_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 14, ISSUE 028 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 July 15, 2006 Mvskogee Hiyucee/little harvest moon Abenaki Temaskikos/grass cutter moon Eastern Cherokee nvda utsi'dsata'/corn in tassel moon +-------------------------------------------------------+ | Much more happens in Indian Country than is reported | | in this weekly newsletter. For daily updates & events | | go to http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm | +-------------------------------------------------------+ Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin -- Blackfeet -- News for All the People Ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min -- Ojibwe -- We Are Talking About Ourselves Aunchemokauhettittea -- Naragansett -- Let Us Share News Kanoheda Aniyvwiya -- Cherokee -- Journal of the People O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse -- Creek -- People's New News O o O Acimowin -- Plains Cree -- Story or Account O o O Tlaixmatiliztli -- Nahuatl -- News O o o o o O Agnutmaqan -- Listuguj Mi'kmaq -- News O o O Sho-da-ku-ye -- Teehahnahmah -- Talking Birchbark O o O Un Chota -- Susquehannic Seneca -- The People Speak O Ha-Sah-Sliltha -- Ditidaht Nation -- News of the People Ximopanolti tehuatzin, inin Mexika tlahtolli -- Nahuatl -- For you we offer these words It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le -- Chickasaw -- Together We Are Talking Dineh jii' adah' ho'nil'e'gii ba' ha' neh -- Navajo Nation -- What's Happening among The People News Okla Humma Holisso Nowat Anya -- Choctaw -- People(s) Red Newspaper Hi'a chu ah gaa -- Pima -- The stories or the talk of the People s ch mA mL tL squee Lux -- Okanogan -- News from the People Native American News -- Language of the Occupation Forces ++>If you speak a Native American language not listed above, please send us your words for "News of the People." We'd rather take up this whole page saving these few words of our hundreds of nations than present a nice clean banner in the language of the occupation forces who came here determined to replace our words with their own. email gars@nanews.org with the equivalent of "News of the People" in your tribal language along with the english translation <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is produced in straight ASCII text for greatest portability across platforms. Read it with a fixed-pitch font, such as Courier, Monaco, FixedSys or CG Times. Proportional fonts will be difficult to read. <================<<<< >>>>================> This issue contains articles from www.owlstar.com; www.indianz.com; www.pechanga.net; Chiapas95-En, Frostys AmerIndian, Docs List, NetRez-L, Dippity, Rez_Life, CERTAIN Home, Native American Poetry and Iron House 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: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + =================== "Our relationship with Bear Butte predates Meade County... It predates America, it predates Columbus." "This society here - they obviously don't value our human right to pray." __ Debra White Plume, Inter-Tribal Coalition to Defend Bear Butte +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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 following article by Roberto Rodriguez and Patrisa Gonzales is a series of quotes that express my personal feelings about Maya, Quecha, Hui Chol and countless others of our relatives that I see being maligned and targeted by the conservative elements in this country much the same as Jews were by other right wing extremists in other countries in other dark days. ----- Date: Wednesday, July 05, 2006 06:28 pm From: Doc Subj: WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE ANYWHERE ON THIS CONTINENT Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian Mailing List: Docs List * Please post, forward & disseminate widely. If you would like to receive our column directly, write to us at: XColumn@gmail.com If you have trouble reading it, see attachment. COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS BY ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ & PATRISIA GONZALES JUNE 19, 2006 (Media release upon receipt) "WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE ANYWHERE ON THIS CONTINENT" * SPECIAL DOUBLE EDITION Along the U.S.-Mexico border, the body count continues to pile up daily. Meanwhile, the Minutemen patrol the U.S.-Mexico border and shameless politicians find it easy to denounce illegal immigration as the cause of all the nation's problems - including linking it with "the war on terror." Amidst all the clatter, the only views not being heard are the ones that matter most. Thus here, we bring you a truly historic column, featuring the views of those that have come before us to these lands: American Indians: "The immigration issues are many and are so very complex; however, we cannot have a productive dialogue about anything when we begin the conversation, thinking it is "us against them" or when the "truth" is only half true or we only use rhetoric to back our claims. We can't resolve any of these complex issues if we label our neighbor as an "immigrant" and not as a relative, friend or human being." Nadine Tafoya, friend and colleague Mescalero Apache -Salt River Pima -Maricopa "I feel that as Native Peoples of the Americas, we have the right to be anywhere on this continent as we have for generations. To hear people telling my relatives that they are "illegal aliens" and criminals and to get out of our own land is very disturbing!" Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart, PhD President/Director, The Takini Network "Indigenous peoples haven't known any borders. Colonial borders are new. It's ironic that essentially white men of privilege who created the category of white - that it is they who determine who gets permitted into our lands." Winona LaDuke, founding director, White Earth Land Recovery Project "From the point of view of the laws of the indigenous nations of North America, the Europeans are the original illegal immigrants in the area of North America. The United States... has, for more than 200 years, methodically and militarily violated indigenous law, and even solemn treaties, in order to take over and occupy the vast majority of the lands of Indigenous nations and peoples.... it is hypocritical in the extreme for the people of the United States to now pretend that it is paragon of virtue, and a country that has always conducted itself on the basis of the rule of law." Indian Law Scholar, Steven Newcomb "The movement to try to force the Mexican people to learn the English language and the culture and traditions of America to stay in this country may not be totally successful. I can tell you from firsthand experience that when the federal government tried to strip me of my language and traditions, it did only a partial job, because of my resistance to being subdued. Today I am glad I have retained my culture, traditions and the Keres language, for that is where my heart and soul belong.... Katheirne Augustine - Laguna Pueblo, retired nurse, excerpts from Albq Tribune "Too bad WE didn't think of insisting that European arrivals speak OUR language. We'd all be speaking Ojibwemowin right now." Patty Loew Assoc. Prof., UW-Madison "In an important and emphatic way, the indigenous peoples of the Americas are reclaiming their continent, whether with the ballot, by boat, by air, or on foot. Let us call it repatriation on the march." Shirley Hill Witt, Coauthor, El Indio Jesus "The white supremacists masquerading as patriots are building a fence at the southern border to keep out the brown people. Notice that they aren't building a fence at the northern border... Recall too that the 9-11 terrorists were here legally, complete with freakin' flyer numbers. I'm for all the Native people to have cross-border privileges up and down our hemisphere, and would close the borders against all the peoples from other places who look down on us." Suzan Shown Harjo - Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee Dir., Morning Star Institute "... I suspect at least half those people coming across that southern border are indigenous peoples who have been directly or indirectly affected by anti-indigenous rights policies and U.S. lead neo-liberal free trade regimes often resulting in the privatization of land. I am concerned the U.S-Mexico border is becoming a war zone giving rise to old world colonial attitudes spawning white-lead vigilante militias with U.S. military support. Indigenous peoples of the U.S. and our tribal governments must demand border justice and not be used by the homeland security program of the U.S. to undermine the civil liberties of our indigenous peoples and mestizo brothers and sisters of the Latin American countries. Tom Goldtooth, Exec. Dir. Indigenous Environmental Network "The argument used by the Minute Men, that their mission is to keep terrorists out of the U.S., cannot be ignored: With terrorist training camps recently found just north of the U.S.-Canadian border, their mission makes little sense and gives weight to my belief that the Minuteman movement is clearly racist. So is the new U.S. policy to keep our southern relatives out by militarizing the border to the south. Not that troops are wanted on the northern border either, but why send 6,000 troops to the southern border when no terrorists ever have been detained there?" JoKay Dowell, Quapaw-Peoria-Cherokee, OK Eagle and Condor Indigenous Peoples' Alliance "Indigenous peoples are brothers and sisters, regardless of which side of the line drawn in the desert sand they are from. Our historic relations pre-date any European conquest. Our 'free trade' was much less conflictual, and was on more of an equal basis. Corporate 'free trade' is the driving force behind American politics and international actions.... It continues to be, contradictory to the interests of humanity." woliwon chi miigwech, Karen S., Ypsilanti "Are 'immigrants' the appropriate designation for the indigenous peoples of North America, for enslaved Africans and for the original European settlers? No. Are 'immigrants' the appropriate designation for Mexicans who migrate for work to the United States? No. They are migrant workers crossing a border created by US military force. Many crossing that border now are also from Central America, from the small countries that were ravaged by US military intervention in the 1980s and who also have the right to make demands on the United States. So, let's stop saying 'this is a nation of immigrants.' " Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz - mixed-Cherokee activist, professor, writer "... False and violent borders have been imposed upon our many peoples and upon the landscape, dissecting our Mother Earth, our home continent, in two and attempting to sever our deep connection with the land, and with each other... We maintain our recognition and respect for all our Indigenous brothers and sisters of the Western Hemisphere, with whom we traded, learned from, loved and laughed with for a millennia. We are Indigenous, of this place on Mother Earth, called Turtle Island, the Middle Place, Abya Yala and the Fourth World. And we remain bonded together forever, knowing ourselves as the K'iche and Karuk, Saraguro and Cheyenne, the Cherokee, Xicano and Chumash, we are all relations." Tia Peters Zuni, Seventh Generation Fund "If America is a shining beacon of hope for legal immigrants perhaps the laws should be adjusted to make it a reality for the illegal immigrants. They also see America as a place where dreams can be lived. Ironically, most of the illegal immigrants are Indians, or Indios as they are known in Mexico, and in Central and South America. Most of their ancestors did not come over on the Mayflower or on the Spanish galleons. They were indigenous to the Western Hemisphere." Tim Giago, president Native American Journalists Foundation "Americans can say, surely not with pride, that our country knows from centuries of personal experience how unchecked immigration devastates life and why it's an issue that deserves the best of our thinking and empathy. These are thoughts that cross some of our minds when we hear rhetoric about the so-called invasion of illegal immigrants (many of whom are -- gasp -- Indians) and calls to protect "our" land. If we smile in response, it's not so much out of agreement. We see a payback coming home to roost." David House - mixed Cherokee/Scots-Irish Fort Worth Star-Telegram "It's never been clear to me why animosity exists toward today's immigrants, considering the founding fathers arrived as immigrants. Are today's anti-immigration voices afraid of a new Manifest Destiny? ... Many Native prophecies foretell the demise of U.S. indigenous people from European invaders. But the stories also speak of a time when the land will be reclaimed by indigenous people." Perhaps the time has come." Jodi Rave reports on Native issues for Lee Enterprises. On Haudenosaunee citizenship & naturalization: "Naturalization was not race-based as the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) granted citizenship to other ethnic groups. Once a person became a Haudenosaunee citizen they were expected to discard any previous connection to their birth nation. They had to speak an Iroquoian language, dress as Iroquois, contribute to the security of their host nation and provide for the well being of their new families and communities though a host of activities ranging from hunting, fishing, food preparation and home building. They took part in the elaborate ceremonies which defined Haudenosaunee spirituality and were given extensive instruction into the history, customs and beliefs of their new nation. In the end, the Haudenosaunee people expected the new citizen to undergo an almost complete transformation; physically, mentally and spiritually. This process worked extremely well... [it] secured our survival and provided for our prosperity...." Doug George-Kanentiio Mohawk writer The Popul Vuh - one of the most important books ever written on this continent -- offers us a valuable lesson and roadmap about migration disputes. The volatile conflicts among the Maya finally ended when those who were new to the land accepted those who were here before them as their guides. In this spirit, we do the same. So too should the general public, Congress and the president. * Feel free to send us your views at XColumn@gmail.com or 608-238-3161. Our bilingual columns are posted at: http://hometown.aol.com/xcolumn/myhomepage/ Info regarding our Amoxtli San Ce Tojuan documentary and origins/migrations research can be found at: http://hometown.aol.com/aztlanahuac/myhomepage/index.html ----- 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 ----------- - Cobell settlement - Mohawk Athlete overcomes Stabbing rumored to be in the Billions - What it means to be Osage - Schaghticoke appeal moves - Excavators utilizing despite Secrecy order eco-friendly techniques - HUD hold on Housing Millions - JODI RAVE: defies belief Indigenous Games propel Rights - Major gathering slated - JOHN ROSS: Mexico on the Brink at Sacred Bear Butte - Marcos Speaks on Fox, - Ceremony at Bear Butte IFE and Electoral Fraud faces Disruption - Measures to protect - Special Master the Women and Children sides with Miccosukee Tribe - Northern Aboriginal Group - Indian Religious Rites denied Pipeline Benefits threatened by Drought - What does this - Yakamas want compensation "historic pact" mean? for lost Salmon - B.C. First Nations - Council Delegates sign Education Agreement continue Annual Tradition - Dakota claim Southwestern Manitoba - Navajo Council Session - Yukon Programs to discuss Bennett Freeze target sexual violence - Indians may lose - Ruling against Teck Cominco a path to Med School - Hundreds remember slain child - Michigan Tribe - Arson suspected in burn wins another Tax Ruling of Sacred Dance House - Rocky Boy's long quest - Kaatimiin Arson for Elwell Water - Eyewitness stands by Statement - Tribal project - Native Prisoner draws 'tremendous interest' -- Action Request: - Report looks at the power MT Native American Prisoners of Indian Businesses - Rustywire: Sweet Gentle Earth - Lumbee Recognition Case - Lee Goins Poem: A Poet Has Hope - Native roots drive - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days Wastewater Treatment Firm - Thoughts On This 4th of July, 2006 - S'Klallam Tribe is - Nosie talks showing its Pride preserving Tribal Culture - Teach Writing with the - Southern Utes give more money Blackfeet Culture in Mind to Indigenous Games --------- "RE: Cobell settlement rumored to be in the Billions" --------- Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2006 09:57:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="COBELL SETTLEMENT" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096413237 Cobell settlement legislation adds backing, but settlement number still uncertain Washington in brief by: Jerry Reynolds / Indian Country Today June 30, 2006 Congressional efforts to reach a legislated settlement of the Cobell v. Norton lawsuit gained new endorsements following a recent Indian organizational meeting in Montana. The Council of Large Land-Based Tribes, the InterTribal Monitoring Association and the Inter-Tribal Economic Alliance join the United South and Eastern Tribes, the Great Plains Tribal Chairman's Association, the National Congress of American Indians and Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians in supporting a legislated solution. Many of the tribes represented by the organizations appreciate the efforts of Elouise Cobell, the plaintiff class and its attorney team in forcing the Interior Department to account for the Individual Indian Money trust. But especially for the smaller tribes that make up the membership of USET and ATNI, Interior's reaction has proved far-reaching, affecting whole tribes in their ability to manage their natural resources and provide services. There is no telling now whether all the same tribes that support a legislated solution to Cobell will still support it once a dollar sum is supplied in settlement. In the Senate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is close to plugging a dollar sum into proposed settlement legislation, according to Capitol Hill sources who required anonymity as a condition for speaking because the issue is highly contentious and the McCain bill has not been finalized. If the bill is enacted into law by Congress, the sum would serve to award IIM account holders for losses from their accounts in return for legally settling their accounts, so that no further legal claims of similar nature could be filed against the government. An SCIA staff member said the committee has a number in mind, but as to the specific number he would only add that it includes a zero. A Washington lawyer-lobbyist on Indian affairs, also requiring anonymity because of the issue's contentiousness, said the number is not likely to be $10 billion, but more like $6 billion to $8 billion. Yet another Capitol Hill informant who required anonymity before speaking on the sensitive issue said that Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., chairman of the Resources Committee in the House of Representatives and sponsor of a companion bill in the House that is identical to McCain's - even down to the left-out settlement sum - has not become comfortable yet with a range of settlement numbers that are still on the table. Copyright c. 1998 - 2006 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Schaghticoke appeal moves despite Secrecy order" --------- Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2006 09:57:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SCHAGHTICOKE CONTINUE FIGHT" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096413246 Schaghticoke appeal moves despite Interior secrecy order by: Gale Courey Toensing / Indian Country Today Connecticut governor linked to TASK lobbyist July 3, 2006 KENT, Conn. - Five months after the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation asked a district court judge to restore the tribe's federal acknowledgment, the case is moving forward under an Interior Department secrecy initiative that would shield the federal government's administrative record from public scrutiny, obscuring the details by which top officials made the unprecedented decision to repeal the tribe's federal status. A Privacy Act Protective Order, signed by New Haven U.S. District Court Senior Judge Peter Dorsey on June 12, states that only the court and parties to the appeal will have access to the federal government's administrative record, but "no person having access to protected documents shall make public disclosure of them or their contents without further order of this court." Further, Interior Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt has asserted protective privileges over five documents that could be key in shedding light on the "internal deliberations" that caused officials in Interior, the BIA, the Office of Federal Acknowledgment and the Internal Board of Indian Appeals to terminate the tribe's recognition. The tribe was federally recognized by the BIA in January 2004. After an appeal to the IBIA by the state and other parties, and a year and one-half of relentless opposition by state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Gov. Jodi Rell, the state's congressional delegation, other state and local officials, and an anti-Indian, anti-casino citizens group called Town Action to Save Kent, the BIA reversed the tribe's final positive determination on Columbus Day last year. When the tribe received federal acknowledgment, the BIA released its administrative record within weeks. In contrast, Interior refused to release the administrative record following the repeal of the tribe's recognition despite several requests, STN attorney Eric Wiechmann said June 22. "I think they were waiting to see if we were going to appeal. Then after the appeal was filed, they said they needed so many months to complete the record. Then when we got to that state, they didn't want to release it until after the confidentiality order was signed. Obviously, we wanted it earlier, but we didn't get it earlier," Wiechmann said. Parties to the appeal must sign a legal acknowledgment form saying they will abide by the terms of the protective order and will "return or destroy any and all protected documents, copies and notes in their possession" to the U.S. attorney as soon as the proceedings are over. The state, an intervener in the proceedings, will represent the other interveners - the town of Kent, Connecticut Light and Power Co. and the private Kent School, all of which are defendants in the tribe's pending land claims for 2,150 acres of undeveloped land adjacent to its 400-acre reservation on Schaghticoke Mountain in Kent. Connecticut's colonial government set aside 2,500 acres for the tribe in 1736. The tribe's legal team currently is in the process of reviewing the record, particularly the five documents Bernhardt is claiming as privileged, Wiechmann said. Among the privileged documents is a Dec. 21, 2004, five-page memorandum advising the Interior secretary about "options concerning the IBIA proceedings, setting forth the pros and cons of the options. ... The memorandum conveyed to the client frank discussion and advice," Bernhardt wrote. However, a similar internal memorandum outlining the pros and cons of options regarding the tribe's federal acknowledgment was released without claim of privilege after the BIA issued its positive final determination. "We think we should have a chance to see some of the documents being withheld. There is what lawyers call 'very highly relevant documents' to what we need to do. The issue is whether the relevance outweighs the claims for privacy," Wiechmann said. Blumenthal said he was in the process of reviewing the privileged documents. "Normally, I favor full disclosure. We apparently just received this information and we're reviewing it to determine whether it was subject to disclosure," Blumenthal said June 23. Although the state has "full intervener" status, Blumenthal said he was not sure whether he would have the right to request that the documents be disclosed, if he were to conclude that they should be. Interior did not respond immediately to a request for comment. Filed in January, the tribe's appeal names as defendants Interior, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne (who replaces former Secretary Gale Norton as defendant), Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James Cason, the BIA, the OFA and the IBIA. The appeal claims, among other allegations, violations of due process and improper political influence on federal decision-makers by Connecticut politicians and others. The appeal alleges that Connecticut officials used the Washington lobbying firms of Perkins Coie and Barbour Griffith & Rogers to circumvent a stipulation in a court ruling that prohibited any of the parties from contacting Interior officials without prior notice to all the parties. TASK founders Jim Perkins and Ken Cooper hired BGR in 2004 to help overturn the tribal nation's recognition, saying they would raise $1.5 million for the job. E-mails that were released under the Freedom of Information Act show close coordination and planning between BGR Chief Operating Officer Loren Monroe and Rell's offices. On Jan. 25, 2005, for example, Philip Dukes, Rell's counsel, asked Monroe for help with a letter the governor was writing to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. "I am looking forward to hearing from you on specifics relating to content you would like to see in our letter to Senator McCain," Dukes wrote. Monroe replied that he had consulted with McCain's staff about the letter. "I was hoping to get you our thoughts by today but I just connected with McCain's staff a little while ago. I wanted to get their guidance on what the most effective tone and approach was for the letter before sending you my recommendations," Monroe responded. A few days later, Monroe sent Rell the letter he had drafted for her to send to McCain. The letter expresses Rell's general opinion about the lack of "transparency" and "potential illegal activity" at the BIA, citing STN as an "illegitimate tribe" and its federal acknowledgment as an example of "a broken federal tribal recognition process." Rell's chief of staff, Lisa Moody, apparently was aware of possible problems in the governor's association with TASK and BGR. In a Jan. 21, 2005, e-mail to TASK attorney Francis J. Collins concerning a meeting at the governor's office with TASK and BGR, Moody wrote: "Who is involved with this meeting? We MUST be careful." Other e-mails released to the tribe's attorneys during discovery last summer reveal BGR's "strategies of surrounding the Department of the Interior" and contacting senior White House and agency officials at Washington events such as the National Governors Association and the Republican Governors Association annual meetings. A web of connections exists that is "really hard to belive, if you believe in a fair hearing," Wiechmann said. "And it all brings to light the questions of why has every legislator tried to stop the process, tried to investigate the proceedings, and attacked the process and people in the worst language, saying it's corrupt and illegal, and then ignoring an investigation by the Inspector General that said, 'No, there was nothing wrong with the process,"' Wiechmann said. "There were tons of pressure and people involved and we're going to connect it all. We think it's going to support our complaint and our request that the decision to rescind the tribe's recognition be reversed," Wiechmann said. Copyright c.1998 - 2006 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved --------- "RE: HUD hold on Housing Millions defies belief" --------- Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2006 09:57:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HUD POLICY STUNS SENATE COMMITTEE" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096413237 HUD hold on housing millions defies belief for Senate committee Washington in brief by: Jerry Reynolds / Indian Country Today June 30, 2006 The leadership of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs flat-out refused to believe that a May 25 ruling in a Colorado courtroom over $400,000 in formula funds forced a decision at Housing and Urban Development to withhold $300 million from tribal housing programs nationwide. At the June 28 oversight hearing on Native housing programs, HUD Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing Orlando J. Cabrera kept explaining that the U.S. District Court decision on Fort Peck's housing inventory raises a court-compliance problem for potentially all Indian Housing Block Grants that have ever been made under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act. To distribute any funding under the same formula would violate a judicial stay, according to Cabrera. In response, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the committee chairman, said he was "fully aware" of all that but kept insisting that he won't stand for any form of prolonged delay in distributing the funds appropriated by Congress for Indian housing. "Mr. Cabrera, we'll be getting involved in this. ... We owe more than that to Native Americans." He added that corrective legislation is a possibility if no swifter solution can be found, a hint Cabrera discouraged and McCain repeated. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., the committee vice chairman and ranking Democrat, was, if possible, even more agog than McCain at HUD's decision, announced to tribal leaders in an inscrutable epistle of June 9, signed by Cabrera. Dorgan denied that HUD had to withhold the $300 million at all because it could have created a reserve fund and drawn from that until the court dispute can be resolved. Cabrera said no, he had thought of that right off and consulted attorneys about it. Dorgan suggested attorneys might be the problem, and later said HUD must have gotten "bad advice." Cabrera described a variety of efforts are going forward to make sure the interim in funding is brief. Dorgan replied that there never should have been an interim. The committee met with HUD again that afternoon after the hearing, but the outcomes, if any, could not be ascertained by press time. Meanwhile, in a news conference at the offices of the National American Indian Housing Council, newly installed chairman Marty Shuvraloff said tribal housing authorities without a reserve fund or other rainy-day resources might have to close their doors in the interim. Copyright c. 1998 - 2006 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Major gathering slated at Sacred Bear Butte" --------- Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2006 08:53:14 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PEOPLE RALLY AGAINST DESECRATION" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2006/07/04/news/top/news02.txt Activists gather at Bear Butte By Dan Daly, Journal Staff Writer July 4, 2006 STURGIS - American Indian groups have already begun gathering at the base of Bear Butte for a planned summer-long encampment to protest what they believe is the continuing encroachment of the Sturgis motorcycle rally on their sacred mountain, organizers said. An opening ceremony set for 1 p.m. today will mark the official start of the gathering, said Debra White Plume of the Inter-Tribal Coalition to Defend Bear Butte, one of several groups involved. The gathering will be based at the Rosebud Sioux Tribe campsite north of the butte. In addition, plans are in the works for an international Summit of Indigenous Nations set for Aug. 1-4 at Bear Butte. By the time the Aug. 7-13 rally is under way, she said, thousands of people could be encamped at the Rosebud site and other tribal camp areas around Bear Butte. During the rally, opponents plan to take their protest to the streets of Sturgis amid the crowded carnival of motorcycles, vendors and beer gardens. "This is in response to the encroachment. ... Every year, (the rally) gets closer and closer to Bear Butte," she said. Indians from a number of tribes, including the Lakota, the Northern Cheyenne, Osage and Ponca make pilgrimages to Bear Butte - known as Mata Paha - to fast, pray and undergo solitary vision quest ceremonies. White Plume said the roar and rowdiness of the Sturgis rally makes that difficult. Meanwhile, more beer licenses are on the Meade County Commission's agenda for Friday, Meade County Auditor Lisa Schieffer confirmed. The licenses are mostly for existing campgrounds that are being renewed or issued to new owners, she said. And none involve big concert venues that have been the target of the opposition groups to date. However, White Plume said, members will likely attend Friday's commission meeting to state their opposition once again. For nine months, Indian groups, their non-Indian supporters and some east Meade County ranchers have formed a loose-knit coalition of opponents to new Sturgis rally week venues. In recent years, the giant annual motorcycle rally has been on a collision course with the Bear Butte groups. Live music has become increasingly important to rally bikers, and big- name concerts play nearly every night. But that kind of entertainment takes lots of land, and new venues are blooming on the prairies east of town. The owner of Broken Spoke Saloon is building a new bar and campground called Sturgis County Line north of Bear Butte. He plans to later add a concert stage. Glencoe CampResort, south of Bear Butte, has added a large concert venue called Rock'n the Rally. Bear Butte groups have mostly directed their efforts toward persuading the Meade County Commission to deny beer or liquor licenses to the operators of the new venues. The venue operators and their supporters argue that as law-abiding property owners, they have a right to sell alcohol to rally bikers. At every turn, the Meade County Commission has sided with the venue operators. Opponents filed petitions to put the Broken Spoke license to a countywide vote, but the commission ruled that by law the license decision cannot be referred. The county faces a legal challenge in that case, and 4th Circuit Judge Jerome Eckrich could issue a decision this week. The debate apparently goes far beyond Bear Butte and Sturgis, however. Organizers of the Summit of Indigenous Nations in early August have invited representatives from as far away as Canada and Ecuador, White Plume said. Topics will include other fronts in the conflict between tribal groups and non-Indian land projects. In northern Arizona, for example, tribes are fighting a ski resort proposal in the San Francisco Peaks area near Flagstaff, Ariz. Farther south, on the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, the ancestral homeland of the Tohono O'odham, or Desert People, would be bisected by a U.S. government-planned wall to keep illegal immigrants from entering the United States. Contact Dan Daly at 394-8421 or dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com Copyright c. 2006 Rapid City Journal. --------- "RE: Ceremony at Bear Butte Faces Disruption" --------- Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2006 08:44:11 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DESECRATION" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3384 Indigenous Ceremony at Bear Butte Faces Disruption, 'Desecration' by Michelle Chen July 6, 2006 A fight to keep a motorcycle rally from disturbing a native prayer site is shedding light on a history of spiritual oppression - and stoking the movement to protect indigenous cultural rights. July 6 - This summer, two contrasting worlds will converge over a South Dakota mountain known as Bear Butte, rocking its sublime landscape with political dissonance. Around its base, bikers will arrive in droves for beer and music at the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Meanwhile, on the steep, hush slopes, indigenous people of various tribal backgrounds will undertake a solemn ceremony of deep worship. While those paying spiritual homage to Bear Butte have for years contended with the crush of motorcycles and amplified rock music from the biker rally, tensions have recently intensified with emerging commercial developments in the area. Plans are underway to construct one of the world's largest biker saloons along with two amphitheaters designed to seat tens of thousands of people for big-name rock concerts. The expansions, which were recently approved for alcohol licenses by county commissioners, will capitalize on the estimated 600,000 visitors that Sturgis will draw this year. Native communities are more concerned than ever that increased noise, pollution, traffic and crowds will bring the disruption to intolerable levels: Just a few miles away from the teems of partying bikers, hundreds will seek solitude and meditation through an intense period of prayer, known as the "Vision Quest." As part of South Dakota's Black Hills - a legendary expanse that natives say was illegally taken from them over a century ago - Bear Butte has traditionally belonged to the Plains Indians, who know the site as Mato Paha in Lakota and Nowahwus in Cheyenne. It has been recognized as a worship ground by dozens of native peoples across North America, according to indigenous-rights activists. Just a few miles away from the teems of partying bikers, hundreds will seek solitude and meditation through an intense period of prayer, known as the "Vision Quest." Bear Butte is protected as a state park, but the grounds adjacent to it are not, and the surrounding Meade County has no zoning laws to restrict business development. While proponents of the commercial expansions say they are simply making room for harmless recreation, native groups call the development activities around Bear Butte desecration and a reflection of the oppression that has haunted the site for generations. "Our relationship with Bear Butte predates Meade County... It predates America, it predates Columbus," said Debra White Plume, an organizer with the Inter-Tribal Coalition to Defend Bear Butte, a grassroots group. "This society here - they obviously don't value our human right to pray." On the Fourth of July, the Coalition, which formed last year to oppose the new business developments, launched its "Gathering of Nations," an encampment of hundreds of native people and their allies near the foot of Bear Butte. Bringing together various tribes in a demonstration of spiritual and political solidarity, the Gathering was inaugurated with a day of prayer ceremonies, dances and other traditional rites. "What we hope to accomplish by having this gathering," said White Plume, a member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe, "is providing a time and a place, in a real spiritually powerful place, for all indigenous people facing sacred-site-desecration issues to come together... and try to come up with a collective strategy that will help all of us to achieve the protection of these places that are important to our people." Native groups call the development activities around Bear Butte desecration and a reflection of the oppression that has haunted the site for generations. At the beginning of August, as the Sturgis festivities move into high gear, the Gathering of Nations will culminate in a summit of tribal elders and other leaders to develop a unified plan to advocate for the preservation of sacred grounds. Unbowed by the opposition, biker-entrepreneur Jay Allen of the Broken Spoke Saloon is plodding ahead with the construction of a 30,000-seat amphitheater and a 22,500 square-foot biker saloon sited on 600 acres of newly purchased land. The nearby Glencoe CampResort also has plans underway to open a similar concert venue in the coming months. The Broken Spoke website touts its new venture as a campground where "patrons can enjoy a bit of respite and transformation from a beautiful oasis." Allen emphasized in a statement that he originally planned to call the site "Sacred Ground" and display an 80-foot statue of a Native American and a rentable "teepee village," to "promote the culture and educate riders about American Indians and Bear Butte." Though those plans were scrapped amid opposition from native communities, he maintained, "This is a property-rights issue. I have a right to do what I'd like with my land. I'm a respectful neighbor." Thomas Van Norman, an attorney with, and member of, the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe, argued that the Meade County Board of Commissioners had ignored opposing testimony from community members and unilaterally granted Allen's alcohol licenses. "Something on this scale just shouldn't be sited that close to this place," Van Norman told The NewStandard. "It's a place of prayer and worship, where you need quiet, serenity in order to have your prayers fulfilled." The tribe is currently litigating various challenges to the Board's licensing decisions. Native activists say their struggle goes beyond a simple culture clash, stemming from systematic discrimination that has been suffocating native places of worship for centuries. While legal advocates press their case in court, the Coalition has also issued a demand for a five-mile "no-development zone" around the site. Reiterating previous resolutions by tribal councils seeking to block commercial activity in the Black Hils, the proposed zone would provide a buffer against bars and other intrusive enterprises. Charmaine White Face, coordinator of the indigenous-rights group Defenders of the Black Hills and a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe, said it was difficult to quantify the true spiritual impact of economic development on the experience of the vision quest. The noise, traffic and drinking that accompany the rally are disruptive, she said, but for many, "what is most offensive about all of this is the negative energy. And see, that's not something you can measure." White Face said that the disturbances were pushing many to visit the site earlier in the year instead of during the traditional time of prayer in the summer months, in order to avoid crowds. For many indigenous-rights advocates, the Gathering of Nations serves as a concrete affirmation of native people's claims to sacred lands across the country, as well as a means of engaging non-native supporters. Humanitarian and church groups have rallied behind the effort. "[When] you're there physically defending it," said Sky Davis, an organizer with the Inter-Tribal Coalition and member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee, "you bring other people in from other people's cultures, and they can become aware of the meaning and the physical connection." In addition to grassroots initiatives focused on public education and networking among advocacy groups, White Face said that native activists have also been raising money to purchase land around Bear Butte. Although the group continues to lay claim to the Black Hills under a violated treaty agreement, she said, they are willing to comply with "the laws of the occupier" and pay for the land, just to stave off the commercialization and environmental destruction of the sacred area. The long-range goal, she said, is to keep raising awareness around the broken Treaty of Fort Laramie, signed in 1868 and breached some years later through occupation by the US military and commercial interests, perhaps one-day negotiating equitable restitution. Despite the grassroots and legal challenges to the new developments, the local government of Meade County seems bent on giving the biker-developers a green light. Robert Mallow, chairman of the Board of Commissioners, said the Board had granted the Broken Spoke and Glencoe alcohol licenses based on the appropriateness of the locations and the "character" of the applicants. "When they meet all the requirements, unless you have a good reason, you can't turn them down, basically," Mallow told TNS, adding that the Board dismissed a proposal from community members for a ballot initiative on Allen's license, because they see it as "an administrative issue, rather than a legislative issue." On the Broken Spoke website, Allen claimed that the political backlash was driven by negative "Hollywood" stereotypes of motorcyclists, when in reality, bikers "are about freedom and friendship." White Plume countered that Allen has been unresponsive to the Inter- -Tribal Coalition's call for a halt to the development. And while she remarked that bikers are a diverse group - and many support indigenous rights - she nonetheless argued that "half a million people converging when you're trying to pray will have an impact." Native activists caution that the struggle over Bear Butte should not be dismissed as a simple culture clash. The subtext of the debate, they say, is the systematic discrimination that has been suffocating native places of worship for centuries. "This ain't even about bikers. It's about our right to pray," White Plume said. "It's about [the business owners] wanting to make more money. And they're saying their right to make more money and people's right to engage in a noisy hobby is more important than our human right to pray." Van Norman, the Cheyenne River Sioux lawyer, said that while sacred lands like Bear Butte slowly lose ground to commercial impingement, worship remains especially crucial in empowering native peoples to take root again in their traditional culture. "How do people help hold themselves up, who have had had so much happen to them, generation after generation after generation - in terms of legal, personal discrimination, political ousting and lack of economic opportunity?" he asked. In embattled communities, he said, "people who want to better themselves use prayer as a good method, and they need those places kept intact." Copyright c. 2006 The NewStandard. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Special Master sides with Miccosukee Tribe" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2006 08:39:26 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MICCOSUKEE WIN ANOTHER POLLUTION BATTLE" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/ sfl-ceverglades06jul06%2C0%2C6053884.story Ruling says state, U.S. haven't removed enough pollution in Everglades By David Fleshler South Florida Sun-Sentinel July 6, 2006 A court-appointed special master concluded Wednesday that the state and federal governments violated an agreement to reduce phosphorus pollution in the northern Everglades, and he recommended the construction of 18,000 acres of marshes to help filter out the chemical. Special Master John Barkett, a Miami lawyer, was appointed by U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno in a case being closely watched in Washington as Congress considers how much to spend on Everglades restoration. The Miccosukee Tribe and a coalition of environmental groups had sued the South Florida Water Management District and other agencies for what they said were violations of a 1992 court settlement to reduce phosphorus washing into the Everglades from sugar cane fields, vegetable farms and other sources. As a plant nutrient, phosphorus promotes the growth of cattails, which crowd out native Everglades sawgrass and eliminate the habitat of snakes, fish, frogs and birds. Last year, Moreno ruled that state and federal governments violated phosphorus standards each year since 1999 at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in the northern Everglades, and he said the state failed to complete a 16,000-acre filter marsh by the deadline of Oct. 1, 2003. In his report, Barkett said the water management district should complete an additional 18,000 acres of filter marshes within the next four years. Ernie Barnett, director of policy and legislation for the water management district, said the recommendations essentially accepted the district's and the federal government's plans for phosphorus cleanup. "We're pleased to see that he recognizes the bottom line that the remedies we're doing are working," he said. The district and the state have built treatment marshes and worked with farmers to reduce the runoff of phosphorus from fields. More than $1 billion has been spent on eliminating phosphorus, according to a district news release. Barnett acknowledged the special master had concluded the district violated the settlement agreement. But he said the "violations" amounted to particular events during which phosphorus standards were exceeded, not a general violation of the agreed-upon duty to clean up phosphorus. David Guest, attorney for Earthjustice, which represented the environmental groups, called the report "a major step" toward cleaning up the Everglades. David Fleshler can be reached at dfleshler@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4535. Copyright c. 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel. --------- "RE: Indian Religious Rites threatened by Drought" --------- Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2006 08:53:14 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FIRE BAN - OFFICIAL COMPARES SWEAT LODGE TO VOODOO RITUAL" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/ article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4821827,00.html Indian religious rites threatened by drought By John Aguilar, Rocky Mountain News July 4, 2006 For nearly a decade, Bobbie Gleason has hosted American Indian sweat lodge ceremonies at her home in Gilpin County - heating rocks with fire and purifying the spirits who gather. "I've been doing this for eight years, and I've never had a problem," said Gleason, who comes from Northern Cree heritage. But that all came to a halt late last month when Gilpin County officials declined to exempt from their fire ban Gleason's planned sweat lodge ceremonies, in which stones are heated over an open fire, brought inside a covered dome, and doused with water to generate steam. In a June 27 letter to Gleason, County Manager Roger Baker wrote that the commissioners "have no intention of interfering with anyone's religious practices" but that "public safety concerns" take precedence. Commissioner Al Price said that allowing ceremonial fires in the bone- dry county would open the floodgates for other people seeking a way around the ban, raising the risk of an unwanted wildfire. "It was all or nothing," he said. "You allow them to do this, and you're going to have to allow campfires and voodoo ceremonies. Where do you stop?" Ray Rubio, who lives a short distance up Colorado 119 from Gleason and hosts his own ceremonies, resents Price's choice of words, saying they show "disdain and scorn" for Indian religious customs. The 52-year-old Southern Paiute member said it was fire-based ceremonies - like vision quests, sweat lodges and sun dances - that enabled him to overcome his addiction to alcohol and pursue a law career. "This is our method of prayer. It's a social gathering, it's a spiritual gathering, it's an act of worship," Rubio said. "It saved my life." All across Colorado, Indians who rely on fire to express their faith are coming up against challenges similar to those posed in Gilpin County, as the open fire ban on state lands enters its second month and fire restrictions continue to ripple across counties. Even the Southern Ute Indian Reservation, one of only two in the state, requires that special notification be given before a ceremonial fire can be lit. During this Sundance season, many Indians are finding that the only way to freely exercise their religion in a state starved for moisture is to negotiate a fire ban exemption with local officials, find a substitute for fire or move their ceremonies to far corners of the state. Copyright c. 2006 Rocky Mountain News. --------- "RE: Yakamas want compensation for lost Salmon" --------- Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2006 09:57:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DALLES DAM DESTROYED PRIMO SALMON HARVEST LOCATION" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.yakima-herald.com/page/dis/286471682054965 Yakamas want compensation for lost salmon By PHIL FEROLITO YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC July 3, 2006 Nearly a half century has passed since The Dalles Dam flooded Celilo Falls, one of greatest tribal fishing sites on the Columbia River. After fighting the dam project to the bitter end and winding up in federal claims court, Yakama leaders reluctantly signed an agreement accepting about $15 million in exchange for the loss of the fishing site and trading post that drew American Indians from across the Northwest. Dam gates closed in 1957, and the falls, located about eight miles east of The Dalles, Ore., and much of a nearby village slipped beneath the water. Many tribal fishermen were left without their homes and way of life. Stories abound of how disheartened tribal members stood crying at the river's edge as the water began to rise. Today, a rest area and park sit along the river's edge. Roughly 14 tattered homes and a newly built longhouse - a tribal church - just south of Interstate 84 are the only remnants of the village that once sprawled along both sides of the river. Three other nearby fishing sites, a village not included in any settlement and salmon spawning areas also were lost in the dam's flooding, says Tribal Councilman Leo Aleck. But the agreement tribal leaders signed with the federal government in 1955 compensated the tribe for only the loss of the falls and not natural habitat or surrounding areas where other fishing sites and villages were, Aleck says. Now tribal leaders are considering whether to reopen a claims case against the U.S. Corps of Engineers, which designed, built and now operates the dam, for the number of juvenile salmon killed in the dam's turbines during the past 50 years and the loss of spawning areas due to flooding, he says. "We want an accounting for that," he says. "That was not in the original settlement." Regarded as sacred by the Yakama tribal members, salmon not only are a staple in their diet but also in their spiritual beliefs. The Dalles Dam spans the river two miles east of the city The Dalles and is one of four hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River in the Bonneville Power Administration's grid. In addition to The Dalles Dam, the Corps of Engineers also designed, built and operates the Bonneville, John Day and McNary dams, as well as four other dams on the lower Snake River. Massive non-Indian commercial fishing and loss of habitat in the mid- 1800s led to significant declines in salmon runs on the Columbia River, says Charles Hudson, spokesman for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. Fish conservationists generally agree that fish runs prior to that time had salmon returns anywhere from 10 million to 16 million a year, he says. Today, he says about 2 million salmon return each year. While dams also have contributed to the declines, recent conservation efforts at the dams are improving salmon runs, says Matt Rabe, Corps of Engineers head spokesman. Either way, Aleck contends that because the 1855 Treaty reserves the tribe's traditional hunting and fishing rights in that area of the Columbia River, juvenile salmon that were killed in the turbines belong to the tribe. Aleck says a precedent already has been set in reopening these claims cases. After receiving only $20,000 for a fishing site on Icicle Creek west of Leavenworth, a federal claims court later in 1956 said the payment was too small and awarded the tribe an additional $49,000 for its loss, Aleck says. But as far as Celilo Falls goes, the Corps of Engineers says the Yakama Nation not only gave up the falls in the settlement but also relinquished fishing rights in that area, says John Breiling, senior counsel with the Corps of Engineer. "The settlement was to pay the tribe for the full destruction or inundation of these usual and accustomed fishing stations," he says. The settlement includes all areas covered by The Dalles Dam pool, which runs to the John Day Dam about 20 miles upriver, he says. The Corps of Engineers, however, says the agency is willing to provide the tribe with information on juvenile salmon survival rates at The Dalles Dam, but isn't sure it can gather data spanning 50 years, says Corps of Engineers spokeswoman Diana Fredlund. "We value our relationship with the tribe," she says. "We are going to do everything we can to work with the tribe. It's an important relationship." Many dams on the Columbia River have passageways similar to fish ladders for juvenile fish to navigate past the dams down river. Instead of possessing fish passages, The Dalles Dam utilizes its spillway and ice-and-trash bypass system to help juvenile salmon down river, Rabe says. The ice-and-trash system was modified in 1977 to allow fish passage, and in 1995, the spillway was changed to allow fish to pass as well, he says. Data from last year show about 90 percent of migrating juvenile fish made it past the dam without any problem, he says. But Aleck says not only does he want to know exactly how many juvenile salmon were killed in the turbines over the past 50 years, he also wants to know the amount of power and revenue the dam has generated since being built. Other dams on the Columbia River - with the exception of federally operated dams such as The Dalles - have to be licensed every 50 years, and the tribe is using that timeline as a basis for its research into The Dalles Dam, Aleck says. Aleck plans to hold a 1 p.m. meeting Friday at the Eagle Seelatsee Auditorium in the Yakama tribal complex in Toppenish to inform tribal members of the issue. If tribal members favor reopening a claim, then it will go before the tribe's General Council, where all major decisions are made and elections are held for the 14-body Tribal Council. "We're going to do it the old way - Yakama people," Aleck says. "What we want to do is make (The Dalles Dam) accountable to the Yakama Nation." Phil Ferolito can be reached at 837-6111 or pferolito@yakimaherald.com. Copyright c. 2006 Yakima Herald-Republic. --------- "RE: Council Delegates continue Annual Tradition" --------- Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2006 16:45:37 -0600 From: Karen Francis Subj: Council delegates continue annual tradition Contact: Karen Francis, Public Information Officer Navajo Nation Council Office of the Speaker (928) 871-7160 karenfrancis@navajo.org www.navajonationcouncil.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATE: Wednesday, July 05, 2006 Navajo Nation Council delegates will be arriving at the Council's Summer Session the old-fashioned way - by horseback and by wagon. This is the seventh year that Willie Grayeyes will be heading a horse ride, this year beginning from Navajo Mountain, Utah on July 10. Council delegates from the Eastern Navajo Chapters are also organizing a horse ride to begin July 12 from Huerfano, New Mexico. Both groups will arrive at the Navajo Nation Council Chamber in Window Rock, Arizona, the morning of July 17, 2006. Also arriving that morning will be 2nd Annual Wagon Ride, sponsored by Council delegates Harriet K. Becenti and Alice W. Benally. The wagon ride will begin on July 10 from Nageezi Chapter. The annual horse rides and wagon ride to the Summer Session give Council delegates the opportunity to visit with the Chapters and the people of the Navajo Nation. The theme for the horse ride is "Honoring the Dine' and Their Way of Life." The tentative schedules for the horse rides and the wagon ride are posted on the Council website at the following web addresses: COUNCIL DELEGATES CONTINUE ANNUAL TRADITION Navajo Mountain: http://www.navajonationcouncil.org/July-pr/Horse-Ride-Nav-Mtn.pdf Huerfano: http://www.navajonationcouncil.org/July-pr/Horse-Ride-Huerfano.pdf Wagon Ride: http://www.navajonationcouncil.org/July-pr/Wagon-Ride.pdf --------- "RE: Navajo Council Session to discuss Bennett Freeze" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2006 08:39:26 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BENNETT FREEZE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.gallupindependent.com/2006/july/070306lndtlks.html Tribal council goes into executive session to discuss Bennett Freeze By Kathy Helms Dine' Bureau July 3, 2006 WINDOW ROCK - Despite objections to keep Friday's special Intergovernmental Relations Committee meeting open so the Navajo people might have some idea of what they're giving and getting in a proposed Bennett Freeze agreement, IGR voted 6-2 for executive session at the request of the attorney general. Hopi tribal elders and religious leaders signed off on the agreement in August 2004. Navajo Nation Attorney General Louis Denetsosie said, "You may have read a couple years ago where the Hopi approved the version of this settlement agreement. It's called an intergovernmental compact. "In reference to the negotiating, we finished the negotiations in January. That's the final copy. The Hopi, for whatever reason, adopted a prior version, so they will have to go back" to the tribal council to have any changes approved, if they so choose, he said. Denetsosie said he, attorney Terry Fenzel, Navajo-Hopi Land Commission Chairman Raymond Bitsui, the counsel for the Hopi tribe and others met in Washington, D.C. "At that time we gave them the documents and all exhibits." Rather than revealing details of the agreement at that time, he said, "This agreement we did not want to bring to the council until we had assurance from the federal government that we would be in a position to concur with the terms of the agreement. "Recently, I've been advised informally that they have no objections in reference to informal concurrence with the documents, so that is the reason why we want to move forth with the legislation adopting the intergovernmental agreement," Denetsosie said. "It has been a longstanding litigation. It's been since 1974 that it's been ongoing. Mr. Fenzel has been involved in every stage of the litigation and the negotiation. We have had two negotiating teams on this." Denetsosie said Kelsey Begaye and a prior legislative counsel worked on it first, then when Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. took office, Denetsosie and Chief Legislative Counsel Raymond Etsitty continued work on the negotiations. "We've had the assistance of the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission, and attorney Britt Clapham has been there," he said. "With that we will go ahead and proceed with the substance of the report and I would like to request, that because this is ongoing litigation, that we go into executive session." IGR member Hope MacDonald-LoneTree (Toh Nanees Dizi/Coalmine Canyon), who represents constituents affected by the Bennett Freeze, objected. "I would like to request that this session be on record," she said. Delegate Omer Begay Jr. (Cornfields/Greasewood Springs/Klagetoh/Wide Ruins) opposed keeping the session open. "I think the idea of going on record is a good intent, however, in the long run we would be opening ourselves to the position that we're going to expose ourselves to, and I don't want to see that until the settlement is done. Therefore, I would like to move to go into executive session." Navajo Nation Council Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan asked for a second on the motion. "As I understand, the report is an hour and a half," he said. Delegate Curran Hannon (Oak Springs/St. Michaels) seconded the motion. Before going into executive session, in response to a question from MacDonald-LoneTree, attorney Fenzel told IGR members, "I have been the lawyer for the Navajo Nation for almost 32 years, in a very important piece of litigation that involves 7 million acres of Navajo land. We are at the point where the negotiating team would like to present to the council the proposed settlement at this time. "The Intergovernmental Relations Committee can understand the significance of this only if I discuss the issues in litigation the strengths and the weaknesses of Navajo positions, the classical outcomes, the risks ... If we are not in executive session, I will have a very short presentation and will not say much. I am perfectly happy to do it either way," Fenzel said. "As Mr. Begaye has said, there is a risk of waiving attorney-client privilege anytime we bring this out in a public meeting, particularly if a member of the press is present, and that is precisely the risks that we would make"by having the discussion in open session, he said. Executive session was approved 6-2 by IGR, with MacDonald-LoneTree and Leonard Chee offering the dissenting votes. President Shirley sent a letter June 27 to Speaker Morgan urging a special session so that council could give its approval. "I believe an agreement has been reached and needs to be presented to the Navajo Nation Council for their acquiescence," Shirley said. "I believe the Hopi Tribal Council is doing the same." Hopi Tribal Chairman Ivan Sidney said, "The agreement now scheduled for presentation to the Navajo Council was delivered to Navajo for their consideration in 2004. It is not the Hopi who is holding back the Navajo people!" Copyright c. 2006 Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: Indians may lose a path to Med School" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2006 08:39:26 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FUNDING SOURCE ENDS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/nw_national/ article/0,2564,ALBQ_19860_4823163,00.html American Indians may lose a path to med school Albuquerque Tribune By MARY JANE SMETANKA July 4, 2006 American Indian doctors are rare, but Katie Cannon knew one when she was growing up on the White Earth Indian Reservation in northwestern Minnesota. She liked Dr. Ed LaDue. He was always chewing gum, and he always seemed happy. LaDue was one of two Indians to enter the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1972, when it began making special efforts to recruit Indians. Cannon, 27, who starts medical school this fall, could be one of the last to benefit from federally funded programs that encourage the search. Funding ends Sept. 1 for the Center for American Indian and Minority Health, one of three centers in U.S. medical schools that focus on encouraging Indians to go into health professions. That will cut its budget by 83 percent, from $1.325 million to $225,000. At risk are programs that work with talented middle-school and high- school youth and college undergraduates. Those programs helped the University of Minnesota graduate more than 100 Indian physicians since 1990, more than all but one other American university. Dr. Ed Haller was one of the faculty members in Duluth who started recruiting Indians into the Medical School. Now retired, he calls the federal budget cut "unconscionable." Nationwide, funding was eliminated for all centers of minority health, except those at historically black colleges. "The people who have been here have been role models and an inspiration to students," Haller said. "I remember one student who said he had been told that he should be a truck driver. That sort of thing just brings tears to your eyes." University officials hope that the school can redirect enough money to restore at least half of the cut funds, said Medical School Dean Deborah Powell. The school is lobbying Minnesota's congressional delegation to try to get funding restored next year. Powell credits the program for the fact that 17 of the 200 students who start medical school on the Twin Cities and Duluth campuses this fall are Indians. Those students come from across the nation, drawn by the opportunity to work on reservations, study with Indian doctors and take classes dealing with issues such as how medicine intersects with traditional healing practices. "To provide the best health care to patients, be they Caucasian or Somali or Hmong or American Indian, one has to understand their culture and beliefs," Powell said. "We have to have students who come from those cultures." Dr. Alan Johns, a member of the Oneida tribe, was an electrical- engineering major on the university's Twin Cities campus in the early 1970s when he got a call "out of the blue" from Duluth. Had he thought about applying to medical school? "I didn't know if I really wanted to be a doctor," he said. Don't you have to be in a premed program? he asked. Don't you need better-than- perfect grades? Convinced that he should give it a shot, Johns joined LaDue, who had been working as a lab technician at White Earth, and entered medical school in 1972. Johns said he wouldn't be a doctor without the program. He splits his time between teaching at the Medical School and treating patients in Duluth. LaDue practiced medicine in Mahnomen, Minn., for 25 years before his death in January. Last week, the center's endangered summer programs were in full swing. Jacqueline Duncan, a 14-year-old from Cold Spring, Minn., is thinking about becoming a nurse. "I was never interested in the medical field; I thought it would be too hard," she said. "But it's fun to learn about the human body." Upstairs, college undergraduates in the Native Americans into Medicine (NAM) program were learning how to measure blood pressure. Otis Bitsuie, a 21-year-old Navajo, came from the University of Utah for the summer program. "Medicine offers lots of good opportunities, and I'm pretty sure that's what I'll pursue," he said. It's important that Indians have contact with Indian doctors, Bitsuie said. "A lot of natives don't have the trust there (with doctors from outside their culture)," he said. "That can make a very big difference. It can ease apprehension if they see a native." In 2004, Katie Cannon was one of the NAM undergraduates. "It boosted my confidence - this could be reality. I could go to medical school." Cannon's path to medical school was not easy. As a teen, she began drinking, dropped out of school and gave birth to her daughter, Trudy, when she was 16. Eventually she graduated from high school and went to the University of Minnesota, Morris, where her father had earned his degree. Cannon did well her first quarter in college. But it didn't last. She was alone with her baby, missing her loving extended family. After two years, in academic trouble, she left Morris and returned to White Earth. She worked in a tribal casino for a while. Next was a quality-control job in a factory that dehydrated vegetables. Watching an orange blur of carrots roll by on a production line, plucking out ruined vegetables, she realized she needed to return to school. "I thought, 'I need to go back and do something for myself and other people,' " she said. Cannon returned to Morris. Another Indian student, seeing her talent in calculus, told her she should be a doctor. Together they took the first step with a notoriously tough organic-chemistry class. Her friend dropped the class (he is now pursuing a master's degree in public health). Cannon failed. Determined, she took it again and got an A. She did well in her other classes and graduated last year with majors in Native American studies and anthropology and a minor in biology. She waited to tell family that she was aiming at medical school. "I didn't want to disappoint them," she said. When she did, her parents were thrilled. Her father had been a good friend of LaDue. This summer, Cannon and other Indian students who enter the Medical School this fall are taking a histology (tissues) course intended to give them a taste of the rigor and time-management issues that they'll encounter. When Cannon graduates, she wants to work with Indians. "I remember what it's like to go into places and not have people talk to you," she said. "I'd like to be a role model for Native American women. I'd like to show them that things can happen in life and you still make good things happen." She applied to only one medical school. She and Trudy, now 10, agreed that Duluth was the only place they were interested in. "You see other people who want to do it, too," Cannon said. "You whave companions in your path. You're not alone." Copyright c. 2006 Albuquerque Tribune. Copyright c. 2006 Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com. --------- "RE: Michigan Tribe wins another Tax Ruling" --------- Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2006 09:57:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="KEWEENAW BAY INDIAN COMMUNITY" http://www.indianz.com/News/2006/014751.asp Michigan tribe wins another ruling in state taxation battle June 30, 2006 A Michigan tribe scored another court victory this week in its long- running tax battle with the state. Affirming a federal judge who sided with the tribe, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals said members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community can't be forced to pay property taxes to the state. By a 2-1 vote, the court said tribal land remains protected by an 1854 treaty signed with the United States. "As made amply clear by Supreme Court precedent, this court must read this ambiguity in favor of [KBIC] and its members, and against the backdrop of the Indian sovereignty doctrine and the notion that American Indian tribes enjoy quasi-sovereignty," wrote Judge Eric L. Clay for the majority. "This backdrop reinforces [KBIC's] interpretation that the treaty disallowed involuntary state tax sales, and thus state taxation, of real property held by plaintiff or its members," the decision, dated June 26, continued. Clay, a Clinton nominee, was joined in the decision by Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey, another Clinton pick. But Senior Judge Ralph B. Guy, a Reagan nominee, filed a dissent that said the tribe is subject to state taxes. Although Guy's opinion was short, it focused on a key question: Can states can tax Indian land based on language in a treaty or based on language in an act of Congress? In Cass County v. Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, the Supreme Court focused on the second part of the question. In the unanimous decision, the justices said an act of Congress that opened up a Minnesota reservation to allotment was an "unmistakably clear" sign that state and local taxation is allowed. In the KBIC case, there is no such law in place. But language in the 1854 treaty mentions allotment of Chippewa lands. Due to the split on a key issue, it's possible the case could be reheard by the full 6th Circuit. And it could end up before the Supreme Court, whose recent decisions have signaled that tribes will have a hard time fighting off state encroachments on their land. In the eyes of the tribe, state taxation is an "an insult to tribal sovereignty." As far back as 1982, the tribe and the state have been battling over property taxes on the 59,840-acre L'Anse Reservation. The tribe has won nearly every step of the way, at least in the courtroom. It's the Michigan Tax Commission that has been putting up roadblocks, sometimes in direct contravention to court rulings in the tribe's favor. The current case involves property taxes but the state and the tribe are also at odds over tobacco taxes, sales taxes and car use taxes. In April 2005, the Michigan Tax Tribunal ordered the state to refund money to a tribal member for an illegal tax. Copyright c. 2000-2006 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Rocky Boy's long quest for Elwell Water" --------- Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2006 09:57:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PIPELINE BEING LAID FOR ELWELL WATER" http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20060703/NEWS01/607030302/1002 Rocky Boy's Reservation's long quest for Elwell water begins to bear fruit By KIM SKORNOGOSKI Tribune Staff Writer July 3, 2006 ROCKY BOY AGENCY - Construction crews are in high gear laying pipes, digging dams and building tanks - all to get ready for water that won't arrive for another decade. After eight years of negotiations and jumping through bureaucratic hoops, the Chippewa Cree Tribe reached an agreement of its water rights in 1999. The compact gave the tribe rights to 10,000 of the one million acre-feet stored in Lake Elwell and called for building a water treatment plant and a 50-mile pipeline. Even though construction won't start until the end of August on the $267 million project, the agreement kick started work on the reservation to prepare for the water's arrival. "Everywhere you go, we're doing upgrades to the system," said Tony Belcourt, CEO of the tribe's Chippewa Cree Construction Corporation. "A lot of the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place." And none too soon as the current well system is running dry because of years of drought and an exploding population. According to the census, the population grew 38 percent from 1990 to 2000. Conflicting estimates put the population between 2,600 and 4,200. Though its water rights compact instigated construction of the pipeline, the Rocky Boy's Reservation is at the end of it and will be one of the last communities to receive water. But the work officials are doing now to improve the infrastructure will help ease water shortages in the years prior to the pipeline's completion. "It's hard to keep up with the reservation's needs. We're growing so fast," Belcourt said. "Can we maintain the current water until that water comes? That is the main concern." Along with funds for the pipeline, the settlement with the government included money for infrastructure improvements. The on-site projects will cost nearly $50 million, all done or contracted out by the Chippewa Cree Construction Corporation. Tribal vice chairman Bruce Sunchild said infrastructure improvements were rare before the settlement. "The well system is really limited," he said. "With the drought, a lot of the wells have gone dry." The tribe stores 300,000 gallons of water from several wells in eight tanks around the reservation, then pipelines transport the water to homes. The current pipes were installed in the mid-1970s and are made of clay and asbestos. Belcourt said the pipes weren't made to handle the water pressure from the 30-inch pipeline crossing the Hi-Line. As a result, much of the work to date has been replacing the old line with 6-inch plastic pipe. In order to help alleviate a housing shortage, the tribe received 180 old homes during Malmstrom Air Force Base's remodel. But without water and sewer lines, many of those homes remain empty. Pipes are now being laid to connect new housing communities with the main water system, which will allow people to move in right away. The tribe used some of the infrastructure money to buy heavy machinery - dump trucks, bulldozers, graders and a roller. All that equipment will be used when the construction company begins work on the Hi-Line pipeline. The local projects give construction crews on-the-job experience, which will be important when they move to the bigger pipeline. "When these projects are done and they go to work for a contractor, he'll love to have them because they're good, experienced workers," said Larry Kuhlman, a Colorado contractor who is supervising the construction of two dams on the reservation. The tribe hired college students studying environmental and civil engineering to help on the dam projects, giving them on-the-job experience as well. "The unemployment rate being as high as it is on the reservation, we'd like to keep as much of the work here as we can," Sunchild said. Located eight miles east of Box Elder and 19 miles south of Havre, Bonneau Dam captures water from Box Elder Creek as it flows out of the Bear Paw Mountains on Rocky Boy's Reservation. The dam was completed in 2005. The two-year, $10 million expansion project quadrupled the size of the dam, enlarging its capacity from 1,000 acre-feet of water to about 4,000 acre-feet. An acre-foot is the amount of water it takes to cover one acre of land one foot deep. A pipeline will connect Bonneau to Brown's Reservoir, located a few miles east of Box Elder. The pipeline will allow Brown's Reservoir to be filled either from Box Elder Creek or the Hi-Line pipeline. Crews are currently working long hours to raise the reservoir walls 40 feet at the lowest point. The reservoir's capacity will increase from 40 acre-feet to 700 acre-feet. Located near the tribe's Dry Fork Farms, the project will allow sprinkler irrigation on 330 acres at a time. Water was previously wasted because it traveled through ditches to reach the agriculture land. The new system will allow the tribe to add new crops, beyond the spring wheat and barley they previously grew. The reservoirs also are near where the Northern Winz Casino is being built off Highway 87. The 27,000-square-foot casino will hold 400 Vegas-style gaming machines with big jackpots, he said. The attraction will feature a 100-seat upscale restaurant, a sports bar and a convenience store. By next summer, the tribe hopes to have a hotel and RV park. Future plans include building a golf course. All those businesses will need water, Belcourt said. Additionally, Brown's Reservoir will be stocked with fish, opening the area up for recreation, including swimming. In order to encourage usage, construction crews will gravel and smooth out the road to the reservoir. "It's a big accomplishment," Kuhlman said of the tribe's work. "It's something to be proud of." Reach Tribune Staff Writer Kim Skornogoski at 791-6574, 800-438-6600 or kskornog@greatfal.gannett.com. Copyright c. 2006 The Great Falls Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Tribal project draws 'tremendous interest'" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2006 08:39:26 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GILA RIVER PROJECT" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.azcentral.com/community/chandler/ articles/0705ar-gilariver0705Z6.html Tribal project draws 'tremendous interest' Betty Beard The Arizona Republic July 5, 2006 Potential tenants already are showing a "tremendous interest" in a proposed 11,000-acre development on the Gila River Reservation, an Ahwatukee Foothills developer told landowners in the first in a series of informational meetings. Developer Will Graven said a key component is plans to develop the World War II-era Memorial Airfield on the reservation. "The airport being brought back to life will be important," Graven said. "There is definite interest (from potential tenants). Definitely the airport helps." He did not identify any potential tenants because he said it is still too early. About 1,000 people showed up Saturday for a lunch meeting at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa, the first in a series of meetings. Graven, president of North American Building & Development LLC in Phoenix, said he spent at least $65,000 on the gathering. The proposed development would include retail, industrial and office buildings and possibly housing for community members. It would stretch from the Santan Freeway south to Riggs Road and from Price to Maricopa Roads, excluding the Firebird Lake area. Graven called the reservation land a "spectacular location" and later estimated the acreage could be worth about $2 billion. But Randall Ruiz, acting director of the Maricopa/Queen Creek Landowners Association, said the project is complex and meetings with landowners and the tribal government could take about a year. The association and Graven are partners in the project. "The timing of the project is good, but it is certainly going to be a long process," he said. Sun Lakes residents have opposed development of Memorial Airfield because they fear it could result in aircraft noise. The runway points toward Sun Lakes. Greg Patterson, a spokesman for North American, said Graven is working with two groups of landowners, those representing the 11,000 acres and another group that wants to develop the airport. Patterson said they are separate projects. Cecil Antone, president of the Gila River Indian Community's Airport Authority Board, said again Monday that there are no definite plans to develop the airport because the Gila River Indian Community Council has not approved a master plan. Antone has said previously that development of the airfield is probably at least five or 10 years away. Graven estimates there are about 4,500 people who own land, either in the 11,000 acres or around the airport, as a result of allotments given their ancestors in the early 1900s. Several people on Saturday said they had not known they owned land until they recently received letters from the landowners association. Some questions raised Saturday from landowners included Graven's finances, his background in working with Native American communities and details of how the association would work with landowners. Ruiz said questions will be addressed in later meetings or newsletters. Meanwhile, some community members who attended have mixed feelings. "I will believe it when I see it," said Sheldon Blackwater, 40, a teaching assistant. Blackwater also said he would like to see about half the 11,000 acres remain as it is, as desert or farms, and half developed. Georgette Chase, a former council member, said she worries developers are trying to take advantage of community members who don't have a lot of experience with businesses. Chase also worries that too much of the reservation will be turned over to developers and too little left to farming. She noted that acres of former farms in Chandler and Gilbert have been turned over to houses. "Where is the food going to come from? Why not Gila River? We have got water and land. We are farmers," she said. Iris Matthew-Holmes, a secretary at the Chandler Fire Department, called the project "awesome." "It was a dream of my dad to have something become of his land," Matthew-Holmes said. Landowners, she said, have not been able to build houses on their land because there isn't water or electricity. Copyright c. 2006 Arizona Republic - azcentral.com. --------- "RE: Report looks at the power of Indian Businesses" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2006 08:39:26 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INDIAN ENTERPRISE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7978 Report looks at the power of Indian businesses Billions in receipts, Oklahoma high on list OKLAHOMA CITY OK Native American Times July 5, 2006 A new report on the economic power of Native business owners reveals that American Indian and Alaska Native-owned firms had receipts of $26.9 billion. The censes bureau study looks at figures from 2002 and shows that Oklahoma tops the chart in several categories, including states with the highest number of companies owned by tribal members. There were 17,097 Native-run businesses in the state, second only to California's 38,125. The national total is 201,387. Texas, New York and Florida rounded out the top five. Oklahoma's Indian companies represent just over eight-percent of the state's total businesses. The city with the most Indian-owned firms is New York, with Los Angeles second and the New Mexico town of Gallup ranking third. The survey defined American Indian- and Alaska native-owned businesses as firms in which Natives own 51 percent or more of the stock or equity of the business. Other information from the report: - Nearly 3-in-10 American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms operated in construction and other services (such as personal services, and repair and maintenance). - Almost 1-in-8 American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms had paid employees. These 24,498 businesses employed more than 191,270 people and generated revenues of nearly $22 billion, or about $897,489 per firm. - There were 3,631 American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms with receipts of $1 million or more. These firms accounted for 1.8 percent of the total number of American Indian- and Alaska native-owned firms and more than 64 percent of their total receipts. - There were 178 American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms with 100 employees or more, generating nearly $5.3 billion in gross receipts (24 percent of the total revenue for American Indian- and Alaska native-owned employer firms). - American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned businesses with no paid employees numbered 176,889 with receipts of $4.9 billion. Average receipts of these businesses were $27,623 per firm. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Lumbee Recognition Case" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2006 08:39:26 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JULY 12 NEW DATE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.fayettevillenc.com/article?id=236502 Tribe gets to ask again on July 12 By Venita Jenkins Staff writer July 2, 2006 PEMBROKE - Tribal leaders could be presenting their case for federal recognition before a congressional committee sometime this summer. A hearing on the Lumbee Acknowledgment Act is scheduled for July 12 in the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. It would be the third time since 2003 that tribal members have made their pitch to congressional leaders. The last time was in April 2004. The hearing will be the latest effort to obtain federal recognition, a status the Lumbees have been seeking for 50 years. Full recognition would bring millions of dollars each year for education, health, housing and economic development programs. The Lumbee Act of 1956 recognized the tribe as American Indian, but it failed to provide the benefits that other federally recognized tribes receive. "Congress never finished the job that it started in 1956," said Lawrence Locklear, Tribal Speaker for the Lumbee Tribal Council. "...We just want the same benefits as other federally recognized tribes." U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole and U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre submitted bills in February 2003 to give the tribe federal recognition. The bill stalled in the Senate and remained in the House Resources Committee. McIntyre and Dole resubmitted their bills in January 2005. Those bills are still in committee. Tribal officials say their efforts have been hampered by a lack of money for lobbyists and by opposition from other tribes with political influence. "You have other federally recognized tribes that do not want us to be members of the country club," Locklear said. For the past month, tribal leaders have held events to garner support for the recognition bills that are pending in Congress. Those events were also planned in observance of the 50th anniversary of the Lumbee Act, which President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed on June 7, 1956. "Fifty years ago, it was a select few who were pushing it," Locklear said. "By getting members involved, it will give tribal members a sense of ownership in the federal recognition process." During this weekend's Lumbee Homecoming, tribal leaders are encouraging members to write their congressional representatives. Some members of Congress think the tribe should go through the Bureau of Indian Affairs to gain recognition, but that's not an option, Locklear said. "We contend that language in the 1956 Act bars us from going through" the bureau, he said. "I think, ultimately, the Lumbee tribe will get federal recognition," Locklear said. "It's just the matter of moving those stumbling blocks out of the way." Dole continues to make federal recognition a priority, said a spokesman from her office. She is working with Sen. Richard Burr, who serves on the Committee on Indian Affairs, to gain more support from her colleagues. McIntyre said he is also continuing to push the legislation. "The time has long since passed to right this wrong," he said. Copyright c. Fayetteville (NC) Observer. --------- "RE: Native roots drive Wastewater Treatment Firm" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2006 08:39:26 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TRIBAL ENTREPRENEUR" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/0702biz-execprofile0702.html Entrepreneur helps tribes Native roots drive wastewater treatment firm Max Jarman The Arizona Republic July 2, 2006 Jimmy Alvarez has found success as an engineer and builder without compromising his tribal values. He is a big man with a long silver ponytail that is partially covered by a trademark cowboy hat. His warm demeanor and beaming smile instantly put anyone at ease. On his office wall, Native American art shares space with maps of various Native American reservations and a poster of "common activated sludge micro organisms." His Mesa-based company, Plumas Consulting Inc., designs and builds wastewater-treatment facilities exclusively for Native American communities. In doing so, he has improved the health and lives of thousands of people whose communities often had decrepit sewer systems and, in some cases, none at all. He is known on Native American reservations across the country. "I've always been proud of my heritage, and it makes me feel good to help other Native Americans," he said. In his spare time, he makes traditional leather hair bands like the one that holds his silver hair back into a long tail. It's an item that has been made by his tribe for centuries. Plumas, which means feather in many Native American languages, has benefited from Indian gaming, which is giving tribes across the country the financial wherewithal to improve the infrastructure in their communities. "The first priority for the money is to improve the health and welfare of the tribal members, and that has often included new wastewater systems, ," he said. Plumas has built such systems for the Navajo Nation, the Bear River Tribe and the La Jolla Reservation in California, the St. Croix tribe in Wisconsin and the Sioux Nation in South Dakota. Alvarez and his business were honored June 16 with the annual First American Leadership Award for Entrepreneurship presented by the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. He's currently working on the design for a wastewater-treatment plant that will serve a $300 million casino and resort hotel his tribe is building near San Diego. Alvarez, 59, is one of 63 members of the Jamul Tribe in San Diego County, one of 13 tribes that comprise the Kumeyaay Nation. "He's one of the hardest-working people I know," said Jamul Tribal Chairman Lee Acebedo. "He bends over backwards for his clients." But Acebedo also knows Alvarez as a good friend. "He's loyal and always there for his friends," he said. Alvarez moved to Arizona 10 years ago for relief from painful rheumatoid arthritis that was aggravated by San Diego's climate. It was about that time that he formed his business. He previously worked as a consultant helping non-Native American contactors obtain construction work on the reservations. Eventually he was approached by several tribes and asked to form his own business to do the work he was arranging for the outside companies. "They were more comfortable dealing with me," he said. His business now grosses between $5 million and $10 million a year and has seven in-house employees and about 20 in the field. He maintains close contact with the Jamul Tribe, and often returns to the Jamul Indian Village for ceremonies and other events. He started working construction with his father in San Diego and used those skills, plus Bureau of Indian Affairs grants, to obtain degrees in economics and engineering from the University of California-San Diego. "I started with a pick and shovel out of the back of my car," he said. After college, Alvarez spent a year at California Western School of Law in San Diego before dropping out due to family pressures. "I fancied myself as a high-powered corporate attorney, but it wasn't in the cards." But Alvarez wouldn't trade any of his experiences. "This is the most interesting and rewarding work I've done my entire career," he said. Copyright c. 2006 Arizona Republic - azcentral.com. --------- "RE: S'Klallam Tribe is showing its Pride" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2006 08:39:26 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CULTURAL GAINS FOLLOW FINANCIAL GAINS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.northkitsapherald.com/portals-code/ list.cgi?paper=95&cat=23&id=681905&more= S'Klallam Tribe is showing its pride By Annie Tietje July 5, 2006 LITTLE BOSTON - The release of the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe's 2005 annual report showed in numbers that the tribe is improving and where the money was going. But it's difficult to give an accurate indication of how well the tribe is doing culturally through statistics. The largest project the tribe is working on, said Tribal Special Projects Director Greg Anderson, is the new Little Boston Library, which will be finished in 2007 and complete the House of Knowledge complex. With that in the works, the tribe's budget committee will meet in September to review annual funds and discuss potential projects. One proposal that is in the works is creating a system of trails throughout the S'Klallam reservation, Anderson said. "There are no sidewalks available," he said. "The idea is to create a trail system that will connect all the areas of the tribe together. It will be a place to exercise and a safe way to get around for people who live on the reservation." The projects aim to improve the community, but there are already several programs in place that are supporting traditional tribal values. "The tribe has seen a massive improvement, particularly because of education that has been gained," Anderson said. "As the educational levels have come up, the tribe has expanded services, employment has expanded. That makes a big big difference in the way people in the tribe act." The Port Gamble S'Klallam became self-governing in 1992, Anderson said, and took over many operations that had been run by state and federal offices. This allowed the tribe to focus on programs that supported issues its members believed to be important, among them was education. The tribe now provides a myriad of educational programs that promote learning at all levels. "An additional goal for the tribe is working to educate all tribal members so they can better help the community," said Tribal Career and Education Director Jill Metcalf. She said the college programs offered by the tribe - a two-year degree through Northwest Indian College and a four-year degree offered by The Evergreen State College - have been very popular with tribal members. There are currently 70 students enrolled in the two-year program. The tribe's educational center also has Homework Club for grades first through sixth, summer school and tutoring opportunities for different ages, among other programs. "We're talking with Olympic College about a cultural program," Metcalf said. "And we're working with the school district to implement cultural based curriculum about our tribe." Another program that has a lot to do with children and culture that is thriving is the foster care program. "Twenty-five years ago, we only had three homes on the reservation that were licensed foster homes," said Marilyn Olson, tribal director for children and families. "Jolene Sullivan set up our program. Since January of 2005, we had 13 licensed families, and we were ready to license two more." The foster care program works hard to place children in homes that will keep them in the tribal culture, Olson said. Displaced children from the tribe need to stay in an environment that will nurture their traditional beliefs, and Olson said with the licensing of more families, that is becoming more and more possible. "Most satisfying is the pride you see right here," Anderson said. "You can't measure that people are more interested in their culture. You have to see the change in attitude." Copyright c. 2006 North Kitsap Herald. --------- "RE: Teach Writing with the Blackfeet Culture in Mind" --------- Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2006 08:44:11 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TEACHING WITH CULTURE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.goldentrianglenews.com/articles/2006/07/06/ glacier_reporter/news/news7.txt Teachers taught how to teach writing, with the Blackfeet culture in mind. By John McGill, Glacier Reporter Editor July 5, 2006 "I targeted the Blackfeet Reservation because I taught at Heart Butte for years, and my kids come from Northern Piegan in Canada," said Laurie Smith-Small Waisted Bear, co-director of Indian Education at the University of Montana. She and Blackfeet Community College's Woody Kipp spoke about their collaborative work at the Niitsitapi Writing Project held June 5-23 at BCC. BCC instructor Woody Kipp (left) and Montana Writing Project instructor Laurie Smith-Small Waisted Bear (fourth from left) worked with 10 students at the BCC Niitsitapi Writing Project, including (from left) Brenda Johnson, Beth Lask, Anne Campbell, Missy Worthy, Cut Bank visitor Carol Morgan and Gail Bear Child Everybody Talks About. Photo by John McGill "This is the first time a writing project's been held on an Indian reservation since 1978," Smith-Small Waisted Bear said. "It's a summer institute designed to create teacher-consultants so they can hold their own writing projects." Smith-Small Waisted Bear noted there was one other tribally based writing project, that located at Rosebud Sioux in South Dakota. It is Smith-Small Waisted Bear's home and the place she met Woody Kipp while he was teaching there. Ten students attended the Niitsitapi Writing Project, said Kipp. "This course prepares teachers to design, implement and evaluate methods of integrating writing instruction into content area instruction with Blackfeet ways of knowing," states the course purpose. Kipp and Smith- -Small Waisted Bear noted the course works directly into Montana's Indian Education For All Act. While the students spent nearly three weeks learning about Blackfeet ways of life, they presented their own written works in a public reading at City Park in Browning Friday evening, June 23. "I pushed for Browning this time," said Smith-Small Waisted Bear of her efforts to bring the writing project to Blackfeet country, "but in the future we'll send invitations out to all the tribal colleges and teachers, including non-Natives." Health-related issues such as diabetes also will be studied. "It won't make a dent into the problem unless the entire tribe buys into the situation of respecting each other and unity," Jacobs said. "It's a terrible situation. Some people don't have the level of respect for life or their own life. That needs to be reversed." In 2005, at least six of the county's 21 murders involved Lumbees accused of killing fellow tribe members, according to the Robeson County Sheriff's Office. Many cases were drug-related, Lumberton Police Chief Robert Grice said. "In order to have an impact on the homicide rate, we will have to do something about drugs and have more resources to deal with the aftermath of drug use," Grice said. Jacobs said the problem shouldn't be the responsibility of police and hopes tribal members will work together. "This is not just a law enforcement problem. It is a family and tribal situation," Jacobs said. Copyright c. 2006 Browning Glacier Reporter - Golden Triangle News. Copyright c. 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Mohawk Athlete overcomes Stabbing" --------- Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2006 08:44:11 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BAYONET AT OKA DOES NOT END VALIANT LIFE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.tribstar.com/sports/feeds/apcontent/ apstories/apstorysection/D8IMNH0O0.xml.txt/resources_apstoryview Mohawk Athlete Overcomes Stabbing By ARNIE STAPLETON The Associated Press July 6, 2006 DENVER - Waneek Horn-Miller, the most decorated athlete at the North American Indigenous Games and one of the world's best water polo players, easily could have called it quits after she was stabbed in the chest during the 1990 Oka standoff in Canada. The soldier's bloody bayonet didn't take her life, and she realized even at 14 that if she allowed her heart to fill with anger her spirit would be as broken as her body. "It was awful. It was really awful. I got post-traumatic stress disorder from it. But you can't give all your power over to that," Horn-Miller said. "You can't give them so much power that they take away your dreams." Her visions, nourished by a single mother of four, were to rise above the drawbacks she faced on the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory on the south shore of Montreal, never to back down from the good fight. Her stabbing became the symbol of the summer-long standoff at the Kanesatake reserve in Oka between Mohawks and Canadian authorities over a proposed golf course expansion, and it served as the briquette for a life of accomplishment. "I got stabbed and I kept thinking, 'I can spend the rest of my life explaining to people I was a great swimmer, I was a great water polo player, I was a great runner, but this happened to me and that's why I didn't go on,'" Horn-Miller said. "I mean, can you imagine? That's an incredible amount of power to give somebody who's done wrong to you." Instead, she's spent the last 16 years excelling in athletics and academics, serving as an inspiration to countless indigenous peoples. The first female Mohawk to compete at the Olympic Games, she served as co-captain of Canada's water polo team at Sydney in 2000. She runs the native student center at McGill University in Montreal, where she operates a sports camp for elite athletes, a hook, really, to interest them in a secondary education. Along the way, she's won dozens of gold medals at the North American Indigenous Games. "For me it's not about winning tons of medals. It's just about being involved," said Horn-Miller, who swam in the senior division in Denver this week. "I'm still pretty competitive. But these games for me has changed. I'm more of a role model." And not just for the younger generation. "She's defended the sovereignty of our land," said Olympic champion Billy Mills, a Lakota Sioux Indian. "She's defended the existence, the culture, the tradition, the spirituality and the sovereignty of the Indian people during her journey." Horn-Miller isn't shy about revealing the thick scar just above her heart as she recounts for the thousandth time the sword that sliced through her flesh on that September night 16 years ago. "It's something that's a part of me," she said. "I think it represents a lot of obstacles that our people faced, whether it's re-traumatization through the generations or personal trauma. Mine just happened on a national stage." She said she felt obligated to turn her experience into empowerment. "We come from a people that never back down," Horn-Miller said. "Whatever nation you are, we've all been through trauma and if our ancestors didn't rise to the occasion every time and didn't suffer and didn't struggle to survive, we wouldn't be here. And that's how we develop that grit, that toughness deep down when it really matters. We have that in us." As the more than 7,000 athletes from 23 states and 11 Canadian provinces gathered in Colorado this week, Horn-Miller said she was particularly proud of those who were the first to leave their tribes to compete on such a big, faraway stage, some of whom aspire to follow in her footsteps into mainstream competition. "It's scary, yeah, it's terrifying to be the first. It's lonely," Horn- Miller said. "Let me tell you it was lonely my entire career. Lonely. That's why these games are so important to me because I get to look around and say, 'My God. Native people everywhere!'" And when you're not the anomaly, when people are staring at you not because of what you are but because of who you are, sport is stripped to its very core. "You're not 'the native' water polo player. You're not, 'Oh, look, it's the native.' You're with everybody else and it's boiled down to speed, strength, skill," Horn-Miller said. "That's what's special about these games." Copyright c. 1995-2006 The Terre Haute Tribune Star. Copyright c. 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: What it means to be Osage" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2006 08:39:26 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="COMMITTING TO TRIBE AND FAMILY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7980 What it means to be Osage Louis Gray July 6, 2006 I typically do not go on vacations; like other families my "off-time" is usually devoted to tribal events. This year was no different, except for one little detail: My grandson was being put into the Osage I Lon Ska dances. As some of you know, it is the traditional dance of the Osage people. Or as the late Morris Lookout said, "it is the one thing the Osages agree on." The dance itself is a celebration of the life and times of the first- born son of an Osage family. Some translate I Lon Ska as "The Playground of the First Son." That is pretty accurate. Like other cultures, the Osage placed a lot of emphasis on the raising of the first-born son because he would carry on the family legacy. And like other cultures, much was expected from the First Son. Even more was expected from the First grandson. It goes off the chart for the young Osage who is the First Grandson of two Osage families. Meet Eli Red Eagle. He is affectionately known as "Baby E," to differentiate between him and his father, my son-in- law Eli Red Eagle. So the ceremony conducted by families to put the son into Osage society is full of anticipation and anxiety to do get it right. For some this means putting the finest clothes on the child, basically doing the best they can to make it special for the legacy. Planning can take several years. Enter my daughter, Gina Red Eagle, also know known as "Sissy," a name to denote the oldest daughter in our family. On my side Sissy is the daughter of Louis and Anita Eaves Gray (now Maker). On her Pawnee side she is the great- great granddaughter of Rising Sun. On her mothers side she is the granddaughter of Armeda Lookout and Henry and Dora Lookout. Sissy is also the great-great granddaughter of beloved Osage Chief Fred Lookout and his wife, Julia Lookout. Sissy also claims lineage to Chief White Hair on her mother's side. From my side, Sissy is the granddaughter of the late Andrew "Buddy" Gray and Margaret Gray of Pawhuska. From my father's side she is the granddaughter of Clarence and Jeannie Gray. She is also the granddaughter of famed Band Chief Wyu Hawkee. On my mother's side is a direct descendant of Band Chief Wah tian Kah who is given credit for making the case for the Osage people to come to Oklahoma. Sissy is also the niece of present Osage Chief James Gray. On Baby E's paternal side, he is the grandson of Eddy and Mattie Redeagle of Barnsdall. Eddy is also fresh off his election to the recently created Osage Congress. Eli is also the grandson of Ed Redeagle Sr., or as he was known to the Osage people, "Uncle Ed." Uncle Ed Redeagle was the long time cultural and political leader of the Osage people as a Roadman of the Native American Church, Head Committee man of the I Lon Ska dances for Pawhuska, and Assistant Chief of the Osage Tribe. Eli is also claims Chief Paul Redeagle and Governor Joe, who led the Osage people to Oklahoma in 1872. This makes his induction certainly anticipated, but also nerve-wracking. Much of the worry was borne by Sissy and grandmothers Mattie Redeagle and Anita Maker. They were charged with the task of making the baby's outfit. Anita is a well-known seamstress and maker of Osage clothes. Mattie was to take care of the buckskin leggings, shirts and otter hide. Anita and Sissy would make the suit. Eddy and I would stay out of the way and agree to do anything else needing to be done. Sissy wanted to make this day special, so she planned to do something very rare: Bring Baby E in on a horse. This has only been done once in the last couple of decades. I remember Jim Ed Thomas riding in on a horse. The horse was the most valuable possession of the Osage family during the days when the dance was first introduced to our people. The horse meant life itself. It provided transportation and wealth to any family who owned one. To give a horse was the height of value for both the receiver and giver. It is rarely done nowadays, not because people don't respect the old tradition or can't afford one, but because it is difficult to bring a horse into the dances without risking injuries from a large animal unaccustomed to the sound of bells on several hundred knees. The other liabilities and worries are obvious. As was discussed, no one would fault us for bringing the horse to the door of the dances and then turning it around to rest in safer environs. But the tradition is to have the son ride in and then turn the reigns over to the recipient of the gift, in this case the drumkeeper. Sissy wanted Baby E to do the whole thing. Sissy and Eli found a nice little paint horse that, as luck would have it, had spent much of his life giving rides to youngsters at rodeos. Buggy, as Baby E named him, liked children. But the grandpas thought it wise to get the little horse accustomed to the sound of bells. So in the weeks leading up to June 23rd, Buggy rode Baby E complete with the sound of bells. Buggy did not flinch. Meanwhile Sissy and the grandmothers were pulling all niters working on the clothes for their grandson. I'm leaving so much out, but I'm trying to hit the highlights as I remember them. It is June 23rd and Baby E is scheduled to go in after the first water break in the afternoon. Per tradition, Sissy can select an honored member of her family to dress her son. She chose the grandmothers. While relatives all around him E was dressed with love and care. Nervous laughter punctuated the afternoon. As we all dressed the horse arrived. His blanket was prepared and the eagle feather tied to the tail. Buggy was ready. To insure safety, Eddy and Eli would walk on both sides of the horse. Baby E was going to ride the horse right in to the dance with his family walking right behind him. Wah Kon Tah must have smiled on us all because everything went well as Baby E rode the horse into the dances in a time-honored tradition. On Baby E's head was the hundred-year-old roach of Joe Redeagle. Our Osage families sighed a breath of relief and felt good that, like other Osage families who placed their beloved children into the dances, we all did the best we could. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Excavators utilizing eco-friendly techniques" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2006 08:39:26 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ETOWAH MOUNDS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/local/14973598.htm?source=rss&channel=macon_local Excavators utilizing eco-friendly techniques to probe sacred ground Macon Telegraph By Greg Bluestein ASSOCIATED PRESS July 6, 2006 CARTERSVILLE - In a lonely field a few feet from the shade of a towering American Indian mound, a graying medicine man charts the progress of the crew probing his ancestral stomping grounds for ruins. Tim Thompson, the soft-spoken spiritual leader for the ceremonial Hickory Ground, scribbles measurements on a crisp white tablet as a ground-penetrating radar system rolls across the grassy pasture, yielding a series of blips and dips on a colorless computer screen. In a few days, the data they painstakingly record will be used to jot a map of ancient structures and relics buried deep in the sacred soil of the Etowah Indian Mounds site in northwest Georgia. Yet even if the data can pinpoint exactly where American Indian artifacts are buried, Thompson would just as rather leave them alone. "To us, preservation means putting something in the ground and leaving it there," said Thompson, a member of the Henrietta, Okla.-based Muscogee Nation, which once settled the area. "To a non-Indian perspective, it means keeping it pretty." As he speaks, the archaeologist standing next to him can't help but sag his shoulders. Adam King has dedicated his career to unearthing the ruins locked beneath the site in hopes of shedding more light on how the land's first settlers lived. Word that he might not be able to excavate parts of the site is, to say the least, discouraging. "I'd be disappointed if we couldn't excavate," he responded. "But it's not my history to do with what I want. And I've come to terms with that." King is on the vanguard of a group of conscientious archaeologists, a class of excavators dedicated to studying ruins but also seeking to cooperate with the natives who want to keep the land unscathed. By its very nature, King's hesitancy to dig up the ancient site clashes with one of the main tenets of excavators: To investigate ruins and uncover the secrets locked within the ground. Yet King and others have turned to a new set of tools to scout for relics without actually upsetting the ancient grounds. On one side of the mounds, a group of University of Texas graduate students pushes a wheelbarrow-like instrument across stretches of land to gauge the magnetism of the soil, to find burned areas and filled-in holes. Down a stretch of rocky path, students from Texas State-San Marcos uses the radar system to delve how far down the objects may be. When taken together, the remote access tools can give scientists a measurement of where and how deep priceless artifacts can be found. Last year, the remote sensors generated a black and white map on the top of the site's 64-foot mound, revealing what was once a complex of buildings. "It's kind of like doing an X-Ray. It's not replacing excavation but allows us to pinpoint it, to be really specific," said Chet Walker, a University of Texas graduate student who spent a week scouting the area. It's very different from the techniques that once dominated the digging scene, when scientists could cordon off entire areas and uncover vast tracts of land. The Etowah mounds were not immune to this spree, and some 9 percent of the 54-acre site were excavated in different phases until officials tightened regulations. Now researchers must gain approval from state officials and American Indian groups before putting a shovel in the ground. "We used to be able to dig wherever the hell we wanted and do with it what we wanted," King said. "Now it's not that simple. And I don't have a problem with that." The area he hopes to study fans out from a series of clean-shaven mounds that once were a status symbol of the most powerful leaders in the Etowah chiefdom. Temples, important cultural symbols and the homes of the elite were once constructed on the tops of the mounds, and hundreds - if not thousands - of villagers fanned out below. Today, about 30,000 of the 300,000 mounds that once dotted the country still remain. "Americans have no sense that this is their history," said Kent Reilly, a professor of anthropology at Texas State-San Marcos who studies the cultural and religious symbols. "There's nothing sadder than to lose your past. We ought to be proud of this." If given the right to excavate, King said he'll use the most innocuous of techniques. Researchers would dig squares that are but one-meter-wide, 10-centimeters-deep over areas where research revealed there are likely relics. Then the dirt would by sifted through and immersed in water to reveal even the tiniest of bone fragments, tool remnants and other minuscule objects. Despite King's best intentions, Thompson, however, is not so certain. A few years back, when he brought 25 village elders to the site, many broke down in emotion just looking at the remnants of their ancient civilization. They would rather see a sacred site unscathed than see remnants from its excavation locked in a museum. He takes a break from jotting down measurements to walk the unscathed field, dotted only by the occasional flag that marks the radar's progress. "This," Thompson said with a smile, "is our way of preserving." Copyright c. 2006 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: JODI RAVE: Indigenous Games propel Rights" --------- Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2006 09:57:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JODI RAVE: INDIGENOUS GAMES, INDIGENOUS RIGHTS" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2006/07/02/jodirave/rave13.txt Denver games set to propel vision of world indigenous competition By JODI RAVE of the Missoulian July 2, 2006 DENVER - Willie Littlechild arrived in the Mile High City on Saturday from Switzerland, where he shared his global vision of sports for indigenous people around the world. Littlechild, a co-founder of the North American Indigenous Games, is at the forefront of creating the foundation for a World Indigenous Nations Games, which