_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 15, ISSUE 004 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, WOTANGING IKCHE - Lakota - Common News Wotanging Ikche and Native American News Copyright c. 1996-2007 nanews.org Aboriginal/AmerIndian Perspective about the First Nations of Turtle Island January 27, 2007 Kiowa kaguat p'a san/little bud moon Abenaki alamikos/greetings maker moon Eastern Cherokee nvda kanawoga/cold moon Mohawk tsothohrhko:wa/moon of the big cold Passmamquoddy opolahsomuwehs/whirling wind moon Anishnaabe Gichi-Manidoo-giizis/Great Spirit 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; www.indiancountrytoday.com; Mailing Lists: Chiapas95-En, CIEPAC-I, Frostys AmerIndian, and Native American Poetry; 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: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + =================== 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: "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 +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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 Sisters The legacy of racism and racial intolerance is alive and well in border towns throughout Indian Country. Articles in this and recent issues focus on the anti-Indian attitude in towns bordering the Navajo Nation, but I have personally witnessed this vile illness in every border community I have ever lived in or visited. It is just as alive and unwell in Rapid City SD, Minneapolis MN and Buffalo NY as it is in Farmington NM and Flagstaff AZ. It is amazing to observe the same determination exerted in border towns to keep a strip of liquor stores lining the reservations (White Clay, Shiprock...) as it is to continue to dump filth and sludge that leaks into the reservation water supply or to deface or defile a place sacred to area tribes (Snowbowl). Indians were forced onto the most hostile and least desirable (at that time) places when reservations and reserves were formed, but when the almighty dollar raises its ugly head, watch the dominant society try to steal it back (Black Hills, Oklahoma, and more recently Oka and New Caledonia). In some cases the racism is subtle... Souvenirs that depict "Chief Wahoo" like images with "Tonto Talk" phrases on them. In other cases the graphic displays and even more graphic violence are testimony to the truth. Many members of the dominant society regard the first inhabitants of Turtle Island as soulless animals, unworthy of human compassion. This stems directly from the Papal Bulls that the Vatican has yet to rescind. If one of the dominant religions doesn't regard Native Americans as human beings why should little Johnny? All too often crimes against Native Peoples are swept under the rug or downplayed. In some cases the perpetrators of the crimes were the police themselves - does the name Ironchild ring a bell? Many make light of the Indian mascot issue, but it is real. Indian Mascots give one group of human beings permission to treat another group of human beings as as caricatures and to, again, regard them as less than human. Until institutions like the Catholic church and Universities take the initiative to treat all humans with respect and dignity, you can expect others to regard Indians in a lesser light. They have been given tacit permission to do so by their religious and secular teachers. 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 ----------- Editorial Section: - Potawatomi Tribe . Disrespect is Institutional buys Federal Contractor - University asked - GEORGE BENGE: to return Illiniwek Regalia Open season on Native Students - University claims - Opinion: The power Illiniwek feathers returned of Navajo Voters in jeopardy - Facebook postings - JODI RAVE: Think Tank alarm UI Officials looks at US Health Plans - Improved Indian Health Care - YELLOW BIRD: discussed Climate gets too hot to ignore - Senator works to increase - JODI RAVE: access to Health Clinics Native Youth reading for fun - Intelligence Report: - GIAGO: How many others Hate crimes in Border Town will die over Iraq? - Settlement offers remain viable - JODI RAVE: Indian Nations in Cobell Case use of Scenic Byway Pgm - EPA Superfund cleanup turns messy - Me'tis Residential School - Tensions run high missed in Compensation at final Black Mesa DEIS Hearing - CIEPAC, JBG - Mining decision angers Tribe denunciation from Oventic - Ice Storm effects - Whitedog School closed Rural Indian Community until further notice - When it's 30 below, - Algonquins have started any Fuel will do to block a Forestry Operation - Appeals court revives - Sask. Me'tis expecting Mixed-blood Ute Lawsuit new deal on Weapons Range - Congressman pushes for - B.C. bands get down to business land transfer for Pechangas - Home invasion leaves Man - Raising a new Nation in Serious Condition - Representative Rehberg - Navajo man fights for focuses on Indian issues discharge from Marines - Rehberg will help - Cass Lake Pedistrian killed Little Shell gain Recognition when struck by Car - New Akaka Bill - Native Justice has different Features -- Unsolved Crimes - Women concerned about - Rustywire: Forever fate of their Culture - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - Reviving Language - Lee Goins Poem: My Passion a full-time, paying job - Red Crow Westerman honors the 'Man in Black' --------- "RE: University asked to return Illiniwek Regalia" --------- Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2007 10:47:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FAMILY REQUESTS RETURN OF REGALIA, OST DENOUNCES MASCOT" http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20070119/NEWS03/701190322/1001/NEWS Tribal resolution decries mascot University asked to return regalia By Peter Harriman pharrima@argusleader.com January 19, 2007 The volatile Indian mascot issue has erupted anew at the University of Illinois with a resolution this week from the Oglala Sioux Tribe denouncing use of the Chief Illiniwek symbol. The OST executive committee passed a resolution Wednesday declaring "the antics of persons playing 'Chief Illiniwek' perpetuates a degrading racial stereotype that reflects negatively on all American Indian people." The executive committee also called on the UI to return traditional Lakota buckskin regalia given to the university by Frank Fools Crow, an OST elder, in 1982 and worn by students portraying Chief Illiniwek since. Mel Lone Hill of Pine Ridge claims a personal stake in the issue. "That regalia happens to be mine," the grandson of Fools Crow said. "He borrowed it and took it and gave it away. He took it with him to Illinois, and he came back without it," Lone Hill says of his grandfather. Like other universities with Indian sports mascots and university symbols, Illinois has defended its use of Chief Illiniwek by pointing to Indian support wherever it can. At a recent Congressional higher education field hearing in Illinois, Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Ill., a UI alumnus, "stated that many communities, including the Oglala Sioux Tribe, were on board with maintaining the tradition of Chief Illiniwek," according to John McKinn, assistant director of academic programming for the UI's Native American House, which runs the university's Indian Studies program and delivers cultural services to the UI's approximately 100 Native American students. That prompted the OST resolution this week. It also prompted Eileen Janis, administrative assistant to the tribal president, to look into the issue further, and she says she learned that "Frank Fools Crow was really disappointed. He didn't think that suit was going to be used in that way." Lone Hill, the administrative assistant to the OST vice president, seconds that. "He thought it was going to be something that would help present cultural activities for the school," not be a mascot's costume, he said. UI trustees met in Chicago all day Thursday in their annual meeting. The OST resolution was not on the agenda. "Our response is the university will review the resolution and take it under advisement," says Thomas Hardy, executive director of university relations. He said university officials are "considering changes in the Chief Illiniwek tradition" partly in response to National Collegiate Athletic Association pressure on schools to drop Indian mascots. The NCAA won't allow schools with such mascots to host championship competitions. Lone Hill doesn't see the Illini play football or basketball on TV. Consequently, he's never caught a glimpse of his buckskins. But he harbors hope the executive committee's resolution will prompt the UI to return the regalia. "It was just a loaner. I'd like to get it back and see what condition it's in. If it needs work, I can do the repair myself," he said. Reach Peter Harriman at 575-3615. Copyright c. 2006 Sioux Falls Argus Leader. --------- "RE: University claims Illiniwek feathers returned" --------- Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 08:18:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="UNIV/ILL SAYS HEADDRESS FEATHERS ALREADY RETURNED" http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/01/22/news/state/state01.txt University: Illiniwek feathers returned The Associated Press January 22, 2007 CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The chairman of the University of Illinois board of trustees says the school will decide this year whether to continue its use of the Chief Illiniwek mascot. But the ongoing controversy yielded a new mystery this week: What became of two sets of eagle feathers associated with the costume? The Oglala Sioux tribe last week demanded that the university return the mascot's costume, which was sold to the school by past Sioux elder Frank Fools Crow and included eagle feathers considered sacred to American Indians. Fools Crow's wife had made the costume and the university bought it, minus the headdress, in 1982. A feathered headdress was loaned to the school, University Associate Chancellor Robin Kaler said Friday. The eagle feathers since have been replaced by turkey feathers. Kaler said the headdress that included the eagle feathers was shipped in 1991 to a member of the tribe, Anthony Whirlwind Horse, who had agreed to get them to a descendant of Fools Crow. In a 1991 letter to Whirlwind Horse, a copy of which was given Friday to The Associated Press, then-Associate Chancellor Judith Rowan thanked him for having found Fools Crow's daughter. Kaler said another set of feathers were sent at some point to Fools Crow to rework another headdress, but the university isn't sure where they are. Another 1991 letter from Rowan, this one to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, indicates they may have been lost. The federal agency enforces a law that prohibits the sale of eagle feathers. "The death of Chief Fools Crow last year leads me to believe that this mystery is likely to remain unsolved," Rowan wrote in 1991. Eileen Janis, the administrative assistant to tribal President John Steele, said Friday that the Oglala Sioux tribe doesn't believe it received the feathers. Whirlwind Horse was a tribe member, she said, and worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs before his death. She wasn't sure when he died. The South Dakota-based tribe's three-member executive council made its demands in a resolution to the university board of trustees. The tribe's resolution says that a grandson of Fools Crow, Mel Lone Hill, said he never liked the way the regalia was used. A number of messages left at Oglala Sioux offices in Pine Ridge, S.D., for Lone Hill and members of the executive committee Thursday and Friday were not returned. But Lone Hill told The (Champaign) News-Gazette that the regalia was a gift to the school from his grandfather, something he otherwise would have inherited. "It didn't come from the tribe, it came from my grandfather," he told the paper. The Sioux resolution was delivered to the board ahead of its Thursday meeting in Chicago. Board Chairman Lawrence C. Eppley opened Thursday's meeting by reading a list of priorities for the university system for this year, among them resolution of the long-standing controversy over Illiniwek. The NCAA considers the use of the Illiniwek mascot and the dance performed by the students who portray the chief to be "hostile and abusive" toward American Indians. The Illini have been barred by the NCAA since 2005 from hosting postseason sports. The mascot issue has received renewed attention in recent weeks after an American Indian student at the university was threatened on a Web site devoted to defending the use of the chief mascot. The university has said it is investigating. Copyright c. 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 2007 Rapid City Journal. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Facebook postings alarm UI Officials" --------- Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:47:42 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="UI CAMPUS RACISM" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://media.www.dailyillini.com/media/storage/paper736/news/2007 /01/16/News/Facebook.Postings.Alarm.Ui.Officials-2633563.shtml Facebook postings alarm UI officials Group brings racial tensions to forefront By: Matt Spartz January 16, 2007 The University's struggle for racial tolerance took another hit, this time from comments made on a pro-Chief Facebook group's wall. Two students posted derogatory comments towards American Indians on the wall of the "If They Get Rid of the Chief I'm Becoming a Racist" group and threatened a University graduate student. These students could face disciplinary action from the University or legal actions for hate crimes. The pro-Chief group has since been removed from Facebook but was formed as far back as early November. The first controversial post was written on Nov. 20. "What they don't realize is that there was never a racist problem before," wrote one of the students. "But now I hate redskins and hope all those drunk, casino owning bums die." But action was prompted from a second post on Dec. 2. "Apparently the leader of this movement is of Sioux descent. Which means what, you ask? The Sioux indians are the ones that killed off the Illini indians, so she's just trying to finish what her ancestors started. I say we throw a tomohawk into her face." A press release by the University's American Indian Studies program and Native American House brought these threats to light on Jan. 8, calling for the University to take legal and disciplinary action against these students. Chancellor Richard Herman sent a mass e-mail to the members of the C-U community explaining that the University has spent 140 years creating a "welcoming environment" and that he "will not tolerate such violent threats." The incident has been referred to the Office of Student Conflict Resolution, which will determine if the student code can apply disciplinary action to these students. Herman said in his e-mail the University "will take all legal and disciplinary action available." But not every student in the group knew it harbored such extreme views. Lizzy Cunningham, freshman in LAS, was one of the 110 members but had never seen the postings before the issue blew up. "I don't know what the people were thinking when they wrote them," she said. "But they were really inappropriate." Other pro-Chief organizations have addressed this issue, too. Students For Chief Illiniwek, a registered student organization at the University, came to the forefront of the conflict, attempting to separate themselves from the negative stigma these students put onto the pro-Chief group. "Our organization and its members are not involved in or responsible for the comments in question," wrote Paul Schmitt, vice president of the student group, in a press release. "We feel that these comments highlight the need for further education on the history of the Chief Illiniwek tradition..." But others feel these threats towards a American Indian student illustrate a larger problem at the University. Wanda Pillow, director of the Native American House and American Indian Studies program, said this incident shows the need for campus administration and the Board of Trustees to address the issues of race on campus, along with resolving the debate over the Chief. "The anti-Indian attitudes that were expressed on the webpage demonstrate the hostile and abusive environment which persists for people of color at the University," said Pillow in an e-mail interview. There are Facebook groups for students who are anti-Chief, or more broadly, against racism. Lindsey Bever, senior in LAS, created the group "Students Against Racist Mascots." She said the Facebook group shows how the Chief can make people unattached to what the Chief should represent. "They may have thought it (the post) was funny at the time," she said. "But now they may realize that it was dumb to write." But there are other groups that try to further the fight to abolish the use of the Chief. Ronu Ghoshal, a University alum, created an anti-Chief group with the hope to bring more attention to the fight against the Chief. "I do not believe that most Chief supporters are racist or hateful individuals," he said in an e-mail interview. "Rather, I felt that through this group, I could express just how strongly many of us feel about the need to remove the Chief." The issues of race-relations on the C-U campus has been noted specifically by James Kaplan, chairman of the Illinois Board of Higher Education. He said the University is the only one in the state that he knows of with specific race-related incidents, referring also to the exchange earlier in the year between the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity and Delta Delta Delta sorority. Kaplan said the board works to promote diversity as a "valuable element at universities." About the Facebook incident, he said, "When you belittle any of us, you belittle all of us." Chancellor Herman in his e-mail invited the community to a forum addressing the ways to create a more welcoming campus environment. The forum will be held on Feb. 1 at 4 p.m. in Foellinger Auditorium. "The plans for the forum are already in place due to some theme parties we had earlier," said Herman, adding that he hopes this will be "a way forward, a way to declare our shared values and make sure we act on them everyday." The Daily Illini staff contributed to this report. Copyright c. 2007 The Daily Illini. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Improved Indian Health Care discussed" --------- Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 08:59:39 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INDIAN HEALTH CARE" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/ articles/0116indianhealth0116.html Improved Indian health care discussed Sadie Jo Smokey The Arizona Republic January 16, 2007 Health care is not a legal right at birth, unless you're a member of a federally recognized American Indian tribe. The U.S. government, which signed treaties promising health services in exchange for land and natural resources, provides health care to more than 1.5 million American Indians and Alaska Natives who belong to more than 557 federally recognized tribes in 35 states. Dr. Don Warne, president and CEO of American Indian Health Management and Policy in Tempe, says Indian Health Service, the agency responsible for providing federal health services, receives inadequate funding and its resources suffer as a result. AIHMP hosts the first American Indian Health Policy Conference on Thursday and Friday at the Fort McDowell Reservation to help Arizona tribes find creative ways to improve services and access to health-care funding. advertisement Warne, 40, also teaches American Indian health policy at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. Question: Why focus on American Indian health policy? Answer: Many conferences either focus on specific diseases or specific issues in health care. Our goal is to work with tribal programs to improve access to quality health care. Policy determines what kind of funding is available and priorities. We have to know these to improve access. Q: What is the funding for Indian Health Service compared with other federal agencies? A: Per capita, for Indian Health Service, it's about $1,914 per person per year. Federal prisons is about $3,803 per person per year. Medicaid is $3, 879 per person per year. If you're a convicted federal prisoner, you have double the (health) resources than if you're a Native American child. There's no way policymakers would accept this for their own families. Q: Is one segment of the Native American population at more of a disadvantage than another due to underfunding? A: We have unique issues for urban Indians. A lot of people moved to the cities for education and occupational opportunities. About 60 percent of American Indians live in urban settings; only 40 percent live on reservations. We have a whole segment, a majority, of enrolled American Indian members that have decreased access to health care because they live in cities. Nowhere is it written that once they move to the city, they forfeit their access to health care. Q: What resources are available for urban Indians? Do they have to return to the reservation to receive health services or medical treatment? A: You don't have to live on the reservation, but the funding for urban clinics is terribly low, about $1 million per year per clinic. There are currently 34 Urban Indian Health centers. Three are in Arizona - Flagstaff, Phoenix and Tucson. We have a lot more (tribal) members who have private insurance. We need to charge (private) third-party insurance, to charge Medicare and Medicaid. It's increasing resources to increase provision of care. Q: Why should American Indians with health or dental insurance through their employer pay for services that are free for their relations who don't have insurance? A: Basically, because of underfunding, IHS can provide primary-care services, but limited access to specialty care and long-term care. For example, oncology, intensive treatment cardiology, heart and lung specialists. Since we don't have specialists working in (IHS clinics), we have to contract with private sector providers. By charging third-party insurance, this frees up more dollars. This has tremendous impact on our ability to access specialty care. Q: Why don't wealthier tribes with greater financial resources assist tribes without successful economic development? A: I hear that argument a lot, especially from fiscal conservatives. What they're advocating for is socialism. I agree that we should help each other, but we shouldn't hold tribes to a higher standard than we hold everyone else. There are over 40 million uninsured people and another 40 million underinsured people in this country. Are wealthy non-Indian people responsible to pay for health care for all the impoverished non-Indians? The local tribes surrounding Phoenix have been very helpful in supporting the urban programs with grants, primarily. Q: How much money does IHS need to adequately provide services for American Indians? A: Some studies estimate, depending on the area of IHS, if we doubled the budget, we'd have adequate service. There's a federal employees benchmark, $3,800 per person per year. Funding for IHS should be equivalent. If we can come up with $80 billion to start a war, we should be able to come up with another $3 billion to improve the health of the first inhabitants of the nation. Reach the reporter at sadiejo.smokey@arizonarep ublic.com or (602) 444-8148. Copyright c. 2007, azcentral.com. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Senator works to increase access to Health Clinics" --------- Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 08:18:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DIFFERENT VIEWS ON SENATE INDIAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/55598.html Senator works to increase access to Indian health clinics Mary Clare Jalonick | The Associated Press January 21, 2007 WASHINGTON - The new chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee is aiming to increase clinic hours and doctor availability on reservations. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who became chairman of the committee when Democrats took control of Congress this year, said he is working with the Indian Health Service to craft a bill to encourage more low-cost health care options for American Indians. "We have very serious problems in health care," he said. "I'd like to see a different model that provides more access for more hours and more days with walk-in health clinics." Dorgan also said he will push to immediately confirm a new head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. President Bush nominated Carl J. Artman to oversee the agency last year, but the nomination was held up in the Senate. Artman would replace Dave Anderson, who resigned in February 2005. "It's absolutely shameful that it's been vacant," Dorgan said. "It will be two years next month. We've got really serious, gripping problems on Indian reservations." The committee approved the nomination last year, but it never moved to the Senate floor because of an unidentified Republican senator who used a procedural move to block it. Dorgan said the committee also will push initiatives to help the many Indians who suffer from diabetes, and to curb teen violence and boredom on reservations. The committee also will be saddled with looking for ways to settle a 10- year-old class-action lawsuit against the Interior Department. A group of Indians accuses the government of mismanaging more than $100 billion in oil, gas, timber and other royalties from Indian lands, dating to 1887. Dorgan and the previous committee chairman, Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, introduced legislation last session to try to settle the dispute. But all sides still have not come to agreement. Dorgan said he has talked to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne about the lawsuit and is waiting for the department to send the committee a proposed settlement estimate. "I would hope if there's a way to settle this between the plaintiffs and the government out of court and get it behind us, I would hope we would do that," Dorgan said. Wyoming Sen. Craig Thomas, the top Republican on the committee, has less enthusiasm for a congressional role in the dispute. "It's pretty much up to the tribes and the administration," he said. "I don't think it ought to be up to us to decide how it happens." Thomas said economic development on traditionally poor reservations will be his top priority. Both Dorgan and Thomas said they would like to convene an economic policy conference to figure out better ways to bring jobs to tribes. Copyright c. 2007 he Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 2007 Santa Fe New Mexican, all rights reserved. --------- "RE: Intelligence Report: Hate crimes in Border Town" --------- Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 08:31:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: BORDER TOWN HATE" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=721 Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report: Indian Blood From the beginning, white Americans have brutalized American Indians. Half a millennium later, the hate goes on. by Susy Buchanan Winter 2007 FARMINGTON, N.M. - William Blackie's money ran out near midnight. His luck soon followed. It was a Saturday night, last June 4, when Blackie, a 46-year-old Navajo, left the bar at the Anasazi Inn on foot, walking west along one of Farmington's main drags. He later told police he'd only made it as far as the parking lot of the American Furniture store, a few blocks from the inn, when three white youths in a white pickup, who later admitted they were trolling for a victim, pulled alongside. They offered to give him a ride if he'd buy them beer with their money. Blackie agreed, and one of the men, C.L. Carnie, 20, got out of the cab and into the bed of the pickup, leaving Blackie to slide in next to passenger Freddie Brooks, also 20. In the driver's seat was 18-year-old John Winer, 6-foot, 5-inches, a ball cap pulled over his shaved head. As the truck pulled away from the parking lot it headed the wrong direction, away from town. Winer announced they weren't buying beer after all. Instead, he said, they were going to a "party" in a secluded area just north of town known as The Glades, a scrubby system of juniper- and sage-lined trails frequented by teenage partiers and mountain bikers. Blackie sensed trouble. He asked Winer to pull over so he could relieve himself and Winer did, but no sooner had Blackie stepped out than he was clocked hard and fast in the head with a club. He fell to the ground and tried to crawl away as the men stomped and kicked his prone body, shouting, "Die nigger! Just die!" When Blackie's pockets revealed only crumpled receipts and a bottle of medicine, Winer later told police they decided to "cut their losses," and left their victim bleeding in the desert. The taillights of the truck disappeared into the night. Blackie didn't need a mirror to know he was in a bad way. He could smell the blood pouring from the gaping wound in his head, and taste it streaming past his lips. Blood coated his neck and arms and quickly saturated his T-shirt. When he was sure the attackers had gone, Blackie dialed 911. He told the dispatcher he'd just been beat up by three white guys, didn't know where he was, and pleaded for help. Police were able to track his location through his cell phone and arrived 10 minutes later. Their report characterized Blackie's demeanor upon their arrival as "traumatized, untrusting and intimidated." He repeatedly begged officers not to shoot him. Pervasive Violence Anonymous tips led police to Winer, Carnie, and Brooks. All three have been charged with felony assault and kidnapping. They have also been charged with hate crimes, marking the first time prosecutors have ever filed hate crime charges in Farmington, a town with a history of brutal crimes against American Indians that dates back to the 1870s, when white residents reportedly used Navajos for target practice, shooting them on the streets for fun. In addition to setting a legal precedent, the attack on Blackie added to an alarming litany of violent crimes against American Indians that is not unique to this region of northwestern New Mexico. Violence against American Indians, much of it motivated by racial hatred, is a pervasive yet obscure problem that is especially prevalent in so-called "border towns" - majority-white cities abutting reservations - where cultures clash against the historical backdrop of institutionalized racism, cultural subjugation, and genocide. The Rocky Mountain region of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, a government fact-finding agency, said as much in 2003, when it proposed a large-scale investigation of racism and related issues in the border towns of seven states. But funding for the study was not forthcoming under the Bush Administration, according to commission regional director John Dulles. Barbara Perry, a social science professor at the University of Ontario, has traveled the country in recent years to interview nearly 300 American Indians in the first large-scale study of hate crimes in border towns. She estimates that only around 10% of hate crimes against Native Americans are reported to law enforcement authorities, blaming the low reporting rate in large part on "historical and contemporary experience with the police, and the perception they do not take Native American victimization seriously." Even the FBI's 2005 statistics on hate crimes that were reported to police show that while American Indians and Alaska Natives comprise only 1% of the U.S. population, they represent 2% of victims of racially motivated hate crimes. In 2004, a U.S. Department of Justice 10-year study entitled "American Indians and Crime" found a "disturbing picture of the victimization of American Indians and Alaska Natives." According to the Department of Justice study, the overall violent crime rate among American Indians and Alaska Natives is 100 per 1,000 persons, meaning one out of 10 American Indians or Native Americans has been a victim of violence. That rate is twice as high as the rate for blacks, two and a half times higher than whites, and four and a half times higher than Asians. The study also found that "American Indians are more likely than people of other races to experience violence at the hands of someone of a different race," with 70% of reported violent attacks perpetrated by non- Indians. Even to seasoned crime statisticians, the results were startling. "We now know that American Indians experience a much greater exposure to violence than other race groups," said co-author Lawrence A. Greenfeld. "The common wisdom was that blacks experience the highest exposure to violence." But the results didn't come as a surprise to Navajo leaders, who have long referred to Farmington as the "Selma, Ala., of the Southwest." "Just as some areas of the South remain hotbeds of racism because of the history of slavery and discrimination, the same can be said of areas where there are large Indian populations," said Raymond Foxworth, a scholarship coordinator for the American Indian College Fund who grew up on the Navajo reservation. "The historical treatment of Indians does indeed have contemporary significance. If we are willing to admit this about other groups, why can't the same be said with Indians?" Krazy Kowboy Killers Many incidents of violence against American Indians are easy to identify as racially motivated crimes, such as the assault last July 30 on 16-year- old Jordan Gruver at a county fair in Brandenburg, Ky. According to law enforcement reports, Gruver was beaten, kicked, spit on and doused with whiskey by two Klan skinheads who mistook him for an illegal immigrant. As they began their assault, calling him a "spic," Gruver protested that he was actually Native American. But what his race was apparently didn't matter to his tormentors so much as the race he wasn't - white - and they proceeded to break his jaw, ribs, wrist and teeth. The assault on Gruver was, by all appearances, a case of violence motivated primarily by prejudice and racial hatred - Gruver was not robbed, did not know his attackers, and was apparently chosen at random in a public place, based on the color of his skin. But in many other cases, American Indian victims of violence have been robbed as well as beaten, and seem to have been targeted as victims of opportunity. Often they were inebriated, alone, homeless, or all three. These factors often cloak the fundamental racism that frequently drives widespread violence against American Indians, whose history of persecution is longer than that of any other minority group in this country. That history, marked by displacement, disease, and mass murder, has been glorified in Hollywood even as it's glossed over in history textbooks. When Teddy Roosevelt in 1886 said, "I don't go so far as to think that the only good Indians are the dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every 10 are, and I shouldn't inquire too closely into the case of the 10th," the future president and war hero was simply voicing popular opinion, the sadistic echoes of which reverberate today. "You have to look at the history of Farmington and the Four Corners area [where Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico meet] and tie in the mythology and stereotypes about Indians who, until very recently, we've considered savages," says Dulles, of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. "It is possible that some white teenagers may not understand that [American Indians] are fellow human beings and somehow think they are of lesser significance. There are people who attack an Indian and don't consider it quite the same as attacking [a member of] another race." The Indians who've been attacked in the Four Corners region of New Mexico comprise a bitter and bloody roster of hundreds. In just the past decade, the victims have included Roy Castiano, a Navajo who in 1997 suffered a brain hemorrhage when he was beaten and kicked by four local men in Farmington. When police asked one of them, Blake Redding, why he and his cohorts had "rolled" Castiano, Redding replied, "Three-quarters of it was because he was Indian." The next year, Donald Tsosie was beaten to death with a shovel and tossed into a ravine. Then in 2000, Betty Lee accepted a ride from a white stranger, and ended up dead on the side of the road, her skull crushed with a sledgehammer. The men later convicted of the murders of Tsosie and Lee were part of a loosely affiliated gang of whites that went by the name KKK - for "Krazy Kowboy Killers." Sandstorm Chili Yazzie, president of the Shiprock Chapter of the Navajo Nation (the equivalent of the mayor of the closest reservation town to Farmington), was himself victimized back in 1978, when a white hitchhiker blew Yazzie's right arm off with two blasts from a .44 Magnum. The first bullet shattered the bones in his arm and continued into his rib cage. "The whole world was the color of a really bad sandstorm," Yazzie recalls. "Out of his poncho I saw a hole and some smoke coming out. I realized that he had a pistol pointed at me all this time from under his poncho." "I asked him, 'What are you doing, you crazy son of a bastard?' Then he shot me again." Yazzie spent a month in the hospital. The shooter served less than five years. Back then, Yazzie was a member of the radical American Indian Movement as well as the famous rock-and-roll protest band X-IT, which provided the soundtrack for the Red Power movement. Now 56, his black hair is woven with wisps of grey. His tactics have mellowed and his rhetoric has softened, but he remains a dedicated advocate for his people. In 1974, four years before he was shot, Yazzie took part in a series of dramatic marches organized by Farmington Navajos in response to a brutal triple-murder. Last September, 32 years later, Yazzie found himself leading a similar march of 1,500 Navajos protesting racism and violence after the attack on William Blackie, which occurred just two weeks after an assault on a Navajo undercover police officer by a white man with a knife. Yazzie says tempers ran hot among Navajos. "There were guys that wanted to come in here and take an eye for an eye. There are people capable of doing that," he says somberly. Yazzie likes to call himself a "reasonable radical," and his cool head calmed an explosive situation. "Chili Yazzie represents a new type of leadership in Navajo Country," says the Commission on Civil Rights' Dulles, adding that without Yazzie's influence on the community this summer, "There could have been serious disturbances, confrontations, even riots." Instead, the Sept. 2 memorial walk to commemorate victims of hate crimes was peaceful. Too peaceful for the likes of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley had consulted with in July during a visit to the Navajo capitol in Window Rock. "Marching is okay, I'm not saying it isn't," Farrakhan said, "but marching will never win the respect of those who are already looking down on us." Yazzie doesn't put much stock in what Farrakhan thinks, and considers him an unwelcome ally. "The walk was enough for those people who wanted to do something," he says. Speaking slowly, his words carefully measured, Yazzie says that Farmington is haunted by racially motivated violence. As he speaks, the phantom of his missing limb enters the conversation, as the stump of his right arm moves slightly under his suit jacket in concert with the sweeping gestures of his left. "I try to be fair to the city of Farmington," he says. "We recognize that the vast majority of the community are good people who do not tolerate racism. But there's a small group of people who make it difficult for everyone." The latest episodes have resurrected bad memories of bodies bruised, beaten, and bludgeoned. Each time another Navajo is attacked it reopens wounds as deep as the canyons where many of their bodies have been found. 'Our Dusky Neighbors' Farmington, N.M., population 43,000 (63% white, 18% Indian), is a center of commerce in northwestern New Mexico. The streets bustle with reservation shoppers on Saturdays. On the quaint main drag are coffee shops, a movie theater, restaurants, "Welcome to Farmington" signs, and several boutiques selling Navajo art and jewelry. In one antique store, the white shopkeeper carefully wraps a porcelain mug with a caricature of a beaming Indian. "How! Me friendly," it reads. "Isn't he just so cute!" the owner exclaims. That's not the way American Indians are viewed by some residents of Farmington, who welcome Navajo money but not Navajos themselves. Like many reservation border towns, Farmington has a substantial transient population. Police and social workers estimate there are as many as 700 transients in Farmington, most of them American Indians. "There is incredible mistreatment," says Adele Foutz, executive director of the Navajo United Methodist Shelter for battered women and children. "The community attitude is that they are dirty and smelly and shouldn't be walking the streets at all." Many of the Navajo transients in Farmington abuse alcohol, which was deliberately introduced to their ancestors as a tool of conquest, more subtle perhaps than smallpox-infected blankets, but no less deadly in the long run. (According to the Department of Health and Human Services, alcohol-related deaths are 7.7 times higher among American Indians and Alaska Natives than the national average). Alcohol abuse fuels hate crimes against American Indians in Farmington and elsewhere both by creating more vulnerable victims and by reinforcing the stereotypes that embolden violent racists. "Violence is frequent, very frequent, and hard to get a handle on the cause. Was this violence perpetrated as a hate crime?" asks Paul Ehrlich the director of Totah Behavioral Health Authority, which treats substance abuse among the homeless. "We have encountered people who were beaten up on the street, or picked up on the street and taken out into the desert and beaten. People aren't willing to say exactly what happened." The drunken Navajos living on the streets in Farmington today are in many ways the residual effects of a tradition of disdain that's as old as Farmington itself. In 1893, at a time when Indian children were forced to attend boarding schools where they were washed with lye and bleach to lighten their skin, the editors of the Farmington newspaper wrote: "There can be no doubt that some strict course must be pursued in order to place the dominant White race in a position of safety and quietude, with respect to our dusky and uncertain neighbors." This Old West attitude of white entitlement and superiority has persisted through the decades. In 1950, town firemen dumped a bucket of red paint over two inebriated Navajos. In 1974, a quarter century later, a high school student boasted to anyone who'd listen that he carried the severed finger of a Navajo in his pocket. And in 2002, former Farmington Mayor Marlo Webb gave an interview for a documentary in which he sounded a lot like his predecessors in the late 1800s. "They've culturally not come in to join what we call modern society," the mayor said of his Navajo neighbors. "They're not, they haven't been educated to do it. They're not equipped to do it. They're very backward." Chokecherry Massacre The most notorious hate crime in Farmington history occurred in April 1974, during Webb's first term as mayor. Three Navajos, Benjamin Benally, John Harvey, and David Ignacio were found bludgeoned, mutilated and burned in Chokecherry Canyon. "They were tortured. Firecrackers were placed in their noses and anuses, " says Yazzie, the Navajo leader. "As they were dying, they were burned. They tried to burn off their privates. Then these young guys got big boulders, basketball-sized, to make sure they were dead." Three white Farmington High School students were arrested for the murders. "We wanted to come in and burn the place," Yazzie, then a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), recalls. "The desire for payback was very strong. People were needing and demanding that something be done." Navajos marched through Farmington on seven successive Sundays, effectively closing down the town. Tensions mounted. Business owners were hurting and increasingly vocal in their demands for the city to put a stop to the protests. Adele Foutz manned a hotline designed to control rumors, which were rampant from both angry Navajos and fearful whites. "People would call up and say things like, 'We hear the Indians are on the warpath'," she recalls. And some of them were. As author Rodney Barker recounts in his meticulously researched account of the crimes and their aftermath, Broken Circle, AIM member Lorenzo LeValdo warned the City Council: "If you don't give us what we want, we're going to give you some violence.... [W]e're going to do the same thing the blacks did in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and down south. I may not live to see the end of this but I'll tell you one thing, I'm gonna take a couple of you with me." City council members began carrying guns. Mayor Webb at the time likened himself to "Custer in a sea of brown faces." He told the Farmington Daily Times: "I don't think race had anything to do with [the murders]. Just high school students rolling drunks, and all the drunks were Navajos." Things came to a head when a judge denied the district attorney's request to prosecute the young men as adults (two were 16 and one was 15) and sentenced the murderers to reform school. The next day, city officials refused to grant protesters a permit to march due to a scheduling conflict with the annual sheriff's posse parade, whose unfortunate theme was "observing this ritual of reverence for the Old West." The parade included a mounted ceremonial unit dressed in frontier uniforms, as they would have been when their principal mission was killing Indians. Coupled with the light sentences doled out to three convicted murderers the day before, the posse parade was viewed by Navajo activists as a deliberate provocation. When protesters tried to block the parade, one of the cavalry officers drew his sword. A riot broke out. Police fired teargas into the crowd and 30 people were arrested. The murders, the marches, the riot, and the attendant media coverage brought the federal Commission on Civil Rights to Farmington in August of that year. Hearings conducted by John Dulles led to redistricting of election districts in San Juan County, which made it possible for Navajos to be elected to the County Commission for the first time. Subsequently, the Justice Department sued the county hospital for refusing to treat Navajos in its emergency room, and the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission sued the city for employment discrimination. In late 2005, 30 years after the Chokecherry Canyon murders, the Commission on Civil Rights released a report on race relations in Farmington that mostly praised the community for its progress, concluding, "The climate of tolerance and respect between the two cultures is a marked improvement from the conditions the Committee observed 30 years ago in 1974." Yet seven months after the report was released, the beating of William Blackie summoned the restless ghosts of three dead Navajos in Chokecherry Canyon. 'A Mortal Illness' Racial violence directed at American Indians and Alaska Natives today certainly does not approach the levels seen during the white settlement of the prairies and deserts of the western United States. And while it may be true that conditions have improved in Farmington, just as race relations on a larger scale between white Americans and indigenous Americans have improved since the era when Indians were routinely massacred as a matter of governmental policy, recent bloodshed in New Mexico, Kentucky and other states demonstrates that racially motivated attacks on American Indians and Alaska Natives are still extensive, and too often minimized. "There has been little attempt by legal authorities or anyone else to understand the phenomenon of racially motivated violence in these communities," Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, professor emeritus of Native American Studies at Eastern Washington University, writes in her recent book Anti- Indianism in Modern America. "The first step is to acknowledge that anti- Indian hate crime is America's essential cancer and that it is a mortal illness, as devastating as anti-Semitism has been to other parts of the world." Several hundred interviews into her own ongoing research on hate crimes against Indians, University of Ontario Professor Barbara Perry realized that such violence "is more than the act of mean-spirited bigots. It is embedded in the structural and cultural context within which groups interact. It does not occur in a social or cultural vacuum, nor is it over when the perpetrator moves on." Copyright c. 2005 Southern Poverty Law Center. --------- "RE: Settlement offers remain viable in Cobell Case" --------- Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2007 10:47:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="COBELL TRUST CASE - PART 2" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414362 'Settlement concepts' offer remains viable in Cobell Case by: Jerry Reynolds / Indian Country Today January 19, 2007 Part two WASHINGTON - In an effort to rationalize the federal trust relationship with tribes and settle the litigation known as Cobell v. Kempthorne over federal accounting of the Individual Indian Money trust, the Bush administration has put forward a preliminary framework of "settlement concepts" that would ordain a federal withdrawal from management of the IIM trust in two phases over a 10-year period. The priority of the first phase would be the consolidation of fractionated lands by voluntary and involuntary mechanisms. According to James Cason, associate deputy secretary for Indian affairs at the Interior Department (the federal government's lead delegate agency on Indian affairs and the defendant in Cobell), consolidation of fractionated interests in land is considered essential to realizing the economic value of IIM allotted lands. Interior's preference would be to purchase the fractionated interests of possibly all but the top nine or 10 interest owners of an allotment from voluntary sellers, he said. Interior, as the only "market" offering cash payments for fractionated interests, has already purchased tens of thousands of interests, Cason added. "So we have a lot of volunteers who are willing to do it." Ross Swimmer, Interior's special trustee for Indian trust issues, added that "for the most part, we haven't found people unwilling to divest themselves of their interest for some sum of money. In fact, many of the people that we have purchased their interest from didn't even know they owned it. It's been passed down more by family history. People say, 'Well, you know, my great-grandfather used to own a piece of land up in South Dakota. Wonder whatever happened to it?"' "Well they don't know that they own one-tenth of it today, because after several generations have gone through they just moved away, live east of the Mississippi, and they just didn't keep track of it. We [Interior] have to go dig these people out. So there are a lot of people out there like that, that you would almost have to have some form of involuntary transfer. We have forty-some thousand, even who are receiving money, that we can't locate. You can imagine people who have never received any income off this land, have moved away and fourth, fifth generation down from the allotment - they don't know they own it. And for us to try to go out and get a warranty deed from everybody that owns a tiny fraction is almost impossible," Swimmer said. "But for the most part, those that we have contacted, been able to find, as long as they received something for their interest, they've generally been willing to sell. I don't know what the ratio is. I don't think we've had many turn-downs at all. But again we're only purchasing those interests that are generally less than 2 percent of the property." Cason and Swimmer concur, then, along with some other participants from Congress and the tribes in the discussions that produced the "settlement concepts," that some form of involuntary transfer of interests in land will be required for the full consolidation of fractionated allotment interests. They also acknowledge that an involuntary transfer mechanism of any kind is bound to conjure up distrust, based on history if nothing else. That is one reason the settlement concepts insist the consolidated lands must remain in trust, inalienable from the tribe without its consent and, as property of the tribal and federal governments, untaxed. "We, too, recognize that there's been a long history," Cason said. "And some of the history's a little bit checkered, and it causes some feelings of angst in Indian country. And so one of the elements of the [settlement concepts] proposal that we were discussing with [Capitol Hill] was a clear statement that we would continue to hold all of this property in trust, and prevent involuntary alienation of this property. So it was a blanket statement from the front - the land would be in trust, we're not looking to take the land out of trust, we would prevent involuntary alienation of the trust - to address that very point. "This is not termination. We're not trying to get rid of the land. What we're trying to do is change the character of how the land gets managed, and who's making the decisions about managing the land. "So we tried to address that point up front, and there's a little bit of a - I'll say a complicator, in that there's not a way for us to make an absolute statement that no land will go out of trust. And the reason that is is because both Indian tribes and individuals have the right to say, 'I want to take my land out of trust.' So they do have the right to do that, so we have to basically preserve that option. But what we're saying is we will prevent, as part of our trust relationship, the involuntary alienation of the land. And based on our history here, we expect that in most cases tribal members and Indian tribes will want to keep their land in trust." (Continued in part three) Copyright c. 1998 - 2007 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: EPA Superfund cleanup turns messy" --------- Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:47:42 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ARTIFACTS FOUND" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414346 EPA Superfund cleanup turns messy by: Babette Herrmann / Today correspondent January 15, 2007 Part one ELEM COLONY, Calif. - When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began its Superfund cleanup of fill dirt tainted with mercury within 50 acres of the Elem Pomo Colony, it was a welcomed project, said Jim Brown III, the tribe's administrator. But his opinion of the $7.3 million project changed when he learned from the tribe's cultural monitors that historic artifacts were popping out of the ground as bulldozers moved and excavated the soil. Dump trucks hauled the waste to the nearby Sulfur Bank Mercury Mine - the area from which it first came. The monitors were responsible for identifying cultural artifacts and notifying the EPA and tribal council of sensitive areas. Sandy Thomas, Pomo, and a cultural monitor worked on the project the day it broke ground in June 2006. She said that cultural artifacts and materials surfaced the moment the excavation began. Spearheads, old wooden nails, and fragments of Chinese porcelain bowls and plates were among many of the items. Thomas said that she told tribal officials to call the archaeologist assigned to the project - but there was no archaeologist on board. "Before the project began I told them that they had to have an archaeologist there or on call; they figured that we were good enough," she said, adding that the monitors' knowledge of archaeology is limited. Prior to the cleanup, the EPA relocated about 16 families into temporary housing off the reservation. Cultural monitors and workers were the only people allowed on the reservation during the cleanup process. Meanwhile, Brown decided to do some digging of his own. With the help of archaeologist John Parker, they concluded that the EPA failed to meet requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. Parker was hired as the archaeologist in late July, and stayed on board for two months. Section 106 states that "prior to the approval of the expenditure of any Federal funds on the undertaking or prior to the issuance of any license, as the case may be, take into account the effect of the undertaking on any district, site, building, structure, or object that is included in or eligible for inclusion in the National Register. The head of any such Federal agency shall afford the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation established under Title II of this Act a reasonable opportunity to comment with regard to such undertaking." Brown put a call into the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation in September to find out if the EPA violated Section 106. One month later, John Eddins, historic preservationist specialist/archaeologist for the agency, sent a letter to Keith Takata, director of the EPA Superfund division. In the Oct. 18, 2006, letter, Eddins stated that "the ACHP has not received any notification of adverse effect for this undertaking" and that the advisory council "[has] no correspondence indicating that the Section 106 process has been initiated." "The EPA told us that they were exempt from all federal regulations," Brown said, referring specifically to the Superfund. Rick Sugarek, the EPA remedial project manager for the Elem cleanup, said this is true with a few exceptions. He said planners for each project must make a substantial effort to protect the resources of the site they are trying to clean up. Sugarek added that if the EPA had to obtain permits for each job, it may have to seek approval from countless agencies. This would cause Superfund projects to move at a snail's pace. The Superfund was created in 1980 when Congress enacted the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act to clean up the nation's uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. Eddins said in an e-mail that the EPA hasn't responded to the letter, as they are "investigating the case and will be providing a formal response to ACHP in the near future." He explained that the ACHP will determine if Section 106 was violated "based on the nature of the pollution problem and the nature of the cleanup." Raymond Brown, the tribal chairman and Jim Brown's brother, said he was 80 percent satisfied with the job, but thought the contractors could have "started out stronger" when it came to protecting his tribe's artifacts. He said that time and the money being spent on the project likely contributed to the EPA's oversight on certain aspects of the project. "They wanted to hurry and get things done," he said. "When they took their time we found a lot of artifacts." (Continued in part two) Copyright c. 1998 - 2007 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Tensions run high at final Black Mesa DEIS Hearing" --------- Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:47:42 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TENSION FILLED BLACK MESA DEIS HEARING" http://www.navajohopiobserver.com/main.asp?SectionID=23&SubSection ID=23&ArticleID=5419 Tensions run high at final Black Mesa DEIS hearing Rebecca Schubert The Observer January 16, 2007 FLAGSTAFF-Gathering from communities across northern Arizona and beyond people of the many nations including the Hopi, Navajo and U.S. came together to learn and discuss the Office of Surface Mining's Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). The public meeting was the final in a series of 12 held by the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Surface Mining (OSM) administrators across northern Arizona. Approximately 100 individuals were in attendance at the Little America ballroom to share their view of the Black Mesa Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) issued Nov. 22, 2006. The DEIS includes the initial analysis of the potential impacts of reopening the Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nev. and returning the Black Mesa Project to operation. Within the DEIS, which is more than 750 pages in length, OSM suggests three alternatives including: 1. Alternative A, the "Preferred Alternative"-Approval of the Life of Mine Revision and All Associated Components of the Black Mesa Project. This alternative would add 19,111 acres to the 44,073 existing permit area. A coal-slurry pipeline totaling more than 273 miles would be reconstructed inside the earth through which coal would be moved from the mine to the generating station. To transport this coal, 6,000 acre feet of water per year would be withdrawn from the C-Aquifer; withdrawal from the N-Aquifer would also be permitted as necessary. In addition to this amount, 5,600 acre feet per year would be available to the Hopi and Navajo Tribes for purchase. The proposed well field is near Leupp. These operations would continue through 2026 with reclamation anticipated through 2038. 2. Alternative B-Conditional Approval of the Life of Mine Revision Without Approval of the Black Mesa Mining Operations, Coal-Slurry Pipeline, and C Aquifer Water-Supply System. This alternative would include expansion, but omit the Black Mesa mining operation, coal-slurry pipeline preparation plant and pipeline, coal washing system and C-aquifer water supply system. Operations at the currently-operating Navajo Generating Station near Page would operate through 2026 using N-aquifer water with reclamation and public uses through 2038. 3. Alternative C-Disapproval of the Life of Mine Revision (No Action). Under this alternative, unmined coal resource areas of the operation would not be incorporated in the expanded permit area of the Black Mesa complex and would not be mined. The infrastructure for the operation would be promptly reclaimed and none of the Mohave Generating Station improvements of Alternative A would be made. As in Alternative B, Navajo Generating Station operations would continue through 2026, and 2038, respectively. The meeting began with an audio-video presentation, which was to be followed by a period of personal questions directed at OSM officials individually. However, the crowd of people requested an open forum in which officials would address the group at large. The speakers from the audience explained that many of the questions were similar in nature, and to save time, it would be most advantageous to address the crowd as a whole. OSM officials declined the request. "This is not a public hearing," OSM official Rick Holbrook said. "The purpose of this process is not to discuss the merits of this...it's not to discuss the political processes used." "I want my voice to be heard. I want my concerns to be heard orally," said one audience member. A crowd of approximately 50 people jumped to their feet and began demanding a change in the meeting's format. "Clearly this format isn't working," said Andy Bessler, the Sierra Club's associate regional representative of the Environmental Partnership Program. "What's the benefit of using this format? This format clearly doesn't work." With the continued refusal, the crowd began to chant "Unfair, Unfair." "If you think this is unfair, then don't be here," Holbrook said. Holbrook and OSM leader Dennis Winterringer backed away from the crowd and invited them again to ask questions on an individual basis or have their comments recorded by one of the two typists who were taking written comments. Winterringer and Holbrook then moved to the opposite side of the room. "This is a direct assault on citizens here. This is a way to make a meeting not happen," said another crowd member. The crowd then approached the typists and began to recite comments before the entire audience so that everyone in attendance could hear, and so that each comment would simultaneously be typed and become part of the OSM record. "I want it noted in the public record the inadequacies of this public hearing, the fact that I want to be able to address not only OSM, but also the Navajo Tribal officials, SRP, and I don't know where they are in this type of format. I have to go look at someone's little nametag and hunt them down to be able to get my questions answered. So this format is not working," Enei Begaye said. Through these actions, it became clear that the majority of people in attendance were in opposition to the DEIS, as well as the Preferred Alternative. In addition to the multiple individuals voicing opinions against the DEIS, the public hearing schedule and the meeting format, were those unfamiliar with the DEIS, as well as those in support of it. Becky Daggett of Friends of Flagstaff's Future was there to learn of the DEIS. According to Daggett, her group has yet to discuss the impacts of the Black Mesa mining proposals. Daggett was in attendance to understand the issues surrounding the proposals and deliver the information to her group. Also there as an interpreter of the events, but also in support of the Preferred Alternative and a OSM liaison was Jerry R. Sekayumptewa, Hopi Tribal Council Member from the village of Mishongonvi. Sekayumptewa explained that he and his village were not affected negatively by the OSM schedule, as they are currently in a social calendar cycle. "I can only speak for Second Mesa," he said. "My job is to be here, to record what is happening and take this information back to the people. The way this affects people depends on the village and which cycle they are in." Sekayumptewa, who is part of the Hopi Water and Energy Committee voiced his support of the use of the C-Aquifer and N-Aquifer and the reopening of the Mohave Generating station due to the dollars it may bring to the Hopi nation. "We've been drawn into this capitalistic society and we can't get away from it," he said. Sekayumptewa said that in his younger years he most likely would have been in opposition to the mining and water use. However, he has come to believe that someday all the resources in the Hopi community will be used and extinguished. "There's nothing I can do about it," he said. In contrast, former Hopi Chairman and founder of the Black Mesa Trust Vernon Masayesva spoke vehemently against the use of the C and N Aquifers and explained the mass opposition to the pipeline and reopening of the Mohave Generating station in many Hopi communities. "Tonight there are people praying in the Kivas for rain to recharge the aquifers as they have done for generations," Masayesva said. The public meetings have now concluded, and Holbrook assured those in attendance, as well as the Navajo Hopi Observer that no further meetings would be held. Even so, individuals have until Feb. 6 to submit comments on the DEIS to OSM. --- Further information concerning the DEIS and the proposed plan can be accessed at: http://www.wrcc.osmre.gov/WR/BlackMesaEIS.htm Questions and comments can be directed to Dennis Winterringer, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, P.O. Box 46667, Denver, CO, 80201-6667; by phone at 303-844-1400 ext. 1440; or by email at BMKEIS@osmre.gov To learn more about Black Mesa Trust visit www.blackmesawatercoalition.org or call (928) 213-9760. Copyright c. 2007 Navajo-Hopi Observer. --------- "RE: Mining decision angers Tribe" --------- Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:47:42 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SULFIDE MINE APPROVAL" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.miningjournal.net/stories/articles.asp?articleID=10324 Mining decision angers tribe By DAN SCHNEIDER, Houghton Mining Gazette January 16, 2007 L'ANSE - The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community expressed disappointment after the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality announced its ruling on a controversial sulfide mining project. The DEQ gave preliminary approval Tuesday to Kennecott Minerals Co.'s proposed mining of nickel and copper on the Yellow Dog Plains region of northern Marquette County. "It deeply offends the traditional and cultural values of our tribe," tribal Chairman Susan LaFernier said. "Mainly with the environment, what will happen with the environment and the health of our people?" The tribe is also concerned because the area proposed for the project lies within its ceded territory. Ceded territory is land on which the tribe has hunting, fishing and gathering rights through its 1842 treaty with the federal government. Though different from reservation land, ceded territory is also part of what the tribe calls its homeland. "We have a great concern because of our 1842 treaty rights, our hunting, fishing and gathering rights," LaFernier said. Company officials have said they would take extensive precautions to safeguard the environment, and the DEQ said its regulations for nonferrous mining are stringent. But opponents of the proposed Eagle Project mine remain concerned about harm to the Salmon Trout River and other environmental impacts. LaFernier echoed that sentiment in a joint statement made by several groups opposed to the mine. Her statement read, in part: "water is a gift of life and is sacred. We do not feel that the environment (air, land, water) is being respected or honored as we have been taught." Members of the tribe's Cultural Committee collected 300 signatures, many of them from tribal members, on a citizen's resolution opposing the mine. In December 2005, eight members of the tribe traveled to Lansing to meet with legislators, participate in a public comment session and rally with other project opponents on the steps of the Capitol. In July 2004, after Kennecott first announced its mining intentions, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community tribal council approved a resolution in opposition to the mine. The DEQ plans public hearings from 1 to 10 p.m. March 5, 6 and 7 at Northern Michigan University, and will continue to accept written comments for 28 days after the day of the last hearing. The department will issue its final decision later this year. Copyright c. 2006 The Mining Journal, Marquette, MI. --------- "RE: Ice Storm effects Rural Indian Community" --------- Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:47:42 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ISOLATION, SURVIVAL MODE" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=8524 Ice Storm effects Rural Indian community "No body knows we are here. I just gotta keep praying for my people and hope nothing bad will happen." KANSAS OK Liz Gray January 16, 2007 In the midst of miles of downed trees and iced over roads lies a small Cherokee/Keetoowah community struggling to make it without electricity or water. Located on the Delaware and Cherokee County line just west of a small town called Kansas lies the Bullhollow community where Indian and non-Indian families reside. This countryside community is not associated with any small town and the residents think this is to blame for emergency state and government services to overlook their needs. They have been without electricity or water since Friday. "No body knows we are here," said Adalene Smith, former Keetoowah councilperson. "There are more people further east toward Colcord in the rural areas such as the Clouds Creek Community. There are a lot of small communities here that no one is bothering to assist." Smith said she knows many people who are running out of propane and officials are telling them it could be another three weeks before they get service. "Kansas Fire department went to Jay to get water from the Red Cross to meet trucks and they came back empty handed, twice," said Smith. Smith herself is without water or electricity. The only source of heat she has is a propane cookstove by keeping the burners lit. She is melting icicles for her water and using water runoff from her roof for utility purposes. While outside gathering her water a tree fell and almost landed on her. "The top of the tree fell right behind me and parts of the branches and ice hit my back. I thought it got me," she said. Many residents across Oklahoma are without electricity according to the Public Service Company of Oklahoma. As of this afternoon, 92,096 customers remained powerless, a drop from 122,000 on Sunday, most in the eastern part of the state. These outage numbers reflect the number of homes or businesses, not the number of people affected. The city of McAlester had 13,952 customers without power and 9,877 in Muskogee, city with a high population of Muscogee Creek and Cherokee citizens. Trees are the main source of downed powerlines in the Bullhollow area. The layers of ice are causing trees to literally break in half from the weight. "It sounded like world war out there with all the trees falling. I am not kidding. Trees falling and crashing, trees on the lines, branches are everywhere, " said Smith. "Trees are doubled over so it is like trying to go thru a tunnel around here." Ice and freezing conditions are being blamed for up to 23 deaths across Oklahoma, authorities said today. Including two victims who were found dead today inside their icy homes in the Delaware Cherokee Counties. "We've got elderly in the communities like this that need to be checked on daily," said Smith. "It is really worrisome to think about these elders." One is an elderly man with emphysema who only has a woodstove to keep warm. "He can't even see to put wood in his stove," said Smith. The small fire department of the town of Kansas has a big job trying to help miles of rural communities like Bullhollow, especially without supplies from other emergency services. According to Chief David Spencer, he had been trying for three days to get water. He got the shipment of supplies he needed during the interviews for this story. "Charlie Wyrick, our State Representative came in here and got the ball rolling," said Spencer. "If it wasn't for him I don't know where we would be right now. Nobody wanted to help. I couldn't get nothing. Red cross would bring the food, as far as people needing water at home they could not get it." "Oh thank God! I've been calling all over the place," Smith told Native Times when she got the news. "Isn't that wonderful." Spencer was preparing a package for a family of seven who were without food. "I'm fixing them up right now. We got peanut butter, juice and water, " he said. But there are thousands of residents in the area that need reached and only a small fire department to help them. Many roads to the rural houses are covered with downed trees and are impassible for people to get out and get help. Many residents are in need of generators and chainsaws. And the weather isn't letting up. Ray Sondag, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tulsa, said Wednesday's high in northeast Oklahoma should reach 29 degrees, with a low at 20. On Thursday, the high will hit 38 degrees with mostly sunny skies. The low will dip to 16 degrees. Friday's high will reach freezing. Saturday's high will reach 38 degrees, with a slight chance of rain, with a possibility of snow or sleet as the low drops to 30 degrees. Sunday's high will reach 39 degrees with a chance of sleet or rain. --- If any Native Times readers has equipment and wants to help this area, they can call Adalene Smith and she will direct you to help her little community. Her number is 918-868-3669. "I just gotta keep praying for my people and hope nothing bad will happen," Smith said. [If you or a relative have a story related to the storm, please call the Native Times at 918-438-6548] Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: When it's 30 below, any Fuel will do" --------- Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 08:32:19 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HEATING OIL GIFT" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.adn.com/front/story/8564143p-8457647c.html When it's 30 below, any fuel will do 100-GALLON GIFT: Villagers thankful for heating oil despite tie to Venezuela's government. By ALEX deMARBAN Anchorage Daily News January 15, 2007 A controversial gift of heating fuel from Venezuelan oil company Citgo is finally warming homes in rural Alaska. In Gambell, Jennifer Apatiki's husband hauled home a 55-gallon drum of free heating oil shortly after Christmas. The fuel, courtesy of Citgo, kept her warm in subzero temperatures in recent days. "It was a great way to start the new year," she said. As part of its program to donate heating fuel to poor Americans, Citgo, headquartered in Houston, Texas, pledged this year to give away 1 million gallons of heating fuel in Alaska Native villages. More than 11,000 homes are eligible for 100 gallons each. The $5.2 million gift drew a hail of criticism from people around the country because of Venezuela President Hugo Chavez's combative attitude toward U.S. policy, especially after he called George Bush the "devil" in a speech at the United Nations. The Venezuela government owns Citgo. The Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, a Native regional nonprofit corporation representing four eligible villages, chose not to participate because of Chavez's political views. More than 150 villages took advantage of the offer, however, and residents in many villages began receiving vouchers for the fuel late last month. They can redeem those vouchers at their local fuel store. Apatiki said people in Gambell, a Yup'ik village of 660 on St. Lawrence Island, need the money more than they care about the politics. "Devil, angel, whoever gave it to us, we're grateful," she said. Heating fuel costs $4.65 a gallon in the Western Alaska village, she said. Despite relatively warm temperatures this winter, Apataki said she's spending more than $600 a month to heat her three-bedroom home, she said. Gas, food and other necessities are also "ridiculously expensive," so many people are scratching by, she said. Hunters have butchered and shared a few walruses, helping offset some costs. But the subsistence food only goes so far. The fuel gift, worth about $465 per household, will free up money for store-bought food. "This really, really helped the entire village," she said. Organizers of the massive giveaway, led by the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council, had hoped vouchers would reach villages by Nov. 1. But Citgo needed paperwork verifying addresses and head of households for every home in more than 150 villages, an enormous undertaking in many remote areas, said Steve Sumida of the tribal council. Native nonprofit corporations led the effort in their regions, and volunteers went door-to-door in some areas verifying identification and addresses, he said. The wait has been an "emotional roller-coaster," with villagers calling daily to say they can't afford heating fuel, Sumida said. The tribal council expects the program to continue next year, he said. Dawn Salesky, who helped organize the effort for Nome-based Kawerak Inc., the regional nonprofit for the Bering Strait region, said villagers are elated. More than one dozen villages there will get about 140,000 gallons, she said. During a recent planning meeting with village fuel vendors, who also benefit, "Everyone was saying, 'Yay! We're getting free fuel. This is so good for our communities." The vouchers arrived in Selawik earlier this month, where the mercury hit 30 below. Villagers flocked to the fuel store on snowmachines, lining up outside to pump fuel into drums on sleds. Heating fuel is $4.95 a gallon in the Northwest Alaska village of 830. Life is extremely expensive there, said retiree Grant Ballot. People are having to travel miles to get wood for burning or to kill a caribou, and gas runs about $5 a gallon. Ballot said he didn't want the fuel gift because of Chavez's politics, but his wife convinced him they needed the money. They're barely making it at times, he said. She's a teacher at the local school, and her paycheck was severely reduced by the recent holiday break, he said. The fuel will last about a month. "Without this (help), we would have been in a world of hurt again," he said. Daily News reporter Alex deMarban can be reached at ademarban@adn.com or (907) 257-4310. Copyright c. 2006 The Anchorage Daily News, a subsidiary of The McClatchy Company --------- "RE: Appeals court revives Mixed-blood Ute Lawsuit" --------- Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 08:18:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TERMINATED MIXED-BLOOD UTES" http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/000163.asp Appeals court revives mixed-blood Ute lawsuit January 22, 2007 A group of mixed-blood Utes who were terminated in the 1950s rejoiced on Friday after a federal appeals court gave them an opening to pursue their termination and trust accounting case. The 600-plus plaintiffs filed suit in November 2002, nearly 50 years after Congress ended their status as federally recognized Indians. Due to the passage of time, a federal judge dismissed the case, citing a six-year statute of limitations in actions against the government. But the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed. In a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel ordered another look at the case based on widely-used provision in federal law that has helped a number of tribes pursue their trust claims. The move doesn't necessarily mean the mixed-blood Utes will prevail. They are trying to prove the Interior Department wrongfully terminated their status and failed to manage a $32 million trust fund. The lawyer for the plaintiffs, however, said the decision was well received. "We're very ecstatic that the panel of judges clearly showed some compassion and it's our belief that they know that there's an inherent justice here and they were looking for some way to let us keep a toehold, if not a foothold, to keep this battle going," said Dennis G. Chappabitty. The injustice refers to the Ute Partition Act of 1954, which divided the Ute Tribe of Utah into "mixed-bloods" and "full-bloods." Those with less than one-half Ute or Indian blood were kicked out of the tribe, denying them access to the $32 million judgment fund that had been awarded four years earlier. Pursuant to the law, Interior was supposed to divide up tribal assets between the mixed-bloods and the full-bloods, who now make up the Northern Ute Tribe. The department then published a list of the 490 mixed-blood Utes in 1961 in the Federal Register to announce the termination of federal supervision. Although the termination policy was later repudiated by former President Richard Nixon and Congress, the mixed-blood Utes faced an uphill battle because their suit was filed long after the 1961 notice. The D.C. Circuit said Judge Richard Roberts correctly analyzed the law regarding the six- year statute of limitations. But the court cited a provision in Interior's 2003 appropriations act - passed one month after the plaintiffs filed their case - that stops the clock on trust mismanagement cases until an accounting is provided. Interior has never provided one for the $32 million Ute judgment fund at issue. The provision has helped several tribes keep their trust cases alive. Dozens more tribes have filed similar claims, alleging the mishandling of billions of dollars. In other legislation, Congress has extended the deadline for trust accounting suits based on "reconciliation reports" prepared by the former Arthur Andersen firm. But lawmakers let it expire in December 31, 2006, amid opposition from the Bush administration. "The United States' potential exposure in these cases is more than $200 billion," Attorney General Alberto Gonzales once told Congress. To beat the December 31 deadline, the Native American Right Fund filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of more than 250 tribes whose trust funds have not been accounted. But even if the $32 million Ute fund were accounted, the mixed-bloods would be denied a share because they are considered to be terminated. As part of the case, the plaintiffs - led by Oranna Felter, who still lives on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Utah - allege Interior violated its trust duties prior to termination. "The task isn't over," said Chappabitty. "We've got to go to back to Judge Roberts and do some heavy legal briefing and heavy arguments there." "We feel very confident that we'll come out on top and we'll be able to beat the statute of limitations problem that's kept these people from getting their day in court," said Chappabitty. Copyright c. 2000-2006 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Congressman pushes for land transfer for Pechangas" --------- Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 08:18:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PECHANGA LAND TRANSFER, 3RD TIME" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/01/21/ news/californian/22_33_241_20_07.txt Congressman pushes for land transfer for Pechangas By: NICOLE SACK - Staff Writer January 21, 2007 TEMECULA - For the third year in a row, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa will try to push a bill through Congress transferring nearly 1,200 acres of federal land into the control of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians. Issa, R-Temecula, introduced the legislation at the start of the legislative session that would take three separate parcels out of the control of the Bureau of Land Management and add them to the existing 5, 500 acres of the Pechanga Reservation. The Pechangas say the land holds cultural and historical importance to the tribe. The bill would put the areas into the care of the tribe for conservation and preservation. The bill, H.R. 28, has no co-sponsors. "The area contains sacred rock carvings and is a key part of the Tribe's watershed," Pechanga Tribal Chairman Mark Macarro wrote in an e-mail. "We will continue to work with Congressman Issa to protect the land and cultural sites for future generations." A group of disenrolled Pechanga members ousted from the tribe in 2004 are voicing opposition to the bill, however, saying the tribe has been a violator of human and civil rights, and should not benefit from the public trust. John Gomez Jr. of Temecula was one of the 130 adults who were disenrolled from the tribe in 2004 after their lineage was questioned. The group unsuccessfully sued requesting a state judge order the tribe to continue their membership. "We are Temecula Indians, they never said we weren't. They just got rid of us," Gomez said. He said the proposed bill would further remove the group of disenrolled tribe members from the culturally important properties by placing some of the ancestral lands that contain burial sites under the sole control of the Pechangas. "By saying one group should have control of those sites, we don't think that is proper. We want to ensure we have access to those areas. Just because a small group got rid of us doesn't mean we don't still have ties to those sites." Gomez said that if there is going to be a land transfer there should be a hearing on the issue to better educate Issa and other members of Congress about the complexities that exist among all the members, present and former, of the tribe. "All we want is the ability to tell the story as to why the Pechanga Band, because of their actions, should not be the sole beneficiary of this transfer and that we have an interest and ties to those sites. We would hope that Congress would listen to us." Frederick Hill, Issa's press secretary, said Gomez's concerns are unrelated to the land transfer bill - even thought Gomez said the issues are clearly intertwined. "Bureau of Land Management actually approached our office and indicated they had these parcels of land to which they had no use for. They indicated the land may have historical importance to the Pechanga Tribe," Hill said. "The Pechanga Tribe was interested in having these lands added to their trust." There is no land cost associated with the transfer, Hill said, because the land isn't being sold, but is instead, "just being transferred from one entity of the federal government to another." The Bureau of Land Management manages 261.8 million acres of surface land primarily in 12 western states. The three parcels of land Issa is proposing to turn over to the tribe total 1,197 total acres and are undevelopable. The largest parcel is a 971-acre area just west of the current Pechanga reservation. The rugged land is covered with a dense mix of oak woodlands, chaparral and coastal sage scrub. The slopes throughout the parcel are steep and eroded. A second 200-acre area that sits to the northeast of the reservation has also been identified as surplus land by the Bureau of Land Management. The last parcel is 19.83 acres in an isolated area just south of Sun City and contains burial sites of high importance to the tribe, Hill said. In November 2005, the tribe entered into a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management that states the Pechangas will manage the lands for conservation purposes. Issa introduced similar legislation both in 2004 and 2005. Last year's bill was passed by the house, but died in a Senate committee. The current version on the bill has been referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources. Contact staff writer Nicole Sack at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2616 or nsack@thecalifornian.com. Copyright c. 1997-2007 North County Times - Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Raising a new Nation" --------- Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 08:59:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CHEROKEE REVITALIZATION" http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/ PE_News_Local_D_chief15.378fca6.html Raising a new nation Cherokee leaders welcome chapter to revitalization plan By BETTYE WELLS MILLER The Press-Enterprise January 14, 2007 RIVERSIDE - Britt Porter knew of his Cherokee heritage as he was growing up. But the Riverside resident, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, never heard his grandparents talk much about tribal culture or history. Sandra Tudor, a Highland grandmother, has spent several years trying to learn more about her Cherokee ancestors so she may register with the tribe. "It never was important to me as a child," she said. "I'm starting to learn about the culture and I want to share it with my grandchildren." Porter and Tudor were among more than 200 Inland residents of Cherokee descent who packed a church social hall Sunday evening for the first meeting of the Cherokee Community of the Inland Empire and to meet Cherokee nation dignitaries, including Principal Chief Chad Smith, Deputy Principal Chief Joe Grayson Jr., and tribal council members Jack Baker and Taylor Keen. Porter is chairman of the Inland group. The Riverside group was the fourth that Smith and other tribal officials visited in Southern California over the weekend as part of the chief's plan to launch 100 communities for Cherokee who live outside Cherokee Nation borders in Oklahoma. More than two-thirds of enrolled members live outside the tribe's geographic jurisdiction in northeastern Oklahoma, Baker said. The tribal council was expanded in July from 15 to 17 to create two at-large council members to represent those tribal citizens, he said. More than 1,000 Inland households have at least one member who is a registered member of the tribe, said Julia Coates, a UC Davis professor who teaches Cherokee history classes for the tribe. As many as 20,000 enrolled members may live in California, she said. Smith, who was elected principal chief in 1999, said he developed a 100- year plan aimed at restoring the tribe to the prominence it held 100 years ago by emphasizing jobs, reviving the Cherokee language and building a stronger sense of community. "Our culture is not lost," he said. "It needs to be revitalized." The chief said he began encouraging the creation of groups like the Inland organization six years ago to empower the tribe. "We believe that if history repeats itself there will be two or three more times in the next 100 years when the government will enact laws that are hostile" to American Indians, he said in an interview before addressing the crowd. Creating communities outside Cherokee Nation borders will strengthen the tribe and enable it to withstand outside pressures, the chief said. The Inland group will meet every two months with programs about Cherokee culture and history, said Gary Sanders, assistant chairman. Anyone with an interest in the tribe is welcome, he said. "I think a lot of Cherokee don't know their history, especially those in California," said Sanders, of Bloomington. "You want to know where your culture came from. ... Growing up this wasn't something you talked about. Now I'm proud of it." Reach Bettye Wells Miller at 951-368-9547 or bmiller@PE.com ================== Cherokee Nation = Tribal members: About 260,000, including about 2,000 in the Inland region - Tribal headquarters: W.W. Keeler Complex near Tahlequah, Okla. - Geographic size: About 7,000 square miles that is not a reservation, but is a jurisdictional service area including all of eight counties and part of six more in northeastern Oklahoma - Government: A federally recognized tribe with a constitution and three branches of government - executive, legislative and judicial. - History: The tribe already had a long history in the southeastern United States when European explorers arrived in the 16th century. When gold was discovered in Georgia in the 1830s, the process of relocating the tribe began. Much of the tribe was forced to march 1,000 miles to Oklahoma in 1838. Thousands died in internment camps, on the trail or soon after arriving in Oklahoma, an experience known as the "Trail of Tears." Source: Cherokee Nation Copyright c. 2007 Press-Enterprise Company. --------- "RE: Representative Rehberg focuses on Indian issues" --------- Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 08:31:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INDIAN AFFAIRS IN HOUSE OF REP. PROPOSED" http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20070119/NEWS01/701190321 Rehberg focuses on Indian issues By FAITH BREMNER Tribune Washington Bureau January 19, 2006 WASHINGTON - Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., took an ambitious step Thursday toward trying to push his legislative agenda through a Democrat-controlled House by introducing a proposal to create an Indian Affairs Committee. "I felt this is the time, with a new majority, a new speaker and, while I don't have a lot of seniority, I think people would listen to me from the perspective of a Republican from a rural state with seven reservations," Rehberg said The Senate has long had such a committee. The well-publicized scandal involving Republican convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff became public largely because of hearings held two years ago in the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. In the House, the Natural Resources Committee handles legislation that deals with Native Americans, along with issues that affect Interior Department agencies and the U.S. Forest Service. "I thought that odd, because (Indian) issues are so complex, they're emotional to a certain extent and to a certain extent they're being ignored," said Rehberg, who sat on the Natural Resources Committee until two years ago. In a meeting with Rehberg on Capitol Hill Thursday, members of the Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council praised the legislation. "We've had a long history of the Indian Affairs Committee in the Senate and it's about time we have one in the House," said James Steele, Jr., chairman of the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribes, which are located on the Flathead Reservation. "Sometimes our Indian issues get kind of lost in the shuffle of the other bills." The new Democratic chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, Nick Rahall of West Virginia, disagreed. "The committee has a long history of expertise on matters of importance to Indian Country," Rahall said in a statement. "There is no serious consideration being given to proposals to divest the Natural Resources Committee of its jurisdiction over Indian affairs. Montana tribes asked Rehberg to also seek more federal dollars for health care and water projects on the reservations. Construction of a new drinking water treatment plant on the Fort Peck Reservation has come to a halt because bids came in over budget, said tribal council member Darryl Red Eagle. The plant would be part of a new $200 million water system that will serve both the reservation and surrounding non-Indian communities. In part due to Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq War, the cost of building materials has gone through the roof and money from Congress is not keeping up, Red Eagle said. The treatment plant will allow tribal members to get their drinking water from the Missouri River rather than from contaminated wells. "What Mr. Rehberg can do for us is let Congress know we need more money and let them know the importance of bringing clean, healthy drinking water to the reservation," Red Eagle said after the meeting. Tribal leaders also asked Rehberg to help Indian nations plan for the new requirement that U.S. and Canadian citizens must show passports whenever they cross the border, starting in June 2009. The Kootenai, Blackfeet and Sioux nations have reservations on both sides of the Montana-Canadian border and tribal members frequently cross over to visit relatives and friends. Under the Jay Treaty of 1795, Indians are entitled to trade and travel between the U.S. and Canada. Betty N. Cooper, a member of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council, said she recently attended a summit in Canada where Indian leaders discussed creating a First Nations identification card that would serve in place of a passport. "It would be really wonderful if the Montana tribes hosted a summit in Montana to address the border issues," Cooper said. Contact Faith Bremner at fbremner@gns.gannett.com Copyright c. 2007 The Great Falls Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Rehberg will help Little Shell gain Recognition" --------- Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 08:31:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LITTLE SHELL RECOGNITION ON REHBERG LIST" http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20070119/NEWS01/701190318 Rehberg says he'll help Little Shell Tribe gain federal recognition By ERIC NEWHOUSE Tribune Projects Editor January 19, 2007 U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg promised Thursday to introduce legislation on Feb. 1 seeking federal recognition of the Little Shell Tribe. The Montana Republican introduced similar legislation last July, but it died at year's end. "I got it in a little late last year," he said. "This year, I want to get it in as soon as possible so I can begin working with committee chairmen and ranking members to make sure it gets a fair hearing," he said. James Parker Shield, vice chairman of the Great Falls-based tribe, said about 200 tribes around the country are seeking federal recognition. But when he met with Rehberg today, Parker Shield told him that most of those petitions have problems, including a lack of local support. "The governor is with us; our two senators are with us; the city of Great Falls, Cascade County and the Great Falls Tribune have all been with us," said Rehberg. "With no opposition, that makes us unique among the 200 tribes seeking recognition," he added. Federal recognition is critical for the tribe to gain better access to existing education and health care services, Rehberg said. Approximately 4,300 members of the landless Little Shell Tribe have been petitioning the federal government for recognition for about 115 years. It could mean the construction of an Indian agency in Great Falls, as well as a tribal health clinic. "Federal recognition of an Indian tribe can have a tremendous effect on the tribe, surrounding communities and the nation as a whole," stated a Government Accountability Office report issued a few years ago. According to the report, in fiscal year 2000 about "$4 billion was appropriated for programs and funding almost exclusively for recognized tribes." The report added that recognition "establishes a formal government-to- government relationship," between a tribe and the United States. Last year, Gov. Brian Schweitzer signed and read a declaration supporting federal recognition. Reach Tribune Projects Editor Eric Newhouse at 791-1485, 800-438-6600 or enewhous@greatfal.gannett.com Copyright c. 2007 The Great Falls Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: New Akaka Bill has different Features" --------- Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 08:32:19 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NATIVE HAWAIIAN BILL" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2007/01/15/daily35.html New Akaka Bill has different features Pacific Business News (Honolulu) January 15, 2007 The newest version of the Akaka Bill, introduced Wednesday, includes language negotiated with the Bush administration in 2005, the office of Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) said Wednesday night. "The bill would begin a process to form a Native Hawaiian governing entity that could negotiate with the state and federal government on behalf of Hawaii's indigenous people. No jurisdiction would be taken from the state or federal government without further legislation," Akaka's office said. The senator's office said the negotiated language makes clear that the bill does not authorize gaming by the Native Hawaiian governing entity. The Department of Defense is exempt from consultation requirements contained in the bill, but obligations under existing statues, including the Native Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and the National Historic Preservation Act remain. As the bill is written, any grievances regarding historical wrongs committed against Native Hawaiians by the United States or by the state of Hawaii are to be addressed in the negotiations process between the Native Hawaiian governing entity and federal and state governments, not through the courts. Copyright c. 2006 American City Business Journals, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Women concerned about fate of their Culture" --------- Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 08:32:19 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WOMEN MEET, DISCUSS CULTURE, BELIEFS" Native American women concerned about fate of their culture, beliefs By Judy Salter, Editor January 17, 2007 A group of Native American women - some full-blooded, some with mixed blood and others - meet this week in Hartwell. According to Skylar Swindoll, who heads the meeting Friday, Jan. 18, topics of discussion will be current issues related to "our American Indian culture, family, community, traditions and beliefs." Swindoll said a strong heritage and history is passed from one generation of Native Americans to another, "so that our people will remember where we came from and the sacrifices that were made by so many to have the small numbers of our people that remain today. "We are those mothers, grandmothers and sisters who carry an ancient history of what has been passed to us and what is to be passed on to our children and our people, so who we are and were we came from will not be forgotten," Swindoll said. Lodges or homes were places were the oral stories and histories of Native Americans were passed down by family and story keepers of the clan. Swindoll said one of the present concerns of Native American women is the spiritual responsibility that is being lost now due to lack of focus on families and beliefs and the sharing of those cultural beliefs. "The women meeting here will be in council in an effort to find common ground and solutions regarding our children, lost of spiritual beliefs, ceremony and ways to strengthen the family unit as well as the communities in which we live," she said. Swindoll said other activities are planned for later in the year. For more information, contact Swindoll by e-mail at pejuta_one@ yahoo.com. judysalter@hartcom.net Copyright c. 2007 The Hartwell Sun, Hartwell, GA. --------- "RE: Reviving Language a full-time, paying job" --------- Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 08:59:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="REVIVING ONEIDA" http://www.wstm.com/Global/story.asp?S=5938266&nav=menu133_3 Reviving American Indian language a full-time, paying job January 15, 2007 ONEIDA, N.Y. For a handful of students in central New York, reviving an American Indian language is a full-time job. Eight people are being paid to spend 40 hours a week learning their native Oneida language. It's part of an effort to eventually have all 1, 200 members of the Oneida Indian Nation speak the language fluently. Students in the two-year program are paid to learn the language and pass it on to their family and friends. The program is only open to Nation members. Instructor Sheri Beglen says the Oneida alphabet is made up of eight consonants and six vowels. Beglen is hoping to eventually get at least 30 teachers so the language can be taught with several classes. Copyright c. 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. 2000 - 2007 WorldNow and WSTM LLC, a Barrington Broadcasting Group LLC. --------- "RE: Potawatomi Tribe buys Federal Contractor" --------- Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 08:59:39 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MINORITY SERVICE FIRM ACQUIRED" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2007/01/15/daily1.html Potawatomi tribe buys federal contractor The Business Journal of Milwaukee January 15, 2007 The Forest County Potawatomi tribe has purchased technology firm and federal government contractor Advancia Corp. for an undisclosed price. Through its economic development business, Potawatomi Business Development Corp., the Forest County Potawatomi Community acquired 100 percent of Advancia, a provider of information systems, engineering, research and systems analysis to clients in the defense, aviation and homeland security markets. Advancia has 14 U.S. locations and was recognized by the U.S. Department of Commerce as its National Minority Service Firm of the Year in 2005. Potawatomi Business Development chief executive officer Carol Leese that the addition of Advancia will allow the corporation to pursue government contracts and add to the capabilities of its other businesses. Potawatomi Business Development also owns OneProspect Technologies, an information technology firm in Crandon; transportation brokerage company HCI Logistics, Omaha, Neb.; and architecture firm Potawatomi Design Group, Norman, Okla. All three have either opened a Milwaukee office or are planning to open a local office. The Potawatomi Business Development Corp. invests funds from the tribe's gaming operations, including Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee. Copyright c. 2006 American City Business Journals, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: GEORGE BENGE: Open season on Native Students" --------- Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:47:42 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GEORGE BENGE: CAMPUS RACISM AGAINST NATIVE STUDENTS" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20070116/OPINION02/701160332/1014/OPINION Surprisingly, hate, intolerance inhabit campus GEORGE BENGE January 16, 2006 On the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, open season has been declared on Native Americans and other people of color at settings where intolerance and hate might least be expected - at some of our foremost American colleges. "I have a dream that one day little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today." Sadly, Dr. King's message of equality and love for all races has not connected with some students at the University of Illinois, Tufts University and Dartmouth College. At Massachusetts' Tufts University, deemed "one of the premier universities in the United States," a vile Christmas carol titled "O Come all Ye Black Folk" ("Sung to the tune of 'O Come all Ye Faithful") was published in The Primary Source, a "Journal of Conservative Thought." At Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., loftily described by its president as "at the forefront of American higher education since 1769," a recent cover of The Dartmouth Review featured a large and offensive illustration of a Native American warrior holding aloft a grisly human scalp. A tasteless, cliched headline with the illustration said, "The Natives are Getting Restless." The most dangerous climate for people of color exists at the University of Illinois/Urbana-Champaign, where the mission is to "serve the state, the nation, and the world by creating knowledge, preparing students for lives of impact, and addressing critical societal needs ... " A Native American student, whose name is not being used here to protect her safety, is starting spring semester at Illinois fearful and anxious after her life was gruesomely threatened in a posting by another Illinois student on Facebook, a popular social-network Web site. University of Illinois athletic teams have a controversial and demeaning mascot named Chief Illiniwek, and the threatened student has been an activist in the fight against the Illiniwek mascot. On Dec. 2, 2006, on a page titled "If They Get Rid of the Chief I'm Becoming a Racist," an Illinois student wrote: "Apparently the leader of this movement is of Sioux descent. Which means what, you ask? The Sioux Indians are the ones that killed off the Illini Indians, so she's just trying to finish what her ancestors started. I say we throw a tomahawk into her face." The hate-mongering Facebook page was yanked from the Web site after the threats were made public. Campus police are investigating. University Chancellor Richard Herman castigated the Facebook threats as "dangerous and racist" and said he "will not tolerate such violent threats." In an ideal world, the campus police and chancellor would steer their investigation and outrage toward the true source of the tension and intolerance - the university's powerful Board of Trustees. I placed a phone call to trustees chairman Lawrence C. Eppley to get his reaction to the Facebook threats and to ask him if, and when, the trustees were going to dispatch Chief Illiniwek to mascot hell. Instead, Thomas Hardy, executive director of university relations, returned my call. He answered my question in quintessential university- speak: "The board of trustees is the entity that is going to make a determination one way or another about the future of the Chief Illiniwek tradition. The board has a consensus process under way and will continue. There is no timetable affixed to that process. At some point, the board will make a determination about what to do with the Chief Illiniwek tradition." Let us pray that the board of trustees concludes its foot-dragging, mind-numbing, politics-driven "consensus process" in the very near future. Doing so before an innocent Native American - or anyone else - is injured or killed at Illinois would be just fine. --- George Benge, a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, writes commentary on American Indian issues and people for Gannett News Service. He can be reached at Gannett News Service, 7950 Jones Branch Drive, McLean, Va. 22107 or via e-mail at gbenge@gannett.com. Copyright c. 2007 Times Recorder. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Opinion: The power of Navajo Voters in jeopardy" --------- Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 08:59:39 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NAVAJO VOTE" http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/017663.asp Opinion: The power of Navajo voters in jeopardy January 16, 2007 [The following was submitted by Lester K. Tsosie, the brother of New Mexico State Sen. Leonard Tsosie, who is in tribal court over his ability to serve the Navajo Nation Council and the New Mexico Legislature at the same time.] Navajo citizens, our Navajo democracy is in jeopardy! On January 3, 2007, an entity of the Navajo Nation government invalidated the at-large votes of the Pueblo Pintado, Torreon, and Whitehorse Lake chapters while addressing the Council Delegate-Elect Leonard Tsosie case. The administrative hearing officer might have intended on ruling on a specific case, yet her ruling has broad frightening implications for the Navajo voter. Navajo vote is our voice and foundation for our Navajo democracy. And she unilaterally is threatening to silence the voice of the Navajo people in the three chapters. If an administrative hearing officer can unjustly and blatantly squash votes in these three chapters, what will prevent another one from doing so elsewhere across the Navajo Nation? The United States constitution, under the 26th Amendment, unambiguously state that "the right of citizens of the United States...to vote shall not be denied or abridged..." For all citizens, including Native Americans, a person in this country can freely elect the candidate of her choice, a candidate who will ultimately impact her own quality of life. This basic right underpins the American democracy for all citizens. Under strict observation guaranteeing the 26th Amendment, Navajo people freely choose their leaders to represent them in federal, state, county, and other local elected offices. We proudly cast ballots for each of these offices, our Navajo voice for democratic representation in the greater republic where we are a part of a multicultural constituency in which diversifying resource allocation is key to equal protection and representation. We participate in this democracy because we inherently selected leaders protecting our Navajo homeland for centuries - a geo-political sphere that has been incorporated into the United States political landscape. We are only incorporating our American political landscape participation into our own centuries-old Navajo democracy. Before the 26th Amendment, the Navajo people have selected their leaders in an unhindered way for decades, an unswerving tenet of Navajo democracy. In early Navajo history, elders talk of how Naach'id - a communal choosing of the right spokesperson for the clan community - was the way Navajos freely chose their leaders. They unreservedly have elected leaders that best represented them in a consensus form of democracy. Just recently in the 2006 election, we freely elected our leaders again. For example, a grandmother voted for her choice of a Navajo president. A sheepherder voted for his choice for the Board of Election Supervisors. A college student elected a Council Delegate. This practice of freely selecting a leader is a Dine' fundamental right that underpins our Navajo democracy. Quoting Ramsey Clark, "a right is not what someone gives you; it's what no one can take from you." Likewise, a Navajo Nation administrative officer can not take what she can never give: Our Navajo vote is a right we will hold sacred eternally. Even though each Navajo is rightly represented in the United States democracy through elections of a president, senator, congressman, and numerous local elected officials, each of us also cast a Navajo Nation vote. We don't have to, but we do. In fact, we overwhelmingly do in comparison to federal and state election turnouts. This Navajo Nation vote is genuinely different than the federal or state voting. The Navajo Nation vote is an affirmation of who we are: an indigenous populace on a homeland. It's an affirmation of Navajo identity, Navajo culture, Navajo language, Navajo sovereignty, Navajo community, Navajo resources, Navajo allegiance, and, perhaps, most importantly, Navajo voice. Our Navajo vote is our clear, booming voice for a better tomorrow enriched with our beautiful Navajo heritage. The "Our Navajo Vote is Sacred" march is set for Tuesday, January 17, from Whitehorse Lake Chapter House to Pueblo Pintado Chapter House beginning at 10 am. Another march will start from Torreon Chapter House and ending at Pueblo Pintado Chapter House at the same time. Join these social justice advocates in the march and make a stand for what is just and right. For more information on this march, call (505) 604-7696. Copyright c. 2000-2006 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: JODI RAVE: Think Tank looks at US Health Plans" --------- Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 08:59:39 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JODI RAVE: US HEALTH STRATEGIES" http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/01/16/jodirave/rave32.txt Think tank to look at U.S. health strategies By JODI RAVE of the Missoulian January 16, 2007 The University of New Mexico has unveiled a multimillion-dollar plan to create a think tank that will put Hispanic and Native scholars at the forefront of the national