_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 14, ISSUE 012 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, WOTANGING IKCHE - Lakota - Common News Wotanging Ikche and Native American News Copyright c. 1996-2006 nanews.org Aboriginal/AmerIndian Perspective about the First Nations of Turtle Island March 25, 2006 Pima chehthagi mashath/green moon Hopi osomuyaw/whispering wind moon Mohawk ennisko:wa/much lateness moon Mvskokee tasahcucee/little spring 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; Chiapas95-En and Native American Poetry Mailing Lists; UUCP Mail IMPORTANT!! ----------- In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, all material appearing in this newsletter is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for educational purposes. <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is a way of keeping the brothers and sisters who share our Spirit informed about current events within the lives of those who walk the Red Road. ++ It may be subscribed to via email by sending a request from your own internet addressable account to gars@speakeasy.org ++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org <================<<<< >>>>================> +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | As historian Patricia Nelson | | Once a language is lost, it is | | Limerick summarized in "The | | gone forever | | Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken | | * Of the 300 original Native | | Past of the American West... | | languages in North America, | | "Set the blood quantum at | | only 175 exist today. | | one-quarter, hold to it as a | | * 125 of these are no longer | | rigid definition of Indians, | | learned by children. | | let intermarriage proceed as | | * 55 are spoken by 1 to 6 elders;| | it had for centuries, and | | when they die, their language | | eventually Indians will be | | will disappear. | | defined out of existence." | | * Without action, only 20 | | "When that happens, the federal | | languages will survive the next| | government will be freed of | | 50 years. | | its persistent 'Indian problem.'"| | Source: Indigenous Language | +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ | Institute | |http://www.indigenous-language.org| This issue's Quote: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + =================== "I believe much trouble and blood would be saved if we opened our hearts more. I will tell you in my way how the Indian sees things. The white man has more words to tell you how they look to him, but it does not require many words to speak the truth." __ Chief Joseph, Nimiputimt (Nez Perce) (Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain) +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! This editorial is actually minutes of a meeting with the Georgia Parks and Georgia DNR as transcribed by the lovely Janet. Let this attack on the right to assemble for Native Peoples in the State of Georgia serve as a warning to Native Peoples in Georgia and other States. ---- Council for Native American Concerns to review DNR Parks policy Wednesday (March 15) afternoon, the Georgia State Parks & Historic Sites Division presented their draft for Georgia's Native American Programming Policy to the Council on Native American Concerns for review and advice. Both Parks officials and Native Americans were invited to speak before the Council about this policy. Over thirty Native American people representing the Georgia state recognized tribes, several U.S. federally recognized nations, and unenrolled Native Americans came to this meeting, and of them, eight addressed the Council. One person from the Parks Division spoke and then later answered a few specific questions. The first speaker was John Thompson, Chief of Operations for the Parks division. Mr. Thompson stressed that the Programming Policy before the council was "just a draft" in the early stages of development, submitted to the Council for their input. According to Mr. Thompson, the department intends to make sensitive decisions that would help them be "good stewards" of Georgia's public lands and heritage, but acknowledged that sensitive issues are involved. He announced that an informal Parks policy prohibiting pow wows since 2004 was changed just prior to this meeting to permit pow wows to be covered under less restricted concession arrangements, rather than as part of the park's sponsored "interpretive" programs. The only limitations for concession-defined pow wows would be the capacity of the facility to accommodate the event, a consideration that would be true of any group event. He urged Indians in the audience to submit comment cards (distributed to all present) with their suggestions for ways to improve the draft policy. Ron Colombe, an enrolled Lakota from Rosebud reservation who now lives in Georgia, stated that policies restricting Native American acknowledgement to federal tribe enrollees should be reconsidered, since there are very few federally recognized tribes in this region, and that there are many descendants of tribal people who stayed behind on their homeland after Removal who are part of an identified Native community. He did caution that there is cause for concern about fraudulent Indian goods and teachings. Carmen Schuler spoke next. She made a point of her heritage and active involvement in Native American education and training at state and federal institutions, and association with several well-regarded historical and cultural associations -- while never having an enrollment card of any sort. She expressed offense that she would be required to present a pedigree, like a pet or livestock animal, in order to establish her right to represent her people. Columbia Jones of Pro Freedom America, who was partly responsible for brokering the pow wow agreement, likened the proposed policy to requiring the producer of an African American group meeting to prove how much African blood she carried -- and said that wasn't likely to happen. While conceding that there may be issues regarding fraudulent Indian claims, she pointed out that there are already state and federal laws covering Indian identity and goods identification. Park policies attempting to further protect against fraud with even more limiting restrictions are redundant and constitute unequal protection under the law. She outlined the newly revised pow wow policy, stressing that it included notification in writing to park staff and management, and with copies to the council, herself and Larry Mindler. While she expressed pleasure at the progress made, she cautioned that this issue was not over and would not be over until there were equal policies applicable to all. Larry Mindler, who pursued this issue and brought it to the attention of the Native community, spoke next. He expressed thanks to those who came to the meeting to express concern to the Council, and said what he did was for his grandchildren. He stated that his goals would be accomplished when the Parks authorities created a policy that worked for all people. Helen Holton, a Cherokee, questioned what event caused the Parks division to create this policy. After some discussion, John Thompson revealed that the precipitating event occurred at a gathering at Amicola Falls in 2004. Ms. Holton pointed out that the DNR draft policy singles out Native Americans for restricted access to public state facilities, and that usage policies should be equal for all under the law. Keith Smith, CEO of RedNation, Inc., a learning and teaching organization for people of Native American heritage, pointed out that limiting access to the state parks reduced Native peoples' resources to learn and teach others of their heritage, and would be an important loss to the state and its people. And besides, he said "discrimination is just wrong." Ruth Davis brought her two young daughters, Amber and Cheyenne, to the podium and said simply that the reason Native people cared about this issue was for them -- the children. Joe Pate approached certain proposed policy restrictions from a different perspective. Noting that state tribes were barred under the proposed policy from claiming their tribe, dressing in their regalia, or having any program with their participation advertised as "Native American," he pointed out that the state provided authorization to certain people for certain activities -- like hunting, driving, and fishing. And that the state had similarly recognized certain groups of people as Indian tribes. Why, he asked, should the state not regard state enrollment cards as an acknowledged right to "be Indian" whatever the circumstance, just as a license authorized one to drive? And why would the state deny reciprocity to neighboring states tribes, just as they reciprocally acknowledge other states' driving licenses? The Council listened to the speakers and asked only a few questions, mostly to clarify details. The chairman of the Council noted that they would review the comments made to the Council at that meeting, and would take written comments submitted on site, or mailed or e-mailed to the Council prior to March 31, 2006. The Council will present their findings at their May 10, 2006 meeting. The DNR is not obligated to accept the Council on American Indian Concerns' recommendations, as their function is limited to advising government agencies on Indian issues (primarily burial remains and artifacts). Fewer than half its members are, in fact, Indian -- enrolled in state recognized tribes. Isn't it interesting that the state park's policy has a far more restrictive definition of who is Indian and who is entitled to represent Indians than the state government does for it's own Indian advisory agency? This meeting was the first disclosed contact by the DNR with any Indian on this policy that directly impacts Indians. While the DNR would like to characterize this policy as "just drafted" in the past month, it's interesting to note that the event given as the reason for needing such a policy happened two years ago. The draft document presented to the Council is, in fact, precisely the same document already posted at http://www.owlstar.com/issues.htm. It is the document given to Larry Mindler (Wisdom Bear) at the February DNR meeting. Citizens, Indian or otherwise, who are interested in commenting on the DNR policy should send those comments to the Council on American Indian Concerns to the following address: Secretary Council on American Indian Concerns 2 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, S.E. Suite 1352 East Atlanta, GA 30334 or e-mail them to lindam@dnr.state.ga.us so that they will be received prior to March 31st. The secretary receiving these comments, Linda Moye, assures us that these comments will be presented to the Council for their consideration. In addition to your comments, please also include your name, e-mail and mailing address. The department cannot guarantee that they will respond personally to this correspondence. ---- 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 ----------- - Norton: Ethics Scandal - Nooksack Salmon Habitat didn't prompt Resignation Restoration set to begin - Idaho Governor - Tulalips assert named Interior Secretary Shoreline Jurisdiction - Incoming BIA Superintendent - Native American Leaders Steve Pollock honored discuss Border Security - Reservation may not see - GIAGO: Road improvements Seeking the Road to Sovereignty - Shots echo one year later - CHARLEE BAD WOUND: - Indians see Tax Battle Tribe: Who they are with Spitzer - Finding the Good Road - Funding woes and the Shielding Tree threaten Aberdeen Clinic - Chiefs delay decision - Red Flags raised on First Nations University over Indian Housing Program - Court action reveals - Bill introduced Akaitcho Land interests to assist Suicide Prevention - Maquila Violence in Mexico - Prof. wants Teachers - Zapatisias Join Queretaro's to better grasp Indian Lands Struggle over Water - Plan aims to retain - How to Keep Tribal Officers Indian Students on the Job - Oneida: A question of Trust - Mescalero Couple - Tribes want Regional sues over Daughter's Hair planning Voice - Still no answers - Keepers of the Stronghold Dream on shooting of Winnipeg Teen - Western Shoshone Struggle - Tribal Police Car impounded earns World Recognition - Native Prisoner - Cherokees want more recognition -- BIA Jail Closure of forced removal moves Inmates far from Home - Tribal Hatchery raises Sturgeon - Rustywire: - Crucial talks begin Tournament of Tribal Champions over Cedar River Watershed - Lee Goins Poem: - Fishing needed Chasing a Butterfly to preserve Tribal Culture - Census Test to improve - Klamath Water Crisis Count of American Indians may cancel Salmon Season - 8th Annual NAMMY Press Release --------- "RE: Norton: Ethics Scandal didn't prompt Resignation" --------- Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2006 08:53:48 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NORTON CLAIMS SHE IS QUITTING WITH CLEAN SLATE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002858214_norton11.html Ethics scandal didn't prompt resignation, Norton says March 11, 2006 WASHINGTON - Gale Norton, who resigned as Interior Department secretary Friday, leaves amid a burgeoning ethics scandal that has touched the agency as federal investigators eye links between her former deputy, Steven Griles, and disgraced former Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Norton, who turns 52 today, said the investigations were unrelated to her decision to leave, which she said was personal. Her resignation letter was dated Thursday and her exit is effective at month's end, but she said administration officials have known for some time that she was planning to leave. She said she remained after last year's Gulf Coast hurricanes crippled the region's oil business and sparked nationwide shortages. "Really, I might have made the decision to leave earlier had it not been for things like the hurricanes last year that took so much of our time and effort," she said. "I look forward to visiting a national park and not holding a press conference in there," said Norton, who served at Interior longer than all but six predecessors. Norton on Friday dismissed any potential links among herself, her agency and the Abramoff scandals, saying she had no knowledge of the dealings between Griles and Abramoff that have drawn scrutiny. "I'm very confident that the decisions made at the Department of Interior have been based on the facts and the law and have been appropriate," she said. Norton called Griles a "great asset of this department. ... What I saw of his conduct was aboveboard and very conscientious." A federal criminal task force is examining, among other issues, Griles' discussions with Abramoff at a time when the lobbyist was seeking departmental actions on behalf of his tribal clients. Norton, a former Colorado attorney general who had represented mining, timber and oil companies, said she did not have a new job lined up. She has been mentioned as a potential successor to Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, a term-limited Republican, but Norton said Friday she is more interested in rejoining the private sector. Favored energy interests? A Kansas native who moved to Colorado at 5, Norton spoke often about her love of wilderness. As an adult, she went canoeing with Washington, D.C.- area schoolchildren to promote outdoor recreation. But environmentalists decried several of her policies, including allowing snowmobiling that has prompted endangered woodland caribou to flee Idaho for Canada, and failing to reduce a National Park Service maintenance backlog that may total $9.7 billion. She has been viewed as largely favorable to energy and mining interests - at the expense, critics say, of environmentally sensitive lands and a tradition of weighing science over politics. President Bush, in a written statement, called Norton a "strong advocate for the wise use and protection of our nation's natural resources." But several environmental groups applauded news of her departure. During Norton's first three years as secretary, Interior's Bureau of Land Management issued drilling permits at a record pace, increasing the number of permits 70 percent since the Clinton administration. She also has been one of the administration's most fervent advocates for opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to energy exploration, one goal that has yet to be achieved. In addition to opening up the West for energy exploration, the Interior Department under Norton reduced the supervisory role of the federal government on public lands. For example, wilderness protection was canceled for more than 2.5 million acres in Utah and Colorado, much of which later was opened to oil and gas drilling. Environmental groups claim Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service has voided more than 16 million acres of critical habitat for species listed as threatened or endangered. Under Norton, Interior has taken the position that habitat protection should be largely voluntary. "She really exemplified the revolving door between the Republicans, industry groups and anti-environmental groups," said Kieron Suckling, policy director of the Center for Biological Diversity, which has won numerous lawsuits against Norton's department for refusing to designate critical habitat for endangered species. "I expect that government scientists and decision-makers are clapping their hands under their desks." Still, some conservative groups praised Norton's emphasis on "cooperative conservation," in which federal and private groups gave landowners financial incentives to preserve their property. She also has received warm praise from hunting and other outdoor organizations. Snowmobilers were pleased, for example, when Interior reversed a ban on snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park scheduled to take effect in 2003 and instead allowed increased usage. Throughout a 40-minute conference call Friday with reporters, Norton was adamant that she operated with the best interests of the environment at heart. She took credit for restoring "millions of acres of land, over 10,000 miles of stream and shoreline" and for spending billions of dollars "improving wildlife habitat and otherwise restoring the environment." Efforts to influence Abramoff, who recently pleaded guilty to corruption charges, made repeated efforts to influence Norton, who wielded power over his Indian tribal clients seeking approval for gambling and land-use projects. One important connection was Italia Federici, who heads the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA), which was founded by Norton before she came to Washington. Another was Griles, Norton's deputy, who eventually would be offered a private-sector job by Abramoff. E-mails obtained by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee showed that Federici, who had previously worked on Norton's political campaigns in Colorado, tried to arrange a meeting in 2001 for one of Abramoff's clients, Coushatta tribal chairman Lovelin Poncho, with Norton. Eventually, Poncho did meet with Norton at a fundraising dinner for CREA. Abramoff was closely involved in the planning of the dinner. Many of Abramoff's Indian-tribe clients agreed later to be trustees of CREA, at a cost of $50,000 each. Among the advantages of a trusteeship were invitations to CREA events, attended by department officials, including Norton. Norton on Friday referred to earlier comments by Sen. John McCain, R- Ariz., who has spearheaded a Senate inquiry into Abramoff's dealings with Indian tribes and said Norton was not suspected of wrongdoing. "He specifically said there was no evidence that I had any knowledge about any of the activities he was investigating," Norton said. Copyright c. 2006 The Seattle Times Company. --------- "RE: Idaho Governor named Interior Secretary" --------- Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 08:34:23 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="KEMPTHORNE NOMINATED TO REPLACE NORTON" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060316/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/interior_secretary_5 Idaho Governor Named Interior Secretary By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent WASHINGTON - March 16, 2006 President Bush selected Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne as Interior secretary Thursday, choosing a Westerner whose state is home to rich natural beauty as well as great mineral wealth to become the next steward of millions of acres of public lands. Sen. Larry Craig (news, bio, voting record) of Idaho confirmed the selection, which Bush was to unveil at the White House in a late-afternoon announcement. If confirmed by the Senate, the 54-year-old Kempthorne - himself a former senator - would replace Gale Norton in the Cabinet. She resigned last week after more than five years in office. "I have known and worked with Dirk for many years. He is talented, energetic, and understands the issues that surround public lands and endangered species," Craig told reporters. A Western Democrat, Sen. Maria Cantwell (news, bio, voting record) of Washington, also welcomed the choice, saying Kempthorne "understands the Northwest and a lot of Interior issues." She said he had "stood up to the administration" over nuclear waste cleanup. Kempthorne served one term in the Senate, then retired to return home and run for governor. He was elected in 1998, and easily won a second term in 2004 with more than 55 percent of the vote in his reliably Republican, conservative state. Norton's tenure was a stormy one at times, and her second-in-command, Steven Griles, had a close relationship with disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Several e-mail exchanges between the two men are now the subject of investigations by a Senate committee and the Justice Department. The Interior portfolio often generates controversy - developers clashing with environmentalists - and Norton's successor will have to deal with issues as diverse as a backlog of building needs at the National Park system and the state of health care on impoverished Indian Reservations. Barring an unexpected complication, confirmation should be a formality for Kempthorne. The Senate rarely turns down one of its former members for the Cabinet, and Republicans hold the majority with 55 of 100 seats. The Interior Department manages one of every five acres in the United States, including 388 areas in the national park system, 544 wildlife refuges and more than 260 million acres of multiple-use lands located mainly in 12 Western states. It also manages 824 dams and reservoirs, administers protections for endangered species and works with 562 federally recognized Indian tribes. For the past decade, the department has been embroiled in a bitter lawsuit over the department's responsibility for Indian trust money. At home in Idaho, Kempthorne spent the past year pushing for more state parks and revamping and expanding the road systems with money raised from bonds. As leader of the National Governors Association, Kempthorne emphasized the challenge of providing long-term health care, citing his experience with his own parents. Born in San Diego, he grew up in Spokane, Wash., graduated from the University of Idaho in 1975 and worked for FMC Corp. and the Idaho Homebuilders Association before being elected mayor of Boise in 1986. He served as mayor until 1993, going on to serve six years in the U.S. Senate. His political career has touched on several land and wildlife issues. Kempthorne has sued the Bush administration over its November 2000 decision to reintroduce grizzlies into the Bitterroot range, a proposal that was ultimately withdrawn in 2001 by U.S. Fish and Wildlife. He was also part of a four-state salmon recovery effort, working with Indian tribes in the region as well as the Northwest Power Planning Council. Copyright c. 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Incoming BIA Superintendent Steve Pollock honored" --------- Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 08:34:23 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BLACKFEET HONOR INCOMING BIA SUPERINTENDENT" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.goldentrianglenews.com/2006/03/16/glacier_reporter/news1.txt Incoming BIA Superintendent Steve Pollock honored at BCC. By John McGill, Glacier Reporter Editor March 15, 2006 "This is a great day for the Blackfeet people," said Councilwoman Betty N. Cooper Tuesday at Blackfeet Community College. Cooper was one of many well-wishers on hand to witness a warbonnet transfer ceremony conducted for the incoming Blackfeet Agency Superintendent. While several have held the position over the years, Tuesday marked a unique milestone in Blackfeet history as Steve Pollock, a tribal member, is now the Agency Superintendent. Applause all around, Steve Pollock, the incoming Blackfeet Agency Superintendent, shook hands with June Tatsey and a crowd of well-wishers at Blackfeet Community College Tuesday. Pollock, a member of the Blackfeet Tribe, made history when it was announced he will assume the position of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Agency Superintendent on the Blackfeet Reservation. There will more ceremonies to celebrate Pollock's appointment at the Days of the Blackfeet event later this spring. Photo by John McGill "This is a very important day," said Browning Schools board member Stan Juneau. "It's amazing it took 200 years to get a member of our tribe back. " Acting Superintendent Cliff Hall said he was most impressed with Pollock when the new Superintendent asked his staff to consider the impact they would make on their own children with the decisions they were making. "This is beyond my imagination and beyond my expectations," said Pollock. "I thought about the job. Is it meant for me to take on the responsibility and try to help our tribe as it grows and becomes a sovereign nation? I believe very strongly this is where I was meant to be. "We are here to assist at the will of the Tribe," Pollock continued. "No longer is the BIA the paternal father of the Tribe. The Tribe stands on its own now. It's up to the Tribe to determine its own destiny, now and forever...so I pledge on behalf of the BIA that I will cooperate, I will assist, I will endeavor to see our Tribe succeed. "This is really important to me. On my first day, driving to Browning to go to work, I saw children waiting for the bus, and I thought, what is their world? What is Browning to them? Is it a world of hope and promise?.. .I hope so. It's our responsibility as leaders to provide that for our children." Pollock said he hopes that through cooperation among the Bureau, Indian Health Service and the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council "that we can come together and unite in the betterment of the Tribe, the reservation and its resources." The ceremonies Tuesday were only the beginning, said ceremonial leader Leon Rattler, and included face painting and the songs related to that process, as well as gift giving and a feast. The actual warbonnet transfer will take place during the Days of the Blackfeet at BCC. Copyright c. 2006 Golden Triangle Newspapers. --------- "RE: Reservation may not see Road improvements" --------- Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 08:44:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="REZ ROADS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.daily-times.com/article?AID=/20060319/NEWS01/603190306/1001 Reservation may not see road improvements By Andrea Koskey The Daily Times March 19, 2006 NEWCOMB - Every morning around 5:30, Susie Sherman, 44, drives a big yellow school bus along a rough, rocky road to pick up nearly 70 area school children . "I really do like my job," Sherman, a nine-year veteran driver, said. "I know all of my kids and where they sit. The kids get used to you and rely on you to take them to school." However, the weather can make her job a tough one. During wet and bad weather the road becomes virtually inaccessible, she said. "A lot of the clay gets stuck to the tire or (the bus) just slips off the road," said Sherman, who drives Navajo Route 36. "When that happens, I have to call for help. Sometimes I'm stuck for two hours before they can pull me out." To help drivers like Sherman, federal money was given to the county to improve the condition of school roads serving the Navajo Nation, but it may be of little help, school officials said. According to a release, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., secured more than $500,000 to be divided between San Juan and McKinley counties through the Department of Transportation for the improvement and maintenance of the roads. The amount given to each county is based on the number of roads it will affect; San Juan will receive more than $300,000. "I'd love the money," said Jeff Hunt, director of transportation for the Central Consolidated School District (CCSD). "We have fought for seven years for the money we were told we would get before ($100,000 each year), but we still haven't seen it." Hunt said the money has not gone to improving the roads on the reservation because tribal and county governments cannot come to an agreement regarding the right-of-way laws. The right-of-way is a complex agreement with one government giving the other the right to conduct business on their property without repercussion. Currently, the roads are tilled once a year by Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) crews. Sherman's route is not grated until May, which is at the end of the school year. "When school is back in session, the wind blows away the work that was done. I cannot tell a difference," Sherman said. County officials agreed that the laws are an obstacle. "(The money) is limited to the county, we can't go on the (reservation) with it," said Tony Atkinson, county commissioner. According to Atkinson the county does have more than 300 miles of road the money can be used toward. He described the coverage area as a "checkerboard" to guide and maintain the roads. Atkinson added that "maintaining" the roads means to run blades across the dirt tilling it up and filling in the holes. Sherman, however, said the maintenance done by the BIA is not efficient. Not only is the wind a factor, but the agency only has one person covering all of the Nation's roads in New Mexico. "(The BIA) told me they do not have the money for more equipment," Sherman said. "They only have one guy (maintaining) all the roads in New Mexico." Although all involved parties would like to see the rough roads paved, Atkinson said, it would cost too much money. "If we could just get one road paved, it would make a difference," Hunt said. "At the very least, it would be nice to have a way to drain them, so we can travel in and out." Hunt added that he has not seen the road conditions change in nearly 20 years. Since there is no immediate solution to the government conflict and the children still need to attend school, drivers continue to brave the elements and the roads to do their job. "We have to use our judgment (during bad weather)," said Sherman. "We usually go real slow." Copyright c. 2005 Farmington Daily Times, a MediaNews Group Newspaper. --------- "RE: Shots echo one year later" --------- Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 08:44:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="REDLAKE AFTERMATH" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/14133455.htm? Shots echo one year later BY AMY FORLITI ASSOCIATED PRESS March 19, 2006 BEMIDJI, Minn. - Steven Cobenais grips his mother's hand and squirms as a hospital nurse pokes him with a needle, searching for a vein that will take an IV. The teenager grimaces, squeezing his good eye shut. Steven's mother looks worried: A dizzy spell sent the boy to the hospital the night before and a mysterious rash has spread over his body. His father shakes his head helplessly as siblings gather around the bed - a familiar scene since Steven was injured in a school shooting on the Red Lake Band of Chippewa's reservation a year ago. A little later, Steven's father rushes from the room calling for help - Steven is having a seizure. As hospital staff swarm the 16-year-old, his mother, LeeAnn Thunder, cries softly. "I can't stand to see him go through those," she says. And yet, this has become the family's life since last March 21, when a bullet from the gun of a fellow student destroyed his left eye and tunneled into his brain: Medications twice a day, regular hospital visits, the fear of another seizure at any moment. The family had its problems before the shooting, but since then, their situation has grown worse. Steven's mother delayed graduation from a technical college to care for him. His father, Llewellyn Thunder, lost his job. The family spent months looking for a home. Endless hospital trips are a financial drain on the family, which includes three other siblings (all of whom use their mother's maiden name) plus a cousin. "Our life is taking care of him. That's what it's all about now," Llewellyn says. A COMMUNITY MOURNS To be sure, Steven and his family aren't the only ones still suffering since an attack that was the worst school shooting since Columbine. Jeff Weise, a 16-year-old student, killed his grandfather and his grandfather's girlfriend off-campus before going to Red Lake High School, where he gunned down a security guard, a teacher and five students before killing himself. Besides Steven, one other boy, Jeff May, was seriously wounded; he suffered a brain injury and remains paralyzed on the left side. The Red Lake reservation is in remote northwestern Minnesota. Its Seven Clans Casino has largely missed out on gambling revenue enjoyed by tribes closer to the metropolitan area. About 31 percent of households on the reservation receive some public assistance, compared with 3.4 percent of households statewide, according to the 2000 census. The band's proud sovereignty makes the reservation a forbidding place for outsiders. The 5,000 or so tribal members living on the reservation are closely connected, and families are huge. That means the grieving extends far beyond the immediate families of the dead and wounded. "There's almost nothing that can happen with any kind of serious nature, or even a political nature, where we don't have a relative or a friend involved," said Lee Cook, a tribal member and director of the American Indian Resource Center at nearby Bemidji State University. One shooting victim was Cook's first cousin. "People are really hurt," said Sister Marina Schlangen, director of development at St. Mary's Mission, a Catholic mission on the reservation. "People are more quiet and they don't say too much.... They are very hurt by the shooting. They are grieving." At the high school, students are seeking out counselors more often to talk about feelings of depression. Principal Chris Dunshee said gang activity also has increased, as some students are drawn to the perceived safety of a group. "There's an atmosphere where there's a lack of innocence now," Dunshee sa id. He is on medical leave because of heart problems and post-traumatic stress. Many people on the reservation were angry, too, at the way the investigation of the shootings unfolded. Only one person, the teenage son of tribal Chairman Floyd Jourdain Jr., was prosecuted even though authorities said as many as 39 people might have known Weise planned something. Louis Jourdain, 17, admitted exchanging threatening messages with Weise. His sentence has not been disclosed because he is a juvenile. "If you live in an environment like that, everybody wants to blame somebody," Cook said. "In my mind, the biggest frustration was the fact that the one person who knew why he did what he did, was dead." Floyd Jourdain, who spent months proclaiming his son's innocence, has turned down calls for his resignation from critics questioning his leadership. He could not be reached for comment for this story, but has said in the past he plans to seek re- election in May in what promises to be a politically charged race. Francis Brun, the father of slain security guard Derrick Brun, also has said he would run for chairman. BARELY GETTING BY Steven Cobenais remembers sitting in math class when Weise shot his way into the classroom and began firing at students. Steven, then 15, was hit in the forehead by a bullet that shattered facial bone and tissue, destroyed his left eye, entered his brain and exited near his left ear. Doctors had to remove part of his brain, and Steven spent 30 days at a hospital in Fargo, N.D., before entering rehabilitation. In later procedures, doctors rebuilt his eye socket for a prosthetic eye. These days, Steven can walk, but he has poor short-term memory, forgets people and things, and has trouble with even basic math, according to Elliot Olsen, an attorney for the family, which is considering unspecified lawsuits to try to recover some of the more than $300,000 that medical care has cost so far. A fund raised some money, but the family gets by on medical assistance, welfare and unemployment compensation. Steven also gets Social Security payments. Medical reports shared by his family are a wind ow into his present and his future. He won't play the competitive basketball he loved so much. He won't follow his great-grandfather's footsteps into the Army as he had hoped. He may need care for the rest of his life. "He knows that his dreams are gone," Llewellyn said. During one recent hospital stay, Steven and his 14-year-old cousin, Lewis Thunder, passed the time by tossing a basketball around and trying to write their names with their left hands. Lewis moved in with the Thunders about four years ago, and the boys consider themselves brothers. But life is different from the days when Steven taught Lewis to play basketball, or when Lewis tried to keep up with Steven as they chopped wood. Now, their play is restricted. The boys share quiet moments together, as Lewis asks his cousin if his IV hurts or gives him a ride in a hospital wheelchair. Twice a day, Steven's cell phone goes off, reminding him to take his anti- seizure medication. "He's tougher than me," Lewis said quietly, look ing down as he spoke. "If I probably ever got shot I probably would've died. I have a lot of respect for him because... he took a bullet and I didn't." 'OUT TO NO MAN'S LAND' Lewis absentmindedly doodles a picture of a wheelchair with a line through it, and the words "no wheel chairs." Madelyn Cobenais, 14, sometimes makes herself sick with stress. Nine-year-old Keahna Cobenais fights for attention, sometimes running away as others tend to Steven. The oldest, 17-year-old Cheree Cobenais, sometimes walks around with her left eye closed, saying she wants to see what it's like for Steven. She was supposed to graduate from high school this year, but quit to be with her "Brother Bear." "My world just revolves around him," she said. "I go out once in a while but I just cannot enjoy myself. Steven is just on my mind constantly." LeeAnn and Llewellyn's marriage was strained even before the shooting and they are seeing counselors as they try to cope. Llewellyn said he may have post-traumatic stress. "Nobody knows what it's like to sit here day in and day out, and night after night, and have to sleep... anticipate your son waking up in the middle of the night and having a seizure," Llewellyn said. "The next seizure might be the one that's going to send him out to the no man's land." For months, they worried they'd have no place to go. The family moved out of their rental unit on the reservation in July after LeeAnn said the tribe wouldn't make it handicapped-accessible for Steven; housing authority officials said they didn't know why the family left. They moved to transitional housing in Bemidji, where they could only stay until the end of February. Just a few weeks before the moving date, one of Llewellyn's great uncles died, and they were allowed to move into his rental unit on the reservation. Aside from one instance when he broke down, Steven hasn't showed much emotion, his parents say. Some days he goes to school; some days he refuses to go. His mother said he attends special education classes and some regular classes. "He told me before, 'I don't want to go through the month of March,' " LeeAnn said. "But he's still going." Looking at old pictures of Steven one evening, his face undamaged, his parents cry. He used to be charming and athletic, and talked to lots of girls, they say. They remember how excited he was the night before the shooting, when he came home from a date singing and dancing, waking them up with his energy. "I've never seen him so happy, so flamboyant to be himself... I'll never forget that night," Llewellyn says. "When he went to sleep that night he must've had high hopes of having a dream fulfilled that day. "It hurts me because he will never be that way again." The family has had some happy moments in the past year. Just this week, Steven finally got his prosthetic eye. After a doctor slid the eye into place, Steven's mother and sister gasped and began crying. Steven looked "pretty awesome," his mother said later. Steven quietly looked at himself in a mirror and said: "I got my eye. Thank God." Later, he said softly, "I look... the same." Copyright c. 2006 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 2006 Duluth News-Tribune - Knight Ridder, Inc. --------- "RE: Indians see tax battle with Spitzer" --------- Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 08:44:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NEW YORK TOBACCO WAR" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060319/1049488.asp Indians see tax battle with Spitzer By LOU MICHEL and BILL MICHELMORE News Staff Reporter March 19, 2006 "It ain't over yet with Spitzer. He's brought us together." Cyrus M. Schindler Jr., on tax dispute with state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer A resumption of cigarette deliveries to Native American smoke shops does not mean business as usual so long as State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer remains a candidate for governor. Seneca leaders and a Tuscarora businessman predict they are headed for a confrontation with Spitzer, who has strongly advocated collecting cigarette taxes on the reservations at the direction of the State Legislature. "It ain't over yet with Spitzer. He's brought us together," said Cyrus M. Schindler Jr., a tribal councilor and member of a Seneca committee studying ways to thwart the state's recent effort to collect taxes on Indian-sold tobacco. Joseph "Smokin' Joe" Anderson, a smoke shop owner on the Tuscarora Reservation in Niagara County, said his lawyers are working the tax issue. "This is what I say to the government: Don't step on our rights," Anderson said. "They've burned us out and put us on reservations. We came up with ways to manufacture and sell goods, and now they want to take that away from us. It's not going to happen." Many Seneca leaders remain angry with Spitzer's statement earlier last week, describing nation retailers shipping cigarettes over the Internet as a "massive criminal enterprise." Some say they are looking at ways to spend as much as $5 million to make their anti-tax case to the public during the gubernatorial campaign in the hopes of damaging Spitzer's chance at election. One way to raise that money might be to raise the price of a carton of cigarettes and use that extra money for an anti-Spitzer campaign fund. The state Tax Department on Friday appeared to back down from a law that passed both the Senate and Assembly, requiring state taxes be charged on cigarettes sold from the reservation. The Tax Department notified a major wholesaler of cigarettes that it could ignore the law, and tobacco shipments resumed Friday. Seneca businessmen and leaders aren't certain that the conflict is over, though, and they are discussing other strategies. One is the possibility of the Seneca Nation buying cigarettes directly from tobacco manufacturers, said Anna Ward, who runs Big Indian, one of the Senecas' largest retail operations. "That would strengthen our commerce," said Ward, Schindler's daughter. "The Seneca Nation might also deal with other Indian nations that have direct relationships with cigarette manufacturers." Schindler, who negotiated a casino compact with Republican Gov. George E. Pataki, described Spitzer's efforts to collect taxes from American Indians as a "bullying tactic" that goes against a promise made by Pataki when he agreed to allow Indian-run casinos in New York State. "When we were negotiating the [casino] compact, Pataki said we were sovereign and he wouldn't collect taxes from us," Schindler said, adding that treaties between the tribe and the federal government protect the nation from taxes. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, ruled in 1994 that the state could collect taxes on sales of cigarettes to non-Indians. Native Americans on the Tuscarora Reservation, though, still feel the tax issue is one of sovereignty. "How are they going to enforce that?" Anderson asked. "Are non-Indians going to have stars on their foreheads? This is not about taxes or politics, it's about human rights." Billie Twogun, who lives on Tuscarora land, said it reminds him of the Deep South in the 1950s. "They want us to have a native price and a white- boy price," he said. Jim Printup, who works at Jay's Place, an Indian smoke shop on Walmore Road on the Tuscarora Reservation, also expressed resentment at the effort to collect the taxes on the reservation. "How can you tax another nation?" he said. "This is never going to fly." "We plan to be in the tobacco business for another 100 years," said Anderson, who owns cigarette, gasoline, gift shop and food market complexes on the reservation. Schindler hinted he and other Senecas are not afraid to return to the tactics of the 1990s, when angry Senecas and their supporters closed down the New York State Thruway with massive protests and fires in response to the state's effort to collect taxes. Copyright c. 1999 - 2006 - The Buffalo News. --------- "RE: Funding woes threaten Aberdeen Clinic" --------- Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2006 08:53:48 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YET ANOTHER URBAN HEALTH CLINIC IN JEOPARDY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.twincities.com/14074061.htm?source=rss&channel=aberdeennews_news Funding woes threaten Aberdeen clinic Federal budget for 2007 missing $33 million for Urban Indian Health By Scott Waltman American News Writer March 11, 2006 Unless there are changes to President Bush's proposed budget, South Dakota's Urban Indian Health service is in danger, UIH officials say. That means the UIH office in Aberdeen could close in the next couple of years. Val Jones heads the Aberdeen office, which serves about 1,600 patients a year. If the federal budget approved later this year doesn't include money for UIH, the 34 offices nationwide will be in trouble. They might remain open for a year or two, but they'll have to cut services until they ultimately close their doors. Such a move would mean people in Aberdeen would go without medical services, Jones said. One of those people could be 19-year-old Randi Chingman of Aberdeen. Chingman said she and her 17-month-old son generally seek medical services at UIH in Aberdeen. If it closes, Chingman said, she'll do what she has to to make sure her son gets the care he needs. However, she said, she probably won't be able to afford general medical care for herself. Chingman works part time at a nursing home - not enough to have medical insurance, she said. She would if she worked full time, but she'd end up spending all of her money on child care instead, she said. "I don't know what I would do with myself if I were to get sick or need something" and the local UIH office was closed, Chingman said. UIH gets its name because it receives money from Indian Health Services and focuses on caring for Indians, although it accepts patients of all races who meet income requirements. Funding gone in 2007: In past years, the Department of Health and Human Services' slice of the overall federal budget has included a line-item for UIH. The president's proposed budget for fiscal year 2007 does not. That means a cut of $33 million, a significant portion of UIH's overall budget, said Georgiana Ignace, president of the National Council of Urban Indian Health, who testified on Capitol Hill last month. In addition to federal funding, UIH uses grant money to operate. The nonprofit UIH centers in Aberdeen, Sioux Falls and Pierre are technically considered only one office. Together, they receive about $1 million in federal funds. Jones said she knows there's a push to make cuts to the federal budget. But, she said, the UIH program is a fulfilment of treaty terms. In return for offering to provide such health care and other services, the United States long ago received tribal lands. Ignace shared similar beliefs when she testified. She said the Indian Health Care Improvement Act stipulates that the United States "meet the national goal of providing the highest possible health status to Indians and urban Indians and to provide all resources necessary to effect that policy." UIH offerings: Bobbi Piasecki of Aberdeen said there are some things UIH clinics offer that other medical centers don't. "One of the main attractions I have to the clinic is how sensitive they are to the Native American cultures," she said. "SDUIH works with specialized, culturally identifiable medical needs such as diabetes, which affects more than 15 percent of the Native American population," said Piasecki, 35, a grant writer and Northern State University student. UIH provides not only primary medical care, but some dental service, screenings, health care education, optical service and special programs. Chingman said UIH also accepts special payment schedules. Sometimes she doesn't have money to pay at the time of an office visit. With UIH, that's OK, she said. Jones said UIH offices have sliding scales that adjust to different income levels. Rallying support: UIH supporters are rallying as much support from as many groups and governmental officials as possible. Gov. Mike Rounds and the Legislature have already penned letters of support. So have the Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairman's Board and the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. The Aberdeen UIH clinic is encouraging patients to write the congressional delegation and ask that it work to make sure UIH funding is included in the budget. Whether funding is restored probably won't be known until fall. Congress generally tries to approve the federal budget by Oct. 1, but debate sometimes delays that action. Ignace testified that keeping the offices open would save money by getting American Indians - including those without insurance - needed medical care before conditions become severe. Without medical insurance, Chingman said, it can be hard to get regular medical care. "Please don't close the place," Chingman said. Piasecki, who said she has been going to the Aberdeen clinic since it opened in the late 1970s when she was a child, also hopes the office remains open. "SDUIH has been a major factor in assisting individuals in controlling their own destiny with proper health care, and achieving the quality of medical care they desire," Piasecki said. "The loss of SDUIH would have a detrimental impact on the community as well as the health care of the Native American community." Copyright c. 2006 Pioneer Press - Knight Ridder, Inc. --------- "RE: Red Flags raised over Indian Housing Program" --------- Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 08:34:23 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BUDGET CUTS: INDIAN HOUSING" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7659 Red flags raised over Indian housing program Senate committee warns of danger if cuts are implemented Sam Lewin March 16, 2006 A Senate committee has issued a warning, cautioning that a continued decline in funding for a grant program could worsen Indian Country's housing crisis. The red flag comes in the form of a letter authored by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and sent to the Senate Budget Committee. The grant program is part of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self- Determination Act, and has decreased a whopping $32 million in the last two years alone. Congress has proposed giving the program $625.7 million in the next fiscal year. According to the letter that is not nearly enough. The lack of funding will "result in fewer homes being built for an Indian population that is growing and in need of safe, decent and affordable housing," according to the Indian Affairs committee. Officials with the National American Indian Housing Council, known by the acronym NAIHC, estimate that the housing problem in Indian communities is so bad that it would take $1.1 billion per year to begin to address it. Realizing that there could be opposition to such a large sum, the NAIHC has instead suggested $748 million. The NAIHC, while lobbying to increase funding for housing, is also in danger. For the second straight year in a row they face the possibility of no federal help. Last year sympathetic officials were able to get the NAIHC's budget partially restored, but they still took a hit to the tune of $2.5 million. Some politicians on Capitol Hill realize what such a cut could do. The NAIHC is "by far the major provider of technical assistance and training to the Native community," the letter from the Indian affairs committee stated. NAIHC head Gary Gordon, referring to the Indian affairs committee as SCIA, said the NAIHC "appreciates SCIA's recognition of our programs as a key provider of effective tools in training and technical assistance for tribal housing authorities. However, SCIA states that they support continued funding at the current levels. We fear that without SCIA explicitly stating support for full reinstatement of the $4.6 million funding level, the Budget Committee could cut our funds once again, sharply curtailing the valuable programs that NAIHC provides to Indian Country." About 57 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives live outside of tribal communities, according to the 2000 census. Out of the total Native population only about 56 percent are homeowners. You can reach Sam Lewin at sam@okit.com Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Bill introduced to assist Suicide Prevention" --------- Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 08:54:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FUNDING FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION SERVICES" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?feature=yes&id=1096412622 Bill introduced to assist tribes' suicide prevention services March 10, 2006 by: David Melmer / Indian Country Today WASHINGTON - Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., has introduced a bill that would assist tribes in the fight against suicide among American Indian youth. The new legislation, titled Indian Youth Telemental Health Demonstration Project Act of 2006, would establish a demonstration project with the use of telecommunications to assist in psychotherapy, provide education and counseling for individuals. The demonstration project will allow five tribal programs or organizations to apply for grants. The tribes and organizations applying must have telehealth capabilities, according to Dorgan's bill. The grantees would provide mental health services through telecommunication technology for youth counseling for suicide prevention, intervention and treatment. Medical advice and other assistance to providers would be included with training for tribal members, elected officials, tribal educators and health workers, or anyone who deals with youth directly. The teleconferencing will originate with the Department of Health and Human Services' mental health division. Culturally sensitive information will be available as part of the training and counseling process. Suicide rates among youth aged 14 - 25 in Indian country are three times higher than the national average. In the Plains, mental health officials claim that the suicide rate is five to seven times higher among all residents. Where Indian country suicide rates are concerned, the Plains region is 10 times higher, data prove. "I believe that solutions [should] be put forward now to deal with this troubling problem," Dorgan said. "The needless loss of young boys and girls whose whole lives lay ahead of them is a very serious problem. Time is running out for addressing this tragic issue," he said. Remoteness, hopelessness, family dysfunction, economic disparity, alcohol and drugs are the most frequently listed reasons for attempted suicide. Mental health professionals have testified at hearings that alcohol is almost always involved with attempts and completed suicides. Tribal leaders in the Plains have prepared a list of health priorities and mental health has been rising toward the top throughout the last few years. For fiscal year 2006, mental health is listed as a No. 2 priority, right behind diabetes. Alcohol and substance abuse is listed as a No. 3 or 4 priority by the tribal chairmen. This project will help those at the tribal level reach a better understanding about what prevention tactics work. Many communities in the Plains and across the nation have formed community-based suicide prevention groups. The organizations seeking grants must work directly with American Indian youth and priority for grants will be given to tribes and tribal organizations. According to the proposed bill language, psychotherapy, psychiatric assessments and diagnostic interviews, therapies for mental health conditions predisposing to suicide, and treatment and for alcohol and drug abuse treatment will be eligible. Clinicians will be afforded interactive medical advice, guidance and training, assistance in diagnosis and interpretation. Crisis counseling and intervention will also be part of the program offered through telecommunication. Individuals who work with youth, parents and others who are not professionals in mental health will also benefit from the educational information, training and assistance in this project. This proposal runs parallel to one submitted by Dorgan in the 2005 session. The new plan does not negate that which was included as an amendment to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act of 2005, which was approved. Dorgan said testimony received by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in 2005 played a major role in the development of this legislation. Twilla Rough Surface, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, testified at a committee hearing that after members of her family committed suicide, and the suicide attempts of others, not one professional ever contacted her or family members. Rough Surface said she lost a niece to suicide following the death of her brother in a car accident. She said her sister couldn't deal with the loss of her son and a daughter, and attempted suicide also. The loss of her nephew also had an impact on one of his friends, who was chosen as a pallbearer: he committed suicide on the day of her nephew's funeral. "The effect of deaths in my family has touched many and continues to be a concern. I must mention that at no point did any mental health professionals contact our family. I feel if there had been intervention with grief counseling and support for my sister and her children, my niece may have had a chance to grow to be an elder of the community," Rough Surface said. On the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota there are anywhere from three to seven suicide attempts a week. In 2001 - '02, there were eight completed suicides, 48 attempts and 28 threats; in 2002 - '03, there were three suicide completions, 152 attempts and 72 threats. In the past, suicide clusters have been a problem on Cheyenne River. At one time, a group of 17 youths made a pact and drew numbers. Each was found hanging in their homes, according to Julie Garreau, Cheyenne River Youth Project. "We are heartbroken that it may have taken an incident like the school shootings at the Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota to bring national attention to the crisis our children are facing in Indian country, but are so relieved that someone is finally hearing our voices. "Our children in Indian country are in crisis," Garreau said. Standing Rock set up a task force earlier this year to meet with communities and maintain statistics on suicide. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and others in the Plains had not had time to study the proposed bill, and no hearings had been scheduled. Copyright c. 1998-2006 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Prof. wants Teachers to better grasp Indian Lands" --------- Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 08:44:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HELPING K12 TEACHERS UNDERSTAND INDIAN LANDS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.argusleader.com/article?AID=/20060318/NEWS/60318001/1001/rss Professor wants teachers to better grasp Indian lands TERRY WOSTER twoster@midco.net March 18, 2006 PIERRE - It's impossible to understand Indian reservations and tribes without having a basic knowledge of how their lands are held, a Black Hills State University professor says. John Glover, author of "Tribal Sovereigns of South Dakota," said that's a major reason he's involved in a pair of summer institutes about tribal government and Indian lands for K-12 teachers in South Dakota. "How the lands are held, both within the boundaries of the reservations and outside those boundaries, and how it came to be that the lands are held that way are essential pieces of the story of American Indians," Glover said. "To teach, you need to understand your subject. Without knowing the story of the land, you can't completely understand this subject." The institutes are June 19-23 and July 17-21. Information can be found at www.bhsu.edu/artssciences/indianstudies. Each session will include 20 K-12 teachers. Glover said it's important in discussions of Indian history to understand how reservations were created, how lands within those reservations were allotted and how South Dakota, for example, came to have a hodgepodge of Indian land situations, including the checker-boarding that is common on some reservations and the pockets of Indian Country that exist outside the formal boundaries of other reservations. The institutes also will look at how tribal governments are organized and how they operate, both for the nine federally recognized tribes within South Dakota and for tribes across the rest of the country. History and issues involving Bear Butte and other culturally important sites will be discussed. Most of the teachers are expected to come from schools with a large population of Indian students, Glover said. One of the sponsors of the institutes is the Indian Land Tenure Foundation, a nonprofit group in Minneapolis that includes tribal members, governments and organizations. The foundation's stated goal is to ensure that "land within the original boundaries of every reservation, and other areas of high significance where tribes train aboriginal interest, are in Indian ownership and management." Howard Valandra of the foundation said his group talked to tribal members across the country to learn that most wanted young people to learn how Indian land developed, how it can be managed and what its place is in the history of the people. "If you learn the background of how this all came to be, you show those people their place in the world," Valandra, who grew up on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, said. "John Glover had the idea of not just reaching out to the young people but reaching out to teachers and through them." He said the attempt to educate people about Indian lands is only in its infancy. "We are hardly planting a seed, we're more looking over the landscape," Valandra said. Copyright c. 2006 ArgusLeader.com All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Plan aims to retain Indian Students" --------- Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 08:44:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SIOUX FALLS SCHOOL DISTRICT" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2006/03/19/news/state/state01.txt Plan aims to retain Indian students March 19, 2006 SIOUX FALLS (AP) - The Sioux Falls School District has devised a five- year plan aimed at keeping American Indian students from dropping out before they graduate from high school. During the 2004-05, the district's dropout rate for Indian students was 13.27 percent. That compares to 3.59 percent for white students. One district study showed that of 112 American Indian students who started high school in 2002, 13 graduated on time from city schools. Keith Moore, South Dakota's Indian education director, said a similar problem exists statewide and starts long before students enter middle or high school. "We're learning more and more each year how important womb to 3 is," he said. "There are so many unfortunate statistics for us as Indians in those early years." Anything Sioux Falls schools do to try to address the issue of Indian education is good, Moore said. Gail Swenson, interim supervisor of Indian and homeless education for the Sioux Falls district, said the initiative links students with an adult who meets with them several times a year. The idea is to help students make a connection with the school and provide a way to monitor the student's grades and attendance, Swenson said. "Hopefully, we can be on top of this before it becomes an issue, before it becomes a crisis, before kids become overwhelmed and before they drop out," she said. "We've always known there's been concerns and issues. But it's good to have the numbers." Moore said a $13.8 million Gear Up grant begins in South Dakota this summer that will work with seventh-grade students in a project modeled after an American Indian honors program. A new class will be added to the program for each of six years, Moore said. The goal is to provide strong role models, map out high school courses and expose students to a college campus. "Are we going to go through another century and talk about the same things or are we really going to try something?" Moore asked. Bureau of Indian Affairs data shows that out of 100 Native American kids who start kindergarten, 45 complete high school, and only four go to college. Of those four, one typically graduates with a college degree. Something must be done to reverse that trend, Moore said. "When you're in dire straits, it's hard to put an emphasis on education. But Indian people need to do that. Within our culture, our new buffalo is education." Copyright c. 2006 Rapid City Journal. --------- "RE: Oneida: A question of Trust" --------- Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2006 08:53:48 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ONEIDA LAND-INTO-TRUST" http://www.uticaod.com/apps/pbcs.dll/20060312/NEWS/603120327/1001 A question of trust Elizabeth Cooper Observer-Dispatch March 12, 2006 VERONA - Few political issues have generated as much fervor as the Oneida Indian Nation's land-into-trust application, and few have been as difficult to understand. The application builds on decades of disputes about how best to balance the Nation's needs with that of longtime local residents and town, county and state governments. It reflects the failure of previous efforts at resolution ranging from year-long mediation sessions to two U.S. Supreme Court rulings. And it has the potential to affect everything from how much taxes residents will pay to how kitchens at Oneida Indian Nation restaurants will be inspected, from how successful Turning Stone Resort and Casino will be to which police agencies will patrol roads in towns such as Verona. The land-into-trust subject is controversial, yet it's something people need to strive to understand, experts say. "How do you provide justice to an Indian nation whose land was taken illegally?" said Christopher Vecsey, Colgate University's director of Native American studies. "How do you provide justice to them without providing injustice for other people? "It is a knotty problem, and it's for people of goodwill to try and figure out how to solve it," he said. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, says it might decide the issue by year's end. If the agency approves the Oneidas' plan, Nation land and any businesses on it would be exempt from property taxes and local regulations. But just how that would play out is in dispute. The issue has generated attention and emotion. The past two months have seen crammed meeting halls, angry rhetoric and wildly varying interpretations of what approval of the land-into-trust application might mean. The Nation gives one version of what might occur; Oneida County and New York state give another. Residents are struggling to make sense of what's best for the region. "It's a very difficult situation," said Dale Aikens, owner of The Pet Factory in Vernon. "I have a very small part of Indian blood in me, and you can go back in history and see what we have done to various races and ethnic groups. Still, he added, that doesn't mean their property should be tax exempt. "If we start making everyone tax free because of what we've done in the past, nobody's going to be paying taxes," Aikens said. But Tom Rees, who was smoking a cigarette outside Joel's Steak House in Verona, said maybe the Indians should get a break, especially given the jobs they've created at the Turning Stone resort and Casino. "As much as I think it's unfair for small business people that have to make a living and have to pay taxes, there's got to be an arrangement made," he said. "They've got to get together and get an agreement and that'll be the end of it." The issue has become so divisive that some business owners in western Oneida County say they don't want to talk about it publicly. One barber shop owner said it's one of the subjects he likes to keep off-limits while people are getting their hair cut. He just doesn't want to get into it, he said. "I take a neutral stand because of the customers," Dick Roberts, proprietor of Dick's Barber Shop in Vernon said. "I don't allow anyone to talk anything about politics or religion." Both Oneida County Executive Joseph A. Griffo and Oneida Nation Representative Ray Halbritter profess to wanting an agreement that would allow the Nation to live side by side with the rest of the community without controversy. But any agreement ends there. Coming just months after last year's U.S. Supreme Court decision that paved the way for taxation and regulation of the Oneidas' land and enterprises, the land-into-trust application has generated fierce opposition from New York state and Oneida and Madison counties. The Nation, however, describes a vision of a self-sufficient Oneida community living peacefully with its neighbors even as it maintains roads and polices its own territory. Griffo warns of an "angry scar" gouged in the county if the land-into- trust application is approved. Halbritter complains the counties and state are acting in bad faith and are continuing a 200-year-old pattern of mistreating the Nation. Griffo says he's beginning to doubt the effectiveness of court rulings. "Here's the Supreme Court itself and it's being challenged," he said. "This is the law of the land, yet it's being challenged and interpreted." Halbritter, meanwhile, says a settlement could be reached "in half an hour on the back of an envelope," if all the parties were committed. The History Question: This dispute dates back more than 200 years. Why is what happened in America's earliest days relevant now? Answer: The Oneida Indian Nation makes its legal case based on the validity of numerous treaties dating back to the post-Revolutionary War era. - 1788: Before the U.S. Constitution was ratified, the Oneida Indian Nation signed the Treaty of Fort Schuyler, which ceded all of its land to the state of New York. - 1794: The Treaty of Canandaigua created a more than 250,000-acre reservation for the Oneidas in their homeland of Central New York. It also, however, said the Oneidas could sell their lands to settlers if they wished. - Early 1800s: Over the next few decades, there were many treaties in which land was sold. In some cases, the state dealt with individuals who were not clearly designated tribal leaders. - Late 1900s: The Oneida Indian Nation went to court in the early 1970s with a land-claim lawsuit based on the fact land was taken from it wrongfully. Courts have ruled since then, including in a landmark 1985 U.S. Supreme Court decision, that the Oneidas were cheated in these sales and deserve compensation in the form of land and/or money. How that compensation is to be made has been the subject of multiple land-claim negotiations in the past two decades. Q: Why haven't the parties been able to agree on a settlement? A: The issue remains unresolved because so many parties have so much at stake. New York state, Madison County, Oneida County and three different branches of the Oneida Nation must all be involved. Other, smaller tribes also have a claim to some of the land. In 1999 and 2000, an appointed mediator from Seton Hall University made a concerted effort to find common ground, but even he finally gave up. Among the issues then, and at other times, has been the failure of the New York branch of the Oneidas to agree with Oneida Nation branches in Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada. Q: Gov. Pataki and Nation leader Ray Halbritter appeared on the same stage four years ago announcing a deal. What did that 2002 deal say? A: The 2002 framework sought to resolve many of the major issues facing the state and the local municipalities. Here are some key elements: - It set a cap for the expansion of sovereign Oneida land at 35,000 acres, and stated clearly that the Oneidas could only acquire land by purchasing it from willing sellers. - The state of New York and the federal government would pay a total of $500 million to be split among the Oneida Indian Nation of New York, the Oneida Wisconsin Tribe, and the Thames Band Oneidas. - The counties would receive $100 million for a fund to offset tax losses incurred by schools and municipalities. Of that, $50 million would come from the Oneidas. The state would pay the rest. Any tax shortfalls not covered by the fund would be covered by the state. Q: Why did the settlement fail? A: Many details of the framework were left undecided, and that led to delays in its implementation. Additionally, the federal government never came through with its share of the settlement funds. Also, the New York Oneidas would not agree to certain issues relating to the configuration of the 35,000 acres. And other tribes that were excluded, including the Wisconsin Oneidas, sought to block the deal. Q: What impact did the U.S. Supreme Court's Sherrill decision have last year? A: In the Sherrill decision made public one year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Indian Nation must pay its taxes and is also subject to state and local regulations. County officials thought the Sherrill decision had changed things dramatically. They believed it gave them the authority to demand the Oneidas pay sales and property taxes, as well as follow other local regulations. But the Oneidas pointed to language in the decision that noted the Nation could place the land into federal trust and avoid outside taxation and regulation. As a direct result of the Sherrill decision, the Oneidas filed to place the more than 17,300 acres of non-reservation land they own into trust. Copyright c. 2006 uticaOD.com All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Tribes want Regional planning Voice" --------- Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2006 08:53:48 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TRIBES SEEK PLANNING PARTICIPATION" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/03/11/news/inland/21_39_583_10_06.txt Tribes want regional planning voice By: QUINN EASTMAN - Staff Writer March 10, 2006 PALA INDIAN RESERVATION - American Indian tribes in San Diego County want a voice in regional planning, tribal representatives said Friday at a summit organized by the San Diego Association of Governments. The meeting at the Pala Casino Conference Center drew representatives from more than a dozen of 17 San Diego County tribes, along with the mayors and city council members who govern SANDAG, a regional planning agency. For decades, area tribes were isolated from economic opportunities by their remote locations and lack of federal attention. Now, they are starting to have the resources to build roads and other infrastructure as a result of the eight casinos they have opened in the county since 2001. "People are coming to the tribes asking for money," said Bo Mazzetti from the Reservation Transportation Authority, a consortium formed by local tribes to pay for road construction. "This is a situation that we have not had to deal with before." As flourishing casinos bring extra traffic and the tribes are under pressure from local governments to contribute funds to transportation projects, the county's tribes want a vote on the SANDAG board. The agency administers money for projects funded by TransNet, the county's half-cent sales tax, to pay for projects such as more lanes on Interstate 15 south of Escondido and the widening of Highway 76 from Oceanside east to I-15. "I think I speak for all of the tribes in saying we want a vote on SANDAG's board," said Kevin Siva, chairman of the Reservation Transportation Authority and a member of the Los Coyotes Band near Warner Springs. A change in SANDAG's governance to add tribal representatives is certainly possible, said Garry Bonelli, agency spokesman, but a state representative would need to introduce a bill in the Legislature to modify the state law that specifies how the agency is run. Perhaps coincidentally, state Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, introduced a bill last week to add a second representative to the SANDAG board who would represent residents in the unincorporated county area. The tribes also need a voice at the table, Siva said, because until California Indian tribes began building casinos under a 1999 agreement with the state government, communications between tribal and state or local governments were "isolated at best, and at worst nonexistent." Friday's meeting brought together representatives of tribes whose land resources and gaming businesses vary widely. The gathering began with the "Lord's Prayer" in the Luiseno language, recited by Leroy Miranda, vice chairman of the Pala Band of Mission Indians. At the head of the conference table sat the host, Pala Tribal Chairman Robert Smith. His band's casino has 1,700 employees and a $50 million yearly payroll, and the casino's revenue has made it possible for the tribe to provide better housing and health care for its members, he said. Leon Acebedo from the 63-member, casinoless Jamul Indian Village in East County, described his band's determination to build a high-rise hotel and casino despite local opposition. Mel Vernon, representing the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians, pointed out that his group has no land of its own, but has a strong interest in making sure construction projects preserve sacred archaeological sites. With any economic success from the tribal casinos comes responsibility for environmental preservation, community services and local infrastructure, said John Currier, chairman of the Rincon Band of Mission Indians in Valley Center. He touted his tribe's $4 million fire station, its first, that is scheduled to open next month with the help of revenue from the Harrah's Rincon casino that opened on the reservation in 2001. He also asked for local governmental support in negotiating with Sacramento over gaming license fees. Those fees are meant to provide money for infrastructure projects to soften the impact of casino development on local communities. Currier emphasized that he wanted casino revenues to stay local and not be used to fill the "black hole" of the state's budget deficit. After lunch, the group of tribal and local governmental officials broke into four groups to discuss transportation, energy, public safety and environmental issues. The group discussing the environment identified preservation of cultural sites and health issues as its top concerns. A result of the summit could be more studies such as one now under way for the area around Highway 76 east of I-15, said SANDAG's tribal liaison, Jane Clough-Riquelme. That $125,000 study, organized by the Reservation Transportation Authority and funded by the state, surveyed tribes on their needs as part of an update of the region's transportation plan, she said. The study found that tribes deem speeding and adequate roadways more important than traffic congestion, according to results provided to meeting participants. Currier, the Rincon chairman, said he thought the summit should continue its work by having subgroups devoted to specific local issues meet quarterly. SANDAG held a similar meeting in 2002, but participation was not as extensive as this year, organizers said Copyright c. 1997-2006 North County Times - Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Keepers of the Stronghold Dream" --------- Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 08:34:23 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DEFENDING GHOST DANCERS' BURIAL PLACES" http://www.thenativepress.com/stronghold.html Keepers of the Stronghold Dream Lakota defending Ghost Dancers' burial places By Brenda Norrell March 2006 STRONGHOLD TABLE, S.D. - When the Ghost Dance arrived in 1890, Lakota danced to bring back the buffalo and a good way of life. They were persecuted and fled to the Badlands to a place Lakota call "Oonakizin," or the Stronghold. "Here, they made their last stand. It was the last pocket of resistance for our ancestors and their families," said Ed Two Bulls, Jr., Oglala Lakota. Men, women, children and old people were fired upon by the Home Guard, now the South Dakota National Guard. When the bullets stopped, at least 70 Ghost Dancers were dead. "It is said that the militia went upon this plateau and threw frozen bodies off of the sides of the Stronghold Table. "My grandfather was a Ghost Dancer and for that he along with Kicking Bear was sent to prison," Two Bulls said. From his home on Red Shirt Table, Two Bulls faces the Badlands, where his grandfather was a Ghost Dancer. Today, his wife Lovey and sons Tony and Ernie carry on patrols to protect the massacre site and the Ghost Dancers resting in shallow graves from the onslaught of a fossil dig. Lakota are now planning to gather on the Stronghold June 21. Jim Toby Big Boy, among the Oyate organizing expanded resistance camps, said new camps are being established at the entrances to South Unit of the Badlands National Park. "On Stronghold Table, the Lakota Grassroots Oyate continue to protect the Sacred Site where eighty women, children and men were killed and pushed over the edges of Stronghold," Big Boy said. "Today, the Oyate do not want to negotiate with National Park Service on any further agreements pertaining to the Badlands South Unit. "The 1976 Memorandum of Agreement between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the National Parks Service is dead. The National Park Service has violated an agreement, and that is a clear violation of a Treaty. The Land must be returned to the Lakota People." In the 1940s Lakota were forced to move from their homes in the Badlands when the U.S. military used the land for a bombing range. Big Boy said, "In 1942, our own Tribal Council ran their own people out of both Units, and gave the land to the Air Force to bomb. In 1968, our own Tribal Council again, gave away 133,300 acres to the Government. Its time for this Council to say enough is enough. "This land does not belong to President John Steele or the Tribal Council, it belongs to the people. If the National Park Service wants to meet, they will have to include the grassroots people too. And they will come to us," Big Boy said. For the second year, Oyate Lakota are prepared to defend the gravesites of the Ghost Dancers from the planned fossil excavation of the National Park Service. The traditional Tokala Society (Kit Fox Warrior Society) has manned the resistance camp on Stronghold Table, the mesa that overlooks the Badlands. It has been a long, cold winter since August 2002, when Lakota traditional societies met with the National Park Service at the resistance camp and told them, during a daylong confrontation, to clear out of the Badlands. "We want the National Park Service out of the Badlands!" George Tall, Tokala Society, told the Badlands Park Service. His comment came on a guided tour of the proposed site that Lakota said was insulting to them and their ancestors. Badlands Park Paleontologist Rachel Benton told Lakota she applied for a research grant to excavate titanothere fossils, dated 35 million years ago. With sharp reactions, traditional elders and young people, joined by Indian activist Russell Means, told Park Service officials that the memorandum of agreement, allowing them to operate the park here on Oglala tribal land, was null and void. Park Service officials, however, did little more than snicker. It was just last spring, when the first of the Ghost Dancers' bones made its appearance on a steep slope down from Stronghold Table. The thighbone of a young woman, about five feet tall, was found by a Lakota walking in the Badlands. Ed Two Bulls asks, "Was it just a coincidence that the thighbone of this woman emerged just months before the fossil excavation was to begin? "This dig was to be going on for three years without the permission of the Oglala Sioux Tribe." Two Bulls believes the thighbone emerged from its shallow grave for a reason. "Wakan Takan had a plan for this good Lakota woman and although she has been gone for 113 years the purpose of her life and death on this earth has been fulfilled. She has returned in the form of her thighbone to give the Mako Sica back to her people. "We are the keepers of the Stronghold Dream. "We are camped on top of the Stronghold to protest what the National Park Service is planning to do and come what may we will protect the bones of our relatives, the Lakotas and our friends and allies, the Cheyenne and Arapaho." What has emerged here is more than the protection of the gravesites of Ghost Dancers, it has become a fortress of resistance, an anchor in a world out of balance. Last summer, Lakota youth rode horseback here late into the night, elderly came with their stories, women and men came with soup and bread for those who patrolled and watched with binoculars, for the unexplained helicopters, late into the night. Those who camped here said they were held by a powerful force of spirit. "It captured my spirit," was often said. Spirit, however, is not what paleontologists are here for. Two Bulls said since the late 1880s the South Dakota School of Mines and U.S. government have taken millions of dollars worth of fossils out of these Badlands with no kind of benefit going to the Oglala Sioux Tribe. The excavation is to take place right in the location where there are burial grounds, tepee rings, prayer rings, fire pits and other sacred sites. The disregard, disrespect and arrogance are unbelievable, he said. "We all know what the Ghost Dance was about. It was a dance that the Indian people would bring back the buffalo and a way of life that was so good for the wandering Lakota. "In a trance they would travel to the Spirit world and visit and mingle with departed loved ones. The Dance terrified non-Indians so the United States government decided they were going to put a stop to this terrorism. "Ghost Dancers were pursued and arrested and persecuted so they fled to the Badlands to a place called in Lakota Oonakizin or the Stronghold." Contact: Jim Big Boy hokshila@www.com --- Brenda Norrell reports in indigenous issues throughout North and Latin America. She can be reached at brendanorrell@yahoo.com Copyright c. 2003 - 2005 | The Native Press --------- "RE: Western Shoshone Struggle earns World Recognition" --------- Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 08:34:23 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WESTERN SHOSHONE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/2954 Western Shoshone Struggle Earns World Recognition by Michelle Chen March 16, 2006 A Native American group has renewed its push for equal treatment in the wake of a supportive ruling from the world's highest human rights body. The decision, issued by a committee of the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights, sternly rebuked the US government for civil and human rights violations against the Western Shoshone Nation. The Western Shoshone, whose territory stretches across Nevada, Utah, Idaho and California, brought a complaint before the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), charging that the United States is undertaking a systematic thievery of ancestral lands in violation of indigenous people's rights. The petitioners included the native-rights groups Western Shoshone Defense Project and Indian Law Resource Center, along with the humanitarian organization Oxfam America. In its ruling, CERD urged the US government to halt any plans to appropriate Western Shoshone territory for private development or environmentally destructive government projects. The 18-member panel also criticized government fees and restrictions levied on Western Shoshone people for using their own land, and urged the government to negotiate formally with tribal leaders on unresolved land-ownership issues. Though the decision builds on earlier CERD comments issued in 2001, as well as a previous ruling by the hemispheric human-rights panel Inter- American Commission on Human Rights, it is the first full decision by the body specifically targeting US policy toward American Indians. The petitioners argued that the government's actions had violated their rights equal protection before the law and self-determination, as well as their cultural rights as native peoples. Julie Fishel, an attorney with the Western Shoshone Defense Project, part of the delegation that presented the case to CERD at the UN in Geneva, called the ruling "the beginning of a watershed of Indian people standing up and saying, `No more.'" However, she added that the petitioners had gone to Geneva only after finding that Washington was ignoring their struggle. "Native people shouldn't have to travel across the ocean to have their issues addressed," she remarked. The CERD petitioners argued that the government's actions had violated international covenants on civil rights and non-discrimination by denying them equal protection before the law, their right to self-determination, and their cultural rights as native peoples. Though the abuses cited in the Western Shoshone case have historical underpinnings, the controversy over land rights reached a boiling point with the enactment of the Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act in 2004. Heavily promoted by Nevada Senators Harry Reid (D) and John Ensign (R), the Act would forcibly distribute "payment" for the loss of ancestral claims to land and natural resources. The Act provides for the distribution of over $140 million in federal funds to people of Western Shoshone descent. The funds have grown out of an initial award of about $26 million that the federal Indian Claims Commission issued in 1979 as purported compensation for land losses and mining extractions due to "gradual encroachment" by non-Native settlers and businesses onto the land dating back to the 1800s. Advocates say that the government has treated the Western Shoshone as if they were trespassers on federal property, aggressively restricting some from so much as living and working on their land. But for over two decades, the funds have remained untouched. Some Western Shoshone leaders have criticized the offer as an attempt to swindle the community out of land historically considered theirs. Opponents cite the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley delineated the borders of Western Shoshone land and provided guidelines for future industrial development and settlement. Alarmed by the Distribution Act as well as other legislative initiatives to open up "federal" lands for government and private development, Western Shoshone activists sought a judgment from the UN last July. In their formal request, the petitioners wrote that "violations have persisted and in fact intensified despite... reports, findings and recommendations from international human rights bodies," including CERD. Indigenous rights groups say the Distribution Act could legitimize the pattern of rights abuses and land exploitation that have been escalating for the past generation, unchecked by courts or lawmakers. Tim Coulter, executive director of the Indian Law Resource Center, said that unlike individual US citizens, who enjoy full constitutional protections, "Congress has for all intents and purposes completely unlimited power to do as it pleases with [Native American nations] and their property." The disputed territory is prime real estate for the mining industry, yielding the majority of the country's gold supply and ranking among the world's largest gold-producing areas, according to a 1999 report by the mining-industry watchdog group Project Underground. Around the beginning of 2005, under the authorization of the Bureau of Land Management, gold- mining companies ramped up their exploration projects on Western Shoshone territory. In addition, energy corporations and officials, including Reid, are eyeing parts of theregion as major prospects for geothermal energy development. The land claimed by the Western Shoshone Nation also contains Yucca Mountain, Nevada, where the Department of Energy aims to build a highly controversial nuclear waste repository. Advocates for the Western Shoshone say that for decades, the government has treated them as if they were trespassers on federal property, aggressively restricting some natives from so much as living and working on their land. A 1974 lawsuit filed by the Department of Interior against two Western Shoshone sisters, Mary and Carrie Dann of Crescent Valley, NV, helped solidify the government's territorial grasp. The Danns challenged fines charged by the Bureau of Land Management for cattle-grazing without a permit, claiming instead that the grazing took place on their own land. A L S O 'Extinguishing' Ruby Valley: How the federal government took away Western Shoshone land rights The Supreme Court in 1985 upheld the Indian Claims Commission's position that gradual encroachment had "extinguished" Western Shoshone territorial entitlements. The court also affirmed the Department of Interior's claim that it had acted as a "trustee" of the Western Shoshone and "accepted" the compensation funds on their behalf. Since then, the government has continued to crack down on the Danns' livelihood. In 2002 and 2003, federal officials staged confrontational raids, seizing over 200 cattle and threatening to impound several hundred horses belonging to the family. Carrie Dann, now in her seventies and a figurehead for the Western Shoshone indigenous-rights movement, views the Distribution Act as an assault on cultural values embedded in ancestral lands. "How do you pay for spirituality? How do you buy somebody's religious beliefs?" she said. "How do you come out smelling like a rose when you've pushed money down people's throat for something that they don't want to part with?" Just how many Western Shoshone support or oppose the payout is a subject of fierce debate. For individuals, the financial stakes are high: divided among the estimated eligible population of more than 6,000, recipients could receive as much as $30,000 each, and a small portion of the total funds has been set aside as an educational trust. Proponents of the bill argue that the Western Shoshone indicated overwhelming support for the Act in "straw poll" referendums administered by a self-appointed "steering committee" of Western Shoshone who have split with more traditional tribal leaders. Western Shoshone Lands Responding the CERD ruling, Ari Rabin-Havt, a spokesperson for Reid's office, cited the polls and argued, "The UN might have said something, but the tribe itself agrees with what Senator Reid did." But critics of the settlement suspect that the polls were political implements, asserting that the results lacked supporting documentation and covered an unrepresentative sample. Moreover, seven of the nine tribal councils within the Western Shoshone Nation passed resolutions opposing the legislation, with demands that all territorial issues be settled before moving forward on any such deal. The resolution passed by the South Fork Band Council of Spring Creek, NV, urged the US Senate to "look at the best interests of the Shoshone people as a whole, and not individuals that have a different, biased agenda which will not address the needs of our people and the future generations." Fishel of the Western Shoshone Defense Project said that politicians' focus on financial recompense is both shortsighted and telling. "This isn't about the money," she told TNS. "It's about human rights violations; it's about protection of culture and spirituality, clean water, clean air. That's what the Shoshone are talking about." Environmental and indigenous-rights groups warn that allowing the government and industry to further exploit native lands could aggravate environmental problems, ranging from mercury pollution caused by gold mining to potential contamination by nuclear-waste storage sites. The Geneva proceedings have brought US policies toward Native American communities directly under the scrutiny of the international human-rights regime. Presenting supportive petitions with over 13,000 US signatures, the Western Shoshone delegation pressed CERD for an immediate response. The US Ambassador to the UN in Geneva argued, according to a March 2 United Nations press release, that "the issues the petitioners had raised were not `novel,'" and no special action was warranted. But CERD ultimately issued its decision under a special "Early Warning and Urgent Action" procedure. The US has until July 15 this year to respond to the Committee. Activists have celebrated the ruling somewhat cautiously - as an international recognition of a problem that is too often ignored domestically. Pete Litster, executive director of the anti-nuclear activist group Shundahai Network, speculated that the US could simply continue disregarding international opinion on issues like nuclear-waste storage and indigenous rights. Litster said that while Shundahai, which campaigns against nuclear- related projects on Native American lands, supports indigenous-rights advocacy at the UN, the main question lingers: "What now is there to be done to force the United States to comply with that decision - and to comply with the wishes of the Western Shoshone - about how their land is to be used and about how they're going to be allowed to participate in the decision-making [process]?" Yet for all the political questions encircling Western Shoshone activists, people like Carrie Dann are anchored by a resolutely straightforward answer: "The water, the air and all those things are sacred.... That's our identity, that's who we are. And that's not for sale." Copyright c. 2006 The NewStandard. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Cherokees want more recognition of forced removal" --------- Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 08:44:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TRAIL OF TEARS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/20060318/NEWS01/60318003/1002/rss Cherokees want more recognition of forced removal from lands Muskogee Phoenix By Greg Wright Gannett News Service March 18, 2006 WASHINGTON - Like many Cherokees, Jerra Quinton has a personal tie to the Trail of Tears, the path Cherokees took to Oklahoma when the U.S. government forced the tribe off its southern Appalachian lands in 1838. Two of Quinton's ancestors died during the exodus, including William North, a blind, elderly white man who married a Cherokee woman. U.S. soldiers drowned North in a river on the way to Oklahoma because he was too much trouble, according to oral histories. The forced removal of about 16,000 Cherokees from their homeland so whites could take their land is a national tragedy that needs more recognition, Quinton said. That's why Congress should pass bills this year that would expand the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail in parts of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Tennessee, she said. Adding more miles to the trail, where 3,000 to 4,000 people died, also would attract more historical tourism, proponents said. "Anytime removal routes and sections get federal recognition as an official part of the National Historic Trail, the public awareness of the history of removal and its importance goes up," said Quinton, 27, coordinator for the Trail of Tears Association, a nonprofit trail promotion group in Little Rock, Ark. Congress created the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail in 1987. The original 2,200-miles includes a water route from Tennessee to Oklahoma along the Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas rivers and an overland passage that begins in Charleston, Tenn., and winds through parts of Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Recent research bolstered reports that Cherokee leaders John Benge and John Bell led groups to Oklahoma on trails that began at Fort Payne, Ala., and Charleston, Tenn., respectively. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., introduced a bill that would give the Benge and Bell routes national trail status. He also wants to add to the trail as- yet-undermined stretches of northern Georgia and western North Carolina where the government rounded up Cherokees. Wamp persuaded Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to introduce the Senate version of the bill. Oklahoma is the present-day home of the Cherokee Nation and other tribes that were forced to resettle in the West. "I want to make it a central part of American history," said Wamp, who has Cherokee ancestors who avoided the trail by moving from Tennessee to northern Alabama. "If we don't want to repeat it, we need to learn more about it." Adding new routes would double the trail's mileage, said Jack Baker, a Cherokee and president of the Trail of Tears Association. The government will not confiscate or buy private property to add to the trail, Wamp said. Instead, local governments and groups such as the Trail of Tears Association can raise money to build educational facilities along the new route. The National Park Service also could use federal funds to buy signs and markers or do research and help plan interpretive exhibits. The National Park Service spent about $372,000 on the existing Trail of Tears National Historic Trail in 2005, with local groups contributing the remainder of the $1 million needed to run sites, said Steve Elkinton, program leader at the National Trails System Program. It would cost $175,000 to study adding new routes to the National Historic Trail and an extra $295,000 a year to help administer the new routes, John Parsons, associate regional director of land, resources and planning at the National Park Service, said in February. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed the Senate version of the bill March 8, but it is uncertain when the full Senate will vote on it. House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., also plans to hold a hearing on the measure. "Things are moving along," Pombo's spokeswoman Sophia Varnasidis said. Copyright c. 2006 Muskogee Phoenix. --------- "RE: Tribal Hatchery raises Sturgeon" --------- Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 08:44:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WHITE STURGEON HATCHERY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.casperstartribune.net/de9525a1acd07bbb8725713500268aab.txt Tribal hatchery raises sturgeon By CHRISTOPHER SMITH Associated Press writer March 19, 2006 BOISE, Idaho - Each year, endangered white sturgeon lay millions of fertilized eggs on the silty bed of the Kootenai River where it curls across the top of Idaho. Yet experts estimate perhaps only 10 of the baby sturgeon hatched from those millions of eggs survive. The white sturgeon, the largest freshwater fish in North America, has not successfully reproduced in the Kootenai since Libby Dam was completed in Montana in 1974, reducing the river velocity and trapping critical nutrients upstream. Downstream, however, pools at a hatchery run by the Kootenai Indian Tribe teem with thousands of year-old sturgeon, inch-long miniature replicas of the two armor-plated wild adults in another tank, each measuring six-to-seven feet long. Another tank holds the medium-sized fish raised at the hatchery since birth, including a striking all-white sturgeon, a ghost of a prehistoric past. Bred from captured wild sturgeon, the young sturgeon may represent the last hope biologists have of preventing the extinction of the species. "Old sturgeon don't die, they just fade away," said Sue Ireland, the fish and wildlife program manager for the Kootenai Tribe. "Entire populations just fade away because people don't realize there is no recruitment (additions to the number of spawning fish) going on." Over the past decade, the hatchery has released 80,000 juvenile sturgeon into the river. But since the fish don't reach sexual maturity until about age 30, the oldest of those hatchery raised sturgeon are not expected to begin spawning until 2025. And the number of fish that will survive until that time will be significantly less than 80,000, said Bob Hallock, Kootenai white sturgeon recovery team leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "The first year the fish are released, about 60 percent survive," he said. "After that, the rate is about 90 percent annually, so you play that out over 30 years and that's not a lot of fish." Ireland says researchers are unsure whether the hatchery fish will return to the place they were born, as oceangoing salmon do, or spawn elsewhere along the only place they are found, a 167-mile stretch of river between Kootenai Falls in Montana across Idaho to Corra Linn Dam at the end of British Columbia's Kootenay Lake. "We don't really know if they will come back," she said. "We'd like to start incubating and rearing fish upstream, because if there is a specific homing instinct, maybe we should be rearing them in the location we want them to return to." That location is an 18-mile section of the river in Boundary County that was designated critical habitat for the white sturgeon by the Fish and Wildlife Service. The designation means federal and state agencies must consult with the service before undertaking projects in that section of the river that might affect the sturgeon, declared an endangered species by the federal government in 1994. The habitat designation also means that Libby Dam operations must be modified to better replicate the higher, faster flows of the Kootenai before the dam. It's estimated that releasing more water from the dam to accommodate the sturgeon in the 18-mile section of the Kootenai will cost between $360 million and $780 million between now and 2025, when the first hatchery bred sturgeon may start to spawn. The bulk of the expenses estimated in a new draft economic analysis prepared for the Fish and Wildlife Service by a private consultant stem from modifications to Libby Dam to selectively release warmer water more conducive to spawning ($410 million) and lost hydroelectric revenue ($300 million) from diverting water past power-generating turbines. Biologists say the river is moving more slowly than it did prior to the dam, allowing silt to fill the river bottom and cover rock crevices where young sturgeon can hide from predators. They believe increasing flows and velocity would clear out sand and silt from spawning beds, providing a gravelly place for fertilized eggs to incubate and giving cover to young sturgeon. "The fish have been going to a certain location near Bonners Ferry and laying eggs, but they don't have the substrate to adhere to," said Tom Buckley, spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Spokane, Wash. "If we did have any successful hatching, right now there's no place for the young fish to hide in that location." The Service is proposing that the Army Corps of Engineers install rocks and gravel in the river downstream from Bonners Ferry to improve sturgeon spawning beds, along with potentially dredging and narrowing the channel while raising the river banks to increase water velocity through the section. Some of the habitat improvements will begin this summer and planners with the Bonneville Power Administration and the Corps have until April 14 to devise a strategy acceptable to the Fish and Wildlife Service to stop the steady demise of the estimated 500 remaining wild sturgeon, a number expected to dwindle to 50 by 2030 unless scientists find a way to encourage successful reproduction. "The question is, are the thousands of hatchery fish we've released going to return to a habitat 30 years from now that is functional for reproduction?" said Hallock. "We still have 500 adults left and we know a lot more about the biology of this species and the physical makeup of the river system than when we started, so we feel we can save this fish from extinction." Copyright c. 2006 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 1995-2006 Casper Star-Tribune, Lee Enterprises, Inc. --------- "RE: Crucial talks begin over Cedar River Watershed" --------- Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 08:44:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MUCKLESHHOT CLAIM HUNTING, FISHING RIGHTS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/sited/story/html/232907 Crucial talks begin over Cedar River watershed: Muckleshoot Tribe wants to hunt, fish in protected areas by Dean A. Radford Journal Reporter March 19, 2006 A settlement of a long-standing dispute between Seattle and the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe over flows in the Cedar River likely will include giving the tribe the right to hunt in the Cedar River watershed. The city of Seattle has closely protected the watershed against unwarranted human intrusion because of the potential threat to the water supply there that serves Seattle residents and tens of thousands of suburban residents. The possibility is that other tribal and non-tribal hunters could demand access to the watershed, further threatening the water supply and putting more pressure on the animal herds. There are about a dozen recognized Indian tribes in the Puget Sound basin. Seattle supplies water to about 1.3 million people in the region. Suburban cities that buy water from Seattle include Bellevue, Bothell, Kirkland, Mercer Island, Redmond and Tukwila. Many suburban water districts are major customers, too. In talks for years Other than to confirm that settlement talks are under way, a spokesman for Seattle Public Utilities, which operates the watershed, declined to comment on any details of what the agreement might include. The spokesman, Andy Ryan, said the city has talked with the Muckleshoots for years over issues related to the city's Habitat Conservation Plan for the Cedar River watershed. "That's all I can tell you. It's a legal matter," he said. The Seattle City Council, and, presumably, the Muckleshoot Tribal Council, would have to approve any settlement. The 50-year habitat plan, adopted in 1999, is designed to protect fish, forests and wildlife in the 90,000-acre watershed. The Muckleshoots filed a federal lawsuit in 2004 because of their concerns the city's proposed flows for the Cedar River were flawed and could threaten endangered salmon. A settlement is significant because the dispute is a cloud over the habitat plan and potentially the city of Seattle's ability to manage the river for drinking water, fish habitat and even electrical power. A spokesman for the Muckleshoot Tribe, Rollin Fatland, also declined to comment, again because of the pending litigation. However, the tribe has always spoken for the salmon and defended its rights to fish and hunt and practice its culture in traditional areas. A city of Seattle official approached the Cedar River Council about giving a presentation on the proposed settlement, according to the council's coordinator, Nathan Brown. However, he asked that because of a tight agenda, that the official give a short briefing at the council's March 28 meeting. While tribal hunting in a watershed may be viewed as just a small part of the agreement, it has raised concerns among those who have heard some details about the talks. From a health standpoint, foremost is that hunters in the watershed could contaminate the water supply with their waste or by leaving behind the internal remains of dead animals. For years, those same concerns kept legal hunters out of the Green River watershed, which supplies water to Tacoma and its customers, including some in suburban King County. However, several years ago, hunters - tribal and nontribal - were allowed in the watershed with a permit and in highly controlled conditions. Now those hunts have been limited as the population of elk and deer has declined, likely because of habitat loss, predation and the hunting. Frank Urabeck of Bonney Lake, a member of the Cedar River Council, said he had one of the first permits to hunt in the Green River watershed in the mid 1980s. Now, because of concerns about maintaining a viable elk herd in the Cedar River watershed, he would prefer that it remain a preserve for animals. "I am opposed to it on conservation grounds," he said of hunting in the watershed. But Urabeck, speaking as a hunter, said that if biologists find the herds are sustainable, then everyone should have the right to hunt in the watershed. "You are talking about a public resource," he said. Bob Everitt, regional manager for the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife, said it's the state position that everyone has access to hunting areas. "We think it should be fair and equal," he said. The state allowed a limited hunt for deer in the Green River watershed last year, but elk hunting hasn't been allowed for several years, he said. Elk favor open areas to graze, but with logging banned in the watersheds, those areas are now growing over. The numbers of animals in the Cedar River watershed also are down, he said. Hunting in the Green River watershed is by permit only and hunters are allowed in only after they are educated about how to protect the water resource, including relieving oneself away from a stream, he said. The city of Tacoma, he said, even put out portable toilets. "Everyone going in there knows they have to behave in a good sanitary manner," Everitt said. Similar rules could apply in the Cedar River watershed, he said. Everitt was in a briefing recently with Seattle officials about the negotiations, where in-stream flows and access related to the watershed were discussed in general. He repeated his agency's policy that all hunters should be allowed in hunting areas. If not, he said, "that would be a problem for us," he said. Copyright c. 2006 King County News, Horvitz Newspapers, Inc. --------- "RE: Fishing needed to preserve Tribal Culture" --------- Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 08:54:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SPIRTUAL, CULTURAL TIES TO SALMON FISHING" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.kaimin.org/index.php?content&task=view&id=1304&Itemid=55 Fishing needed to preserve tribal culture Contributed by Sean Breslin/Montana Kaimin 14 March 2006 The reduction of salmon fisheries in tribal lands has devastating effects on tribal people and customs, a Nez Perce biologist said last night. Emmit Taylor of the Nez Perce Department of Fisheries Resource Management spoke last night as part of the Wilderness Issues Lecture Series. During a lecture entitled "Salmon Restoration in the Nez Perce Territory," Taylor showed how the reduced fishing opportunities sever cultural ties with Nez Perce traditions. "If we lose those cultural connections, we lose the game," Taylor said. Taylor said catching salmon builds pride and self-esteem in Nez Perce peoples in a way that non-traditional living cannot. Traditional salmon fishing is uniquely tied in with Nez Perce culture, he said, citing traditional religious ceremonies "centered around water and fish." "Salmon are part of our spiritual and culture identity," Taylor said. Taylor outlined the negative effects that several dams have had on salmon habitat in Nez Perce traditional land, which originally extended from the Pacific Northwest to western Montana. Under the 1855 treaty with the Nez Perce, the U.S. government gave the tribe "the right of taking fish at all usual and accustomed places," meaning all the waters the Nez Perce had access to before contact with whites, he said. Since dams have gone up, fisheries have dramatically decreased on the Clearwater, Snake and Columbia rivers, Taylor said. Governments have tried to restrict native fishing access as a result, he said. "How can the state tell us not to fish? It's our treaty right to do so!" Taylor said. Taylor sees the destruction of these fisheries as a direct violation of the 1855 treaty, he said. The violation could lead to "a major lawsuit," which Taylor said could be more expensive than removing the harmful dams. Taylor also tied salmon to social ills that plague many native people, such as poverty and unemployment. Traditional salmon fishing helps Nez Perce people gain confidence to combat modern problems, he said. Salmon also provides nutrients that many Nez Perce aren't getting because the fisheries are so small now, he said. "Diabetes is going through the roof for our people ... we're getting away from our traditional food," Taylor said. Taylor said land managers are not sympathetic to Nez Perce fishing rights because they don't take into account spiritual connections the people have with the land. However, spiritual connections with the land are necessary to survival, he said. "It's that spiritual connection that's going to save you," Taylor said. "If I don't do my best to keep that connection, I hate to think what'd happen." Copyright c. 2005 Montana Kaimin. --------- "RE: Klamath Water Crisis may cancel Salmon Season" --------- Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 08:34:23 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="KLAMATH WATER CRISIS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.mtshastanews.com/articles/2006/03/16/news/07klamathwater.txt Klamath water crisis may lead to salmon season cancellation By Paul Boerger March 15, 2006 The Klamath River and the dependence of fishermen and irrigators for its water has once again reached the crisis point as federal salmon fishing season decision makers are proposing to limit or completely eliminate the salmon catch so stocks can replenish. No final decision has been made by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, and the proposals will go out to public hearings before being sent to U.S. Commerce Department for final adoption. The three possible options are to completely ban salmon fishing along the California coast from Monterey to the Oregon border, set catch numbers at last year's levels that reduced the catch by 60 percent or further reduce the catch below last year's levels. What has caused the reduced numbers of fish has been debated for years. Fishermen say the causes are low water levels, dams and contaminants because of diversions to farmers. Irrigator