_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 14, ISSUE 014 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 April 8, 2006 Pomo chidodapuk/flowers moon Klamath kapchelam/gathering moon Zuni Li'dekwakkya lana/great sand storm moon Lakota Wihakakta Wi/moon when youngest girl is fat +-------------------------------------------------------+ | 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, Frostys AmerIndian 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: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + =================== "We are vanishing from the earth, yet I cannot think we are useless or Usen [God] would not have created us. ... For each tribe of men Usen created, He also made a home. In the land created for any particular tribe He placed whatever would be best for the welfare of that tribe." "Thus it was in the beginning: the Apaches and their homes each created for the other by Usen himself. When they are taken from these homes they sicken and die. How long will it be until it is said there are no Apaches?" __ Geronimo (Goyathlay), Chiricahua +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! I just ran an editorial about my own pain when a friend committed suicide. What I did not mention, and should have, is that she was a meth user. I have another friend who is trying to tear himself away from this devil today. It crushes your heart to know the despration this evel plants in a person's soul. In Volume 13, Issue 50 I ran a poem titled, "I am Meth." I ask evryone to reread that poem. Read the lead article in this issue, "Tribes across the Nation confront Horrors of Meth." Understand this. You may be able to take meth once and walk away from it. If you take it twice, even years apart, it owns you. It literally alters the way your brain functions - forever. It's like a lock. The first time, the key is inserted. The second time the lock is opened with the key broken off inside. You can't put the water back in a lake once the dam has breached and you can't undo what meth has done to your brain. If you are not already a victim of meth, don't even try it. Mom, Dad, Auntie, Uncle, family ... you have a sworn obligation to protect and save the next generation. Start now by keeping our youth out of the firey hell of meth abuse. Dohiyi Ani Oginalii , , Gary Smith (*,*) wotanging@bellsouth.net P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org Marietta, GA 30006, U.S.A. ===w=w=== http://www.nanews.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ----------- - Tribes across Nation - Eagle feathers confiscated confront Horrors of Meth - Gun Lake Tribe won't join - HERALD EXCLUSIVE: in rally on Statue The Red Lake Nation - Navajo Nation - Norton denies Fraud visits Lawrence Livermore Lab or Major Problem with Trust - Study set on American Indian - G.A.O. sees $20 Billion Center proposal Oil Royalties loss - GIAGO: Driving the snakes - Gonzalez focuses on Indian Country out of South Dakota - BIA working on - YELLOW BIRD: Tribal Lands Succession Tribal Governments change - Ute Irrigation Project - Floats decorated needs $20M in repairs entirely by broken Treaties - Tribes to receive more Money - Keeping a lid on emotions - Racial tensions persist - Natives deserve fair Share at Apache Junction School of Resource Revenues - Edison moves to reopen - Natives await word from Tories big Desert Power Plant on Cash injections - American Indians - FNs' Emergency Planning cite Voter Intimidation confronts special demands - State Abortion Law - Indian Brook's Fisheries Deal wouldn't apply on Reservations a $5-Million Secret - Indian Students - B.C. Apology Bill a first in Canada sue School District for Racism - Media gets failing Grade - Lower Brule plan on Ipperwash Missouri River Project - Reading Zapatista 'Other Campaign' - Tribe amends Lawsuit - Dominion,Water Politics and 'Otra' seeking Sovereignty - Residents file lawsuit - Agency once again over Tribal Gas Tax rejects Hoopa Membership - Eagle feathers confiscated - Mashpee Wampanoag - Turtle Mountain win Preliminary Recognition to banish Serious Criminals - Graving Yard talks - Native Prisoner deemed `very productive' -- Killed con feared for Life - Seattle deal with Muckleshoots - Rustywire: Morning Coffee over Cedar River - Lee Goins Poem: When The Ink Flows - Appeal for - New Smithsonian Web site Indian Education Support explores Winter Counts --------- "RE: Tribes across Nation confront Horrors of Meth" --------- Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 09:32:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="METH" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0331indian-meth.html Tribes across nation confront horrors of meth Dennis Wagner The Arizona Republic March 31, 2006 PERIDOT - There is something haunting about the hillside house in this windswept Apache community on the ruddy mesas east of Globe: It is the memory of a young man, David Dudley, beaten to death at a meth and booze party on a January night in 2005. The entryway is a photographic shrine to the 20-year-old who dreamed of becoming an X-ray technician. "We just kind of made it David's wall," explains the father, Dennis Dudley. "We light candles every time we come home." Mary Jane Dudley sits in the living room, surrounded by half-finished Apache baskets. For a long time after her son's death, she couldn't find the will to weave. Now, she performs the ancient craft to lose herself in memories. "From the time I wake up to the time I go to bed is when I think about him," she says. "I haven't stopped crying." Police reports say David was punched, kicked and bashed with a beer bottle, then dragged into a wash and left to die. Dennis blames meth. He walks outside to a front-yard ramada. Beneath the roof, a large mound of dirt is covered with silk flowers. "I didn't know where to put him, so we buried him out here," Dudley whispers into a desert breeze. "We put this here to remind the community there has to be something done against drugs." 'Crisis in nation' Like high desert wildfire, methamphetamine is sweeping through Indian country, tearing families apart. From the Gila River community south of Phoenix to the Navajo Nation, the drug known as "glass" has become public enemy No. 1 on many reservations, fueled by severe poverty, alcoholism and boredom that afflicts most of the nation's 571 federally recognized tribes. "Status quo is a life six years shorter than any other American group," San Carlos Apache Chairwoman Kathy Kitcheyan told the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs during a February hearing. "(Indians are) 318 percent more likely to die from diabetes and 670 percent more likely to die from alcoholism. It's 63 babies born in my tribe last year addicted to methamphetamine, and this is just one tribe. Nationally, Indian country is under attack from crystal meth." "It's probably almost reached epidemic proportions," agrees Joe Garcia, president of the National Congress of American Indians and governor of New Mexico's Ohkay Owingeh. "It's crisis mode. Not just our crisis. It's a crisis in the nation." Anecdotes tell of extent Meth addiction exploded so rapidly among indigenous tribes, and record keeping is so sporadic, that no comprehensive statistics are available. But anecdotes abound: - On the Navajo Reservation this week, an 81-year-old medicine woman was arrested on suspicion of dealing meth with her daughter and granddaughter. Ninety-four percent of the tribal members who responded to a recent poll described the drug as a severe problem. - At the Gila River Indian Community, tradition counselors oversee "talking circles" where addicts pass an eagle feather and sing native songs as part of spiritual therapy. The tribes also conduct anti-drug powwows and are building a $13 million residential center for modern treatment. - In New Mexico, the Ohkay Owingeh tribe is reviving the ancient practice of banishment to remove meth dealers. - In North Carolina, the Eastern Band of Cherokees has a hotline to report dealers and to announce regular anti-drug rallies. Despite such efforts, Native American officials nationwide report a meth-induced surge of violence, theft, juvenile sex and drug babies. Federal authorities say foreign narco cartels are now targeting tribal lands as distribution beachheads. U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has scheduled a hearing on the scourge next week before the Indian Affairs committee. - At Wyoming's Wind River Reservation, 25 tribal members were busted last May in connection with a drug ring. Seeking help Young Shoshones and Arapahos were viewed as a fresh market by cartels, says Jeffrey Sweetin, regional special agent in charge for Drug Enforcement Administration. "We had an organization headed by Mexican drug traffickers who specifically targeted the Wind River Reservation," Sweetin adds. "Young kids get free dope, and after a few times they'll grow into a user population. . . . There's an entire generation of Native Americans vanishing." As a result, even tribal leaders who might otherwise distrust outsiders are seeking help. In Arizona, DEA agents work with reservation police. Indian health care officials clamor for funding to pay for meth babies and stabbing victims. Social services directors plead for treatment programs. Still, some tribes are making headway. On the San Carlos Reservation, leaders criminalized meth, which was not an illegal drug under arcane tribal codes. Hand-painted placards warn against drug use along reservation highways. A new prevention program will stress Apache traditions. Yet meth has caught up with alcohol as the substance of choice, and drug babies are now common. Social services Director Terry Ross says the most recent infant was born without feet to a 14-year-old. "We don't have the resources," he adds, shrugging helplessly. Carlos Guezada-Gomez, director of health services in San Carlos, says unemployment and poverty have caused a "cultural brokenness," but the Ndee, or people, have not given up. "The community is really being annihilated if we don't go back and have people center themselves and really feel good about who they are as Apaches," he adds. Copyright c. 2006, azcentral.com. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: HERALD EXCLUSIVE: The Red Lake Nation" --------- Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 09:32:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RED LAKE NATION" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.grandforks.com/news/14243790.htm?channel=grandforks_news HERALD EXCLUSIVE: The Red Lake Nation Tribal Chairman Floyd "Buck" Jourdain talks about the year that's passed since a horrific school shooting dropped his people into the national spotlight By Dorreen Yellow Bird Herald staff writer Red Lake Tribal Chairman Floyd "Buck" Jourdain Jr. invited Herald columnist Dorreen Yellow Bird to sit down with him recently and talk at length about the March 21, 2005, school shooting and its impact on the Red Lake Indian Reservation. Their hours-long discussion represents what we believe to be the most in-depth media interview with Jourdain since the shooting. March 21, 2005, what some are calling the worst day in the history of the Ojibwe people in Red Lake, Minn., a young gunman killed nine people and then took his own life. Floyd "Buck" Jourdain Jr., chairman, was at the helm of the tribal government as the tragic events unfolded. He tells, for the first time, his story. Jourdain lived most of his life in the Little Rock community, one of four districts on the 806,000-acre Red Lake reservation. The reservation is settled among the white birch bark aspen and sweet maple trees that crowd the shores of one of the largest lakes in the region. Misk wagami- wazaga-iganing, or Red Lake, named for its scenic sunsets, lazes quietly under a coat of melting ice waiting for the summer sun to peel back the cold white and expose hungry walleye. Near the edge of the big lake stands an old building that houses the tribal government and the post office. Jourdain was born 42 years ago in that very building when it was an Indian Health service hospital. When you leave the humble tribal headquarters and turn left, the modern Red Lake High School stands just across a short area of bare ground from the headquarters, providing an easy view of students coming and going from the high school. It was at that school in the middle of Red Lake that 16-year-old Jeff Weise, a Red Lake member and student at the high school, came with guns in hand and hate in his heart. In that instant, the Ojibwe people were catapulted into national and world headlines. They would hold a place in history as the school with the second-largest number of students killed in a shooting. "There was no way anyone could foresee the March 21 shootings," the tribal chairman said. The school was as well-prepared as any school in the state. They had uniformed security guards, cameras and a system for emergencies. Even though they weren't armed, two security guards did their jobs above and beyond what was expected. One was killed, and the other was able to alert the rest of the people in the building, he said. "They did everything they possibly could to avoid trouble at the school." Tribal resources Even before March 21, and early in the Jourdain administration, the Tribal Council had begun a two-year assessment of social issues, never anticipating that this evaluation might include the magnitude of a tragedy that was to come. The assessment emphasized tribal programs, education, law enforcement, courts and tribal finances. Jourdain, who was involved in youth programs prior to his election as tribal chairman, talked about the role of tribal leadership in nurturing young leaders. Tribes, he said, are in an era of gaming chairmen and corporate councils that place a lot of emphasis on building a bigger and better casino and creating more jobs, yet they are "cutting kids down from rafter" and drug dealers are running rampant. If you look at the entire spectrum, there were areas in which the reservation was lagging, he said. He wanted to change that. "The shootings were the worst nightmare the tribe could imagine," the chairman said. Unfortunately, a lot of that evaluation and restructuring was put on the back burner as a result of the shooting. "We went into crisis mode. We had the world's eye on us, and we were trying to see past a backdrop of 10 people losing their lives," he said. That deadly March 21 marker changed their focus to the needs, safety and mental health of the Red Lake community, Jourdain said. The community was in mourning. In a closed community such as Red Lake, which guards its sovereignty jealously, tribal members know everyone on the reservation or they are related to each other. They needed privacy to mourn their looses, the chairman said. Unfortunately, the tribe was overwhelmed by the hundreds of reporters and journalists who came to the reservation. The media, he said, didn't respect tribal boundaries, and few understood the meaning of sovereignty or what it meant to be a closed reservation. The media essentially said, "Who in the hell are you to tell us where we can or cannot go?" They pressed hard for access to the homes and families of the victims some slipped into funerals and wrote of the tears and pain. The passport they wielded was their right of a free press, Jourdain said. Holly Cook, a tribal member and lobbyist in Washington, D.C., came home to assist with the media. The tribe needed a strategy to deal with this army of huge transmitter trucks and media descending on the reservation. They needed a strategy to help the Red Lake community maintain its privacy while they tended to their families and prepared for funerals. It was going to be a very disruptive and chaotic time, he knew. The tribe tried to make it as painless as possible for the people, Jourdain said, but it was painful to even look into the next day and it was unbearable to think about what laid ahead. The media and the tribe didn't see eye to eye. During the crisis, Jourdain said he was told a Red Lake woman was having a particularly difficult time with the deaths. So, the chairman drove to her house to comfort her. It was like other times when tribal relatives and friends gather around those who are hurt or mourning, he said. As he visited with the woman and her family, he could hear the whomp, whomp, whomp of a helicopter. People standing outside or standing beside their cars looked up and saw the giant machine over the tops of the trees near the house. Someone yelled, "It's the media." Everyone started running. Some jumped in their cars and drove off. Others ran for cover in the house. He couldn't help but smile at the commotion the media caused. The media became an enemy. Guilt and blame As the council tried to maintain the business of the government, the magnitude of the shootings overwhelmed some of them. One councilman grieved, "Have we failed our kids? Where did we go wrong? All of the things we have here, yet we still failed our kids." "Money and things aren't always the answer," Jourdain said. "You can't throw money at a problem. There are so many things and programs that you can apply for right now. The council just talked about a healthy-marriage grant program. I guess it teaches people how to be married. I wonder, he mused, what the next grant would be: How to properly get divorced? You can apply for money for everything under the sun." A mother in the community came to him during that time. She told him, "We've failed our kids. We have our own agenda, our jobs, casinos and all the things we do as adults and all the things we do for ourselves, but somewhere along the line we've forgotten to save time for our children. Now look at what happened." "I am a younger chairman," Jourdain said. "I have a series of advisers and people I rely on. I would turn to one of those people and see them in tears and weeping. Some were the strongest oaks I knew and they were just devastated and stunned. I would see in their eyes they were in shambles and seemed to be saying, 'Buck, help us.'" It was a time, Jourdain said, when they did a lot of self-blaming and felt guilty because of the shootings. "We have very well-funded communities. We have prevention and treatment programs for drugs and alcohol, the schools have special education programs, psychologists, 'schools within a school,' so why did this happen? Those are the questions the tribe will grapple with for years to come," the chairman said. Son charged Unfortunately, the crisis mode would only grow more intense as Jourdain himself was touched. His son, Louis, was charged in connection with the shootings less than a week later, on March 27. That left the chairman in a precarious position. He needed to be on top of what was happening. He was responsible to the community, yet he had a responsibility to his family. Jourdain recused himself from any investigative process or any reports about the shootings because of the charges against his son. "I basically stepped aside and said I'm going to maintain the powers of the office, but I cannot be involved in anyway, shape or form in the investigations or anything that it entails unless of course, the council needs me, and then they will call me," he said. It is evident that Jourdain is close with his family and his son, Louis. So, the following days would be particularly difficult for him. One of the frustrations the chairman experienced was Louis' image in the media. He was demonized, he said. It was a federal government case against a juvenile. There are certain rights that all juveniles enjoy in the judicial system, and the federal government enforces them, Jourdain said. The same rules of law apply to any juvenile charged on a federal Indian reservation. "There was no privilege granted to my son," he said. "It was implied," he thought, "that because he was the chairman's son, there was a special deal and special considerations. There wasn't." The entire family was devastated by the arrest of Louis. "We were a normal family on the reservation. The kids went to school. They weren't in trouble. We worked and obeyed the laws. Now, our whole world was turned upside-down, broken and displaced," he said. One day, Louis was a kid playing video games, and the next day, he's potentially going to prison for the rest of his life. He was extracted from the reservation without an opportunity for closure or an opportunity to attend funerals of loved ones and family members, and he was held in an adult holding facility, Jourdain said. He said there was no way he could abandon his son because he said he knew he wasn't responsible for what happened at the Red Lake school. "I know my son didn't use the Internet any more than any other kid and he used it as a form of entertainment, a chance to talk with friends, download music, go to sites and play games. He wasn't sitting at the computer talking about horrible crimes all the time. It was unfortunate that he had an enormous amount of discussion on the Internet and a very small amount actually was about anything of a violent nature, but that's the piece that was focused on. "They said, 'Look at this. This is horrible. We need to charge this kid.' Later on, I think the government realized maybe we should have gone another route. We are finding all kinds of kids do this," Jourdain said in defense of his son. Louis' brother and mother experienced a great deal of stress and depression as a result of the shootings and subsequent arrest of their son and brother. Louis' mother has migraine headaches, and one child is withdrawn. Jourdain added his name to the candidates running for tribal chairman in May. It's going to be tough, an uphill battle, he said, but he owes it to his son, Louis. He needs people to know he believes in Louis. Surviving the year How did Jourdain get through the year? First and foremost, his strength came from the support and prayers of family and friends. Standing beside his desk in the tribal chairman's office, Jourdain took off his suitcoat and slipped into a black velvet beaded vest with symbolic richly colored flower designs covering the front. This vest was a token of appreciation from the Warrior Society and Veterans after March 21. About the same time, he went to Canada and the chief's from Long Plains First Nation reserve presented him with a Woodlands Ojibwe traditional chiefs headdress. He said other tribes around the nation have supported him, too. Culture plays a strong role in the direction Jourdain has taken in life. He uses his Indian name Bezhig Nii Gaa Nii Gaabow (One standing in front) with pride. The Ojibwe culture has provided him an alternative. The culture has given him a purpose in life. It provides clan structure and a blueprint for the duties he would carry on throughout his life, he said. Although he has not gone through the Midawin (Grand Medicine Society), he follows the teachings of its society. He also is a Sacred Pipe carrier and dances traditionally. For him, being a pipe carrier means a responsibility to bear the burden of the people. It means communicating with the spirit world to ask for strength and good things for the people. Jourdain was given his pipe by an elder of the community who was an elder and knew he would be passing on soon. The elder said "someday, you are going to need this pipe. It will help you if you burn and offer tobacco. This pipe will help you help your people." Jourdain said he doesn't take the pipe out in public, but keeps it in the family. Of the pipe, he said, there is a strict code of conduct and responsibilities for keeping it. That's why some people shy away from it. Some think they are not deserving of this sacred object. It's a huge responsibility. Shooting anniversary On March 21 this year, the tribe wanted a quiet day without speakers, outsiders and especially the media. They closed offices and opened the school so people could come and visit each other. They provided food. The day was sunny, just like that day in 2005. This day was somber and quiet, but there were smiles and hugs, too. It was a sad day because it marked the anniversary of the death of their loved ones and it was time to let them go. "We are being tested, and we will be stronger for it," Jourdain said. "There are better days ahead, regardless of who is here in the leadership role. We can't go backwards because we've been there and suffered the worst possible fate of any tribe." Copyright c. 2006 Grand Forks Herald. --------- "RE: Norton denies Fraud or Major Problem with Trust" --------- Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 08:44:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LATEST SPIN BY NORTON" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com//14bd1aa7ce367b168725713e0072de60.txt Norton cites legacy of cooperative conservation By JUDITH KOHLER Associated Press writer March 29, 2006 DENVER Interior Secretary Gale Norton, criticized by environmentalists as pushing a pro-development agenda by the administration during her five- year tenure, said she remains proud of her efforts to build consensus on a range of issues. In an interview with The Associated Press, Norton, who is stepping down March 31 for personal reasons, said the department has worked with hunters, anglers, farmers and ranchers on protecting wetlands and endangered species. A report released by her office Thursday said Interior provided $2.1 billion in grants since 2002 to states, landowners and groups to preserve wildlife habitat and save species. "We started out with the idea of cooperative conservation and that the federal government could work best as partners with local citizens. We put our money where our money is and increased grant programs that had those goals," Norton said. Critics, including some Western wildlife and outdoors groups, have challenged Norton's assertions that she has sought input from all groups. Some have joined environmentalists in decrying the pace and scale of energy development in the Rockies, where most states are seeing record natural gas drilling rates. "Under Norton there's been intense pressure on all the (Bureau of Land Management) field offices to drill more, drill faster and to sweep aside protections for wildlife," said Erik Molvar a wildlife biologist and executive director of the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance in Laramie, Wyo. Steve Smith of the regional office of The Wilderness Society in Denver said new guidelines for deciding whether local governments have valid claims to roads crossing federal land were issued this week without public or congressional debate. Environmentalists fear counties will win claims to roads in national parks, wildlife refuges and wilderness areas. "It's often seemed that attempts at communication and collaboration were more means to announce things that have already been decided," Smith said. Referring to the thousands of disputed rights of way riddling federal lands in the West, Norton said she issued the new policy based on what she believes was a well-reasoned ruling by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. "It doesn't give the counties everything they wanted. It doesn't give environmental groups everything that they wanted," Norton said. She has defended her decisions on energy development, a priority of the Bush administration, saying it is taking place on land designated by Congress for multiple uses. She said Friday that her department has increased funding for inspections and monitoring to ensure that companies follow environmental laws. "We want to do a better job of planning to take wildlife and other environmental protection factors into account," Norton said. "There are improvements we've made but it's something that needs to continue to improve." She said the Interior Department is forming a new advisory council to study wildlife issues, including the impacts of energy development. Reeves Brown, executive director of Club 20, which represents 22 western Colorado counties, said he believes Norton has struck the right balance between meeting the country's growing energy needs and environmental and cultural concerns. Brown said a hallmark of her tenure was her insistence that downstream states use only the water they're entitled to under the 1922 Colorado River Compact. The Colorado River, which supplies seven states, starts in western Colorado. Norton, a former Colorado attorney general, was the first woman to head the agency that includes the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and oversees 507 million acres, or one out of every five acres nationwide. Norton said she has talked several times with Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, also a Republican, since President Bush nominated him to succeed her. "(Kempthorne) is someone I've worked with a lot. He cares a great deal about issues important to the West. He has a great background for Interior, " Norton said. Remaining issues at Interior include the lawsuit over the federal government's handling of federal royalties owed American Indians. Estimates of unpaid royalties on oil, gas, timber and other resources from Indian range as high as $27.5 billion. Norton said the Interior Department has revamped the computer system and regulations and established a repository to collect all the records from Indian lands nationwide. "We have found no fraud or major systemic problems. Yes, there are accounting errors here and there," Norton said. Another issue looming over the department is a lobbying scandal involving Indian gaming licenses overseen by the agency. Former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who represented the tribes, said in e-mails made public that he had an inside track at the Interior Department. His clients donated to the advocacy group Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, co-founded by Norton. There's been no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Norton. She said she hasn't been involved with the group since becoming secretary and has little contact with Italia Federici, the council's president. "I have talked with her a few times over the last five years and did a few events for her group," Norton said. "That has not had any impact on our Indian gaming decisions as far as I can tell." Norton said she has no immediate work plans after leaving her post except to travel and relax for a while. She said while she's flattered that her name comes up as a possible candidate for the U.S. Senate or Colorado governor, she has no plans to run for office. She said she and her husband will eventually return to Colorado, but doesn't know when. Copyright c. 2006 by the Casper Star-Tribune - Lee Publications, Inc. --------- "RE: G.A.O. sees $20 Billion Oil Royalties loss" --------- Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 08:44:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GAS AND OIL ROYALTIES LOSSES" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/29/business/29leases.html?_r=1&oref=slogin G.A.O. Sees Loss in Oil Royalties of at Least $20 Billion By EDMUND L. ANDREWS March 29, 2006 WASHINGTON, March 28 - Incentives for oil and gas companies that drill in the Gulf of Mexico will cost the federal government at least $20 billion over the next 25 years, according to the draft of a Congressional report obtained on Tuesday. The new estimates, prepared by the Government Accountability Office, also warn that $80 billion in revenue could be lost over the same period if oil and gas companies won a new lawsuit that seeks a further reduction in their royalty payments. The report, delivered in a private briefing late Monday to House and Senate staff members, startled some of the program's longtime supporters and infuriated some critics. The report is the first attempt by a government agency to calculate the soaring costs of a 10-year-old program that was created to encourage deepwater drilling when energy prices were low. The program, known as royalty relief, allows companies to avoid paying the government royalties on much of what they produce from federal leases in deepwater areas of the gulf. The Interior Department acknowledged last month that it would forgo about $7 billion in royalties over the next five years - even though it expected energy prices to remain near record highs. The G.A.O., the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, came up with much higher cost estimates but over a longer stretch of time. On a related matter, the agency's investigators cautiously endorsed the Interior Department's explanation about why royalty collections for natural gas had climbed far more slowly than market prices. Such royalties were almost no higher in 2005, when gas prices reached records, than in 2001. The New York Times reported in January that the main reason appeared to be a widening gap between the sales prices that companies were reporting to the government and the prices they were reporting to their own shareholders. The G.A.O. disputed that, saying that the weak revenue collections last year appeared to result primarily from a decline in gas production that was more severe than the drop indicated in the Interior Department's published statistics. The G.A.O. said the Interior Department's explanation was "quick and reasonable," and that royalties in 2005 had been held down by both a general decline in offshore production and the damage wrought by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. But the Congressional office cautioned that its analysis was based on a reshuffling by the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service of its published royalty statistics. "We conducted limited verification of M.M.S. data and did not audit the accuracy of underlying M.M.S. records," the G.A.O. said. On the larger question of the overall cost of royalty relief, the G.A.O. noted that the Interior Department, which runs the offshore leasing program, had never carried out a "robust" cost-benefit analysis of the original program or of incentives added in the last five years. In what the G.A.O. said was a preliminary analysis, it estimated that the government would lose about $20 billion as a result of leases already signed. But that loss would quadruple to $80 billion if the suit by energy companies succeeded. In the lawsuit, filed by Kerr-McGee Exploration and Production the company argues that the Interior Department does not have the authority to suspend the royalty incentives if prices for oil and gas climb above certain "threshold" levels. Members of Congress, including some who have supported the energy industry, said the G.A.O. figures raised new questions about the royalty relief program. "I am extremely concerned about information that has recently come to light," Senator Jeff Bingaman, Democrat of New Mexico, the ranking minority member of the Senate Energy Committee, wrote in a letter on Tuesday to the departing interior secretary, Gale A. Norton. "I write to inquire as to what you plan to do to address this situation and these significant potential losses to the taxpayers of our nation." Critics of the program said they were infuriated. "Every day, the news for taxpayers gets unbelievably worse," said Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, Democrat of New York, who has assailed the royalty-collection program for years. "When will we put a stop to this?" The actual cost of such royalty relief has been shrouded in mystery almost since its inception. Last month, the Interior Department confirmed that the costs were about to soar as a result of leasing blunders in the late 1990's and a court decision in 2003. The G.A.O.'s most optimistic prediction calls for a loss to the government of $20 billion in royalties, even though this assumes that energy prices will be above the "threshold levels" over the next 25 years. Half of that stems from a blunder during the Clinton administration, when officials omitted the price-threshold restriction from all offshore leases signed in 1998 and 1999. The other half results from the legal victory by energy companies in 2003, which more than doubled the amount of royalty-free oil and gas they could produce. But those costs would be eclipsed if Kerr-McGee won its new lawsuit against the Bush administration. The G.A.O. estimated that a Kerr-McGee victory would cost $60 billion over 25 years, on top of the $20 billion the government is already expected to give up. The G.A.O. said it based its estimate on the assumption that crude oil would sell for about $45 a barrel, a level well below the $66.07 next- month futures price in New York on Tuesday, and that oil and gas prices would climb 2.1 percent a year. Copyright c. 2006 The New York Times Company. --------- "RE: Gonzalez focuses on Indian Country" --------- Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2006 08:20:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALEZ FOCUSES ON INDIAN ISSUES" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7707 Gonzalez focuses on Indian Country Appoints prosecutor with experience in Native issues, meets with tribal leaders, announces tactics to help tribal police WASHINGTON DC Native American Times March 29, 2006 Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has in recent days appointed a member of a federal Native American advisory board to a top position with the Justice Department, met with tribal leaders and announced two crime- fighting initiatives aimed at helping Indian Country. Thomas E. Moss has been the United States Attorney for the District of Idaho since the fall of 2001. In addition a long time legal practice, Moss is a member of the Advisory Committee's Subcommittee on Native American Issues and Border and Immigration Law Enforcement. His new position is as a member of the Attorney General's Advisory Committee of United States Attorneys. Moss is an experienced prosecutor who has served with "distinction," Gonzalez said in a statement. "The advisory committee plays an invaluable role in providing strong advice and counsel as the [Justice] Department works to make our nation safer and more secure. Together, we will work to combat terrorism, reduce violent crime and drug trafficking, prevent cybercrime and child exploitation, prosecute government and corporate corruption, and protect the civil rights of all Americans." The appointment comes after a recent visit Gonzalez made to the Yakama Reservation in Washington State, participating in a roundtable discussion with federal, state and tribal law enforcement regarding methamphetamine enforcement and other tribal justice issues in Indian Country. "I think it is important to get a first-hand view of the tribal justice system on the Yakama Reservation," Gonzalez said. "The tribe is doing good work to preserve the heritage of this special place and protect those who call it home from the threats of violence and drug abuse, but there remain serious problems that require additional attention." Gonzalez also touted two new initiatives targeted specifically to help Native Americans fight crime. The Methamphetamine Investigation Training for Tribal Law Enforcement will help tribal law enforcement officers with training on how to conduct successful and safe methamphetamine investigations. The second initiative is a cold case review, with the Yakamas the first tribe to take part. Federal officials will review those unsolved homicides from the tribe that might benefit from new investigative resources and recent technological advancements in forensic science. As part of the cold case review initiative, the Federal Bureau of Investigation will make available the services of both its Violent Crime Apprehension program and its National Center for Analysis of Violent Crime. The tribe may have been selected for the cold case review because of a rash of unsolved homicides dating back almost two decades in some cases. Eleven women died mysteriously on the reservation in the 1980s and early 1990s. Two of the 11 deaths under suspicious circumstances - one by hypothermia, the other by drowning - have not been labeled homicides. The other nine appear to be homicides, with methods including gunfire, stabbing, beating and strangulation. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: BIA working on Tribal Lands Succession" --------- Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2006 08:20:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LAND SUCCESSION" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/action=article&ARTICLE_ID=895688 BIA Working On Tribal Lands Succession By Colin Fogarty PORTLAND, OR 2006-03-29 Several hundred tribal representatives turned out for a meeting today Wednesday in Portland with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The agency is working on a century-old problem with the way tribal land is passed from one generation to another. Colin Fogarty reports. 19th century treaties between the government and tribes commonly gave individual tribal members parcels of land. When that owner died, the property was divided among the heirs equally, and then again and again for so many generations that that same parcel could wind up with several hundred owners. It's called fractionation, and in 2004 Congress passed a bill to streamline the process or at least prevent further subdividing. Now, the Bureau of Indian Affairs is racing to get administrative rules in place by June. The agency's Michelle Singer is hoping tribal input will give the end product more credibility. Michelle Singer: "In fact, I've referred to the regulations as not just drafts, but rough drafts, and that whenever possible we are going to make the changes that people are asking us to make." But many of the tribal representatives at the meeting complained the federal government should have sought their input earlier, and said the agency is trying to solve a problem quickly that took generations to create. Copyright c. 2006, OPB. --------- "RE: Ute Irrigation Project needs $20M in repairs" --------- Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 09:32:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GAO REPORT CRITICIZES BIA PROJECTS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.durangoherald.com/article_path=/news/06/news060402_3.htm Ute irrigation project needs $20M in repairs GAO report also criticizes other BIA projects By Joe Hanel | Herald Denver Bureau April 2, 2006 DENVER - An irrigation project serving the Southern Ute Indian Tribe needs $20 million in repairs, according to a Congressional audit released last week. KEY CONCERNS IN REPORT - Fees aren't high enough to maintain project. - Cash reserves depleted in 2004. - Fees proposed to double to $17 per acre this year. - Project carries old contracts that charge only $1 per acre. PINE RIVER IRRIGATION PROJECT - Serves 11,885 acres on the Southern Ute reservation. - Run by Bureau of Indian Affairs. - Eighty-five percent of customers are American Indian. - The project is different from the Pine River Irrigation District, which serves non-Indian land. Nationwide, irrigation projects run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs need perhaps $850 million, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office, Congress' nonpartisan research office. The local and national figures may change once the bureau refines its estimates, according to the GAO and the bureau. The report also criticizes some BIA projects for poor management. "In many cases, BIA officials with oversight authority lack expertise, while those with expertise lack authority," the report stated. The BIA runs 16 irrigation projects, a program that began in the 1880s as part of the American Indian assimilation policy. One of those is the Pine River Irrigation Project. It serves the Southern Ute tribe but is run by the BIA, a federal agency. The tribe has no part in its management, said Chuck Lawler, who leads the Southern Ute Water Management Division. The Pine River Irrigation Project is separate from the Pine River Irrigation District. PRID is a non-Indian entity that delivers water from Vallecito Reservoir, and it was not mentioned in the Congressional report. The audit found "crisis-style management" only, with no preventive maintenance and a $20 million backlog of cleanup work. The project ran out of cash reserves in 2004, the audit said. The bureau had been using its other departments, like road maintenance, to subsidize the water project. The audit is fair and accurate, said Ross Denny, superintendent of the BIA's Southern Ute Agency. Denny provided faxed answers to written questions from the Herald. Prices are going up for Pine River project users. The BIA charges $8.50 per acre for water, which a 1999 study found some users couldn't afford. The project still carries some contracts from the 1930s that charge only $1 per acre irrigated, according to last week's audit. The BIA has proposed doubling the fees to $17 this year, the audit said. Fees have not been raised since 1992. However, Pine River sent water users a letter Feb. 24 announcing a raise in the base rate "from $8.50 to only $13 per acre, to lessen the financial impact on our water users," Denny wrote. About 15 percent of the acreage served by the project is owned by non- Indians, but the audit found BIA officials do not meet with non-Indian customers. Denny said the BIA last met with water users on April 4, 2000. "There was a lot of opposition expressed during the meeting regarding the rate increase, and subsequently an increase was not initiated," Denny wrote. Instead of a formal meeting, the BIA sent water users a packet with information on the rate increases. And BIA staffers are available to talk to water users, Denny wrote. The Pine River project had lower maintenance needs than most of the other systems analyzed in the report. The Wapato project in Montana needs more than $180 million, according to the GAO. Montana Republicans Sen. Conrad Burns and Rep. Dennis Rehberg raised the issue, which led to the GAO report. The Department of the Interior, which houses the BIA, did not respond to the GAO's request to comment on the report. Copyright c. 2006 the Durango Herald. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Tribes to receive more Money" --------- Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 09:32:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TRIBES RECEIVE MORE MONEY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/04/02/news/wyoming/65-tribes.txt Tribes to receive more money April 2, 2006 By Gazette News Services RIVERTON - Members of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes will receive extra money next month as the result of their recent $10.5 million settlement with the federal government. The settlement stems from a lawsuit in which the tribes say the federal government mismanaged the tribes' mineral estates by failing to collect proper royalties from October 1973 to December 2000. Next month, members of the Northern Arapaho Tribe will each receive an additional $545 on top of their standard $140 payment. Members of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe will receive an additional $1,175 on top of their standard $325 payment. Tribal officials say the tribes' case against the federal government is still far from over. The tribes hope to collect mismanaged funds from 1916 to 1973 as well Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Racial tensions persist at Apache Junction School" --------- Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 09:32:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RACIAL TENSIONS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0401ajschool.html Racial tensions persist at Apache Junction school Associated Press April 1, 2006 Racial tensions at Apache Junction High School prompted a district official to make a bold move. Superintendent Greg Wyman decided to ban students from wearing flags of any kind in any form. But the policy, supposed to last until the end of the school year, didn't last the day. Wyman's decision came a day after a group of Hispanic students at the school took down the American flag from a pole, raised the Mexican flag, then watched as white students took it down and burned it. A shoving match ensued. On Friday, emotions among students ran high. They wore Mexican and American flags to school, and some say the tension between Hispanics and whites was palpable. By the end of classes Friday, Wyman declared students would not be allowed to wear flags of any kind, whether on clothing, jewelry or otherwise. He also canceled a school dance scheduled for Saturday. The no-flag policy set off a firestorm of phone calls from outraged parents who said it violated rights of free expression. Some said it was downright unpatriotic. By late Friday, after meeting with school and district officials, Wyman reversed part of his decision. The dance is still off, but the no-flag policy was reversed. A district spokeswoman cited calls from parents. Angela Morrissey, whose two daughters attend the school, called Wyman, and even Apache Junction's mayor, to complain. Neither called her back, she said. Two of Morrissey's daughters are in the on-campus Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, a group of students preparing for military careers. A member of the JROTC program was involved in Thursday's fight. "My problem with this is that you're taking away our children's right to show pride in their country, whatever country that is," Morrissey said before the policy was reversed. She would not give her daughters' names for fear they'd be confronted Monday. Banning flags, she said, "is not going to (make the situation) go away." Stories about what may have set off the no-flag policy Friday are conflicted. Morrissey said her daughters came home in the afternoon saying they had seen ethnic "gangs" fighting at lunchtime, Hispanics wearing white T- shirts and Mexican flags, and a carload of white kids driving by the school flashing a Nazi salute. In an e-mail to the East Valley Tribune newspaper, Apache Junction senior Ari Kalan said tension at the school was thick, with a few students shouting, "White pride!" and others carrying Mexican and American flags. But the letter the superintendent sent to parents announcing the short- lived policy gave few details. "Students continue to make poor choices that worsen the situation," he wrote. District spokeswoman Carol Shepherd would not elaborate. She said there were no reports of violence and added, when she was on campus, she didn't see any. The flag-burning incident Thursday seemed to have been set off by a series of pro-immigration rallies across the nation and Arizona for more than a week. An estimated 20,000 protested on March 24 in central Phoenix against a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that would have made felons out of about 11 million illegal immigrants in America. Half a million people came out against it in Los Angeles and 300,000 in Chicago. Thousands of high school students statewide have also left class to protest it. The bill significantly changed when it reached the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday and now includes the makings for a guest-worker program. Copyright c. 2006, azcentral.com. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Edison moves to reopen big Desert Power Plant" --------- Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2006 08:45:17 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MORE WATER FROM DEPLETED AQUIFER" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.latimes.com/la-fi-mohave28mar28,1,5240555.story?ctrack=1 Edison Moves to Reopen Big Desert Power Plant The utility was forced to shut down the Mohave generating station in Nevada because of pollution issues. By Marc Lifsher, Times Staff Writer March 28, 2006 Southern California Edison Co. and two Indian tribes have taken a tentative step toward reopening the giant Mohave power plant in Nevada that was shut down due to pollution. Before being taken off line in January, the coal-fired plant was a major source of electricity for Southern California. Under a proposed agreement with Edison, the Navajo nation and the Hopi tribe of northern Arizona would supply the 1,585-megawatt plant in Laughlin, Nev., with water from tribal lands and coal from the Black Mesa mine, which is owned by the tribes and operated by Peabody Energy Corp. In return, Edison and its partners in the Mohave power plant would make a series of payments to the tribes. The proposal faces several major hurdles, including winning the endorsement of the two tribal councils, Congress, the Interior Department, Edison's Mohave partners and the California Public Utilities Commission. What's more, Edison would need to install about $1 billion worth of pollution-control equipment to satisfy a 1999 consent decree requiring the utility to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions from the plant, which was one of the biggest sources of air pollution in the Southwest and contributed to the haze that obscures views at Grand Canyon National Park. The most controversial part of the proposed deal would allow Peabody to continue to draw water from the Navajo Aquifer, which the Indians rely on for drinking, farming and livestock. The water would be used at the Black Mesa mine to transport pulverized coal through a 273-mile pipeline to the power plant. The proposed agreement, outlined in a March 7 memo and not yet binding on the parties, also would require the tribes, Edison and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to cooperate in the development of a new water source for the coal pipeline. Allowing Peabody to continue using water from the aquifer could endanger a precious resource in the parched desert region, said David Beckman, a senior attorney in Los Angeles for the Natural Resources Defense Council. Last week, his group issued a report that it said contradicted government findings that Peabody's pumping did not exceed legal limits. "Peabody has long claimed it intended to cease pumping from the [Navajo] aquifer, but this impending deal puts the lie to that claim," Beckman said. Peabody spokeswoman Beth Sutton disputed the council's report: "The Navajo Aquifer remains healthy and robust." Edison, the tribes and Peabody all declined to comment on the proposed agreement, which was first reported by the Gallup, N.M., Independent. Mohave produced about 7% of Southern California's electricity before being mothballed New Year's Day after Edison failed to comply with the 1999 consent decree, which settled a lawsuit brought against the plant's owners by a coalition of environmental groups. Bill Hedden, executive director of the Grand Canyon Trust, which spearheaded the lawsuit against Edison, said he was waiting to see whether the parties in the coal and water negotiations could overcome "a million complications" before dealing with Mohave's air pollution problems. The closure of the power plant was a blow to the local tribal economies. The plant was the only customer for coal from the Black Mesa mine, and 600 high-paying jobs - mostly filled by Navajos - were eliminated when the Mohave plant closed. In addition, the Navajo and Hopi governments lost the millions of dollars they received each year in royalty payments from the mine. Edison, a unit of Rosemead-based Edison International, owns 56% of the Mohave plant and was its operator. The remaining ownership is divided among three partners, including the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Copyright c. 2006 Los Angeles Times. --------- "RE: American Indians cite Voter Intimidation" --------- Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 08:44:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="VOTING RIGHTS" http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060328/ap_on_re_us/indian_voting_rights_1 American Indians Cite Voter Intimidation By MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press Writer March 28, 2006 American Indian Charon Asetoyer says that when she went to vote a few years ago, a white man gave her the finger and asked her in vulgar terms what she was doing there. She says she told him she had a right to vote, and she went back to her car to wait for him to leave. Only when he sped away did she walk inside. "It's outright racism," said Asetoyer, who lives on the Yankton Sioux Indian Reservation in impoverished Charles Mix County, where Indians are about one-third of the population. While the federal Voting Rights Act has brought them a long way from the days when some states required that they be "civilized" to cast ballots, many Indians around the country say they still face intimidation, restrictive voting requirements and long distances to reach polling places. During the 2004 election, Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle's campaign obtained a restraining order in Charles Mix County against GOP poll watchers, accusing them of intimidating Indian voters. The Republicans denied that, saying the move was purely political. Daschle lost to Republican John Thune. With parts of the Voting Rights Act set to expire in 2007 unless Congress reauthorizes them, some Indians say that the current federal and state protections need to be preserved and strengthened, too. They cite, for example, South Dakota's new voter identification law, which requires photo identification at the polls, a problem for many on the reservations who do not have IDs. The law permits those without identification to sign an affidavit, but opponents argue there is confusion about what is allowed. The American Civil Liberties Union has challenged other voter ID statutes seen as burdensome to Indians in Albuquerque, N.M., and Minnesota. "The tribes are still very concerned about the targeted efforts to disenfranchise their vote," said Jacqueline Johnson, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians. Some Indians want the Voting Rights Act changed to bring more counties around the country under closer federal scrutiny and to expand bilingual assistance at polling places. Other suggest a larger number of polling places, more Indian poll-watchers and more general oversight on Election Day. "If those federal protections weren't there, Indians wouldn't have a chance at voting," said former Republican Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (news, bio, voting record) of Colorado, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe. "The law probably ought to go farther." Chris Nelson, who as South Dakota's Republican secretary of state is chief election officer, pointed to a big increase in Indian turnout in the past few years and said he has seen little evidence of voter intimidation. Nelson said some federal protections on South Dakota's reservations could safely be removed. Under the Voting Rights Act, changes in election policy in most of the South and other places around the country with a history of discrimination need the approval of the U.S. Justice Department. That list includes South Dakota's Shannon and Todd Counties, with large numbers of Indians. But Nelson said: "Has the preclearance requirement done anything to improve the ability of Indians to vote in those counties? The answer is no." The debate comes as Indians show growing electoral clout. During the 2002 Senate race in South Dakota, Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson (news, bio, voting record) won re-election by 524 votes with help from a huge increase in turnout on reservations. In Washington state, a surge of Indian votes helped lift Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell (news, bio, voting record) to victory in 2000. In Arizona, reservations helped seat Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano in 2002. Johnson said that Congress will have to maintain some protections to keep Indian voting levels high. "There's still a lack of trust and confidence between Native Americans and state institutions," he said, "and keeping some federal oversight is something that Native Americans want to have." Copyright c. 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: State Abortion Law wouldn't apply on Reservations" --------- Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 08:44:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SOUTH DAKOTA ABORTION BAN" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/2006/03/28 /956853575fc869b68625713f004ea0dc.txt State abortion law wouldn't necessarily apply on reservations March 28, 2006 SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - If South Dakota's abortion ban stands, Oglala Sioux Tribe President Cecelia Fire Thunder says she wants to set up a clinic that performs abortions outside the reach of state law but inside the state - on the Pine Ridge reservation. According to South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long, the relationship between federally recognized American Indian tribes and the states means abortion clinics could operate inside the state even after the law would take effect. Crimes committed by or against tribal members on tribal land are federal or tribal issues, depending on the severity, Long said. "If the victim is a tribal member or the perpetrator is a tribal member, then it's an event that's outside state jurisdiction, irrespective if it's an abortion or any other crime," he said. Only crimes committed on tribal land by non-Indians against non-Indians are handled by the state, Long said. The South Dakota Legislature passed and Gov. Mike Rounds signed a measure banning all abortions except to save the life of the mother. The measure did not include exceptions for rape or incest. "In our culture, children are sacred, but women are sacred, too, and somebody who has been victimized by rape or incest should have options," said Fire Thunder, one of 16 leaders of the South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families. The group has announced plans to gather at least 16,728 signatures to put the ban before voters in November. At first Fire Thunder, a former nurse, said she would open a Planned Parenthood clinic in Sioux Falls but later said it could be tribally operated. In response, Sarah Stoesz, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, said her group has no plans to close its clinics in Rapid City and Sioux Falls or to open any new ones. Only the Sioux Falls clinic performs abortions. "While the idea of a future collaboration with President Fire Thunder is certainly possible, we do not intend to pursue such an effort at this time," Stoesz said. Fire Thunder said she's concerned that the only clinic that performs abortions is up to six hours away. Rapid City attorney Charlie Abourezk, who has represented both Fire Thunder and the tribe, said he thought her idea could work. "My view of it is that if the medical providers and doctors are Native American, regardless of whether the woman receiving the abortion is Indian or non-Indian, it may be legal," Abourezk said. The state Health Department says Indians had 72 of the 814 induced abortions in the state in 2004, or about 9 percent. That's about the same percentage of Indians as in the state's population. Copyright c. 2006 Argus Leader. --------- "RE: Indian Students sue School District for Racism" --------- Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 08:44:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WINNER SOUTH DAKOTA" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.argusleader.com//20060329/NEWS/603290304/1001/NEWS ACLU: Winner seeks to discourage Indians School discriminates, suit alleges DAN HAUGEN dhaugen@argusleader.com March 29, 2006 A federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union alleges systematic discrimination against Native American students in the Winner School District. According to the complaint, school officials discipline Native Americans far more harshly than other students in an effort to discourage them from attending the district's schools. Among the tactics alleged in the lawsuit is coercing kids to sign confessions for breaking rules, which are then given to a county prosecutor for use in bringing criminal charges. School administrators declined to comment and deferred questions about the lawsuit to the district's lawyer, who could not be reached for comment. Jennifer Ring, director of the ACLU of the Dakotas, said the case highlights two national trends: the increasing use of police to handle minor school discipline issues and the crisis in education facing many Native Americans. "We do not consider this case to just be about Winner," Ring said. But the civil liberties organization said Winner schools represent one of the most egregious examples it's found anywhere. "What we found shocked even us," said Catherine Kim, a national staff lawyer for the ACLU who spoke with others at a press conference Tuesday in Sioux Falls. Kim said Native American students in Winner are three times more likely than white students to be suspended, and 10 times more likely to be referred to law enforcement. The Winner School District is situated just east of the Rosebud Indian Reservation. Native Americans represent about 30 percent of the district's elementary students, but they make up only 14 percent of high school students. Ring said the numbers support the ACLU's claims that the school's disciplinary tactics are siphoning Native American students out of classrooms and into the criminal justice system. The class-action lawsuit was filed in Pierre on Monday on behalf of a group of parents and students. It names the school district, as well as its superintendent and two principals as defendants. Taylor White Buffalo was in fifth grade in April 2004 when he got in a playground scuffle with a classmate. A white classmate allegedly pushed White Buffalo repeatedly during an argument over a basketball, the lawsuit said. White Buffalo responded by punching the other boy. The Native American student was led to the principal's office and coerced into signing an affidavit saying that he punched the white student. Police arrested White Buffalo, and his confession was used to charged him with simple assault, the lawsuit says. "I don't care for the way they handled this," said Dale White Buffalo, the boy's father, who spoke at the press conference. He said the school called their home and said to come immediately if they wanted to say goodbye to their son before they took him to jail. Dana Hanna, attorney general for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said the administrators use fear and intimidation to coax confessions out of students. The lawsuit is not asking for any monetary settlement. Instead, it asks for a federal injunction to halt the alleged practices. "We want them to start treating these children like children," Hanna said. Reach reporter Dan Haugen at 331-2335. Copyright c. 2006 ArgusLeader.com All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Lower Brule plan Missouri River Project" --------- Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 08:44:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LOWER BRULE PLAN HABITAT RESTORATION" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.argusleader.com//20060329/NEWS07/603290326/1001/NEWS Tribe project could revive river habitat Lower Brule Sioux plan dike to restore land's lost attributes BEN SHOUSE bshouse@argusleader.com March 29, 2006 VERMILLION - The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe is planning an innovative project on the Missouri River, hoping to both preserve buried cultural sites and restore a type of habitat that almost has vanished from the reservation. Joel Bich, an employee of the tribe, said construction could begin this year on a shallow-water dike on Lake Sharpe. The dike would run parallel to the shore, preventing erosion just like a conventional structure. But between the dike and the shore would be an area of shallow, still water where sediment would settle and the tribe could add native plants such as cottonwood, chokecherry and American plum. "We're trying to create some habitat that flat-out doesn't exist on a reservoir like Lake Sharpe," Bich said. He described the plan at the Missouri River Institute's annual symposium here Tuesday, in the University of South Dakota's Coyote Student center. Lake Sharpe was created with the closure of Big Bend Dam in 1963. But with that creation came the destruction of almost 7,000 acres of the tribe's best land, 90 percent of the reservation's cottonwoods and 70 percent of its native plants and game, according to Brian Molyneaux, a USD anthropologist who presented along with Bich. "It was all cottonwood forest. You can't lose that and expect the culture to thrive," he said. Raising the water above the natural river channel also creates conditions for erosion, especially in winter, when ice forms on the reservoir and expands outward, cutting into the bank. "There is virtually no shoreline over large sections of the reservation. All you have is bare, eroding cliff," Molyneaux said. Erosion also can unearth the remnants of thousands of years of habitation, including Native American artifacts and human remains. Molyneaux said he has been consulting with the tribe for several years about the best way to prevent that. The brute-force solution to the erosion problem is to add riprap - large slabs of stone that prevent erosion but create a "dead zone," he said. The proposal still would protect the bank, but also give the tribe a shot at restoring an ecosystem that has been all but lost. Bich said the first project will be a 1,000-foot dike near the town of Lower Brule. Construction could begin this summer, and a larger project could kick off later in the year. The tribe has plantings of 21 native species that could be used to revegetate the area, he said. "If they work well, we could envision lots of the shoreline protected over the years," he said. Bich said that to his knowledge this has not been tried on any large reservoir. Jeff Schuckman, a fisheries manager for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission who attended the symposium, said Nebraska has had success with similar projects on a smaller scale during the past 10 years. He said structures on Lewis and Clark Lake and Willow Creek Reservoir near Pierce, Neb., reduced bank erosion and created fish habitat. He said the Lower Brule project could have the added benefit of creating a good fishing spot for walleyes or smallmouth bass. "It's a lot more ecologically friendly approach to taking care of shoreline erosion," he said. Reach reporter Ben Shouse at 331-2318 Copyright c. 2006 ArgusLeader.com All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Tribe amends Lawsuit seeking Sovereignty" --------- Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 09:32:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SAGINAW CHIPPEWA LAWSUIT" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.woodtv.com/global/story.asp?s=4713133 Tribe amends lawsuit seeking sovereignty in Isabella County April 1, 2006 MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. Thousands of mid-Michigan residents might be living in "Indian country" without knowing it. That would be the case if the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe wins its lawsuit against the state. The tribe last year asked a federal judge to declare about 200 square miles of land in Isabella County as Indian country - based on treaties from 1855 and 1864. Lawyers for the state said that if the tribe's suit was successful, thousands of non-Indians would find themselves living in a sovereign Indian nation. The tribe has revised its suit, asking that state officials be barred from exerting criminal or civil jurisdiction over the tribe "in a manner not allowed in Indian country." Copyright c. 2006 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 2006 WOOD TV. --------- "RE: Agency once again rejects Hoopa Membership" --------- Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 09:32:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HOOPA DENIED COUNTY ASSOCIATION PRESENCE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_3663515 Agency once again rejects Hoopa membership The Times-Standard March 31, 2006 EUREKA - Once again the Humboldt County Association of Governments has rejected a motion to include the Hoopa Valley Tribe. The vote was a 4-to-4 tie, along the same lines that voted against the tribe's membership in December. "It seems to me it is very clear they should be a member," Arcata City Councilman Dave Meserve told the Times-Standard on Friday, adding that there are 2,200 people and 105 miles of roads within the Hoopa Tribe. The HCAOG board is a joint powers agency that is largely responsible for state highway, local street and road improvements, public transportation resources and the roadside call box program. The county and each of the member cities have a vote on the board. Voting against the inclusion Thursday were representatives from Humboldt County, Rio Dell, Ferndale and Fortuna, while Eureka, Arcata, Blue Lake and Trinidad voted for membership. Meserve said a subcommittee will meet within a few weeks "to look at whether there should be some sort of threshold for membership." The Board of Supervisors voted in January to support the inclusion of the Hoopa Valley Tribe into the joint powers authority, a move that directly contradicted the vote of its own representative to that authority - 2nd District Supervisor Roger Rodoni. The HCAOG board had a series of deadlocked votes on whether to include the Hoopa Tribe at its meeting in December. Normally, tribes are not considered public agencies and are therefore not eligible to participate, but Hoopa was declared a public agency in the 1980s under a bill written by then state Assemblyman Dan Hauser for the expressed purpose of allowing Hoopa to take part in HCAOG. The tribe has been trying for 18 years to get onto the board. Following the December vote, Hoopa Tribal Chairman Clifford Lyle Marshall said the tribe is in all respects a government, and that it deserves to be on the authority's board. "The (deadlocked) vote is of concern because the Legislature has found us as a matter of law to have met all the requirements of membership," he said. The law making Hoopa a public agency reads as follows: "The Hoopa Valley Business Council, as the governing body of the Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe, may participate as a legislative body, pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 65101 on the Humboldt County Association of Governments and for that purpose may enter into a joint powers agreement with the parties thereto and shall be deemed to be a public agency for purposes of Article 1 (commencing with Section 6500) of Chapter 5 of Division 7 of Title 1. The legislature finds and declares that the unique circumstances of Humboldt County necessitate this special law." Copyright c. 2005 Times - Standard. --------- "RE: Mashpee Wampanoag win Preliminary Recognition" --------- Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 09:32:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MASHPEE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.wluctv6.com/Global/story.asp?S=4711152 Mashpee Wampanoag tribe wins preliminary recognition from government April 1, 2006 WASHINGTON The American Indian tribe whose ancestors greeted the Pilgrims in present-day Massachusetts is a step closer to the federal recognition it has sought for three decades. The Mashpee Wampanoag (WAHM'-puh-NOH'-ahg) tribe has won preliminary approval for federal recognition, which is expected to become final a year from now. Such a designation would make it the 564th recognized Indian tribe in the nation. Tribal officials say they met all seven of the government's criteria for recognition, including proving the tribe has maintained a political and cultural identity throughout its history. Considerable power comes with federal recognition, which would make the tribe a sovereign entity. The Wampanoag have acknowledged an interest in casino gambling and acquiring undeveloped land. Copyright c. 2006 WLUC TV6. --------- "RE: Graving Yard talks deemed `very productive'" --------- Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 09:32:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="KLALLAM GRAVING YARD TALKS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/sited/story/html/234321 Mediator says first graving yard talks `very productive' by ANDREW BINION April 2, 2006 PORT ANGELES - The man hired to mediate graving yard talks between the state and Lower Elwha Klallam tribe said Friday that the first two days at the table were encouraging. John Bickerman, a Washington, D.C.-based mediator, called the meetings between local, state, federal and tribal officials on Tuesday and Wednesday "very productive." The mediation meetings were held in Tacoma and were closed to the public. "I am cautiously optimistic we will reach a resolution," he told the PDN. But Bickerman said there was not a set timeline for the talks to continue. "Nope," he said when asked if he knew when the parties would meet again for more mediation. Bickerman was hired after Gov. Chris Gregoire and Lower Elwha Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles agreed in December to begin formal negotiations to settle the dispute that started in August 2004. That was when workers excavating an inland dry dock to be used to build anchors and pontoons for the Hood Canal Bridge uncovered human remains from an ancestral Native American village at the 22.5-acre site on the Port Angeles waterfront. Since then, the $86.8 million the state Department of Transportation spent on the project has gone for naught, most of the work has relocated to Tacoma and Seattle and repairs on the bridge - a major economic lifeline for the North Olympic Peninsula - won't be finished until at least 2009. Copyright c. 2006 Kenai Peninsula Daily News - Horvitz Newspapers, Inc. --------- "RE: Seattle deal with Muckleshoots over Cedar River" --------- Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 08:44:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HUNTING RIGHTS/PRESERVATION OF FISH" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/2002896480_cedarriver29m.html Seattle makes deal with Muckleshoots over Cedar River By Craig Welch Seattle Times staff reporter March 29, 2006 The city of Seattle has agreed to limit its future use of water from the Cedar River, to turn over 1,200 acres of land to the Muckleshoot Tribe and to let tribal members hunt in small groups near the river's headwaters. To resolve a years-long dispute over hunting rights and protection of fish on the river, which supplies Seattle with drinking water, the city also has agreed to pay the tribe $18 million for wildlife research in the watershed and to renew its efforts to build a sockeye-salmon hatchery. The agreement settles a lawsuit the tribe filed in 2003 over the city's right to divert up to 350 million gallons of water a day from the river. The city now uses only about 100 million gallons a day, but the tribe feared the city might use a lot more in the future. Under the agreement, the city has committed to not take more than 124 million gallons a day from the river - even decades from now, said Martin Baker, a policy adviser for Seattle Public Utilities. The city uses less water than it did 20 years ago, even though the city has grown, Baker said. So the city doesn't think it will need more water in the future. And King County suburbs, which get most of their water from the city of Seattle, have formed an alliance to obtain their water from other sources, such as Lake Tapps or a pipeline from Tacoma. The negotiations also allowed the city and the Muckleshoot Tribe to resolve other long-standing issues, including the tribe's demands for traditional hunting rights and reparations for damage to the river as a result of hydropower production. Until now, the city had barred the tribe from accessing what was traditionally Muckleshoot land, saying it needed to protect the watershed. Under the agreement, tribal members will be allowed to hunt there in groups of fewer than 20 with advance notice. But they can't use snowmobiles or off-road vehicles, and they will have to keep dead animals away from water supplies. The city also plans to deed at least three parcels of land to the tribe: two near the Green River, and one sacred site high in the Cedar River watershed. Tribal officials said the land will allow tribal members more access for picking berries and gathering firewood. Approval by both the Seattle City Council and the Muckleshoot tribal council still is required. The City Council is expected to take up the issue in May. Craig Welch: 206-464-2093 or cwelch@seattletimes.com Copyright c. 2006 The Seattle Times Company. --------- "RE: Appeal for Indian Education Support" --------- Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 08:44:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FACTS IN SUPPORT OF INDIAN EDUCATION FUNDING" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7697 Tribal college leader appeals for Indian education support Citing success, Gipp tries to secure federal commitment Sam Lewin March 28, 2006 A plea from the head of a tribal college, asking Congress not to take a budget shortfall out on Indian education, and delivered to a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee "My message is simple: culturally appropriate higher education for Indian people works, and Indian people today want quality, culturally appropriate higher education as never before," David Gipp, the president of United Tribe Technical College, said during a recent event, dubbed a "listening session," held in the North Dakota town of Fort Yates. U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan, a Democrat from North Dakota and vice- chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, called the session. "The student population on our reservations is on the rise, and that's a good thing, but it also means it's more important than ever to step up the investment in the educational experience that's available to them," Dorgan said. Gipp, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux, pointed out that the American Indian community is very young, with over half the population under the age of 25. In addition to serving that segment, Gipp said education is "vitally necessary to allow tribal nations to rebuild their economies, long neglected by the United States. The skills learned in higher education help rebuild infrastructure and reestablish vital tribal government services, as well as improve local economies and business institutions." There are currently 35 tribal colleges in the country, and Gipp said their success in recruiting and educating Native students is being compromised at the federal level. "We remain concerned that the present administration does not fully support the financial assistance and scholarship programs, such as Pell grants, that so many of our students need for their education," Gipp said. Democrats are not the only ones to question the Bush Administration's commitment to Indian youth. Arizona Republican Senator John McCain has also been critical, and he and Dorgan in February introduced legislation to fund an increase in counseling, professionals and suicide-prevention materials to rural tribal communities hit hard by a wave of teen suicides. "Native Americans, a group that includes American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians, continue to confront tremendous challenges in obtaining basic services such as health care, housing and education," stated a letter earlier this month signed by both men. Gipp outlined nine key areas he believes are essential for members of Congress to understand regarding Indian education. Here is the text of his speech explaining those nine: 1.We greatly need institutional stability for our tribal colleges and universities. We cannot be subject to the changes in budget priorities that have plagued our efforts to improve our educational programs in the recent past. It is also unacceptable that adult vocational and technical training funds have been so greatly reduced in recent years. These are funds that allow tribal communities to grow and prosper, and help make them a vital part of the states in which they exist. 2.We need the best technology possible for our institutions. Technology is a window to the future for our people. Our institutions and our tribal citizens are certainly as important as other non-Indian institutions of higher education and their students, and these efforts, again, can produce great payoffs for our nation. We cannot continue to have our educational needs be neglected by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the federal government in general. 3.Our tribal colleges need the best facilities possible. Construction funds fo basic educational needs, such as science buildings, residences and other education facilities have lagged far behind our student growth. Yet, sadly, we have not seen any commitment to meet these needs from the present administration. 4.We remain concerned that the President's Executive Order on tribal colleges and universities issued several years ago is not being fully carried out. For example, a Presidential task force on higher education in Indian Country was supposed to be formed more than two years ago, but although attempts have been made to bring this to the attention of Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, our national Indian education organizations have not received any communication back about carrying out this important effort. We appreciate any efforts your office can make sure that this important process moves forward. 5.We remain concerned that the present administration does not fully support the financial assistance and scholarship programs, such as Pell grants, that so many of our students need for their education. As we have found at United Tribes, the federal government is paid back many times over for the federal funds used to support higher education among tribal citizens. We understand that other priorities exist, such as the war in Iraq. But the needs of Indian Country cannot be allowed to take a back seat to the needs of foreign citizens, especially when we know that Indian people volunteer for the military at a rate higher than any other racial group in the United States. 6.We must continue to make sure that our tribal elementary and secondary schools are providing students with the tools they need to be successful in tribal and non-tribal postsecondary educational institutions. Too often, we know that our students need remedial help to succeed in our tribal colleges because they did not receive the kind of education they have a right to expect at the elementary and secondary levels. 7.We also continue to be concerned about making sure that our Tribal citizens are successful in non-Indian institutions of higher instruction. For example, I am a 1972 charter delegate and present Chairman of the Board of the Indians Into Medicine program (InMed) at the University of North Dakota. Yet, I understand that funding for that program is in jeopardy. Our program has assisted more than 60% of all Indian medical doctors in the United States to receive their degrees. This program must not be allowed to be discontinued- it is too vital a resource for Indian people throughout the United States. The death rate of our American Indian population from preventable and treatable diseases is simply unacceptably high. 8.We must make sure that the Higher Education Act reauthorization effort goes forward as quickly as possible, and that the needs of Indian students are fully recognized and provided for in that Act. For example, the TRIO programs that provide vital student support services and other institutional support to many of our tribal colleges should be fully funded, and reauthorized, to make certain that we can continue to assist poor students who otherwise would not have a chance to make higher education a reality. UTTC has not received TRIO funding for two years in a row, although we need those funds to address the needs of a growing college age population. All of the needs of the tribal colleges should be met. 9.In another area, tribal colleges should be offered the opportunity to have funds set aside for vital research that benefits us that is conducted through grants made available through many different departments and agencies of the federal government. We need to develop our own scholars and professionals, such as teachers, engineers, scientists, doctors and other professionals that will be assisting our communities to grow and prosper. AIHEC will soon be recommending legislation that will provide such set-asides throughout the research programs funded through the Department of Health and Human Services and we urge your support for this legislative effort. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Eagle feathers confiscated" --------- Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2006 08:20:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FISH SPOOK GOES FISHING AT POWWOW" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.newschannel5.tv/2006/3/30/7039/Eagle-feathers-confiscated Eagle feathers confiscated Local Native American tribes upset March 30, 2006 McALLEN - Native Americans see golden eagle feathers as a gift from the spirits but some have been confiscated by federal agents. An agent for U.S. Fish and Wildlife went undercover at a local pow-wow, working to expose the illegal use of eagle feathers. Federal agents say it is against the law for people to have the feathers unless they are a member of certain tribes. The agent who confiscated the feathers said, "It is a serious thing. The government has me here to investigate. These are protected animals. They are protected under state and federal laws." Native Americans say the feathers are considered a gift from God. Roberto Soto is a Lipan-Apache Indian. The agent took feathers that have been in his family for generations. "It would be like someone telling me I can't worship god; like someone taking the bible and saying it's illegal; like I can't pray, or carry a cross," Soto said. "In many ways, we've been stripped of who we are as native people." Only members of federally recognized tribes are allowed to use the feathers. There is only a handful of recognized tribes in the state, and none in the Valley. Soto said, "I might never see the day of our tribe being recognized. There's a lot of paperwork, a lot we have to prove." Until their tribes are recognized, the feathers are off-limits. Native Indians say that means they will be having their pow-wows in secret. Copyright c. 2005 Mobile Video Tapes, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Copyright c. 2006 KRGV-TV 5, Harlingen-Weslaco-McAllen-Brownsville, Texas --------- "RE: Gun Lake Tribe won't join in rally on Statue" --------- Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2006 08:20:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GUN LAKE WILL NOT JOIN RALLY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.mlive.com/kzgazette/base/news-17/1143735684199850.xml&coll=7 Gun Lake tribe won't join in rally on statue - Kalamazoo Gazette By Kathy Jessup kjessup@kalamazoogazette.com 388-8590 A Native American rally to protest a Bronson Park statue will go on as planned Monday even though a West Michigan Potawatomi Indian group is declining to participate. John Shagonaby, tribal council treasurer for the Match-E-Be-Nash-She- Wish Band of Potawatomi, or Gun Lake Band, said Tuesday that his organization believes "it's an inappropriate time to do a rally" in light of talks that are under way with Kalamazoo city and county officials over the future of the 65-year-old "Fountain of the Pioneers" artwork. "We recognize that it's people's right to have this, but we're not participating," Shagonaby said of the rally, which has been promoted nationally by the American Indian Movement. "We are at the table discussing this, which is a good thing," he said. "I don't think things are stalemated by any means." At issue is a 1940 Alfonso Iannelli cast-concrete statue at the west end of Bronson Park's central fountain. It shows figures of a Native American and a settler who is facing west and appears to be holding a raised staff or sword over the Indian's head. While some have claimed the Indian is bowed or kneeling before the settler, his full-length headdress appears to be unbent. Statue critics say the artwork degrades Native Americans, depicting them as subservient to the white settler, and should be removed from the public park. Supporters of retaining the 65-year-old artwork say it depicts the history of European settlers' westward movement that pushed Indians from their native lands and that removing it would amount to revising history and censoring art meant to provoke interpretation. Potawatomis representatives, historic preservationists, businesses, government and other interested parties on both sides of the issue met behind closed doors for two hours Monday. Shagonaby said he's not sure when a resolution will be announced. The Potawatomi official said his tribe is troubled with the artwork in its current state. "When this statue was commissioned and dedicated, we can't find any proof that there was any Native American involvement," Shagonaby said. "It's not historically correct and it does not tell the story that a lot of Potawatomi stayed in this area. We resisted and there was nothing noble about it. We didn't go." Despite their concerns, local Potawatomi leaders haven't called for the statue's removal. "We're not going to do any knee jerks," Shagonaby said. "Those aren't helpful to the solution." Despite efforts at a resolution, a rally scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday in Bronson Park will continue, said Thomas Brown, a Western Michigan University graduate student from Parchment and member of the Delaware Nation's Kechemeche tribe. Brown said the national American Indian Movement, a Minneapolis-based Native American advocacy group, is not able to provide a speaker for the event, however, because of scheduling conflicts. Brown said that, although he's not Potawatomi, the Bronson Park statue debate "transcends tribal lines." "It's not just an issue here in Michigan but for tribes all over the country," he said. "It's degrading and it presents a negative imagery much like school mascots and pro sports teams (that are based on Native American themes)." Copyright c. 2006 Kalamazoo Gazette. Used with permission. --------- "RE: Navajo Nation visits Lawrence Livermore Lab" --------- Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2006 17:18:59 -0700 From: Karen Francis Subj: Navajo Nation visits Lawrence Livermore National Lab Contact: Karen Francis, Public Information Officer Navajo Nation Council Office of the Speaker (928) 871-7160 karenfrancis@navajo.org www.navajonationcouncil.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATE: Thursday, March 30, 2006 NAVAJO NATION VISITS LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LAB By Steve Grey Members of the Navajo Nation Council visited Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Lawrence, California last week. Honorable Lawrence T. Morgan, Speaker of the Council, headed the delegation from the Navajo Nation, which also included Council delegates Mel R. Begay, Ralph Bennett, Young Jeff Tom and Tom M. White, Jr. The Navajo Nation has the largest tribal legislative council comprised of 88 members within a tribal government of 8,000 employees. Of the 556 federally recognized tribes the Navajo Nation is the largest energy-producing tribe in the country. It has vast amounts of coal, oil and gas along with other natural resources within the 27,000 square miles of Navajo land which spreads across three states. The Navajo Nation is larger than many states such as West Virginia. The visit was made to discuss with senior laboratory officials partnership and collaboration opportunities and to tour the Laboratory. The tribal delegation mentioned that national laboratories are truly a national resource and that tribes can benefit tremendously from partnering with them. The delegation mentioned that utilizing the Laboratory as a third party technical advisor would help the tribe as it makes important decisions. The tribal delegation got a chance to visit the National Ignition Facility, National Atmospheric Release Advisory and the Advanced Simulation Computing centers. Speaker Morgan mentioned that he was very impressed with the research facility and impressed with the number of Navajo students that had worked at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory over the years. He mentioned that the tribe faces many technical issues daily and has a major need for science and technology personnel from the tribe to address such issues. The Speaker was also pleased that the DOE/LLNL field office, located in Shiprock, N.M., is still serving the tribes in and around Navajo. The office is a facility that serves both DOE and its National Laboratories as it works with tribes. Steve Grey, manager of the office recently served as DOE Indian Affairs Director at the Washington, D.C headquarters. The delegation heard first hand about some of the work the Laboratory is doing with clean coal technology, CO2 sequestration regarding emissions, membrane technology and other energy research. A $2.5 billion state of the art power plant with a 500-mile transmission line is being proposed to be built on the Navajo Nation. Speaker Morgan mentioned that the power would be shipped to markets in California, Nevada and southern Arizona which impacts many of people at the Laboratory. The nation already provides coal to six other regional power plants. This is the largest venture any tribe has pursued and along with that comes topics of emissions, water, and other environmental issues. The delegation had many questions about education and opportunities for tribal members in the National Laboratory system. The Speaker thanked Laboratory officials for the invitation and for upholding the Department of Energy Indian Policy to work directly with tribes. The Laboratory was the first National Laboratory to sign a Memorandum of Agreement with a tribal institution (Dine' College) and with a tribe (Navajo). That agreement still holds today. Ron Cochran, Laboratory Executive Officer, hosted the visitors and said that the Laboratory is very proud of its record to work with tribes such as the Navajo Nation. Mr. Cochran offered his continued support on behalf of the Laboratory. ### Contact: grey1@llnl.gov --------- "RE: Study set on American Indian Center proposal" --------- Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 08:44:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WISCONSIN INDIAN CVENTER PROPOSAL" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.wausaudailyherald.com//20060329/WDH0101/603290601/1581 Study set on American Indian center proposal Marketing firm will report on feasibility of converting Federal Building By Rick LaFrombois Wausau Daily Herald rlafromb@wdhprint.com March 29, 2006 Thomas Marks & Associates, a Wausau-based marketing firm, has been hired to study the feasibility of developing an American Indian cultural and educational center in the Wausau area. The study, being paid for with $35,000 in donations, will also determine whether the downtown Federal Building would be well-suited to house the center. The Native American Tourism Organization of Wisconsin toured the Federal Building in January along with civic leaders. The city took ownership last year of the historic building, which needs major restoration and modernization. A group of civic leaders - including Wausau Mayor Jim Tipple, former Mayor Linda Lawrence and Compass Properties' Mark Craig - pitched the idea last summer along with Ray DePerry, then-president of the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council, which is a consortium of 10 federally recognized tribes in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. Soon after, the Tribal Council endorsed the idea, as did Wausau's City Council. Proponents say the center, which Craig estimates would cost between $4 million and $6 million to develop, would be a major draw for Wausau and would help build a bridge between tribal and non-tribal communities. Tom Marks, owner of Thomas Marks & Associates, said he was approached to study the project because of his firm's experience in working with the tribal community. His first goal is to determine if there is a need for the cultural and educational center and, if so, what will go into it. "This is really a report that takes into consideration a lot of what the 11 tribes of Wisconsin want in here," he said. "That's really an essential element." Marks plans to visit four similar centers in Santa Fe, N.M., to gain insight into how they are operated and funded. Organizers expect to have results of the feasibility study in hand by the Inter-Tribal Council's May 18 meeting. If the study finds the site will work, a capital campaign is planned for later this year. The tribal and nontribal partnerships developed through the process of creating the cultural center would prove invaluable, DePerry said. And the center would help American Indians from the region preserve their culture and languages. The center would be operated by the tribes and would not cost taxpayers a dime, Craig has said. The city would receive a payment in lieu of taxes for use of the Federal Building, which it would lease for the center's use. Under terms of the lease, the building could not be used as a casino. Tribes also are being asked whether they want to turn a portion of the cultural and educational center into an embassy of sorts, Craig said. Each of Wisconsin's 11 tribes could have an office in the building, which would serve as a conduit for intergovernmental communication. "It's part of the vision now, and we're going to do what we can to make it a reality," Craig said. "That's what the federal building was for - our government." If all 11 tribes had offices in the center, current issues would blend with tribal history and make tribal education more easily accessible to central Wisconsin residents and state residents as a whole, he said. "People are pretty excited around the state, and they're just hoping we can pull this together. And I'm confident we can," Craig said. Project leaders hope to raise another $15,000 to create architectural renderings. The $35,000 raised so far is an indication the Wausau community is ready to embrace the project, DePerry said. Tribal representatives are sure to take notice at the May meeting, he said. "That says to me ... we have this very beautiful idea, and we think that we can pull this off," DePerry said. There are about 50 American Indian residents in Lincoln and Marathon counties and 49,000 in the state, according to 2000 U.S. Census Bureau data. Copyright c. 2006 Wausau Daily Herald, a Gannett Company. --------- "RE: GIAGO: Driving the snakes out of South Dakota" --------- Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2006 08:45:17 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GIAGO: NATIVE AMERICAN DAY LARGELY IGNORED" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7692 Driving the snakes out of South Dakota Notes from Indian Country Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji) Copyright c. 2006 Native American Journalists Foundation, Inc. March 27, 2006 Ah, St. Patrick's Day has passed us by, but in the wee city of Rapid City an untimely blizzard the day after caused the annual parade to be postponed until the following Saturday. I remember that as a student at Holy Rosary Indian Mission boarding school on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the nun who was our teacher, would give all of the students a green strip of paper to clip to their bibbed overalls so that we wouldn't get pinched for not wearing the green. Her name was Sister Patricia and I think this is a play on the name Patrick. In our Catechism class we were told that St. Patrick lived in the Emerald Isles and was famous for driving all of the snakes from the land. Chief Day Boy, a fellow student at HRM, wished that the good Saint had come to the Pine Ridge Reservation one spring day. His name was actually Aloysius Day Boy but we called him "Chief" for some strange reason. We were playing softball in front of Red Cloud Hall when Chief Day Boy spotted a huge snake. After close observation he determined that it was a bull snake that closely resembles a rattlesnake. He made a grab for it and missed and found out soon enough that even a bull snake can bite. It chomped down on the fleshy part of his right hand and sent him screaming to the infirmary. Where was St. Patrick when you needed him? As I said, the St. Patrick's Day Parade will go on this coming Saturday because it is a tradition late or not. But you see St. Pat's Day isn't even a legal holiday. People still go to work and the schools are still open. The post office and the banks keep operating. And yet, all around the town one sees shamrocks and everybody wears something green. It's a nice day to have and some of the guys drinking green beer in the local pub seem to enjoy it immensely. But there is a legal holiday in South Dakota that gets little attention from the general population. The day became a holiday in 1990, sixteen years ago. It is called Native American Day, and it was recognized by the state legislators and the governor as a legal holiday. Perhaps because I had something to do with it, the local media hardly mentions it. You see, I have been critical of the South Dakota press and electronics media for more than 30 years. It appears the media moguls in this state have very thin skins. They can dish it out and ruin a lot of lives in the process, but don't you dare ever criticize them. You will be forever censored if you do. Indian activists called the State of South Dakota the Mississippi of the North in the 1970s. And yet, 20 years later it became the only state out of 50 to set aside a special day to honor the Native Americans. Native American Day replaced Columbus Day 16 years ago, and yet many of the department store chains located in this fair city still advertise Columbus Day instead of the day that replaced it. Some of the local banks now put up signs at their drive up windows proclaiming that they will be closed on Oct. 12 to celebrate Native American Day. After all of these years it seems that Native Americans are the invisible people although in Western South Dakota we make up nearly 25 percent of the total population. After observing the television advertising by Golden West Telecommunications Co., and determining that all of the participants were non-Indians, I called the director of the company, Dwight Flatt, and mentioned this to him. He immediately called in his advertising agency and set about to include Native Americans in his company's commercials. As a matter of fact, Golden West also gives their employees a holiday on Native American Day. An Indian friend of mine from another state was visiting me one day when a commercial for South Dakota State University aired. The ad showed various people in various jobs and asked the rhetorical question, "What do all of these people have in common." My guest said, "They're all white?" It is a shame because SDSU has had several very influential American Indians graduate from that fine institution. And at a time when the Indian children of this state badly need role models, where are the ads lauding these Indian graduates? Roe v. Wade is not the problem in South Dakota; the problem is white v. Indians. Like most of the Lakota people in this state, I try to wear something green on St. Patrick's Day, but I also try to attend the wonderful Black Hills Pow Wow that is celebrated on Native American Day each year in Rapid City. When the advertising agencies of America, especially in states with large Indian populations, understand that not all of its citizens are black or white, perhaps they will then color us (Indians) into their advertising so that we will no longer be the invisible people. In the meantime, I intend to enjoy the annual St. Patrick's Day parade on Saturday. --- Tim Giago is the president of the Native American Journalists Foundation, Inc., and the publisher of Indian Education Today Magazine. He can be reached at najournalists@rushmore.com or by writing him at 2050 W. Main St., Suite 5, Rapid City, SD. He was also the founder and publisher of the Lakota Times and Indian Country Today newspapers. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Tribal Governments change" --------- Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2006 08:45:17 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: NAT ALL CHANGE IS GOOD" http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/columnists/14201843.htm Tribal governments change, not always for better Column by Dorreen Yellow Bird In Indian Country, tribal governments seem at times to be hurtling toward great change, with some tribes on a steady course and others careening wildly. The engine is power - power that is bolstered by casino money; power that results in some leaders voting in hefty paychecks and too- generous benefits for themselves. Unfortunately, checks and balances often seem to stumble over each other, stymieing rather than furthering good government. One of those checks could be a free press. But many reservation newspapers are funded by the tribe, and the salaried staff doesn't want to bite the hand that feeds them. Without a free press, some tribal memberships have found a way to bring tribal governments to account. The recall of tribal council members and chairs is becoming common. The most recent is the recall of J.C. Crawford, chairman of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. His council voted him out amid allegations that he misappropriated $698,000 since 2003, reported the Indian Country Today newspaper of Rapid City, S.D. Crawford strongly denied the charges. Last year, I covered the recall of Valentino "Tino" White from his post as tribal chairman of the Spirit Lake Sioux tribe. He was accused of abusing power. White did not appear at the June 23 hearing to defend himself, and the membership moved ahead with action. Myra Pearson was elected in his place. Eli Hunt, tribal chairman of the Leech Lake Ojibwe Tribe of Minnesota, was recalled in 2002. Cecilia Fire Thunder, tribal chairman of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, has been served with recall petitions, but they were found unjustified. So Fire Thunder continues to be the first female chairman of this Lakota nation in southwestern South Dakota. I don't know about the guilt or innocence of these tribal chairmen. I only know they were put on the chopping block - some escaped the ax, others are history. The bottom line is that recall seems to be a growing method of toppling tribal governments. Does having the threat of recall hanging over their heads make tribal leaders more accountable? In my experience with the Three Affiliated Tribes on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota, recall is a roll of the dice. Some rumors about a particular leader may be true, but others are only as real as a scary ghost story. When my mother and aunt were alive, they and their friends would bend my ear about the wrongdoings of the tribal council. After I was riled up enough, I would check out their accusations. But many times, what they'd heard was based on rumor. In reservation communities where we know each other well, we get bits and pieces of a rumor, then start to chew on those tidbits until we've formed a story into something that pleases us. Watching the government squirm can be entertaining. Of course, not all rumors are untrue, and some councils should squirm. The Three Affiliated Tribes' tribal council has done poorly with finances. From information gleaned from an elder's newsletter, I found our tribe is about $80 million in debt. This growing debt is fed by council members' salaries that far exceed the wage of the average person on the reservation. In addition to those hefty salaries, councilmen also are allocated pickup trucks and other things that are paid for with tribal money. "How can they justify this?" I asked a council member from White Shield, N.D. The council members are managing large budgets and deserve big salaries, I was told. They are like the executives of big corporations. But those national CEO's don't live in areas where you get a meal for $5 or pay $300 or $400 a month for a house. A free press on the reservations is sorely needed but hard to build. Tribal government skirmishes are covered by mainstream press when there is a major crime or a recall petition, but other than that, there is little day-to-day coverage by off-reservation media. That is where hometown, reservation-type newspapers could come in. They can change tribal government. If the press is not controlled by the tribal government, it could cause that tribal officials to pause and have second thoughts before misappropriating funds or abusing power. There are some downsides to a free press on reservations. The press has to be free to provide both sides of a story and be unencumbered in the process. To be unencumbered, they need funding from sources other than the tribe. Unfortunately, there are few reservation newspapers that can keep themselves afloat with revenue from subscriptions and advertising. There is also the issue of bias. If, for example, a tribal member can own and manage a newspaper, would not his or her biases be evident in the writing? It is hard not to let your own experience color what you write. But "the perfect is the enemy of the good," as the saying goes. A newspaper that makes an good effort is better than a whole community in the dark. Traditionally, tribes did have good governments, but they were different. I remember listening years ago to Byron Wild, Sahnish councilman from White Shield, N.D. He was one of the old guard on the council. These old men had to have their arms twisted to take a council seat. Not everyone met the criteria; they had to be respected, fair, generous, strong and a good leader. Too bad that some of our tribal governments have changed, and we've come so far from that kind of requirement. And it's too bad that we've incorporated so much of the non-Indian kind of government, where power and money have come to be the new culture of some tribal governments. ---- Dorreen Yellow Bird's column appears Tuesday and Saturday. Reach her at (701) 780-1228 or dyellowbird@gfherald.com Copyright c. 2006 Grand Forks Herald/Grand Forks, ND. --------- "RE: Floats decorated entirely by broken Treaties" --------- Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 08:44:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="AMERICAN-INDIAN AWARENESS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.dailyutahchronicle.com/paper244/news/2006/03/29/Opinion/ There will be floats decorated entirely by broken treaties What good is American-Indian awareness if we're lying to ourselves about how we treat American Indians? By: Jay Richards Section: Opinion March 29, 2006 Perhaps no other indigenous groups in human history receive more contempt and obloquy than American Indians. All throughout American society, especially at colleges and universities, you see the names of American- Indian tribes used as logos and mascots for athletic teams. As we all know, the U is a willing participant in this tradition. Because of these circumstances, it is ironic that the U is holding American-Indian Awareness Week this week. Most people are aware that we use the proud and dignified Ute Nation as a logo and talisman for our sports teams. The fact that the U uses the Ute Nation for its symbols is, in fact, unimportant in and of itself. However, that the U still employs American-Indian symbols in an effort to rev up team spirit speaks to the larger insult that American society places upon American Indians as a whole. To take what some people see as sacred and commercialize it is insulting, regardless of how many permission slips you get. Indeed, how would Mormons feel if a collegiate sports team were named "The Joe Smiths?" It really has nothing to do with sports, but with attitudes. Our history books teach us that white pilgrims arrived on North America and bought and traded with the indigenous populations peacefully. The Thanksgiving holiday, an American institution, is understood to be an exemplar of American Indians selling land for the Pilgrims to live on. In his book The Manufacturing of Consent, intellectual Noam Chomsky tells a story about walking through a national park during the Thanksgiving holiday, and coming across a statue of an American-Indian woman. The inscription read: "Here lies an Indian woman, a Wampanoag, who gave of herself that this nation might grow." Chomsky says, "Of course it is not accurate to say that she 'gave of herself' for that noble purpose. Truthfully, the inscription should read, 'Millions of American Indian people were slaughtered in one of the worst cases of genocide in human history so that this nation might grow.'" What would our response be if we went to Germany and saw a gravesite that read: "Here lies a woman, a Jew, that gave of herself that this nation might grow?" It means nothing to simply say, "We are going to remember American Indians this week." If the U faculty, administrators and students really cared about American Indians, they would demand that our logo be changed- not fight to keep it. We would learn about American-Indian history more than just one week a year-and we would become aware of contemporary American-Indian politics and fight to lift their plight. The country's 2.1 million American Indians-about 400,000 of whom live on reservations-have the highest rates of poverty, unemployment and disease of any ethnic group in America. Arizona Sen. John McCain said, "Any objective observer would say that our treatment of Native Americans is a national disgrace." This disgrace is best understood by looking at one of America's most well-known national landmarks, Mount Rushmore. Atop Mount Rushmore sits the carved heads of Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt. It's a symbol of national pride and South Dakota's No. 1 tourist attraction.