the District of Columbia are sharing information and success stories in American Indian education during a conference that began Sunday at Rushmore Plaza Holiday Inn. The conference continues through Tuesday. "Strengthening Partnerships for Education of American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Students" is a project of the Council of Chief State and School Officers or CCSSO. The South Dakota Department of Education is a co-sponsor of this week's meeting. James Cason, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Victoria Vasques, U.S. Department of Education, are among today's guest speakers, according to Julia Lara, deputy executive director of CCSSO's division of state service and technical assistance. State education officials are focusing more attention on the education of American Indian children since the passage of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation, Lara said. Chief school officers and state agencies are responsible for the education of American Indian children in public schools. More than 90 percent of American Indian children in the United States attend public schools, Lara said. "On the other hand, American Indian communities have a point of view about how their children ought to be educated," she said. Although public and non-public education agencies have a common goal to improve the educational success of American Indian students, they don't have a common vision on how to reach that goal, Lara said. Lara said her organization started bringing top officials together three years ago to give them a platform for the sharing ideas and strategies. The council's purpose is to assist communication between different education agencies. "We're not telling American Indian people how they should educate their children," Lara said. Copyright c. 2005 Rapid City Journal. --------- "RE: Indian Education Law gets new twist" --------- Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 08:54:28 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INDIAN EDUCATION" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.bangornews.com/news/templates/?a=122104 Indian education law gets new twist Bangor Daily News October 17, 2005 AUGUSTA - Four years after passing a law mandating the teaching of American Indian history and culture in schools, the state hopes to inspire students to learn more about Maine's tribes and then share the information through an essay competition. Created by Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, the first annual Maine Native American History Essay Contest calls on middle and high school students to explore at least one aspect of Maine native history and then to write a 500- to 1,000-word composition. Topics may include the history of American Indian diplomacy, relations between the tribes, relations with European settlers, aspects of American Indian economics, the migrations of American Indians and the effects of treaties with European settlers. Entries, which must be received by Nov. 18, will be reviewed by a panel of judges that will select a winner and runner-up in both the middle and high school categories. Each winner will receive a $250 savings bond and the winner's class will be invited to Augusta to tour the State House, the State Museum and the State Archives as guests of the secretary of state. In addition, the winners will be allowed to enter the vault at the State Archives and will have the honor of presenting to the class a number of important original documents pertaining to the state's native tribes. Kept in the vault are such precious papers as Maine's treaties with native people and the journal of Joseph Treat, who explored northern Maine's American Indian settlements with Penobscot Indian Nation guide John Neptune. "This is an uncommon treat," Dunlap said Friday during an interview at the State House. The papers are rarely viewed and not generally available to the public, he said. Dunlap said he got the idea for the contest last summer as he drove across the Androscoggin bridge and realized that few Maine residents probably are aware that Androscoggin is not only the name of a river and a county, but also of a native tribe. He said the competition is a way to build on the new American Indian education law, which was sponsored by Donna Loring, then Penobscot Indian tribal representative to the Legislature. Not only does the contest help students learn about Maine's heritage, but it also adds an element of fun to fulfilling the state requirement. The program offers students and educators "a special opportunity to study Native American history and enhance their appreciation for the substantial contributions native people have made in Maine," Dunlap said. The competition is important because it validates the law which aims to make the tribes more visible, said Loring, interim co-director of Multicultural Student Affairs at the University of Southern Maine. Maine's native people have been and continue to be an integral part of the state's history, "but we never got recognized for that," said. The competition also helps native students learn more about their own culture so they can adequately respond to derogatory comments, she said. And it advances the idea of diversity. "We might as well start at home in understanding our own diverse background," she said. Copyright c. 2005 Bangor Daily News. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Burt Lake Ceremonies Honor Spirit of Ancestors" --------- Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2005 08:48:51 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="REMEMBERING EVICTIONS OF ANCESTORS" http://www.cheboygannews.com/articles/2005/10/17/news/news3.txt 17 families were put out of houses 105 years ago Saturday By RICH ADAMS Tribune Editor October 17, 2005 CHEBOYGAN - About 50 people turned out for ceremonies on Saturday to celebrate the spirit of 17 American Indian families who were forced from their homes on the shores of Burt Lake 105 years ago. The Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewas, historically known as the Cheboiganing Band, gathered at two American Indian cemeteries on a sunny but cold morning Saturday to honor those who were evicted from their homes before the cabins were burned. The controversy surrounding the forced eviction continues to brew today. Some say the ousting was a land grab for property the American Indians had legally purchased. Others say it was a legitimate eviction after a sale of the land for unpaid back taxes. But Tribal Chairman Curtis P. Chambers said Saturday that the debate over the land was not the purpose for the gathering. "We do not come here today to vilify the event, but rather to celebrate the spirit of the people," Chambers explained. Chambers said he was told of the events that transpired on Oct. 15, 1900, on the knee of his grandmother. "It was getting cold in October. There was already snow on the ground," Chambers told the gathering. "A Native American woman in in her house, fixing fry bread and making tea. Her infant is behind her in a handmade crib. Her husband has left, along with most of the other men, to their work in Cheboygan. "Suddenly - bang - the door bursts open and armed men come in," Chambers continued. "They are shouting `get out, get out now,' and the woman hardly has time to get a blanket and wraps up her infant. Men are pouring kerosene on the walls. She goes outside, looking for help from her neighbors, be she sees that they are in the same situation." That woman was Chambers' great-grandmother, he said, and the infant was his grandmother. The 17 families walked miles to the mission settlement at Cross Village, the closest spot of refuge, Chambers explained. "They never quit," he said to the crowd. "That same spirit, that same determination, beats in our chests. We are the Burt Lake Band of Ottawas. We are blessed by God to be here. We are a noble people." An honor song was offered by tribal drummers Mike Medawis and Dave Buffalohead, and those present spread tobacco over the fenced cemetery. Ceremonies then moved to the cemetery behind St. Mary's Church on Indian Road, where Thomas Tuethorn performed a traditional blessing. He burned tobacco before a large cross and then passed the pipe of tobacco through those observing, blessing the women and children with the pipe and offering the pipe to the men. The honor song was repeated, and the ceremonies came to a conclusion. Chambers said the event has been observed in the past, but in ceremonies inside homes. It was the first time in 105 years that the event was done in public. A potluck followed the rites, and then a work party replaced many of the simple, white crosses at the cemeteries. The Burt Lake Band has 352 members with 92 more memberships pending. The tribe is seeking federal recognition from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Chambers said paperwork was finalized this year and he hopes to receive a ruling from the U.S. Department of the Interior in early 2006. "We have a petition before the federal government," Chambers said. "We are asking the government to reaffirm what we already know." Copyright c. 2005 The Cheboygan Daily Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Navajo Nation on its way to greater Sovereignty" --------- Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 08:54:28 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NAVAJO PRESIDENT STATE OF NATION ADDRESS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://204.155.170.133/artman/publish/article_21175.shtml Shirley: Navajo Nation on its way to greater sovereignty - By Ryan Hall - The Daily Times October 18, 2005 WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. - Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. presented his State of the Navajo Nation Address on Monday morning, focusing on sovereignty, gaming and funding, but did not respond to questions. Shirley, appearing on the first day of the Navajo Nation Council Fall Session, notified the council during the middle of his speech that he was scheduled to testify at a trial currently being conducted in Prescott, Ariz. The suit is the result of the U.S. Forest Service decision to allow reclaimed waste water to be used at Snow Bowl Ski Resort in the San Francisco Peaks, one of the four Sacred Mountains. Many Navajos, as well as members of other tribes, see the use of the reclaimed water as a desecration of the mountain near Flagstaff, Ariz. A total of 14 plaintiffs filed a suit to stop the use of the reclaimed waste water. That trial began Oct. 10. During his speech, Shirley asked the council to forgo the traditional question-and-answer period following the State of the Navajo Nation Address so that he could travel to Prescott to testify. One question was asked after the president's speech, but a "cease debate" was called for and the address was accepted by council, meaning Shirley did not have to provide an answer. During his speech, Shirley addressed several issues facing the Nation, including financial concerns, senior citizens' programs, gaming and the increased role of chapter governments. Shirley said he recently signed the budget into law to avoid a disruption in services, but expressed concerns with "numerous conditions of appropriation, which are confusing and raise serious concerns about whether compliance is achievable." Shirley also said that once revenues are realized to the point allocations can be made, he would like to see $2.6 million given to the Personal Lapse Fund, $700,000 added to the Gaming Regulatory Office budget and $2 million allocated to the Dine' Power Authority "before consideration is given to any other program." He also noted that services to Navajo elders have not been cut back as a result of a reduction in hours for Navajo Area Agency on Aging employees, despite reports to the contrary. "I assure you that services have not been reduced," Shirley stated, adding that employee hours actually may be increased through a reimbursement grant program. In other business, Shirley announced the Economic Development Committee had amended the Navajo Nation Business Site Leasing Regulations to grant authority to chapter governments to issue business-site leases within their communities. Once the revised regulations are approved by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, chapters that are governance-certified will be authorized to grant the site leases. Shirley noted he would eventually like to see chapters have the authority to grant home-site leases, permits and other land-use request. By doing so, it would eliminate the authority the Bureau of Indian Affairs currently has over the use of Navajo land, according to Shirley. "This policy direction ... is a true exercise of sovereignty over Navajo lands," he said. Shirley also gave an update on gaming, which is in the planning stages on the Navajo Nation. He said Eddie Lockett, newly appointed executive director of the Gaming Regulatory Office, has begun setting up the office structure and prioritizing vacant positions. Additionally, Shirley said he will soon seek sponsors for inter-governmental agreements with state and national agencies that will be needed to perform background checks on prospective gaming employees. He said the Division of Economic Development is currently in phase two of a feasibility study that will determine where casinos will be located and what type of games, food and beverages will be available at each one. "The development of casinos within the Navajo Nation will require a huge investment and we must be sure that the sites selected have great revenue- generating potential," Shirley said. Shiprock is among the sites mentioned as likely casino spots. Copyright c. 2004 Farmington Daily Times, a Gannett Co., Inc. newspaper. --------- "RE: Navajo Pipeline deal unlikely" --------- Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 08:54:28 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PIPELINE STALEMATE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.gallupindependent.com/2005/oct/101705plndl.html Pipeline deal unlikely El Paso Natural Gas, Navajo Nation in stalemate on lease as deadline nears By Kathy Helms Dine' Bureau October 17, 2005 WINDOW ROCK - A pipeline right-of-way agreement between the Navajo Nation and El Paso Natural Gas is set to expire at midnight with negotiators for both sides still hundreds of millions of dollars apart on the value of the 20-year lease. Following an executive-session status briefing Thursday before the Resources Committee, Chairman George Arthur said El Paso has made an offer on a time extension; however, "We haven't talked with them in respect to any dollar value. In fact, we're not interested at this point in time to give them any extension." El Paso attorneys Christopher Castillo of Colorado Springs and Troy Eid of Greenberg Traurig LLP in Denver attended Thursday's meeting in hopes of presenting their side but were booted out of the executive session for several hours along with the rest of the public. Chairman Arthur and Delegate Larry Noble voted against the executive session. Castillo said El Paso attorneys have been working with Navajo Nation Attorney General Louis Denetsosie and the negotiating team for three years "and we've always been able to come to a resolution. This case is an interesting one. It's a case that has both parties kind of polarized." El Paso's latest cash offer is basically three times what they're paying now just over $2.1 million per year, Castillo said. "We've proposed to pay our current offer, which is roughly $6.7 million per year, and to do that on an interim basis to extend our easement on a temporary basis for one year to allow the parties to continue to negotiate without the looming expiration for an expired easement issue hanging over our heads," he said. "We just simply got nowhere with the Nation, even with that proposal. The thought was that would put money in the Navajo coffers, available to the Navajo people. Then in the event that we come to a settled agreement in a year or six months down the line and we pay more, we will adjust that payment to the amount that we agree upon. "If we pay less, there will be no adjustment in the payment. In other words, they'll be guaranteed $6.7 million a year for that first payment. "We didn't really see how anyone lost on that proposal, but as our other proposals have been entertained on the negotiating team's side not necessarily the Navajo Nation's side the negotiating team's position was that they simply didn't think it had any merit in it at all," he said. Eleventh hour Attorney Eid said though the proposed extension was rejected, "we're always hopeful. We've got until midnight on Monday. You never know. That's the way these things sometimes work. But we have consistently enriched the offer that we've made up to this point and the negotiators' position has not changed at all since April. "What happens at midnight (if no agreement) is we'll just escrow what we pay now," he said. According to Castillo, the $6.7 million offer stays on the table and if an extension is granted, then "we negotiate without the cloud of an expired easement over us." If there is no time extension, El Paso could be held in trespass. "If we end up settling for a cash amount that's more than $6.7 million, we'll give them the incremental amount. If it ends up being $7.7 million, we'll give them another million bucks. If it goes down below that, they can hang on to the $6.7," Castillo said. "In other words, the Nation gets that money into its budgetary coffers for this year." "But you've got professional negotiators that just want exorbitant amounts of cash," he added. The main stumbling block in the negotiations is the $400 million the Nation is asking vs. the $200 million El Paso has proposed. "We don't own the gas. We're just paid to ship it. That's all our company does," Eid said. "It's very important to understand that there are people all over the United States right now that are affected by incremental price increases, even small, in natural gas. They tend to be poor and elderly. They tend to live in places like southern California where we serve a lot of people through this pipeline," he expalined. Pass it on "The response to us has always been from the negotiators, 'Oh, just pass it through. Take the higher amount and pass it through to those people and have them pay for it.' "But you know, that's not responsible given what's happened to energy costs. We can't just pass this on to people who rely on natural gas in Arizona and California and Nevada," Eid said. "It's irresponsible for us to do that." Arthur said Resources came out of executive session agreeing that negotiations should continue and should be pursued in a manner that is in the best interest of the Nation and the Navajo people the same concept the negotiating team is using. He said the team recognizes the challenges on the national scale given the number of recent natural disasters. "However, the fact that there does exist some level of emergency at the national level shouldn't dictate to us or to any other companies how they negotiate their businesses," Arthur added. "Companies that provide these type of services, yes, they may be driven by supply and demand. But this isn't a matter of supply and demand because El Paso is only providing a conduit to transport a product, in this case, natural gas. "Most of the gas goes to California. If anybody is going to fret about the products being delivered, I would think it would be the people in California, the business people, because they're the ones that need it. "So if there's a matter of increased rates, that would be because of other issues, not because the Navajo Nation is asking for a certain dollar value of the property right-of-way," Arthur said. No surprises El Paso will continue to negotiate in good faith, according to Eid. "There have been no surprises from our standpoint. We've been very clear about what our intentions are. Many Council members have expressed their concern to us and they've asked us to explain why their negotiators are insisting on this very unprecedented high-dollar amount. "The response is, they can talk for themselves. All we can do is show you exactly what we have proposed. We've been up-front since we started this process officially with President Shirley in May of 2004," Eid said. "We have the greatest respect for the Navajo Nation and certainly El Paso has the track record to show it. We've been here since 1951 continuously. This is a very important part of our business. We have a number of Navajo retirees, probably about 60 retirees, and about 30 enrolled members as employees." Eid said El Paso pays its employees competitive wages and in terms of charity and monies for scholarships, has contributed $1 million in the last five years. Castillo is a member of the Navajo Nation Bar Association and has been very active in taking pro bono case appointments from the Nation since he was admitted in the mid-1990s, according to Eid, who also recently passed the Navajo Bar and will be spending more time on Navajoland. While the Nation historically has been underpaid for oil and gas leases, Eid said it was not ever by them. "Number 1, El Paso has nev