_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 14, ISSUE 004 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 28, 2006 Abenaki alamikos/greetings maker moon Eastern Cherokee nvda kanawoga/cold moon Mohawk tsothohrhko:wa/moon of the big cold Passmamquoddy opolahsomuwehs/whirling wind moon +-------------------------------------------------------+ | Much more happens in Indian Country than is reported | | in this weekly newsletter. For daily updates & events | | go to http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm | +-------------------------------------------------------+ Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin -- Blackfeet -- News for All the People Ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min -- Ojibwe -- We Are Talking About Ourselves Aunchemokauhettittea -- Naragansett -- Let Us Share News Kanoheda Aniyvwiya -- Cherokee -- Journal of the People O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse -- Creek -- People's New News O o O Acimowin -- Plains Cree -- Story or Account O o O Tlaixmatiliztli -- Nahuatl -- News O o o o o O Agnutmaqan -- Listuguj Mi'kmaq -- News O o O Sho-da-ku-ye -- Teehahnahmah -- Talking Birchbark O o O Un Chota -- Susquehannic Seneca -- The People Speak O Ha-Sah-Sliltha -- Ditidaht Nation -- News of the People Ximopanolti tehuatzin, inin Mexika tlahtolli -- Nahuatl -- For you we offer these words It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le -- Chickasaw -- Together We Are Talking Dineh jii' adah' ho'nil'e'gii ba' ha' neh -- Navajo Nation -- What's Happening among The People News Okla Humma Holisso Nowat Anya -- Choctaw -- People(s) Red Newspaper Hi'a chu ah gaa -- Pima -- The stories or the talk of the People s ch mA mL tL squee Lux -- Okanogan -- News from the People Native American News -- Language of the Occupation Forces ++>If you speak a Native American language not listed above, please send us your words for "News of the People." We'd rather take up this whole page saving these few words of our hundreds of nations than present a nice clean banner in the language of the occupation forces who came here determined to replace our words with their own. email gars@nanews.org with the equivalent of "News of the People" in your tribal language along with the english translation <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is produced in straight ASCII text for greatest portability across platforms. Read it with a fixed-pitch font, such as Courier, Monaco, FixedSys or CG Times. Proportional fonts will be difficult to read. <================<<<< >>>>================> This issue contains articles from www.owlstar.com; www.indianz.com; www.pechanga.net; Big Mountain, Frostys AmerIndian and Iron Natives 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: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + =================== "Wars are fought to see who owns the land, but in the end it possesses man. Who dares say he owns it- is he not buried beneath it?" __Cochise , Chiricahua Apache +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! Nancy Two Stars wrote the Lake Traverse Sisseton Wahpeton tribal news, "Sota Iya Ye Yapi", to remind her people that there are visions we need to remember and hold to. These are not dreams or myths. They are gifted visions of what is to be. One in particular opened my heart. It was one of the things I was honored to share when this humble newsletter began fourteen years ago. As you read the Hopi prophecy it is my prayer it will rekindle your hopes, dreams and Spirit in such a way that you will help make our Sacred Hoop whole again, and help your own People remember the proud legacy handed down to them by your ancestors. Get on the sacred path laid down before you and take your children there with you, so they might know the gift of life and turn away from gangs, meth and glue sniffing. --- Where do we stand today? Hopi Prophecy updated - The prophecies which have emerged from the tribal past, like underground streams, nourish the modern Indian movements. Of these ancient visions that foretell the future, none is better known, nor more influential, than the Hopi Prophecy. It was the source of the "Letter to President Truman" by the Hopi clan chiefs and traditional leaders who challenged the US government's moral authority and reaffirmed their own religious beliefs. "What has become of your religion?" the Hopis asked the President. Hopi Indian Empire, Oraibi, Arizona March 28, 1949 The President The White House, Washington, DC To the President: We, the hereditary Hopi Chieftains of the Hopi Pueblos of Hotevila, Shungopovi, and Mushongnovi humbly request a word with you. Thoroughly acquainted with the wisdom and knowledge of our traditional form of government and our religious principles; sacredly authorized and entrusted to speak, act, and to execute our duties and obligations for all the common people throughout this land of the Hopi Empire, in accordance with the fundamental principles of life, which were laid down for us by our Great Spirit, Masau'u, and by our forefathers, we hereby assembled in the Hopi Pueblo of Shungopovi on March 9, 13, 26 and 28 of this year 1949 for the purpose of making known to the government of the United States and others in this land that the Hopi Empire is still in existence, its traditional path unbroken and its religious order intact and practiced, and the Stone Tablets, upon which are written the boundaries of the Hopi Empire, are still in the hands of the Chiefs of Oraibi and Hotevila Pueblos... What we say is from our hearts. We speak truths that are based upon our own tradition and religion. We speak as the first people in this land you call America. And we speak to you, a white man, that last people who came to our shores seeking freedom of worship, speech, assembly, and a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And we are speaking to all the American Indian people. Today we, Hopi and white man, come face to face at the crossroad of our respective life. At last our paths have crossed and it was foretold it would be at the most crucial time in the history of mankind. Everywhere, people are confused. What we decide now and do hereafter will be the fate of our respective people. Because we Hopi leaders are following our traditional instructions, we must make our position clear to you and we expect you to do the same to us... The Hopi form of government was established solely upon religious and traditional grounds. The divine plan of life in this land was laid out by Great Spirit, Masau'u. This plan cannot be changed. The Hopi life is all set according to the fundamental principles of life of this divine plan. We can not do otherwise but to follow this plan. There is no other way for us... This land is a sacred home of the Hopi people and all the Indian race in this land. It was given to the Hopi people the task to guard this land not by force of arms, but by humble prayers, by obedience to our traditional and religious instruction, and by being faithful to our Great Spirit, Masau'u. We are still a sovereign nation. Our flag still flies throughout our land (our ancient ruins). We have never abandoned our sovereignty to any foreign power or nation. We've been self-governing people long before any white man came to our shores. What Great Spirit made and planned no power on earth can change. The boundaries of our Empire were established permanently and was written upon Stone Tablets which are still with us. Another was given to his white brother, who after emerging of the first people to this new land went east with the understanding that he will return with his Stone Tablet to the Hopis. These Stone Tablets when put together and if they agree will prove to the whole world that this land truly belongs to the Hopi people and that they are true brothers. Then the white brother will restore order and judge all people here who have been faithful to their traditional and religious principles and who have mistreated his people... We, the traditional leaders, want you and the American people to know that we will stand firmly upon our own traditional and religious grounds. And that we will not bind ourselves to any foreign nation at this time. Neither will we go with you on a wild and reckless adventure which we know will lead us only to a total ruin. Our Hopi form of government is all set and ready for such eventuality. We have met all other rich and powerful nations who have come to our shores, from the Early Spanish Conquistadors down to the present government of the United States, all of whom have used force in trying to wipe out our existence here in our own home. We want to come to our own destiny in our own way. We have no enemy. We will neither show our bows and arrows to anyone at this time. This is our only way to everlasting life and happiness. Our tradition and religious training forbid us to harm, kill and molest anyone. We, therefore, objected to our boys being forced to be trained for war to become murderers and destroyers. It is you who should protect us. What nation who has taken up arms ever brought peace and happiness to his people? All the laws under the Constitution of the United States were made without our consent, knowledge, and approval, yet we are being forced to do everything that we know is contrary to our religious principles and those principles of the Constitution of the United States. Now we ask you, American people, what has become of your religion and your tradition? Where do we stand today? The time has come now for all of us as leaders of our people to re-examine ourselves, our past deeds, and our future plans. The judgment day will soon be upon us. Let us make haste and set our house in order before it is too late. We believe these to be truths, and from our hearts and for these reasons, we, Hopi Chieftains, urge you to give these thoughts your most earnest considerations. And after a thorough and careful consideration, we want to hear from you at your earliest convenience. This is our sacred duty to our people. We are, Sincerely yours. Chief Talahaftewa, Village Chief, Bear Clan, Shungopovi Basevaya, Adviser, Katchin Clan, Shungopovi Andrew Hermequaftewa, Adviser, Blue Bird Clan, Shungopovi Chief Sackmasa, Village Crier, Coyote Clan, Mushongnovi Chief James Pongayawyma, Village Chief, Kotop Clan (Fire), Hotevila Chief Dan Katchongva, Adviser, Co-Ruler, Sun Clan, Hotevila --- 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 ----------- - Tribal Members recount hardships - Diabetes and Navajo Teaching created by Mines - MICHAEL PLATT: Chief led way - Utah State may - Black Hawk Descendant have to pay Tribe Millions tells of his Rich Heritage - Bush lauded for extending - Conservative Government Trust Fund deadline need not be feared - Justice department sides with Cayuga - Mohawks don't vote - New York's tax attack gears up in Federal Electios - Tribe's Appeal Rejected - Tories may be `Big Trouble' - Delaware continue fight for First Nations to regain recognition - The Aboriginal Political Parties - Native Religions are - Then there's the not as Sacred as Dollar First Peoples National Party... - Navajo Health Officials - Conservatives confirm Virus Death declare War on Aboriginal People - Navajo future bleeding away - Candidate says FN's concerns - Pipeline crossing Nation falling on Deaf Ears no longer in trespass - Dinner to mark Town, - Hataali Leader First Nation Partnership looks to future beyond Coal - Fontaine heard - Native Leaders question Burns Yukon Chiefs' Concerns support for Tribes - Aboriginal students - Native Americans get a hand with FNMI lobby S.Dak. Legislature - Utah Bill protecting - Mobile Bank rolls on Reservation Tribal use of Peyote - United Tribal Court - Spectators shout down Judge may lure Business as Mohawks sentenced - Legislature committee - Tribes not entitled to fees to hear Abenaki Issues - Minnesota Lawsuit - Discoveries help over Indian Trust Land piece together Tequesta Puzzle - Ramapough Tribe sues Ford - New archaeological look over Sludge Dumping at Georgia Evangelists - Native Prisoner - Hawaiian rights bill -- Sweat Loge Ceremonies gets mixed reviews denied again - Indian Tribes - History: Carlisle Indian School changing Lobbyist Rules - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - YELLOW BIRD: - Rustywire: I Can Hear It Still Blanket of Snow generates warmth - Del "Abe" Jones Poem: - LOUIS GRAY: Save Indian Art The Never Ending Trail by killing the Museum - Traditional Men's Gathering - JODI RAVE: - Indigenous Games '06 reps King's Speech still applies to visit event Sites --------- "RE: Tribal Members recount hardships created by Mines" --------- Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2006 17:15:31 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MINES LEGACY OF ILLNESS" http://www.havredailynews.com/2006/01/12/local_headlines/tribal.txt Tribal members recount hardships created by mines Larry Kline Havre Daily News lkline@havredailynews.com January 12, 2006 FORT BELKNAP AGENCY - Almost 20 years later, Tina Has The Eagle can still hear her 3-year-old son's screams. The boy was playing in the waters that flow onto Fort Belknap Indian Reservation from the now-defunct Zortman-Landusky gold project along the reservation's southern border when his feet started to burn. Cold water didn't help, and only a doctor's visit eased the pain. Her son's feet are still scarred, she said. Has The Eagle, a tribal council member, on Wednesday joined about 20 other people at a public hearing who told the Montana Board of Environmental Review that a proposed rule to quicken the cleanup of water contaminated by mining is necessary to ensure the safety of other communities in the state. "I don't want to see other families suffer the consequences we have," Has The Eagle said. The board will now take a little more time to consider the rule. Its members decided to extend the deadline for public comment from next Wednesday to March 17. They will also consider rewording the rule, which was submitted by Fort Belknap tribes and the Montana Environmental Information Center last summer. The rule would require that mining operations, in their application for a permit, demonstrate they can clean up surface and groundwater contamination within the same time frame as other cleanup at the mine. At a public hearing on Tuesday in Boulder, mining industry representatives and other critics of the rule said it would throw existing mines out of business, and called the treatment requirement impossible to satisfy. While Tuesday's meeting only saw one advocate, only one opponent spoke Wednesday at the bingo hall in Fort Belknap Agency. MEIC water and mining program director Jeff Barber proposed two changes to the rule. One would exclude existing mine operations, while the other would change the language of the rule. Under the current proposal, mining companies would have to "conclusively demonstrate" that perpetual water treatment would not be needed at mine sites that have been closed and cleaned up. Barber wants the rule changed so that companies will have to provide "clear and convincing evidence." The proposed exclusion for existing mines means the state Department of Environmental Quality will rework an economic study of the rule's effects. Like Has The Eagle, many who spoke at the hearing remembered how times have changed for residents at the southern end of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. Waters that flow onto tribal land from the abandoned mines now have the red and orange tints of acid mine drainage, they said. People who remembered swimming in and drinking the waters at Mission Canyon said they can't allow their children and grandchildren to do the same. Animals in the area are sickly and lose patches of hair. Catherine Halver, vice president of Island Mountain Protectors, a grass- roots group that sued mine owner Pegasus Gold Inc. in the mid-1990s, said residents were left "holding the sack" after the operation's closure. Many in the area are now forced to buy water for bathing, cooking and drinking. The two open-pit mines were operated by Pegasus from 1979 to 1998, when the company went bankrupt. The company pioneered the now-outlawed technique of heap-leach mining, in which cyanide solutions were poured over mountain rubble to extract small amounts of gold. Large portions of some of the mountains in the Little Rockies, sacred to tribal members who used them for fasting sites and for hunting, were reduced to rubble by the mines' operation. Tribal environmental liaison Dean Stiffarm said state and federal agencies did not consider the mines' long-term effects when the mines were permitted in 1979 and during numerous expansions. "All they did was see the dollars," Stiffarm said. "They didn't see the whole picture of what would happen." Blaine County Commissioner Delores Plumage called the mines "a disaster." "That is a shame for the state of Montana," she said. Tribal council president Julia Doney said the proposed rule would save future generations across Montana from similar problems, adding that the millions spent on cleanup at Zortman-Landusky could instead have been used to create jobs and improve the quality of life for Montanans. "We just want to try to help other communities to not go through what we've had to go through," Doney said. "Mining companies come and go, but Montanans stay here." State Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Rocky Boy and a Rocky Boy tribal council member, said he will be keeping a "close eye" on the board's actions. Windy Boy sponsored a bill last year creating a trust fund for water cleanup at the Zortman-Landusky mines. The state will deposit about $1.5 million a year into the fund, and the earnings will be used for water treatment when current funding runs out in 2018. Windy Boy said the proposed rule would set up a checks-and-balances system to protect future generations from the ill effects of mining, adding that he would "seriously consider" sponsoring legislation next year to implement the requirement if the board does not approve the rule. Copyright c. 2006 Havre Daily News. --------- "RE: Utah State may have to pay Tribe Millions" --------- Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2006 17:15:31 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MISMANAGED TRUST" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://kutv.com/topstories/local_story_014135553.html Utah State May Have To Pay Tribe Millions January 14, 2006 SALT LAKE CITY A federal judge has ordered Utah to dig through up to five decades of accounting records for the Navajo Trust Fund and track some $35 million in unaccounted for funds and interest. Utah holds the $150 million oil trust for tribal members in San Juan County, who filed a class action 1992 class action suit demanding the accounting and alleging the state has mismanaged their money. Money in the trust is supposed to be used for projects to benefit Navajos. If the state can't account for the money, it will ultimately have to repay the trust, U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell said in her ruling. Created by Congress in 1933, the trust documents mandate that 37.5 percent of royalties from oil and gas exploration on Navajo reservation be held by the state and used for health, education and general tribe welfare. Attorney Brian Barnard, who represents the families, said there is some indication that the trust was correctly managed, but also evidence that Utah gave funds to groups that embezzled from it. For example, $35 million given to the Utah Navajo Development Council, a New Mexico nonprofit group, was used to create Utah Navajo Industries, a for-profit company that developed small businesses. Officers of both groups were later convicted of embezzling from the trust. "The state has never taken money. What has happened is that the state has mismanaged it," Barnard said. But deputy Utah Attorney General Phil Lott said a judge will have to ultimately decided if the state must pay the trust. "Accounting does not equal a determination that the state has to pay anything," Lott said. "We're not at that point yet." Lott could not estimate how long the accounting audit might take. Campbell said in her ruling that she will examine each decade of records according to the accounting standards used during that time. Barnard said he fears tracking funds some funds, given that the UNDC and UNI have both disbanded after declaring bankruptcy. Copyright c. 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 2006 KUTV. --------- "RE: Bush lauded for extending Trust Fund deadline" --------- Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2006 08:39:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BUSH DOES ONE THING RIGHT - EXTENDS TRUST FUND DEADLINE" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7462 Bush lauded for extending trust fund deadline Tribes have additional year to file claims January 17, 2006 An organization that monitors the Indian trust fund process has "applauded the leadership of President George W. Bush" after a law extending for one year the period that trust fund holders can file claims against the Department of Interior was signed into law. Bush approved the legislation after Congress passed it in late December. "This one year extension will encourage and permit tribes and the federal government to continue efforts to negotiate, rather than litigate, settlement of disputed Indian trust fund balances," said Intertribal Monitoring Association president Jim Gray in a statement. "We applaud President Bush for signing this important bill into law." The ITMA is a national non-profit organization made up of 64 tribes. It was created in 1990 to monitor the trust fund situation. In 1999, Congress gave tribes a six-year period-until the end of 2005- to file a trust fund claim. ITMA officials say that if the deadline had not been extended, tribes may have lost out because they did not realize time had elapsed, and that the extension "now permits them opportunities for equitable redress in court or for negotiated settlements with the" feds. "This extension will save everyone time and money as settlement resolutions are negotiated," Gray said. The lawsuit over Indian accounts, which involves Indian trust fund holders suing the government for mismanaging their money, has now been in court for close to a decade. You can reach Sam Lewin at sam@okit.com Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Justice department sides with Cayuga" --------- Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 17:53:04 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LAND CLAIM" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.nynewsday.com/story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork Justice department sides with tribe in Supreme Court request January 18, 2006 SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) _ The federal government has joined the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court's dismissal of the tribe's land claim and $248 million judgment. The Cayugas, meanwhile, have been granted a second extension for filing their challenge to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal's decision. The tribe now has until Feb. 3 to submit a written request to have its case heard by the nation's top court. Last June, in a 2-to-1 decision, the New York City-based federal appeals court overturned the judgment and dismissed the Cayuga land claim, ruling the New York Cayugas and Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma waited too long to reclaim 64,000 acres of ancestral homeland in Cayuga and Seneca counties. Officials in Cayuga and Seneca counties said they were not surprised by the Justice Department joining the Cayugas in asking the top court to review the case. They doubted the significance of the move since the federal government has sided with the tribe throughout the 25-year dispute. "I think it was an automatic for the federal government. Their perception is that it's their responsibility to defend the welfare of Native Americans," Cayuga County Legislature Chairman George Fearon said. An Indian law expert at Syracuse University said having the federal government on their side could bolster the Cayugas' attempt to have the top court overrule the appeals court decision. "I think it's fair to interpret this as if the federal government felt the 2nd Circuit decision was correct, they would not have gotten involved, " said Robert Odawi Porter, director of Syracuse University's Center for Indigenous Law, Governance and Citizenship. The Supreme Court, which hears about one in every 100 appeals brought before it, could decide on whether to review the case by the end of its current term in June. If it does, arguments could be heard in the court's next term, which starts in October. Copyright c. 2006 Newsday Inc. --------- "RE: New York's tax attack gears up" --------- Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2006 08:39:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NEW YORK INTENT ON BREAKING TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096412261 New York's tax attack gears up by: Editors Report / Indian Country Today January 12, 2006 After years spent dreaming of casinos, New York tribes are finding that a threat to their basic sovereignty has crept up on them while they napped. The Suffolk County police siege of the Poospatuck reservation opens a state attack on Indian tax sovereignty which could unravel a decade of economic and social progress. Under orders from the state Legislature, Gov. George Pataki's administration is preparing to impose tax regulations on reservation sales that it first tried to enforce in the mid-'90s. New York Indians might have thought they defeated this measure in 1997; but it is back again, due to take effect March 1. The grass-roots Indian rebellion of spring 1997 is one of the stirring episodes of modern tribal history. Although a number of tribal leaders had signed tax compacts with the state, two tribes - the Seneca and the Unkechaug - held out. Protests spread, closing interstate highways. Clan mothers chastised leaders who had compromised. The Mohawks joined in. As state police lost control, beating women and children at Onondaga, Pataki backed down. At the end of May, he flew to Buffalo to make a dramatic speech promising respect for tribal sovereignty. In spite of a U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the regulations drafted by his Department of Taxation and Finance, Pataki said the state would no longer attempt to tax reservation sales, whether to Indians or non-Indians. It was a wise policy and a great victory, not only for the tribes but for the best instincts of the Republican Party. Reservation tax sovereignty happened to mesh nicely with the party's "supply-side" economics, which sought economic growth through tax reductions. During the decade that followed Pataki's speech, entrepreneurs flourished on the reservations that were open to them, and Indian governments with commercial acumen built up their own enterprises. The tribes launched hundreds of small businesses and created thousands of jobs, for the most part without help from casino revenues. Republicans, inspired by Jack Kemp, simultaneously tried to spur economic growth in tax-free districts they called Empire Zones, but their results paled beside the success on the reservations. Yet Republicans now seem eager to destroy their one successful social program, the one policy that has helped bring hope and prosperity to what was once the most oppressed and impoverished population on the continent. Pataki argues that the state Legislature tied his hands. Under lobbying by convenience store and gas station associations, the narrowest of special interests, both houses passed a law demanding taxation of the reservations. Pataki vetoed it once, but his protests ring hollow. For years, his negotiators have worked to reverse his one wise deed, demanding tax concessions whenever possible as they worked out deals on land claims and gaming compacts. It should be said that Democrats haven't been any better. The House, controlled by Democrats, pushed for the tax regulations as hard as the Republican Senate. Democratic state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has steadily tightened the noose on reservation economies. He has been pressuring credit card companies and delivery services not to process Internet sales of cigarettes, a major business on the Seneca reservations: and now he is turning the screws on cigarette distributors not to supply unstamped cigarettes to the reservations themselves. He hasn't mentioned Indians in his frequent press releases, perhaps to avoid roiling his upcoming campaign for governor, but the legal documents make it crystal clear that he is preparing a crackdown when the tax goes into effect March 1. The tribes are divided and poorly prepared for the onslaught. The Seneca have done the most, with a public relations campaign focusing on their own treaties. But their businesses are reeling from the Internet crackdown. The Unkechaug are facing harassment from the Suffolk County district attorney, a campaign that looks a lot like part of a master strategy. It's no coincidence that Unkechaug Chief Harry Wallace, a trained lawyer committed to tribal sovereignty, was one of the main leaders of the 1997 resistance. Other tribes have been diverted by their quest for casinos. Some emigre Iroquois tribes sold out the tax struggle entirely, accepting state taxation as the price for regaining territory in the state and a slice of the potential gaming market. In that sense, the collapse of their land settlements last year now looks like a blessing. As once-steadfast Haudenosaunee nations increasingly make assessments based on percentages rather than principles, their very existence as the orig inally free and inherently independent peoples of their own lands is jeopardized. Even the St. Regis Mohawk (Akwesasne) accepted a weak deal in attempting to protect their thriving reservation businesses. They gave up tax sovereignty over their potential Catskills casino in return for a promise that the state tax department would "take into account" their self- regulation of their cigarette and gasoline sales in the Akwesasne homeland. This deal was supposed to produce a commercial treaty in lieu of the tax regulations, but the Legislature never passed the bill providing for that process. And the state showed bad faith from the get-go, demanding to tax big-ticket reservation sales like cars and boats. The tribes that let the tax issue lapse in their dreams of casinos can now awaken to the irony that the only newly opened gaming facilities in the state belong to the Seneca Nation, which steadfastly refused to make any concessions on its tax sovereignty. The Seneca position should have been the template for all the other tribes, and it shows the true intentions of Pataki's negotiators that they tried to get as far from it as possible in all their other settlements. It will take a supreme effort for the New York tribes to regain the spirit of '97, but they have little choice if they are to protect the gains of the last decade. The evidence is that tribes that compromise their sovereignty to get casinos usually wind up with neither. Copyright c. 1998-2006 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Tribe's Appeal Rejected" --------- Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 17:53:04 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="EASTERN PEQUOT DENIED REVIEW" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.courant.com/0119.artjan19,0,2778002.story?&track=rss Tribe's Appeal Rejected - Hartford Courant January 19, 2006 An appeals panel within the Interior Department has denied a request by the Eastern Pequot Indians to reconsider their petition for federal recognition. The tribe filed its appeal with the Interior Board of Indian Appeals last Thursday, and in a ruling dated last Friday the panel denied the request for reconsideration. Interior officials could not be reached for comment late Wednesday. "They dismissed it for lack of jurisdiction. They said that, as written, the revised final determination stated that it was final," said Patricia Marks, lawyer for the Easterns. "We thought we had a legitimate right to appeal," Marks said. "After all of the efforts the [Bureau of Indian Affairs] made to hear the state's case ... to have the Eastern Pequots turned down the first time their petition is appealed is very disappointing." We thought we had a legitimate right to appeal," Marks said. "After all of the efforts the [Bureau of Indian Affairs] made to hear the state's case ... to have the Eastern Pequots turned down the first time their petition is appealed is very disappointing." Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said the Easterns' case was "completely lacking in merit with no basis in fact or law." "The IBIA's quick reaction - in barely a day's time - is an unsurprising, well-merited result for the Eastern Pequots' appeal," Blumenthal said. The tribe, in its appeal, asked the appeals panel to reconsider the case because federal rules allow for a "full and fair evaluation of a request for reconsideration." In the appeal, the tribe said it had new evidence and that the review by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs of other evidence was "inadequate and incomplete." The tribe also noted that in previous rulings the BIA had upheld evidence submitted and it was only after the BIA's final "reconsidered" ruling last year that the Easterns' history was questioned. The Easterns won federal recognition as a tribe in 2002, but after an appeal by the state, the BIA issued a revised ruling rejecting the tribe in October. "It was a long shot, but it was a shot we had to try just on the basis of fairness," said Eastern Pequot Chairwoman Marcia Flowers. "We are stronger than ever." The Easterns can now challenge their denial in federal court, a route that another Connecticut tribe, the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation, already is pursuing. Copyright c. 2006 by The Hartford Courant. --------- "RE: Delaware continue fight to regain recognition" --------- Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2006 08:39:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DELAWARE MEMBERS WORK TOWARD REGAINING FULL RECOGNITION" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.examiner-enterprise.com/articles/2006/01/17/news/2618.txt Delaware Tribe members promote recognition E-E Staff Report January 18, 2006 Members of the Delaware Tribe of Indians visited Washington, D.C. on last week regarding the tirbes recent loss of federal recognition. The tribe was represented by Assistant Chief Jerry Douglas, Tribal Council Secretary Jenifer Pechonick (Pate), and Delaware Trust Board Member Wayne Stull. They were accompanied in their visit by a rribal attorney from New Mexico and a Washington, D.C. lobbyist. During the trip the group met with most of the Oklahoma congressional delegation, Senate Select Indian Affairs Committee, acting assistant secretary of Interior and other Bureau of Indian Affairs officials. Meeting topics covered what the tribe must to do to recover the federal recognition it lost following a November, 2004 court ruling. The Delaware delegation returned to Bartlesville late Thursday evening saying they were very encouraged with the information gained at the meetings. Chief candidate Jenifer Pechonick (Pate) has called a community meeting from 2 to 4 p.m. today to discuss the results of the trip. The meeting will be held at the Delaware Community Center, 5100 E. Tuxedo Blvd. All Delaware tribal members are asked to attend and have their questions about the results of the trip answered. According to the press release, Assistant Chief Jerry Douglas and Secretary Jenifer Pechonick (Pate) and Trust board Member Wayne Stull also encourage all Delaware Tribal Members to remember to vote for the candidate of their personal choice in the Jan. 21 Tribal Election. Copyright C. 2006 Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Native Religions are not as Sacred as Dollar" --------- Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 17:53:04 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="$NOWBOWL OVER NA+IVE RIGH+S" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0117montini17.html Native religions are not as sacred as almighty dollar January 17, 2006 The last time, maybe the only time, that most people in Arizona went along with the idea that Native American spiritual beliefs are part of a legitimate religion occurred early in April 2003, when snow fell in Tuba City. At the time, news organizations from all over the globe were covering the story of Pfc. Lori Piestewa, the first Native American woman to die for the United States in combat. Reporters had been told that the name Piestewa, in Hopi, refers to rainwater that collects after a heavy downpour. Then, only a few hours after Piestewa's parents were informed of her death in Iraq, it snowed. Lori's mother, Percy, was quoted as saying, "She (Lori) came down in moisture and told us, 'I'm at peace with myself, and I'm with the creator.' We knew it was her sending us a message in the snow." People all over the world heard about the message in the snow, and for that brief moment, everyone seemed to believe it was a message from above. But that was then. We were in the early stages of the war. The death of Piestewa and other soldiers was a shock that we needed to get through. Once that happened, it appears that our view of Native American spirituality shifted from reverential to mildly dismissive. If that were not true, spiritual leaders and followers from what we think of as mainstream religions would be up in arms over what happened last week in federal court. A judge decided that the Arizona Snowbowl ski resort could install equipment that would make artificial snow using reclaimed wastewater from Flagstaff. Some tribes in the area consider the mountains sacred. Last summer, when the issue was heating up, a Navajo medicine man told The Arizona Republic's Mark Shaffer: "The peaks have a lot of religious power when they are undisturbed. But putting wastewater up there would be like turning our shrine into a toilet." The U.S. Forest Service didn't see it that way, however. Neither did the operators of the Arizona Snowbowl, which this year is suffering from what could turn out to be its driest season on record. And neither did the federal judge. Hundreds of people have jobs related to skiing, which pumps millions of dollars into Flagstaff's economy. It's easy to understand why business owners would support the push to make artificial snow. In a battle between the Almighty and the almighty dollar, the Church of the Greenback usually wins. Arizona Snowbowl is on federal land, so Indian claims that its surroundings are "sacred" can easily lose out in court. But reaction to the court's decision not only demonstrates how much we care about money; it shows just how little we think of Native American "religions." There has been no visible effort among other religious congregations to come to the aid of the tribes. No meeting between medicine men, who are said to travel from far away to perform ceremonies on the San Francisco Peaks, and the spiritual leaders of more well-known faiths. No rallying of Christians, Muslims and Jews behind the Native religions. Every spiritual person believes that he is a member of the one true faith. But most of the time when a single religion is pushed aside by commerce or common prejudice, leaders from other persuasions come to its defense. Imagine what would happen if a court told Christians in the area that local businesses needed all the available fresh water and that pastors would have to use chemically treated effluent for baptisms. Copyright c. 2006 Arizona Republic. --------- "RE: Navajo Health Officials confirm Virus Death" --------- Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 09:49:11 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HANTAVIRUS CASE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.azdailysun.com/non_sec/nav_includes/story.cfm?storyID=123439 Navajo health officials confirm us death January 21, 2006 WINDOW ROCK (AP) - Navajo Nation health officials have confirmed that an American Indian woman contracted hantavirus and died from the disease within the past three weeks. The woman's name was not released, but health officials said the case was confirmed in the Arizona portion of the Navajo Nation. The reservation spans parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Dr. Douglas Peter, chief medical officer of the Navajo Area Indian Health Service, urged residents to avoid contact with rodents as well as their nests and droppings. Hantavirus is passed to humans when they inhale particles of dried urine or feces from infected rodents, especially deer mice. The problem most often occurs when people enter buildings such as cabins or sheds that have been closed for a while and have been infested by mice. Hantavirus is marked by fever, headache and muscle ache, possibly with chills, nausea and vomiting, and progresses rapidly to severe difficulty in breathing and, in some cases, death. Symptoms develop one to six weeks after exposure. The disease was first identified in the Four Corners area in 1993, when 18 people got sick and 10 died. The outbreak led to the identification of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Copyright c. 2006 Arizona Daily Sun. --------- "RE: Navajo future bleeding away" --------- Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 08:51:39 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ECONOMIC PROBLEMS PLAGUE NAVAJO NATION" http://www.gallupindependent.com/2006/jan/011806bldngaw.html Navajo future bleeding away Dollar flow from reservation drains its economic stability Editor's note: This is the first in a three-part series looking at economic problems that plague the Navajo Nation. By John Christian Hopkins Dine' Bureau January 18, 2006 WINDOW ROCK - Every year, millions of dollars flow from the Navajo Nation to surrounding towns, and much less comes back across the border. It has been estimated that 85 percent of all the money that comes to the reservation each year, ends up being spent in the border towns and off- reservation. Last year, Patrick Sandoval, chief of staff for Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., told a group of community leaders: "If we were a country, the borders would be closed because of the unfair trade deficit." The two biggest imports to the Navajo reservation are cars and liquor; the single largest export , Sandoval said at the time, "is cold, hard cash." The trade imbalance in Navajoland "Trade deficit is an interesting way to put it. I've also heard it called 'capital flight'," said George Hardeen, spokesman for Shirley. "It's a fairly complicated, interrelated explanation to answer (the) question, but simple and logical at the same time." It exists because there are so few businesses on the Navajo Nation that tribal members spend their money on large and small purchases in border towns, such as Gallup. "Jobs and businesses equal a robust economy. Here, the jobs are primarily government, which doesn't produce a product or service the consumer purchases. It provides income to employees, yes, but not something a consumer can turn around and buy," Hardeen explained. Big ticket items, such as cars, mobile homes and large appliances must be purchased off-Navajo. So, too, must medium ticket items such as electronics, computers, DVDs, CDs be purchased off the reservation. Smaller items such as clothes, shoes and food are generally also purchased off-Navajo. Even miscellaneous stuff that adds up, like livestock feed, tack, trailers, appliances, furniture, building and construction supplies, auto parts, and on and on all must be purchased off-Navajo. That means the Navajo economy itself is exported. The solution is to bring the economy back to the reservation. But how could that be accomplished? "First, produce businesses and create a business-friendly environment," Hardeen said. Shirley recently urged the Navajo Nation Council to streamline the business site leasing process. "It's not something the president can do alone, although he is a strong supporter of free enterprise," Hardeen said. "Business is contagious if land is available. That's a local issue. Local chapters must first get the first step of the Local Governance Certification accepted by the Transportation and Community Development Committee, which is their land use plan certification. That will free them to declare which areas can be business sites." Another part of that problem is more complex: the historical use of land allows a single person to invoke a "customary use area" to scuttle land use if the person claims he wants to use it for grazing, whether he actually grazes it or not, Hardeen said. "That's a ubiquitous problem on Navajo which will require land reform which no delegate will sponsor. It's untouchable and has been for years," Hardeen said. "Without land, a prospective business cannot build a building. Instead, they must lease a storefront from an existing Navajo Nation shopping center, if one exists and if a shop exists. So that's a long way to say there are limitations to open a traditional kind of business." Capital Improvement Plan One of many reasons those who support President Shirley's $429 million Capital Improvement Plan are frustrated with the Nation's council's seeming disinterest in it is the immediate positive effect it would have on the current lackluster Navajo economy, Hardeen said. "The most immediate impact would be the production of construction jobs all over Navajoland. Not only would large general contractors get contracts to build the buildings called for in the plan, innumerable small Navajo independent contractors electrical, plumbing, carpentry, masonry would get subcontracts. All of them have workers and office staff. Then there are the ancillary businesses that are created freighters, food services, rentals right down to the burrito ladies in the morning. "The CIP would create 10 years of construction projects, large and small. It would be a huge investment in the economy and provide jobs for people now, as well as the high school graduates over that time period who otherwise will be forced to leave Navajo to find work," Hardeen said. Casinos will bring revenue to the Navajo Nation and create some ancillary business as well, but not on the same scale and probably not enough to stimulate the Navajo economy itself to bring balance to the trade deficit. "The key remains business, local jobs so people have a place to spend moneylocally," Hardeen said. Hardeen also pointed to another factor: the Non-Intercourse Act which prevented anyone without a BIA license from doing business on Navajoland. "That was supposed to be a solution to the corruption and exploitation of Navajos in the 1800s and was needed at the time. But the laws and regulations were never repealed and created a huge hindrance to business development, which, of course, is so powerfully felt now long after anyone remembers those old laws," Hardeen said. "So, as usual, the BIA had a huge role increating the conditions which exist now." State of the Nation The National Congress of American Indians, based in Washington D.C., claims that, at 26 percent, Native Americans have the highest poverty rate of any ethnic group in the U.S. NCAI also says Indians' health care, education and income statistics are the worst in the country. Locally, nearly half of the Navajo people are unemployed. According to the 2000 census, mining is the major source of Navajo reservation income, bringing in about 51 percent of it. With approximately three million visitors a year, tourism accounts for 17 percent of the tribal income. Taxes generated by tribal business account for 32 percent. Major employers on the reservation include the states of New Mexico and Arizona, Navajo Area Indian Health Services and Office of Indian Education Program. The Navajo population is more than 180,000 people, with the median age being 24. The median household income is $20,005. Forty-three percent of the tribe lives below the U.S. poverty line. Education is also key, as only a paltry 7 percent of Navajos earn college degrees. Copyright c. 2006 Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: Pipeline crossing Nation no longer in trespass" --------- Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 17:53:04 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="EL PASO NATURAL GAS-NAVAJO NATION FIND ACCORD" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.daily-times.com/20060119/NEWS01/601190307/1001/ Gas pipeline crossing Nation no longer in trespass By Ryan Hall and Erny Zah The Daily Times January 19, 2006 FARMINGTON - More than 900 miles of El Paso Natural Gas pipeline that cross the Navajo Nation are no longer in trespass following an interim arrangement approved Jan. 13, according to separate releases issued by the Nation and El Paso. "It's the end of slugging it out in the media in order to reach an accommodation everyone can live with," said George Hardeen, Navajo Nation spokesman. A 20-year lease requiring El Paso to pay $29 million for the right-of- way required to run the pipe expired Oct. 17, leaving the lines in trespass. The interim agreement, which expires Dec. 31, 2006, calls for El Paso to pay quarterly fees for the right-of-way while negotiations continue. "They were not fined. They continued to operate and the Navajo Nation took no adverse action," Hardeen said. Richard Wheatley, spokesman for El Paso, said the terms of the interim arrangement will not be disclosed due to a mutual confidentiality agreement between the company and the Navajo Nation. Since the expiration of the lease agreement, both sides have met at the negotiating table, but they remain quite a way apart, according to spokespersons for each party. "El Paso and the Navajo Nation are still far apart. The interim agreement is an agreement to agree to disagree and to continue to work with each other," Hardeen said. Wheatley agrees. "In terms of the fair consideration we are (still far apart)," he said. According to statements made by Bruce Connery, vice president of investor and public relations for El Paso, the Navajo Nation was asking for $440 million for a 20-year lease while El Paso was offering $138 million and one of two projects estimated at $60 million in benefits to the Nation for the same 20-year period. Wheatley said Wednesday that neither side has amended its offer. "Talks are continuing. We are hopeful the negotiations and the discussions will be fruitful," Wheatley said. "The Navajo people are deserving of a settlement and we are deserving of a fair and equitable solution as well." The line transports about 5.2 billion cubic feet per day, with a capacity of 2.7 billion cubic feet per day in the lines that cross the Nation. The original lease was signed in 1947 and has been renewed several times, Mark Grant, Navajo Nation controller, told the Navajo Nation Council in October 2005 during their fall session. Copyright c. 2005 Farmington Daily Times, a MediaNews Group Newspaper. --------- "RE: Hataali Leader looks to future beyond Coal" --------- Date: Friday, January 20, 2006 04:11 pm From: Moderator Subj: What now? Hataali leader looks to future beyond coal Mailing List: Big Mountain What now? Hataali leader looks to future beyond coal By Jason Begay Navajo Times LUKACHUKAI, Ariz. - The coalmines on the Navajo Nation should have never been opened. Instead, the Navajo people could have implemented other, more original types of economic development not so dependent on foreign businesses. This is how the head of the Navajo medicine men's association sees it. "They will have a real negative impact on the earth system," said Anthony Lee Sr., president of the 300-member Dine' Hataali Association, which represents the reservation's traditional medicine practitioners. "From a medicine man's perspective, we have to ask, why did it open in the first place?" Now that the tribe is coming face to face with the idling of the Black Mesa Mine and the approaching permanent closure of the McKinley Mine, Lee is contemplating the effect such changes will have on the Navajo Nation. In fact, the closure of the mines is simply the most recent political event that directly affects Navajo culture. In November, Lee expressed his opposition to the proposed expansion of Arizona Snowbowl, a ski area located on the San Francisco Peaks. Although Lee said he believes the Navajo Nation should not have welcomed a strip mining operation that takes natural elements out of the ground and away from the Navajo Nation, he chalks up the decision to politics. "When it comes to politics, the decisions are not always in the best interest of the land, or the people," Lee said. Traditional Navajo healing songs stress the relationship between humans and the earth, commonly referred to as "mother," Lee said. "And yet, we allow coal to be extracted from the earth and the water to be used in the slurry line to transport the coal." Lee, who teaches Navajo culture and language at Dine' College, said the tribe could have found alternative sources of income and business by looking for other types of projects. Specifically, Lee said as the Navajo Nation has increasingly embraced mainstream ideals and ideologies, the people have neglected traditional Navajo beliefs that could have helped steer the tribe toward more environmentally safe and economically prosperous opportunities. "We should have been on our toes. If we had followed the traditional practices we wouldn't be in the situation we are in today," Lee said. "There is a lot of intelligence found in the earth system that we haven't even tapped into yet. We're using the ideology of corporate America and that's what's hurting us today." For instance, Lee said he didn't know if a ceremony was performed at the sites prior to mining. It's customary to perform a prayer and an offering to the land before planting and again before harvesting, Lee said. But what about when the land has been profoundly disturbed, as happens during surface mining? Lee said he isn't sure if there is such a ceremony, but said the hataalii will look into a prayer that can be done to help heal the land once the mines close. "I don't know if it's possible to make amends with the earth," Lee said. "There are so many scars." Lee said the Navajo tribe must find a way to make mainstream American influences benefit traditional Navajo practices, such as embracing more media outlets like Navajo specific television and radio channels, and Navajo-specific curriculum in schools. A balanced system could result in keeping more of the younger generation on the reservation and bring more ideas for future development to the table. Until then, the Navajo Nation will not tap into its true potential, he said. "We are a sleeping giant," Lee said. "We're sound asleep with our arms crossed. We are waving a flag like everything is well, but it isn't. We need to wake up." ========================================= To subscribe, send an email to: BIGMTLIST-subscribe@topica.com. --------- "RE: Native Leaders question Burns support for Tribes" --------- Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 17:53:04 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BURNS TRIBAL RELATIONS TAINTED" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.casperstartribune.net/2cf1242278502f7f872570f9000e8722.txt Native leaders question senator's support for tribes By JODI RAVE January 19, 2006 While Montana Sen. Conrad Burns finds himself linked to a Native-related lobbying scandal in Washington, D.C., some tribal leaders question the senator's support for Native people in his own backyard. The Republican Burns received nearly $150,000 in campaign donations from clients of confessed crook Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist who admittedly swindled tens of millions of dollars from a half dozen wealthy tribes around the country. The Justice Department continues to investigate Abramoff, who pleaded guilty Jan. 3 to three felony charges, including conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion. Now, some of Montana's prominent tribal leaders are using the same language to describe Burns' role in representing their tribes and thousands of individual Native landowners. "The senator is from Montana, but has never taken an interest in it," said Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff in a case where a half million Native landowners have sued the Interior Department for mismanaging money owed them for natural resource development. The lawsuit is now nearing 10 years of litigation. The three-term senator, who sits on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee and chairs the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, has refused to talk with Cobell on several occasions. "I've not seen a request from her," Burns said, adding that he generally avoids discussing ongoing litigation. Even though he once sat next to her on a flight between Minneapolis and Great Falls, the senator told Cobell he didn't want to talk about her case in which the Interior Department has acknowledged more than a century's worth of account mismanagement. Burns spent the rest of the flight working on a crossword puzzle, Cobell said. "If she'd call me and say, 'I want an appointment,' she'd get it," Burns said Monday. But when Cobell scheduled an appointment in 2003, he sent a staff person in his place. She had hoped to inform Burns about the significance of appropriations legislation that included several anti-Native riders related to the lawsuit. She was disappointed when she was forced to meet with an aide to the senator. "This young person was so ignorant to us, it was so bad," said Cobell. "He told me, 'We ought to be charging you for the handling of this money.' I almost jumped across the table." Burns' committee ended up passing the spending bill, which included provisions for the Interior Department to delay by one year a historical trust fund accounting mandated by a federal judge. Another provision continues to pay legal fees for government officials who haven't complied with court orders in the suit. Two years ago, upwards of $7 million had already been paid to defend them. In a meeting with reporters and editors at the Missoulian Monday, Burns continued trying to distance himself from Abramoff. He's among several politicians who have given away the lobbyist's money in recent weeks. But the senator remains under scrutiny for directing a $3 million school construction grant to the casino-rich Saginaw Chippewa tribe in Michigan, a former Abramoff client. The Michigan tribe received more K-12 education money in one year than Montana tribes did in the past eight years. Burns has helped direct $2.65 million to two reservation-based elementary and high schools since 1998. The Blackfeet Nation made similar requests for federal funding, but remain empty handed. "We've always got promises from Sen. Burns, but no actual support to build a school here in our community," said Carol Juneau, an educator from Browning on the Blackfeet Reservation who's also a Democratic representative in the Montana Legislature. "I would have hoped that if he was going to support a $3 million appropriation for Indian education that it would have come to Montana and not a Michigan tribe," said Juneau. "They're a wealthy casino tribe. We are not." Burns said the wealthy tribe's school "buildings were in such bad shape that you wouldn't keep livestock in them." Given the chance, he said, "I'd do it again." Copyright c. 1995-2006 Casper Star-Tribune, Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Native Americans lobby S.Dak. Legislature" --------- Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 17:53:04 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TRIBES LOBBY FOR EQUITABLE LIFE" http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006601180338 Native Americans lobby Legislature Issues include racial profiling, social services for Indians MEGAN MYERS memyers@argusleader.com January 18, 2006 PIERRE - The drumbeats and chanting of the Wakpa Waste drum group echoed from the marbled walls of the state Capitol rotunda Tuesday afternoon, marking Native American Day at the South Dakota Legislature. "We've come here to speak on the issues with our hearts and minds," said advocate Mary Ann Bear Heels McCowan of First Voices, a group that lobbies for Native American issues. Some of those issues include racial profiling and social services for Native Americans, Bear Heels McCowan said. "I realize that when you drive off the rez, all those laws apply to you," she said. "We're bringing our concerns to the Legislature, where it makes a difference." Gov. Mike Rounds was honored in a ceremony conducted by Lakota elder Chief Leonard Crow Dog. A blue-and-white quilt was draped around the governor's shoulders, and he wore the blanket as he addressed an assembled crowd. "I think whenever people get together and share their thoughts and their feelings, and they suggest challenges that they see have to be met, we move in the right direction," Rounds said. "Sometimes change is slow in coming, but there's a lot of good and there's a lot of good will throughout the state. "Long term, I think things will be better for everybody throughout the state as we learn more about one another." The Wakpa Waste drum group claims Rep. Thomas Van Norman, D-Eagle Butte, as a member. Norman told the crowd he appreciated their support as one of a handful of current Native American legislators. "The power of our people and our histories is with us today," Van Norman said. "We're trying ... to reach some new solutions to long-term problems of poverty and things that have gone bad in the past that we hope to change now." Reach Megan Myers in Pierre at 605-224-2760. Copyright c. 2006 Argus Leader. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Mobile Bank rolls on Reservation" --------- Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 17:53:04 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BANK COMES TO REZ" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/2006/01/20/news/local/news01.txt Mobile bank rolls on reservation By Jomay Steen, Journal Staff Writer January 20, 2006 PINE RIDGE - A bank on wheels has made inroads to better customer service on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and has slowly started the process of converting a predominantly cash society, officials said. Nearly 30 years ago, Oletha Mousseau opened her first bank account with a Rushville, Neb., bank. Mosseau wanted the security and services that First Security Bank offered, and she was willing to drive the 26 miles from Pine Ridge to Rushville to get it. Although she would have preferred to bank locally, Mousseau had no other choices at the time. "There are no banks in Pine Ridge and none on the reservation," she said. That changed in 1997 when First Security Bank launched its mobile banking unit called Badlands Express to reach customers in Pine Ridge, Manderson, Oglala, Kyle and Wanblee. Mousseau appreciates the convenience of having a bank in her hometown on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, rather than spending the time and expense involved in banking in Rushville or Martin. "It's good for people who don't have transportation," she said. Badlands Express has made financial inroads by not only increasing its customer accounts but also converting a society that operates for the most part on cash. Last week, Mousseau, Christine Eagle, Elaine Quiver and others waited in line outside the converted recreational vehicle to talk to Angie Witt, mobile branch manager, and Tom Thomas, Security First Bank assistant vice president, about managing money or creating new accounts. Quiver, 73, director of the Foster Grandparents program, had taken a noontime break from her job to walk to the Badlands Express' temporary parking lot. It took only minutes to arrive at the mobile bank's doorstep compared to the time it would take to go to First Security's nearest branch office. "It's easier for me to take time off to come here than to go to Rushville," she said. Eagle, 20, a first-time bank customer, wanted to open a new account. Eagle regularly pays a $7.50 fee at a local shopping center to cash her paychecks, and it costs $40 to pay for a ride to Rushville. An account with the mobile bank would free her from these costs. "It also would help me to manage my money better," she said. Eagle said that she would like to get a cash card that she could use for direct payment from her account or have the option to go to an ATM when she needs cash. Currently, the full-time Pizza Hut employee pays a $7.50 check-cashing fee to cash her paychecks and then must carry hundreds of dollars in her purse. Eagle knows that if she opens an account at Badlands Express, she could avoid fees and the possibility of losing her money and could build a credit history. "I would like to think that I'm careful with my money," Eagle said. "Young people are way ahead of the game as far as banking is concerned," Thomas said. Parked next to Big Bat's convenience store in Pine Ridge, Thomas sits at a small desk behind a laptop computer with account applications neatly arranged on his desk. A cardboard box of customer files sits on the floor next to him and two folding chairs are set up for clients. A cash dispensing machine separates Thomas' cramped work space from that of Witt, who works with a customer on a loan application. With thousands of miles logged and its dependable service, the mobile bank typically opens eight to 16 accounts each week, bringing new customers into the banking community - many of them young people, he said. "We can just about do anything here that we do at our main branch," he said of his mobile office. In its weekly schedule, Badlands Express arrives at midmorning Tuesdays in Pine Ridge and rotates between Manderson and Oglala on Wednesdays. The mobile bank is in Kyle on Thursdays and rotates between Wanblee and Pine Ridge on Fridays. Thomas and Witt see about 70 customers a day in Pine Ridge and Kyle and about 40 customers at the other sites. They close the doors at 2 p.m. "We cash checks, process loans, open accounts," Thomas said. They also want to change some of the more troubling money practices on the reservation, such as that of signing blank loan contracts, Thomas said. Often desperate for transportation, people sign off on car deals for no down payment but often don't understand the length of the contract or the interest rate of the loan, he said. For those who have had bad credit ratings or repossessions, it seems like an answer to a need, he said. Such a contract could tie up income for longer than the person would own the car, he said. Thomas said one of the bank's goals is to educate its clients to question loan contracts that sound too good to be true. "We want them to make sure they know what they're signing," he said. Copyright c. 2006 Rapid City Journal. --------- "RE: United Tribal Court may lure Business" --------- Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2006 09:03:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="IDEA PROMOTED TO PRESENT A COMMON STABLE IMAGE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060116/NEWS/601160335/1001 United tribal court may lure business DIANA MARRERO Gannett News Service January 16, 2006 WASHINGTON - As Native American leaders struggle to spur economic development on the reservations, a tribal Supreme Court for South Dakota's Sioux nations could be just what Indian Country needs to attract more investors, business leaders say. They say such a court could ensure that tribal laws pertaining to business become more uniform, clear and free from political turmoil - issues that have historically scared off potential developers. "It is key to inviting capital," said David Owen, the president of the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce & Industry. "If this project can bring some harmony to the judicial systems within each tribe, that's how you can get people to put coins on the table." The tribal court could be housed within the Wakpa Sica Reconciliation Place, a sprawling cultural, educational and legal resource complex being built near Fort Pierre. But the concept of a tribal Supreme Court faces hurdles, including the reluctance of some tribal members and a lack of funding. Congress authorized $18 million for the Wakpa Sica project in 2000, but lawmakers have failed to fully fund it. Supporters say they need an additional $10.5 million to complete the center, which had been a pet project of former Sen. Tom Daschle while he was the Senate's Democratic leader. The state's congressional delegation and business and community leaders are lobbying President Bush to include the funding in next year's federal budget. In a letter signed by the state's congressional delegation, the lawmakers argue that the center could help relations between Indians and non-Indians while spurring economic development on the state's reservations. But as Republicans continue to look for ways to slash federal spending, the project could again fail to attract enough federal dollars next year. Seeking stability Despite the challenges, supporters of a tribal Supreme Court say the regional appellate court could someday help the state's nine tribes attract businesses to their reservations by easing potential investors' concerns about their rights in Indian Country. The instability of some tribal governments - and in turn instability in the tribal laws that are passed - poses a major worry for potential investors, business leaders say. "That's one of the main reasons economic development has been as slow as it has," said Fort Pierre Mayor Sam Tidball, who has been a longtime supporter of the Wakpa Sica center. Confusion about jurisdictional issues also contributes to the lack of investments on Indian reservations, said Jerry Wheeler, executive director of the South Dakota Retailers Association. "If a retailer had two sites that he was thinking about, and one was on the reservation and one was off, he'd probably choose the one off the reservation just because he's more sure of himself and that he won't have problems," he said. The availability of credit - key to development - has been hampered by this lack of certainty, said Curt Everson, of the South Dakota Bankers Association. And unlike wealthy gaming tribes in other parts of the country, South Dakota's tribes don't have access to a large supply of money to spur economic development on their reservations. Sovereignty worries But some Native Americans are wary of the concept because of concerns about tribal sovereignty. They also argue that tribal court systems are generally just as stable as other local and federal legal systems. Whatever problems tribal courts encounter are similar to those of other courts, they say. "Indians feel the same way about non-Indian courts in that we don't trust the outcomes," said Charles Robertson Jr., the former executive director of the National American Indian Court Judges Association. Paul Valandra, a state legislator and Rosebud Sioux member, said he was leery of the concept of a tribal Supreme Court when he first heard of it years ago. But he now sees it as a forward-thinking idea that could gain traction in years to come. Building on success Across the country, some tribes in California and elsewhere already share legal resources and some court systems. Those courts could serve as a model for South Dakota's tribes. The site for the Wakpa Sica project has special importance to tribal members. On the edge of the Missouri River, the center is being built where Lewis and Clark first met with a group of Sioux Indian leaders. The site became an important fur trading post. The nine Sioux tribes of South Dakota had been part of a single great Sioux nation before the 19th century, when white settlers divided the nation into separate reservations, which developed their own traditions and governments, said Frank Pommersheim, a law professor at the University of South Dakota. The state's tribes have not often come together in recent years, said Pommersheim, a specialist in Indian law. But if the concept ever gets off the ground, he said, the tribal Supreme Court could help unite the tribes, albeit in a small way, again. Contact Diana Marrero at dmarrero@gns.gannett.com. Copyright c.2006 ArgusLeader.com All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Legislature committee to hear Abenaki Issues" --------- Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2006 09:03:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="VERMONT HOUSE TO HEAR ABENAKI" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.boston.com/2006/01/16/legislature_committee_to_hear_abenaki_issues/ Legislature committee to hear Abenaki issues January 16, 2006 MONTPELIER, Vt. - Lawmakers in the Vermont House will be hearing testimony about whether the state should grant official recognition to the Abenaki tribe of American Indians. This week the House General, Housing and Military Affairs Committee will continue discussing a bill that was passed by the Senate last year that gives state recognition to the Abenaki. Committee Chairman Francis Brooks, who is the only member of the Legislature who is black, said he understood what the Abenaki were experiencing. "It's insidious what can happen to an individual who's constantly told and given examples of how little they're worth," Brooks said. If the nine-member committee approves the bill it will move on to the House Judiciary Committee before it could be voted on by the full House. The Abenaki have been seeking recognition for years, but the state has opposed their efforts, fearing state recognition could lead to federal regulation, which could lead to land claims and casinos. Late last year the Bureau of Indian Affairs rejected an Abenaki bid for federal recognition. State recognition would give the Abenaki a long-sought acknowledgment of their heritage. It would also make the Abenaki eligible for college scholarships, grants and the right to sell crafts labeled as Native American. The Abenaki have fought for recognition for years. The Senate's passage of an Abenaki recognition bill last year was the first time one has passed either chamber in the Legislature. Lawmakers say the bill's prospects for final passage are good. Copyright c. 2006 The New York Times Company. --------- "RE: Discoveries help piece together Tequesta Puzzle" --------- Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 17:53:04 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DOWNTOWN MIAMI" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.sun-sentinel.com/tequesta13jan19,0,7531241.story Discoveries help piece together Tequesta puzzle Remains found in Miami are forming image of tribe's life By Madeline Bare' Diaz Miami Bureau January 19, 2006 Ancient Florida history is meeting the modern building boom in downtown Miami, where archaeological excavations at two construction sites have unearthed 2,000-year-old human remains. Archaeologists said the discoveries are helping them piece together what life was like for the ancestors of the Tequesta Indians, who lived at the mouth of the Miami River in what is now the Brickell section of Miami. Archaeologists had previously found evidence of a village in the area, but not a cemetery. The remains are evidence of such burial grounds. "They're just one more part of the puzzle," said project archaeologist Bob Carr, of the Archaeological and Historical Conservancy in Davie, which was hired by developers to excavate both sites. "No one knew there was a cemetery until the skeletal material was found." The Tequesta was a powerful tribe that met explorer Juan Ponce de Leon when he arrived in Florida in 1513. They lived on the Atlantic coast, Biscayne Bay and the Everglades. After slave raids and disease reduced their numbers, they moved to Cuba in the 1700s. The first isolated remains of their ancestors were found in September 2003 at the MDM Development Group's Met 3 project, on the north side of the Miami River. Henry Flagler's hotel, the Royal Palm, was once on the site, which is also near an American Indian burial mound destroyed 100 years ago. The second cemetery was found in 2005 on the south side of the river, the future home of The Related Group's Icon Brickell development. Neither discovery was exactly a stroke of luck. A city of Miami ordinance requires companies come up with an excavation plan before developing land in an archaeologically sensitive area. Although many places around the state, including Broward and Palm Beach counties, have archaeological ordinances, none are as rigorous as those in Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami, said State Archaeologist Ryan Wheeler. That has made the area a fertile ground for uncovering evidence of ancient Floridians. "All of South Florida has really interesting archeological remains," he said. "The reason we know so much about Miami and Miami-Dade is because of these ordinances." The most famous Tequesta artifact in the area is the mysterious Miami Circle, a series of holes carved into limestone bedrock, which the state bought in 1999. Excavation crews will wrap up their work in the next few months. Afterward, scientists will study the remains for clues into the early Miami dwellers, such as how old they were, how healthy they were, and what kind of injuries they suffered, Wheeler said. Scientists will not use any analysis techniques that will damage or destroy the bones and, once done, archaeologists will rebury the remains. MDM Development Group plans to have a display of some artifacts found on its site, said MDM spokeswoman Gaby Garcia. The company is also working "to make sure everything is done with the utmost respect and care," she said. That means complying with state law on treatment of unmarked human burials, so the remains will be re-interred on the respective properties where they were found. "This probably is a good example of preservation interests trying to find a cooperative line in working with development and vice versa," Carr said. Copyright c. 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel. --------- "RE: New archaeological look at Georgia Evangelists" --------- Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 09:49:11 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FINDINGS REVISE THINKING" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/0121friars.html New archaeological look at early Georgia evangelists Scientists are revising ideas about relations between Native Americans and Spanish Catholicsat St. Catherines Island By CATHY HULBERT For the Journal-Constitution January 21, 2006 Sometimes we get our history and cultural lessons from books. And sometimes we get them from the shovels of archaeologists. When the remnants of a once-lost Spanish mission were excavated on St. Catherines Island off the Georgia coast from 1983 to 1986, even the archaeologists excavating the site were amazed by the abundance of what they found and its potential to change common beliefs about American history, said Dennis Blanton of Fernbank Museum of Natural History, an archaeologist who assisted with the long excavation. Expecting signs of material poverty at the unearthed Mission Santa Catalina de Guale - a form of poverty willingly embraced by Franciscan friars - excavators found colonial dishes, jewelry, pottery, games, tools and thousands of beads. They also found ornate religious objects, some with clear ties to the Vatican, Blanton said. Instead of clues to religious rigidity among 16th- and 17th-century Catholic evangelists, they found evidence that the Native Americans, known as Guale (pronounced Wally) by the Spanish, were able to hold on to some of their most cherished traditions even after converting. Many of the nearly 400 converts buried under the mission church had personal items buried with them, a ritual that reflected a Native American cosmology - not a Catholic one. "The Catholics believed that you can't take it with you, but the Indians believed otherwise," Blanton said. "These artifacts talk to us about a compromise." In one grave found among the ruins, a large quartz disc used in the indigenous game called "chunky stone" was paired with a colonial blue and white plate. In another, a similarly styled pitcher was paired with glass and shell beads and a conch shell dipper, probably used in the Native American Black Drink Ceremony of purification, he said. Spanish explorers first arrived in the New World in 1513, establishing outposts and missions throughout what is now the southeastern United States. Mission Santa Catalina de Guale, believed to be the oldest church in Georgia, existed from the 1570s to 1680 and served as the northernmost Spanish colonial outpost on the Eastern seaboard. As the recently appointed curator of Native American archaeology for Fernbank, Blanton said he is eager to create a permanent exhibit that will give Georgians a better understanding of their regional history, a story that does not begin with the arrival of the English. One historian thinks the paradigm shift could not come at a better time. "So far, the collective consciousness of Georgians has not extended to include the influence of the Spanish, but this discovery most definitely will change that," said Edward Cashin, professor emeritus of history at Augusta State University and director of the Center for the Study of Georgia History. "You know, some people are making an issue of the influx of Hispanics into this area, but they could well respond by saying, 'We were here first.' " The Franciscans treated these Indians very humanely, Cashin said, contrary to what many people believe. "They developed a genuine bond with them," he said. "Many of the Indians who had been converted to Christianity by the Spanish were later rounded up by the English and shipped off to be slaves in Barbados and the Carolinas - a large number of them. In writing history, we tend to focus on the misdeeds of the other side, but not on our own." Cultural isolation Blanton believes archaeology can challenge commonly held beliefs about times long ago and histories, which he says are generally written by the victors. "Predictably, the English cast the Spanish in such a way that they were dismissed as bad guys, not worth knowing about," he said. But the artifacts reveal "a true day in the life of Catholic missionaries and how they related to the Indians they sought to convert." It is now known that Catholic mission life was far more prolific on the eastern coast of what is now the United States than it was in the west, a fact concealed, in part, by the climate of the south. Unlike the dry heat of the west, the moist air and rain dissolved - rather than baked - the biodegradable remains of what was once a long chain of Spanish mission sites. On St. Catherines, shifting sands and natural vegetation shrouded remaining clues as to what lay beneath the ground. Blanton and others still studying the vast implications of the find say the unfolding story is moving: culturally isolated Franciscans, known as Barefoot Brothers, relying on personal enterprise and faith to convert people who had their own long-held spiritual beliefs. Uprising by faction It is also a story of resilience and self-determination on the part of the Native American people of the region, they say. The strategic and cultural considerations of how to deal with the first Europeans split the tribes in the region "right down the middle," according to Philip Jenkins, author of "Dream Catchers: How Mainstream America Discovered Native Spirituality." The Indians could fight back and win, and the Spanish knew it, said Jenkins, professor of history and religious study at Pennsylvania University. "So the friars came in knowing this and practicing a kind of Christianity that allowed for a lot of adaptation," he said. "The Indians also were influencing the Spanish and teaching them a great deal about how to relate." Prior to the archaeological find on the 14,640-acre barrier island, some regional history was known. In September 1597 a baptized Indian named Juanillo, the nephew of a chief, became enraged that his plan to have more than one wife was frowned upon by one of the friars at a nearby mission. While the friar had no authority over Juanillo's goal to be a chief, his disapproval on this matter appears to have carried some weight, triggering an uprising by a faction of Guale upset by the growing cultural influence of the Spanish. Four friars and one lay brother were killed and four coastal missions destroyed. Juanillo eventually was captured by the Spanish and killed. The painstaking rebuilding of the St. Catherines mission wasn't begun until 1605 after some hesitation by the Spanish government. It is said the Franciscans pushed passionately for the rebuilding, arguing that the men should not have died in vain. But the mission again was burned, this time by the English, in 1680. In February 1984, the Bishop of Savannah, Raymond W. Lessard, officially began the Cause of Beatification process, asking that the five be officially recognized as martyrs by the Catholic Church. The petition states that they died defending tenets of their faith, specifically those around the sacrament of marriage. Those priests later caught in the crossfire of battles between European nations likely would not qualify, according to the church guidelines. The revolt does not tell the whole story of Catholic-Guale relations, historians say. Many of the converted Guale fought valiantly, risking their own lives to protect the friars and the mission sites, according to the Rev. Conrad Harkins, a historian based at the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio. "Many of those killed in the battle were Guale Indians. One chief offered to take the friars to a safe place on what is now known as Cumberland Island. But the friars refused to go. "The friars who came to this country knew that they would probably die for their beliefs," he said. "Franciscans had a chapter in their rule that invited them to go into martyrdom. But none could be sent against their will. They had to volunteer." Church records state that when the Vatican advertised opportunities in the New World, there was a "stampede" of interest among Catholic priests. The first friars arrived with Columbus on his second voyage in 1493 and were left alone at these missions without forts or protection. "They were demonstrating that the proclamations of the Gospel were worth dying for," Harkins said. Treasury of objects The excavation of the St. Catherines site has yielded nearly 1 million pieces - some of them ornate religious objects and others mere pieces of the mission walls. Most have been organized by Blanton and now sit in 889 boxes on Fernbank's lower floor. Until a permanent exhibit is created, a smaller one showing some of the pieces is a likely next step, Blanton said. The priceless collection was donated to the museum in 2004 by the Edward John Noble Foundation, named after the New York businessman who founded the Life Savers Candy Co. in 1913 and was chairman of the American Broadcasting Co. in the 1940s. In 1943 Noble bought St. Catherines Island, which is now owned by the nonprofit St. Catherines Island Foundation. The Noble Foundation, the parent foundation, funded the archaeological explorations there. The volume and sophistication of the religious artifacts, some clearly bearing the imprint of Rome, were exactly what the experts did not expect to find at this "outpost of an outpost," this remote extension of the St. Augustine mission system, according to David Hurst Thomas, lead archaeologist at the St. Catherines site and a curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The discovery shows that while the friars had personally pledged a life of poverty, they realized that the native people had not, Thomas said. "It appears that the friars had an unusual off-the-books economic system, probably in deerskin trade, that made their mission a successful enterprise, not only economically but spiritually. Without this, their only supply lines would have been those coming sporadically from Cuba and Mexico," he said. It's possible there was trade with the Indians and possibly with the French and English, he said. "You have to realize that at one point there were about 1,000 Guale Indians living around the mission, and it was a system that became mutually beneficial," Thomas said. "Consider that you have, at the most, two barefoot friars dropped off at a site where there were about 300 armed Indian warriors. There is going to be give-and-take," Thomas added. The friars also were highly successful in their conversion of Christians, he said, from the number of Indians who were wearing religious medallions. According to Blanton, local chiefs often gained in status among their people by interacting with the Spaniards, and the friars clearly came to identify with the indigenous people. "The Franciscans had taken vows of pacifism," he said. "If you are going to be confronted by a colonizing group, I would say that these were the people you wanted to have in your midst. It certainly was a vast improvement over what happened in Central and South America, which is a time that is associated with abuses by the Spanish. "The evidence found in the ground overwhelmingly suggests that the Indians were holding onto many of their world-view and traditions," Blanton said. "The friars knew how far they could push and when they went too far, the results for them were disastrous. During that time, they were the ones who had the most adapting to do." Copyright c. 2006 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. --------- "RE: Hawaiian rights bill gets mixed reviews" --------- Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 17:53:04 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="AKAKA BILL POLARIZES" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Jan/21/ln/FP601210339.html Hawaiian rights bill gets mixed reviews By Dennis Camire Advertiser Washington Bureau January 21, 2006 WASHINGTON - Experts on both sides of the controversy over the federal recognition of Hawaiians laid out their cases yesterday before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, whose members also held varying opinions about the idea. The debate centers on Senate legislation, sponsored by Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawai'i, that would set up a process for the federal government to grant formal recognition to Hawaiians. Some conservative Senate Republicans have blocked the bill, saying it would create a race-based government. The commission, made up of four Republicans, two Democrats and an independent, could make a recommendation to Congress in several months about the legislation but it would take a majority vote, its chairman said. The commission has no enforcement power. Commission Chairman Gerald A. Reynolds, a Republican and attorney for Kansas City Power & Light in Missouri, said after the briefing that he was skeptical about the bill but would not make a final decision until more information was collected. "My ultimate vote will be based on the entire record, which we don't have yet," he said. Commissioner Arlan D. Melendez, a Democrat and chairman of the Reno- Sparks Indian Colony in Reno, Nev., said he believed Hawaiians needed federal recognition to help them protect federal programs, ranging from housing to education. "They're really receiving those things so I think by furthering that, you will give them some stability in self-determination over those things they already have," he said. But commission Vice Chairwoman Abigail Thernstrom, an Independent and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute in New York, said she was "very unhappy about what I regard as proposals for race-based governments." "This is not the way I want this country to go, and I would like to see some acknowledgement that the story of governance of Indian tribes in this country has not worked out well," Thernstrom said. Noe Kalipi, counsel for Akaka, and H. Christopher Bartolomucci, an attorney with the Hogan & Hartson law firm in Washington, laid out the case for federal recognition. Kalipi said Hawaiians are an indigenous people like American Indians and Alaskan Natives and not a racial class. She said the U.S. Supreme Court has acknowledged that the federal government's dealings with Indian tribes are not based on race but on political status. "It is also clear that Native Hawaiians are 'native' in the same sense as American Indians - aboriginal," she said. "When Congress deals with Native Hawaiians as an aboriginal people, it legislates on the basis as it does with American Indians." But H. William Burgess, a Honolulu attorney and opponent of the bill, said the bill would unconstitutionally recognize a new privileged class consisting of anyone with an indigenous ancestor. "Anyone who had an indigenous status would have a claim to create a separate government," he said. "Ultimately, that would lead to the breaking up of states." Gail Heriot, a professor at the University of San Diego School of Law, said transforming Hawaii-ans into a tribe "is an act performed on a racial group, not a tribal group." She added, "It is an act of race discrimination subject to strict scrutiny - scrutiny that it likely cannot survive." COPYRIGHT c. 2006 The Honolulu Advertiser, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. --------- "RE: Indian Tribes changing Lobbyist Rules" --------- Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2006 09:03:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ONE ABRAMOFF IS ONE TOO MANY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060116-094028-4659r Indian tribes changing lobbyist rules WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (UPI) - U.S. Indian tribes that once retained lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to bilking clients, are changing the way they work in Washington. Representatives of several tribes told The Hill, a Washington newspaper, they weren't ready to ban lobbying for their causes, but were putting checks in place. An unnamed source told The Hill one-time Abramoff client the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe has hired another lobbyist in Washington but first put in a plan that calls for contracts to be approved in open meetings and to be for no more than one year. Another tribe - the Coushatta of Louisiana - said it hasn't picked up another lobbyist but would if the need arose. Jimmy Faircloth, the tribe's legal counsel, told The Hill: "We would not exclude having a presence in Washington but we will be cautious. There are a lot of issues that come out of Indian country that could benefit from a lobbying presence in Washington." Abramoff and two associates have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with a federal investigation into lobbying practices in Washington. Copyright c. 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Blanket of Snow generates warmth" --------- Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2006 09:03:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: TIME FOR STORYTELLING" http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/columnists/dorreen_yellow_bird/ Blanket of snow generates warmth Column by Dorreen Yellow Bird January 17, 2006 Now is the time for storytelling, the elder grandmothers and grandfathers would say. When snow is falling and the earth is covered with cold, it is time to tell stories of the people and our world. It also is time to laugh at the misdeeds of the year and count the good and fruitful days of the summer. Tell stories only when the snow covers the ground, and the cold North Wind stands guards at the door like a wolf with teeth bared, holding a stance of force and might, the elders say. Storytelling was prohibited other times of the year for our people.When I awoke early on this January morning, I was surprised to see everything covered with white. As I stood gazing out of my second-floor bedroom window, I thought back to my childhood and our storyteller - my grandmother, Philomine Little Sioux. I have warm and wonderful memories of her. Everything seemed right with the world when we were sitting at her feet and listening to her stories, which were sprinkled with Sahnish (Arikara) words. It occurred to me that I write often in my columns about my grandmother, but rarely mention my Dakota Sioux grandfather, Louis Felix. He died when I was only 3 or 4 years old, so his influence was limited. I do remember the day of his wake. It's our tradition to stay with the deceased until the fourth day, when they are buried. It is our belief that the person's spirit stays here on Earth for four days. On the fourth day, they walk on to the spirit world. That day in my grandmother's house several miles from the Missouri River on the Fort Berthold, N.D., reservation, my grandfather's casket was put in front of the windows that overlooked the valley below, where springs fed a winding creek that emptied into the Missouri River. At the wake, people came and went all day and night. The family provided food and visited quietly. It's traditional to talk about the person at their wake - to tell of the things they did in life, including funny stories about them or stories of their brave deeds. It's our "Indian obituary." That day at my grandfather's wake, I remember standing beside my father, who was sitting in one of the chairs around the living room. The room was hazy with the pungent smoke of kinnikinnick (Indian tobacco). I held onto him; he had a gentle hand on my shoulder. It was strange to see my grandfather lying there. I remember thinking that wasn't him. I didn't understand death. My grandfather was a big, tall man who ran horses and cattle. He also did some farming. My grandparents were very self-sufficient with gardens and their own beef. I also remember that he laughed a lot and was very gentle. On the living room wall of my grandparents' house was a team football picture of great-grandfather and Jim Thorpe, the famous Olympic athlete. It's funny how memories from the past become snapshots - small vignettes that we rarely forget. Another "snapshot" I remember shows my grandfather with several men standing around a huge snapping turtle. They captured those cranky beasts that look like dinosaurs by holding a stick in their path. The turtle would viciously snap and hold on with a bite so tough that they were able to pull it from the river. Then, my grandmother was there with her big, blue enamel kettle, and soon it was soup. I don't remember what it tasted like or even if I ate it. I also remember seeing my grandfather talking with my grandmother as she scrubbed clothes on one of the washboards. They were laughing as she scrubbed the clothes. I can't image doing clothes like they did - bringing barrels of water from the spring, heating the water on an open fire, taking each item of clothes and running it over a ridged, scrubbing board, then wringing out the clothes and hanging them on a clothesline to dry. It was a full day's work usually assigned to one day a week - perhaps Monday, I don't remember. I do remember that another day was assigned for baking bread; that was my favorite day. My grandparents moved from Minnesota, where they had lived with the Dakota when my great-grandmother died, leaving great-grandfather Little Sioux alone. Both grandfathers were fluent in Sahnish and Sioux, and I wonder now how they got along. They were from different parts of the region that sometimes warred. While grandfather Felix was raised among the Dakota, Little Sioux was raised Sahnish. It is clear, though, that most tribes could understand each other. Dakota Sioux, Hidatsa and Mandan are similar linguistically. Sahnish is a Caddoan language and the words are different. That's some of what I remember of my grandfathers. And, the snowcover today indicates that it's okay to tell these stories. ---- 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: LOUIS GRAY: Save Indian Art by killing the Museum" --------- Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2006 08:39:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OLD TRICKS ROLLED OUT TO DESTROY CULTURE" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7461 Saving Indian art by killing the museum first Guest commentary Louis Gray January 17, 2006 It is a time-honored tradition to address the Indian problem by killing him-metaphorically at least, and sometimes literally-to save him. Trouble is, it has never worked and only creates pain for Native Americans. Such is the case with the plan to close Department of Interior-owned Indian museums. Let's take a look at the issues surrounding this. Argument: "Let's give it back to the Indians." Non-Indians say this, as if to throw something away because things are not going as planned or isn't something valuable anymore. It's similar to: "If you don't like how I'm doing this I'll just give it back to the Indians." Of course, from the Native perspective, the present owners would only be returning what they took in the first place. Federal officials now want to give the museums to Native tribes in the area. Noble? Not so fast. It's really just a cost-saving move not just for the federal government, but also for the Arts and Crafts board, which is part of the Interior Department. The board, through Chairman Jana McKeag, claims they would rather go after non-Indians selling Indian art. McKeag says operating the three museums consumes over half of her $1 million annual budget. The government operates three museums, each containing stunning collections of Indian art, on little more than $500,000 a year. It's not incredible that the board operates on a small budget, but that these museums are barely given enough funds to keep the lights on. In truth, Interior could double the budget and it would still not be enough to promote and operate these three vital museums. Abramoff: How did he get in here? Indicted super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff poured Indian gaming riches into the pockets of elected officials all across this country. With investigations looming, many have given back most of the money to charity. Perhaps a better idea is to give the cash to the impoverished museums. McKeag might be helpful in this endeavor. She was a Congressional Fellow in the office of U.S. Senator Conrad Burns (who also is angry the tribes want to end the use the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux mascot). Burns is a recipient of Abramoff's largesse. There are still many politicians who have not given back all of the funds from Abramoff. Perhaps they can send some to the starving-on-the- vine Indian museums? To date, Burns has received the most money from Abramoff, and after first declining to give up any of it, he eventually donated $150,000 back to charity. Not to be outdone, fellow North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan (and another supporter of the Fighting Sioux) returned $67,000 in Abramoff donations to charity. Dorgan, like Burns, sits on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. Dorgan is the ranking member of that committee, which oversees funding for the Interior Department. Argument: But we need the money to pay for the war. Please! It would be pretty inexpensive war if it depended on the meager funding for the museums operated by the government. One million wouldn't pay for the fuel for one jet, or anything else of any significance. But the museums do provide many opportunities for Indian artists. Yes, the National Museum of the American Indian is a great contribution to Indian people. But regionally, in some of the most modest and humble environs in this country, there stands three little beacons of opportunity for artistic expression for Indian people. Argument: We need the funds to go after imposters People pretending they are Indians to enrich themselves are certainly shady. But do we really want the Arts and Craft Board turning into "Art Cops?" If it's against the law, let policemen catch and nab the imposters. If your job is to promote Indian Arts and Crafts, put real money towards exhibits and shows. Whether or not politicians give the money to the Sioux Indian Museum in Rapid City, South Dakota, Museum of the Plains Indians in Browning, Montana, or Southern Plains Museum in Anadarko, Oklahoma, a commitment to respect Indian artists needs to be shown not by killing the Indian's livelihood off, but by feeding it. Louis Gray, Osage, is a former editor of the Native American Times. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: JODI RAVE: King's Speech still applies" --------- Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2006 09:03:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JODI RAVE: MLK SPEECH RESONATES IN INDIAN COUNTRY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2006/01/16/jodirave/rave60.txt Opinion: Decades later, King's speech still applies to Indian Country January 16, 2006 PABLO - It's been 50 years since Martin Luther King Jr. first stepped onto the civil rights stage and grabbed the world's attention. The civil rights movement, led by eminent black leaders such as King, opened doors for black people to rightfully be treated as human beings. But how much has changed for Native people? King captured our imagination with riveting oration skills and unforgettable words. His "I Have a Dream" speech ranks as one of the most memorable speeches ever delivered, anywhere. In his opening lines, he wrote: "Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation - One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity." Forget about the handful of super-rich tribes with casinos that have millions of dollars to fill the pockets of lobbyists and politicians. King's words could apply to Native people today. When event organizers at the Salish Kootenai College on the Flathead Reservation asked me to give a speech about King, I agreed. On campus last week, I spent a good deal of time speaking about the birth of the civil rights movement, beginning with Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man. King, then a 26-year-old pastor of a local Baptist church, was called to lead what turned out to be a 381-day black boycott of the Montgomery, Ala., bus system. The boycott ended after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in November 1956 that Alabama and Montgomery's bus segregation laws were unconstitutional. Even though much has changed for blacks, much remains the same for Native people. As I revisited the "I Have a Dream" speech, it was easy to insert one word and still keep to the truth. "One hundred years later, the `Indian' is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land." King's statement rightfully belongs to indigenous people. I've often wondered how tribes on the Flathead Reservation must feel when they look at land rimming the gorgeous Flathead Lake. The majority of homes or businesses lining the shore don't belong to the tribes or its citizens. In fact, hundreds of reservation families are on a waiting list for land housing permits. Do the Salish and Kootenai feel like exiles in their own land? Where is the economic, social, cultural, political and civil rights justice in tribal communities? Land acquisition is only one area where Native people continue to seek parity. Where is the economic justice when tribal unemployment rates typically languish in double digits, but can reach 80 percent and higher? Why does the per capita income for Natives on reservations normally hover below $10,000, while the average U.S. per capita income is nearly three times higher? Where is the social justice when 24 percent of prisoners and inmates in North Dakota are Native, even though they make up only 5 percent of that state's population? Where is the cultural justice when 89 percent of indigenous languages in North America will not be passed to the next generation? Where is the political justice when there is not a single Native person in the U.S. Senate? Where is the civil justice when half of all Native students in Montana will drop out of high school, young people who will never fully contribute to their community? One of the most promising ways to achieve economic, social, cultural, political and civil justice is through education. King educated the masses through remarkable oratory and superb speech- writing skills. His practice of free speech allowed him to voice an opinion, to be heard, to make a difference. In my small way, I do my best to bring Native voices to a newspaper audience, to tell untold stories. Not everyone agrees with what I write. That's not important. What matters is that Native issues wind up discussed in a public arena. This keeps us from being invisible. It's easier to ignore us if no one can see us. If no one can hear us, it's easier to keep us impoverished, unemployed, in jail, out of school and out of Congress. One of King's greatest gifts to the civil rights movement was his extraordinary talent at using words. His literacy helped educate the world about what it means to be deprived of human dignity. And he showed us what it feels like when we find it. --- Jodi Rave, a Mandan-Hidatsa and Lakota, covers Native issues for the Missoulian and Lee Enterprises. She can be reached at 523-5299 or jodi.rave@lee.net. Copyright c. 2005 Missoulian, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Diabetes and Navajo Teaching" --------- Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 09:49:11 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SPIRITUAL PERSPECTIVE" http://www.gallupindependent.com/2006/jan/012106spdianav.html Spiritual Perspectives Diabetes and Navajo Teaching By Johnson Dennison Special to The Independent January 21, 2006 In the past, diabetes was not known to the Navajo people. Therefore, the medicine people and the elders today may not have complete information of exactly what diabetes is nor how to recommend specific treatment. However, the Navajo medicine people have been treating their patients through ceremonies, natural herbs, sweat baths, and native counseling. Today, the Navajo medicine people are very few, but they are still practicing ceremonies and treating their patients in the old ways. About 60 percent of the Navajo people still go to medicine men and women for treatment, and at the same time, they also seek treatment at clinics and hospitals. There are more than one way to treat patients through ceremonies, but mostly prayers and counseling are common. The ceremonial counseling techniques for healing and health care are common among most of the practitioners. The traditional medicine people are those still practicing the original Navajo ceremonies, Native American Church Road Men, Crystal Gazers, and Sweat Lodge Facilitators. They have knowledge about teaching and advising Navajo healthy lifestyles, which is also known as the Navajo cultural teachings. It's purpose is to teach not only a way of healing, but to maintain a healthy lifestyle and to live a long life. In time of illness, patients would feel depressed and hopeless. As a native practitioner, it is a custom to talk to your patient in the most positive way. When a person is ill, it is a social custom not to talk about death or any further complications. This can become a problem for a Navajo diabetic patient when diagnosed with diabetes at a clinic. A Navajo person who has a strong cultural belief and practice will become very upset when death and complications are mentioned. His or her immediate thought about being diabetic is to suffer and to die. At times, the patient may not accept being diabetic, and some family members may even advise the patient not to accept the diagnosis. For this reason, some patients may not come back to the clinic for treatment, and their illness may worsen. The patient being informed about diabetes complications is for the purpose of "self-care." But the patient misunderstands the message and takes it as threatening and very disrespectful. The distrust and lack of respect between the health providers and patients may result in this type of communication. Sometimes when a patient is so upset, he or she will discontinue his or her medication. When a patient becomes distrustful of clinical treatment, I suggest visiting the patient and talking to them using the native style of communication about health. When informing a Navajo patient about diabetes complications, he or she could first be reassured of the positive outlook of his or her life. This will give him or her the strength to face the diagnosis. The Blessing Way teachings are a more appropriate approach to consider. The Blessing Way teachings promote a positive attitude toward living a good life. In Navajo, it is spoken as Hozhoogo Naa Shaa Dooleel, or walking in beauty. To walk in beauty means to be healthy. Someone might also say, how could anyone walk in beauty if he or she is diagnosed with a terrible disease? But a person can choose a positive attitude to overcome his or her illness, which is part of healing as well. The Blessing Way teachings are as follows: * Start with kinship/clan relationships. Your greeting in Navajo should comfort the patient. If not using a Navajo greeting, use a positive comment to assure the person you do care about his or her life. * Life is a wonderful gift that one must cherish to live and enjoy for a long time. To live a long life was a purpose for self-care: as'ahna'ada. * To live a positive life means practicing healthy eating. To enjoy and live longer means taking responsibility for one's own life and in Navajo, it is said, T'aa hwo ajit'eego. * A healthy person always has a positive attitude about his life. Ya'at'eehgo adaanitsahakess. * It is always appropriate to have self-respect. Adil jidliigo ya'at'eeh. * To take care of your body means to eat the right food and to exercise so that your body will be stronger to withstand any illness. Hats'iis baa ahojilyaago al'l, ako jidina'. * Having a reverence and faith in yourself. Adaa atihati doo adaa hasti'. * Believe in yourself and have a positive attitude to live longer. Hwe'iina' ei nizhonigo baa nitsidzikees. * After traditional counseling on a positive life perspective, the patient should be encouraged to take charge of his or her diabetes and life. === Johnson Dennison, a Navajo medicine man, is a coordinator in the Office of Native Medicine for the Indian Health Service. This column is the result of a desire by community members, representing different faith communities, wishing to share their ideas about bringing a spiritual perspective into our daily lives and community issues. For information about contributing a guest column, contact Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola at the Independent: (505) 863-8611, ext. 218 or lizreligion01@yahoo.com. Copyright c. the Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: MICHAEL PLATT: Chief led way" --------- Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 08:51:39 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PLATT: NAME HIGHWAY AFTER TSUU T'INA CHIEF" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://calsun.canoe.ca/Columnists/Platt_Michael/2006/01/19/1400681.html Chief led way By MICHAEL PLATT January 19, 2006 Chief Bullhead Trail - that's my naming vote for the highway running through the Tsuu T'ina First Nation, provided the bickering ever stops, and the bulldozers get started. Without the great chief, forefather of the modern Tsuu T'ina Nation, there'd be no neighbourly squabble, because there'd be no reservation to build a southwest ring road through. Instead of forest, farms and sacred places, the land between the Elbow River and Fish Creek would likely be covered with salmon-stucco condominiums and beige houses, much like the rest of Calgary. And if not for Chief Bullhead, the Tsuu T'ina - assuming any of them survived - would now be living in relative obscurity among the Blackfoot near Fort Macleod, instead of beside Calgary, as the scourge of city road planners. Though most Calgarians haven't a clue who Bullhead is, that's a deficiency of public schooling, which tends to focus on the heroics of people somewhat paler-skinned than the chief and his people. Already covered in scars from a long life as a warrior with the Tsuu T'ina - a tribe feared by other Natives for their prowess in battle - Bullhead's biggest fight came in 1877 when his dwindling band signed Treaty No. 7. The small-pox ravaged Tsuu T'ina were lumped together with the Blackfoot, despite being a separate band (according to Tsuu T'ina lore, they'd come from northern Alberta, following a violent feud triggered by a dog relieving itself inside a teepee). Bullhead was convinced to sign the 1877 treaty, but after viewing the pathetic, parched land his people had been relegated to, the chief refused to settle. The years that followed were brutal, as the 250 surviving Tsuu T'ina avoided reservation life to scour the prairies for the few remaining buffalo, all the while hovering on the edge of starvation. When the buffalo vanished, Bullhead asked for a new reserve southwest of Calgary, along Fish Creek, at one point surrounding Fort Calgary and threatening to raid the Hudson's Bay store to feed the tribe, if demands weren't met. Promises of food convinced Bullhead to lead his people on an 11-day walk, through -35C temperatures, back to Fort Macleod, but by spring of 1881, he was back in Calgary, again demanding a Fish Creek settlement. A chief less bullheaded than the aptly-named Tsuu T'ina leader would have given up, but Bullhead's tenacity prevailed, and in 1883, the Tsuu T'ina were finally granted a home of their own. Compared to the vast reserves given to other Alberta bands, the three- townships worth of property between Fish Creek and the Elbow River probably looked tiny and worthless - but perhaps Bullhead knew better. The few photos of the old chief, who died in 1911, show him with one eye closed by an old wound, leaving the veteran warrior with something of a permanent wink. Certainly, Bullhead would laugh to see the shift in Tsuu T'ina fortunes, which now has them calling the shots, thanks to the poor planning and wasteful sprawl of a once-distant neighbour. There are Calgarians who see the Tsuu T'ina Nation as a headache, and the Natives as opportunists who are using Calgary's traffic misery to funnel drivers towards casinos, malls and business parks on the reserve. And while it's true Bullhead's descendants are milking every advantage they can from the road which will run through their land, embittered Calgarians should remember the Tsuu T'ina didn't create this no-win traffic nightmare. That should be blamed on decades of poor planning and lousy leadership which has left Calgarians dependent on cars, and on roads that won't fit inside Calgary's borders. And the Tsuu T'ina can thank the brilliant leadership of Chief Bullhead for putting them in Calgary's way. Copyright c. 2005, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Black Hawk Descendant tells of his Rich Heritage" --------- Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2006 17:15:31 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename=FAMOUS "ANCESTOR" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.qctimes.net//doc43c9d872948f7852259895.txt Black Hawk descendant tells of his rich heritage By Mary Louise Speer January 15, 2006 Preston Duncan of Tama, Iowa, grew up hearing about his rich heritage as a Meskwaki and a descendant of the Sauk war leader Black Hawk from family. Black Hawk State Historic Site and Black Hawk College are among places and things named in honor of the war leader who lived from 1767-1838. Now a tribal elder, Duncan is sharing that knowledge with others to help them learn more about the man behind the legend. He gave a presentation Sat