_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 14, ISSUE 002 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 January 14, 2006 Lakota wiotehika Wi/moon of hardship Potawatomi mkokisis/moon of the bear Pima gi'ihothag mashath/moon when animals lose their fat Algonquin squochee kesos/moon when Sun has not strength to thaw +-------------------------------------------------------+ | 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; Chiapas95-en and Native American Poetry Mailing Lists; UUCP Mail 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 Quotes: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + =================== "The Embassy of Tribal Nations will further advance our sovereign visibility and will be a national focal point for all Native people" __ Dave Anderson, Choctaw/Ojibway Former Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! There is a new uranium rush taking place in New Mexico and Arizona. The Navajo, still burying many of their citizens who have died or caring for those dying from radiation exposure - either from working the mines or from structures built from mine tailings - have taken measures to prevent future uranium exploration on Navajo Nation lands. Mining interests are going to some exceptional lengths in an effort to get around Navajo laws enacted to save their people. Read "Navajos acting to stop Uranium rush in State" to get a better understanding of what is at stake here. Senator Ted Stevens continues to push to open ANWR for oil exploration... oil exploration that by the Department of Interior's best predictions will supply precious little oil at enormous expense. Steven's moto is "Whatever is best for Alaska." Whatever is best for drilling and mining interests is far more accurate. As is clear in the article "Inuit lead fight for the World", the Inuit do not regard loss of their habitat and way of life as being the best for them. Neither do the Gwich'in. When you read how opening ANWR to oil exploration or opening Navajo and Ute lands to uranium mining will make our world a better place to live, have the good sense to realize you are just reading more spin from the fat stealers of the dominant society. 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 ----------- - Navajos acting - Muckleshoot Tribe to stop Uranium rush in State hosting annual Canoe Journey - Feds: Shinnecocks not a Tribe - YELLOW BIRD: - Virginia Indians Road to Success goes through Rez still hunt Federal Recognition - Review: Expand range for Wolves - AG drops oppositon - Citizen Potawatomi Language, Art, to Abenaki Recognition History noted - Changes in a Way of Life - Kids take in Culture during break - State improving - Indigenous set Border compliance with ICWA Environment Agenda - Famous Dave donates Stock - Marcos kick-starts Mexico tour for Embassy Project on Motorbike - Sacred Site defenders - EZLN denounces set up Trust Fund harrassment and threats - Sandia Pueblo Governor - Kuna Indians face new foe: Cocaine takes on new Role - Unrest threatens - Hearings on Oneida - Inuit lead fight for the World Land Trust this week - Protests mounted - Sacred items outside First Ministers Meeting returned to Bois Forte - Meskwaki close - Tribe eyes DeKalb County Alabama to starting own Police Force - Tax Commission - Native Prisoner criticized for new rules -- Two die in - AG Candidate Reserve Jailhouse Fire defends Tribal Sovereignty - History: Carlisle Indian School - Tribes Attempt to recover - Rustywire: after being defrauded Way Down South in Navajoland - Nighthorse Campbell - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days won't run for Governor - Lee Goins Poem: Forever Mine - A Tribal School expands - Keeping a Language alive - BTBC meets with Quebec Tribe, - TV Movie explores Economic Development the deadly protest at Ipperwash - Local Officials briefed - Celebration draws on on Tse-whit-zen Native American Storytellers - Alaskan Native American groups join ANWR debate --------- "RE: Navajos acting to stop Uranium rush in State" --------- Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 08:57:12 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LEGACY OF PAIN AND DEATH" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/0102uranium02.html Navajos acting to stop uranium rush in state Ore abundant in N. Ariz.; price, demand rising Mark Shaffer The Arizona Republic January 2, 2006 FLAGSTAFF - The price of uranium has tripled in the past two years, bringing with it the possibility of another uranium rush in Arizona, the state with the richest deposits of the ore and, along with New Mexico, the worst legacy associated with its mining. Last year, 700 mining claims were filed and 100 test holes were bored into the wild, remote high desert in northern Arizona. Scott Florence, director of the Bureau of Land Management's Arizona Strip district in St. George, Utah, said those numbers are significantly higher than any year since the frenzy of the 1980s. "Finding the right mine site is a real art. But it seems like everyone and their mother is trying now," he said. Secondary supplies of uranium on the world market have virtually dried up, and China, India and Japan are clamoring for uranium for their burgeoning domestic nuclear-power industries. Uranium now fetches $36 a pound on the spot market. Four years ago, it was going for just over $7 a pound. But not everyone is happy about the search for new mine sites. Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., stirred to action by the memory of how dangerous uranium mining can be, issued an executive order in November banning negotiations with uranium companies or uranium exploration on the three-state Navajo Nation, which was engulfed by a public health tragedy after the first wave of uranium mining began on its reservation in the 1950s. Dozens of premature deaths of Navajo miners and passed-on genetic defects have been attributed to uranium exposure. "You look around the reservation and see so many elderly people who are crippled and can barely breathe," said Robert Stewart Sr.of Tuba City, a Navajo who worked for fiveyears in a mine in the mid- to late 1950s."This pretty much devastated much of a generation." The most easily accessible uranium deposits in open-pit mines beneath the Navajos' land were tapped out in the Cold War frenzy to find weapons- grade materials. Then the marketplace took care of the next wave of development during the late 1980s with a round of bankruptcies after the price of uranium fell to less than $10 a pound and stayed there. Environmental concerns Before uranium prices crashed 20 years ago and stalled exploration, conservationists feared the environmental impacts of development of uranium mines surrounding the Grand Canyon on water and roadless areas. Today, Shirley's order banning exploration and negotiation is expected to ratchet up the pressure on state, federal and private lands between Interstate 40 and the Utah border, where there are potentially dozens of uranium-ore bodies that would make financial sense to mine if market prices remain at their highest levels in 25 years. And despite the creation in 2000 of two national monuments north of the Grand Canyon - Grand Canyon-Parashantand Vermilion Cliffs - many of the same fears remain about the possibility of having a number of uranium mines in the region. "The richest area of uranium deposits is in a 50- to 75-mile area between the two monuments, and the exploration there won't be affected," Florence said. "The creation of the monuments restricts any future mining claims, but pre-existing claims have grandfathered rights." George Billingsley, a senior geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, knows all about the deposits in those areas. He has been mapping them for years, and his wall is filled with red lines showing uranium-ore bodies from the Grand Wash Cliffs in far northwestern Arizona south and paralleling the rim of the Grand Canyon to Kanab Canyon, where they line that canyon in its route toward Utah. "So far, I have about 2,000 breccia pipes plotted," Billingsley said, referring to deep, cylindrical geologic formations, seldom more than 100 yards wide, in which a section of earth collapses into underground caves, then fills the opening with loose rock, known as breccia. As water seeps through the breccia formations over thousands of years, traces of uranium begin to appear. Billingsley said that only about 1 percent of the rock deposits in the red-wall limestone canyon walls have been "sufficiently mineralized" with uranium and other minerals to attract mining interests. But Arizona's reserves are the best in this country. Many of the deposits on the Arizona Strip have been measured as producing from 14 to 16 pounds of yellowcake, the processed ore from which fuel is refined, per ton of ore. That compares with only 3 pounds of yellowcake per ton from older mines in New Mexico and Wyoming. One pound of yellowcake produces as much energy as 15 train cars of coal. Billingsley acknowledged that he has mapped only a small part of northern Arizona for uranium deposits and has not yet begun to look at the vast Chinle Formation, where the Navajo mines were. That area is replete with petrified wood, which forms under conditions also conducive to uranium development. Companies are eager Those kinds of conditions leave uranium companies, such as International Uranium Corp. of Denver, salivating. It took over partly developed mines left behind when another Denver company, Energy Fuels Nuclear, declared bankruptcy in the 1990s. International Uranium hopes to have four mines operating soon between the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and the town of Fredonia. International Uranium also owns one of only two domestic uranium mills that have stayed open, the White Mesa Mill in Blanding, Utah. Harold Roberts, vice president of International Uranium, said the company is considering opening Canyon Mine, south of the Grand Canyon, a site that was partly developed before the uranium market crashed in the late 1980s. "The mines are more developed north of the Grand Canyon, but we are very excited about the prospects south of the Canyon between Flagstaff and the national park," Roberts said. "But even though the market looks good now at $35 a pound, we still have a ways to go before this becomes an all-out rush like it did in 1979, when uranium got to $43 a pound. The wages and insurance are all considerably higher now." Another big incentive may become reality soon, said Lyle Krahn, a spokesman for Cameco Corp. of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada's main uranium producer, which also has mines in Wyoming and Nebraska. "The U.S. has been inching ever closer to announcing 10 new nuclear- power generating sites, and this would have big ramifications for our industry," Krahn said. A deadly legacy All of which leaves members of the Navajo Nation with a bad taste as the pressures increase to mine uranium. George Hardeen, a spokesman for Shirley, said the Navajo president spent two days in Washington meeting with members of Congress to re-emphasize tribal sovereignty and to try to keep uranium firms from "going in the back door" with the Interior Department and negotiating their own mining contracts. "Uranium left a deadly legacy on the Navajo Nation, which (Shirley) has called genocide," Hardeen said. "The tribe is giving up millions of dollars in royalties to keep history from repeating itself." One reminder of that era is Stewart, 74, who worked in processing mills near Monument Valley and Tuba City. He is one of hundreds of former Navajo uranium miners who have filed claims with the U.S. Justice Department to receive up to $150,000in compensation for health problems under a special fund set up for miners and their families. Stewart's breath is short as he recounts years of lung disease caused by 16-hour days of breaking large uranium ore rocks with a sledgehammer. Stewart said he later was working in a lab, trying to extract iron from yellowcake, when there was an explosion. He said he got some of the yellowcake on his hands. Phil Harrison,a Shiprock, N.M.,community activist who has been aiding the miners in their claims, said that less than 10 percent have received any compensation from the federal government. "The problems all start with proving they were in the area and, of course, my clients can't produce private property records because they live on the reservation," Harrison said. "This whole thing has just been a real travesty, and I hope people will remember the past in their decisions for the future." Copyright c. 2006, azcentral.com. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Feds: Shinnecocks not a Tribe" --------- Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2006 08:53:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DoI SAYS NOT BOUND BY COURT RULING" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.newsday.com/story?coll=ny-linews-headlines Feds: Shinnecocks not a tribe BY BILL BLEYER STAFF WRITER January 5, 2006 In a major setback for the Shinnecocks, the federal Interior Department has declared it is not bound by a November court ruling that the nation is a federally recognized tribe. The opinion means the Shinnecocks would have to continue pursuing the Bureau of Indian Affairs' prolonged recognition process unless a judge orders the bureau to add the Shinnecocks to the list of federally recognized tribes. And even then, say legal experts who expected the decision, the agency is likely to ignore the order. A decision on the tribe's petition, filed in the late 1970s, would take years because the agency says it has 17 petitions to rule on before it gets to the Shinnecocks. Having to go through the BIA process would delay the tribe's push to build a casino in Hampton Bays. "As far as the federal government is concerned, they're back where they were before the Nov. 7 decision," said Michael Cohen, an attorney representing Southampton Town in the litigation. Tribal leaders were talking to their attorneys last night and declined to comment. The agency's position was revealed in a letter written last month to Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) in response to his letter in November to Interior Secretary Gale Norton urging federal officials to disregard the judge's decision. Schumer's letter came a week after U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Platt ruled the Shinnecocks are a tribe but their effort to build a casino would still be subject to a trial. Platt declined to comment yesterday. Schumer said yesterday, "It's what the Department of the Interior should have done. Judge Platt was way out of line. They're going to have to go through the process. That's their only real course of action." In his response to Schumer, James Cason, associate deputy interior secretary, said, "The Department of the Interior does not consider the Shinnecock petitioner to be a federally recognized Indian tribe ... With all due respect to the District Court, it remains the Department's position that the Shinnecock petitioner should continue through the agency's federal acknowledgment process ..." The department said it's not bound by the ruling because it is no longer a party in the case. Cason noted that the agency had been named as a party by Platt in 2003 but successfully moved to be dropped the following year. "We're not surprised," Cohen said of Interior's decision. "This is the position the United States articulated before the court ... and we believe it's correct. There is a mandated process for federal acknowledgment. The Shinnecocks invoked that process and they ought to continue through the process to its conclusion." Cohen doubted a follow-up court order to BIA to add the tribe to the federal list would have much impact. "If they're not a party, that's one significant impediment to ordering them to do anything." Keith Harper, an attorney with the Native American Rights Fund in Washington, D.C., agreed. "It's not surprising that they would take that attitude when they're not a party," he said. "There have been too many decisions where the BIA simply fails to abide with the rulings of courts, even when directed to do so." Cohen said the case will go on to deal with local zoning issues raised when the Shinnecocks broke ground to build the casino. Copyright c. 2006 Newsday Inc. --------- "RE: Virginia Indians still hunt Federal Recognition" --------- Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2006 08:40:11 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YES VIRGINIA, THERE IS A BIA" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/47211 Va. Indians still hunt federal recognition Tribal members want the benefits that federal grants would bring. By John Cramer 981-3140 The Roanoke Times January 6, 2006 NATURAL BRIDGE - The Monacans have endured for centuries, surviving ancient tribal wars, Capt. John Smith's guns and a 20th century "paper genocide." But today they face perhaps their toughest battleground - the halls of Congress. While the Monacans and Virginia's other American Indian tribes have been officially embraced by the state since the 1980s, they continue to be denied federal recognition. The tribes, whose sovereignty bill has been stalled in Congress since 2001, are exasperated, pointing out the irony of America's denying their existence while celebrating their history at events such as the upcoming 400th anniversary commemoration of Jamestown. Tribal members say federal recognition would bring federal grants for college scholarships, job training, housing, health care and other badly needed programs. They say they are not interested in opening casinos, which have been profitable but problematic in other states where tribes have received sovereignty. "These are the indigenous people of the state," said Jeff Hantman, an archaeologist and associate professor of anthropology at the University of Virginia. "They've been here continuously against all odds, but some people can't accept that some Indians have survived and are fighting back." Opponents say federal recognition would invite problems, including Indian-run casinos, exempting tribes from taxes, preventing police from coming onto tribal grounds and inviting lawsuits to reclaim Indian land and water rights. "You're creating a nation," said U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Rocky Mount. "I don't want sovereignty that elevates them above the state." If federal recognition remains stalled - supporters and opponents see little prospect for movement in the current Congress - Virginia's tribes are likely to protest when they share center stage at the Jamestown ceremonies. The event is being funded by millions of tax dollars and is expected to attract international attention, starting in Great Britain next year and the United States in 2007. "We'll participate, but there will be a racket," said Monacan Chief Kenneth Branham, who accused sovereignty opponents of racism, greed and hypocrisy. Tribal leaders plan to push the issue into the world spotlight starting in July when they are feted in Great Britain during the kickoff of the Jamestown commemoration. Ken Adams, chief of the Upper Mattaponi tribe, said British Jamestown committee members have treated Virginia's tribal chiefs as heads of state, "which is much more warmly than some of our own congressmen have treated us." Jamestown: The last stand Virginia's tribes consider the Jamestown anniversary their last, best chance to attract public attention to their sovereignty request. "If we don't get it now, the public will probably forget about it altogether," Branham said. "I'm not embittered - you can't change the past - but it's a disgrace." Federal recognition has divided Virginia lawmakers. Supporters include the state's two U.S. senators, George Allen and John Warner, both Republicans, as well as Gov. Mark Warner and Gov.-elect Tim Kaine, both Democrats, and the U.S. and British Jamestown commemoration committees. Allen supports federal recognition because it would correct "historical injustices," while leaving the final decision about Indian casinos to state authorities and the federal Department of the Interior, Allen spokesman David Snepp said. But Goode said he would support recognition only if the tribes signed an agreement that disallowed casinos, waived tax exemption and allowed outside law enforcement agencies onto tribal grounds. Another opponent, U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, said most tribes nationwide that have received federal recognition have subsequently sought casinos. Goodlatte said sovereignty opens the way for "outside investors [to] pour millions of dollars into a state to influence the tribes, the state legislature and the governor, dangling the promise of great riches to allow casinos." Adams, the Upper Mattaponi chief, said claims that Indians would be influenced by outside investors evokes stereotypes that tribes could be bought off - whether for trinkets in Colonial times or large cash bribes today. Virginia's tribes dismiss gambling arguments, pointing out that Virginia already has a lottery, horse racing and charitable bingo, and that federal recognition would not exempt them from needing state legislative and gubernatorial permission to open casinos. The tribes have vowed not to open casinos but refuse lawmakers' demand that they permanently give up that option. The tribes say future generations may want casinos. Rolling the dice The federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 requires tribes to negotiate gaming compacts with states before opening casinos on tribal land. The United States officially recognizes 562 tribes from 32 states. Indian casinos operate under a combination of state law, tribal ordinance and tribal-state compacts. According to the National Indian Gaming Commission, the federal regulatory agency that oversees tribal gaming, there are 367 tribal casinos nationwide, which brought in about $19.5 billion in gross revenues in 2004. Political analyst Larry Sabato said the Jamestown commemoration could give the tribes more political leverage, but that opponents of federal recognition probably will not change their minds until the tribes agree to never have casinos. He said casinos are a much more lucrative - and potentially troublesome - form of gambling than other types of gambling allowed in Virginia. The National Indian Gaming Association, which represents tribal gaming businesses, says casinos are economic development tools that promote self- sufficiency and fight poverty. But Chad Hills, an analyst for Focus on the Family, a Colorado-based Christian group that opposes all forms of legalized gambling, said Indian casinos contribute to America's growing gambling addiction, which causes alcoholism, domestic violence and other problems. Barney Arthur, director of Concerned Christians of the Valley, a Roanoke Valley group, said he saw the damage done by Indian casinos when he worked as a missionary on reservations in other states. "Native Americans have basically been ripped off by the American government and my heart goes out to them," he said. "They deserve help, but not if it comes with the possibility of casinos." Why sovereignty? Tribal leaders say sovereignty opponents include federal authorities who do not want to spend millions more on Indian benefits, state and local officials who fear federal intrusion, and large recognized tribes that do not want to share their federal benefits with what some consider "casino tribes" populated by a few people with little Indian blood who are only interested in gambling profits. Two of Virginia's eight state-recognized tribes, the Pamunkey and the Mattaponi, are seeking sovereignty through the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, in part because they already have federally recognized reservations, which are the two oldest reservations in the United States. The bureau requires detailed records of tribes' ancestry, cultural solidarity and political authority. Virginia's six other state-recognized tribes - the Monacans, Chickahominy, Eastern Chickahominy, Upper Mattaponi, Rappahannock and Nansemond - have petitioned Congress for federal recognition. They say Virginia's old race laws make it all but impossible to satisfy the bureau's requirements. From the 1920s to the 1960s, Virginia's Racial Integrity Act classified Indians as "mongrel," "colored" or "Negro" on their birth, marriage and death certificates. The tribes say this "paper genocide" - led by Walter Plecker, the state's first registrar of the Bureau of Vital Statistics and an avowed white supremacist - used statistics rather than guns to try to exterminate them. After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Virginia's race laws in 1967, Virginia tried to make amends in the 1980s and 1990s by creating a state Bureau of Indian Affairs, recognizing the eight largest tribes and correcting all Indian records. In 1989, the Monacans became the last tribe the state has recognized. On a recent day at the Monacan village at Natural Bridge - with three red-tailed hawks soaring overhead - Branham, 52, said the time had come for Virginia's first inhabitants to make a stand. "Millions of dollars are going into this [Jamestown] thing and what do we get - nothing," he said. "We aren't going to take trinkets anymore like in Colonial times. We want the world to know how indigenous people are being treated today. This is the showdown." Copyright c. 2006 Roanoke Times. --------- "RE: AG drops oppositon to Abenaki Recognition" --------- Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2006 08:53:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ONE RECOGNITION ROADBLOCK REMOVED" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.timesargus.com/article?AID=/20060105/NEWS/601050328/1003 AG drops oppositon to Abenaki recognition By Louis Porter Vermont Press Bureau January 5, 2006 MONTPELIER - The state Attorney General's Office is withdrawing much of its objection to state recognition for the Abenaki Indians after the tribe was turned down for federal recognition. That could make it more likely that such state recognition, passed last year by the Senate, could make it past the House during this lawmaking session. But both Bill Griffin, chief assistant attorney general, and Abenaki member Debbie Bezio, who testified Wednesday before the House committee addressing the issue, said that the recognition bill should be expanded to include all American Indians living in Vermont, not just the Abenaki. State recognition would help the Abenaki and members of other tribes gain respect, qualify for loans and grants and sell their crafts, proponents said. Federal recognition would have more significant implications. The tribe's government would be treated more like a sovereign state by the federal government than as part of Vermont. Some tribes have built gambling casinos after gaining federal recognition. But the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs in November rejected an Abenaki petition for federal recognition in a preliminary decision, saying the group did not meet the criteria to be federally recognized. The final decision is expected this year, and could be different than the preliminary result, and leaders of the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of Abenaki, who filed the petition for federal recognition, have said that they will work to convince the BIA it made the wrong decision. Griffin told the House General, Housing and Military Affairs Committee on Wednesday that he does not think that will happen. "I would be very, very surprised if the bureau changed its finding," said Griffin, whose office has opposed federal recognition of the Abenaki. That is part of the reason why the Attorney General's Office is not opposing state recognition as it did during the last lawmaking session, Griffin said. At that time, when the federal government was still considering the Abenaki petition for recognition, state recognition could have been used to bolster that case, Griffin said. Indeed, tribal leaders sent the bill passed by the Vermont Senate to the BIA, he added. Griffin also said the House should broaden the bill passed by the Senate - for example, allowing tribes other than the Abenaki to be represented on a commission which would oversee state recognition of tribes. "There are a lot of native Americans in Vermont who are not Abenaki," he said. Bezio, an Abenaki who is a member of the Coos Cowasuck Band of Abenaki based in Orleans County, agreed. "We are all here, there is no reason why we should not all be included," she said. Bezio told lawmakers that American Indian children, including her 13- year-old son, are treated badly at school because of their ancestry, something she hopes state recognition would change. Rep. Francis Brooks, D-Montpelier, said his committee has just begun taking testimony on the issue of state recognition. The committee will probably continue to work on the issue through the month at least, and the House Judiciary Committee may also look at the bill. The text of the bill may be more inclusive than it appears from its title, "An Act Relating to State Recognition of the Abenaki People," Brooks said. Brooks said that the kind of discrimination made against American Indians has hurt the state and country. "It is a burden both on the person who gives it and the person who receives it," he said. "It deforms society for a long, long time." Sen. Vincent Illuzzi, R-Essex/Orleans, a lead proponent of the bill in the Senate, said he thinks increasing its scope may be a good idea. "A mechanism should be set up to allow different tribes to seek and obtain state recognition," he said. Sen. Diane Snelling, R-Chittenden, said the recognition of the Abenaki remains the most important aspect of the bill. "The reason it seems to me such a critical piece is they are really central in Vermont's early history," she said. Contact Louis Porter at louis.porter@rutlandherald.com. Copyright c. 2005 Times Argus. --------- "RE: Changes in a Way of Life" --------- Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2006 14:35:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DEATH OF COUNCIL OAK" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.tauntongazette.com/PAG=461&dept_id=24232&rfi=6 Changes in a Way of Life By JILL RODRIGUES Staff Writer January 8, 2006 DIGHTON - The path along the Ancient Way to the Council Oak tree that Chief Gordon Two Bears walks is marred by a beer bottle, plastic laundry basket, and a worn-out tire - evidence of the changes to the land since the Wampanoag Federation walked that same path to meet and hold ceremonies centuries ago. In the background of this peaceful clearing, where tall grasses sway in the field that now lies fallow after centuries of agricultural use by Native Americans and subsequent settlers, the high-pitched drone of dirt bikes racing through the ancient field and woods is the bane of residents on Council Oak Way and Manomet Avenue, a development of 20 houses constructed in 2001. Building the development required removing a large portion of gravel and creating a more than 20-foot dirt hill, almost right up to the ancient Council Oak. Perhaps it was hurricane-strength winds, like historians write, that eventually sapped the tree's life four years ago. But several members of the Dighton Intertribal Council believe that removing so much gravel near an 80-foot tree most likely tampered with the roots and lowered the water table beyond the reach of the roots. Now the Council worships under a gray stump, the last vestige of the legacy of a people as developers look again to the nearby field for construction of eight single-family homes on 10 acres which historians claim was where the Pocasset tribe called home before being wiped out by disease in the 1600s. Developers hired archeologists with the University of Massachusetts- Amherst to excavate the site to ensure no graves were disturbed. None were found. Legacy of a People When the Council incorporated in 1986, the town charged the group with stewardship of the oak, which sits on a 50-by-100-foot preserved area at the edge of the field. Consisting of more than 100 members, some more active than others, the Council regularly lines Council Oak Way with their vehicles and tramps up the Ancient Way to hold ceremonies under the oak. The sight of so many Native Americans gathering, proclaiming their tenacious heritage with "We're Still Here!" stickers plastered on cars, tends to bring out the neighbors who stand on porches and crane their necks to check out the action. But the newest proposal, which was already approved by the Planning Board, would construct houses on land that the Council believes Native Americans once inhabited and buried their dead. Most of the Council views the construction as desecration of sacred land. Council member Igmu Sakowin, translated from Lakota language as "Seven Cats," said she visits the oak often to pray because it makes her feel peaceful and happy. But at the same time sad - sad of what might happen in the future. "I know it would be sad to look at any new development that took away a part of history," 37-year-old Sakowin emphasized. Not every Council member defies the construction. Chief Two Bears, or Gordon Nemier as he is referred to at his job, understands the need to adapt his way of life with modern times. So he is more accepting of putting houses on the historical land. "We're living in different times," Two Bears said. "The field, it would be wonderful to be maintained in its natural state. But we have to let happen what happens." Way of Life Waking every morning and praying in the Lakota language for wisdom and praying for those less fortunate and for those who need healing fulfills Two Bears in ways that his past life could not. As an Army man for 20 years, he said he never had the opportunity to exercise his Mohawk and Oneida heritage. Even now, Two Bears has difficulty "walking in two worlds." He has completely embraced Native American values and customs as his lifestyle, growing a medicine wheel garden in his backyard and joining in drumming and dancing prayers in deerskin war shirt and feathered headdress. But when he goes off to work as a maintenance man for a residential home, he dons jeans and construction boots. And most importantly, he refrains from the act of "gifting": Trading a gift, sometimes of tobacco or feathers, when he must take. He decided not to do the act of gifting at work because it may be considered a religious ritual, but he does not see it that way and it hurts him to take from nature without the reciprocal appreciative act. "We have a tough time walking in two worlds," the 55-year-old Fall River resident said. Igmu Sakowin prays every Sunday, sometimes on a path overlooking the North Watuppa pond, but often under the oak. "When I go there I definitely feel very spiritual," the former registered nurse and animal healer said. "I sit and pray and talk to the tree. I say who I am and what's going on. I talk to the grandfather and the great spirits to look over us, the spirits, and the tree." For her, it was a long journey to find herself and where she belonged. Her father resides in the Pine Ridge Reservation in North Dakota and she naturally wanted to stay with him, but complications kept her out. Now in Fall River, she was introduced to members of the Council about four months ago and they welcomed her with open arms, she said. "I've been looking for my roots in the wrong direction," Sakowin said, shaking her head and swishing her long, black braid. "I was always finding ways to get there, but it was right here. I think this place decided for me." Sakowin said she knows who she is in her heart and in her blood, but she fears that future generations will have a harder time finding themselves. "Our young ones are going to travel a tough path," she said. "It's important to know their roots right away, because they don't need to struggle to find their roots like I did." The Council family Several of the Council members describe the group as a family experience. Coming from all different Native American tribes and lineages, it is evident that this hodge-podge group must include all heritages to garner a strength of 100 members. But the oppression and massacres that led to such dwindling numbers of people claiming kinship does not detract from the warm and loving spirit of the group. Twelve-year-old Little Bear, otherwise known as Delaney Silvia, said she has been a member of the Council since birth, probably because Two Bears is her grandfather. Her earliest memory of her involvement was a powwow she took part in when she was 5 or 6. Everyone stood around her, smiling, she said, and they began singing a prayer. Little Bear joined in the singing and soon discovered that she already knew the words. She already felt the deep connection within the group enough to participate like it was her nature. "The culture and people here are great," she said in her small voice, her beautiful, expressive eyes framed by a modern layered hairstyle. "The spirit is warm and there are happy faces." Little Bear spoke beyond her years when she said she thanks the Creator every day for what she is given and understands that things happen for a reason, but she is dismayed by the construction that has gone up around the Council Oak. "You can just imagine what it was like before they built the houses." Tradition and culture But Two Bears chooses not to focus on what could be "taken away" from Native American heritage. Instead, he hopes to share the history of the area with those now living there and those who may inhabit the field in the future. "If the people who live up here can remember the land and the people of the land, then those who lived on the land would never be forgotten," he said. "Ultimately, the people who live on the land, that becomes their heritage." His primary concern is preserving tradition and keeping the Council alive by generating interest in the community so that people will want to come on board. "I think it's important to maintain our heritage because our elders of many nations have talked about this time we're in now," he said. "That the children of those living on the land will start getting drawn toward Native American values." He considers today the time to share information and teach respect of all things and the interconnectedness of life. "Native Americans were oppressed with what they could do - their rituals, culture, spirituality," he explained. "But the elders said there would be a time to get together and start teaching the children." The oak tree remains an important aspect of the Council's culture, but Two Bears understands that times change and the old traditions cannot always be attained. "To preserve this land when somebody else owns it and people need a place to live - it's not our decision to make." The Council will continue to hold ceremonies under the dead tree, chanting and drumming like a ghostly echo of the strong nation that once worshiped and lived there. "The past is lessons that we learn from, the present is time to enjoy what the Creator made," Two Bears said, gazing raptly around at the oak, field, and houses, his breath coming out in small puffs from the cold. "And tomorrow, I have faith the Creator will provide for us." Copyright c. The Taunton Gazette 2006. --------- "RE: State improving compliance with ICWA" --------- Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2006 08:40:11 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SOUTH DAKOTA IMPROVING COMPLIANCE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2006/01/06/news/local/news03.txt State improving compliance with Indian Child Welfare Act By Steve Miller, Journal Staff Writer January 6, 2006 Editor's note: This is the second in a series of stories about placement of American Indian children related to the Indian Child Welfare Act. More American Indian children taken into state custody because of unsafe situations have been placed in relatives' homes, rather than with white families. That is one of several developments that state social service officials note as signs that South Dakota is improving its compliance with the federal Indian Child Welfare Act. The improvement in "kinship custody" has come after Gov. Mike Rounds appointed a commission nearly two years ago to study the state's compliance with ICWA. Congress passed ICWA in 1978 to prevent the absorption of Indian children into white culture through state policy. It requires that tribes be notified when Indian children are removed from their parents, that Indian children should remain connected with their culture and be placed with immediate or extended family as a first option, and that adopted Indian children should be told when they reach age 18 what their tribal affiliation is and who their biological parents are. The state and the tribes in South Dakota have begun carrying out 30 recommendations issued by the South Dakota ICWA Commission in December 2004, according to Virgena Wieseler, director of Child Protection Services for the state Department of Social Services. The difficulty in placing Indian children with relatives after they have been removed from their own homes was cited by the National Center for State Courts in its analysis of the state's compliance with ICWA. The analysis noted other obstacles to the state's full compliance with the spirit and intent of ICWA, including lack of communication and coordination between the state and the tribes; lack of state and tribal resources for helping children and their families and lack of training for state agencies in meeting the goals of ICWA. Rounds appointed the commission after the Legislature thwarted efforts by state Reps. Tom Van Norman, D-Eagle Butte, and Jim Bradford, D-Pine Ridge, to pass legislation that would incorporate the federal Indian Child Welfare Act into state law. Ironically, although ICWA was authored by U.S. Sen. James Abourezk of South Dakota and inspired largely by a South Dakota case, the commission would conduct the first examination of the state's performance on ICWA. Seventh Circuit Judge Janine Kern of Rapid City and B.J. Jones, chief judge of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribe, were commission co-chairmen. In a series of hearings throughout the state, the ICWA commission heard criticism of DSS and the court system from Indian people and others. Critics said too many Indian children have been removed from their parents and placed with non-Indian families, leading to identity problems later in life for the youths. Commission member Steve Emery, attorney for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, summarized testimony from people at the listening sessions on reservations: "They said, basically, the system sucks. You unfairly took my children - grandchildren - and I want some help from somebody someplace." The commission said there is deep distrust between the tribes and the two state entities most often involved in Indian children's welfare: circuit courts and DSS. "There were some very powerful listening sessions around the state," Kern said. "There's an enormous amount of pain out there concerning implementation of this act." Kern said a lot of testimony at the ICWA commission's listening sessions on reservations came from adults who had been taken away as children and were coming back to find family members. "It's always about coming back," Kern said. Wieseler acknowledged that DSS has not been perfect in its handling of Indian children removed from their homes. Part of the difficulty in placing Indian children with relatives or other Indian families is the lack of Indian foster families, she said. But through improved efforts in DSS, the number of children placed with relatives increased 25 percent from July 2004 to July 2005, Wieseler said. "That's just through a lot of hard work getting the message out there and locating families. We're continuing to see those numbers grow," she said. Among commission recommendations put into place: DSS has added three employees: two locators to find relatives where tribal children can be placed, and one statewide ICWA coordinator for DSS. The locators go into action as soon as a child comes into DSS custody, Wieseler said. The new ICWA coordinator, Teresa Nieto, is based at Rapid City. Nieto has a cultural work group in place looking at cultural competency and staff training. She has involved members of the Indian community, including elders, according to Wieseler. Cultural competency among the child protection staff in the past wasn't as strong as it needed to be, Wieseler said. "It still not as strong as it needs to be, but we're moving in that direction." DSS also contracted with Children's Home Society to do home studies for kinship placements in an attempt to speed up the placement process. Wieseler said the 2005 Legislature passed a law that improves the system for notifying tribal ICWA officials and tribal judges when an Indian child comes into custody so they have a chance to be at a hearing to determine whether the child should return home or be placed in foster care. Wieseler also notes a group called the Collaborative Circle, formed recently to improve the well-being of Indian children in South Dakota. The Collaborative Circle is composed of representatives from Child Protection Services, the tribes, the Casey Family Program in Pine Ridge and Mission, and from private care providers such as Children's Home Society and Lutheran Social Services. The group also is working to recruit a former foster child, a foster parent and an adoptive parent as members. One subcommittee is seeking ways to improve training and compliance procedures, Wieseler said. Another subcommittee is working on increasing the number of Indian foster families and other placement resources. Wieseler noted that DSS now handles child protection services for all of the tribes in the state except for Sisseton-Wahpeton. But she said the Oglala Sioux Tribe at Pine Ridge is a year or two away from being ready to take over its own program. "They're making great strides," she said. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe is not far behind, she said. Another commission recommendation is that DSS expand its Family Group Decision Making program to all reservations. The program, currently offered in Pine Ridge, Rosebud and Rapid City, works with families to use and strengthen extended family ties, according to Catherine Mattson, a Rapid City attorney who has represented the children or parents in abuse and neglect cases for many years. "It is absolutely fabulous," Mattson said. When a family is in trouble, she said, the relatives are called together and decide what support is available and where the children are going to go. Family Group Decision Making can be done case by case without being too complicated to be workable, Mattson said. In cases where it seems that parents should get their kids back but are overwhelmed by day-to-day operations, relatives pitch in to help, sometimes making a difference by taking over small tasks such as laundry. Wieseler admits that there is much more to be done, particularly in finding Indian families that are qualified and willing to take in foster children. "We are working very hard to do things to the best of our ability with the resources we have to meet the spirit of ICWA." The ICWA commission's final report to the governor, due out soon, will likely outline some of the remaining needs. Although the list of priorities does not include adopting the federal ICWA into state statute, the executive summary from the 2004 report includes the opinion that doing so, "following consultation with all invested stakeholders," would implement many of the commission's recommendations. In 2004, state Reps. Tom Van Norman, D-Eagle Butte, and Jim Bradford, D- Pine Ridge, proposed legislation incorporating ICWA into state law. They feared the appointment of the commission would delay the legislation. At the end of the first year of study, the governor gave the commission another year to report what steps had already been taken toward state compliance and whose duty it was to carry out its recommendations. Last summer, the Legislature's Government Operations and Audit Committee held several hearings on child protection in general in the state. "We heard stories where things could have been handled better, where kids were kept away from their families for too long," state Rep. Mike Buckingham, R-Rapid City, said. Buckingham said that although extension of culture is important, the safety of the child must come first. "Once you remove the child from their parents, the disruption is such that you need to maintain as many familiar things as possible. Regardless of race, they need to be placed with family, unless that family is not safe and secure." Meanwhile, Judge Kern said she was encouraged by the ICWA commission's work, although there is more to be done. "That work will hopefully continue through the collaborative circle," she said. "It's unfortunate we didn't do this 25 years ago," Kern said, "but we now need to move forward to improve the situation." Copyright c. 2006 Rapid City Journal. --------- "RE: Famous Dave donates Stock for Embassy Project" --------- Date: Sat, 7 Jan 2006 09:41:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DAVE ANDERSON PUTS UP STOCK TO FUND TRIBAL EMBASSY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7420 "Famous" Dave donates stock for tribal embassy project Leaders want to create a Washington D.C. home WASHINGTON DC Native American Times January 6, 2006 A drive by the National Congress of American Indians to build an Embassy of Tribal Nations in Washington, D.C. just received a $50,000 boost from a well-known Indian Country figure. "Famous" Dave Anderson, an entrepreneur who also served a stint as the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, donated $50,000 worth of stock towards the project. "I am honored to support NCAI's Embassy of Tribal Nations Capital Campaign in Washington, D.C.," said Anderson in a statement. "There are many foreign nations represented in our nation's capitol but the most obvious is the sovereign nations of this country's first people. Each Native person and tribal nation has a responsibility to step up and support this effort to make our historical and political presence known, both here at home and internationally." "This generous contribution puts us another step closer in realizing our initial goal of $2 million to purchase a building in Washington that will house the embassy," said NCAI President Joe Garcia. "Mr. Anderson's continued commitment to the betterment of Indian Country is well reflected in this contribution. This donation will greatly assist in providing a place where tribal leaders and Native organizations can come together to enhance the presence of sovereign tribal nations in our nation's capital." Anderson's Famous Dave's restaurants are known nationally. Anderson, a member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Lake Superior Band of Ojibwa tribe and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, served one year with the BIA, and was appointed by President Bush to the President's Board of Advisors on Tribal Colleges and Universities in 2002. He is also founder of the LifeSkills Center for Leadership, which was awarded Oprah Winfrey's "Angel Award" for the center's work with Native youth. During his stint with tenure with the BIA Anderson was known for speaking to Indian youth and conveying a positive message. The NCAI board launched its embassy campaign in late 2004. Officials have set a goal of raising $12 million over the next three years towards the project. "The Embassy of Tribal Nations will further advance our sovereign visibility and will be a national focal point for all Native people," Anderson says. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Sacred Site defenders set up Trust Fund" --------- Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2006 08:53:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PROTECTING BEAR BUTTE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7410 Sacred site defenders set up trust fund Group protecting Bear Butte RAPID CITY SD Charmaine White Face January 4, 2006 After years of concern, a volunteer group, the Defenders of the Black Hills, opened a Bear Butte Land Trust Fund at Wells Fargo Bank. Three years ago, the idea for a land trust fund was brought to the organization at one of their regular meetings. The idea was triggered by the encroaching development upon the sacred mountain, Bear Butte. People from more than 60 Native American tribes from the North American continent travel to Bear Butte on a yearly basis to conduct prayer ceremonies. The encroaching development is beginning to disturb the peace and quiet that is necessary for the ceremonies. A land trust fund was seen as the only permanent solution to stopping the selling of land surrounding the small, sacred mountain. The organization was able to stop the building of an outdoor shooting range that was planned on a location four miles north of the Butte. The businessmen planning the venture had illegally received federal funds that were supposed to benefit low and middle-income people. The illegality was uncovered in a lawsuit filed by the Defenders of the Black Hills and seven Native American tribes. But now a private operator is planning on building a biker bar and outdoor concert arena just one and a half miles from the base of the mountain. Since many people want to help protect the land surrounding Bear Butte, the organization decided that opening a land trust fund would allow everyone the opportunity to do fund raising events and contribute to the fund. The price of the land surrounding the Butte is high as realtors use the sacred mountain in their advertisements. Defenders plan on keeping any land that they are able to purchase in a natural state to insure the sacredness of Bear Butte is not disturbed. The organization recently received their designation as a tax-exempt non-profit organization capable of receiving gifts and donations. They work on environmental and sacred site issues in the Midwest with no paid staff. Donations to the Bear Butte Land Trust Fund may be sent to Wells Fargo Bank, 825 St. Joseph St., Rapid City, SD 57701. Bank transfers are also available by contacting any Wells Fargo Bank. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Sandia Pueblo Governor takes on new Role" --------- Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2006 08:53:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PUEBLO ELECTIONS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/nw_local/article/0,2564,ALBQ_19858_4363092,00.html Sandia Pueblo governor takes on new role By Mike Tumolillo Tribune Reporter January 4, 2006 Stuwart Paisano, who guided the launch of a resort hotel and thriving casino north of Albuquerque as governor of Sandia Pueblo, said the end of his governorship marks the beginning of a new and even more responsible role - that of tribal council member - with his people. "I'm just assuming a different role and a different responsibility," he said. "I don't look at it as a setback. . . . My responsibility now, I think it's even much greater because I now have a vote and a say on which direction we will go." Paisano said the decision to replace him came from Sandia Pueblo traditional leaders on Friday. "I wasn't totally in shock in light of getting the new resort open," he said. "A lot of major things that were occurring in the community we had finished." The pueblo opened its new 228-room resort hotel in December. Among other accomplishments during Paisano's term was the settlement of a decades-old dispute over ownership of land in the Sandia Mountains. Paisano, 34, had planned a career in law enforcement with the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department, but left to take the governorship in 2000 at the request of the pueblo. He said he's considering several jobs, but will focus on spending the next few weeks ensuring a smooth transition for Lt. Gov. Lawrence Gutierrez, who will take over as governor. "I have no doubt that my community will continue to grow and to prosper under his leadership," Paisano said. "My responsibility now and the rest of my fellow council members' responsibility is to assist him in giving him guidance and direction." Scott Paisano, 25, the former governor's brother, will serve as lieutenant governor, Daniel Aragon as war chief and Charles Trujillo as lieutenant war chief. An installation ceremony will be Friday at the pueblo's St. Anthony de Padua Catholic Church. Paisano also was a member of Gov. Bill Richardson's transition team and served on Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean's national steering committee. He addressed the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Richardson called Paisano an inspirational leader. "He should get enormous credit for Sandia Pueblo's impressive economic growth and investment in the welfare and success of its people," Richardson said Tuesday in a statement. Terri Cole, president and CEO of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, said Paisano was a leader who did much good for his people and for the state. "In my experience, he was the first governor that has so aggressively reached out in to the non-Indian business community to try to find areas of commonality and agreement," she said. "The governor did a wonderful job in creating a strong investment by the pueblo that will benefit not only the pueblo but the region and the state itself." As a tribal council member, Paisano said he'll continue to strongly push for increasing the self-sufficiency of Sandia Pueblo. It's important when federal funding is declining for Native American services and communities, he said. Other goals include improving the pueblo's educational system, scholarship program, health programs and housing opportunities, he said. "For a very small community located next to the largest metropolitan area in the state of New Mexico, we are extremely busy," he said. "There are a lot of things the administration has to address and has to tackle this year." Others among the 19 pueblos throughout the state appointed or elected new leaders. Most pueblo leaders hold office for one year, but terms at some pueblos last two or four years. New leaders of pueblos closest to Albuquerque are: - Jemez: Gov. James Roger Madalena, 1st Lt. Gov. Michael Loretto and 2nd Lt. Gov. Joseph Alfred Toya; one-year terms. - San Felipe: Gov. Sam Candelaria and Lt. Gov. Earl Patrick Sandoval; one-year terms. - San Ildefonso: Gov. James Mountain and 1st Lt. Gov. Martin Wayne Aguilar; two-year terms. A second lieutenant governor will be appointed this week. - Santo Domingo: Gov. Julian Coriz and Lt. Gov. Sammy Garcia; one-year terms. - Zia: Gov. Rudy Shije and Lt. Gov. David Pino; one-year terms. - Leaders of Isleta Pueblo are in the second year of two-year terms: Gov. Robert Benavides, 1st Lt. Gov. Max Zuni and 2nd Lt. Gov. Michael Jojola. - Santa Ana Pueblo could not immediately be reached for comment. Copyright c. 2006 The Albuquerque Tribune. --------- "RE: Hearings on Oneida Land Trust this week" --------- Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2006 14:35:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ONEIDA WANT TWO SESSIONS TO RESOLVE ISSUES" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.syracuse.com/base/news-1/1136713054220800.xml&coll=1 Hearings on land trust this week Post-Standard Federal officials seek public views on Oneida nation's request at pair of sessions By Alaina Potrikus Staff writer January 8, 2006 The public will get its first chances this week to comment on the Oneida Indian Nation's attempt to put more than 17,000 acres of land into trust. The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs will hold two public hearings this week, in Verona and Oneida. The sessions will let the public tell BIA officials what factors they should include in an impact report. It's the next step in deciding whether the nation's land can be placed in federal custody. At the Verona Town Board meeting Wednesday, Oneida County Legislator Mike Hennessey urged residents to attend the hearings. "I think it's very important for us to show we're concerned about the trust application," Hennessey said. "Hopefully we'll be able to fill the auditorium at V-V-S." Trust land is owned by the federal government but set aside for the exclusive use of an Indian tribe. The land is permanently free from all local taxes and laws. The environmental impact report will detail the effects of taking land into trust. The BIA has identified three areas to review: infrastructure, including schools; socioeconomics, including taxes, employment, income, population and housing; and cumulative effects. The issues list may be expanded, based on comments from the meetings. BIA official Kurt Chandler is expecting a crowd. Speakers must limit their comments to three minutes, he said, but they'll be allowed to address officials a second time after all attendees have had an opportunity to talk. "We'll let them talk all night if they want to," Chandler said. "This is the chance for everyone to speak." The BIA also will accept written comments until Jan. 23. Chad Davis, president of Advantage Abstract Company in Utica, said he would be attending Tuesday's hearing. "It's important for our entire economic base," he said. "The impact would be catastrophic if this land transition takes place." Canastota resident Scott Peterman said he is looking forward to addressing the federal officials. "They're going to get an earful from me," he said. "It's very exasperating to see this happening." Copyright c. 2006 The Post-Standard. Used with permission. --------- "RE: Sacred items returned to Bois Forte" --------- Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 08:57:12 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="THREE SACRED SCROLLS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.timberjay.com/current.php?article=2078 Sacred items returned to Bois Forte By Tom Klein January 2, 2006 Volume 16, Issue 53 When three sacred scrolls and six other artifacts were returned to the Bois Forte Band earlier this month, Rose Berens described it as being reunited with family. "When they bring something into a room that's been gone for 100 years, it's a feeling that's almost indescribable," said Berens, who is director of the Bois Forte Heritage Center and Cultural Museum. "It's like finding a long-lost relative, someone you loved very much." Berens and others first traveled to New York to document that the artifacts belonged to the Bois Forte Band. More than two years after that visit, tribal elders finally reclaimed the objects from the American Museum of Natural History, where they had been stored. To Phyllis Boshey, the artifacts are more than mere reminders of the past. "These objects are like living spirits," explained Boshey, a former Tribal Council member and follower of Midewewin, a secret Ojibwe medicine society. "They should not be locked up." The repatriation of the Bois Forte artifacts has been in the works for at least two years. In addition to three inscribed birch bark scrolls, the objects included two rattles, a beaded ceremonial bag, a fawn skin bag, food fungus and black dye. The process might have taken even longer if not for changes in the administration of a federal law known as the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. In general, the law requires museums to inventory their collections and identify items of significance. It is up to the descendants or affiliated tribes to claim them. Although passed in 1990, the law wasn't much use without money to back up the effort. New leadership within the National Park Service has revamped the program and provided more than $2.4 million in grants to help tribes cover transportation and other expenses in recovering artifacts. The Bois Forte Band received $9,105 to pay for trips to New York to document their claim. Boshey said photos of items help verify the Bois Forte Band's claim on artifacts and she spoke about the need to develop a photo inventory of missing artifacts by copying photographs that band members may have in their possession. According to museum officials, the artifacts were originally acquired in a museum expedition led by William Jones, an anthropologist who studied Ojibwe language and culture. The birch bark scrolls and ceremonial items hold special significance for the Midewewin. Only certain members of the secret medicine society can interpret the birch bark inscriptions, which are considered sacred and must never be exposed to public view. Spokesman Steve Reichl said the American Museum of Natural History kept the artifacts mainly for research purposes and, to his knowledge, they were never on display. Bill Latady, curator of the Bois Forte Heritage Center and Cultural Museum, said the items also will not be on display at Heritage Center. "These are sacred items and this is just their temporary home pending their ultimate destination," he said. Latady accompanied spiritual adviser Vernon Adams and elder Myra Thompson to New York to reclaim the artifacts. A pipe ceremony was conducted at the museum in acknowledgment of the mystical power that band members believe dwell in all things. "It's like they were sleeping for a long time," Adams explained. "The ceremony was to wake them up and let them know they're going home." Boshey said the band will need to meet with elders and medicine men to determine how to properly store and treat the artifacts. She also noted that the significance of the religious items may call for an annual ceremony. She'd like to see that ceremony be used to teach youth more about the Bois Forte heritage and culture. Meanwhile, Berens said there are other artifacts at museums that the Bois Forte Band is seeking to bring home, including items at a museum in Colorado. "But it's a long process," she added. "There's a lot of bureaucracy to deal with first." Copyright c. 2005 Timberjay. --------- "RE: Tribe eyes DeKalb County Alabama" --------- Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 08:57:12 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="UKB" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.times-journal.com/report.lasso?wcd=5016 Tribe eyes DeKalb By Mark Harrison The Times-Journal December 31, 2005 A DeKalb County man who owns 69 acres adjacent to an ancient Indian burial site in Fort Payne says he plans to donate the property to the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, currently primarily in Oklahoma. The move could ultimately mean the relocation of several thousand Keetoowah to the Fort Payne area, their ancestral home, David Hammonds said. The Keetoowahs operate casino gambling facilities in Oklahoma, but Hammond said the focus on local development would not be on gaming. Instead, Hammonds said the vision is to create a heritage center and public museum to display artifacts that have been found at the burial site. Hammonds said many of those artifacts are currently housed by Jacksonville State University's archeological department, but there are hopes to eventually relocate the artifacts to the museum, with the understanding that JSU would have full access to study them. Hammonds said another focus of the development would be to protect the burial site, which is specifically related to the Keetoowah. Hammonds said the Keetoowahs migrated north from this area and parts of Georgia, some 190 years ago, before the Trail of Tears. He said they were originally a part of what would later become known as the Cherokee tribe. He said the Keetoowah migrated to Arkansas but were subsequently relocated to Oklahoma by the federal government, where they remain. "This land rightfully belongs to the Keetoowah," Hammonds said, of the 69 acres he plans to donate. "This is an ancient burial site and it is significant to the Keetoowah as a tribe and also from a historical perspective." He said he fears "grave robbers" might attempt to disturb the site and believes the planned development could help prevent that from happening. Hammonds said he plans to donate the property within the next 30 days and plans for site development could be presented as early as March. However, he said any actual construction on the site would likely have to wait until at least 2007, after ongoing projects on US 11 - which runs adjacent to the burial site - have been completed. Until then, Hammonds said a primary entry route into the property would be blocked, forcing reliance on a secondary route. He said the completion of the planned construction of a new I-59 interchange near the development, which would provide convenient public access, would also be a determining factor in how soon actual construction could begin. "Until it is completed, we will have to contend with the road construction. That's really going to dictate how soon we can put something out there," he said. Hammonds said he envisions development of the site helping to transform Fort Payne into a "major tourist attraction," similar to Cherokee, N.C. or Gatlinburg, Tenn. He said the Keetoowah could also offer sales of Native American crafts at the site and said while business transactions on Native American land is normally exempt from sales tax, American Indians may chose to enter into a "compact" to collect local taxes on any sales that are made. Hammonds said the Keetoowah have agreed to do this, so the city and county would collect relevant sales taxes. Keetoowah tribal leaders did not immediately return calls. Hammonds said, so far, this is strictly a private transaction between him and the Keetoowah, but said he has made city officials aware of his plans. Fort Payne Mayor Bill Jordan said he would withhold comment until he learns more details about the planned development. Hammonds said he believes the development could be the impetus for creating tourism-related jobs in the area. DeKalb County Tourism Director Patty Tucker agrees. "This could create jobs, lead to an increase in other tourism opportunities and encourage additional growth in the county, aside from what the Keetoowah develop," Tucker said. "I think it's a wonderful idea and it's long been a dream of my own to see something happen in Fort Payne that would commemorate our Cherokee heritage and to honor them as well as other Native Americans who once lived on this land." Copyright c. 2006 The Times-Journal. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Tax Commission criticized for new rules" --------- Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2006 08:53:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="`JUST US' PREVAILS OVER EQUITY" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7406 Tax commission criticized for new rules "A slap in the face of Native Americans" Sam Lewin January 3, 2006 The Oklahoma Tax Commission has voted to approve emergency rules on tribal tobacco sales, a move that is being met with outrage. The commission's vote came after cigarette wholesalers, smoke shop owners and tribal leaders railed against the proposals during the commission's meeting in Oklahoma City. "After they had all these comments they went ahead and did it anyway," said Osage Nation Principal Chief Jim Gray. Under the new rules, tobacco wholesalers can only sell to smoke shops the same number of cigarettes with the cheaper 6-cent stamps as they did in 2004, plus 10-percent. The commission also ordered that a wholesaler obtain state approval to sell more than that number. "Who has time to check that?" asked Gray. "It's very unrealistic and unreasonable." The tax commission first proposed the revamped laws at a meeting in late December, but postponed the vote in order to give tribes a chance to provide input. Even though tribes and their supporters did give commissioners an earful, this time around, some are wondering if the decision was not already a forgone conclusion. "I think kangaroo court is the only way to describe it," Osage Nation spokesman Rex Hackler told the Native American Times. "This was obviously a set-up by the state to show they are taking action against the tribes with regards to tribal tobacco sales." Native American leaders said they would discuss the latest restrictions with Governor Brad Henry, who must still approve the emergency rules, and were also considering legal action. "It is restraint of trade and highly discriminatory," said Lee Levinson, an attorney representing smoke shop owners. "A slap in the face of Native Americans." You can contact Sam Lewin at sam@okit.com Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: AG Candidate defends Tribal Sovereignty" --------- Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2006 08:53:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ABEL PRESENTS PRO-TRIBAL POSITION" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7407 AG candidate defends tribal sovereignty Republicans seek to unseat Edmondson TULSA OK Sam Lewin January 4, 2006 Two candidates for Oklahoma Attorney General are weighing in on Native American issues. Kevin Abel, a Tulsa-based attorney, has released campaign literature in which he promises to "work with - not against - Oklahoma's farmers and ranchers, Oklahoma's energy industry, and Native American Nations." Abel says he wants more Oklahomans to be aware of the status tribes have. "I wish people would get in the habit of saying Native American governments, because these are sovereign nations and the state had no jurisdiction expect for what the federal government has given them," Abel told the Native American Times. He also questioned the wisdom over the new rules imposed by the Oklahoma Tax Commission on tribal tobacco sales. "The U.S. Supreme Court made it clear in the Potawatomi case that the state cannot pursue collection actions against sovereign governments," Dunn said. "I don't think it's a matter of disagreeing or agreeing [with the tax commission's new rules]. It's a matter of enforceability." Meanwhile James Dunn, another candidate for the post, said he "applauds the prosecutors and investigators pursuing Jack Abramoff and other government officials." Abramoff pleaded guilty to charges stemming from an investigation into his dealings with Indian tribes. "Vigorous prosecution of political corruption is a step in the right direction," Dunn said in a statement. "Now Oklahoma needs an Attorney General who is not a career politician and will prosecute political corruption. It is time to restore clean honest government" Abel and Dunn are both Republicans, and will meet in the primary for the right to face incumbent Drew Edmondson, a Democrat, in November's general election. According to the Oklahoma State Ethics Commission, Abel, Dunn and Edmondson are the only candidates the file for the position, although the deadline is still months way. You can contact Sam Lewin at sam@okit.com Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Tribes Attempt to recover after being defrauded" --------- Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2006 08:53:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ABRAMOFF" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/04/1524250 Native American Tribes Attempt to Recover After Being Defrauded of Tens of Millions by Abramoff January 4, 2006 Former U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, who served as chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee that investigated the scandal, and Tigua tribal governor Arturo Senclair, of one of the Indian tribes defrauded by Abramoff, discuss the Native American tribes embroiled in the Abramoff scandal. They hired Abramoff to represent them in Washington regarding casino and gambling issues. As their lobbyist, Abramoff instructed the tribes to make political donations to certain politicians and recommended they hire former aide of Tom DeLay, Michael Scanlon, as their publicist. [includes rush transcript] Yesterday Abramoff admitted to defrauding four Indian tribe clients out of millions of dollars. Those tribes include the Louisiana Coushatta, the Mississippi Choctaws, the Saginaw Chippewas of Michigan and the Tigua of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo in Texas. The tribes hired Abramoff to represent them in Washington regarding casino and gambling issues. As their lobbyist, Abramoff instructed the tribes to make political donations to certain politicians and recommended they hire a former aide of Tom DeLay named Michael Scanlon as their publicist. Scanlon charged hugely inflated rates. What Abramoff didn't tell the tribes was that Scanlon was secretly his business partner and that in some cases Abramoff was also working for groups with competing policy goals. In all, Abramoff and Scanlon received more than $66 million in fees. Some of this money was secretly diverted to a variety of Abramoff's personal projects including an Orthodox Jewish academy and an Israeli sniper school. Some money also went to pay off a personal debt. In 2002, Abramoff and Scanlon quietly worked with conservative religious activist Ralph Reed to persuade the state of Texas to shut down the Tigua tribe's Standing Rock casino on the grounds that the casino violated Texas' limited gambling laws. Abramoff then went to the Tiguas and promised to use his influence to reopen the casino, charging the tribe $4.2 million. Meanwhile, Abramoff and Scanlon collected millions of dollars from a Louisiana tribe to oppose all gaming in the Texas Legislature. During the 2004 Senate Indian Affair Committee hearings, emails were made public in which Abramoff referred to tribal members as "trogdolytes" and "morons". In one email released by the Senate committee, Abramoff wrote to Scanlon, "I have to meet with the monkeys from the Choctaw tribal counsel." Former Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell was the chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in 2004 when it took up investigating Abramoff. He was also the first Native American Senator in more than 60 years. Campbell wrote in a statement at the time, "It is a story of greed run amuck. It is a story of two already powerful, wealthy men lining their own pockets with the hard-earned money of people whom they held in contempt and disregard." * Ben Nighthorse Campbell, former Senator of Colorado and former chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. * Arturo Senclair, tribal governor of the Tiguas of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo in Texas. RUSH TRANSCRIPT This transcript is available free of charge. However, donations help us provide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TV broadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution. Donate - $25, $50, $100, more... AMY GOODMAN: Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell joins us on the phone right now from Durango, the former senator. We welcome you to Democracy Now! BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL: Good morning, Amy. How are you? AMY GOODMAN: It's good to have you with us. Your response to the plea bargain of Jack Abramoff? BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL: Well, I think that justice will be served. The investigation has been going on some time. I, along with Senator McCain, started the hearings when I was still in office, and we did the first two of them together, and then he's carried on with them. And even during that time the F.B.I. was doing their own investigation, so I think eventually the Justice Department will sort it all out. I think the thing that bothers me the most is that Indian tribes have been pulled into this thing so that a lot of people lose track of the fact that they were victimized themselves. They were not partners to some kind of a crime that Abramoff was involved in. And what it has done is it created sort of a backlash in Congress, where now a lot of our members are running pell-mell away from Indian tribes, which denies them the right that everybody else has, which is to have a voice in their own future through the political process. That's to me what's really sad, but these two guys are bad guys. There's no question about it. I never have met Mr. Abramoff and never got any money from him, never sat in any sky box, took any trips, did all of that stuff that some of my colleagues are accused of, but I am told by former staffers that - They reminded me that at one time did he try to come and see me when I was in office, when I was the chairman. And they advised me at that time not to meet with him, because they said he was a rather suspicious guy and pretty "slick," as I remember the word that they used, and so I never would meet with him. But clearly, he did meet with a number of other colleagues on both sides of the aisles. AMY GOODMAN: We are also joined, in addition to former U.S. senator, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, of Colorado, by Arturo Senclair, the governor of the Tiguas of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo tribe in El Paso, Texas. Can you explain what happened to the Tigua? ARTURO SENCLAIR: Well, it was back in 2002. And that was the time that the federal judge of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Federal Judge Eisele, issued the court order for us to shut down Speaking Rock Casino here in El Paso, Texas. Abramoff came in shortly after that, about a month later. And he says, `Look guys, I've got the perfect solution. I'm going to go ahead and be able to pass legislation for you all to be re-opened up again.' We did our checks on Abramoff, again, you know, through the internet, through our other sources, and we saw that he had done good work for the Mississippi Choctaw. And we didn't know at the time that he was working for the Louisiana Coushattas, who as former Senator Campbell was saying, that they opposed the competition on the east side of Texas in regards to gaming. So what happened was Abramoff came in, and he says, `I've got the perfect solution,' again, unknown that he had used Ralph Reed to shut us down. AMY GOODMAN: Now, Ralph Reed lobbied, bringing together religious leaders, saying that they were simply opposed to gambling. ARTURO SENCLAIR: Right. What Ralph Reed did through Abramoff, Ralph Reed put the pressure on the - back then, the former Attorney General John Cornyn, now senator. He put the pressure through the Christian Coalition to push the effort for the closure, that it was ill and evil and we needed to stop gaming in the state of Texas. AMY GOODMAN: Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, your response? BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL: Well, I agree with the chairman. You know, there had been a time or two - there's no question about it - that some tribes have opposed others. They have huge investments in those casinos, and they worry about their own returns on their investments deteriorating if there's competition across the street, so to speak. But from a broader picture, I think your listeners need to know that out of something like 557 recognized tribes in America, less than half have casinos. And out of the half that do have casinos, in my view, there's only about 10% that are what we would call super successful, making these huge dollars you hear, when the vast majority of Indian people are still dirt poor and struggling every day to try to get an education for their kids or to try to make ends meet from a financial standpoint. I tried to have a rule when I was in office, though, because I am Indian myself. I thought the tribes should have the right to see me directly without an intermediary or through a lobbyist. So I, just through the staff, would always tell them to ask the chairman or ask the tribal council to come in themselves and tell me what I can do to help them and not send in a professional voice for themselves. But he - this thing - when you talk about what is being talked about now, that we need some kind of broad reform in Congress, I'd remind people that we had "broad reform," quote/unquote, after Watergate. Then we had "broad reform" a couple of years ago under McCain-Feingold. There always seems to be a loophole or a way, if people are not of good heart and good spirit, to circumvent the process. But I still believe the tribes were really more innocent victims than they were a party to anything that was done that was inappropriate. AMY GOODMAN: At that hearing, Senator Nighthorse Campbell, you read the emails out loud. You read the reference to the Native American tribes, "troglodytes," "morons." These are the people, of course, that are paying these men. BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL: Yes. I might tell you, too, that - you know, Mr. Abramoff is Jewish, and I've always had a very close feeling for Jewish people, because I know the history of what they've gone through in the world, through the Holocaust and so many other things. I remember asking him, in committee, under oath - I said, "How could you, a person that is of Jewish background, who knows what your own people have gone through, how could you take advantage of another people who have gone through many of the same things?" I mean, there are some Indian people, you know, that call the days from Columbus up to now as "the 400-year holocaust." I've heard that referred to it. They've done their share of suffering, and I couldn't believe that a person like Abramoff, whose ancestry is Jewish, could get involved in something like that. But unfortunately, he took the Fifth on me on every question I asked him. He just simply wouldn't answer. AMY GOODMAN: Senator, in your statement as Chair of the Committee on Indian Affairs in 2004, in the oversight hearing on tribal lobbying matters, you said, "I must say the allegation that most concerns me is that Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon may have tried to manipulate the outcomes of tribal elections for their own personal profit." You said, "Our investigation has found that in at least two instances Abramoff and Scanlin sought to profit by becoming involved in and attempting to manipulate tribal elections. They helped elect council members at no charge, but apparently with the understanding that they would be compensated later." BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL: Yes. That's true. It's called election rigging, and it's a federal offense. And that was my understanding from the research that we had done and our investigators had done, that they had got involved with at least two tribes and tried to rig the election by doing advertising for the candidates they wanted to win and generating some opposition to the ones that they wanted to lose, with a kind of a quid pro quo understanding that if the ones that they got elected won, they would get some kind of return favor, a lobbying favor. If any Indian people entered that agreement knowingly, then they should also be held accountable, I think, because nobody should affect a tribal election except tribal members, in my view. AMY GOODMAN: Arturo Senclair and Ben Nighthorse Campbell, in 2002 alone, records show three Indian tribes donated $1.1 million to the Capital Athletic Foundation. That's Abramoff's foundation. But now Newsweek has learned investigators probing Abramoff's finances have found some of the money meant for inner city kids went, instead, to fight the Palestinian intifada. More than $140,000 of foundation funds were actually sent to the Israeli West Bank where they were used by a Jewish settler to mobilize against the Palestinian uprising. Among the expenditures, purchases of camouflage suits, sniper scopes, night vision binoculars, a thermal imager and other material described in foundation records as security equipment. The F.B.I. sources tell Newsweek it's now examining these payments as part of a larger investigation to determine if Abramoff defrauded his Indian tribe clients. BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL: Well, he probably did. But, you know, there are already laws on the books that allow tribes to recover some of their losses. And, as I understand it, the Tiguas have already filed a lawsuit to try to recover some of the money that they gave him. I understand also, though, that he's now saying he's broke, that he did something with it, gave it away or some darn thing. So, who knows, they may never recover their losses, but they're certainly going to come out of this whole experience a heck of a lot wiser and be a lot more careful on the people that they ask to carry their voice to Washington. AMY GOODMAN: Arturo Senclair, can you explain what you have asked for, in terms of getting your money back for the Tiguas of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo tribe? ARTURO SENCLAIR: We're working with the Greenberg Traurig law firm. That's one of the agreements that we did establish. We did do a partial settlement with the law firm. We are seeking a civil remedy on this. But let me just point out one other issue in regards to Abramoff, to what extent the greed came in. He approached us in mid-2003, and he says, `Look, guys, you all have some tribal members that are above 75 years of age, I'd like to be able to buy insurance policies on them.' He would pay the premiums and he would be the beneficiary. That's unheard of in our culture. We just don't do that. But that's the extreme of the greed that he came to. We, as a council, told him, "That's unheard of. It's not going to be held." But he still proposed it one more time just to see if he could get the insurance policies on our elders. AMY GOODMAN: Arturo Senclair, I want to thank you very much for being with us, Governor of the Tigua of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo tribe in Texas, and former senator, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, thank you for joining us from Durango, former chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. To purchase an audio or video copy of this entire program call 1 (888) 999-3877. --------- "RE: Nighthorse Campbell won't run for Governor" --------- Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2006 08:53:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CAMPBELL NOT A CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_3367789 Nighthorse Campbell won't run for governor By Mike Soraghan Denver Post Staff Writer January 3, 2005 Washington - Former U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell said today he has decided against a run for governor of Colorado after strongly considered it. Campbell, a Republican from Ignacio, said he had talked to people about setting up a campaign. "He gave it very serious thought," said Campbell's spokeswoman, Kate Dando, who moved with him from the Senate to the law firm of Holland & Knight, where Campbell is a "senior policy adviser" in the Indian affairs section of the firm's lobbying division. "As time went on he decided he was enjoying his new challenges," Dando added. Campbell served 18 years in the House and Senate, starting as a Democrat, but switching parties in 1995. For much of his tenure, he was the only American Indian in Congress and he chaired the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. He announced his retirement in March 2004, citing health reasons, amid a federal criminal investigation of alleged no-bid contracts and kickbacks in his Senate office. Campbell has said he is not a subject of the probe, which is ongoing. The possibility of a Campbell candidacy had not received much attention in recent months in political circles. U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez, R-Arvada, and former University of Denver president Marc Holtzman are actively seeking the GOP nomination. Much speculation has centered on whether additional candidates, such as Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, will seek the Democratic nomination in addition to former Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter. On the day after announcing his Senate retirement, Campbell told The Denver Post, "I'd really just be trading one set of problems for another" by being elected governor. "But there was something poetic in a descendant of people who died at the Sand Creek Massacre becoming the governor of the state," he added, referring to the notorious 1864 slaughter of 163 Indians by Colorado militia troops at a plains campsite. Copyright c. 2006 The Denver Post. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: A Tribal School expands" --------- Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 08:57:12 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MENOMINEE NATION OPENS GREEN BAY CAMPUS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7398 A tribal school expands "Share your experience with friends and family" GREEN BAY WI Patrick L. Delabrue January 2, 2006 For Tina Webster, the College of Menominee Nation's new Green Bay campus is more than a learning institution. "I feel this school is more about caring and understanding a person's well-being," Webster said of being a student at the tribal college. "It's more down to earth here. It's more about respect as a human being and not just about learning." Webster, 28, was one of many students, staff, educators and government representatives gathered at the campus Oct. 27 to celebrate the grand opening. The drum groups Straight Across and Wind Eagle sang honor songs, and cultural preservation officer Dave Grignon gave an invocation in the Menominee language. Guest speakers extolled the virtues of higher education and recalled struggles and triumphs of the Menominee people past and present. With the school seal as a backdrop, college President Verna Fowler noted how far the tribe has come in the face of poverty and the ruinous policy of termination. "It was really no small feat that one of the poorest Indian tribes in the state of Wisconsin and, according to the 2000 Census, [in] the 13th poorest county in the United States has established in less than 13 years an institution of higher education that is already known internationally and is recognized for its quality of education," Fowler said. That quality has been evident by the rapid growth of the student body and a need for a new site in the Green Bay area. In the 2005 spring semester, 120 students were enrolled at the Green Bay site, mostly members of the Oneida tribe of Wisconsin. This fall, 168 enrolled. "We were really cramped," said Katherine Hall, interim site coordinator. "We had five people crawling over one another in one little office, and the classrooms were jammed. "In listening sessions and student suggestion boxes, the students made heartfelt pleas for a larger site," Hall said. Their pleas were not ignored. Plans had been in the works for a new facility, but the students' immediate needs accelerated the process. With more classrooms, a vastly expanded computer lab and a commons area, College of Menominee Nation students expressed their pride in the new campus. Student government president Gina Gregor was impressed by the large- scale upgrade. "I was at the old site," she said. "There were two classrooms and no windows. It was way too small to suit the needs of a growing student body. "We can compete with bigger colleges now because we have the space. We have the facilities we couldn't offer at the old site. It's nice to see, from the time I started to now, how CMN has grown." Many students who took time from classes to attend the celebration said not only the extra room and expanded services of the college but also the location and community spirit make for a high-quality education experience. For Shannon Hill, a Green Bay resident and Oneida tribal member, relating to the other students and faculty on a personal level is just as important as the convenient location. "For me, it wouldn't matter where classes were held, as long as it involved the same people I've met here at CMN," he said. "It's a neat place, and I'm learning a lot here. It's not only educational. It's spiritual." That feeling of community and spirituality pervaded the celebration and was the general consensus of students and staff. Janet Malcolm, administrative assistant at the Green Bay campus, expounded on the philosophy of the tribal college: "The school is Native based. Your culture is here; your people are here. If we sent our young people [who] haven't had much experience with the world, if we send them into bigger cities with bigger schools, they could get lost so easily. They could get lost emotionally and spiritually. But here it's the same community with the same values, and I think that helps keep everything together." Retaining that sense of community, coordinator Hall said is important for the college, especially in the face of expansion and a growing enrollment. "We have a high number of first-generation students," she said. "That means they have not come in watching their parents, older brothers and sisters get their degrees. They might be the first one in their families. Therefore, they may not come in with a lot of experience or confidence. "So having that smaller, one-on-one interaction with faculty then gives them a better chance to use this opportunity for a good academic education." The expansion of the Green Bay site is evidence that many students are taking advantage of educational opportunities afforded them by the tribal college. Much of the advertising is by word of mouth. "If you have a good experience here, it's common sense that you're going to share your experience with friends and family," Malcolm said. Webster echoed that. "I have a cousin who comes here now," she said. "She came all the way from Phoenix to come to school here. She had a scholarship to go there, but she decided to come to CMN." Asked why her cousin did so, Webster smiled and replied as if the answer was obvious. "I told her we were all here, and it's a good place and she should come and join us." ---- Patrick L. Delabrue, Menominee, attends College of Menominee Nation in Keshena, Wis. He is a 2005 graduate of the Freedom Forum's American Indian Journalism Institute. Photographer Dale Kakkak is Communication and Project Specialist at the Sustainable Development Institute at College of Menominee Nation. This story was originally published by reznet (www. reznetnews.org), the online newspaper written by Native American college students around the country. Reprinted with permission. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: BTBC meets with Quebec Tribe, Economic Development" --------- Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2006 08:40:11 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BLACKFEET - AHKWESAHNE MOHAWK ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.goldentrianglenews.com/2006/01/05/glacier_reporter/news/news4.txt BTBC meets with Quebec tribe to discuss economic development. January 5, 2006 The Blackfeet Tribal Business Council was invited by the Ahkwesahsne Mohawk Tribe of Quebec, Canada and the U.S. Mohawk Reservation to discuss economic development on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. There was a commitment from eight Blackfeet Council to attend the meeting with the Mohawks. However, due to other commitments, only three council members attended. Also in attendance were the Tribal attorney and the new Chief Operations Officer. Stu White of Native Traditional Associates from the Mohawks was the host. The Council toured the Mohawk facilities which included the largest food store in North America. White is willing to invest in the Blackfeet Tribe to bring this kind of development to the Blackfeet Reservation. William Big Bull from the Weather Dancer Wind Energy Program presented his draft implementation plan. The energy program currently has a contract with the Blackfeet Tribe. Head Chief Lorraine White, Chief Ronald Sunday and Quebec Chief A. Francis Boots of the Mohawk Nation met with the Blackfeet Council and Associates. Many mutual plans were shared. The Chiefs extended their hands and friendship to work together for the mutual benefit of our Tribes. An outstanding point with the Mohawks is they have an Indian Lane Only at the Canadian Border. The Blackfeet Council met with two attorneys, Richard Ornitz and Steve Beeker to continue the negotiation for their law firm of DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary US LLP of New York to represent the Blackfeet Tribe on the trust reform the Department of the Interior is quickly moving into place for the Blackfeet Tribe. This is a follow-up on the Listening Conference on Trust reform that was held at BCC in early May of this year. Copyright c. 2006 Golden Triangle Newspapers --------- "RE: Local Officials briefed on Tse-whit-zen" --------- Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2006 14:35:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PORT ANGELES NEGOTIATIONS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/sited/story/html/227162 Governor's aide briefs local officials on Tse-whit-zen negotiations by JIM CASEY January 8, 2006 PORT ANGELES - City, Clallam County and Port of Port Angeles officials have received briefings on negotiations over the future of Tse-whit-zen and the former Hood Canal Bridge graving yard. "I talked to the city and the Port and the county and gave them an update on where we're at," Tom Fitzsimmons, Gov. Christine Gregoire's chief of staff, said Saturday. Gregoire has committed the state to formal negotiations with the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, and Fitzsimmons will be both architect and carpenter on building a framework for the talks. His calls to local governments came Friday, one day after he met with the Lower Elwha Tribal Council during a trip to Port Angeles. Fitzsimmons said he will follow the calls up with visits to local leaders. Memorandum comes first The first plank in the plan will be a memorandum of understanding between the state - including the Department of Transportation, Attorney General's Office and Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation - and the Lower Elwha. The initial agreement will outline each party's commitment to negotiating and set rules for the formal talks. Gregoire has the authority to bind the state to the agreement, Fitzsimmons said. After striking that bargain, he said, other interested groups, including labor unions, may join the negotiations. "We're parties to a lawsuit," he said of the state and the tribe, "and the other local governments are not, so we have to walk an importantly careful line here." The state and tribe have sued each other over the tribe's demand that 20,000 cubic yards of earth be returned to Tse-whit-zen from the Shotwell Recycling Facility west of Port Angeles and that ancestral remains be reburied at the site of the ancient village. The parties agreed Friday to a new standstill order for 90 days, meaning that neither side will pursue its case while negotiations continue. "The case is on hold," Fitzsimmons said, "which is a good thing. It's a positive sign that all the parties have hope and trust in mediation." Once the memorandum of understanding is adopted, "our agreement clearly involves the city and the county and other local governments in the mediation process," he said. Copyright c. 2004 Kenai Peninsula Daily News, Horvitz Newspapers, Inc. --------- "RE: Alaskan Native American groups join ANWR debate" --------- Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2006 14:35:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GWICH'IN, INUPIAT JOIN ANWR DEBATE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.mywesttexas.com/PAG=461&dept_id=475626&rfi=6 Alaskan Native American groups join ANWR debate with senators Bob Campbell Staff Writer Midland Reporter-Telegram January 7, 2006 Arguments among Democrats, Republicans, Gwich'in Indians and Kaktovik Inupiat Eskimos about oil drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge bring to mind the roulette dealer's call: "Round and round and round she goes and where she stops, nobody knows." The U.S. House in Washington easily passed two bills to explore 2,000 acres of the 19 million acre refuge on Alaska's Coastal Plains adjacent to the Arctic Ocean. But the Senate refused most recently Dec. 21, when proponents got 56 of the 60 votes needed to preclude a filibuster. Groups including the Audubon Society, Green Party, Sierra Club, Wilderness Society and National Wildlife Federation have been heavily involved since the late 1980s, when they reversed the Gwich'ins' earlier support by giving them "hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobby the issue," according to the October 2001 Energy and Environment News. Both living there and hunting caribou that breed on the Coastal Plains, the Gwitch'ins and Inupiats are on opposite sides with Inupiat leaders contending drilling would spawn economic development and not hurt the species Northeast Alaska nurtures. With a few exceptions on each side, U.S. senators oppose one another on the same lines with Republicans saying the oil rich ANWR would make the nation more independent and keep gasoline prices down. Democrats say drilling would damage the delicate refuge and a few conservation measures could save as much oil as ANWR would produce. When asked if 2005 represented the proponents' best chance to get it approved, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said, "The bottom line is that we will keep on fighting and basically try any avenue we can to get this accomplished. "It's really important for our energy security and national security. There are a lot of reasons why people disagree with this action, but the truth is it's a very environmentally responsible way to increase our energy production and decrease our dependence on foreign sources. "Energy issues in general are one of the priorities now and last year's passage of the energy bill was a big step in the right direction to make sure we appropriately address them." Democrats Daniel Akaka and Lorraine Inouye of Hawaii, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Ben Nelson of Nebraska voted with Republicans to get within four votes of the number needed to see ANWR OK'd as a part of defense appropriations. But Republican Sens. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Mike DeWine of Ohio and Republican-turned-Independent Jim Jeffords of Vermont voted with the opposition. Seeing it would fail, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee voted "no" in a procedural move to let him revive it later. A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Midland, noted Alaska Sens. Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski and Gov. Frank Murkowski all support ANWR drilling, as does 75 percent of the state's electorate. "From a House perspective it was disappointing that the Senate was unable to get it passed, but Congressman Conaway is optimistic the market will eventually dictate it one way or the other," he said Friday. "America has seen a rise in home heating costs and prices at the gas pump and in order for us to alleviate these problems, we need to explore and find new sources of energy." The Conaway spokesman said most Alaska newspaper editors back the plan. "Environmental groups and liberal organizations from outside the state have entered the fray and a lot of misinformation is out there," he said. "The elected officials are voicing their support. They speak for the residents of their state and that's what they were elected to do. Copyright c. 2006 Midland Reporter-Telegram. --------- "RE: Muckleshoot Tribe hosting annual Canoe Journey" --------- Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 08:57:12 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CULTURE REVIVAL" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/sited/story/html/226660 Muckleshoot Tribe hosting annual Canoe Journey by Mike Archbold Journal Reporter January 2, 2006 The epicenter for the revival of American Indian culture in Northwest Washington will be at the Muckleshoot Reservation this summer as the tribe hosts the 14th annual Canoe Journey. Up to 70 dugout canoes paddled by members of Canoe Families from 40 to 50 tribes will converge on the reservation east of Auburn on July 30 for a week of cultural sharing and strengthening. Some 6,000 to 8,000 tribal members from the Puget Sound area, west to the coast and north into British Columbia are expected, according to Dawnda Nahanee, coordinator for the event with the Muckleshoot Tribe. Special canoes from New Zealand, Hawaii and Alaska also are expected to attend, she said. And the public is invited, which could increase the number of visitors attending the seven-day event to as many as 20,000. Visitors will have a chance to view up close the traditions and variety of West Coast tribes, from the Nuu Chah Nulth people of the West Coast of Vancouver to the more well-known Puget Sound tribes such as the Lummi, Tulalip and Suquamish. There will be traditional Northwest dancing, singing and drumming each day and into the night inside a huge tent that will be set up at a special campground near the tribe's new Health and Wellness Center. There will be traditional food and gift-giving from the Muckleshoot Tribe to tribal leaders and canoe journey participants. Nahanee said the gathering will have elements of the traditional potlaches that occur at many tribes throughout Indian country during the year, but the Canoe Journey will have a true Northwest flavor. There will be no fancy dancing with dancers in the buckskins and feathers worn by the Plains Indians. Instead, dancers, depending on their tribe, will wear cedar capes and hats and button blankets. The tribe will serve meals each day to the visiting tribal members. Nahanee said the tribe is looking for volunteer help from people in the Auburn community to help make the gathering a success. She said hundreds of people will be needed to do everything from manning a visitor center and parking cars to peeling potatoes and securing the campground. Volunteers are also needed now to begin making the necklaces and various woolen gifts for visiting tribal members. The giveaway is a tradition among Pacific Northwest tribes. Nahanee has met with Auburn Mayor Pete Lewis and parks and recreation director Daryl Faber to talk about help the city might provide. Half of the reservation is within city limits. She also has talked to Enumclaw Mayor John Wise. Lewis said he is excited about the upcoming gathering. The city plans to incorporate it into its tourism promotions. Nahanee, 40, is a member of the Bella Bella Tribe north of Vancouver, B. C. She said she has been on 10 canoe journeys. The first one was held in 1989 and was to take place every four years. She said tribes felt that was too long an interval between journeys and decided in the mid-1990s to have one every year. She said canoes will be leaving for the Muckleshoot Reservation from their reservations up to three weeks before the gathering, depending on where they are located. On July 30, all the canoes will be welcomed by the Muckleshoots at Sand Point on Lake Washington. The canoes then will be trucked to the Muckleshoot Reservation, where they will camp together for the week. The center of the gathering will be the large tent that will sit up to 6,000 people, Nahanee said. Each canoe family will be given time to present their songs and dances to the gathering. Anyone wishing to volunteer at the canoe gathering can contact Nahanee at 253-876-3192 or the Auburn mayor's office at 253-931-3041. "Whether Native American or not, the canoe gathering has a strong resonance," Nahanee said. Mike Archbold can be reached at mike.archbold@kingcountyjournal.com or at 253-872-6647. Copyright c. 2005 Horvitz Newspapers, Inc. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Road to Success goes through Rez" --------- Date: Sat, 7 Jan 2006 09:41:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: ROAD TO SUCCESS" http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/opinion/13570878.htm DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: Road to success goes through rez January 7, 2006 In an unprecedented move during winter graduation this year, Dr. Bob Boyd, vice president for student and outreach services at UND, broke into a line of graduates receiving their doctoral degrees to congratulate Eric Longie, the first person ever from the Spirit Lake Dakota Nation in Fort Totten, N.D., to receive a doctoral degree. The announcement brought the audience and Longie's family out of their seats in a rousing ovation for this shy Dakota man. Eric and I have known each other casually for several years, but I didn't know about the long and winding path he had traveled to reach that moment in Chester Fritz Auditorium on Dec. 16. In order to realize the significance of Longie's "first-ever" doctoral degree, it is important to understand a little of the life story of the Spirit Lake Dakota nation. It has been difficult for these American Indian people. Their history is filled with atrocities committed against them; there were times when they barely were able to eke out a living. And it has been a continuous struggle for them because of misunderstandings of their cultural ways and who they are. Yet, they have survived. Some of the results of this nation's difficult history, however, exhibit themselves in the people's everyday lives. When a group of people is under stress, drugs or alcohol ease the pain for some. For many tribes, these addictions - learned with the coming of the white men - cause havoc. Longie didn't escape his environment. He lived in a community where alcohol abuse was the norm, he said. In addition, alcohol abuse was part of his teen years, he told me. Yet, Longie had Mercy Jerome, his mother. He recalls her continuous and wise guidance that gently nudged him toward the field of education. She praised her son as a good and intelligent man. Even after his mother had passed on, he remembered her words. But what finally reined him in "fast and up short" was a car accident. He was driving drunk. Longie never fully recovery from the accident and still walks with a limp. It took two or three times in treatment before he finally conquered his alcohol addiction. It is hard not to become addicted when your environment, family and community accept alcohol as a way of life, he said. It can be tough for young people living on reservations. Then, why live on the reservation? I asked him. He said this: He is comfortable on the reservation because of the culture and customs. He likes powwows, giveaways and community meals. It is like a big family where he can visit easily with everyone in the community. "I guess I'm just a `rez boy,'" he said. Longie agrees with a friend who talked about alcoholism. "I tried to quit my alcohol addiction," the friend told Longie. "I prayed the rosary and went to church, but that didn't work. What helped was the traditional ways." That's when he quit for good, the friend said. Longie pondered this when he lived off reservation for a while and thought about why should he return. "I'm Indian and belong with the people on the reservation." When Longie lost his son in a car accident four years ago, he was working on his doctorate at UND. He took a year off and nearly quit. He lost all his motivation and didn't see any reason to return to school, he said. But with the help and support of his friends and some of the people at UND, he returned after a year. That is what depression can do to you, he said. Longie said he learned this lesson after the death of this son: He, Longie, is not as independent as he thought. He had to accept the help of friends and family. They helped him make it through the loss of his son and the depression that followed, he said. Longie raised three sons and a daughter for most of their lives as a single father. "I am not a particularly good father," he said, "but my children are my life." In spite of the struggles Longie experienced on the reservation, it is also the place where his strength and will came from. For Spirit Lake, Dr. Eric Longie will be a good role model, and others will follow in his footsteps. ---- Dorreen Yellow Bird's column appears Tuesday and Saturday. Reach her at (701) 780-1228 or dyellowbird@gfherald.com Copyright c. 2005 Grand Forks Herald/Grand Forks, ND. --------- "RE: Review: Expand range for Wolves" --------- Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2006 08:40:11 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MEXICAN WOLF REINTRODUCTION" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.casperstartribune.net//c40500ca19387ca9872570ec007338ed.txt Review: Expand range for wolves January 6, 2006 PHOENIX (AP) - A review of the Mexican wolves reintroduction program in Arizona and New Mexico by state, federal and tribal authorities recommends that the wolves' allowable range be expanded. A five-year review of the reintroduction program has 37 recommendations that will be sent to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for review. It is hoped that the federal agency will decide on which recommendations will be implemented by April 2007. Included in the review is a recommended moratorium throughout 2006 on introducing new wolves into the wild. The moratorium would be imposed if six or more breeding pairs are found in a wolf count that is taking place now. Officials with the Arizona Game & Fish Department said an estimated 50 to 60 wolves live in the wolf reintroduction area, which comprises the Blue Range, the White Mountain Apache Reservation and the Gila National Forest in New Mexico. If researchers confirm that estimate, it would represent about half of the 100 wolves the original reintroduction plan anticipated. Terry Johnson of the Arizona Game & Fish Department said the current area is not sufficient for 100 wolves. "They need big country," he said. "How much bigger is where the argument is." The recommendations give no specific guidance on range expansion, reserving that for later study. Johnson said the review was conducted by a committee composed of representatives from six agencies - the Arizona department, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, the U.S. Forest Service, the USDA Wildlife Services, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the White Mountain Apache Tribe. It is one of two required under the federal rule that authorized the reintroduction program. The other review was done after three years. The Fish and Wildlife Service is obligated to act on the recommendations, responding either yes or no or providing an alternative. Fifteen of the recommendations require FWS action. The committee can pursue the rest on its own. Since wolves were reintroduced in January 1998, ranchers in eastern Arizona a