_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 15, ISSUE 009 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 February 24, 2007 Anishnaabe namebini-giizis/sucker moon Lakota cannapopa wi/moon when trees pop Blackfeet saommitsiki'somm/decieving 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: Sovereign News, Chiapas95-En, Rez_Life, Iron Natives, Frostys AmerIndian and Remember the Cherokee/Tsalagi; 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: "The argument used by the Minute Men, that their mission is to keep terrorists out of the U.S., cannot be ignored: With terrorist training camps recently found just north of the U.S.-Canadian border, their mission makes little sense and gives weight to my belief that the Minuteman movement is clearly racist. So is the new U.S. policy to keep our southern relatives out by militarizing the border to the south. Not that troops are wanted on the northern border either, but why send 6,000 troops to the southern border when no terrorists ever have been detained there?" __ JoKay Dowell, Quapaw-Peoria-Cherokee, OK Eagle and Condor Indigenous Peoples' Alliance +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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 Last week there was an article included that once again supported the Siberian Land Bridge theory, this time using a DNA chain that is unique to people living in Eastern Siberia near the portal to the land bridge and Native Americans. This week there is an article that debunks much of the previous theory, again with new scientific tools. Neither of these scientific claims included views from Native elders. My elders tell me we have always been here. They tell me that is what was passed to them by their elders and their elders before them. There is no scientific proof, but I think I'll just accept the word of my elders and let the scientists fight for the last word is some journal. Other news in this issue includes a detailed article describing how difficult it is for Native athletes to achieve their true skill levels compared to other ethnic groups. I have had the honor of talking to Billy Mills, the Olympic Gold Medalist at the Tokyo games, and came away utterly astounded with his accomplishments, his humility and his desire to contribute even more to the welfare of his Lakota People and all Native Americans. The rez road may not have the best athletic facilities, or coaches or means of breaking down barriers for student athletes, but if Billy Mills and Notah Begay are any indication it seems to produce athletes with huge hearts. Dohiyi Ani Oginalii , , Gary Smith (*,*) wotanging@bellsouth.net P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org Marietta, GA 30007, U.S.A. ===w=w=== http://www.nanews.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ----------- Editorial Section: - GORDON MONSON: . Who we are It's good riddance to Illiniwek - Beyond Sovereignty - EDITORIAL: Republicans turn - Vermont vs Commission on Tribes and Treaties on Native American Affairs - YELLOW BIRD: - Clovis migration theory UND founders would be proud flaws revealed - CIW 6th Declaration - Cherokees consider selling Meds Adherance Statement - Land-into-trust requests - Squamish Elder Harriet Nahanee fall into 'Black Hole' in Hospital - Treatment of American - Media coverage Indian Students challenged of Dudley George Story - Native American Athletes - Ontario FNs not participating face imposing Hurdles in Government - Tournament helps Colleges - Westbank Chief named tap into Native Talent to Order of Canada - FDLTCC announces addition - Low-intensity Warfare, of Athletics Programs how COINTELPRO works - Sitting Bull's kin seek home - Probe a sham in death of man for Chief's Bones in Police Custody - St. Mary's River alliance formed - Urban Natives report - Tribal Fishermen testify increase in Racism at River Compact Hearing - Native Justice - Native American Job Fair -- Discrimination in Albuquerque against Native Prisoners - Diabetes rates highest - History: Carlisle Indian School in Indian Country - Rustywire: Navajo Firedancer - U of M discovers protein - Del "Abe" Jones Poem: linked to elevated BMI Voices from the Wall - TEX HALL: Tribal spending problems - Upcoming Events --------- "RE: Beyond Sovereignty" --------- Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 08:22:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NEW MEXICO HOUSE BILL 178" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/57236.html Beyond sovereignty Staci Matlock | The New Mexican February 19, 2007 On the surface, House Bill 178 is simple: It asks state legislators to forego up to $85 million in tax revenues to help the Navajo Nation and a Houston-based power company build a coal-fired power plant south of Shiprock. The House Energy and Natural Resources Committee might take up the bill for a second time this week. But the $2.5 billion project, known as Desert Rock Power Plant, raises deeper questions: If the Southwest's largest cities have enjoyed economic development for decades because of electric power generated by coal from Navajo land, why shouldn't the tribe finally become a major player in the power market? "This is about the Navajo Nation using its resources, the land and coal, for the benefit of Navajo people," said Steven C. Begay, general manager of Dine' Power Authority, which is partnering with Sithe Global Power in the project. But how does a tribe balance the modern benefits of good-paying jobs and revenue from a coal-fired plant versus the environmental impacts inside and outside its boundaries? Robert Gomez, environment director for Taos Pueblo, said the Navajo Nation has the sovereign right to make its own decision, but in the case of Desert Rock, emissions can impact other tribes such as his that are trying to protect air and water. And when do the concerns of people living closest to a proposed power plant matter? "Navajo Nation leaders are not looking at our fundamental laws that say we're not supposed to desecrate Mother Earth," said Faith Gilmore, 17, a high school senior who lives in Burnham, N.M., a few miles from the proposed plant site. "I think they're (tribal officials) brainwashed by the money they've been promised." She, her family members and other activists opposed to the plant protested at the Capitol last week. Meanwhile, some legislators wondered during the bill's last debate: If the emissions make moot the state's efforts to control greenhouse gases, and if the plant is going to get built regardless, why should the state provide a tax break? History of Extraction The 17.5 million-acre Navajo reservation dates to 1868, when the survivors of the tribe's forced march known as the Long Walk returned home to the land their ancestors had lived on for centuries. The land is rich with resources that an industrial America craves: coal, uranium, oil and gas. Through much of last century, private companies and the U.S. government brokered deals with the Navajo tribal government to mine coal and uranium. For some Navajo people, it meant good-paying jobs. For the tribal government, it meant much-needed revenue. Private companies made a profit. But mining's long-term legacy to the Navajo Nation was polluted land, polluted water and people suffering a variety of serious illnesses some blame on mineral extraction and power-plant emissions. The Navajo Nation council banned uranium mining but it still needs coal mining for revenues, and the tribe, like its neighbors, wants electricity. Navajos on the street say few of them have seen any direct benefit from the tribe's revenues over the decades. That's why they are suspicious now of Desert Rock promises. "When Four Corners Power Plant and others went in, we were promised jobs and money," said Eddie Gilmore, 48, of Burnham. "A lot of money ended up going to the tribal government. People don't see that money. From generation to generation they say they're going to provide jobs. Doesn't happen. And we're still there with no power, no power lines." Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley is in Washington, D.C., and was unavailable for comment, but he is a staunch supporter of Desert Rock, according to his spokesman, George Hardeen. Powering Southwest cities Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Nev., and Southern California owe their growth and economic prosperity over the last four decades in large part to Navajo coal and coal-fired power plants on or near Navajo land in the Four Corners area. Since the 1970s, emissions from the plants have created a dark cloud stretching for miles along the desert plateau east of the Chuska Mountains and over Shiprock. One of the plants, the San Juan Generating Plant, owned by Public Service Company of New Mexico, is the seventh largest coal-fired plant in the nation. Today, the plant still provides half the electric power for PNM customers from Santa Fe to Albuquerque, according to PNM spokesman Jeff Buell. As technology has improved, PNM is spending millions of dollars retrofitting its plants to clean up emissions such as mercury and sulfur dioxide. The proposed Desert Rock plant would be in the same area, south of Shiprock and Farmington. Dine' Power Authority and Sithe Global Power tout Desert Rock as a state-of-the-art coal-fired plant that will produce far less in emissions than the San Juan Generating Plant or the Four Corners Power Plant on nearby Navajo land. Opponents say the air quality in the region is already bad and contend Desert Rock's design is not the latest, lowest-emission technology available. Power markets The West's population boom is continuing and so is its desire for electricity. Sithe Global Power officials and their Navajo Nation partner, Dine' Power Authority, say they're helping position the tribe to fill the region's power needs. Utility companies in the Southwest are asking for 2, 300 megawatts of new power, according to Sithe spokesman Frank Maisano. Desert Rock would produce 1,500 megawatts. Cities and rural electric companies must predict their energy needs years in advance, according to utility officials. They figure out what they need on a daily basis, called baseload, and for peak periods, like hot summer days when Phoenix residents are running their air conditioners full blast. Then utility companies put out a request for power. Those requests detail where the electricity can come from, such as a conventional coal-fired plant, or a renewable source such as solar. Power companies such as Sithe bid on the requests. That's why Desert Rock needs the state and tribal tax breaks, according to Sithe Global -- to make the energy affordable on the wholesale market. Desert Rock has to sell the power first before the plant is built, according to Sithe Global vice president Freddy Sanches. So far, it has no contracts. PNM will buy little if any power from the plant, according to spokesman Buell. California won't buy the power because Desert Rock's design won't meet the state's new emissions standards. Arizona Public Service Company, which services Phoenix and surrounding areas, is requesting 500 megawatts of power no later than 2014. The rest is likely to power Las Vegas, which Sithe officials say needs about 1,000 megawatts of new energy. Desert Rock is a vital part of another Navajo Nation project. In a 2003 article in New Mexico Business Weekly, Begay, the Dine' Power Authority's general manager, discussed the tribe's decade-old goal to build a 470-mile, $600 million power transmission line to Las Vegas, called the Navajo Transmission Project. In 2004, the tribe signed an agreement to build the line with Virginia-based Trans-Elect. Healthy revenues, more jobs According to Navajo Nation and Sithe officials, Desert Rock Power Plant will provide about $50 million in lease payments and royalties per year to the tribe in the plant's first 25 years. Plus, the tribe will own up to 49 percent of the Desert Rock plant under its agreement with Sithe. New Mexico stands to gain as well. The state charges a 5 percent tax for companies that buy equipment and goods out of state and use them in state. Sithe is seeking to forgo about 15 percent, or $85 million, of the total compensating tax it would pay the state over the next three decades. But the company would still pump more than $500 million into state coffers, according to Sithe officials. "At the end of the day, we will pay a higher tax than if we built it off tribal land," Maisano said. The plant also means good-paying jobs for skilled labor in an area with a 43 percent unemployment rate, according to Navajo Nation statistics. Officials say more than 1,000 jobs will be created during the four years it takes to build the plant. Another 200 mining jobs and 200 plants jobs will be permanent during the plant's roughly 40-year life. The Navajo Nation can set Navajo-preference hiring quotas. But some Navajos believe the tribal government is taking the wrong approach. "The tribe could do something different for economic development, " said Dwayne Hogue, 16, a Shiprock High School sophomore who also opposes the plant. "They could seek different projects for power like wind and solar." Five Navajo chapter houses on the plateau near the proposed Desert Rock site have resolutions opposing the project out of concern for health, land, air and water. Emission concerns Power plant emissions such as mercury, ozone and carbon dioxide are one of the biggest concerns of Navajo people living near the site, and their supporters. "Emissions from power plants are associated with asthma, strokes and heart attacks," said Dr. John Fogerty, a physician who worked with the Indian Health Service on the Navajo Nation and is president of New Mexico Physicians for Social Responsibility. In letters last fall to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regarding a draft air-quality permit for Desert Rock, the state Environment Department expressed concerns. "The emissions from such a plant will not be trivial, even with incorporation of the best available control technologies at the facility," wrote secretary Ron Curry. Ozone emissions in the area already are approaching the allowed limit, Curry wrote. Mercury emissions from power plants pose health problems by drifting and settling on waterways, where they contaminate fish. Coal-fired power plants produce more than 40 percent of airborne mercury, and New Mexico's Department of Game and Fish has health advisories for several lakes and streams in the Four Corners area warning people not to eat the fish. EPA rules limit mercury emissions from all the nation's coal-fired plants to 15 tons a year by 2018, down from 48 tons currently produced. Power plants in the Four Corners region already generate more than a ton a year. Desert Rock will emit another 500 pounds of mercury or less a year. Making state progress moot New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson joined Arizona and California governors in setting limits for greenhouse-gas emissions last year. Climate scientists increasingly link greenhouse-gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide from power plants, to global warming. Richardson wants the state to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 11 million tons a year, and further reductions through 2050. Desert Rock will pump an estimated 10.5 million tons of carbon dioxide a year into the air, even with its clean technology. Richardson remains neutral on the Desert Rock bills, according to his staff. But "the governor is concerned with the potential negative impacts this would have on his aggressive climate change emission reduction goals, " said Jon Goldstein, the governor's deputy communications director. Carbon dioxide is not yet a federally regulated emission, so states have taken the lead. Sandra Ely, environment and energy policy coordinator for the New Mexico Environment Department, said it is likely more states will impose stricter carbon dioxide emissions standards. "Right now the power produced out of Desert Rock is likely to be more economical," Ely said. "But if we have a carbon emissions cap, that probably won't be true. It is useful to look into the future and where we're going." Ely said the governor supports another bill working its way through the Legislature that will mandate advanced coal technology. Senate Bill 994 sets emissions limits from coal-fired power plants lower than what Desert Rock will produce. Legislators' decision The House Energy and Natural Resources Committee tabled the Desert Rock tax bill two weeks ago, effectively killing the measure, opponents thought. But on Friday, two Democrats changed their votes and helped revive the bill. A similar bill in the Senate, SB 431, stalled Sunday with a 4-4 vote in the Senate Conservation Committee but might be reconsidered. Contact Staci Matlock at 470-9843 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com. Copyright c. 2007, Santa Fe New Mexican, all rights reserved. --------- "RE: Vermont vs Commission on Native American Affairs" --------- Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2007 08:16:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="AG, COMMISION DIFFER ON WHO IS RECOGNIZED" http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ article?AID=/20070220/NEWS01/702200308 State, new Commission on Native American Affairs at odds By Terri Hallenbeck Free Press Staff Writer February 20, 2007 MONTPELIER - The new Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs has run into a disagreement with the state Attorney General's Office over how to determine the status of tribal members. The differences have arisen less than a year after a state law passed that granted long-disputed recognition of Vermont's American Indian population. That process had the tribes at odds with the Attorney General's Office for many years. Deputy Attorney General William Griffin told the commission at its Jan. 25 meeting that he believes the commission should steer clear of deciding which tribes should be formally recognized, and should instead rule on an individual basis who is qualified to sell arts and crafts labeled as Native American. Commission Chairman Mark Mitchell, an Abenaki from Barnet, said he believes the commission must decide on the recognition of entire tribes. Otherwise, he said, those trying to sell arts and crafts labeled as Native American will run afoul of the federal law. A 1990 federal law allows only those from tribes with formal state or federal recognition to exhibit arts and crafts labeled as Native American. One of the selling points of last year's Vermont recognition was that it would boost American Indian artists' ability to sell their works. Mitchell called it "a highlight of the bill." The fine points of determining who is Native American are proving more difficult. Griffin said the work of determining which tribes have the proper history goes far beyond the reach of the state commission. "I discouraged them from investigating certain groups," Griffin said. "It seems to be a much more complex process." Instead, he said, the commission should set up a process by which Vermonters can apply for a Native American arts and crafts certificate. The commission would decide each one separately. He said commission members indicated they typically know who the artists are. Mitchell said the process would be cumbersome and would allow any Vermonter to apply. Even among Native Americans, there are too many artists for the commission to handle, as one Newport tribe reports that it has about 100 artists, he said. He would rather set up criteria by which the commission recognizes whole tribes, of which there are only a few in Vermont, he said. "We should be allowed to try." He said he sees this as a continuation of the Attorney General's Office long opposition to Abenaki efforts at gaining state and federal recognition. "They have a hidden agenda to not allow tribes and bands in the state of Vermont to be recognized," he said. Griffin said the commission asked for his advice and he offered it. "We were trying to come up with something fairly straightforward." The commission meets Thursday, Mitchell said, and plans to ignore Griffin's advice and continue work on its tribal recognition policy. Contact Terri Hallenbeck at thallenb@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com. Copyright c. 2007 Burlington Free Press. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Clovis migration theory flaws revealed" --------- Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 11:34:39 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TIME LINE NOW PROVEN WRONG" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=569824 Americas' 1st people rethought New dating methods reveal Clovis migration theory flaws By SUSANNE RUST srust@journalsentinel.com February 23, 2007 Brace yourself: The pillars of conventional scientific wisdom are crumbling. Just as science book publishers are rewriting texts to say that there are eight planets instead of nine, they may have another edit to contend with - this time about the first inhabitants of the New World. And we can thank Wisconsin researchers in part for this turnabout. Since the 1960s, archaeologists have argued that the Americas were populated by one group of hunters that crossed a land bridge connecting Siberia to Alaska 11,500 years ago. The descendants of this population then moved throughout the hemisphere, taking up residence across North and South America. The theory, called Clovis First, was based on the observation that a particular tool system - named Clovis, after the New Mexico site where it was first discovered - was found at several sites across North and South America from roughly the same period. It was a time span researchers thought lasted about 1,000 years. But research published in this week's issue of the journal Science casts doubt on that scenario, supporting the long-standing arguments of David Overstreet, an archaeologist at Marquette University and the College of Menominee Nation, and Daniel Joyce of the Kenosha Public Museum. For decades, these two scientists have shouted from the fringes of academia that the Clovis First theory was flawed. They pointed to sites across Wisconsin - Schaefer, Hebior and Fabry Creek - that showed that people were here before Clovis. Researchers in Texas, Pennsylvania and Chile gathered similar evidence. But their claims were generally met with incredulity and hostility, Overstreet said, turning into a battle over turf rather than a thoughtful debate over analyses of artifacts and cultural debris. "It takes a long time for people to shift their ideas forward," Overstreet said. But the new research offers "the first coherent and critical statement that says, 'Get over it, guys. Clovis is dead,' " he said. And the evidence comes from the Clovis sites. In this latest paper, Michael Waters of Texas A&M University and Thomas Stafford Jr. of Stafford Research Laboratories in Lafayette, Colo., reanalyzed artifacts and bone fragments from Clovis sites across North and South America. Recent technological advances in chemistry and physics have increased the precision and accuracy of dating techniques, reducing the possible time frame around suspected dates. "Many of these radiocarbon dates were run back in the 1960s and 1970s when radiocarbon technology wasn't what it is today," Waters said in a prepared statement. The dates had ranges of plus or minus 250 years, Stafford said. But new dating technology has decreased this fuzz factor to plus or minus 30 years - allowing the researchers to assign dates more confidently to artifacts found at these sites. After running the new dates, Waters and Stafford found that the Clovis period probably lasted about 200 years instead of the 900 years that previous researchers had claimed. That meant it was highly improbable that one population could have entered the New World via Alaska and within four or five generations populated the entire hemisphere. Indeed, even if researchers allowed for the maximum time span around their dates, this still would only amount to 400 years - an unlikely time span for multi-continental dispersal. Instead, Stafford said, it's more likely that the Clovis technology came to the New World and was adapted by people already living here. "To me, it's almost implicit there had to be people here before" Clovis for such a rapid transmission to occur, Stafford said. Overstreet and Joyce agreed. "Their article is a wonderful refinement of the archaeological record," Joyce said. "The paper is a chronological refinement of the archaeological record which demonstrates that Clovis as a culture is not alone and that there were antecedent cultures." He added that the archaeological record of Kenosha County - with firmly dated mammoth sites showing unequivocal human interaction - further strengthens their conclusions. Copyright c. 2005 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Cherokees consider selling Meds" --------- Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 08:22:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="EASTERN BAND LOOKS AT PHARMACY BUSINESS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/545105.html Cherokees consider selling meds The tribe wants 'to see if it makes sense' to follow other tribes into the pharmacy business Jim Nesbitt, Staff Writer February 20, 2007 Cherokee leaders are scouting the money-making potential of a business venture other tribes have found lucrative: selling discount prescription drugs by mail. They might also import cheaper pharmaceuticals from Canada for a future business that could fill prescriptions for tribal members and for people who live far beyond the boundaries of Cherokee land in the mountains of Western North Carolina. But that would set up an age-old conflict between a tribe that argues it has the rights of a sovereign nation that exempt it from federal laws and federal health officials who say selling Canadian drugs in the United States is illegal and, perhaps, unsafe. "We've definitely looked at the Canada option," said Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. "That definitely could go under sovereignty." While discussions about starting this new business are still preliminary, tribal health officials have already toured mail-order pharmacies run by other tribes, Hicks said. "We've visited with other tribes to see what they do and to see if it makes sense for us," Hicks said. "It's not just for external sales. We want to see whether volume purchases would lead to better prices for our tribal members." These fact-finding missions include a trip to a pharmacy operation owned by the Mashantucket Pequots of Connecticut that generates more than $15 million in revenue a year, Hicks said. The Pequots are one of a half-dozen tribes across the country that run direct-mail pharmacies with different degrees of sophistication, all of them buying drugs from U.S. wholesalers. A small tribe with about 650 members, the Pequots also own Foxwoods, the world's largest casino, with more than 10,000 employees. The Cherokees aren't certain that they will import Canadian drugs; some tribal mail-order pharmacies have tried it, and other tribes say they want to, despite a federal crackdown on bulk purchases from north of the border. Hicks said his tribe might follow the model of the Pequots and the Penobscots of Maine, who sell only U.S.-manufactured drugs they have been able to purchase at a deeply discounted price because of the volume of business their mail-order pharmacies conduct. Either way, if the Cherokees open a business that fills prescriptions for people who aren't tribal members, they'll have to get a pharmacy permit from the N.C. Board of Pharmacy, said Jay Campbell, executive director of the occupational licensing board. Statewide, the board licenses 11,000 pharmacists, 3,000 pharmacies and 11,000 pharmacy technicians. "Nobody can sell prescription drugs to the people of North Carolina without a permit from us," Campbell said. Selling drugs from Canada violates federal law and bypasses federal drug safety and testing standards, Campbell said. Counterfeiting concern The chief worry of federal officials isn't the safety of Canadian drugs - the pharmaecuticals meet the high standards of Canada's health ministry and are often manufactured at the same plants as drugs made for the U.S. market. Rather, officials are concerned about opening an unmonitored route for counterfeit drugs masquerading as products of Canada. State and federal laws also require a "legitimate" relationship between patients and the physician who writes them a prescription, Campbell said. "The issue is whether a patient is actually being treated for a medical problem a doctor has diagnosed versus asking for a prescription a doctor somewhere just stamps out," he said. Sovereignty rights If the Cherokees decide to purchase drugs from Canada, Hicks said they'll cite sovereignty rights granted the tribe by 18th- and 19th- century treaties as a shield against any federal crackdown. Staff writer Jim Nesbitt can be reached at (919) 829-8955 or jim.nesbitt@newsobserver.com. News researcher Susan Ebbs contributed to this report. Copyright c. 2007, The News & Observer Publishing Company. --------- "RE: Land-into-trust requests fall into 'Black Hole'" --------- Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:50:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BIA 'BLACK HOLE'" http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/001483.asp Land-into-trust requests fall into BIA's 'black hole' February 21, 2007 What happens when a tribe submits a land-into-trust application to the Bureau of Indian Affairs? Tribal leaders hope it will be processed in a timely manner. But in the face of lengthy waits, many are wondering what is going on at the agency that is charged with serving their needs. "The message we're getting is just there is no movement," said Brenda Litinger, a council member for the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana, at the United South and Eastern Tribes (USET) meeting last week. Litinger said her tribe wants to have land placed in trust for non- gaming purposes. That shouldn't be controversial but there's been no action for a couple of years, she told Jim Cason, the associate deputy secretary at the Interior Department. "We are being hindered by this delay, by this black hole," Litinger said last Wednesday. Christine Norris, the chief of the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians in Louisiana, shared a similar story. As a recently recognized tribe, the Choctaws are waiting for Interior to make a "reservation proclamation" for their initial land base. But Norris said she has no idea what is happening with the application now that it has been sent to the BIA's central office in Washington, D.C. "I am not getting any response, any telephone calls returned," she told Cason. "It seems as if it's fallen into a black hole," Norris added. A couple of days later, the tribes' fears were compounded by the testimony of the Government Accountability Office. At the first hearing of the House Natural Resources Committee on Friday, lawmakers were told that the land-into-trust process is only getting worse. "Over 1,000 land in trust applications from tribes and individual Indians are currently pending," said Robin Nazarro, the director of natural resources and Environment at the GAO. That's up from the "hundreds" a BIA official told a Senate committee back in May 2005. According to the GAO, the median processing time for a land-into-trust application is 1.2 years. But one tribe waited 13 years and another waited 19 years to receive an answer. Since the Indian Reorganization Act, the law that created the land-into- trust process, does not impose timelines on the BIA, the agency can take as long as it wants to complete the process. At the USET meeting, Cason confirmed that some tribes will have to wait longer than others due to limited staff and controversies associated with Indian gaming. Cason said that non-gaming applications are being handled after gaming and gaming-related applications. He also cited problems with the BIA's land title system and inaccurate or missing data. One regional office in Oklahoma wasn't even entering any of its data into the system, according to a GAO report. "I had to set some priorities ... and in setting the priorities, new land-into-trust ended up being a lower priority," Cason told attendees of USET. The BIA is currently revamping its land-into-trust processes but again, gaming acquisitions have been given a higher priority. The agency's "Section 20" regulations - named for the section of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act - are due to be finalized this spring. The "151" regulations - named for a section of the Code of Federal Regulations that affect non-gaming acquisitions - are still on the back burner. In 2001, the Bush administration rescinded a set of rules that, for the first time, would have imposed deadlines on the BIA. Copyright c. 2007 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Treatment of American Indian Students challenged" --------- Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 08:51:05 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TREATMENT OF NATIVE STUDENTS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/02/21/ news/top/news00e_indians_complaint.txt Treatment of American Indian students challenged By Andrea J. Cook, Journal staff February 23, 2007 RAPID CITY - An altercation last week between an American Indian student and adults at Central High School prompted a meeting of adults and students Wednesday at the Mother Butler Center. Although local news media receive notices of the meeting, they were asked to leave when the meeting started. Two members of the Rapid City Police Department also were asked to leave before the meeting started. Organizers Mary Wright and Hazel Bonner did grant a brief interview before the meeting started. Wright said she was told that five adults "took an Indian boy down" at Central last Thursday. The student did not provoke the attack, according to Wright. The student, who was taken into police custody and charged with assault, suffered a broken wrist during the incident, she said. "This will not be tolerated by the Indian community any longer," Wright said. "We have sat by too quietly not saying anything." Wright said the school district has discouraged Indian children from identifying with their culture. Most parents are afraid to speak up against mistreatment because they are afraid of retaliation from school officials and police. Officials at the Rapid City Police Department have declined to comment on the Central incident. Rapid City superintendent of schools Peter Wharton says the incident with the student was handled properly but that the matter is being investigated by the district and law enforcement. "I'm unaware of anything that was done or handled inappropriately," he said. Wharton did confirm that after the incident two school district employees were taken to the hospital for treatment. Both were treated and released, he said. Wharton refused to go into details leading up to the incident. To protect the privacy of the student and adults involved, the superintendent said he was limited in what he could say. Wharton said he is willing to sit down at the table and discuss parents' concerns. The district does have a complaint procedure that parents are encouraged to use, he said. Bonner said Wednesday's meeting was an organizational meeting. She said complaints to be filed because of the boy's treatment. Too many Indian students drop out of Central High School because they are being mistreated. "Attitudes have to change," Bonner said. Contact Andrea Cook at 394-8423 or andrea.cook@rapidcityjournal.com Copyright c. 2007 Rapid City Journal. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Native American Athletes face imposing Hurdles" --------- Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 08:51:05 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NATIVE AMERICAN ATHLETES" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2007-02-21-native-american-cover_x.htm Native American athletes face imposing hurdles By Greg Boeck, USA TODAY February 22, 2007 TUBA CITY, Ariz. - Ryne Hemstreet's gold medal is displayed in the trophy case in his family's living room in this Navajo town of 8,225 near the northern Arizona border. The aspiring 17-year-old baseball player, named after former Chicago Cubs great Ryne Sandberg, won it in Denver as a shortstop and pitcher for Arizona's 16-and-under Native American team in July's North American Indigenous Games, an Olympic-style event that attracted 7,200 athletes from the USA and Canada. Hemstreet wants more. That's why, after his upcoming junior season at Greyhills Academy, a local tribal grant school where he carries a 3.7 grade-point average and ranks seventh in his class of 124, he will move to Phoenix. He'll live there with his older brother and play his senior year at a higher-profile high school in hope of attracting college scholarship offers. He's aware of the long odds he and other Native American athletes face, even those who leave their reservation to improve their chances of being recruited. Compared with white Hispanics and black non-Hispanics, Native American athletes among the country's 562 federally recognized tribes - 341 in the lower 48 states - are more under-represented on NCAA teams. "As a Native American, nobody takes you too seriously that you can play at that level," Hemstreet says. "It's my job to go out and get noticed." For most Native Americans, that concept - standing out individually - is at odds with their culture, which promotes the principle of functioning as a group. That, says Ron Trosper, a Harvard-educated member of the Flathead tribe in Montana who is associate professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, hinders the advancement of Native American athletes, starting at the college level, where individual achievement is rewarded. "It appears to be aggressive to many Native Americans to be individualistic in the college classroom," Trosper says. "And it's not rewarded. And it may not be rewarded on the playing fields to the extent it would be in the Native American community." A high school dropout rate of 40.7% dead-ends the careers of most Native Americans. Those who do move on to college athletics "are typically not prepared," says Gene Keluche, a Wintu from Northern California and founder and chairman of the Native American Sports Council, whose mission is to identify elite athletes and provide assistance for development. "Their coach's objective is to win state. Their counselor's objective is to put them through high school. They are not prepared to go beyond that, academically or culturally. And if they go, they often don't perform well and come home and get into a dysfunctional community where unemployment is 60% and drug use is high. They have no future and become a statistic." Native American athletes face those hurdles and the highly competitive world of sports participation after high school. Native American sports leaders are trying to address this but are doing so with largely disjointed efforts and sporadic financial support. Their goals - more college athletes and inclusion in the Olympics as a sovereign nation - are lofty but face an uphill climb, even with the 1990s explosion of a $22 billion Native American gaming industry operated by 223 tribes in 28 states. Those revenue, 55.5% of which are generated by 20 tribes, mostly have been aimed at addressing social issues - a poverty rate of 24. 7%, rampant diabetes, alcohol abuse - that far overshadow sports. The Seminole, Seneca and Fort McDowell Indian Reservation tribes contributed almost $400,000 to the North American Indigenous Games, which were largely financed by Utah's two host tribes, the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute. They donated $2 million, mostly from oil, gas and water rights payments. The $5.2 million event, however, produced a $500,000 shortfall. A handful of tribes have used gaming dollars to plunge into sports ownership. However, even the Mohegans, who own the WNBA Connecticut Sun, and the Southern California Sycuan tribe and South Florida Seminoles, both of whom promote professional boxing, have directed limited money into sponsoring professional Native American athletes. Ernie Stevens Jr., a Chickasaw from Oklahoma and chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association, kicked off a campaign in April 2006 to raise $10 million for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Indian Country and the American Indian College Fund, but his target is "sports and fitness overall," not individual athletic advancement. Golfer Notah Begay III, a Stanford graduate and the first Native American to win on the PGA Tour, says these efforts are not enough. "Until you see a consolidation of resources and communities between successful tribes that have the opportunity to make a difference," he says, "we're still going to struggle in the battle to get Native Americans on Division I playing fields." Strong sports history Begay is the biggest role model among aspiring Native American athletes, whose struggle to reach the elite level drips with irony. This is a culture that set up shop in sports long before the first baseball or basketball games were played in the 19th century. Native Americans, in partnership with their First Nations cousins in Canada, claim to have originally played in some form what are now 10 Olympic sports, including canoeing, kayaking, sledding and field hockey. Lacrosse is another Indian original. In the 20th century, Jim Thorpe, a Potawatomi, won two Olympic gold medals, played professional baseball and football and became the first president of the league that would become the NFL. Billy Mills, a Sioux who came off the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, scored one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history when he won the 10,000 meters in 1964. Mills says it's easy to identify the problem: "We're the freest country in the world, and we (Native Americans) live under quasi-apartheid. Indirectly, we're locked outside - and that's where all the issues come from." Providing solutions isn't so easy. Navajo distance runner Brandon Leslie is among several Native American 2008 Olympic hopefuls, but his battle for financial backing is typical of top-notch Indian athletes. Maurice Smith, an advocate with the Native American Sports Council, which is a member of the United States Olympic Committee, says, "I can't raise a dollar for this kid because nobody believes in his passion and understands here's the next Billy Mills." Leslie left a reservation in Gallup, N.M., and became an NCAA Division II All-American and the 2000 Division II 10,000-meters champion at Adams State College in Alamosa, Colo. His best time in the event is 28:36.52, and he competed in the 2004 U.S. Olympic trials. Smith says Native American athletes don't lack drive or talent. "The perspiration is there. The commitment is there. We need to continue to be resilient and provide more opportunities." Healthy sports participation - and a fanatic following for basketball - vibrates on most reservations coast-to-coast but not beyond. That could change if the Native American Olympic Steering Committee's bid for Olympic inclusion succeeds. Bid organizers want International Olympic Committee recognition as a sovereign nation, which would allow Native Americans and First Nations athletes in Canada to compete in the Games as their own North American Indigenous team. However, Jeff Howard, a USOC spokesman, told The (Portland) Oregonian last winter that the USOC is recognized by the IOC as the "steward" for the Olympic movement in the U.S. "And only one entity within a nation can have that distinction." Harder road for women Hemstreet may never benefit from this quest. But he has one of his own - getting an opportunity to play baseball in college, if not beyond. It's an enormous challenge, even 110 years after Louis Francis Sockalexis, a Penobscot, became what many historians believe is the first Native American to play major league baseball. (He played three years, all for the Cleveland Spiders.) Hemstreet's coach, Shawn Deschenie, has put baseball on the local map since taking over the program at Greyhills Academy in 1999, but, as at most Native America high schools, basketball is the No. 1 sport here. The boys team was state runner-up in its class in 2005 and plays in a gym recently renovated for $112,000. The school's nine sports teams operate on a shoestring budget funded by a $25,000 federal grant, ticket revenue and fundraisers, but the athletics department is by no means destitute. Among several buses, the school owns one with a VCR and TV for trips as much as 3 1/2 hours away. Baseball was a natural for Hemstreet. His father, Jonathan, became a loyal Cubs fan once cable TV arrived on the reservation in the 1980s. Jonathan Hemstreet, 45, is a civil engineer who doubles as Deschenie's volunteer assistant coach. Ryne's brother, Kyle, 26, also is an assistant coach and teacher at Greyhills who left the reservation and played college baseball at Kansas Wesleyan. Ryne calls Kyle his role model. There aren't many athletic role models on Native American reservations, male or female. Female athletes have an even more difficult mountain to climb. "You are a minority within a minority," says Cara Currie-Hall, a Montana Cree who is the most influential woman in Native American sports as a board member of World Indigenous Nations Sports, founder of the North American Indigenous Games. "For Native American women in sports, it's not very good." The road for both sexes is fraught with athletic speed bumps, if not academic or alcoholic dead-ends. At Greyhills, less than 5% of the graduating seniors go to college, acting principal Marie Morales says. "We have students who have done well at high school competition," she says, "and you'd think that would be the gateway to higher education. But for some reason, the life is only up to high school." That's the rap on Native American athletes from college coaches and professional scouts. "They're very timid, shy and not real comfortable out of their element," says Yavapai (Junior) College baseball coach Sky Smeltzer, who has had six Native Americans play for his school in Prescott, Ariz. "The hardest thing for them is being away from the reservation and comfort zone they have there." Begay, who got an economics degree at Stanford, says, "An investment in a Native American athlete might not be the wisest choice." He returned to his tribal community outside Albuquerque and started a foundation in 2005 to heighten awareness of diabetes and promote a healthy lifestyle. He also started a soccer program. "It's my job," Begay says, "to make sure those who come after me can stand on my shoulders and see farther and reach higher. We need to see more kids in Division I and more graduating." Getting the word out It's all about exposure, Deschenie says. Only one college recruiter (from Haskell Indian Nations University, an NAIA school in Lawrence, Kan.) has ever visited Tuba City, he says, so he takes his top players to the recruiters. Last summer he took six players to a Yavapai baseball camp and coached the 16-and-under team in Denver. Hemstreet is proud of the gold medal the team won. So is his close-knit family. He shares a room with his 11-year-old sister, Tara. Kyle lives a couple of miles away. Annette, their mother, teaches health and physical education at Greyhills and coaches cross country. And Ryne's paternal grandparents live across the street. They all come to watch him play, but that will change next season if he moves to Phoenix. Ryne, who also plays for two traveling teams out of Payson, Ariz., doesn't expect smooth sailing, but he says, "It's a better chance to be seen. This is what I've always dreamed of." They are dreams with a price tag too stiff for many Native Americans. Even for those who succeed. Kyle's modest success, his father says, isn't something you brag about on the reservation. "We try to low-key it," he says. "When you're part of the Navajo Nation, it seems like us Indian people, we don't want people getting too high up here. As soon as somebody sees somebody up here, they try to bring them down." Copyright c. 2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. --------- "RE: Tournament helps Colleges tap into Native Talent" --------- Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 08:51:05 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NATIVE AMERICAN BASKETBALL INVITATIONAL" http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2007-02-21-native-american-tournament_x.htm?csp=34 Tournament helps colleges tap into Native American talent By Greg Boeck, USA TODAY February 22, 2007 PHOENIX - At 6-7, 220 pounds, Lewis RidesHorse, a member of the Crow Tribe, is an imposing figure on the basketball court. But a college coach never saw him play in high school in Park City, Mont. Then last summer he played in the Native American Basketball Invitational (NABI) tournament at US Airways Center in Phoenix. That's where coach Jamie Morrison spotted RidesHorse and recruited him to play for his Haskell Indian Nations University team in Lawrence, Kan., where RidesHorse is a freshman backup center this season. "It was pretty big," RidesHorse says. Co-founded in 2003 by Mark West, a former NBA player and the Phoenix Suns vice president of player programs, and GinaMarie Scarpa-Mabry, director of the tournament, the NABI is the only all-Native American basketball tournament organized for the purpose of creating scholarship opportunities. Basketball is the most popular sport among Native Americans, but only 28 men and 23 women played on NCAA Division I teams during the 2004-05 season, according to the NCAA's most current race and ethnicity report. In contrast, 3,709 whites and 4,968 African-Americans played in Division I that season. In 2007, the fifth NABI tournament for high school-age boys and girls will have an event-record 80 teams July 8-14 and break new ground with NCAA certification for the first time. That will allow Division I and II coaches to attend. "It's going to open up more coaches to Native Americans, ," Morrison says. "Native Americans have to take advantage of this," Scarpa-Mabry says. "It'll mean more scholarships. ... It's so hard for college scouts and coaches to go to the reservation because it's so desolate. Our mission is to increase the number of Native Americans in college, and the word is out that talent is there and it's untouched talent. We have the interest of recruiters now." The NABI's organizers say close to 30 former participants are playing college basketball. Getting them there is only part of the struggle. In 2005, the NABI donated $25,000 to a foundation targeted to supporting athletes once they get in college. "One thing we found out is they feel isolated once they get away," West says. "They get the scholarship, then come back to the rez because their surroundings are so different." That's the case even at Haskell, a member of the NAIA's Midland Collegiate Athletic Conference, where, Morrison says, only four players have stayed all four years since 1999. Copyright c. 2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. --------- "RE: FDLTCC announces addition of Athletics Programs" --------- Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 08:51:05 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FON DU LAC CC ADDS ATHLECTICS" http://www.cloquetmn.com/articles/index.cfm? id=9677§ion=homepage&freebie_check&CFID=18432589& CFTOKEN=64731482&jsessionid=88307a96356a3b45c6d3 FDLTCC announces addition of athletics programs Lisa Baumann The Pine Journal February 21, 2007 At a press conference last Wednesday, where Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College announced the addition of intercollegiate athletic programs, nursing student Jenny Anderson listened with eager attention to hear which sports would be added first. She was happy to hear the first two sports teams will be men's football, beginning in the fall of 2007, and women's softball in spring of 2008. "I'm very excited to play softball starting next year," she said. Upon hearing the college will add women's volleyball and men's and women's basketball as the next programs, her enthusiasm grew even more. "I played softball, volleyball and basketball in high school," the freshman from Saginaw said. That kind of enthusiasm for bringing athletics to Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College is what prompted administrators to develop these plans over the past two years, according to Donald Day, college president. "Over the years, we have been asked many times if, or when, the college would offer intercollegiate activities," he said. "The time is now, and we couldn't be more happy about it." The college has been accepted as a member of the Minnesota Community College Conference that currently includes 17 two-year institutions throughout Minnesota. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees granted approval to the college during the board's January 2007 meeting. Sports teams will compete at the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division III level. With football as the first team sport on the roster beginning this fall, Tony DeLeon, who holds several college degrees including a Master of Education degree from Southwest State University, was introduced as the head coach. He has a solid coaching background, having held various head and assistant coaching positions at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, Mesabi Range Community College, Lincoln High School in Esko and Cook High School in Cook, Minn. His playing experience includes numerous All-Conference, All-American, and player of the year awards at both the National Junior College Athletic Association level and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics level. In addition, DeLeon set several national records for passing yards and touchdown passes as a quarterback at Vermilion Community College. In addition to his duties as head football coach, DeLeon teaches physical education courses at the college and will help develop future intercollegiate athletic programs there. He said he is ready for the challenge of building the new football program from the ground up. "I think it's a great opportunity for everyone in the area and I want to thank everyone who made it happen," DeLeon said. He plans to recruit from the pool of local talent, providing kids with a chance to go to college and play football while staying close to home. He does not plan to recruit out-of-state. DeLeon hopes to have 60 players at practice in August. Student-athletes at the college will have academic expectations, according to Day, and if a student is not making it academically, he or she will not play. DeLeon's philosophy of what he expects from student athletes jibes with the school, Day said. Although nothing has been finalized about where the team will play, DeLeon said Cloquet High School's Rol Bromberg Field could be a possibility for home games, adding that Cloquet has been "very good to the college." The college has also begun preliminary talks with school officials about holding practices at the Fond du Lac Ojibwe School field. The opening game will take place Sept. 1 at Vermilion Community College, and its home opener will be Sept. 8 at Mesabi Range College in Virginia. The college has budged approximately $85,000 to begin football and softball programs during the 2007-2008 academic year. Funds will come from a combination of sources, including general fees and revenue generated from enrollment. In the meantime, Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College will break ground this spring on the Lester Jack Briggs Cultural Center that will include athletic space. The facility will house gymnasium space, locker rooms, a weight room and fitness center, along with classrooms and offices. It is scheduled to be completed before the start of the 2008-2009 academic year. "The athletics programs will be a great addition to the community," said DeLeon. "I hope everyone comes out to support us." Day added, "many small college towns rally around their athletic teams and we hope that it will also happen in our area." Pine Journal Editor Lisa Baumann can be contacted at: lbaumann@pinejournal.com. Copyright c. 2007 Pine Journal - Forum Communications Co. Fargo, ND. --------- "RE: Sitting Bull's kin seek home for Chief's Bones" --------- Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:50:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FAMILY SEEKS TO BURY SITTING BULL AT LITTLE BIGHORN" http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/02/22/ news/state/20-sittingbull_x.txt Sitting Bull's kin seek home for chief's bones By LORNA THACKERAY Of The Gazette Staff February 22, 2007 Sitting Bull's four surviving great-grandchildren want the bones of their famous ancestor moved from a cement-clad grave in South Dakota to Little Bighorn Battlefield in Montana. Ernie LaPointe of Lead, S.D., the spokesman for the family, said that for 50 years, Sitting Bull's grave on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation near Mobridge, S.D., has been neglected and dishonored. Now, LaPointe says, new owners of the property plan to exploit the legendary Lakota political and spiritual leader's memory. LaPointe and his sisters, Marlene Little Spotted Horse Andersen, Ethel Little Spotted Horse Bates and Lydia Little Spotted Horse Red Paint, sent letters Wednesday advising government and tribal officials in the Dakotas and Montana of their intent to have the remains moved. "This is to notify you and other interested parties of family right and authority to re-inter our Great-Grandfather Sitting Bull to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Montana," it says. "We do this because North Dakota, South Dakota and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe have not honored their promise for proper care and maintenance of our Grandfather's burial site." Darrell Cook, superintendent at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, said the battlefield has agreed to help LaPointe and his sisters. "We recognize Sitting Bull's legacy and that it is at the Little Bighorn," Cook said. Sitting Bull led an alliance of Sioux, Cheyenne and others in defiance of government orders to settle on reservations. His struggle culminated in a resounding defeat of the 7th Cavalry at Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. The National Park Service and Sitting Bull's direct descendants have a long-established working relationship that dates to planning for the new Indian Memorial at the Battlefield, Cook said. "I think that's why they felt comfortable coming to us about this," he said. Before a final decision is reached on placing the remains at the battlefield, Cook said, the National Park Service will probably order an environmental assessment, so the public will have a chance to comment. The catalyst for the great-grandchildren's decision apparently was a proposal by the nonprofit Sitting Bull Monument Foundation, which recently purchased the grave site from a private owner. According to its Web site, the foundation's plans include preservation and protection of the grave site and development of an educational and cultural center and museum. It would also include a riverfront recreational development, amphitheater, snack bar, restaurant and gift shop. The foundation has already completed a major cleanup at the grave site and has installed electricity and lighting. LaPointe said he and his sisters were not consulted about the plans and don't want to see a restaurant and gift shops at the grave site. Reached by telephone Wednesday morning, Bryan Defender, a member of the Standing Rock Tribe and one of the founders of the Sitting Bull Monument Foundation, said commercialization was never his intent. "Our motivation behind this is very sincere," he said. "The development is a very positive thing. The only thing I want to do is display our culture, our history in an authentic, positive way and to pay tribute to a leader who has never been properly paid tribute." He agreed that until 2005, when he and Rhett Albers bought the land where Sitting Bull rests, the grave had been neglected. But the foundation has cleaned it up and is raising money for a $12 million complex to honor Sitting Bull and the Lakota heritage, Defender said. "I'd like to call him (LaPointe) and talk to him about this," he said. "I would absolutely have to take a look at it." LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, tourism director for Standing Rock, said Wednesday that she had not heard about LaPointe's letter. Her first reaction to hearing of his plan: "I don't think that's possible." She said that although LaPointe has rights, he is not enrolled at Standing Rock and she doesn't know what rights he has on reservation lands. That would be a matter for the tribal chairman to comment, Allard said. He was spending the day with Sen. Byron Dorgan, D.-N.D., and was unavailable Wednesday, she said. The tribe had been working with the foundation on new signs for both the Mobridge grave site and the original burial site at Fort Yates in North Dakota, she said. North Dakota, which had owned the Fort Yates site since 1956, turned it over to the tribe earlier this year. "Finally we got both sites in our ownership," she said. "There are a lot of plans for both sites." Those plans include better roads, signs and landscaping, she said. The tribe is just waiting for the snow to melt to begin. The tribe's motivation was in showing respect, not in commercialization, she said. * * * * * If Sitting Bull's remains are moved, it won't be the first time. After his death in 1890 in a shootout with Indian police at his home on the Grand River, Sitting Bull's body was buried at Fort Yates on the North Dakota end of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. LaPointe said his mother and her two sisters agreed that Sitting Bull's remains should be removed to a site near Mobridge on the South Dakota end of the reservation in 1953 after they were promised that the new grave would be maintained in perpetuity. They were also promised that it would not be commercialized. Everything that has happened in the past 54 years has been a violation of an agreement signed "under duress" by his mother, Angeline Spotted Horse LaPointe, LaPointe said. She wanted Sitting Bull's remains removed from the Standing Rock Reservation, he said. "She said they stood with the killers of her grandfather," LaPointe explained. Mrs. LaPointe acquiesced reluctantly to the wishes of a sister and a cousin who had obtained pledges from the Dakota Memorial Association that Sitting Bull's remains would be cared for and honored. The association was formed by people in Mobridge solely for that purpose. It appears that the organization no longer exists. Mrs. LaPointe was born to Sitting Bull's youngest daughter, Standing Holy. After his death, Sitting Bull's relatives and followers fled, but they were brought back to Standing Rock and held there under protective custody. In the summer of 1891, Sitting Bull's immediate family and about 300 others left Standing Rock and followed the Cheyenne River to the Badlands. They laid low for three years, disappearing into the rough country when any authorities from the agency arrived, LaPointe said. Then the Indian agent at the Pine Ridge Reservation in southwestern South Dakota arranged to have the family enrolled there. "We don't want to break any rules or laws," LaPointe said in a telephone interview. "But we are his closest relatives, and we have the main say in what is done with our grandfather." He said he sees no impediment to removing the remains to Little Bighorn, where the grave will be honored and maintained in perpetuity. "This is our mother's wish," LaPointe said. "We don't have to ask permission from nobody." * * * * * Sitting Bull died Dec. 15, 1890, when Indian police were sent to arrest him. Authorities thought he was involved in a Ghost Dance movement spreading across Indian Country. The movement invoked a desperate dream of a messiah who would bring back the buffalo, drive out the white intruders and allow Indians to live as they had for thousands of years. They feared he would be a rallying point for malcontents, and they wanted him removed. Sitting Bull refused to go with the Indian police and one of his supporters fired, downing a policeman. In the melee that followed, 14 people were killed or mortally wounded. The old warrior and holy man was hurriedly buried at Fort Yates, now headquarters of the Standing Rock Reservation. His remains have been the subject of dispute ever since. Despite assurances from the medical examiner, rumors circulated almost immediately that he was never buried there. Others insisted that Sitting Bull's followers dug up the remains and reburied them in a secret location in Canada. Sitting Bull did not rest peacefully in his grave. When Fort Yates was abandoned in 1903, his grave was the only one left behind. It was poorly marked and maintained and rarely visited. In 1953, a group from Mobridge, apparently interested in Sitting Bull's tourism potential, decided he should be removed from the Fort Yates burial site on the North Dakota side of the Standing Rock Reservation to a site near Mobridge on the South Dakota side. When North Dakota objected, the South Dakota group got the support of Sitting Bull's three granddaughters to dig up the body in the middle of the night and move it to Mobridge. North Dakota officials later claimed that the Mobridge group got only a few bones and that they were not necessarily those of Sitting Bull. They also argued that Sitting Bull had already become part of the Fort Yates soil where he had been buried and would remain there forever. When the Mobridge group dug up the bones, they were placed in a steel vault, moved to the Mobridge grave and covered with 20 tons of cement that day. Korczak Ziolkowski, who was in the early stages of carving the Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills, sculpted a likeness of the chief to stand over the grave. Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: St. Mary's River alliance formed" --------- Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:50:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TRIBES, FIRST NATIONS ALLY TO PROTECT ECOSYSTEM" http://www.rlnn.com/ArtFeb07/TribesFirstNationsStMarysRiverAlliance.html Tribes, First Nations form St. Mary's River alliance By David Helwig Soo Today February 21, 2007 Bawating, North America - Following the historic signing of the St. Marys River Treaty in November, 2006, two Canadian First Nations and two Native American Tribes have formed a new alliance that will work to protect the ecosystem of the St. Marys River. The Anishinabeg Joint Commission had its first meeting on February 12, 2007 in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and promises to rekindle ties of family and culture that were inhibited by the imposition of an international border through Ojibwa territory. We are one people separated by a border. Many years of pollution, diversion of water, destruction of fish and wildlife habitat and the introduction of invasive species such as the sea lamprey, have damaged the St. Marys River which has been the lifeblood of the Anishinabe nations on both sides of the river for generations beyond count. The joint commission will work to ensure that the governments of Canada and the United States follow through on their promises to protect and restore the ecosystem of the St. Marys River. The original name for the Sault Ste. Marie area was Bawating and it was an extremely important place for the gathering of people from all Native nations long before Europeans arrived in North America. Part of the reason was that the St. Marys River and the rapids in particular were so rich in fish, game and furs. The river provided for all the families that lived here and also for the people who arrived each year to trade, visit and socialize. Environmental degradation of the St. Marys River has especially affected native people. Today over 80 percent of the water that used to flow through the rapids is diverted to create hydroelectric power and many of the wetlands that supported the amazing fishery have been destroyed. Native families that once freely fished anywhere in the river are separated by the border and fishing is restricted. Pollution, including raw sewage, has contaminated water and beaches on native lands causing a health risk and stifling economic opportunities. Although tribes and first nations work with non-native governments in many areas including fisheries and environmental efforts, this is the first time that the original people of the St. Marys River have breached the border and formed a united organization to address environmental injustices. The joint commission is currently working on a mission statement and objectives to address important issues on the St. Marys River and beyond. The joint commission is comprised of the Batchewana First Nation, the Bay Mills Indian Community, the Garden River First Nation and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Copyright c. 2007 Red Lake Net News. --------- "RE: Tribal Fishermen testify at River Compact Hearing" --------- Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:50:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TRIBAL MEMBERS HEARD AT COLUMBIA RIVER COMPACT HEARING" http://www.shobannews.com/local.htm Tribal Fishermen testify at Columbia River compact hearing February 21, 2007 FORT HALL - Eleven Shoshone-Bannock Tribal members traveled to Vancouver, Washington to attend the Compact Hearing to provide testimony on January 24-26, 2007 to voice the Shoshone- Bannock Tribes concerns and impacts to Upper Salmon area on returning Chinook, Steelhead and other fisheries seasons. The Compact decides on the opening on these seasons on the Lower Columbia (Zones 1-6) from the mouth of the ocean to the headwaters. The following tribal members attended: Frank Papse; Kurt Tardy; Jason Watson; Sonae Watson; Alton Bear; Anna Broncho; Claudeo Broncho; Dakota Edmo; Tom Wadsworth; Willie Preacher; Carlos Lopez; and LeeJuan Tyler. The Compact (Oregon/ Washington) had opening statements of the purpose of the meeting and a written Joint Staff report was available for all participants. Participants consisted of recreational fishermen (sportsman), commercial fisherman, local interested individuals, CRITFC, Warm Springs Tribes, Colville's and Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. LeeJuan Tyler, Fort Hall Business Council (Vice-Chairman) was present to give the testimony on behalf of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. According to his written testimony, Tyler asked representatives from the State of Idaho and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes be included in the Columbia River Compact. The Tribes requested that main stem fisheries be open during February through March and after March 31, Washington and Oregon transition from main stem commercial and sport fisheries to terminal areas. The Tribes also asked for an increased shad commercial and sport fishery and if conflicting fisheries occur, priority is given to the more abundant shad population. The Tribes ask for extra caution be used in predicting pre-season forecasts before implementing fisheries. The Tribes also want an appropriate proportion of Chinook fisheries be sampled to prove that fish harvested are in proportion to the stock composition as currently assumed. In addition, the Tribes asked that an appropriate proportion of main stem summer steelhead fisheries be sampled to determine the status of Group A and B for a combined 2 percent impact on the listed ESU populations. Tyler said the Tribes support non-Treaty closure of sockeye commercial and sport fishery in 2007 and ask that Treaty harvest not exceed a two percent impact. The Tribes also asked that a proportion of all sockeye fishery be sampled to determine origin and harvest impacts to Snake River Sockeye ESU. After LeeJuan's testimony Bill Tweit (Wa.) and Kurt Melcher (Or.) thanked LeeJuan for the commitment of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes they have shown through the years by attending the Compact Hearing, and the strong impression of those statements made within the testimony in order to remind those present of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes beliefs, customs and traditions. The first to speak as a tribal member fisherman was Willie Preacher. Willie opened his statement by giving the audience and compact a short description of where the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes are located in southeast Idaho area. "The fish are used for food and the tribal members fish every year in the Yankee Fork, Bear Valley, and South Fork rivers for those fish. Willie spoke of his younger days when 15 fish could be caught in one day, now it takes 4 to 5 days and you're lucky to catch 1 fish. Once the fish are depleted they will not return, they're gone. What happens to us in Southeast Idaho start's here at the Columbia River." Alton Bear (Winks), tribal member elder was present to make his presentation. Alton spoke of "being in the area in 1953 and the Salmon were big, 6 to 7 foot long. Ten years later, they became smaller, 3 years later they are smaller. The electric power Dam's are depleting the salmon coming through. June and July is the season for our area. If the salmon don't get through than our season is over early. "Dog Salmon", come through in September, can not get any because of the limitations to the amount of fish and receiving fines if we don't stay in compliance." Frank Papse, tribal member elder was also present to voice his concerns. He stated he came to the coast to report on the Salmon. He spoke of the Salmon migration that occurs every 4 years, and how they take turns. "The purpose of the travel is to take themselves up stream to spawn, the life cycle." "The life cycle of those Salmon is to swim up stream, spawn, and after they spawn they die, of which becomes the food of those fingerlings that are swimming back to the ocean. The remains of the salmon are also part of fertilizer for the shores. The river shores are bare, no vegetation. As they were driving up to the compact hearing he could see along the shores and they are bare, no vegetation. The ozone is depleting because there is no vegetation. Vegetation is what maintains the ecosystem, and the salmon are part of the life that is given to plants to maintain the ecosystem." Tom Wadsworth, tribal member and Fish & Game Warden spoke of his duties as game warden and his travels within the fishing areas. "He has seen the fish caught and used for food, and those fish caught cannot be sold. The fishermen catch only what they will use to feed their families. The fish are a dietary need and also for spiritual needs. It is amazing what those fish have to endure to get back to their spawning areas. The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes have regulations that the tribal members are in compliance with, and those that violate those regulations are fined. He recognizes the efforts of the committee for wanting to bring the fish back, but he would like to see the tribe be included more in some of the decisions and recommendations being made. The Tribe can only produce what is given and the eggs that are given to the Tribe are being utilized. The headwater is where life begins, and what happens upstream has an affect further down stream. He wants more for future generations, where kids can be able to go out and continue their tradition of catching salmon. Consider our Tribes voice and assist more in returning the fish. We all have to work together, the fish are God's gift." Sonae Watson, tribal member was present to voice her experience. "The quantity of fish is not there. Sonae indicated she had been to the compact hearing two years ago and there have been no improvements. There is too much commercial fishing. She talked about how she was brought up to fish along with other family members, and she wants to continue that tradition." Jason Watson, tribal member fisherman. "We are at the tail end. Large counts of fish are reported going over the Dam, but when the fish reach us we are lucky to get 1, 2, or maybe 3 fish compared to the 500 reported going over the Dam." Dakota Edmo, tribal member, described his experience as a young tribal member and how he started fishing. Spoke of his trip this past season with his family and the shortage of fish. Carlos Lopez, tribal member and fisheries technician, spoke of the fishing areas and how there is less fish in the areas. He stated that there needs to be a decrease of dams in order to allow the salmon to return to their spawning areas. Claudeo Broncho, tribal member and Fish & Wildlife Policy Representative, informed the board that he had brought the group of tribal members to present their concerns of the fishing. Elders have given the verbal history on the Tribes and the fish. Claudeo has heard the concerns of the opening season, listened to the forecasts, down stream they take more and less are able to go up stream to our fishing areas. The Fisheries Department works with the state of Idaho, Feds (NOAA) and Nez Perce Tribe on the escapement numbers Section 7 for the South Fork Salmon River the state operates under a Section 10 (Sportsman fisheries) was discussed. The SBT are using Endangered species Act Section 4-D as a tool for take some wilds (exception to take Spring/Summer Chinook salmon) Because of the Shoshone-Bannocks stand on our treaty rights, treaties are being upheld in Courts. Claudeo described his experience in the past seasons where 30 tribal fisherman are chasing (1) fish not like it used to be. The mortality rate is probably high down river. Claudeo stated; "We don't want our fish delivered in a back of a truck." Claudeo briefly remarked on the President Bush's, State of the Union speech. Copyright c. 2007 Sho-Ban News. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Native American Job Fair in Albuquerque" --------- Date: Monday, February 19, 2007 08:08 pm From: Larry Subj: Native American Job Fair to be Held in Albuquerque Mailing List: Sovereign News The following article can be located at: http://nativetimes.com:80/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=8610 Native American Job Fair to be Held in Albuquerque Resumes accepted via e-mail for those who can ALBUQUERQUE NM February 19, 2007 Native American Times is hosting its bi-annual Native American Job Fair with a new twist this time. For the first time in the eight-year history of sponsoring Job Fairs, Native Times is holding this one in Albuquerque, New Mexico. These Job Fairs do so much for employers and applicants alike, that we wanted to share this great opportunity with our friends in New Mexico and Arizona. The Job Fair, to be held March 7th, will be located at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center located at 2401 12th Street NW (1 block North of I-40) in Albuquerque. It is free to the public so bring a bus load of your students, tribal members or just bring a friend and share with them a great opportunity for a new job or the start of a new career. Don't worry if you can't make it, we'll hand out your resume's for you. (click here to e-mail your resume if you cannot attend and we will distribute it for you!) Our Job Fairs now have a reputation of attracting qualified talent to work in our nation's workforce, and top quality companies to hire those Native American applicants. "This free-to-the-public event is sure to draw a crowd with so many corporate and government recruiters in all fields of endeavor expected to showcase the many opportunities that exist for our Native people," said Native American Times co-publisher Sheldon Gore. If you are a Native American looking for a quality job or a student needing a little inspiration in picking your occupation, this event is designed for you in mind. An example of the recruiting companies attending our Albuquerque Job Fair specifically looking for Native American applicants are as follows: United States Department of Labor; United States Postal Service; University of New Mexico Hospital; Verizon Wireless; Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma; Chickasaw Nation Industries; CitiCards/CitiGroup; CVI Laser, LLC; Central New Mexico Community College. If you are interested in renting a booth or need more information, call 918-438-6548. This E-mail was posted by: Larry Kibby Elko Indian Colony, Nevada Indian Country....Alive & Well http://www.angelfire.com/planet/reservation/index.html Links to Cultural Preservation http://www.angelfire.com/planet/reservation/page1.html Cultural Photo's http://www.angelfire.com/planet/reservation/page2.html --------- "RE: Diabetes rates highest in Indian Country" --------- Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2007 08:16:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DIABETES" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414517 Diabetes rates highest in Indian country, experts say by: The Associated Press By Mary Clare Jalonick - Associated Press February 21, 2007 WASHINGTON (AP) - American Indians and Alaska Natives suffer from diabetes more than any ethnic group and the disease is increasingly affecting young Indians, government health experts told Congress. "In some communities, the prevalence rate is as high as 60 percent among adults," Charles Grim, the head of the IHS, told the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on Feb. 8. Grim said that agency statistics show that diabetes increased 128 percent among teens ages 15 to 19 between 1990 and 2004. The disease increased 77 percent among young people younger than 15 during the same time frame, he said. A program that has established diabetes prevention and treatment programs in Indian country is set to expire next year. Two North Dakota doctors testified at the Feb. 8 hearing, urging the committee to renew it. "We don't want history to repeat itself," said Dr. James Brosseau, director of the Altru Diabetes Center in Grand Forks, N.D. "Funding increases for alcohol treatment resulted in decreases in mortality rates, but when the funding was discontinued, mortality rates increased again." Dr. Biron Baker, a primary care physician at Medcenter One in Bismarck, N.D., asked for improvements within the IHS. "Administrative ineptitude within the Indian Health Service is a glaring problem," he said. Committee Chairman Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said the panel will work to find resources to combat the disease. "Diabetes is a serious problem that affects our American Indian communities more than any other group, and I'll work to make sure we find a way to address it," he said. At least one member of the Senate said more should be known about efforts to lessen the disease. Wyoming Sen. Craig Thomas, the top Republican on the committee, said he would like to see statistics on the disease in Indian country, and would like to know whether government efforts were helping to quell it. "I am especially interested in knowing whether our efforts and investments are having a measurable impact," he said. Copyright c. 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 1998 - 2007 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: U of M discovers protein linked to elevated BMI" --------- Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:50:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DIABETES PRECURSOR FOUND" http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-02/uom-uom022107.php Contact: David Ruth druth@umn.edu 612-702-9473 University of Minnesota U of M discovers protein linked to elevated BMI in people of American Indian and Mexican ancestry Public release date: 21-Feb-2007 Protein is linked to elevated body mass index, obesity and Type 2 diabetes MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL ( 2/21/2007 ) - University of Minnesota researchers have discovered a variant of a common blood protein, apolipoprotein C1, in people of American Indian and Mexican ancestry that is linked to elevated body mass index (BMI), obesity and Type 2 diabetes. The finding were published in the Feb. 20 online issue of the International Journal of Obesity. Lead investigator Gary Nelsestuen, a professor in the College of Biological Sciences' department of biochemistry, said the abnormal protein may promote metabolic efficiency and storage of body fat when food is abundant. This could have provided a survival advantage to American Indians in the past when food was scarce. The discovery can be used to identify those who are at risk for diabetes and to guide diet and lifestyle choices to prevent diabetes. Apolipoprotein C1 is a component of high density lipoprotein (HDL) and low density lipoprotein (LDL). HDL cholesterol is often referred to as good cholesterol, while LDL is called bad cholesterol. The common form of C1 tends to be found in the high-density protein complexes (HDL) that ferry cholesterol to storage depots in the body and are linked to lower cardiovascular disease risk. But the variant form of C1 tends to become part of low density protein complexes (LDL), which transport cholesterol to arterial walls and are associated with higher cardiovascular disease risk. Thus, having the variant could tip the balance of cholesterol carriers and lead toward depletion of HDL-also a risk factor for heart disease. The variant differs from the normal protein by a single change in one of its 57 amino acids. Among 1500 subjects from widely divergent genetic backgrounds, the variant was found in 35 of 228 persons with American Indian ancestry and in 10 of 84 persons with Mexican ancestry. The average body mass index (BMI) of persons with the variant protein was 9 percent higher and the diabetes rate 50 percent higher among study subjects and their parents. Parents were included because type 2 diabetes often doesn't appear until later in life. This project has been a departure for Nelsestuen, who has made important discoveries related to blood coagulation proteins involved in bleeding disorders such as hemophilia and coagulation disorders such as sepsis and thrombosis. The university has licensed these proteins to three pharmaceutical companies who are developing them as therapeutic agents. Nelsestuen is recognized on the university's Wall of Discovery for some of these achievements. Nelsestuen used income from the blood coagulation protein licenses and his endowment from the Samuel Kirkwood Chair to support the research that led to finding the abnormal variant of C1 lipoprotein. The funds were used to apply new proteomics technology to screen blood samples for proteins related to disease. This type of protein screening is often described as "discovery" research. In its purest form, proteomics discovery research looks for abnormal proteins in what seems like a random process. "This type of research is often dismissed as a fishing expedition by funding agencies," Nelsestuen said. "But our finding shows the value of discovery research and of having unrestricted funds to pursue it." Nelsestuen's interest in education of minority graduate students provided many of the connections to the communities that became involved in this research. Former student Michael Martinez, helped establish a collaboration with Kenneth McMillan, medical director of the American Indian Community Development Corporation in Minneapolis, and Cristina Flood-Urdangarin of St. Mary's Health Clinics in St. Paul. Nelsestuen's next steps will be to expand the study to the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota and the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota. "I hope that this discovery will ultimately lead to a Minnesota center for research on minority health issues that can deliver actual health benefits to these communities," Nelsestuen said. EurekAlert! is an online, global news service operated by AAAS, the science society. Copyright c. 2007 by AAAS, the science society. --------- "RE: TEX HALL: Tribal spending problems" --------- Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 08:22:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TEX HALL RESPONDS TO JODI RAVE COLUMN" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/02/21/ opinion/guest/51-tribal.txt Guest Opinion: Tribal spending problems not fault of previous administration By TEX G. HALL February 21, 2007 I am writing in response to the wildly inaccurate and biased article by Jodi Rave (Feb. 10 Gazette) about the current governmental crisis at the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation. Make no mistake, there are problems on our reservation, but the fault doesn't lie with my administration as claimed. The fact is that my administration managed our tribe responsibly for eight years without the kind of uncontrolled spending that has happened since I left office and which has led to unprecedented layoffs. As we all know, debt in and of itself is not bad. Governments and corporations routinely operate with debt. The key is that the debt has to be manageable and secured, and that is exactly what our debt was. The fact is that under my administration, all tribal spending and borrowing was audited every year. When I took office, we had failing audits. By the time I left office, our tribe had four consecutive years of good audits in a row. This is public record. Council approves spending The reason for all of this is that after I was elected chairman, I put into place a long-term plan to invest in schools, over 200 completed master degrees for tribal members, new Head Start buildings, community water lines, elder organizations, our Boys and Girls Club, land purchases, community centers, and new housing. All spending decisions were made with the approval of the council, which the current chairman sat on for eight years, including four years as treasurer and two as vice-chairman. In fact, approval is required under our constitution for any spending. Nevertheless, one of the reasons I ran for a third term was to bring more fiscal responsibility to the tribe, because I saw the potential for misspending without strong leadership. So last fall, I campaigned on a platform to create a new constitution with a balanced budget, separation of powers, and the power of the people to recall elected officials. Despite my attempts to limit spending, there were many times when the council met without me to spend funds. There were nearly 70 special meetings held by the council to add new spending - like voting to give Marcus Wells' community $2 million for a store when the other communities only received $125,000 each. Those decisions are what drove us into the current crisis. The resolutions are public record. The record will also show you all the times where I was outvoted by the rest of the council on reckless spending. As chairman, I never voted for new C stores, travel reimbursements or for councilmen's salary raises. While the rest of the council voted themselves new raises, I never voted for one of my own. Management solutions Despite the hardship that the new administration has created, there are ways to make our debt manageable once again. For starters, our leadership could consolidate the tribe's debt. They could also find out why our casino is underperforming, and where is the revenue going. At the same time, they are going to have to curb spending. When I heard that payroll jumped from $500,000 to $800,000 bi-weekly after I left office, I knew spending was out of control. I want also want to point out that all of our JTAC funding was approved and independently audited. The $149.6 million trust is held in the U.S. Treasury for the benefit of tribal members and only the interest can be spent. JTAC is payment for the flooding of our lands and the destruction of our schools, hospitals, roads, and our social fabric. Thus, we used the JTAC funds to rebuild our tribe through economic development, education, elders programs and infrastructure. All funds were spent with full council approval and in full compliance with the law. Again, anyone can check the record if they want. There is a lot that your reporter missed, but maybe the biggest is the point about our structure being broken. Yes, there is runaway spending. And unfortunately, without a strong chairman and responsible council, there is no way to prevent it. That's why we need a revised constitution with a balanced budget act. --- Tex G. Hall is former chairman of the National Congress of American Indians and former chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota, home of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara. Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: GORDON MONSON: It's good riddance to Illiniwek" --------- Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:50:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GORDON MONSON: END OF SHAMEFUL PARODY" http://www.sltrib.com/sports/ci_5271296 GORDON MONSON: It's good riddance to Illiniwek By Gordon Monson Tribune Columnist February 21, 2007 Tonight will be the chief's last dance. Shed no tears. Cartoonish moccasins, or bare feet, have got no rhythm. Chief Illiniwek, the longtime mascot - or symbol, as some alumni and administrators have euphemized him - of the University of Illinois' sports teams, is being retired at the school's last home basketball game this evening against Michigan. Retired isn't quite the right word. He's being shoehorned out - on account of the NCAA's determination that the chief is a "hostile or abusive" mascot, and its banning Illinois of hosting postseason games until the school stops using Illiniwek in that role. Maybe that sounds overly PC and out-and-out stone-handed, especially coming from a blowhard getup like the NCAA, which has bigger problems with which to deal than the interdiction of certain mascots and images. But the tradition of dressing a white student in American Indian garb, in full-feathered headdress, and having him parade around at ballgames, dancing at halftime, charged to lead the university's football and basketball teams on to victory on the court and on the gridiron somehow seems a bit untoward. Not because I say it, but rather because that's the way many American Indian groups say they feel. Imagine that. Some of them do not approve of having their culture and heritage represented in such a manner, via a partisan caricature that clueless white people in positions of power at the university say honors it. Many, not all, but many American Indians disagree. That's reason enough to discontinue the mascot's use, and more noble than doing it because the NCAA's ban pops the school's athletics pocketbook, forcing the issue. Holding on to a tradition that dates back to 1926 solely because it is a tradition isn't a good reason to cling to a stereotype. Some traditions, after all, are worth dumping. This is one of them. The University of Utah got rid of its mascot - also a student done up in Indian regalia - at the same time it lost the nickname "Running Redskins" in 1972. It changed to "Utes," eventually with permission of the Ute tribe's governing body. For a brief time in the early '80s, a Native American student dressed as the "Crimson Warrior" was riding out onto the football field and throwing a spear before games. A university committee swapped that concept for "Swoop," a red-tailed hawk, a bird supposedly indigenous to the Wasatch Range, in the mid-'80s. "We don't use a Native American image out of sensitivity to feelings on the issue," says Fred Esplin, vice president for University Relations. "We have consulted with the tribe. We would not use the name without their permission. We would cease using it if they didn't want it." Utah showed insight where Illinois did not. The story goes that an Illinois band director and a student, who was a Boy Scout, along with a group of other students, came up with the idea for the chief, the costume and the dances he performed at the games. That's the origin of Illinois' proud tradition. The dances, elements of which have been added and subtracted by each of the students who has portrayed Chief Illiniwek through the years, are hardly the real deal. None of the students has been American Indian. Having the chief perform at games might seem to some the perpetuation of a proud and reverential symbol worth perpetuating. Even some American Indians were in favor of keeping it. But to others, such as the National Congress of American Indians and American Indian student organizations, and the head of the remnant group of American Indians who are mostly in Oklahoma now because forefathers were booted out of Illinois back in the day, it was seen in a negative light, anywhere along a spectrum from irritating to embarrassing to harmful racial stereotyping. We're talking about the mascot here, the chief, not the nickname "Illini. " That nickname was found by the NCAA to depict and represent the name of the state of Illinois, not a group of American Indians, so it can stay in place. Too many white Americans have a problem with the sensitivities involved with using Indian caricatures to root on college or pro teams, or naming those teams after American Indian tribes, as though those tribes are comparable to all the Bears and Tigers and Lions and Bulldogs and Huskies and Banana Slugs tagged to teams, coast to coast. They ask, "What about the Fighting Irish? What about the 49ers? What about the Boilermakers? The Patriots? The Miners? They're people, too." Few of those people, though, were persecuted the way American Indians were in such a tragic chapter of this country's history. They generally weren't massacred or rounded up and put on reservations. If there are large subsets among American Indians now, be they a majority or a minority, who glean negative vibes from sporting traditions put in place by team owners or school band leaders or students in less-aware periods of time, those traditions should be shut down. That's true, even if the empowered mainstream thinks American Indians should embrace its interpretations and representations of others' heritage, culture, and ethnicity, and feel honored by its borrowing of those symbols to root, root, root for the home team. We've come that far, at least, as a society, haven't we? The Washington Redskins, notwithstanding. It's not a matter of being PC. It's a case of opening minds wide enough to understand what people within those groups think and feel about their own heritage and its use by others. So, Chief Illiniwek will dance no more. Good. He should not be missed at Illinois games. gmonson@sltrib.com Copyright c. 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune. --------- "RE: EDITORIAL: Republicans turn on Tribes and Treaties" --------- Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 11:34:39 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ICT: GOP ROADMAP" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414542 A GOP roadmap: From 'treaty' to 'race-based' by: Editors Report / Indian Country Today February 23, 2007 A faction of Republicans has decided to interpret the GOP collapse in last November's mid-term elections as a call to conservative action. Moderate Republicans were the big losers because they abandoned the conservative camp on social values, fiscal responsibility and law enforcement. To restore the party's credibility with the electorate, a corps of the ever-faithful must impose a conservative agenda from within the halls of Congress. It is known as the Republican Study Committee. As evidenced so far, they go to some faraway places for their legislative interpretations. Philosophically speaking, they seem to have adopted the fatal steady-state intellectual modeling system - everything else will stay the same while they get their act together. On the political front, some fellow Republicans speak of them in disparaging terms, asserting that some of their positions, on Native people for instance, are not in fact "Republican." So while it will be inconvenient to have Republican Study Committee members hindering every Indian-specific bill as race-based law and offering amendments to any bill that so much as contains the words "Native Hawaiian," still the question arises of whether this handful of steady- state nostalgias represents any larger threat to Indian country. Probably not. But they count on the court system to help them effectuate policy change. They have allies in the Department of Justice and believe a majority of U.S. Supreme Court justices will prove tonic to their social agenda; few legal interpretations are set in stone. For instance, in offering an amendment to a Native Hawaiian housing reauthorization bill on Feb. 13, the Republican Study Committee and its members wanted not just to stop the reauthorization. The larger goal was the de-authorization of all Native Hawaiian housing programs, based on a previous Supreme Court decision that found Native Hawaiian voting preferences unconstitutional. In the eyes of the federal government, Native Hawaiians are neither tribes nor Alaska Native villages. The Supreme Court has ruled, therefore, that a voting preference for Native Hawaiians is not based on a government-to-government relationship, but on race, which makes it unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. Efforts to establish a Native Hawaiian governing entity are ongoing in Congress, and the Native Hawaiian housing reauthorization bill has been swept up in the opposition. Look for a similar scenario to play out around Native Hawaiian issues throughout the current 110th Congress. In the last Congress, the bill to authorize a Native Hawaiian governing entity, better known as the "Akaka Bill," got a hearing only because Linda Lingle, Hawaii's governor and a strong advocate of the Akaka Bill, happens to be a Republican. It will be interesting to see whether Republicans, now in the minority, are more prepared than last time to meet the Supreme Court's stand for justice under the 14th Amendment by extending an equally elemental justice to Native Hawaiians in the form of the Akaka Bill. This is not the place to consider the fine points of the Akaka Bill. Here we simply hope to understand why Republicans who are returning to a traditional GOP agenda would be against it - Republicans are generally against the extinction, by the state, of local communities and their norms. Conservatives should want to conserve, and that should include the social institution of self-governing tribes. But inspired by the outcry against illegal immigrants and the distress of small communities over off-reservation gaming proposals, they now find it politically expedient to define Native Hawaiians not as Native people or tribes, but as special interests. Should they get another Native Hawaiian case before the Supreme Court, their hope is that a majority of justices will narrow the definition of "Indian tribes" in the Constitution so as to preclude any accommodation for Native Hawaiians under the commerce clause: "The Congress shall have Power ... To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes ..." Historically, Congress and the courts have interpreted "Indian tribes" in the commerce clause somewhat broadly, to include, for example, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. But if the high court can be persuaded to adopt an interpretation narrow enough to exclude Native Hawaiians, would Alaska Natives be susceptible to court challenge on grounds that the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act treats Alaska Natives not as tribes, but as corporations? The table would then be set for challenges to tribes and nations in Indian country. Perhaps "Indian Tribes" in the commerce clause meant only federal treaty tribes? Perhaps it doesn't mean tribes of more than 20,000 in population? Every conceivable iteration of "Indian Tribes" under the Constitution will be probed for weaknesses of interpretation, always in hopes of narrowing plain language for partisan purposes. In the wings will be a Supreme Court that ought to have more sense than to defy its own precedents; yet it has also spoken of tribes as anomalous within the federal system. It's a scenario that hasn't played out yet and that may never get traction in Congress or the legal system. But that lawmakers consider it worth pursuing at a time like this in the nation's history is tragic. After decades of berating all things "tribal" as parochial and benighted, and after long insisting that local allegiances give way before a loyalty owed to the union, the United States has become too enormous for governance. We saw it in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when atrocities might not have occurred had bureaucracies been able to communicate with each other. Again, we saw it when members of Congress had good reason to risk their re-electability just long enough to give their best on obscure intelligence committees. We see it in federal agencies that can't mend their spectacularly wasteful ways and in war planning that couldn't have damaged this country more if it had come from an al-Qaida cell. Tribes are, among other things, living examples of just what America needs: sustainable cultural cohesion on a territorial scale. Shame on those who seek to weaken the Constitution, and the country itself, at their expense. Copyright c. 1998 - 2007 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: UND founders would be proud" --------- Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 11:34:39 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: UND" http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=28572 UND founders would be proud Dorreen Yellow Bird February 24, 2007 UND celebrates what it calls Founders Day with awards, presentations and congratulations to faculty and staff to recognize excellence. On Thursday night, as I sat among candles flickering in glass bowls of clear water, starched white tableclothes and the floating musical sounds of the group Sketches in Blue, I was amazed at the young people in black- and-white uniforms and period hats who were scurrying about serving the 200 or so tables. The event reminded me of a New York City restaurant affair an event done with panache. It was amazing to see so many faculty and staff at this event, and I wondered if a thermometer would "pop out the top" if it could measure the brainpower here. It is remarkable that a relatively small university (when compared with the University of Minnesota and other much bigger schools) has such an impressive group of people. Before you dismiss my overly enthusiastic assessment of the caliber of people here, you should look at the resumes of some of the scholars at UND. And here are a few of my own examples of why awards were and ought to be given to many faculty and staff. My first experience at UND was with the School of Law. At first, I was thoroughly intimidated by a building full of lawyers. I would learn as I began to get to know the staff that they were experts in their field, but in many ways ordinary. There was the banjo-playing criminal law lawyer, the lawyer who loved dog shows (as I do), a favorite lawyer who gave me a braid of sweet grass, another giant among attorneys who told me a history of Germans and tutored me a bit and other good professors whom the students loved to talk about. Law professor Patti Alleva hates to have her name mentioned and will grimace at what I am going to say here, but I must. Alleva almost single- handedly nurtured and cajoled the Northern Plains Indian Law Center to what it is today a nationally known and accepted project. Without her consistent efforts, I don't know if there would have been the center and projects at the law school there are today. She also is a good friend. A few years ago, she received a well-deserved award for her outstanding contributions. From the center's roots, I believe, came Kathryn Rand and Steven Light's law work on tribal casinos something new in Indian country and elsewhere. Among American Indian tribes and casinos, law professor Rand and associate professor of political science Light are the experts. They took a subject that requires a good understanding of Indian people and developed a Bible of information on the subject of gaming. On Thursday, they received the McDermott Award for excellence in teaching, research or creative activity and service. From the gavel of the law to the study of societies: Frank White an assistant professor of sociology who, incidentally, I interviewed as a "Prairie Voices" subject in 2003 received the Karleen Rosaaen Faculty Award for excellence in academic advising. When he went up to receive his award, the audience responded well. I heard he has a reputation among his peers and students as a professor who gives his all to his students. Other recipients whom I don't know personally included Daphne Pedersen- Stevens, assistant professor of sociology. She received Bertin C. Gamble Award for individual excellence in teaching. Jack Weinstein, assistant professor of philosophy and religion, received the McDermott Award for individual excellence in teaching. Thomas Hill, professor of microbiology and immunology, received the Lydia and Arthur Saiki Prize for graduate or professional teaching excellence. Two professors got the same award because both are outstanding. Michael Gaffy, professor of space studies, and Wayne Seames, associate professor of chemical engineering, both received the Thomas J. Clifford Faculty Achievement Award for Excellence in Research. The Department of Chemical Engineering received the Fellows of the University Award for departmental excellence in teaching. The UND Foundation was a part of all these awards. The Founders Day committee also congratulated 32 retired and retiring faculty and staff many with more than 30 years of service. Forty faculty and staff received thanks for 25 years of services. One who stands out among those who retired after more than 30 years is Richard Crawford, Chester Fritz Distinguished professor of biology and recipient of other awards because knowingly or unknowingly, he taught me some of the biology of birds and the botanical secrets of prairie plants. I knew the plants had spiritual meaning and held curatives, but Crawford helped me expand that knowledge and taught me many of the plants' formal names. That role as a teacher also includes my friend, a woman who walks gently on the earth: Glinda Crawford. I thank them all for guiding, nurturing and supporting our children on their path. Wet AXKooss'teeRIt I thank you. --- Dorreen Yellow Bird is a reporter and columnist. Her columns appear Wednesdays and Saturdays on the opinion pages of the Herald. Reach her at (701) 780-1228 or dyellowbird@gfherald.com Copyright c. 2006 Grand Forks Herald, Forum Communications Co., Fargo ND. --------- "RE: CIW 6th Declaration Adherance Statement" --------- Date: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 10:47 pm From: Chiapas95-english Subj: En;CIW 6th declaration adherance statement,Feb 21 Mailing List: Chiapas95-En This message is forwarded to you by the editors of the Chiapas95 newslists. To contact the editors or to submit material for posting send to: . Here's the Statement of adherence to the Zapatistas' Sixth Declaration from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers... At a September 2005 gathering of the Other Campaign in the Zapatista Autonomous Municipality "Javier Hernandez" in Chiapas, Mexico: My name is Melody Gonzalez and I am a Xicana from Califaztla'n, the stolen Mexico. I am the daughter of immigrants from the state of Michoaca'n . I am representing the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a community organization of immigrant farmworkers in southwest Florida. Neoliberalism, the freed trade agreements, and the large corporations have forced many people to leave their lands and come there, many times they end up working for miserable wages for the very same corporations. These workers don't only represent cheap labor, they are also the most vulnerable, least protected, and represent production and profits at a minimal cost for agroindustry and fast food. In Immokalee, a community that for many years did not exist on the map, a large part of the farmworkers are from the south of Mexico, especially the south, and from Guatemala and Haiti. They arrived knowing they would have much work but many didn't imagine the conditions they would face. They didn't imagine that they would receive a wage that's been the same since 1978. Picking tomatoes is the largest industry in Florida and all of the East coast, in this industry a worker has to pick 2 tons of tomatoes to make just $50. At the end of the year, they've earned $7,500. Meanwhile, the rent in Immokalee averages $400 per week for a trailer. With these miserable salaries, the people are forced to live in trailers with up to 16 people. It's the only way to have money to survive and to send money to the family that stays in Latin America. In addition to this, there is no form of benefits. We describe these conditions of ours as sweatshop conditions but in the fields, but there is another reality even more extreme-slavery. These are the cases of workers that are put in isolated labor camps, forced at gunpoint to work against their will, and many times threatened and violently attacked. Many of these workers are tricked when coming to the United States and end up in debt bondage to their bosses. In the past 7 years, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers have freed more than 1,000 slaves. All of this drove us to organize ourselves to fight for our rights and in 1993 we began, organizing ourselves first against the violence that was happening in the fields and against the miserable wages. One of our mottos is "Consciousness + Commitment Change". Together, we began to analyze our situation to understand why wages were stagnated and why slavery still existed in the 21st century. We realized that there were large fast food corporations and supermarkets that, in demanding the cheapest price from their suppliers, had pushed wages down. And so they sell their cheap product to the consumers, who for many years did not ask from where their food came and under what conditions, and they made their profits. As it says in the Sixth [Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle], in the market we see products but we don't see the exploitation from which they came. And they are sweatshop conditions that are fertile ground for slavery. After analyzing the situation, we committed ourselves to this struggle and launched a national campaign for just food, leading a boycott against Taco Bell, that is a part of Yum Brands, the largest fast food company in the world; and one of the biggest purchasers of tomatoes. After 4 years of boycott, and nearly 11 years of struggle, making alliances with religious people, students and awakening the conscience of the consumers, the boycott ended when Taco Bell and Yum Brands accepted the demands of the Coalition. Today our struggle continues, because this victory is just one step. We are analyzing how we can struggle against the other corporations that also benefit from our poverty, to impact in this way the rest of the food industry and so that farmworkers receive the respect and dignity that they deserve. We continue fighting against slavery at the root of the problem and not simply helping with the investigation and prosecution of case after case because as it says in the Sixth, we fight to be free people, not to change our master. We understand that although our struggle for better wages and conditions in the fields is one struggle of one grassroots organization, it is, without a doubt, connected to the global struggle for justice and peace. The same forces that oppress us are the ones that oppress so many communities in Mexico and in many other countries. A struggle that we have already taken on is the struggle against the FTAA [Free Trade Agreement of the Americas]. We organized in 2003, along with various other grassroots organizations, a 34 mile march against the FTAA in Miami, Florida. Each mile that we marched represented a country that would be a part of the agreement. Today we continue our struggle and do not want free trade that exploits human beings, but fair trade that respects the dignity of all. We have made alliances with other organizations locally, nationally, and also internationally. We are going to continue forming alliances, sharing experiences, and organizing ourselves as one force against the free trade pacts. We understand that our struggle is already part of the Sixth thus we commit ourselves to the Sixth continuing the work we are already doing. And we also wish to strengthen our paths of communication and dialogue with the organizations and people in Mexico that also struggle against free trade and in favor of fair trade. We see this trip to Chiapas as an opportunity to learn what is being done and what is going to be done in Mexico. We are constantly learning from other struggles and this is part of our consciousness-raising. Many of our friends there [in Immokalee] are from Chiapas and since back in the day they have talked of the struggle here. We commit ourselves to continue learning from the struggle here and in all parts of Mexico, and also to assure ourselves that the Zapatista word continues being expressed in our work. We also wish to leave some materials from our struggle to share our experience with you. My compa~ eros in Immokalee send their greetings and brotherly hugs to the Zapatista communities and say that although you don't know them in person, they know that work, commitment and consciousness converts us into compa~eros. We are with you and the Sixth. -- To subscribe to this list send a message containing the words subscribe chiapas95 (or chiapas95-lite, or chiapas95-english, or chiapas95-espanol) to majordomo@eco.utexas.edu. Previous messages are available from http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/chiapas95.html or gopher to Texas, University of Texas at Austin, Department of Economics, Mailing Lists. --------- "RE: Squamish Elder Harriet Nahanee in Hospital" --------- Date: Monday, February 19, 2007 03:13 pm From: frostyca2000 Subj: ELDER HARRIET NAHANEE IN HOSPITAL FOLLOWING RELEAS