_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 14, ISSUE 023 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 June 10, 2006 Kiowa pai ganhina p'a/summer moon Hopi wukouyis/major planting moon Eastern Cherokee nvda seluitseiyusdi/green corn moon Algonquin twowa kesos/moon when they hill Indian corn +-------------------------------------------------------+ | 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; Frostys AmerIndian, Chiapas95-En, NetRez, Rez_Life and Indian Heritage-L 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: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + =================== "In today's globalized world, the challenges we face are complex and carry dangerous ramifications if we don't develop indigenous leaders with the skills to build politically sustainable Native communities." __ LaDonna Harris, president of the Americans for Indian Opportunity +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! The Lovely Janet comments on some good news from Indian Country: ----- In our editorials, we often discuss institutional injustice, internal government bickering, poverty, poorly-managed educational and health care needs, and a raft of other problems within our tribes and nations. Often we have pointed to the indigenous people of this hemisphere are losing the very things that make us who we are -- our culture, spirituality and language. In this issue, you will read of people and programs developed from within the indigenous community that support and honor the preservation of tradition and leadership within the Native American community. As is seen in our prison issue this week, where the Crow Tribe has taken the prevention of youth crime into its own hands, the key is that these programs were developed and are managed by the Native American people themselves. The American Indian Ambassador's Program was developed by Americans for Indian Opportunity (http://www.aio.org), to foster leadership growth in the Native American community. Joshua Brown, from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, joins 18 other young indigenous leaders in the American Indian Ambassadors Program. Already the holder of a master's degree in public administration, Brown co-founded the Salish Language Immersion School and is involved in a language teacher training program. His story follows in this issue. In another story, the Cuna Indians of Panama, who had already been moderately successful in staving off dominant culture usurpation of their traditions, have developed additional policies that protect their land and their people's culture by restricting tourist development within their lands. This weekend, a speaker at a pow wow I attended pointed strongly to the solution to many of our problems with our vanishing cultures and unattended needs. The way to rebuild our People in a way that is true to our culture is to do it ourselves. +/// Janet Smith owlstar@bellsouth.net /*/+ P. O. Box 672168 OwlStar Trading Post + / * Marietta, GA 30008, U.S.A. http://www.owlstar.com * + ---- Dohiyi Ani Oginalii , , Gary Smith (*,*) wotanging@bellsouth.net P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org Marietta, GA 30006, U.S.A. ===w=w=== http://www.nanews.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ----------- - St. Ignatius man chosen - GIAGO: Building a Business for prestigious Program on shifting Sands - Indians channel their ordeals - Police Brutality in Atenco into nonprofit is being Covered Up - ICT: Of trade and terror - Tories charged with Blackmail in the Americas in Fishing Deal - Bush Admin silences - Tories put brakes pro-tribal Spokesperson on Native spending - Interior Secretary - Caledonia problem meets with Tribal Leaders didn't arise overnight - Tribal leaders lead protest - New faceoff in Caledonia Nevada Test Site as flashes light up sky - No Wastewater through Ak-Chin land - Grassy Narrows - Health Education Program the other Native Blockade suffers budget cut - Appeals Court rules - Health focus on N.C. Tribes' needs in Indian probate dispute - Report designs Land return - Utah challenges Court Decision - Judge Hurd rules for Nation again on Jurisdiction - Elders move - Native Prisoner to restore calm at Six Nations -- Being held accountable - Apache Club - History: Carlisle Indian School restores wounded Spirits - Rustywire: Navajo Girl - JODI RAVE: Express Tribal Identity - Spiritdove Poem: SpringSong! at Graduation - Upcoming Events --------- "RE: St. Ignatius man chosen for prestigious Program" --------- Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 19:50:22 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NATIVE AMBASSADOR" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2006/06/05/news/top/news01.txt Native ambassador: St. Ignatius man chosen for prestigious national program By BETSY COHEN of the Missoulian June 5, 2006 Joshua Brown is one of 18 individuals chosen to participate in the two- year American Indian Ambassadors Program. "It's exciting to go help advocate and educate people about tribal communities," says Brown who grew up at the base of the Mission Mountains in St. Ignatius. A St. Ignatius man has been selected for a landmark program that helps develop the nation's brightest and most promising young American Indian leaders. Joshua Brown, a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, is one of 18 individuals picked to participate in the American Indian Ambassadors Program, which draws upon traditional indigenous values to empower new generations of Native leaders. The program, which began in 1993, is designed around four core cultural values: Relationships, responsibility, reciprocity and redistribution. Brown, 31, holds a master's degree in public administration from the University of Montana, is co-founder of the Salish Language Immersion School, and works at Salish Kootenai College designing a language teacher training program. Brown said he is honored by the recognition, and looks forward to meeting and working with like-minded individuals. "I'm really excited about this," he said. "For me, it is an opportunity to network and hopefully develop more of my skills to do my job much better. "Each ambassador has to have some kind of community initiative, and part of what the program does is to help make it happen - to help with the follow-through." American Indian languages are Brown's passion, and his goal is to develop a program that instructs educators on how to teach languages. "In order to revitalize a language, you have to have highly qualified teachers who can teach in the language," Brown said. "I want to focus on helping to improve their teaching skills - teach them how to apply methodology and develop curriculum." The American Indian Ambassadors Program is a two-year commitment. During that time the ambassadors will attend four week-long gatherings in New Mexico, Washington, D.C., Hawaii, and Bolivia, where they will meet with leading Native decision-makers, national policymakers and international dignitaries. Brown said he is particularly eager to attend the trip to Washington, D.C., where he and his fellow ambassadors will lobby Congress on Indian issues. "For me that's really exciting - to take my message to our country's leaders," he said. His message will be about the importance of Native languages and the need to develop effective language education programs. "I'm sure other things will come up," Brown said. "There's all kinds of new stereotypes out there about tribes - like all tribes are filthy rich from casinos, and that's just not the case in Montana. "Poverty is still a huge issue on our reservations." The trip to Bolivia is also intriguing, because there, the ambassadors will learn about the country's indigenous peoples. While the international stop is an exotic agenda item, the ambassadors program has deep connections to indigenous peoples around the globe. While each ambassador is dedicated to developing their own initiative, the program also encourages that they develop an international perspective. "The idea is to come away with a better understanding of how different indigenous groups around the world are trying to tackle social and economic issues," Brown said. "In today's globalized world, the challenges we face are complex and carry dangerous ramifications if we don't develop indigenous leaders with the skills to build politically sustainable Native communities," said LaDonna Harris, president of the Americans for Indian Opportunity, which help create the ambassadors program. Of the recent selection of American ambassadors, Harris said: "The 18 individuals chosen already exhibit exceptional leadership skills, so our program aims to further strengthen their talents by reaffirming their cultural values, cultivating their community organizing skills, and build a network of people and resources they can utilize throughout their careers." Brown said he is eager to learn and to apply the knowledge and lessons he'll learn over the next two years. "I'm really excited," he said. "It's inspiring to be a part of this." Copyright c. 2006 Missoulian, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Indians channel their ordeals into nonprofit" --------- Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 19:50:22 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="COLLECTIVE TO HELP OTHERS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/06/04/ news/californian/temecula/22_10_536_3_06.txt American By: DEIRDRE NEWMAN - Staff Writer June 3, 2006 TEMECULA - The collective discontent of American Indians who have been kicked out of their tribes and suffered other perceived civil rights violations has inspired the formation of a nonprofit organization. One of the creators of this organization lives in Temecula and knows full well how devastating it can be to be evicted from a tribe. John Gomez, who was disenrolled from the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians along with 130 family members, is protesting the tribe's action through two lawsuits. The first was appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which recently decided not to hear it, leaving the disenrollment in effect. The idea for the American Indian Rights and Resources Organization came out of a conference in Temecula last year that Gomez organized to bring disenrolled Indians from around the country together. From the conference, it was obvious that there were a lot of American Indians who had experienced the same loss, he said. "It seems that, throughout Indian country, there are numerous issues that revolve around the denial or stripping of a person's individual rights," said Gomez, who is the president of the nonprofit group. The organization was officially formed in December and had its first membership meeting May 20 in Sacramento. About 70 people attended, said Carla Foreman-Maslin, who was kicked out of the Redding Rancheria tribe in Northern California, along with 75 of her relatives. The Maslins are helping get the resource organization off the ground, with Carla's husband, Mark Maslin, acting as communications director. One of the most inspirational parts of the conference, according to Foreman-Maslin, was the keynote speech by Billy Mills, an American Indian who was raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota and won a gold medal in the 10,000-meter race in the 1964 Olympic Games. "It was very empowering and Billy Mills gave a very inspirational speech about his story ... about the struggles he went through of discrimination, and racial problems that he had suffered and how he used some of the things within him to give us hope," she said. While the new organization would definitely help those who have been disenrolled from their tribe, it would address American Indian rights on a general scale, including those who have been barred from voting on tribal matters and who have been denied access to health care, Gomez said. Those who have been disenrolled can share information and experience they have gleaned from the ordeal with Americans Indians who are just starting to go through the process, Maslin said. "The first thing that usually happens in these cases is they go to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and spend a lot of time and effort and, a lot of times, money hiring an attorney," he said. "They hear the same thing -- that the BIA can't get involved because it's an internal tribal matter." The organization can also provide moral support to disenrolled American Indians, who are not just coping with the loss of their identity but with the loss of hefty monthly payments from the tribes that have casinos, Maslin said. The Gomez family members, for instance, have incurred a loss of more than $50 million as of March. "In a lot of ways, we're kind of therapists, too," Maslin said. "We know a lot of the situations people have gone through and their reactions. (We) help them overcome and get back on their feet so they're able to fight." The organization already has a successful track record, Maslin said. In a few cases, some families who have contacted the nonprofit group have been able to fend off disenrollment attempts, he said. As communications director, Maslin lets members know about upcoming rallies and demonstrations in support of American Indian rights and will encourage members to write letters to their congressman to encourage them to change the Indian Civil Rights Act to give it more teeth, he said. "These tribal officials have learned that, yes, they have laws, but (they) don't have to follow them," he said. "We beg to differ. That's one of our objectives - to let them know these laws are there for a reason and we're going to find a way to make sure they're enforceable." Communication will be easier once the organization has a Web site, which is in the works, Gomez said. Copyright c. 1997-2006 North County Times - Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: ICT: Of trade and terror in the Americas" --------- Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 08:31:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ICT ANALYSIS: NAFTA" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?feature=yes&id=1096413050 Of trade and terror in the Americas by: Jerry Reynolds / Indian Country Today Analysis May 26, 2006 WASHINGTON - Ordinary Americans pay their taxes each year without realizing that they're in part supporting more than 700 military installations and spy stations worldwide. So it can't be an easy sell to convince them their tax dollars also support displacing and dispossessing the indigenous peoples of Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. But a half-dozen indigenous leaders kept trying May 22 in Washington. After a morning of meetings on Capitol Hill ran longer than planned, they addressed some 25 representatives of church and advocacy organizations at the Friends Committee on National Legislation headquarters. They spoke in Spanish as Natalia Cardona, assistant coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee (an arm of the FCNL), translated. Their story, familiar to many of those present and filled out for others by FCNL background papers, left little doubt that U.S. policy has increased their troubles or that America could decrease them by standing down from or refining the U.S. trade agreements with Peru, Colombia and possibly Ecuador. Unlikely as that may seem right now, this trade model, the North American Free Trade Agreement, is getting another look in light of the immigration debate. Advocates presented NAFTA as a way to improve economic opportunities in the developing world by opening American markets to trade with poorer countries, which in turn had to open their markets to American exports. After 10 years, one of NAFTA's short-term failures - its failure to create U.S.-quality jobs for Mexican workers - is glaring enough that NAFTA planners have forgotten there was ever a higher goal than a slight hike in Mexican wages. As noted in The Wall Street Journal, the minor gains in Mexican wages 10 years after NAFTA were just enough to enable a Mexican exodus north. So with the jury still out on NAFTA, why would the American state, at significant expense to its taxpayers, seek to impose this model, a near- twin of NAFTA, on South American states? One reason is fairly obvious. America shares no border with Colombia, the epicenter of pro-trade policies under President Alvaro Uribe Velez. But Ecuador does, and Ecuador is already absorbing workers displaced by Plan Colombia, the Velez administration's regimen of "structural adjustments" designed to render the Colombian economy worthy of U.S.- backed free market guidelines. Displacement is a standing problem for indigenous communities in the region, especially where development threatens indigenous lands. In Peru alone, said Rufina Rivera Cabezas, secretary for the Organization of Displaced Families in Lima, Peru, more than 600,000 indigenous people have been displaced, primarily by poverty, land development and related territorial intrusions. Another reason America favors this trade model is the war on terror declared by President George W. Bush. The Bush administration is eager to stymie terror in South America before it can take on a global complexion. The trade agreements with South American countries are partly an economic prescription for addressing poverty as a progenitor of terrorism in South America. But terror in South America has long been double-edged. It is a standard practice for states there to justify the use of force against civil dissidence, on grounds the dissidents are fronting for terrorist groups. The charge came around again on May 16, when Colombian police confronted farmers and indigenous groups who had gathered to protest the trade agreement between Colombia and the United States. The governor of Cauca province, as quoted by an Associated Press reporter, said "terrorism" had "financed, organized and sponsored" the protests. The speakers in Washington May 23 discredited the charges as a typical government tactic. Another U.S. justification for this trade agreement is the profit motive. Under NAFTA, subsidized U.S. agricultural exports have done few favors for small farm producers, and corn growers feel particularly threatened in South America. That is why farmers, indigenous, afro-Colombians and social groups took part in the May 16 protests in Colombia. Indigenous peoples in South America have a limited ability to adapt to the economic pressures introduced by subsidized foreign produce. "We feel that a trade agreement will lead from poverty to extreme poverty, as well as internal displacement and immigration," Rivera Cabezas said. The agreements with Peru and Colombia have not come to a vote in the U.S. Congress. Copyright c. 1998 - 2006 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Bush Admin silences pro-tribal Spokesperson" --------- Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 08:26:35 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SALMON SPOKESPERSON SILENCED" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003031855_noaa01m.html Longtime salmon spokesman silenced By Craig Welch Seattle Times staff reporter June 1, 2006 For more than a decade, Brian Gorman has been the government's voice on salmon in Seattle, doling out news releases and explaining policies on everything from threatened Puget Sound chinook to Columbia and Snake river dams. But as of this spring, Bush administration officials have directed that all questions about salmon policy in Washington state be handled by political appointees, often as far away as Washington, D.C. "I essentially have been told that I can't speak about salmon issues to reporters," said Gorman, chief spokesman in Seattle for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which oversees Northwest salmon policy. NOAA officials say the change is merely a way to better coordinate public information. But it's only the latest example of the Bush administration tightening how employees of federal natural-resource agencies handle politically charged topics. This winter, NASA's top climate scientist told The New York Times that the administration was censoring him on global warming. In April, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey and NOAA told the Washington Post that public-affairs officials were limiting their openness with the press. As for Gorman, a public-affairs officer who has worked at NOAA for 30 years, explanations vary for his sudden change of roles. The Washington Post on Wednesday noted that the change in Gorman's ability to talk about salmon came a day after Gorman was quoted suggesting that a judge's ruling and a new report, both rebutting administration positions on water policy in Oregon's troubled Klamath Basin, might be looked back upon as moments when "things really turned around for fish." Gorman referred questions Wednesday to his boss, Jordan St. John, the NOAA public-affairs director in Washington, D.C. St. John at first disputed there had been a specific change at all, saying he had merely reminded Gorman sometime in April that press inquiries should be referred to NOAA's regional director, Bob Lohn, who mostly works in Portland, or to policy experts in Washington, D.C. "My philosophy is that it should be my boss who is quoted," St. John said. "I was reminding Brian that this was our normal procedure." But Lohn said Wednesday that the decision was made in direct response to the ongoing controversy over the Klamath Basin. The battle involves several federal agencies, and "there was a desire to have a single point of contact," Lohn said. It was a "coordination issue, not a gag order," he added. Lohn denied Gorman's quote had played a role. Scott Rayder, the chief of staff for NOAA, acknowledged he spoke to St. John about having Lohn take over for Gorman as the spokesman on salmon policy. "Bob Lohn is the lead public spokesman," Rayder said. "He's got the big regional picture." Even so, on Wednesday Lohn said that NOAA will reconsider Gorman's role, because he "has more experience and remains more experienced and has a greater knowledge base" on local salmon issues than people in Washington, D.C. "As the Klamath issue has largely become more settled, we'll probably return to more normal ways," Lohn said. Craig Welch: 206-464-2093 or cwelch@seattletimes.com Copyright c. 2006 The Seattle Times Company. --------- "RE: Interior Secretary meets with Tribal Leaders" --------- Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 08:26:35 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="KEMPTHORNE MEETS TRIBAL LEADERS" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7889 Interior Secretary meets with tribal leaders Kempthorne discusses trust lawsuit, tribal sovereignty Sam Lewin May 31, 2006 The new secretary of the Department of Interior has met with leaders of the largest American Indian group in the country and made a positive impression, officials say. Dirk Kempthorne was sworn in as interior secretary on May 27, and the following workday attended a meeting with members of the National Congress of American Indians and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. "Kempthorne was very approachable and I think we are off to a good start," said Jefferson Keel, the lieutenant governor of the Chickasaw Nation and the NCAI's first vice-president. "We talked about the importance of federal government consultation with tribal governments and having a real dialogue with tribal leaders. Tribal leaders need to be included if we are going to find real solutions that will work in Indian Country. I think Secretary Kempthorne gets that, and he showed it by meeting with us today." "I am impressed with Secretary Kempthorne that his first priority is to establish a relationship with tribal leaders," said NCAI president Joe Garcia. "Our meeting set the stage for a strong continuing relationship." Garcia said the conversation touched on the "importance of treaties and tribal self-determination." In a statement about the meeting, the NCAI said Kempthorne was "very interested" in Indian trust reform and the Cobell case. With Kempthorne currently at the helm the Indian trust class action lawsuit-initiated in 1996 under then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt- has now spanned three heads of the Department of Interior. The two sides are still far apart: Indian plaintiffs in the case say the government owes them in the neighborhood of $150 billion-although they have offered to settle for much less-while special trustee Ross Swimmer says, "It could be just $30 million that's owed." Further complicating matters is Royce Lamberth, the judge in the case. The government considers him too biased towards the plaintiffs and wants him removed. There have been calls for Kempthorne to put the whole case to rest. Calling the lawsuit a "national embarrassment," an editorial in the Yakima Herald-Republic states: "Maybe Kempthorne can provide some new insight and direction when he takes over. From what we've read and heard he's a pretty reasonable, qualified individual... He'll need an outstanding tenure as interior secretary to help close the book on this case. Settlement continues to be an option that should be explored to end a trial that has dragged on for a decade while the interior department tried to reconcile a century of mismanagement." As governor of Idaho, Kempthorne appeared to have a congenial relationship with the state's tribes. "We have had a good working relationship with the governor that focuses on cooperation. It is also a respectful relationship," Nez Perce leader Rebecca Miles said shortly after President Bush nominated Kempthorne this spring. Either way, Kempthorne scored points by getting together with Native leaders on what was essentially his first day on the job. "We appreciated Secretary Kempthorne taking time on his first day to meet with the NCAI leadership," said NCAI executive director Jacqueline Johnson. "Tribes want the secretary to be an advocate and defender of tribal rights. We had a good discussion about the role of the secretary and I was very pleased to start out on such a good note." You can reach Sam Lewin at sam@okit.com Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Tribal leaders lead protest Nevada Test Site" --------- Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 19:50:22 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DESTRUCTION IS NOT DEVINE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.lasvegassun.com/nevada/2006/jun/03/060310618.html Tribal leaders lead protest Nevada Test Site's `Divine Strake' By SCOTT SONNER ASSOCIATED PRESS June 3, 2006 RENO, Nev. (AP) - Tribal leaders were among about 50 protesters who rallied Saturday against an experiment at the Nevada Test Site they fear will produce a massive explosion that will spread radioactivity across the West. The protest is aimed at the federal government's proposed "Divine Strake" project, the detonation of 700 tons of explosives in an experiment designed to study ground motion and shock waves set off by bombs. "There is nothing divine about something that is built for destruction of life," said Carrie Dann, a member of the Western Shoshone tribe who maintains the test site's property belongs to her people. "It is just another weapon of destruction. We need to all stand up and say `Hell no, we don't want this stuff around here.' We don't need it. We have enough weapons," she told fellow demonstrators in front of the federal courthouse in Reno. Several carried signs that read "Nevada is not a nuclear wasteland," "War Industries Don't Care" and "Blessed are the Peacemakers." "The weapons designers have been chomping at the bit to make a new type of weapon, although the U.S. is supposedly `committed' to not developing new nuclear weapons in the spirit of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation," said John Hadder of Citizen Alert the statewide anti-nuclear organization. The test originally planned for June 2 but has been postponed indefinitely. Officials said delaying the explosion would allow time to answer legal and scientific questions about whether it would kick up radioactive fallout left from nuclear weapons tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site about 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Concerns first were raised when James Tegnelia, director of the federal Defense Threat Reduction Agency, said the blast "is the first time in Nevada that you'll see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons." He later retracted the statement, saying it was inaccurate. Designers said the blast would be of the same material but some 280 times larger than the bomb that destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. Lee Dazey of the Western Shoshone Defense Project said the explosion will create a plume 10,000 feet in the atmosphere and be carried downwind. She's especially concerned about the lack of data National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) to determine the radioactive contamination in the soils surrounding the blast area that will be lifted by the plume. "Western Shoshone bore the brunt of the Cold War nuclear weapon program receiving doses of radiation from 100 aboveground tests estimated to be six times that of other non-Indian downwind populations," Dazey said. Copyright c. 2006 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 1996 - 2006 Las Vegas Sun, Inc. --------- "RE: No Wastewater through Ak-Chin land" --------- Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 08:31:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="UTILITY AGREES TO AVOID AK-CHIN LAND" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.azcentral.com/community/chandler/0531cr-akchin0531Z6.html Utility agrees not to run wastewater through Ak-Chin land Carl Holcombe The Arizona Republic May 31, 2006 A Pinal County utility company has agreed not to discharge treated wastewater into washes that run through culturally sensitive Ak-Chin Indian Community lands. But the compromise will likely cost future customers. Tribal leaders opposed an industrial use permit application that Palo Verde Utilities Co., a subsidiary of Global Water Resources Inc., submitted to Pinal County. The company wanted to discharge treated water into several washes when it ran out of storage space at a new plant or couldn't sell it. Instead, Palo Verde will now pump the excess underground at a considerable extra cost that could end up passed on to rate-paying county customers, said Trevor Hill, president of Global Water. He said it was too early to determine how much more expensive it will be. advertisement "It could mean a significant amount in capital and operational costs," Hill said. "But it's a good thing to preserve and protect natural resources." The Ak-Chin didn't like the plan because they feared that discharged water would be swept through washes where ancestral remains and artifacts are frequently found, Tribal Council Chairwoman Delia Carlyle said. Plants unique to the tribe's religious and cultural life and ceremonies also grow in the washes, she said. The new treatment plant will be built on a 16-acre site southwest of Maricopa. It will have the capacity to treat 1 million gallons of sewage daily, with estimated expansion capacity of up to 13 million gallons by 2015. It will serve areas south of Maricopa and northwest of Casa Grande, near the Stanfield area, where tens of thousands of homes are planned. Treated wastewater can't be used for drinking water but can be sold for purposes such as agriculture, manmade ponds and golf courses, Hill said. Copyright c. 2006 The Arizona Republic. --------- "RE: Health Education Program suffers budget cut" --------- Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 19:50:22 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HEALTH PROGRAM FEELS BUDGET AXE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.winonadailynews.com/articles/2006/06/05/mn/education.txt Indian health education program suffers budget cut By Associated Press June 5, 2006 DULUTH, Minn. (AP) - The University of Minnesota Center for American Indian and Minority Health is facing an uncertain future after losing $1.1 million in annual federal grants - 83 percent of its budget. "It's a horrible situation," said Richard Ziegler, dean of the University of Minnesota medical school in Duluth. "One of the main areas the school is known for is training of Native American physicians. These .. . programs are the fundamental basis for getting Native American students interested in medicine." The federal government gives schools three-year Centers of Excellence grants to help support health training programs for minorities. There are more than 30 such centers around the nation, including American Indian- specific centers at the Universities of Minnesota, Washington and Oklahoma. The University of Minnesota center recruits American Indian students to their medical schools in Duluth and Minneapolis. Nationally the program's funding dropped from $33 million in 2005 to $11 million in 2006. In Duluth, the program lost $1.1 million of its $1.325 million budget this year. Joy Dorscher, director of the American Indian health program in Duluth, said her federal funding was "all gone, every single bit of it." The Duluth program will start operating on decreased funding at the end of August, Dorscher said. The university will increase financial support to the center, Ziegler said, but it can't replace what they've lost. However, the medical school will provide $225,000 next year and university President Robert Bruininks will award another $150,000 if it can be matched through other donations. If that happens, the center will have $525,000 next year - less than half its normal budget. Established in 1987, the center begins recruiting in middle school with study programs and workshops to help students prepare for admission into medical school. Once in medical school, the center provides academic counseling, guidance from American Indian doctors and volunteer opportunities. American Indians make up about 3 percent of the U.S. population, according to the 2000 census. Yet only 0.3 percent of students in the nation's medical schools in 2000 were American Indians. Of the incoming class of medical students, the program has admitted nine American Indians for the Duluth campus and seven for the Twin Cities, Dorscher said. "This has been a highly successful program," said Charles Moldow, associate dean for research and operations at the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities Medical School. "They reach out into the high schools, bringing role models and speakers to interact with students. They are very successful in attracting students." Copyright c. 2006 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 2006 Winona Daily News. --------- "RE: Health focus on N.C. Tribes' needs" --------- Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 19:50:22 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HEALTH NEEDS ARE GREAT" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.dailycomet.com/20060604/APN/606040739 Health care workers, Indian leaders June 4, 2006 North Carolina is home to about 100,000 American Indians and eight state- recognized tribes. But when it comes to good health, those groups might as well be invisible. Medical workers and tribal leaders gathered this weekend to discuss ways to improve health and health care for the state's Indians. "There is a visible disconnect between the public health department and the tribes," Ray Littleturtle, a Lumbee from Pembroke, said at Saturday's meeting in Fayetteville. "The only things that Indians get, they go out and get themselves." American Indians in North Carolina are more likely to have diabetes, high blood pressure and arthritis than whites or blacks, according to state health statistics. They are also more likely to lack physical exercise, go without a doctor's care because of cost, be without health insurance, and suffer 14 or more days of poor physical health in the past month. Participants in the conference - including the state Department of Health and Human Services, the N.C. Commission of Indian Affairs and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's Institute for Public Health - hoped to encourage tribal leaders to guide their communities to public health services. "If you say to us, 'Public health hasn't done one thing for our tribe,' we are here to fix that," said Jan Lowery, Health and Human Services' public health consultant. Some tribal leaders said a mistrust of Western medicine and a failure by both tribe members and health care providers to reach out can be blamed for the good-health gap. Also, once Indians go to county health departments, cultural differences can cause problems. "A lot of times, we have people in health departments that know nothing about American Indians; they don't know how to relate to our people," said Missy Brayboy, community services director for the North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs. Mekeisha Williams and Lisa Macon Harrison from the UNC institute led classes on the basics of public health and leadership. "You are the individuals that will actively leave this room and take back this information to your communities," Williams said. "If change is going to happen, it's going to come from you." Copyright c. 2006 Daily Comet - Thibodaux, LA. --------- "RE: Report designs Land return" --------- Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 19:50:22 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LAND RETURN FOR THREE AFFILIATED TRIBES" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.minotdailynews.com/news/story/063202006_new3news1.asp By ELOISE OGDEN, Regional Editor mdnregion@srt.com June 3, 2006 OMAHA, Neb. - A 1,200-page draft report, on the potential return to the Three Affiliated Tribes of about 24,000 acres of land that were taken when the Garrison Dam was built, was released Friday by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said the blueprint is "vastly better" than an earlier Army Corps of Engineers plan to transfer about 36,000 acres, including camping sites and boat launching ramps, to the tribe. Stenehjem said Friday he still has questions about whether the agency has the legal authority to make the transfer. The proposal would switch the land's ownership from the corps to the U.S. Interior Department, which would hold it in trust for the tribe. "In the final analysis, (Gov. John Hoeven) and I will be visiting to determine what approach the state of North Dakota needs to take," Stenehjem said. The land which is no longer needed for the project is on the Fort Berthold Reservation and was taken more than 50 years ago when the dam was constructed. Currently, it is used for management practices ranging from wildlife management to high-density recreation. Leased lands, currently used for agriculture, grazing and recreation, are also being considered for transfer, corps officials said. The draft report is available on the Internet and at several libraries. The corps also is planning public meetings during the week of June 26-30 to receive oral or written comments on the document. Meetings will be held in Bismarck, Riverdale, Williston, New Town and Minot. Locations and times will be announced later. Larry Janis, project manager with the corps' Omaha District, said that no date has been set when or if there would be a transfer of land to the tribes. "We learned a lot from the last process that it takes time for people to take a look at it for all the decisions and reviews to be made," Janis said. "We do know that should the 24,000 (acres), which is proposed right now, is transferred, it'll take at least a year to prepare the real estate packages. But the start and finish time of that year is really unknown right now." Two years ago, Tex Hall, chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes, asked the corps to look into the possible transfer of the Garrison Project lands. He cited the Fort Berthold Reservation Mineral Restoration Act, enacted Oct. 30, 1984, as basis for the request, corps officials said. Hall requested 36,000 acres of land returned to the tribes. The corps has determined about 24,000 of the 36,000 acres would be eligible for transfer. Hall said it was a "bittersweet feeling" that the corps was not proposing to transfer the entire 36,000 acres. Lake Sakakawea flooded the rich Missouri River bottomland that tribal members farmed, and split the Fort Berthold reservation in two. When the Garrison Dam was being planned and built in the 1940s and 1950s, the tribe was told any lands that weren't needed to operate the reservoir would be returned, Hall said. "That was the promise that was made," Hall said. "Our people fulfilled their end of the bargain ... We gave up everything. We gave up our way of life for a hydroelectrical dam." The Fort Berthold Reservation Mineral Restoration Act says the Secretaries of Army and Interior may enter into agreements where any land within the exterior boundaries of the reservation acquired by the United States for construction, maintenance or operation of the Garrison project that is no longer needed for those purposes can be declared held by the United States in trust for the benefit of the Three Affiliated Tribes. After Hall's request was made for the transfer of the lands, the Assistant Secretary for the Army, Civil Works, directed the corps to examine land use designations in the master plan for the Garrison Project with the ultimate objective of being able to transfer the maximum amount of land above the maximum pool elevation to the Department of the Interior to be held in trust for the Three Affiliated Tribes. Janis said Phase I of the project began in early 2005 and was completed, then Phase 2 began in April 2005 with public meetings held in May 2005. "We've been working on this document since then," he said. The corps received a large amount of input from the public during the comment period, Janis said. That's really Appendix C and D (in the report) - all the comments received and then we summarized them," Janis said. He said people had some major concerns about a land transfer. "They were specific to a lot of different areas but a lot of the comments centered on recreation areas and wildlife management areas," he said. "We were really pleased that people did take the time and gave us a lot of good input. It really worked out well," Janis said. If the land transfer takes place, Janis said funding would be needed to prepare real estate packages. Copyright c. 2006 - The Minot Daily News. --------- "RE: Judge Hurd rules for Nation again" --------- Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 19:50:22 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JUDGE AGAIN RULES FOR ONEIDA" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.oneidadispatch.com/1709&PAG=461&dept_id=68844&rfi=6 Judge Hurd rules for Nation again Oneida Daily Dispatch By ANDREW BROWN, Dispatch Staff Writer June 4,2006 UTICA - A federal judge ruled Friday that Oneida County can neither collect interest on unpaid taxes from the Oneida Indian Nation nor foreclose on Nation-owned land. U.S. District Judge David N. Hurd ruled that the Nation's land is protected under the 1793 Nonintercourse Act, which says that Indian land is inalienable without Congressional approval. He also cited the Nation's tribal sovereign immunity and the fact that Oneida County did not notify the Nation of the foreclosures in an appropriate manner as factors in his decision. Hurd's ruling in the case was a near replica of a decision he made last October in an almost identical case involving Madison County. In that case he also ruled that Madison County could not foreclose on Nation land. "The Nation is a federally recognized Indian Tribe which has not waived its sovereign immunity with regard to its real property," Hurd wrote in Friday's ruling. "Further, Congress has not abrogated that immunity with regard to its real property." Oneida County Attorney Randy Caldwell said he was not surprised by Friday's decision, in light of other Hurd rulings. "We respectfully disagree with his decision, and we are in the process of preparing our paperwork for the appeal to the Second Circuit," he said. Nation spokesperson Dan Hartman said the decision will not prevent the Nation from remaining open to negotiating "fair agreements" with both counties. "The Oneidas are gratified by Judge Hurd's decisions in the Madison County and Oneida County cases and are confident they will be affirmed on appeal," Hartman said. "These rulings resolve all of the property tax issues involving the Oneida Nation, are binding on Madison and Oneida counties, and remove the need for any further litigation in state court." The Nation has applied to have 17,300 acres of its land in Oneida and Madison counties taken into trust with the federal government. In order to have its land accepted, the Nation cannot have tax liens on any property included in the application. The Nation brought the lawsuit against Oneida County last July. It involves 280 parcels of land the Nation owns in the county. Both parties asked for summary judgment in the case. A third party, the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans, filed a motion to intervene in the case. The group wanted the lawsuit dismissed, in case any of the Nation's parcels overlap with their six-square mile reservation. Hurd denied the motion saying that the group's interests would not be affected if the lawsuit were dismissed. Hurd relied heavily on his earlier ruling in the Madison County case to make his decision, arguing that the 1793 Nonintercourse Act and the principle of tribal sovereign immunity still apply. "There is a vast difference between requiring real property owned by a sovereign nation to be taxed and to comply with local zoning and land use regulations, and allowing ownership of real property to be seized from that sovereign nation," Hurd wrote in the Madison County decision. "The seizing of land owned by a sovereign nation strikes directly at the very heart of that nation's sovereignty ... permitting the seizure of lands from a sovereign nation should require, at the very least, a specific act of Congress," Hurd said. "...it will not occur as the result of a ruling from this forum." In Friday's decision, Hurd ruled that all of the 280 properties at issue are within the reservation that was established for the Nation in the 1788 Treaty of Fort Schulyer and confirmed in the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua. This reservation, Hurd ruled, was never disestablished. Furthermore, by only giving them less than two months notice, Oneida County did not give the Nation enough time to respond to the foreclosure warning, Hurd wrote. Although Oneida County officials operated within the county's laws, Hurd argued that the county's process is "strikingly similar" to others that have been found to be unconstitutional. Oneida County attorneys argued that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the City of Sherrill vs. the Oneida Indian Nation case allows them to collect interest and penalties on the Nation's unpaid taxes. Hurd did not agree. "It would be inequitable to permit Oneida County to assess interest and penalties for non-payment of taxes during a time when it was the law that the lands were not taxable," he wrote. Madison County Attorney John Campanie said he was not surprised by Hurd's decision, either. He said Madison County has already filed an appeal of Hurd's October decision, and he expects the appeals of both counties to be heard together at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. "Given the tremendous hardship these decisions impose on our communities, we say 'the sooner the better,'" Campanie said. "Our citizens continue to pay more than their fair share, while the Oneida Indian Nation of New York has the benefit of the use of the regional infrastructure and services for free." He added that he is encouraged about the counties' cases at the Second Circuit because of that court's decision to dismiss the Cayuga Indian land claim. The 2005 ruling reversed a judgment by a lower court that said the Cayugas were owed $247.9 million. Campanie said that court noted that the Sherrill vs. the Nation Supreme Court decision "dramatically altered the legal landscape.'" "The (U.S.) Supreme Court reversed Judge Hurd in the Sherrill case, and its decision stands for the proposition that taxes must be paid, and that if not paid the Oneida Indian Nation of New York cannot use their sovereign immunity defensively or offensively to avoid foreclosure," he said. "Accordingly, the counties have both the right and the remedy." Without the option of foreclosure, Hurd suggested the county and the Nation try to resolve their issues through methods other than legal action, without specifying what those steps should be. In the conclusion of his decision, Hurd quoted Abraham Lincoln as telling Congress on Dec. 1, 1862: "Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We ... will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The ... trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation .... The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the ... present .... We must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves." [Ellipses in court ruling] Hurd then added in his own words: "If the last words are heeded, and the parties resolve the many land claim issues with good will and friendship between nations, the citizens of this time and place will be remembered by future generations with admiration and gratitude," he wrote. "In the alternative, future generations will still be coping with an endless stream of federal and state lawsuits, land claims, and land trust applications." Copyright c. The Oneida Daily Dispatch 2006. --------- "RE: Elders move to restore calm at Six Nations" --------- Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 08:31:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OHSWEKEN ELDERS" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?feature=yes&id=1096413047 Elders move to restore calm at Six Nations by: Jim Adams / Indian Country Today May 26, 2006 OHSWEKEN, SIX NATIONS RESERVE, Ontario - Calmer heads regained control in the Six Nations land reclamation standoff and road blockades began coming down after a mid-May eruption of fighting between Natives and non-Native counterblockaders. A riot was averted by elders as local town of Caledonia residents pressed down on the Native group when elders in both communities took the lead to calm heated tempers and establish communications between sides. At the height of the tension on May 22, a fire at a local utility company transformer near the Native encampment at the Douglas Creek Estates site shut down the power supply to some 1,500 homes in Caledonia and about four times that number in the surrounding area, including one- third of the Six Nations reserve. Native protesters abandoned an attempt to dig a trench across the blockaded road after Jan Kahehti:io Longboat and her niece, Lisa Van Every, stood in the way of their backhoe and told them sternly to stop. Longboat, a stalwart supporter of the land reclamation, is a well- respected healer and a strong believer in the traditional principle called "the Good Mind." She had been talking to representatives of the townspeople, Van Every told Indian Country Today, when she realized that destruction of the road was for them the "line in the sand" that could set off further violence. "The Caledonia people were so angry and screaming really racist obscenities, and wanting to just about kill them," Longboat said. "The bulldozer tearing up the road was driving the Caledonia group crazy. I did not know what else to do to start calming things down." It was a crucial moment that defused potentially tragic violence, coming shortly after the Caledonia counterdemonstrators had blockaded a road just opened by the Native group. Several Natives in a car were trapped; the driver, a Native man, was beaten and two elderly female Native passengers frightened by the gathering mob. The incident sparked several running fistfights. As the groups disengaged, Six Nations leaders returned to the table with chief provincial negotiator David Peterson, a former Ontario provincial premier, and agreed to a mutual dismantling of the barricades. Traffic began to move freely on Plank Road into the town by the afternoon of May 23. Hydro One, the local utility, announced that power was restored by 6:30 a.m. May 24 to the 8,000 affected homes. Peterson said that cooperation by the two sides had averted a "near disaster." The flare-up on May 22 resulted from an apparent miscommunication, Van Every said. At talks mediated by Peterson the previous week, Six Nations protesters agreed to begin dismantling road barricades. The blockades had been in place since April, after Ontario Provincial Police on April 20 unsuccessfully attempted to end the long-running Native occupation of a real estate development in an early morning raid. Inspired by traditional leaders, Six Nations protesters - including warriors from other reserves - seized the Douglas Creek site Feb. 28 in a "reclamation action." They said the province illegally took the land in the 19th century from the original Six Nations grant and in recent years ignored land claims filed by the reserve's government. The occupation of the site continues. When protesters agreed May 19 to begin removing the road barricades, said Van Every, they intended to dismantle them gradually "for safety reasons." But an apparently unauthorized press statement gave townspeople the impression that the blockades would come down immediately. When the Caledonians saw that some Native blockades remained on the morning of May 22, they formed a human blockade on the road toward town and refused to let Natives pass, and which mobbed the car with Native occupants. The Six Nations protesters quickly restored their barricade, using a toppled Hydro One electrical tower. During the daylong standoff, townspeople threw loaves of bread and packages of sliced cheese at the Native barricade, mocking the bread and cheese promised the reserve by Queen Victoria. Native protesters threw them back. During the day, the Caledonians' human blockade grew to about 300 people. After the Six Nations protesters dragged the Hydro One electrical tower across the road, they offered a truce, but the townspeople refused. At that point, one of the warriors began to trench the highway with the backhoe. Several groups of townspeople surged around the intervening line of Ontario Provincial Police toward the Native line. A series of brawls broke out and, according to the local press, makeshift weapons began to appear. But no major injuries were reported. Van Every said that she and her aunt heard reports of the fighting as they were shopping and hurried to the scene. "When we got back, the bulldozer was revving up," Van Every said. Although the protesters had made the initial cut in the road as a threat, they were now prepared to destroy it entirely. Van Every and Longboat knew from their Caledonian contacts that the town mob would have taken that act as the signal for an all-out assault. "If that happened, it would not be a good thing for us," Van Every said. "The only thing we could do was to go and stand in front of the backhoe," she said. "We told that person to turn off the backhoe and get down. It was kind of tense for a minute. Then he did." After stopping the backhoe, Longboat felt she had to do more to calm the occupiers, so she called for a chief or clan mother to address the crowd. An elderly woman came forward and spoke to the group in Mohawk. "She said good words," Longboat said. Longboat and Van Every then tried to locate Peterson, who at the time was trying to calm the Caledonians. They brought him across the police line to speak at the reclamation site. "He told people to stop and think about what they were doing." As tempers cooled, Peterson and the Six Nations leaders agreed to resume the negotiations. Meanwhile Peterson was confronting the townspeople, attempting to pass their blockade. They pushed him back, said the Toronto Sun newspaper, "all the while chanting expletive-filled orders to get out." Peterson later called the day "heartbreaking." "It was a lot of hard work, and a lot of blood, sweat and tears that went into fixing the situation," he told reporters. "That somehow or other fell apart." That night, however, he returned to negotiations with Six Nations leaders and the newly formed Caledonian Citizens Alliance, made up of local businessmen. They focused on the immediate question of removing the blockades. As calm returned, the roads reopened by the end of the afternoon on May 23. National leaders joined the call for calmer heads. National Chief Phil Fontaine of the Assembly of First Nations said in a statement, "The need for negotiation and reconciliation could not be more acute. We do not want to see any actions that will cause tensions to increase in the community." He urged the federal government to take a more active role in a situation exacerbated by jurisdictional confusion. "The federal government must show leadership to resolve this issue because any issues relating to First Nations lands are issues between First Nations and the federal government," he said. "The federal government must ensure that the discussions continue." Fontaine also called for action on the underlying problem of the land- claims process. "Under the current process, Canada acts as judge and jury in claims against itself," Fontaine said. "There are approximately 1,000 specific claims before Canada, 300 of which have been validated and must work their way through the claims process. Yet it takes on average 10 years to resolve a legitimate, specific claim. "This is much too long. Last week's report by the Auditor General of Canada noted that six comprehensive claims agreements have been concluded since 2001, and it has taken on average 29 years to finalize these claims. This is unacceptable," he said. "This is an agonizingly slow pace for First Nations, for whom land is central to our cultures and our economies. It creates frustration and anger on the ground and can erode trust." Copyright c. 1998 - 2006 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Apache Club restores wounded Spirits" --------- Date: Sun, 28 May 2006 12:17:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HEALING DANCE" http://www.wmicentral.com/newsid=16695798&BRD=2264&PAG=461 Apache Club restores wounded spirits By: Jo Baeza, The Independent May 26, 2006 CIBECUE - If you've never been to Cibecue, think of Sedona as it might have looked 100 years ago. Cibecue is an Apache community surrounded by high ridges of reddish sandstone. Cibecue Creek runs through town below the dome-shaped high school. On the banks of the creek are old cottonwoods and willow thickets. At the edge of town ancient cornfields are still plowed and planted and harvested every year. Kids ride horses and go fishing. Cibecue is a place of tradition. A place where children grow up speaking the Apache language. A "place where wisdom sits," as an Apache saying goes. But, in recent years that culture, language and tradition have been threatened. As it was in the legends, some of the people have been influenced by corrupt and evil powers. In 2006 evil can take the form of meth or cocaine, heroin or alcohol, child abuse, broken families and broken lives. In this world, it is not possible to insulate a community against evil from within or without. Lately, it has seemed as if the Gaan, the Mountain Spirits, abandoned the People, just as they had once before. Then something wonderful happened. They came back. To understand the importance of what is happening today, you must know a little of the legend of the Gaan. According to "The People Called Apache" by Thomas E. Mails, the Creator placed the Gaan, or Mountain Spirits, in the mountains to care for the land and all living things. Gradually, being human, the Apache people gave into corruption and crudeness and succumbed to evil powers. The Gaan were sent from their home to the People to teach them how to live in harmony - how to cure the sick, govern fairly, hunt, gather, plant, harvest, and how to punish those who failed to live the way the Creator intended. The next time the Apache people slipped into bad habits, the Gaan abandoned them. But, being benevolent spirits, they left pictures of themselves on rocks and in sacred caves. Then they returned to the place of serenity where they live. A few men were determined to restore harmony by impersonating the Gaan, going by the sacred pictures they found. They copied the masks, headdresses, skirts and moccasins and used them to perform dances and say prayers that had power to change people's hearts. Those dances are still being performed. When some of the children in Cibecue began to stray from tradition and get into trouble, wise counselors helped them form dance groups. If the Gaan saved the Apache people in the past, they could save them today. Hedy Kelewood, director of educational support services at Cibecue School, began to build up the Apache Club. The Apache Club now has approximately 30 members in elementary school, 18 in middle school, and 22 in high school. One of the students whose life was changed by his membership in the Apache Club was Joseph Tessay. He admits that he was headed in the wrong direction for a while. He dropped out of school last July and has had some setbacks, but is now working on his GED and is dancing. He said, "They tell me to be respectful and learn things about my tradition and keep up my prayers. The reason I stick with it is to keep up my grandpa's traditions. He was teaching me the way of the warrior before he died. He taught me to pray. He took me to the Holy Ground. He taught me how to look for wild medicine plants. His prayers are pretty strong. "He died in 1996. When he was alive, my family kept up their traditions. After he died everyone went their separate ways. Me, my dad and my uncle are the only ones who kept up my grandpa's traditions." Fernanda Enriquez, a tenth grader, is in Apache Club and participates in ceremonial dances. She said, "I like learning new stuff. I respect my elders more and my parents. The best part is going on trips." Her mother and brother made the beautiful white buckskin dress and moccasins she wears when she is dancing. Kelewood said she believes the reason the Apache Club performances are so powerful is that prayer is always a part of it. The kids who are members have black T-shirts with "Dischii Bikoh" written on them. It is the Apache word for Cibecue. They are proud of their club and of their community. Kelewood said, "They are learning Apache family values, respect for themselves and for others, especially the elders. They are learning to create. They participate in the making of their crowns and regalia." She said they learn new songs quickly. "Most of them learned by listening to music they've heard their entire life. Others learned when they joined the club. One of our goals is to produce a CD next year." They dance for different reasons, she said. Sometime it is for Sunrise ceremonies, sometimes for healing, or for protection. There are so many members, individually they don't get a chance to dance very often. They take turns. Their parents have to sign permission slips for each activity and for them to join the group. Parental participation is a big part of the club. Kelewood said, "It's a whole community activity. The kids look forward to this. They make friends. It establishes relationships. They don't feel alone or isolated. We've heard that some of the kids have refused to drink because they belonged to Apache Club. To be able to use that to save them makes me feel good. "This semester they've seen the challenges of some of their classmates. They've been there to support each other. They pray with them, talk to them, tell them not to give up. One kid was into drinking. Now he's getting his GED and is on a SWFF (Southwest Firefighters) crew." The club's most recent trip was to Las Cruces, N.M. to perform at the university during a cultural event. They were the only Apache group to perform. On the way back they sang for their Apache brothers and sisters at Mescalero. When they finished, an old Mescalero man stepped out of the casino at Inn of the Mountain Gods. With tears in his eyes he said, "It's been a long time since I've heard children singing those songs." Kelewood said, "Every place we go to has a meaning. We go back to our culture. Through our prayers and our singing with our kids we know somebody's being healed, being comforted." Copyright c. 2006 White Mountain Independent. --------- "RE: JODI RAVE: Express Tribal Identity at Graduation" --------- Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 08:31:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JODI RAVE: EAGLE FEATHERS AT GRADUATION" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2006/05/28/jodirave/rave21.txt Graduation is a time to celebrate your culture By JODI RAVE of the Missoulian May 28, 2006 My younger brother, Whitney Bell, made me proud the day he walked across the stage to receive his diploma for a master's degree in communication. He looked like he was 7 feet tall as he wore a beautiful, black-tipped eagle feather headdress. I remember the morning of his graduation. He rushed about, taking care of last-minute details. His to-do list included making a visit to the dean's office, because he was told he needed permission to wear his eagle feathers, traditional symbols of achievement. I said: Don't ask, just do it. But, understandably, he wanted this special day to be more predictable. So he went to see college administrators at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. "They didn't know anything about eagle feathers," he said. "They didn't know about my culture, or me." Luckily, there was an Indian Center in St. Cloud. School officials called there to get the lowdown on our Northern Plains tribes, the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara. They later called Whitney to say he could wear his headdress. I still remember all the foreign students who wanted my brother to pose for photographs with them. Was it because he was tall and handsome? Or were they in awe of our tribal traditions? We enjoyed that day. But across the country, Native students are battling school officials over the right to wear sacred eagle feathers, a revered cultural item for tribes all over the United States. In some cases, school officials have humiliated Native graduates. Last year, a high school student in Portland, Ore., had eagle plumes pulled from her head. And a student in Pocatello, Idaho, was removed from his high school procession because he wore an eagle feather. This year, high school students in Mesa, Ariz., prevailed. The school had banned wearing eagle feathers with caps and gowns at Westwood High School, where 225 Native students attend classes. Ryan Wilson, president of the National Indian Education Association, said many people in reservation communities can't believe Native students face these problems, which happen mainly in urban areas. But he tells them: "Trust me. It happens. It happens all over the place." A week ago, the Associated Press reported 50 students in New York "quietly protested outside their school Friday, upset with a decision to allow six seniors to wear their traditional Onondaga regalia to graduation next month." Graduation ceremonies shouldn't be a cultural battleground for Native students. But they are. More than 90 percent of some 600,000 Native students attend public school, where decision-makers often lack cultural knowledge. The problem becomes exacerbated, Wilson said, when Natives make up 1 percent of the U.S. population but are expected to educate the other 99 percent. Students don't have that kind of time, he said. The Indian Education Association president issued a statement encouraging students to wear their eagle plumes and feathers. And don't ask for permission, he said, "even if it's in defiance of ill-conceived school district policies." Express your tribal identity, he said, especially on a day that half their Native classmates won't enjoy because they dropped out. School officials like to argue that nothing can be worn to dishonor the cap and gown. But they fail to understand a sacred eagle feather brings honor to the person wearing it. Others around the feather benefit, too. At Wyoming Indian School in Ethete, Wyo., high school graduates don't even wear a cap and gown. Instead, every student wears traditional clothing and as many eagle feathers as they want. If the National Indian Education Association encourages students to carry wings or wear a headdress from the revered bald or golden eagle - even in defiance of the rules - then educational institutions ought to heed the message. Schools that fail to recognize tribal traditions reflect a cultural ignorance reminiscent of turn-of-the-century boarding schools. I'd say cultural arrogance, but it seems most people opposed to cultural integrity have none themselves. When I graduated from the University of Colorado, I wanted to carry an eagle fan. I didn't think I should have to ask anyone. There was some initial protest from school officials, but my mom and sister encouraged me to carry it anyway. So I did. The most memorable moment of my college graduation was when I walked across the stage. My friends and family sat in the building where I attended journalism classes. I heard my Aunt Alyce "lulu," meaning she rattled a woman's cry of honor for me. I felt so proud. My chin trembled. I held back tears. I left the stage with a college diploma in one hand and an eagle fan in the other. --- Jodi Rave covers Native issues for the Missoulian and other Lee Enterprises newspapers. She can be reached at jodi.rave@lee.net or (800) 366-7186, ext. 299 Copyright c. 2006 Missoulian, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: GIAGO: Building a Business on shifting Sands" --------- Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 08:31:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GIAGO: GAMBLING ON GAMBLING" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7880 Notes from Indian Country Building a business on shifting sands Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji) Copyright c. 2006 Native American Journalists Foundation, Inc. May 29, 2006 There are those reading my weekly columns that assume I am anti-gambling and that is true to a certain extent. I find it appalling that so many Native Americans are losing money they can ill afford to lose in the casinos built on their reservations intended to improve economic opportunities for all members of the tribe. If a tribal member is employed at the casino and is addicted to gambling that employee will inevitably put every paycheck back into the coffers of the casino. That may improve the bottom line of the casino but it is hardly beneficial to those employees. It is also disturbing to me when tribal members that have lived in peace and harmony, side-by-side for generations, suddenly find themselves at odds over tribal membership. In some areas of California tribal members thought to be questionable by their elected governments are simply removed from the tribal rolls. In a recent case involving the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians of California that went all of the way to the U. S. Supreme Court, those members expelled from the tribe appear to have permanently lost their status as tribal members. The Supreme Court merely went with a lower court ruling that upheld the tribal government's actions. I believe that none of this would have happened if it had not been for the success of the tribe's casino. The smaller the tribe the larger the per capita checks awarded each month. I don't know if this was the case with the Pechanga Band, but there must have been some mitigating circumstances that caused them to remove certain tribal members from their rolls. Before it ever reached financial independence the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of eastern South Dakota began awarding per capita payments to tribal members. Soon the warehouse that distributed United States Department of Agriculture commodities was closed because tribal members no longer needed it. And the tribe began to hire more and more non-Indians to fill the job vacancies at their casino. But whenever the tribe wants to improve its economic base by bringing other business ventures to the reservation it still goes to its cousin- tribe, the Shakopee in Minnesota, a very wealthy tribe, to plead for monetary grants. The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe is located between two communities that can be considered large by South Dakota standards. To the south is Sioux Falls, the fastest growing city in the state, and to the north is Brookings, the seat of South Dakota State University. During the summer and fall months the casino is packed with gamblers. And yet the tribe appears to be on shaky financial grounds most of the time. Are the ill- conceived per capita payments standing in the way of progress or is there a case of poor management involved or both? The FSST is now negotiating with South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds in hopes of rewriting the gaming compact to allow for more slot machines. This has been an ongoing process that has dragged on for several years. They were one of the first tribes in South Dakota to sign a gambling compact with the state and readily accepted the limit of 250 slot machines at that time. Unfortunately, in their haste, the compact they signed set the standard for the compacts about to be negotiated by all of the other tribes in the state and although the Santee Sioux Tribe is very small, the 250 limit on slot machines was applied, not so judiciously, to all of the other tribes in the state. The much larger tribes such as the Oglala Lakota with more than 25,000 members living on the Pine Ridge Reservation are still limited to the 250 slot machines. The FSST moved forward with its compact without consulting the leadership or considering the vital interests of the other tribes in the state. The compact they came up with is hardly equitable, but once a precedent is set, it is hard to amend it. We can only hope that in their latest negotiations with the state they are now consulting with the other larger tribes in the state. No tribe is an island. I believe that per capita payments to every tribal member can also set a dangerous trend. For one, if the tribe is not financially secure yet, it will never reach that point if it starts disbursing funds to every tribal member whether they work or not. In too many cases those tribal members with full time jobs think they no longer have to work once that monthly check starts to arrive. Tribes that put all of their eggs in one basket are facing an uncertain future at best. In my mind a profitable casino is still a business built on shifting sands. Every tribe should be looking at alternative business ventures outside of gambling. If the plug were pulled on legalized gambling the tribes would then have something to fall back on. For the most part legalized gambling has carried mixed blessings for the Indian nations of America. It has given some tribal governments financial independence. It has allowed the Indian nations to become more involved in the political process and has made them a powerful lobby, but not always with great success (reads Jack Abramoff). But gambling will always be a shaky enterprise based on the whims of the gamblers and the state of the economy. So you see, I can never be 100 percent pro-gaming because it is adrift with too many uncertainties and it often brings out the worst in people and tribes. Money plus greed can play strange tricks on the minds of the once downtrodden. --- 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. --------- "Police Brutality in Atenco is being Covered Up" --------- Date: Sunday, June 04, 2006 12:07 am From: Chiapas95-english Subj: The Police Brutality in Atenco is being Covered Up,Jun 03 Mailing List: Chiapas95-En < chiapas95-english@eco.utexas.edu> This message is forwarded to you by the editors of the Chiapas95 newslists. To contact the editors or to submit material for posting send to: . Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2006 23:26:55 +0200 From: "Dana" To: Subj: NN,A Month Later, the Police Brutality in Atenco is Covered Up In Mexico, a Month Later, the Police Brutality in Atenco is Covered Up with Newer Violations of Human Rights Political Prisoners, Many Still Gravely Wounded, Are Held Incommunicado and without Access to Doctors, Family Members or Human Rights Investigators By Al Giordano The Other Journalism with the Other Campaign in Mexico June 3, 2006 Imagine Mexican President Vicente Fox, on the telephone with his foreign political consultants, seeking advice on how to do "damage control" on the public relations disaster that began a month ago in the towns of Texcoco and Atenco and just keeps growing. "Hey, Dick Morris, when I went to Los Angeles and Seattle they accused me of being a rapist." Or, "hey, Rob Allyn, I went to Chiapas and an angry multitude surrounded the restaurant and ruined my lunch with the governor." This is a man so eager to change the subject from Atenco that, on his way home from California last month, he mistakenly claimed to reporters on his airplane that a vote in the U.S. Senate on a dubious immigration reform bill meant passage of a law and a victory for his administration. even though the measure still had to go to the House of Representatives - where its chances are nil - and where it languishes still. When he realized his error he bolted from the press cabin, scowling, and cut short the press conference. Fox clearly isn't bothered by the human side of the problem on the Mexican side of the border: the illegal arrests, warrantless searches, savage beatings, sexual tortures and rapes that federal and state police inflicted on May 3 and 4. (Is it any wonder that so many Mexicans - living under a government like this one - head North?) For Fox and his gang it is a political problem: All that firepower and muscle sent to round up the dissidents and still the State failed to silence those who dared to say that Mexico is governed by an illegitimate authoritarian regime. Day after day, every new fact that emerges proves that Fox and others who say Mexico has transitioned to "democracy" with "human rights" are lying cynically from the same script that defined the seventy years prior of one-party rule. A politician, at a time like this, asks his consultants how to spin the story. And the advice is always the same: try to change the subject, and if there is bad news, hush it up. Here are some examples of what Fox would consider "bad news" from a PR perspective, and what his government has done to hide it, even though doing so has brought, again and again, for thirty days and thirty nights, more "bad news" both for the victims and the victimizers. Arnulfo Pacheco Cervantes: Paraplegic in Prison Hermann Bellinghausen reports in La Jornada: >>Arnulfo Pacheco Cervantes is, almost one month after the police raid against the population of San Salvador Atenco, the living proof that human rights don't matter to the authorities. Beaten brutally (five broken ribs, and large sores all over his body), he is in the Santiaguito prison accused of "felony" crimes: "kidnapping" and "attacking public roads." The most notable fact is that Pacheco Cervantes, beyond his old age, has been half-paralyzed since prior to his arrest, and he can barely talk. A person in his condition can't even cross the street, much less "attack" it. With the goal of apprehending this dangerous subject, the state police raided his home in Atenco on May 4, and dragged him from the bed where he was laying, while they battered him and dragged him across the floor to the bus where they threw him like a sack and brought him here to the prison. His wife, Floira Sa'nchez Valdez, who tried to explain to the agents the clinical condition of her husband, was also beaten and arrested. Today, don Arnulfo is behind bars without medical attention, with three broken ribs on the right and two broken ribs on the left; with traumatic wounds on his head, pharynx and pelvis, and he can't talk. He needs urgent hospitalization. After one month in these conditions, the prison authorities have offered him only paracetamol pills. Nothing more. And they don't allow a doctor from outside of the prison to see him, much less attend to him.<< So why - against all human decency - isn't this wounded, disabled man in a hospital? Why hasn't he been released, since clearly a paraplegic can't be guilty of a highway attack? The answer is simple. It follows the logic of political consultants: If he were to be seen, wounds and all, by the public, in the media, the image would generate even more justifiable outrage. And so he is kept as a hostage behind bars, to hide the evidence of the crime that the State has committed against him. Nevertheless, kind reader, thanks to our colleagues over at Ce-actl and the Indigenous National Congress (Arnulfo is an indigenous man, too), we are able to show you this poster with the photograph that Vicente Fox and the other tyrants don't want you to see. Click on it for a bigger version. Print it out. Copy it. This is the Mexico that those above are trying to hide, even if it means continuing to harm this man another day, then another, then another. for thirty days so far. How many more? Magdalena Garci'a Dura'n: Fox Tried to Buy Her On the morning of May 4, Magdalena Garci'a Dura'n was selling vegetables in the street. According to La Jornada correspondent Israel Davila, a pick-up truck came by, swept her up, and dumped her in the pile of bodies on a police bus to take her to prison. She's the one in the accompanying photo, in the violet skirt that is traditional for Mazahua indigenous women like Magdalena. Yes, that's her, the limp body that the cop is standing on top of, as the officer of the law kicks her between the legs. Garci'a Dura'n, though, is not just any prisoner. She is an articulate social fighter and very active adherent to the Zapatista Other Campaign. On April 29 she went to the National Workers' Gathering in Mexico City and proposed that, at the then upcoming May Day workers' rally, that someone from the sector of indigenous workers be given the microphone. The assembly decided to invite her to give that speech. On May 1, in front of the National Palace, Garci'a told tens of thousands: "If they are going to kill us with hunger, better we die for something worthwhile." Three days later, on May 4, they dragged Garci'a, 48, off to jail. She was selling vegetables. They charged her with felony kidnapping and attacking a highway. She later described what happened to her upon arrest to human rights investigators at the Comite Cerezo: >>On arriving at the van the first thing that the riot police did was to pull hard on the chains, spin me around and force me down, bending my head and covering it with an overcoat while the other riot police kicked me. We walked a great distance. We arrived at a small pick-up truck and they threw me like sack on top of the others that came, I did not fall well, so they punched me, I felt as if I was drowning because they were throwing more and more people on top of us and they were very heavy. The van was delayed there for quite a while later it started towards a truck, on arriving at the truck again I was forced with my head down to climb into the truck. They shouted at me, insulted me, hurried me, wanted me to walk on top of the people that were already piled up but as I could not do it, two riot police hauled me by my plaits, began to ask my age and insulted me telling me that I was such a "horrible old woman to walk in this chaos" that they were going to kill me like dog and they threatened to cut off my head. They repeated that threat many times. They dragged me by my hair over all the people to carry me to the rear door of the truck. I realized that there were many people injured and bleeding. It was terrible. I was asking that they remove the people on top because they felt that they were going to die. Then when we arrived at the prison they put me down with my head bowed, because the media were present and they did not want them to see the faces. On entering the prison they began to question me, they took my cell-phone off me and they threw it in the trash.<< That testimony was taken on May 15, 11 days after her arrest. The first time Magdalena was heard from after she was essentially kidnapped by the State was six days afterwards, on May 10 - Mother's Day in Mexico - when she was brought to her arraignment along with other political prisoners, crowded together in a caged holding pen. Through a mesh fence and a hole in a fiberglass window she spoke to reporters, including a correspondent for Prensa India, who shared with us his videotape of the moment. Garci'a Dura'n explained: "I am a Mazahua woman who has truly felt years of a life of extreme poverty, as a street vendor. And right now since I don't have any money to pay and I have nothing to defend myself against an accusation of a crime I didn't commit. I have to sell my mule named Filemo'n to be able to save myself from the damn government. I don't like it that they repress us this way. First they beat us and now they frame us." Magdalena's arrest has caused a particularly difficult public relations problem for the Fox government. She's a recognized indigenous leader. Others from her Mazahua ethnic group immediately set up an encampment outside the prison and began, 29 days ago, a hunger strike for her release. The problem for the government is that once she does win release, she is somebody with an organization, a high public profile, and a way of talking and connecting with the people who will be able to tell the true story of what happened - the beatings, the sexual tortures, the rapes - with a coherency that will further demonstrate, far and wide, that the Mexican state is authoritarian and illegitimate. So, what did Vicente Fox try to do about this problem? He tried to buy Magdalena Garci'a. So worried was he about the inevitable moment when Magdalena leaves prison and begins to tell her story as only she can tell it, Fox dispatched no less than a member of his presidential cabinet, Indigenous Affairs Secretary Xochitl Ga'lvez on a secret mission to the prison. Ga'lvez, to avoid being seen by the press, slipped into the penitentiary at 10 p.m. on a Saturday night (not exactly "visiting hours," but, in any case, these political prisoners aren't allowed visits from immediate family or doctors, just from, apparently, federal cabinet secretaries), May 19, to speak with political prisoner Magdalena Garci'a. According to La Jornada, Ga'lvez offered to provide her with a lawyer for her defense. "Magdalena told her 'no,' that she didn't believe that the Fox government was acting in good faith in offering her a hand after arbitrarily arresting her and beating her unconscious. 'I already have someone to defend me. I don't need you.'" In the end, a mule named Filemo'n proved more helpful to Garci'a's struggle than federal department head Xochitl Ga'lvez and her attempt to co-opt a political prisoner with an offered bribe of a legal defense. Ga'lvez thus made herself accomplice to the ongoing crime. After all, a mule is a worker, but the Fox cabinet secretary is just an ass. In any case, our compa~eros over at Ce-actl and the Indigenous National Congress, who made the poster with the photo of the brutalized paraplegic Arnulfo Pacheco, also made one of the dignified face of Magdalena Garci'a Dura'n, that appears alongside this text. One more, click the graphic for a larger version, print it, copy it, distribute it widely for the compa~ era who holds the keys to her own cell - if she would just sell her soul to Vicente Fox's human rights violating cabinet secretary - but who, when confronted with two paths out of prison, chose the one below and to the left. A Deeper Tomb for Nacho and "the Leaders" Most of the 217 people arrested on May 3 and 4 were brought to a state prison known as Santiaguito, where, despite all the best efforts by authorities to keep them silenced and incommunicado, and to keep them under lock and key until their visible wounds (and the gynecological and proctologic evidence of rape) disappeared, the undertow of real facts has already led to 17 being freed due to total lack of evidence and another 172 released on $1,400 dollar bond while awaiting non-felony charges (mainly "attack on public roads" which, supposedly, these folks did from inside of the family homes where they were arrested.) Of the remaining 28 political prisoners still behind bars, three were taken farther away from public view, to the federal maximum security prison known as La Palma, the three that the State considers leaders: Ignacio del Valle (we know him as Nacho, a brilliant compa~ero who can be seen as he really is, and not how the mass media tries to portray him, in the Other Journalism video newsreel "We Are All Atenco"), Felipe Alvarez and He'ctor Gallindo. You can see from the accompanying photo how the police treated Nacho when they arrested him, May 3, in Texcoco. Not a single family member, doctor nor human rights investigator has been allowed to visit either of these three compa~eros in La Palma. On June 1, representatives of the European Association of Democratic Attorneys and the International Civil Commission of Human Rights Observation tried to visit the men. They were denied entrance. The judicial proceedings (arraignment, discovery hearings, etcetera) regarding the charges against these men have been held in a Star Chamber; behind closed doors with no press access. "Mexican law and international treaties insist that such hearings must be public," Spanish attorney Jaime Azens told La Jornada. "But as we have observed, these are secret trials and that represents a serious violation." Last Saturday, according to the same report, Jose' Alvarez, brother of the political prisoner Felipe, went to the federal prison with all the paperwork required to visit his immediate family member. The authorities' excuse to deny him entry: He had a hole in one of his socks. What's more: the Mexican Armed Forces have set up a roadblock on the road to La Palma, stopping and searching any and all who try to visit or draw near. So while Vicente Fox and his functionaries claim to be investigating the police abuses of human rights, federal fingerprints can be found on the fear campaign to keep anyone from seeing or visiting these men. At the gates of the prison: a riot squad of the Federal Preventative Police, outnumbering any small group of people that tries to find out what is happening there with these prisoners. A report was broadcast tonight among alternative media organizations: two more political prisoners from Atenco - Arturo Sa'nchez Romero and Mari'a Patricia Romero Hernandez - are scheduled to be transferred to the federal lock-up at La Palma late tonight. None of this is normal, even by Mexican authoritarian standards. As Hermann Bellinghausen observed on Thursday: This reporter witnessed yesterday the transfer of 'six dangerous kidnappers ' from Santiago prison to another prison. Each one was brought in a different patrol car (good cars, in any case), guarded by four agents. Their clothes were impeccably clean. They were recently bathed. They even smiled. A dangerous gang, say the Judicial Police. While handcuffing one of them, the agent asked gently, "is it too tight?" No, it wasn't too tight, was the response. And they brought them in a small convoy towards Toluca." In a land where kidnappers, narcos, corrupt politicians, and other prisoners receive, generally, a kind of elite treatment while imprisoned, something very different and haunting is happening to Nacho del Valle, to Hector Galindo, to Felipe Alvarez and, tonight, apparently, to Arturo Sa'nchez and to Maria Patricia Romero. A month after their arrests they are hidden from public view, from access to doctors, to human rights observers, denied visits by family members. So, what is really happening to these political prisoners? To understand what the Mexican State of Vicente Fox is doing to these men - and soon to be one woman - one needs to understand: La Palma is the new Lecumberri. And what was Lecumberri? It was known as the Black Palace. From 1900 to 1976, political prisoners were brought to the Black Palace in Mexico City to be tortured by every technique known to Pentagon manuals; electric shocks, drowning, rape, sexual torture, torture of one inmate in front of another. Read the Wikipedia entry on Lecumberri: "Throughout its 76-year tenure as a prison, only two people ever escaped alive. The first, Pancho Villa, was a general of the Mexican Revolution. The second was Dwight Worker, an American convicted of smuggling cocaine. With the aid of his then-wife, Worker escaped on December 17th, 1975 disguised as a woman. They later authored a book about their experiences entitled Escape (ISBN 0-913374-76-8)." "They'd wrap me in cloth like a mummy, tie me to a plank and dunk me in a tub of water until I'd almost drown," said one former inmate of Lecumberri. In another case: ".an unidentified woman is reported describing how six secret police officers kidnapped her husband, raped her, forced her to watch as they inflicted electric shocks on her 14-month-old daughter and taunted her, saying: 'You'll beg us to kill you.'" Now that the Mexican government of Vicente Fox, guided by U.S. political consultants Dick Morris and Rob Allyn, has opted to return to the violent tactics of the 1960s and 1970s in this country, is it a stretch to consider the possibility - no, probability - that the same torture tactics are being deployed today against Nacho del Valle and the other compa~eros in Atenco? The burden of proof is on the State. Until Nacho, Arnulfo, Magdalena and the others walk freely in the open air and can speak of their stories, presume the worst. But one thing is for certain: If not for the Other Campaign, and the noise that is being made nationally and internationally for their freedom, these friends and neighbors would already be disappeared, never to be heard from again. And that still might happen, if good people do nothing in this time of moral crisis. -- To subscribe to this list send a message containing the words subscribe chiapas95 (or chiapas95-lite, or chiapas95-english, or chiapas95-espanol) to majordomo@eco.utexas.edu. Previous messages are available from http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/chiapas95.html or gopher to Texas, University of Texas at Austin, Department of Economics, Mailing Lists. --------- "RE: Tories charged with Blackmail in Fishing Deal" --------- Date: Wednesday, May 31, 2006 07:30 pm From: frostyca2000 Subj: Tories charged with blackmail in aboriginal fishing deal Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian Tories charged with blackmail in aboriginal fishing deal Peter O'Neil CanWest News Service; Vancouver Sun May 30, 2006 OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government was accused Monday of using blackmail in its bid to strike a historic deal to end the bitter and at times violent 14-year battle on B.C.'s salmon-rich Fraser River between commercial fishing interests and aboriginal Canadians. The Commercial Salmon Advisory Board, which represents B.C. non- native fishing interests, is negotiating a draft memorandum of understanding with a group of Fraser River aboriginal groups that would support in writing a separate native commercial fishery this summer, CSAB negotiator Rob Morley confirmed in an interview. Negotiations on the proposed agreement comes after years of legal and illegal protests, court battles, and inflammatory political fights since the Brian Mulroney's Conservative government initiated in 1992 a "pilot" program to run separate commercial fisheries for First Nations. B.C. Fisheries Survival Coalition head Phil Eidsvik alleged Monday that the industry is "unconditionally surrendering" on the issue of "racial segregation," and wrote to Harper alleging the government is engaged in "blackmail" by offering the fleet a larger quota if it strikes a deal to accept native-only commercial fishing agreements. His protest got the support of Tory MP John Cummins. "It is nothing more than blackmail," Cummins said. "I think it makes the government look bad, and the department. It's an unseemly use of power." Cummins said the industry representatives are "out on a limb" in negotiating the deal, and predicted it will collapse due to lack of support. Eidsvik, a failed Tory candidate in the 2006 election, said the industry has been told the harvest rate for Fraser River sockeye headed to Cultus Lake a popular recreational area between Chilliwack, B.C., and Abbotsford, B.C., will rise by about 50 per cent if they agree to a deal with the natives. That would ultimately generate up to $100 million in additional earnings this summer for a fleet that has made little money for more than a decade, he estimated. A spokesman for Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn, who wasn't available for comment, rejected Eidsvik's charge. "This Minister has always been a strong supporter of fair access and allocations, and would certainly never instruct staff to behave in the manner to which you're referring," said Steve Outhouse. The draft agreement is being negotiated between the CSAB and four aboriginal groups: the Sto:lo Tribal Council, the Sto:lo Nation Society, the Chehalis Indian Band and the Katzie First Nation. Chief Doug Kelly of the Sto:lo Tribal Council said ending the feud to improve habitat at Cultus Lake and to agree on harvests serves the interests of both sides. "It'll be a mess again this year unless we figure out a way of working together, and I think that's what brought the parties together was the crisis of last year." Vancouver Sun Eds: Sto:lo is correct. Copyright c. CanWest News Service 2006. --------- "RE: Tories put brakes on Native spending" --------- Date: Monday, June 05, 2006 03:34 pm From: frostyca2000 Subj: Indian Affairs minister feeling heat as Tories put brakes on native spending Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/01062006/2/national-indian-affairs- minister-feeling-heat-tories-brakes-native-spending.html Indian Affairs minister feeling heat as Tories put brakes on native spending By Sue Bailey Thu Jun 01, 05:43 PM EST OTTAWA (CP) - The desolate Kashechewan First Nation has become a flashpoint for growing frustration over Tory aboriginal policy. That anger boiled over outside the Commons on Thursday as Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice turned his back on a confrontation with leaders representing the tiny James Bay community. It started in the daily question period when New Democrat MP Charlie Angus, whose riding includes Kashechewan, challenged Prentice to recognize a Liberal-signed deal to rebuild what he called the flood- prone "rat hole" on higher ground. Prentice refused. Instead, he countered over howls from the opposition that the Liberals never budgeted millions of dollars needed for the relocation. Former Indian Affairs Minister Andy Scott signed an agreement last October pledging 50 new houses a year for 10 years. "It is shameful that the previous Liberal government would have resorted to misleading the people of Kashechewan with empty promises and with no money set aside in the budget," Prentice said Thursday in the Commons. "It is a situation we will deal with." Angus says the minister's staff told him that it will be at least three years before a new site is selected. Moreover, funding expected this summer to repair existing homes and to study potential sites has been cancelled, he said. Kashechewan Chief Leo Friday says he's worried that any delay will provoke residents, especially young people, to acts of civil disobedience. "This government is trying to send my people back to that same shit hole that we've been out of for the last months," Friday said moments after Prentice refused to debate the matter in front of reporters and walked away. "What are we going to do?" Despite Prentice's claims that money was never budgeted, Friday says about $9 million had arrived in the community since the rebuilding deal was signed last fall. It was used to repair several homes, some of which were redamaged in the most recent flood. The Cree community was moved against its will by Ottawa to the low- lying land in 1957. More than 1,400 residents were evacuated for the third time in two years last month. They are now scattered among temporary homes in several northern Ontario cities and towns. Spring flooding caused sewage backups in buildings, tainted drinking water and shut down hydro. This, after photos of Kashechewan toddlers riddled with skin infections blamed on dirty water made international headlines last fall. Angus says he and Kashechewan leaders worked for months with the Conservatives trying to iron out details of a new plan. "If we could (tell) the community, 'Yes, the minister needs more time but recognizes the (Liberal) agreement,' we'd be more than willing to go back and tell the people to be patient," Angus said. "He has had ample opportunity to find the money and come up with a plan. He has done nothing." Prentice insisted he is willing to continue talks with Kashechewan leaders. "We have to patch that together, make it workable and livable and accelerate it as we can," he said when asked what residents are supposed to do in the meantime. "Clearly, we have to move forward with a permanent solution." Aboriginal issues may not be one of the Tory government's stated five priorities, but they've quickly become a political headache. Prentice has taken heat since the maiden Conservative budget gutted a $5.1-billion plan signed by the former Liberal government, native leaders and all premiers to raise aboriginal living standards over 10 years. The Tory budget commits just $150 million this year and $300 million next year for such goals. Another $600 million was earmarked for housing and aboriginal programs in the territories - but only if surplus federal funds, to be finalized in the coming months, exceed $2 billion. Copyright c. 2006 Yahoo! Canada Co. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Caledonia problem didn't arise overnight" --------- Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 08:31:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CALEDONIA BACKGROUND" http://www.firstperspective.ca/fp_template.php?path=20060525caledonia Caledonia problem didn't arise overnight by FP/Drum Staff May 28, 2006 One of the myths that characterize news coverage of the Caledonia dispute is that the developer is a victim - that the firm ended up inadvertently getting caught up in a centuries - old land dispute that was drudged up recently.In fact, representatives of the Six Nation Mohawks who have blockaded the site say there has been an ongoing effort for many years to raise the issue and the developer chose to disregard warnings and walked into the situation with eyes wide open. "It is not like this situation just came about all of a sudden," says Hazel Hill, who added that there had been an ongoing effort for at least 20 years to alert townships and other affected parties about the land dispute. In addition, attempts at notification were made last fall. "It is not like it just came up over night." Media coverage consistently mentions that dispute dates back about 200 years but usually ignores efforts made by Mohawks in recent decades, years and months. Hill, who has been involved with the land dispute for two decades, says that townships and others have been made aware of the dispute and added than none of people claiming to be landowners along a swath of the Grand River can provide legitimate proof of land ownership. In 1992 the developer of Douglas Creek Estates, Henco Industries Ltd., acquired a company whose holdings included the land it now wants to develop. The subidivision was registered for development in 2005. In 1995 Six Nations initiated a legal case invlving the property. The Mohawks contend that land along the Grand River never was surrendered. Colleen Thomas is a Cree activist from Prince Albert, Sask. concurred with Hill's assessment, but added that media coverage has contributed to other misperceptions as well. Earlier this spring a group of non-Aboriginal protesters damaged two police cars and got into a scuffle with police. Yet, only one person was arrested and photographs of this side of the dispute didn't get front- page-type coverage, as might have expected. Thomas lived in Ottawa for 12 years prior to moving back to Saskatchewan a few years ago. She said the levels of racism and ignorance toward Aboriginal people is as strong there as in Saskatchewan, but usually it is more buried. In Ottawa, for instance, native people are not one of the largest minorities. "It is more vocalized in Saskatchewan," she said. Ottawa is a polite community, but in Ontario racism surfaces strongly when there is an issue said Thomas, who added that she was involved in a dispute involving a First Nation that was without a land base but needed one. Copyright c. 2006 First perspective. --------- "RE: New faceoff in Caledonia as flashes light up sky" --------- Date: Monday, June 05, 2006 03:36 pm From: frostyca2000 Subj: New faceoff in Caledonia as flashes light up sky Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian New faceoff in Caledonia as flashes light up sky By Dana Borcea The Hamilton Spectator June 5, 2006 The fragile peace in Caledonia was shattered last night with events apparently being sparked by an OPP cruiser taking a wrong turn. Hundreds of native protesters and Caledonia residents faced off again at the site of the Argyle Street barricade taken down about two weeks ago. The street was again blocked off by human barricades. Caledonia residents raced from their homes to the site after word spread through town that trouble was brewing at the spot of the former checkpoint removed by natives as a goodwill gesture in the negotiations following the land claim dispute at the Douglas Creek Estates. A provincial police officer addressed the growing crowd to disperse to avoid further escalation. Several hundred natives were already positioned on Argyle Street a few hundred metres away. The gathered residents said the OPP officer told the crowd that two officers -- new to the area -- had turned onto Six Line, an area police had agreed not to enter during this occupation. The police cruiser was quickly surrounded by a group of natives. The OPP officer who urged the crowd to leave had to shout to be heard over the yells of protest from the Caledonia residents who shouted things like: "Let them go first, it is their turn to go." Jeff Hoppe, a Caledonia resident, yelled to the crowd that they should disperse. Later he said: "At the end of the day, somebody has to go home. If we try to outwait them, we are going to lose." Native spokesperson Janie Jameson confirmed that a police cruiser had entered a no-go area. Around midnight two flashes lit up the night sky. There were unconfirmed reports that the flash was due to a car fire near a transformer station. A second flash was attributed to a barn fire on Highway 6 at Fifth Line. Last reports said that Argyle Street was re-opened around 12:30 a.m. Copyright c. Hamilton Spectator 2006. --------- "RE: Grassy Narrows - the other Native Blockade" --------- Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 08:31:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GRASSY NARROWS" http://www.firstperspective.ca/fp_template.php?path=20060526grassy Grassy Narrows - the other Native blockade by Lyndenn Behm May 28, 2006 Back from Seattle, where Grassy Narrow's message shone from some of the city's most prominent buildings, Bonnie Swain is back in her First Nation, enthusiastically supporting the activist approach to fighting injustice. The use of projection devices impressed Swain, who along with two other young adults from Grassy Narrows, was in Seattle in April for the annual meeting of timber giant Weyerhaeuser. At night the projectors were placed on public property adjacent to large buildings, including the headquarters of Weyerhaeuser's real estate division, and slides depicting the anti-Weyerhaeuser message were illuminated, covering spaces more than two stories high. "I have never seen that around here (in Canada)," Swain says. "They did it every night. We were there five nights." California-based Rainforest Action Network, which is helping Grassy Narrows protestors in their battle with multi-national timbering corporations, is looking at introducing this strategy to Canada this summer. In December 2002 Swain and her younger sister Chrissy set up a blockade to stop logging trucks from harvesting timber from the area around the Grassy Narrows First Nation in western Ontario. The protestors have since gotten support from Rainforest Action Network, which this spring used shareholders to have Chrissy nominated for election to the Weyerhaeuser board of directors at the corporation's annual meeting in Seattle April 20. She wasn't elected - supporters in the environmental organization knew she wouldn't get onto the board - but she got to address the meeting. Swain, who read a letter written by Chrissy, said the audience was quiet and some people appeared shocked by their company's involvement, which includes buying timber from Abitibi, which is harvesting in Grassy Narrows traditional use area. "They just sat there. They were stunned to hear the truth about how they were affecting us." In addition to addressing the meeting and having the Rainforest Network shine messages on the sides of buildings located in high traffic area, banners were placed in front of homes built with Weyerhaeuser materials. Other people, including the trio from Grassy Narrows, handed out pamphlets to motorists. All of this activity ended up catching the attention of the print and television media in Seattle. She was accompanied to Seattle by two other young adults from Grassy Narrows, Joscelyn Pelly and Vince Loon. In June, Grassy Narrows will be stepping up the fight with a summer youth gathering, which will include workshops and a pow-wow. Details are still being developed but events will be from June 13 to 18, Swain says. Rainforest Action, says it will be sending people to the youth gathering, where seasoned activists will work with youth and young adults from both Grassy Narrows and other communities and First Nations. The work will benefit both Grassy Narrows and other areas where people choose to take an activist approach. They will learn "a whole range of skills" that are useful when staging activist campaigns, says David Sone, old growth organizer with the organization. Rainforest Action will also be sending a team of interns to Grassy Narrows July 10-16 for a week of activities that will include support for the blockade and building cabins for trappers who want to earn a traditional livelihood from their territories. Up to 100 people from across North America could be at Grassy Narrows during the week, Sone said. Sone also said the use of projectors might be introduced to Canada as a strategy. Potential locations include Toronto and Winnipeg. Several departments within Winnipeg Police and City Hall were contacted, but none were able to say whether such tactics would be legal in Winnipeg. Officials said that to their knowledge, nobody had ever used a projector to project a sign on to a building where permission hadn't been given by the owner. Brianna Cayo Cotter of Rainforest Action Network's California office said the strategy was legal in Seattle so long as the projectors were placed in a legal parking area and she said she couldn't see why this wouldn't be legal in Canadian cities as well. Since Bonnie and her sister Chrissy began the blockade in December 2002, the blockade has gathered international attention as media outlets, environmental and Aboriginal rights organizations, and websites, took interest. The group Friends of Grassy Narrows has been formed and supporters of the blockade have paid for speaking tours by Bonnie, Chrissy and other blockaders. In March, Rainforest Action announced that they had sent letters to the chief executives of Weyerhaeuser and Abitibi Consolidated telling them to "immediately desist from all logging and industrial resource extraction" on Grassy Narrows traditional land or face "a fierce international campaign." Abitibi logs the area near Grassy Narrows but Weyerhaeuser is the major customer. Both companies operate mills in western Ontario, although during the past year Abitibi has closed two milling operations in Kenora. Both companies are major players in the industry, with Abitibi having annual sales listed as more than $3 billion on one website. Weyerhaeuser, which has 54,000 employees in 19 countries, has more than $22 billion in sales. Grassy Narrows, in contrast, has about 1,200 members, a third of whom live outside of First Nation boundaries. Copyright c. 2006 First perspective. --------- "RE: Appeals Court rules in Indian probate dispute" --------- Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 08:31:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CONFEDERATED COLVILLE PROBATE" http://www.indianz.com/News/2006/014209.asp Appeals court rules in Indian probate dispute May 30, 2006 The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling last week in the case of an Indian probate that has been in dispute for nearly six years. Matilda Covington, a deceased member of the Confederated Colville Tribes of Washington, left all of her allotments to her great-grandson, a minor. Two of her grandchildren subsequently challenged the will before the Interior Department. An issue arose when the probate was before the Office of Hearings and Appeals. An administrative law judge ordered the disclosure of notes made by Covington shortly before she changed her will. The will had been prepared with the help of the Colville Tribal Legal Services. The director of CTLS, James Edmonds, went to court to prevent the release of the notes, citing privileged attorney-client communications, confidential and protected work product. A federal judge sided with Edmonds but attorneys for DOI appealed. They argued that OHA judges can seek evidence that might not otherwise be admitted. The 9th Circuit disagreed with Interior and said federal regulations require probate cases to be decided based on the laws of the state where the land is located. Washington, the court said, bars the release of privileged information such as Covington's notes. One judge wrote separately to state that he agreed with the analysis of Interior's regulations. But he said the issue of privileged information should be decided by the Washington state courts. Copyright c. 2000-2006 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Utah challenges Court Decision on Jurisdiction" --------- Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 08:31:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="UTAH CHALLENGES REZ GAME LAWS" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0%2C1249%2C635211430%2C00.html No Utah open season But DWR wants guidance on reservation game laws By Lezlee E. Whiting For the Deseret Morning News May 30, 2006 VERNAL - Just who is to enforce the law on 2 million acres that checkerboard eastern Utah's Uintah, Duchesene and Wasatch counties is under review - but that doesn't mean the vast territory is a lawless zone open to hunters who want to roam the hills without a license. Lt. Torrey Christophersen of the Division of Wildlife Resources says word is spreading erroneously that the area in the Book Cliffs and other exterior boundary lands of the Ute Reservation are void of any rule of law when it comes to hunting and fishing due to a ruling in recent hunting case. "It's not going to be a no-man's land in the law enforcement arena," said Christophersen, DWR northeastern region law enforcement manager. "We are getting several calls from some people saying, 'We heard you can't do a thing, we are going hunting this fall.' ... That is absolutely not true." Eight government entities, including the U.S. Attorney General's Office, are reviewing law enforcement options for the region because the Utah Court of Appeals has ruled the Ute Tribe has jurisdiction over the land. Most of the land is currently under either U.S. Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management oversight. The management of big game and criminal jurisdiction over hunting and fishing violations has been handled by the Division of Wildlife Resources. However, the appellate ruling in Reber v. Utah gives the Ute Tribe, not the state of Utah, jurisdiction over wildlife law enforcement. That's why DWR officials in the Uintah Basin want guidance from the U.S. Attorney General's Office on the best way to address the prosecution of non-Indians charged with hunting or fishing violations. Non-tribal members had previously gone to state court for prosecution, but they now appear to be headed to federal court, as is the case with those who belong to the tribe. The jurisdictional status change came on the heels of a November 2005 appellate court ruling that determined the state had no authority to prosecute Rick Reber, 54, formerly of Lapoint, for hunting without a license and helping his son take a deer in the Book Cliffs in 2002. Reber claimed his mixed-blood Uinta band heritage gave him the right to hunt and fish on Ute land. The Appeals Court made no finding on claims of Reber's heritage but did agree the alleged crime occurred within the exterior boundaries of the Ute Reservation. Prosecutors with the Utah Attorney General's Office have appealed the ruling to the Utah Supreme Court. In the meantime, Christophersen said a decision must be made as to how