_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 15, ISSUE 017 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 April 23, 2007 Assiniboine Tabehatawi/frog moon Pima Oam Mashath/the yellow moon Blackfeet matsiyikkapisaii'somm/frog moon Eastern Cherokee nvda atsilusgi/flower 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: Amazon Alliance, 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: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + =================== "A substantial amount of trust income has gone uncollected and much of it may be now uncollectible, for reasons that include poor bookkeeping, failure to calculate periodic rent increases, the statute of limitations, expired leases, limitations in lease terms, lessee bankruptcies, and lost opportunities to terminate leases in favor of more profitable redevelopment." __ Robert McCarthy Attorney for the Palm Springs office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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 Michael Scheuer, a former CIA official, has confirmed suspicions that dozens of terror suspects have been flown to jails in Middle Eastern countries where torture is routinely practiced, and without reference to courts of law. In early September,2006, detainees were transferred from secret CIA prisons to military custody at Guantanamo Bay. In a televised speech on September 6, President Bush announced that with those 14 transfers, no prisoners were left in CIA custody. If you think Guantanamo is the only US operated prison that doesn't comply with Bureau of Prison Standards, think again. There are many facilities throughout the world where those imprisoned by or on behalf of the Unite States are denied due process and basic human rights. The point of the above is to make it clear in the reader's mind that when it suits the United States government to imprison someone, expense and extreme measures are not an issue. If the U.S can spend millions, probably billions of dollars transporting and imprisoning "terrorist" suspects world-wide, you'd think itcould drop a few crumbs in the tribal justice plate. Not so. Last week's issue of Wotanging Ikche included an article which noted the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana has become nearly lawless under BIA control. In this issue we read that the Navajo Nation has already reached another crisis level with its jail facilities. Both situations and hundreds more throughout Indian Country can be directly attributed to Washington DC refusing to allocate funds sufficient to address the situation. In fact, even as the US escalates the spending of money imprisoning people even it admits may or may not be connected to terrorist activities - it reduces spending for ALL activities related to law enforcement or crime prevention on the reservations. You are probably as sick as I am of hearing time-after-time that the Virginia Tech shooting was the biggest mass murder in U.S. history, all the while ignoring Wounded Knee and Sand Creek. Of course, this small oversight could be rectified with the addition of a simple phrase - the Virginia Tech shooting was the largest mass murder not carried out by agents of the US Government in the history of this country. Indians are the forgotten minority in our own land. Nothing brings this more into focus than the way Natives are treated in courts, and the poorly managed and even worse funded tribal justice systems. The simple truth is justice is part of a growing financial divide and real justice is reserved for those who can afford "tall building" lawyers. For Indian Country it remains "Just-Us". Two late breaking stories came in this morning that verify the truth of this editorial. The first documents the failure of justice, particularly with Native American women, who are, according to Amnesty International, far more vulnerable to rape and assault, and far less likely to see their attackers brought to justice than any other group in this country. Amnesty International underscores the problems mentioned earlier in this editorial - lack of funding, lack of facilities, lack of training, and lack of a coordinated effort toward protection of Native communities. The second is a press release from the Navajo Nation Council Office of the Speaker which details how Navajo Judiciary Committee Chairman, Kee Allen Begay, Jr., spent Monday, April 23, "Sovereignty Day," working to fund the Navajo Nation Supreme Court. Both articles will appear in next week's "Native Justice" section in their entirety. , , 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: - TERAJI: Worst shooting in history? . Illusion of Justice Ask Natives - Maine Tribe loses - Mother and Daughters Sovereignty dispute with State raped in Guyana - icmacs and Maliseets - Band occupies lose Sovereignty Manitoba Hydro Station - Blackfeet Water negotiations - Six Nations of Grand River Update to resume - Fontaine addresses union - Seneca Nation: about FN poverty New York is trespassing on Thruway - FN consent should be required - Abenaki still see for development Roadblocks on Crafts - Me'tis Institute gets money - Lumbees push for Federal Status to revive Language - Senators propose bill - Tsosie's body found recognizing Tribe at bottom of Arizona Cliff - Six Virginia Tribes - Man convicted of Hate Crime take their Case to Congress to serve 7 Years - Tribal ID Cards - Navajo Corrections faces to be more widely accepted in MT another Jail crisis - EDITORIAL: Racial tensions - Native Justice still exist in S.Dak. -- Blackfeet Council listens - JODI RAVE: to emotional complaints Struggle to fund Language Programs about justice - GIAGO: Mainstream Media - Rustywire: ignores the real Issues The Goat Woman-Asdzaa Tlizi' - YELLOW BIRD: School Shootings - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days a frightening Trend - Del "Abe" Jones Poem: VT Massacre - JODI RAVE: - Native Voice One taps Pappin More Natives turning to Journalism - Women take part in 'Funny, - SCHMIDT: Virginia Tech, You Don't Look Indian' Indians, and Comics - Upcoming Events --------- "RE: Maine Tribe loses Sovereignty dispute with State" --------- Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 07:42:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MAINE CAN ENFORCE EMPLOYMENT LAWS ON MICMAC" http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/002465.asp Maine tribe loses sovereignty dispute with state April 18, 2007 The state of Maine can enforce its employment laws on the Aroostook Band of Micmac Indians, a divided federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday. By a 2-1 vote, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals said the tribe has to answer to an employment dispute before the Maine Human Rights Commission. The majority said Congress abrogated the tribe's sovereign immunity through a land claim settlement act that subjected Maine Indians to state laws. The Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980 didn't cite the Aroostook Band by name. It was written to settle the land claims of the Penobscot Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe and the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and to grant them federal recognition. But the 1st Circuit pointed to a critical section in the act that covers "all" Maine tribes. Even though Congress, in 1991, enacted a law specific to the Aroostook Band that didn't contain a similar provision, the court said the 1980 act applies. "Whatever powers are included within 'inherent tribal authority,' Congress may abrogate those powers by statute," Judge Sandra L. Lynch wrote for the majority. The decision marks a significant turnaround for the Aroostook Band. Just a little over two years ago, the court had determined that the tribe's sovereignty was at risk before the Maine commission. "An Indian tribe that is unlawfully called to answer before a state agency may suffer both practical harms and intrusions upon its sovereignty, ," Judge Kermit Lipez wrote in the unanimous decision on April 13, 2005. But an unrelated event on July 14, 2005, changed everything. That was the day when Rhode Island state troopers raided the Narragansett Reservation, setting up a major sovereignty dispute that reverberates today. The Narragansett Tribe sued the state, arguing that the raid violated its sovereignty. But after hearing the case twice, an en banc panel of the 1st Circuit said the state was within its rights, citing a land claim settlement act that subjected the tribe to state laws. The decision set precedent for all tribes in the 1st Circuit -- Rhode Island, Maine and Massachusetts. That meant the Aroostook Band's favorable ruling from April 13, 2005, was effectively overturned even though it wasn't part of the Narragansett case. But like the Narragansett case, the Micmac case isn't likely to end soon, due to the divided decision. Lipez, who wrote the April 2005 opinion that protected the tribe's sovereignty, authored a dissent yesterday in which he said he would do it again. Lipez disagreed with the majority's decision to place the tribe under the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act. He said the law was superseded by the Aroostook Band of Micmacs Settlement Act of 1991 "In my view," he wrote, "MICSA no longer governs the relationship between the Band and the State." The conflicting views mean the case is likely to be heard by an en banc panel of the 1st Circuit, which has been busy with Indian cases. In January, the full court heard a land-into-trust dispute affecting the ability of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to take land into trust for the Narragansett Tribe. The case has the potential to could affect all Maine and Massachusetts tribes. Among other claims, Rhode Island argues that tribes who weren't federally recognized as of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 cannot acquire new land. The earliest New England tribal recognition came in 1980, with the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act. The most recent is the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts, whose recognition will becomes final next month. Copyright c. 2007 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Micmacs and Maliseets lose Sovereignty" --------- Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 07:08:35 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="APPEALS COURT USING BENCH TO DEFINE SOVEREIGNTY" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414887 Micmacs and Maliseets lose sovereignty under recent appeals court panel rulings by: Gale Courey Toensing / Indian Country Today April 23, 2007 BOSTON - In a 2 - 1 decision, a 1st Circuit Court of Appeals panel issued a ruling in an employment discrimination case that effectively terminates the tribal sovereignty and immunity of the Aroostock Band of Micmacs and the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians. The two rulings were issued simultaneously on April 17. Judges Sandra Lynch and Levin Campbell issued the majority ruling, with Lynch writing the decision. The Hon. Kermit Lipez wrote a dissenting decision. The majority ruled that the federal Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980 and the Aroostock Band of Micmacs Settlement Act also subjected the band to total state jurisdiction, including how tribes handle employment. The judges then applied their decision to the Houlton Band of Maliseets. "There is no 'internal tribal matters' exception in the statute," Lynch wrote. Throughout the decision, Lynch used as a precedent the 1st Circuit Court's ruling that the state of Rhode Island has total civil and criminal jurisdiction over the Narragansett Indian Tribe. The majority decision in that case claimed the tribe waived their sovereign immunity in a 1978 land claim settlement act even though there is no language in the act that says so. The Aroostock ruling has "cut the heart out of federal Indian law in this circuit court," said Douglas Luckerman, the tribes' attorney. "These decisions are a stunning display of a federal court just trampling federal Indian law and making a mockery of the legal presumption of inherent sovereign rights. I no longer see any value for New England tribes using the court system to protect their rights. With these two decisions, the state of Maine can unilaterally acculturate the Micmac and Maliseet - something that Congress said the state would never have the power to do," Luckerman said. The case began seven years ago, when the Aroostock fired three high- level employees who then filed discrimination complaints against the tribe with the Maine Human Rights Commission. The complaint kicked off an investigation. The tribe voluntarily provided the investigator with information showing the employees had been fired properly and within established procedures, but also told the commission that it did not have jurisdiction over the employment issue because it was a tribal matter. The investigator found there had been no violation in dismissing the employees, but stated the tribe does fall under state jurisdiction. The tribe challenged that assertion in a lawsuit against the commission. A few weeks after filing the lawsuit, the commission reversed the investigator's finding of no violation without any explanation. The case worked its way through state and federal courts. A magistrate judge ruled that the federal Aroostock Band of Micmac Settlement of 1991, which gave the tribe federal acknowledgement, also gave the tribe the sovereignty and immunity protection it claimed. The Aroostock act superseded the earlier Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act which did not include or mention the Aroostocks. In reversing the magistrate's decision, Lynch claimed that both settlement acts "displaced any federal common law that might otherwise bear on this dispute." The ruling also refutes the tribe's claim that federal recognition itself grants sovereignty. "We understand 'recognition,' at least as used in MICSA, to be merely an acknowledgement that the Passamaquoddy, the Penobscots and the Houlton Band are eligible for particular federal tax treatment and benefits," Lynch wrote. Lipez, in his dissenting opinion, said the 1991 act supplanted the MICSA. "In effect, Congress retrieved the Micmacs from the MICSA catch-all provision that applied to all other tribes or bands of Indians and, in a detailed and comprehensive enactment, defined that Micmacs' new status as the fourth Maine tribe to be recognized and compensated for the loss of their aboriginal holdings," Lipez wrote. Luckerman said there is no language in either MICSA or the Aroostock settlement act that explicitly says the tribes have waived their right to tribal sovereignty and immunity. "The court, for reasons I don't fathom, minimizes language that protects tribal sovereignty and maximizes language that grants authority to the state. They did it in previous cases and they did it here. They claim the provision that says state laws apply to the tribes like everyone else therefore must eviscerate all tribal sovereignty, but that's not what federal Indian law says. It says you need a twofer: not only do you have to say state law applies, but you also have to say tribal law is gone," Luckerman said. The court has "made a mockery of the canon of construction" that says when the language of the law is ambiguous and differing interpretations are possible, courts are supposed to adopt the interpretation that most benefits the tribes, Luckerman said. The ruling could set a precedent for tribes all over the country. "Where it can hurt tribes is where the court legislates from the bench and waters down the legal bulwark built up over 200 years to protect tribal sovereignty and ensure that it is not unduly diminished. Federal law has held since the early 1800s that courts have no authority to limit or abrogate tribal powers without the express consent or intent of Congress," Luckerman said. Courts cannot and should not use inference or implications to find intent, Luckerman added. "But this court does so over and over again. It connects dots where there are no lines and says, 'This is what Congress must have intended.' So their logic can be cited and used against other tribes to dilute or remove tribal sovereign rights even though Congress has not expressed its intent to do so," Luckerman said. The only recourse left for the tribe is an appeal to the full six-member en banc appeals court or a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court. Copyright c. 1998 - 2007 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved --------- "RE: Blackfeet Water negotiations to resume" --------- Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 07:08:35 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BLACFEET WATER TALKS" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414888 Blackfeet water negotiations to resume by: The Associated Press April 23, 2007 GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) - Days after Blackfeet tribal leaders walked out of water rights talks with the state, a tribal representative said he expected negotiations to resume. "I believe we'll be back at the negotiations table shortly," said Don Wilson, the tribe's water representative. "That's the hope." The tribe and the state are negotiating rights to flows from the St. Mary, Two Medicine and Milk rivers as well as Birch, Badger and Cut Bank creeks, which together produce about 1.5 million acre-feet of water flow annually. The negotiations involve quantifying the tribe's water rights while trying to limit the impact development of those rights would have on downstream users. Wilson and the rest of the Blackfeet team walked out of a meeting on the issue in Helena April 12, but Wilson said the tribe will continue to "aggressively" pursue a water compact with the state. The walkout followed tension about pending federal legislation by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., that would authorize $140 million to repair the aging St. Mary Canal. A Senate committee approved it in March, but the bill hasn't been heard by the full Senate. The St. Mary River originates on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. A 90- year-old series of pipes and canals diverts water to the North Fork of the Milk River, supplying Hi-Line irrigators with water. Tribal officials were upset that they hadn't been consulted about the bill and said they were assured by then-Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., and Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., last summer that the canal fixes wouldn't precede settlement of tribal water rights. The legislation, they said, made construction appear imminent, although Baucus officials have said the project has a long way to go. Wilson likened the move to digging a hole for a swimming pool in a neighbor's backyard without telling the neighbor. But he said the tribe remains committed to reaching a pact this year. No further negotiations sessions have been scheduled. "The clock is ticking very rapidly," said Jay Weiner, a staff attorney for the state negotiating team. The sides are trying to settle on a pact before the Legislature adjourns April 27. A bill ratifying the compact is nearing final approval in the Senate, and contains about $15 million to soften the agreement's impact on junior water rights holders downstream. Congress must also ratify the agreement. At that time, federal lawmakers would likely consider a multimillion-dollar federal funding package for the tribe to develop its newly quantified water rights. Copyright c. 1998 - 2007 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Seneca Nation: New York is trespassing on Thruway" --------- Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 07:42:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SENECA RESCIND 1954 THRUWAY PERMISSION" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.wstm.com/Global/story.asp?S=6390213&nav=2aKD Seneca Nation: New York is trespassing on Thruway April 19, 2007 BUFFALO, N.Y. The Seneca Indian Nation says the state is trespassing on Seneca land after tribal leaders voted to rescind a 1954 resolution that allowed part of the state Thruway to cross the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation. In a sign of heightening tension between the state's new governor and the western New York tribe, the Senecas say leaders are reviewing agreements with New York. They say the move comes in light of discussions in state government about possibly taxing Indian reservations sales statewide. Seneca President Maurice John Senior says he outlined Tribal Council's unanimous vote in a letter to Governor Spitzer today. The Senecas and Spitzer are at odds over the state's plans to collect sales tax on cigarettes sold by reservation retailers to non-Indian customers. The Senecas say federal treaties dating to the 1700s shield the nation from state taxation. Copyright c. 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. 2000 - 2007 WorldNow and WSTM LLC, a Barrington Broadcasting Group LLC. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Abenaki still see Roadblocks on Crafts" --------- Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 07:57:27 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="VERMONT CRAFTS LAW" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2007/04/15/ abenaki_still_see_roadblocks_on_crafts/ Abenaki still see roadblocks on crafts April 15, 2007 MONTPELIER, Vt. - Vermont's Abenaki Indians thought they were taking a big step forward when the Legislature passed a law granting Native Americans state recognition last year. But now a key goal - allowing the tribe's members to sell arts and crafts items with official federal approval - may fall victim to a conflict between state and federal law. "Many, many native artists are very disappointed," said Mark Mitchell, an Abenaki who lives in Barnet and chairs the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs. Mitchell and other advocates for the Abenaki maintain that last year's law didn't given the Abenaki specific enough tribal recognition to meet the terms of a 1990 federal law designed to protect the integrity of Native American arts and crafts. The state law spoke to recognition of individuals as Abenaki or members of other Native American tribes. But Meredith Stanton, executive director of the federal Indian Arts and Crafts Board, agreed with Mitchell that such individual recognition - as opposed to tribal recognition - does not pass muster under the federal crafts law. "This individual recognition is not in keeping with what we've dealt with," she said. "The state of Vermont's approach is not typical of how other states recognize tribes." Now Vermont's Abenaki are going back to the Legislature to ask for a change in the law that would give the Vermont commission the power to recognize them as a tribe. Such a provision was taken out of early drafts of last year's legislation for fear it could lead to federal recognition of the Abenaki. Some lawmakers and state officials long have spoken of fears that federal recognition could lead to Indian land claims like those that have happened in other states. Those involved in last year's legislation said they tried to strike a balance by acknowledging Native Americans' presence in Vermont while still guarding against potential land claims. "We tried very hard to make it so the commission could take the steps appropriate," said Sen. Diane Snelling, R-Chittenden, the sponsor of last year's legislation. "This is a very complex issue in terms of law and there's a very human side to it that's very emotional," she said. Despite its shortcomings, Mitchell said last year's law was progress. "The biggest thing it's done is a more healthy dialogue between the native community and the state," he said. "Your voice is heard a little more today. There is no dispute of whether the Abenaki people exist in Vermont." Information from: The Burlington Free Press, http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com Copyright c. Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. 2007 The New York Times Company. --------- "RE: Lumbees push for Federal Status" --------- Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 07:30:49 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LUMBEE RECOGNITION" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=260039 Lumbees push for federal status By Venita Jenkins Staff writer April 18, 2007 PEMBROKE - Lumbee leaders hope the fourth time is the charm as they prepare to testify before a congressional committee to try to gain federal recognition for the tribe. Tribal Chairman Jimmy Goins and Lumbee supporters will appear before the House Committee on Natural Resources today to once again make the case for the tribe. The panel, which includes Kelvin Sampson - the men's head basketball coach at Indiana University and a Lumbee - will attempt to show why the tribe should be fully recognized by the federal government. The tribe has tried to obtain the status for more than 100 years. In 1956, Congress recognized the Lumbees as Indians but did not provide them benefits given to federally recognized tribes. Tribal leaders have appeared before congressional committees three times in the past four years. However, bills that would have brought millions of dollars to the Lumbees have failed to go before Congress for a vote. Goins and other tribal leaders could not be reached for comment. U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre said the Lumbee Recognition Bill has a good chance in this session of Congress. A Democratic Congress could push the bill further along than in the past, he said. McIntyre, a Democrat from Lumberton, submitted the bill in January. Also, two Lumbee supporters have gained key positions in the House Committee on Natural Resources. Rep. Nick Rahall II, a Democrat from West Virginia, is the committee's chairman. Rep. Don Young of Alaska is the ranking Republican on the committee. "We hope the atmosphere is ripe for the tribe to finally receive the long overdue dignity of full federal recognition," McIntyre said. The federal recognition status would provide $473 million to the tribe over four years for housing, education, health and economic development. The federal money would aid tribal members who live in Robeson, Hoke, Cumberland and Scotland counties. There are 57,000 Lumbees in the country. About 40,000 of them live in Robeson and the surrounding counties. The witness list for the tribe also includes North Carolina Republican U. S. Sens. Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr, Lumbee Attorney Arlinda Locklear and anthropologist Jack Campisi. Michell Hicks, the principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee, plans to testify against the bill. The Eastern Band of the Cherokee has said it would support legislation that would clear the way for the Lumbees to go through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Hicks could not be reached for comment. Leaders of the Tuscarora Nation of Indians of the Carolinas asked to testify, but their request was denied, said Don Grove, a Washington lawyer who represents the tribe. Its leaders claim the Lumbees are using Tuscarora history and lineage to make their case for recognition. The tribe has sent a brief to be submitted into the record explaining its opposition to the Lumbee bill. Tuscarora leaders also have talked to several members of the House Committee on Natural Resources, Grove said. They plan to attend the hearing. "They are a small group, but their arguments are significant," Grove said. "There are a lot of issues. It is very controversial whether the Lumbee is an Indian tribe, and for Congress to bypass these issues we feel is ill advised." The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. in Room 1324 of the Longworth House Office Building. Staff writer Venita Jenkins can be reached at jenkinsv@fayobserver.com or (910) 738-9158. Copyright c. 2007 The Fayetteville Observer. --------- "RE: Senators propose bill recognizing Tribe" --------- Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 07:08:35 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LUMBEE" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/ paper885/news/2007/04/23/OnlineExclusives/ Senators.Propose.Bill.Recognizing.Tribe-2872974.shtml Senators propose bill recognizing tribe By: Stephen Largen, Staff Writer April 23, 2007 The country's largest unrecognized American Indian tribe finally might be close to gaining federal recognition. A bill proposing recognition for the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina was introduced by Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., in the U.S. House, where it was debated for two and a half hours Wednesday by the committee on natural resources. McIntyre, who testified at the hearing, said that the committee is supportive of the bill and that it could be voted on by the full committee as early as next Wednesday. The Lumbee recognition cause historically has been supported by Democrats, said Stan Knick, director of the Native American Resource Center at UNC-Pembroke. But Republican Sens. Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr of North Carolina strongly support federal recognition for the tribe. Dole testified before the committee and introduced companion legislation in the Senate. "Simply put, this is about righting a wrong... and allowing future generations of Lumbees to benefit from the recognition for which their ancestors have tirelessly fought," Dole said in her testimony on Wednesday. Knick said the 50,000-member tribe has been waiting for more than a century to be federally recognized. "The government has previously said 'Oh yes, we know you're Indians,' but then held them in limbo," he said. North Carolina has recognized the tribe since 1885, and the federal government recognized them with the Lumbee Act of 1956. But the act did not grant benefits other tribes receive and prohibited the tribe from being recognized through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the traditional route to tribal recognition. The only way the tribe now can be federally recognized is through congressional action. Bills have come up many times in the past, but they always have been defeated by one chamber of Congress or bottled up in committee. "One of the political problems is that there are so many Lumbees," Knick said. "If they were a tribe of 400, it would be much easier." He said that a limited financial pie for American Indians would have to be divided up in some new way to accommodate the Lumbees, a fact that he said has contributed to delays in recognition. McIntyre said the Lumbees would be eligible to receive $403 million during the next five years in education and health care benefits if they were recognized. This money would be of tremendous importance to Robeson County, one of the poorest counties in the country and where many Lumbees live, he said. The bill has the support of the committee's ranking Republican and of committee chairman and Democrat Nick J. Rahall of West Virginia, which bodes well for the legislation's chances of making it to the House floor for a full vote. "The Lumbee tribe has been trapped inside a cruel carnival that never ends. They have been on a roller coaster of exciting highs always followed by devastating lows," Rahall said in his opening remarks Wednesday. "And just like a roller coaster ride, the treatment of the Lumbee tribe is starting to make me sick." Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu. Copyright c. 2007 The Daily Tar Heel - All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Six Virginia Tribes take their Case to Congress" --------- Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 07:20:17 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="VIRGINIA TRIBES' RECOGNITION EFFORTS" http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-11203sy0apr19,0,4008985.story? coll=dp-news-local-final Six tribes take their case to Congress The Virginia tribes and their supporters argue for federal recognition as Jamestown's 400th anniversary nears. BY VICTOR REKLAITIS 223-5682 April 19, 2007 WASHINGTON - Jamestown's 400th birthday, now less than a month away, loomed over a hearing Wednesday on sovereignty for six of Virginia's American Indian tribes. Supporters of federal recognition for the tribes repeatedly cited the upcoming milestone, which will be marked with a three-day gala at Jamestown, ending on the actual anniversary day, May 13. "It would be almost criminal to be celebrating that settlement without recognizing the very Indian tribes that enabled that settlement to survive, " said Rep. Jim Moran, D-Alexandria, who has introduced the latest bill asking for recognition. The six tribes have sought sovereign status through Congress for about seven years. This year, tribal leaders and their backers have worried they might never get the status if it doesn't come during Jamestown's big anniversary year, but they also have said the new Democratic control of Congress could help their cause. On Wednesday, the tribes hit the same opposition as in previous years. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-McLean, said he remained concerned that the latest recognition bill would lead to Indian casinos in Virginia and threaten the state's "long history of clean government, economic growth and low crime." There are more than 560 federally recognized tribes, and about 200 operate casinos. "The current tribal leadership has indicated they do not want to pursue gambling, and I believe them when they say that," Wolf told the House Natural Resources Committee, which held Wednesday's hearing. "But I worry that future leadership of the tribes may not share their views and will pursue establishing tribal casinos." Wolf cited recent cases of tribes in Michigan and California that had said they weren't interested in gambling before receiving federal recognition, but then changed their minds after getting that status. After the hearing, tribal leaders expressed frustration with this recurring objection tied to gambling. Steve Adkins, chief of the Charles City County-based Chickahominy, stressed that Moran's bill stipulates that Virginia's governor and legislature would have to approve any Indian casinos. Adkins asked, "How much more can we guarantee?" In his testimony during the hearing, Adkins was among those who cited Jamestown's anniversary in arguing for federal recognition, which brings educational, housing and medical benefits. He said, "It is essential for Virginia's indigenous peoples to receive that honor in this significant year." Others who testified in support of the tribes Wednesday included Helen Rountree, a professor emerita of anthropology at Old Dominion University; Kenneth Branham, chief of the Amherst County-based Monacan Indian Nation; and the Rev. Jonathan Barton of the Virginia Council of Churches, which represents 18 denominations. Another opponent of the recognition bill was a trade group for gas stations and convenience stores, the Virginia Petroleum Convenience and Grocery Association. The group didn't testify but circulated a statement that said the bill could lead to tribes not having to pay taxes on gas or cigarettes, thereby underselling many small businesses. The six tribes seeking recognition through Congress are Upper Mattaponi, the Chickahominy, the Eastern Chickahominy, the Monacan Indian Nation, the Nansemond and the Rappahannock. At least 30 members of the tribes traveled to Washington for Wednesday's hearing. With the hearing over, the House Natural Resources Committee now could amend or markup the bill before voting on it and sending it to the entire House of Representatives for consideration. The markup could happen as soon as next week, but a spokeswoman for the committee said no date's been set yet. Tribal leaders had mixed feelings Wednesday about whether there's any chance of getting federal recognition by Jamestown's birthday. Wayne Adkins, an assistant chief for the Chickahominy and president for the Virginia Indian Tribal Alliance for Life, said that could require "someone taking it up and making a crusade of it, basically, to make sure it happens." "The normal pace of Congress, it probably won't happen before then," Wayne Adkins said. But he also said, "My hope is that it'll happen as soon as possible ... It still doesn't feel good to us to participate in those events and not have that recognition that we feel the country should offer to us. We're giving the recognition to the settlers who were at Jamestown, but the tribes are not getting that recognition." Copyright c. 2007 Daily Press - Hampton Roads, Virginia. --------- "RE: Tribal ID Cards to be more widely accepted in MT" --------- Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2007 16:42:27 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MONTANA MOVES TOWARD MORE ACCEPTANCE OF TRIBAL CARDS AS ID" http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20070421/NEWS01/704210303 Tribal ID cards to be more widely accepted in state By PETER JOHNSON Tribune Staff Writer April 21, 2007 A bill requiring that tribal identification cards be accepted as readily as state ID cards drew little publicity when it breezed through the Legislature and was signed last week by Gov. Brian Schweitzer. But House Bill 789 is considered "a big deal" by tribal members on Montana's seven Indian reservations, says its prime sponsor, state Rep. Margarett Campbell, D-Poplar. "The law is needed because of the whole matter of government-to- government cooperation and respect," she said. "Tribal governments have long recognized ID cards issued by federal and state governments, but there was a void because they weren't necessarily accepting tribal ID cards by our members. Now there will be balance." Roosevelt County Commissioner Gary Macdonald agreed. "We strongly believe that since tribes are independent governments that our forms of ID ought to be accepted by the state, just as we accept theirs," he said. There are practical impacts as well, the Native American leaders said. The law specifically lists a variety of government-related services that must now accept tribal ID cards as well as state ID cards when the law takes effect Oct. 1. They include purchasing alcohol, obtaining a concealed weapon permit, registering a vehicle and buying a hunting or fishing license. "We'll make sure the businesses that sell our hunting and fishing licenses know about this change," said Hank Worsech, state Fish and Game licensing chief. "Before we could only accept a state driver's license, so this should make it easier for tribal members to demonstrate their Montana residence in getting licenses." The new law does not require private businesses to accept a tribal ID card, just as there is no existing state law that requires businesses to accept a driver's license or other forms of state identification, said Greg Petesch, the Legislature's top lawyer. However, he stressed, "Nobody who is now accepting ID cards in their business should be able to discriminate on the form of ID cards they'll accept because tribal cards are now recognized by state law." If tavern owners or merchants abruptly started calling for a second form of identification, that would be their prerogative, Petesch said, but they would have to require all of their customers to show two forms of ID, not just tribal members. "Otherwise they could be sued for discrimination based on race and political status," said Petesch, director of the Legislature's Legal Services Office. Macdonald said he sought the legal change because of a problem that Indian teens were having getting state driver's licenses a few years ago on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Parents were concerned that state licensing officials were rejecting their teens' applications for driver's licenses because they didn't have two forms of identification and the tribal ID card apparently wasn't fully recognized. Dean Roberts, administrator of the Montana Motor Vehicle Division, Friday explained what the problem had been and how it was cleared up at least two years ago. Roberts said the state requires two forms of identification and that the primary form should be a one-piece, digital card that can't be tampered with as easily as a laminated card. He said licensing officials turned down other ID cards that were laminated besides tribal, including military and college cards. But the agency has worked carefully with Montana's reservations, which have since adopted the more secure digital ID cards, which are accepted, Roberts said. Federal law allows each Indian tribe to determine what should be on its ID card, Campbell said, and most require considerably more documentation than state IDs, including Social Security number, birth date, tribal enrollment and birth certificates proving their parents' tribal heritage. She said she is glad the new law will make it illegal to alter the information on a tribal identification card, just as it's illegal to tamper with a state ID card. "I don't want to weaken the standards for tribal ID cards in any way," she said. The second-term legislator said she was surprised how easily HB789 sailed through the Legislature. Nobody testified against the bill in either its House or Senate committee hearing, Campbell said. The House of Representatives approved the bill 86-13, and none of the 13 conservative House members who opposed it spoke against it, she said. The Senate approved the bill 49-0. Montana Chamber of Commerce President Webb Brown said his business lobbying group opted not to oppose the bill "because we didn't have any significant concerns from our members that it would create any issues, such as the veracity of the tribal ID cards." Reach Tribune Staff Writer Peter Johnson at 791-1476, 800 438-6600 or pjohnson@greatfallstribune.com. Copyright c. 2007 The Great Falls Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: EDITORIAL: Racial tensions still exist in S.Dak." --------- Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 07:08:35 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="EDITORIAL: FALSE ALARM PROVES RACIAL TENSIONS EXIST" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/04/22/news/ opinions/opin932_racism_schools.txt Aftermath of Central incident shows racial tensions still exist By Journal Editorial Board April 22, 2007 The reasons he did it are unknown, but the fact remains: The Central High School student arrested Tuesday for lying to officials about seeing a man with a handgun specifically described the phantom gun-toter as an American Indian. Specifically, the 15-year-old suspect, who is white, said the alleged gunman was an Indian male, about 5 feet 8 inches tall and wearing a white hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans. And even though the report was fabricated, the reverberations in its aftermath show that Rapid City still has problems with race relations. Readers have criticized the Rapid City Journal for reporting, on Page 1 of Wednesday's newspaper, that some in the community were worried about increased racial tensions at Central because the gunman was said to be an Indian. Some said the newspaper has raised a racial issue that doesn't exist by its "sensational" reporting. We disagree and stand by our story. This teenager made a conscious decision to choose an Indian as his alleged gunman. Why not a fellow Caucasian for his mythical tale? How he came to make that choice, one that has upset many in the community, should concern us all. Rapid City has a long history of racial issues involving Caucasians and Indians, and also African-Americans. True, we've come a long way, but we still have a long way to go to improve relations among races to the point that discrimination and racial tensions don't exist. The late Art LaCroix, a Santee Sioux, used to talk about facing racial discrimination when he returned here from World War II, and how conditions later improved to the point that Rapid City voters elected him mayor for six terms. But LaCroix could be considered an exception. He became a successful businessman before entering municipal politics and earned the respect of people of all races. That's not so with other members of the Indian community, who notice both covert and overt signs of discrimination. They talk about clerks following them around stores, listening to racial slurs, having trouble finding a job. White residents may deny we have a racist community and respond with reports of reverse discrimination. And there's no doubt that happens, too. What's the answer? It may start with something as simple as a nod and smile to someone you pass on the street, and progress to forming friendships with people of other races. The city and school district should re-examine their role in helping to dispel stereotypes and consider teaming up for a series of forums to help open a meaningful dialogue in our community. We need to work together to discard the race card. Copyright c. 2007 Rapid City Journal. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: JODI RAVE: Struggle to fund Language Programs" --------- Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 07:57:27 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JODI RAVE: LANGUAGE PROGRAMS" http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/04/16/jodirave/rave02.txt Native educators struggle to fund language programs By JODI RAVE of the Missoulian April 15, 2007 BOZEMAN - Verda King gets excited when she talks about teaching youths in a nearby public school how to speak the Cheyenne language from her office at the Dull Knife Community College. "This class has done a marvelous job," said King of her 12 students. "We've translated nursery rhymes, like Humpty Dumpty. And it's been fun. We've learned Cheyenne songs and I'm learning my own language." She's teaching 12 students in an elementary school in Colstrip by satellite from a tribal college classroom on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in southeastern Montana. King spoke during a panel presentation at the 26th annual conference of the Montana Indian Education Association where teachers across the state discussed tribal language preservation efforts. Language teachers like King are fervent in their need to preserve the language, and believe they can make a difference. But they face many obstacles - no K-12 curricula and a lack of state support - that effectively prevent them from teaching students their Native languages like Cree, Gros Ventre, Kootenai and Nakota. Typically, the number of new language speakers remains stagnant. The most proven method of teaching a language is through immersion schools, but the state Legislature recently nixed House Bill 750, which called for the state to provide funding for three existing tribe-based immersion schools, including the Gros Ventre, Salish and Blackfeet programs. The bill never made it out of committee to reach a full vote before the Legislature. About 90 percent of Native students attend public schools. It's been difficult for tribes to start their own immersion schools independent of the state because they can't afford it. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes were able to create an immersion school because the tribe pays for the majority of the private school's operating budget. But other tribes in the state don't have the same economic options to start their own. In the past, federal grants typically precluded funding to go to immersion schools. But in 2006 Congress passed the Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act, which promises to revive language preservation efforts and the act makes immersion school funding a high priority. Fort Belknap is one of the first reservations in Montana to apply for the grant, which could infuse the community with $300,000 over a three-year period. Meanwhile, tribal language teachers typically are left using myriad and unsystematic methods in language instruction since they don't have a standardized curriculum. The Office of Public Instruction doesn't have a budget for language preservation. "We're doing very little because we don't have any money dedicated to language programs," said Lynn Hinch, the bilingual specialist for the state Office of Public Instruction. "We need a K-12 program. Teachers here talked about teaching three times a week for 15 minutes. You can't teach a language in 15 minutes. Spanish teachers wouldn't put up with that. English teachers wouldn't put up with that. Math teachers wouldn't put up with that." Tribal languages have "little support at the state level," said Hinch. Native people say they lack state support because they are still fighting historic assimilation practices, which stripped indigenous people of their language, said Henrietta Mann, a Montana State University professor emeritus. "Those that came to live with us were steeped in their own cultural world views and wanted everyone else to be like them, to the way we were educated to the way we're supposed to think," said Mann. "In order to accomplish that, they sought to destroy to Native languages. "You still have this tendency to want to change us, to homogenize us. It hasn't changed," said Mann. "I think it's a threat to them," said Minerva Allen, a tribal elder cultural coordinator for the communities of the Fort Belknap Reservation. "They feel they can't understand us and they want us all to be equal in their sense of equal, not in ours. They want us all to be in this melting pot of all races. They had a hard time getting us to learn English and now we want to turn around and learn our Native language." But many people fail to understand that a bilingual speaker more readily absorbs new knowledge and abstract concepts because they can view and participate in life from multiple vantage points, said Richard Little Bear, president of the Dull Knife Community College. Rebuilding a language base isn't easy work. One of the first steps is to create a persistent awareness of the language, said Tachini Pete, executive director of Nkwusm, a Salish revitalization school on the Flathead Reservation. Language preservation is at a critical level because most fluent language speakers are dying. "We could lose 30 or 40 speakers in a matter of two or three years," said Pete. Today, there are only 56 people who grew up speaking Salish as a first language. The tribe lost about 50 speakers in the last 15 years. Most living speakers are now over age 70. "We got to teach the young adults and teachers to teach the language before the elders are gone," said the 69-year-old Allen. "That's why I'm always telling everybody, `Hurry, I only have a few years to live.' " Reach reporter Jodi Rave at 1-800-366-7186 or jodi.rave@lee.net Copyright c. 2007 Missoulian, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: GIAGO: Mainstream Media ignores the real Issues" --------- Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 07:31:05 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GIAGO: MAINSTREAM MEDIA" http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/002407.asp Tim Giago: Mainstream media ignores the real issues April 16, 2007 When I was a boy we lived in the Pine Ridge Reservation community of Kyle. My father, Tim, worked as a clerk and butcher for Chris Dam, a man who owned the local market. One Sunday I found my father sitting on the steps at our house watching intently as our pet Bulldog, Butch, carried a large bone in his mouth that my dad brought home from his job as a butcher. Butch would dig a hole, place the bone in the hole, quickly cover it with dirt and then walk around the yard sniffing the air. He would then rush back to the hole he had just dug, dig up the bone, and find another spot to dig so he could re-bury the bone. This activity went on for quite a long time as Butch repeated his activity and finally my father said, "That dog is going to worry that bone to death." His comment has come back to me several times over my lifetime because the term is so applicable to what is happening around us for as far back as I can remember. When I watched the 24/7 news channels go on and on about Anna Nicole, my dad's comment came to mind. When I watched the media overkill on the Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami tragedy in the Pacific, and now the media strangulation of Don Imus, my father's words come back to me. It seems that any event the mainstream media feels is newsworthy is an event that will be played over and over with slight variations until we finally just tune it out. These media decisions are apparently made in some corporate office in New York City and the deciders seem to believe that whatever the easterners find newsworthy is a reflection of how the rest of America must feel. And that is totally wrong. The Anna Nicole story played for about two issues on the inside page of our local daily here in Rapid City, SD and then it was gone. I never saw one line about it in the Indian newspapers I read. But the bottom line is that we are not idiots. If there is a story the mainstream media finds intriguing, we read it, we understand it, and then we move on. We don't need to see it day after day, night after night, and hour after hour. As much as the mainstream media would have you believe, we are not a nation of sheep. What other news stories are being ignored while the MSM (mainstream media) pontificates and hyperventilates over stories of sensationalism? The 24/7 news channels have clearly influenced the once staid network news channels to fall in line. What used to pass as news is nearly unending "Infotainment." Well, I and many other Americans do not want to be entertained by our news sources. We want the hardcore facts presented to us in an intelligent manner so that we can sift through them and make up our own minds about what it means to us. This past week the two Reverends, Al and Jesse, showed up on nearly every news channel on the airwaves. It is true that millions of other American, including me, detested the horrific comments made by Don Imus on his radio and television show. They were thoughtless, heartless, and racist. But I do not need the media to use Al and Jesse to beat me over the head hour after hour. Believe it or not, most Americans are not racist and most of us went to the heart of this matter immediately. I was in the news several years ago and my political situation caused Rush Limbaugh to make some comments about me on his radio show. Because I am an American Indian, he chose to use an array of tired cliche's such as "smoke signals, tipi, and powwow" to indicate how hip he was on Indian issues. Well, I do not live in a tipi or use smoke signals to communicate but I will admit to attending one or two powwows each year. It was just the idea that in order to define who I was, Limbaugh had to bring in what amounted to racist speculations to make a connection to me. The MSM needs to get out of New York City and come out to the hinterlands to discover that there are folks out here that do not subscribe to their brand of news. We read it or see it one time and that is enough. We do not want to, or need to, be literally inundated with news about Anna Nicole, Don Imus, or the two Reverends. They might even ask themselves if these stories are really news? Didn't such stories used to be seen on Entertainment Tonight only? The few times the Indian people of America see the national media is when there is something tragic or controversial happening. Remember the hours of coverage at Wounded Knee II in 1973? The media came, they saw, and then they left, never to return. How many of you have ever wondered what happened in the aftermath of Wounded Knee II? Remember the school shooting tragedy on the Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota? What happened at Red Lake after the tragedy? These are stories that also need to be told. Heading into an election year you can bet your boots that the MSM will find many bones to worry to death while we, the real mainstream, continue to turn off our television sets and radios sick and tired of a media that treats us like a bunch of thrill seeking idiots. Did we bring this upon ourselves? Edward R. Murrow must be spinning in his grave. --- McClatchy News Service in Washington, DC distributes Tim Giago's weekly column. He can be reached at najournalists@rushmore.com. Giago was also the founder and former editor and publisher of the Lakota Times and Indian Country Today newspapers and the founder and first president of the Native American Journalists Association. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard in the class of 1990 - 1991. Clear Light Books of Santa Fe, NM (harmon@clearlightbooks.com) published his latest book, "Children Left Behind". Copyright c. 2007 Indianz.com. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: School Shootings a frightening Trend" --------- Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 07:30:49 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: SCHOOL SHOOTINGS" http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=34814 School shootings become a frightening trend Dorreen Yellow Bird April 18, 2007 When death comes in large packages, the question "why?" is the bloody bow that needs to be untied. Perhaps there never will be a clear answer as to why one person turns into a killer while another becomes an exemplary leader or citizen. But if history is a teacher, then this trend of bloodletting in our schools for the past 10 years is something to heed. I do not believe it is just the nature of man. Things like this don't just happen. School shootings are not that common in our history. Something seems to be changing our young people. If you look back at the school-related shootings, most have taken place within a fairly short span of years. I set out to review the history of school shootings after watching and listening to the hour-by-hour account of the killings at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. Is this just the way of our nation? I wondered. The 32 people killed set a sad new record. It is the highest number killed in a school setting, with one exception: On May 18, 1927, Andrew Kehoe killed more than just students. He killed 45 people and injured 58. After a year of planning, Kehoe placed explosives in his farm buildings and the local school, then used his car as a bomb. His aim was to kill those whom he said put his farm at risk. He blamed the community for his failures. At high noon on Aug. 1, 1966, Charles Joseph Whitman killed 15 people from the main tower at the University of Texas at Austin before he was shot by police. Reports say he had a brain tumor that probably caused his actions. Similar to the Virginia Tech killings are the Columbine High School shootings on April 20, 1999. We still remember vivid and terrifying pictures of students climbing out windows and running with arms over their heads, as well as the footage of still bodies being carried from the school. The shootings in the Red Lake Nation school in Red Lake, Minn., didn't make much of a national impact, perhaps because "only" 10 were killed. But for our community, the shootings were a deep wound that only now is beginning to heal. The incident took place in an American Indian community where the culture and ways weren't easy to understand, but the majority who died were high school students. Then on Oct. 3, 2006, in the West Nickel Mines Amish School in Lancaster County, Pa., 10 young school girls - ages 6 to 13 - were shot. Five of the girls died; the killer, Charles Roberts IV, took his own life. The Amish are a community of people who have steered away from the mainstream because they don't condone violence. Although violence came to them, they turned that violence into forgiveness, to the surprise of many people outside their community. And Monday, the record was broken when Cho Seung-hui, a South Korean student, opened fire in a dormitory and classroom building at Virginia Tech. Experts say they're not sure why school shootings happen. Drugs and antidepressants are possible causes; at this point, though, such theories are just educated guesses. But the number of incidents in a relatively short time span seems to indicate a trend. Perhaps the violence fed to us through the media provides a path for our own anger and frustrations. I admit there are times when I watch "who done it?" shows such as "Law and Order" or "CSI," shows in which the murder and killing seem to get more violent and bizarre each week. Actually, I no longer watch "CSI" because it is too graphic and comes into my dreams at night. While at home over the weekend, I was astounded to hear about a rash of violence and sexual abuse among teens. Again, if you watch music videos and much of what is called entertainment today, you see that we are fed crime and sex as easily as a bowl of rice and chicken. Not everything on television corrupts and causes nightmares. There are some wonderful, entertaining shows. A good example is the new series "Planet Earth," a National Geographic wonder that is too good to miss. There are others, many of them on channels featuring the Food Network, the Discovery channel, Animal Planet, the History Channel and some darn good movies. The more we watch murder and violence on television, do we become more callous to the real thing? We need to think seriously about our children, other people and how we can live more peacefully. --- 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: JODI RAVE: More Natives turning to Journalism" --------- Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2007 16:42:27 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JODI RAVE: NATIVE JOURNALISTS" http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/04/21/jodirave/rave69.txt More Natives turning to journalism April 21, 2007 CRAZY HORSE, S.D. - Cheryl Cedar Face said she's going to be a news reporter. The Pine Ridge High School student plans to attend the University of South Dakota this fall and earn a degree in journalism. But a year ago, Cedar Face never even considered writing to make a living. That changed after she attended a newspaper career conference in the heart of the Black Hills. Students who attend the conference are divided into reporting teams and given a news story to report and write under the guidance of mentors. "When I first got here, I wasn't interested in being a journalist," the 18-year-old said. "But once we broke into groups, I found I liked interviewing people and telling other people's stories." She liked it enough to return, joining 163 students from 11 states at the eighth annual Native American Journalism Career Conference for high school and college students. The event was April 17-19 at the Crazy Horse Memorial, south of Rapid City, S.D. I've attended the conference intermittently and participated in the launch eight years ago during my first year reporting for the Lee Enterprises newspaper chain. Organizers at the Al Neuharth Media Center at the University of South Dakota have steadfastly worked to build upon and improve the journalism career program since then. It was heartening to return this year to see a record number of students fill the Crazy Horse Memorial auditorium. I've been working as a daily newspaper journalist for 10 years. I've had several opportunities in my career to attend journalism diversity conferences across the country. The mantra is always the same: We need more Native journalists. But no organization has done more or has been as effective as the Freedom Forum and the Al Neuharth Media Center at USD. They do more than preach about diversity in the newsroom. They actively participate. And the Native American Journalism Career Conference is the fruit of those efforts. Jack Marsh, the Freedom Forum's vice president of diversity programs, remembers a meeting with other media leaders who lamented about the low number of Natives in newsrooms. Few work as copy editors, photographers, managing editors and reporters. Of 57,000 newsroom employees, only 323 self-identify as Native, according to the 2007 annual diversity report of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. The numbers typically have remained stagnant over the past decade. But significant change is in the works, thanks to the efforts of groups like the Freedom Forum. The 2007 ASNE diversity report showed a 7 percent increase in Natives in the newsroom. It's not an accident. It's a victory that started, Marsh said, with a simple question: "What can we do?" "This conference started as a brainstorming session," he said. "Several of us were embarrassed by low numbers of Native Americans in journalism, especially in South Dakota." The group decided to create an environment that would introduce aspiring reporters to journalism. The program blossomed. "We've instilled interest," Marsh said. But the work wasn't finished. Question No. 2: "What's next?" The year after the first conference of students at Crazy Horse, the Freedom Forum-led group created the American Indian Journalism Institute, a three-week boot camp at USD that gives students a more intimate introduction to journalism. It's aimed at college students interested in pursuing a degree in journalism. Last year, 20 students completed the boot camp; 17 were awarded newspaper internships across the country. I'm glad to report that more than one-third of the internships were awarded by my employer, Lee Enterprises. The high school and college journalism programs have also spawned Reznet News, an Internet site and project of the University of Montana School of Journalism and the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. The network has become a news outlet for university and tribal college students across the country. The effort to move more Natives into the pipeline continues to grow and succeed. I've been a mentor, panelist and guest speaker at the Native American Journalism Career Conference and the American Indian Journalism Institute. It's always inspiring to see students excited about journalism. But it's not a perfect world. I spoke with one of the committee members of the conference at Crazy Horse, and he had a grievance. He wished more experienced Native journalists were on hand to mentor students. The same can be said of the American Indian Journalism Institute, where most of the time, a cadre of non-Natives is leading the teaching sessions. It's time, once again, for the Freedom Forum to ask: What's next? --- Jodi Rave covers Native issues for the Missoulian and other Lee Enterprises newspapers. She can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or jodi.rave@lee.net Copyright c. 2007 Missoulian, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: SCHMIDT: Virginia Tech, Indians, and Comics" --------- Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 07:42:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SCHMIDT: VIRGINIA TECH" http://www.bluecorncomics.com/2007/04/virginia-tech-indians-and-comics.html Virginia Tech, Indians, and comics April 18, 2007 The Virginia Tech massacre is another in a long series of American tragedies. We've seen it all many times before. Put a young man, a school, and a gun together and you've got a deadly combination. But is this tragedy a senseless one? From Columbine to the massacre on the Red Lake reservation, I've written about these shootings before. I've done my best to make sense of them. Under the heading of violence, here are some postings on the subject: Analysis Understanding America's violent ways: - America's cultural mindset We expect the American Dream...but we're stuck with the American reality. - America the warrior society War and violence "have been pervasive in American life and culture from this country's earliest days." - A Latin view of American-style violence The world notes our hyper-individualism and gunslinger mentality. - Some arguments for gun control A lone-gunman type displays America's obsession with its manhood. Sources The media is the gateway of American culture: - The evidence against media violence Violence expert David Grossman and others lay out the facts. - Highlights of the FTC report on media violence The mass media sells sex and violence constantly, 24/7. - Are parents responsible for their kids' violence? Try "troubled youth, toxic environment and peer dynamics." - SchoolRumors.com: a typical media influence How our culture inculcates aggression and hostility in kids. Other than Red Lake, is there any connection between Virginia Tech and Indians and comics? In a word, yes. We live in a violent cowboy culture. It was founded on the idea of a chosen land for a chosen people. Indians stood in the way of this warped vision; they said no to America's manifest destiny. They were the first but not the last to pay a price for it. Our children grow up repeating the lessons of history - playing soldiers or cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians. They learn from countless media sources that you're not an adult unless you solve your own problems. And the way to solve them is with force - with a gun. Comic books, cartoons, and video games are ubiquitous among today's youth. Even though we claim to prefer peace, the majority of them feature violent conflicts. Frequently they involve guns. In that sense these mediums are worse than movies and TV shows, where violent conflicts don't occur so often. So our youth's favorite media is the most violent media. From it they learn to accept violence and aggression as the norm. So what does a troubled boy do these days? Does he go to an revered elder for counseling? Does he listen to a moral story for its lessons? Does he seek mental health treatment at a local clinic? Or does he do what our culture and media tell him to do: strike first and ask questions later? Be a victor or be a victim? Kill or be killed? The answers are obvious. While you're enjoying the latest SCALPED comic, Grand Theft Auto game, or 300 movie, think about them. BlueCornComics.com, Copyright c. 2007 by Rob Schmidt. --------- "RE: TERAJI: Worst shooting in history? Ask Natives" --------- Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 07:20:17 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TERAJI: VA TECH: 30+ STUDENTS, SAND CREEK: 300+ CHEYENNE-ARAPAHO" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.gilroydispatch.com/news/contentview.asp?c=212045 A Native Perspective on Virginia Tech Headlines By Kat Teraji April 19, 2007 Bury my heart at Wounded Knee, Deep in the Earth, Cover me with pretty lies - bury my heart at Wounded Knee. Didn't we learn to crawl, and still our history gets written in a liar's scrawl. They tell 'ya "Honey, you can still be an Indian d-d-down at the 'Y' on Saturday nights." - lyrics to "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," written by Buffy St. Marie "The worst shooting rampage in American history..." "Massacre and Mourning, 33 die in worst shooting in U.S. History," and "Rampage called worst mass shooting in U.S. history." "What first appeared to be a single shooting death unfolded into the worst gun massacre in the nation's history." You've seen and heard these headlines and reports all week as the media provided non-stop coverage of the tragic shooting of 33 people at Virginia Tech University on Monday. "The worst in U.S. history..." Really? It is certainly the worst shooting on a college campus in modern U.S. history. But if we think it is the worst shooting rampage in U.S. history, then we are a singularly uneducated nation. "I can't take one more of these headlines," said Joan Redfern, a member of the Lakota Sioux tribe who lives in Hollister. We met at First Street Coffee to talk while we scanned Internet stories. "Haven't any of these people ever heard of the Massacre at Sand Creek in Colorado, where Methodist minister Col. Chivington massacred between 200 and 400 Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians, most of them women, children, and elderly men?" Chivington specifically ordered the killing of children, and when he was asked why, he said, "Kill and scalp all, big and little; nits make lice." At Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota, the U.S. 7th Cavalry attacked 350 unarmed Lakota Sioux on December 29, 1890. While engaged in a spiritual practice known as the "Ghost Dance," approximately 90 warriors and 200 women and children were killed. Although the attack was officially reported as an "unjustifiable massacre" by Field Commander General Nelson A. Miles, 23 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor for the slaughter. The unarmed Lakota men fought back with bare hands. The elderly men and women stood and sang their death songs while falling under the hail of bullets. Soldiers stripped the bodies of the dead Lakota, keeping their ceremonial religious clothing as souvenirs. "To say the Virginia shooting is the worst in all of U.S. history is to pour salt on old wounds-it means erasing and forgetting all of our ancestors who were killed in the past," Redfern said. "The use of hyperbole and lack of historical perspective seems all too ubiquitous in much of the current mainstream media," Redfern said. "My intention is not to downplay the horror of what has happened this week in any way. But we have a 500-year history of mass shootings on American soil, and let's not forget it." This is only the most recent mass shooting massacre in a long history of mass shootings in a country engaged in a long love affair with firearms and very little interest in gun control. Let's not forget our history and the richness of our Native roots. While spending time on the 1.5 million acre Hopi Reservation in Arizona, I met families living in homes they have occupied for over 900 years. On the surface, it looks like a third world country: you will observe many homes without running water, travel unpaved roads, and notice that there are no building codes. But sitting in a Hopi home being served a delicious lunch cooked by a proud Hopi working mother, I experienced so much more: the continuity of a long and deep heritage, a sense of the sacred, an artistic expertise, and wisdom about many things that remain a mystery to my culture. Most of all, may we never forget all those innocent civilian men, women, and children who lost their lives simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, just as the students happened to be this week in Virginia. May we always remember the precious humanity of these students, but may we also never forget the humanity of those who lost their lives simply for being born people Native to this country. --- Kat Teraji is communications coordinator for a large non-profit organization that benefits women and children. Her column appears every Thursday in the Take 2 section of the Dispatch. You can reach her at kattoy@verizon.net. Copyright c. 2007 Gilroy Dispatch. --------- "RE: Mother and Daughters raped in Guyana" --------- Date: Monday, April 16, 2007 06:20 pm From: Amazon Alliance Subj: Lokono-Arawak mother and two daughters raped in Georgetown, Guyana Mailing List: Amazon Alliance Date: April 16, 2007 Source: Damon Gerard Corrie - www.pantribalconfederacy.com A heinous crime occurred several days ago to 3 females from Pakuri Arawak Territory, but I only became aware of the victims identities today - due to the sensitive nature of the crime. I ate dinner with the mother and her family on many occaissions, her daughters worked for me in the past, and their father is a loyal friend. From what I have been told by Pakuri residents, a middle-aged Lokono-Arawak mother and two of her daughters were with friends at the 'Sherrif Night Club' in Georgetown Guyana having a night out like everyone else, before closing time the night clubs light 'mysteriously' went out - and unknown males raped and robbed the 3 Amerindians in the convenient darkness.What is worse - non-Amerindian patrons winessed the assault and did absolutely nothing to help, the lone male companion with the ladies was stabbed trying to save them. Yet worse than that - the non-Amerindian taxi driver that the now 4 victims went to immediately upon 'escaping' from the club refused to take them to the hospital untill they paid him, and since they had just been robbed of their money the ladies had to pay him with their gold earrings in order to get transported to hospital ! The events, whilst sickening; do not suprise me. I know from firsthand experience that most non-Amerindians in Guyana view & treat Amerindians with contempt, whether it is from guilt of knowing that the true landlords of Guyana are still around to remind them of that bitter truth - or from some racist feelings they harbour in their souls towards the Amerindians - I do not know. How many Policemen are prosecuted for beating Amerindians in their custody? A friend of mine and Pakuri Arawak territory resident Tony Simon was found dead on the savanna with a bullet hole in his head - the last time anyone saw him alive he said the Police were after him; his murder has never been investigated. How many GDF Soldiers have ever been sent to jail for raping Amerindian girls & women? I reported a case myself and was shocked when I was told by a senior GDF officer "well when you take these boys so far away from home - these things happen". Ask the Guyana Human Rights Commision to get some idea - in case you are so naive as to think such things never occur in our beloved Guyana. What I do know is this - non-Amerindian Guyanese need to show respect and kindness to the Amerindians if they want the 'Republic of Guyana' to survive as is, for if they keep heaping injustices upon the Amerindians - who are the predominant & expert residents of the vast interior - which comprises the majority of Guyana, what do you think will happen if for example...the USA and UK get overstretched and 'militarily bogged down' in a future World War 3 scenario in the Middle-East, and militarily powerful neighbours make a 'pusch' into Guyana? Uncle Sam and Union Jack won't be able to save you then, and CARICOM forces will not commit suicide fighting a no-win battle for you, and I daresay it won't be the GDF (stacked heavily with 'city boys') who will save the Republic, they'll probably be the first to run away or be slaughtered, it will be Amerindian partizans in the mountains and jungles who will make any occupation very painful for a would be aggressor, but how likely can such determined and fierce loyalty ON YOUR BEHALF be expected of a people you treat so shamefully? Keep treating them the way you do and if that day should ever come - there will be a horde of bitter young Amerindian men siezing the opportunity to exact revenge for the rapes and beatings of their kinsmen & women on the people who caused them so much misery since the 'Republic' achieved it's 'neo-colonial' independence in what is rightfully an Amerindian country. If our enemies are wise they need not enter our territory themselves and risk eventual United Nations sactions or ouster, they only have to promise to recognise and protect any 'Liberated Amerindian state', and covertly train & equipt (and officially deny it) the considerable numbers of already bitter young men in so many Amerindian communities accross the interior to begin the dismemberment of our Republic. Think about that the next time you refer to an Amerindian as a 'stupid buck man'. All for your information and guidance. Damon Gerard Corrie **************************************** Distribuido por: Distributed by: 'AMAZON ALLIANCE' FOR INDIGENOUS AND TRADITIONAL PEOPLES OF THE AMAZON BASIN 1367 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20036-1860 tel (202)785-3334 fax (202)785-3335 am-@amazonalliance.org http://www.amazonalliance.org Disclaimer: All copyrights belong to original publisher. The Amazon Alliance has not verified the accuracy of the forwarded message. Forwarding this message does not necessarily connote agreement with the positions stated there-in. Todos los derechos de autor pertenecen al autor originario. La Alianza Amazonica no ha verificado la veracidad de este mensaje. Enviar este mensaje no necesariamente significa que la Alianza Amazonica este de acuerdo con el contenido. La Alianza Amazonica para los Pueblos Indigenas y Tradicionales de la Cuenca Amazonica es una iniciativa nacida de la alianza entre los pueblos indigenas y tradicionales de la Amazonia y grupos e individuos que comparten sus preocupaciones por el futuro de la Amazonia y sus pueblos. Hay mas de ochenta organizaciones del norte y del sur activas en la Alianza Amazonica. La Alianza Amazonica trabaja para defender los derechos, territorios, y el medio ambiente de los pueblos indigenas y tradicionales de la Cuenca Amazonica. The Amazon Alliance for Indigenous and Traditional Peoples of the Amazon Basin is an initiative born out of the partnership between indigenous and traditional peoples of the Amazon and groups and individuals who share their concerns for the future of the Amazon and its peoples. There are over eighty non-governmental organizations from the North and South active in the Alliance. The Amazon Alliance works to defend the rights,territories, and environment of indigenous and traditional peoples of the Amazon Basin. --------- "RE: Band occupies Manitoba Hydro Station" --------- Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 07:31:05 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PIMICIKAMAK CREE PROTEST FLOOD CONTROL DELAYS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2007/04/16/jenpeg-protest.html Band occupies Manitoba hydro station CBC News April 16, 2007 Members of a northern Manitoba First Nation have occupied a hydroelectric generating station and say they will not leave until provincial officials agree to meet with them. The Pimicikamak Cree Nation from Cross Lake has had band members camped out at the nearby Jenpeg generating station since last Thursday. Band members are protesting against a long delay in implementing the Northern Flood Agreement, an agreement among the federal and provincial governments, Manitoba Hydro and five First Nations affected by flooding caused by hydroelectric projects on the Nelson and Churchill rivers. Four of the five First Nations have settled their compensation under the agreement, but the process is still ongoing with the Pimicikamak Cree Nation. Band official Mervin Garrick told CBC the band will stay on the site as long it takes to get a meeting with the government parties involved. "We've been very, very patient, but with 30 years of waiting and nothing really concrete happening, then people have to take action," he said. "We have to try and make the government responsible and get them to recognize and implement the agreements that were signed with the First Nations." Manitoba Hydro officials had agreed to a meeting in Winnipeg today, but Garrick says it's pointless to get together with only one party. The band will block Highway 6 if progress is not made soon, Garrick said. The highway is the main link between southern Manitoba and the city of Thompson and other points north. The premier's office was not immediately available for comment. Copyright c. CBC 2007. --------- "RE: Six Nations of Grand River Update" --------- Date: Monday, April 16, 2007 05:27 pm From: frostyca2000 Subj: Dear Brothers, Sisters, Friends and Allies: Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian Dear Brothers, Sisters, Friends and Allies: April 15, 2007. This is our most recent Six Nations of Grand River update: We are concerned about the 'co-incidental' release of Canada's National Defense Training Manual for the military. They decreed that all 'first nations' who defend our homelands or our sovereignty would be classed as "terrorists" and "insurgents". Insurgents is defined as "the actions of a minority within a state who are intent on forcing political change by a mixture of subversion and propaganda and military pressure to persuade or intimidate a broad mass of people to accept such a change". This is exactly what the colonists did to us in 1924 when violent armed RCMP invaded the Haudenosaunee to put in the illegal band council government. Then on April 20, 2006, the colonizers tried to sneak onto our reclaimed land at Six Nations we call "Kanonhstaton" and attacked us. We defended ourselves. The Crown continues to tell us they have valid surrenders of our land. That's not what their documents say. Canada is "making a claim" to our lands. Canada can't give us proof of its claim or what they did with our monies they supposedly put into trust for us. That's because they didn't. We refuse to discuss the land issues according to colonial 'Canadian law'. Their Justice Department opinion is not relevant. It's a nation-to-nation issue. We continue meeting with the Crown to watch them scramble around trying to dig up phony proof. We are looking at the other thousands of acres that the colonists swindled from us. The Six Nations band councilors have been doing "information sessions" on each parcel to see which will be dealt with next. We are becoming more involved in developing means on how we are going to assert our jurisdiction on our lands. The Crown has to stop issuing illegal permits to develop lands that are in dispute. The municipalities and developers have no business talking to the government imposed band council. They have to come to the people through our spokespeople, the Confederacy Chiefs. We intend to protect the Grand River tract and the future of our people. The Federal and Ontario governments keep pushing illegal development on our land. Our priority is protecting the environment. Other indigenous people on Turtle Island should be wary of these developers. The colonists must answer to the people. We will decide what kinds of development will go on our homelands and whether they will protect the environment. We have the obligation to make decisions for the future generations. All the leases, with the exception of blocks 1-4, have expired. Rent is way past due. It's either time to pay up, renew the lease, or move. We've heard some ridiculous double talk. Developers and third parties who have been stopped from illegally building on our land are griping we should compensate them for their losses!!!!!!! History repeats itself. The crown compensated the squatters with our lease money for what they called "improvements" on our lands in the 1800's! The Crown is duping you. They are answerable to you. Remember how fast they looked after the Henning brothers? Ontario gave you illegal title to our land and they had to pay up. The precedent has been set. Non-natives, fix your problems with your colonial governments. We've called in all of our leases. Canada and Ontario, clean the slate. Today, the Crown has the band council paying for it. The band council cannot legally give a mandate to the traditional Confederacy. Dekanawida, the Peacemaker, devised a system that reflected our natural ways, based on equality and true democracy. He bound those five arrows together and brought the Five Nations together as one strong confederacy. The power is in the people. The Confederacy Chiefs speak for us. There are only a few misguided people who create divisions. Many of our people call us and make valuable suggestions. They bring in old documents, attend council and community meetings. They take their responsibility seriously. We excel in the art of diplomatic relations between nations. The Crown, through its designated Canadian advisors, acknowledged our Nation-to-Nation relationship. They agreed to obey the law and deal with Confederacy Council. To resolve the issues, the Crown must continue to acknowledge that neither they, nor Canada, nor Indian Affairs have authority over us. We are sitting at the table as equals according to our laws, our covenants and agreements. The Crown keeps trying to push us out of our canoe and pull us into their boat. They are trying to negotiate under their "land claims process". There is nothing to negotiate. The land is ours. We are part of the land. The land is part of us. Our relationship with the colonists is according to the Two Row Wampum. One of the main federal negotiators wanted to know if I was crazy! Grampa Goodie used to say "yeah I'm crazy, and I got papers to prove it!" We are serious. The recent attempt by New York State to enter our territory through the Eastern Door (the Mohawk Tribal Council of Akwesasne) and the Western Door (the Oneida Tribal Council of New York) to set up casinos do not accede our jurisdiction. We continue to be independent sovereign nations. Taxation and foreign laws forced upon our people violate international law. The attempt failed, as it should. Nia:wen for your continuing support. Please send donations of food, constructions materials and fund to Kanenhstaton, R.R. #6, Hagersville (Ontario Canada) N0A 1H0 In love light and peace, Hazel Email thebasketcase@on.aibn.com Edited and posted by MNN Mohawk Nation News www.mohawknationnews.com --------- "RE: Fontaine addresses union about FN poverty" --------- Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 07:30:49 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="AFN NATIONAL CHIEF SPEAKS TO CAW UNION" http://www.firstperspective.ca/fp_template.php?path=20070417poverty Aboriginal leader addresses union about First Nation poverty by Joseph Quesnel April 17, 2007 A prominent Aboriginal leader spoke to a union audience recently about his renewed call for action on First Nation poverty. Phil Fontaine, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations spoke to CAW Council in Port Elgin on Saturday, April 14. Chief Fontaine began by saying that "this is a call to action on the single most social injustice in Canada - First Nations poverty. No one has been able to articulate why there is such poverty; but this is an imposed poverty." "After the Harper government took office last year, it scrapped a $5.1- billion aboriginal spending plan which was a component of the Kelowna Accord, which promised to improve the social and economic conditions of Aboriginal people. Funding caps on First Nations programs and services over the last decade have made impoverished conditions much worse," reads the news release. Fontaine said, "This is discrimination, and it's racist. We are held hostage and many First Nations people feel they are second class citizens in this country, our homeland. We have been denied the right to our land and traditional territories. We want to be as others are - independent and making a contribution to our society. We want to stand as equals." CAW president Buzz Hargrove told Fontaine "I want to ensure you that we recognize that the government of Canada chose to ignore the commitment made by the previous government on the Kelowna Accord. We want to join with the Assembly of First Nations to tell our government that this is unacceptable." At the Council meeting, delegates passed a recommendation for CAW Skilled Trades members to work in solidarity with First Nations communities to help improve housing conditions. Another recommendation was passed calling on the Federal government to honour the Kelowna Accord. The Assembly of First Nations purports to represent more than 630 First Nations communities and some 756,700 First Nations people. "There are 190 communities on boil-water advisories and there is a chronic housing shortage. The housing that's available is sub-standard and overcrowding is double the Canadian rate. Poverty among First Nations people remains appallingly high, both on and off reserve. This poverty is systemic and long-standing and requires concerted attention from all levels," the press release concluded. Copyright c. 2007 First Perspective. --------- "RE: FN consent should be required for development" --------- Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2007 16:42:27 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FIRST NATIONS SHOULD BE CONSULTED AND GRANT CONSENT" http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/News/301890.html First Nations consent should be required for development The secretary general for Amnesty International in Canada, Alex Neve, said First Nations should not only be consulted, but they should give consent before future projects in their territories are approved. By Mike Aiken Miner and News April 20, 2007 The secretary general for Amnesty International in Canada, Alex Neve, said First Nations should not only be consulted, but they should give consent before future projects in their territories are approved. Neve made his remarks Thursday morning in Kenora, during his four-day trip to Northwestern Ontario. "It's one of the most universal human rights stories there is," he said, during a short interview. Neve referred to international law, when he said it was a fundamental right for indigenous peoples to have a relationship with the land. He then described what he thought were the consequences for society, when the relationship was broken. The impacts can include poverty, disputes between aboriginal peoples and the justice system, as well as disagreements with policy makers and corporations. "The consequence of that can be so severe," he said. Neve went a step further, when he said Canada's federal government had abdicated its role in trying to address these issues, by referring the matter to provincial ministries. "That federal voice should also be at the table," he said. Neve said the human rights group had 80,000 members in Canada, and 2 million world-wide. At Queen's Park, the premier's office has acknowledged a request from Amnesty International for a meeting on the issue. Spokesman Jane Almeida said Thursday staff were reviewing the letter they received in March, but had not yet taken any further action. During a brief interview Thursday afternoon, Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay acknowledged the province's obligation to consult with First Nations and accommodate them. He added the ministry has been meeting with Grassy Narrows representatives in an effort to better understand their concerns, noting the federal government has also been a part of the talks. The minister went further, when he said he recognized Treaty 3's Resource Law, and he'd met several times with Grand Chief Arnold Gardner on the subject. On Wednesday, Treaty 9 announced the signing of a political agreement with the province regarding a wide range of related issues, including revenue sharing, treaty rights and land use planning. Under the agreement, Nishnawbe Aski Nations and the government of Ontario will have 90 days to finalize what the parties described as "exploratory discussions." In recent weeks, Treaty 3 has been holding talks with Natural Resources concerning the "certainty of supply" for the $30-million expansion plans at Kenora Forest Products. The relationship between aboriginal people and traditional lands was also listed as an important issue in the Royal Commission on Aboriginal People in 1996. Copyright c. 2007 Kenora Daily Miner and News. --------- "RE: Me'tis Institute gets money to revive Language" --------- Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 07:31:05 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SAVING MICHIF" http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/12042007/3/ canada-m-tis-institute-gets-money-revive-endangered-language.html Me'tis institute gets money to revive endangered language April 12, 2007 SASKATCHEWAN (CBC) - Me'tis educators in Saskatchewan hope an infusion of federal cash announced Thursday will help revive an endangered aboriginal language - Michif. On Thursday, Ottawa gave $125,000 to the Gabriel Dumont Institute, a non-profit organization that provides training for Me'tis students in the province. The funds are meant to help promote the spread of the Michif language from generation to generation. Michif, a mixture of French and Cree with some borrowings from Dene and English, was once widely spoken among the Me'tis people of Western Canada. These days, like many aboriginal languages, it is in danger of extinction. It is for the most part spoken only in north-west Saskatchewan and a few communities in Alberta and Manitoba. It's believed fewer than 1,000 people speak it. The new funding will be used to try to ensure more children pick up the language, said Geordy McCaffrey, the executive director of the Gabriel Dumont Institute. "Basically we're going to create a number of children's resources, children's books, and we also hold a gathering each year where we bring Michif speakers from across Saskatchewan," McCaffrey said. "They develop an overall plan to make sure Michif is revitalized and stays relevant." Copyright c. 2007 CBC. Copyright c. 2007 Yahoo! Canada Co. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Tsosie's body found at bottom of Arizona Cliff" --------- Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 07:30:49 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MURDER SUSPECT FOUND DEAD" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.daily-times.com/news/ci_5691353 Tsosie's body found at bottom of Arizona cliff By Lisa Meerts The Daily Times April 18, 2007 CORTEZ, Colo. - The estranged husband and suspect in the death of a well- known Navajo weaver gunned down last week, was found dead in northwest Arizona on Monday, according to authorities. Police located 53-year-old Herman Tsosie's body at the base of a 1,000- foot cliff, about one mile from his abandoned pickup truck. Authorities launched a search that began April 9 - after Anita Tsosie, 49, was found dead in her home- that involved two Navajo Nation SWAT teams, a helicopter from New Mexico State Police and the Montezuma County Sheriff's Office. "We've got guys out doing a search, still trying to find the weapon that was used in the homicide," said Montezuma County Undersheriff Dave Hart. "That would be a nice piece to finish (the case) up." Anita Tsosie died from a single gunshot wound at her home about two miles south of Cortez, Hart said. The shot is believed to be fired from a handgun. Anita Tsosie's daughter last saw her mother around noon April 9. About two hours later, Anita's mother found her dead. The Tsosie's were going through a divorce. After the Sheriff's Office received a tip Sunday night, authorities found Herman Tsosie's 1995 Ford F350 crew-cab pickup in a rural part of the Nation in northeast Arizona. Authorities secured the location and searched for Tsosie into the night until they found his body late Monday. Hart said he assumed Tsosie died by suicide, but an autopsy was planned to determine the time and exact cause of death. He apparently leapt from the cliff and no weapons were found in the area. Anita Tsosie was a third-generation Navajo rug weaver who won several awards at the Sante Fe Indian Market, including the coveted best-in-show. She was renowned for her ability to turn sand paintings into weavings. Friends said she never backed away from a challenge and called her a beautiful and outgoing woman. Lisa Meerts: lmeerts@daily-times.com Copyright c. 2007 Farmington Daily-Times. --------- "RE: Man convicted of Hate Crime to serve 7 Years" --------- Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 07:42:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NAVAJO MAN BEATEN AND ROBBED" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.daily-times.com/news/ci_5691374 Man convicted of hate crime to serve 7 years in prison By Rhys Saunders The Daily Times April 18, 2007 AZTEC - A 19-year-old man who admittedly acted with hatred when he attacked 46-year-old William Blackie, a Navajo man, near the Glade Run Recreation Area off Pinon Hills Boulevard in Farmington was sentenced to seven years in prison Tuesday. District Judge Thomas Hynes initially sentenced John Winer to nine years in prison, but suspended three years of the punishment and added another year because Winer admitted to violating the New Mexico Hate Crimes Act. Winer previously was convicted on the following charges in connection with Blackie's beating: attempted kidnapping, a second-degree felony; armed robbery, a second-degree felony; conspiracy to commit kidnapping, a second-degree felony; aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, a third- degree felony; assault with intent to commit a violent felony, a third- degree felony; and conspiracy to commit robbery, a fourth-degree felony, according to Deputy District Attorney Eric Morrow, who prosecuted the case. Winer faced a maximum sentence of 35 and a half years in prison, the prosecutor said. The judge questions Winer Winer apologized in person to Blackie during the sentencing, but later told the judge he was drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana the night of the attack, adding he "couldn't remember much that happened," but only intended to rob the Navajo man. "Surely you couldn't believe you were going to rob him," Hynes told Winer. "Why did you drag him up to the hills?" Winer paused for a moment before answering. He then said he and co-defendants Freddie Brooks, 21, and C.L. Carney, 21, did not intend to severely beat Blackie. "I didn't think we were going to have to hurt him. I just thought we were going to intimidate him," Winer said. "It was wrong of me to take him up to the hills and beat him up." Hynes then questioned Winer as to why he chose the Glade Run Recreation Area location to rob Blackie of his money after driving him around Farmington for nearly 45 minutes, talking to Blackie and pretending to befriend the Navajo man. "You were half a mile from Brown Springs, where three Native Americans were taken, tortured and killed in the early 1970s," the judge said. "You think that's just a coincidence?" Hynes was referring to the April 21, 1974, discovery of three Navajo bodies in Chokecherry Canyon. The men's heads were crushed with large rocks. The incident sparked a great deal of cultural tensions between the Navajo Nation and Farmington at the time. "I don't know anything about Brown Springs," Winer said, pausing again. "I think it would be better for me to just pay things back (instead of going to prison)." William Blackie speaks out Blackie also spoke of the violent attack, detailing how Winer acted in a friendly manner before the beating. He then asked Hynes to sentence Winer to the full extent of the law. The Navajo man said he walked from the Anasazi Inn on West Main Street to American Furniture on West Broadway, hoping to find a ride home the night of June 3. "John Winer asked me if I wanted a ride, asked me if I could buy them liquor," he said. After the three men drove him through several Farmington streets, Blackie began to get suspicious when they turned onto 30th Street, he said. "I told (Winer) I needed to use the bathroom," he said. "They stopped the vehicle out by Chokecherry Canyon, and I got out and started walking toward the road." The three men came back for Blackie, telling him they would take him anywhere he wanted to go, he said. "John Winer made me feel like I could trust him," he said. Eventually Blackie was taken to a spot near the Glade Run Recreation Area, where he was attacked. "When I hit the ground, I felt more than one person hitting me, kicking me," he said. Blackie remembers turning over on his back and throwing everything from his pockets onto the ground, except his cell phone. Then, the three men left him in the canyon. "The entire time it was obvious John Winer was the leader," the Navajo man said. "Later, when I got out of the hospital, I felt confused. I had nightmares every night and I'd wake up sweaty. The nightmares don't happen as often now, but they're still there." Reactions Winer's father, James Winer, apologized to Blackie, but contended his son was a "great kid who made a big mistake." "This whole thing has turned into politics," he told the judge. Tom Dugan, a Winer family friend, echoed similar sentiments. "I believe the district attorney's office has been desperate to convict someone of a hate crime," he said. "John made some very bad choices, but he deeply regrets it." Winer's attorney, Arlon Stoker, said his client showed remorse during each visit to the attorney's office. "He has been emotional," Stoker said. "Nearly every meeting he's had with me, he's been crying for what he's done. I think he has a lot of problems that are amenable to rehabilitation. He has substance abuse issues as well as anger issues." However, Shiprock Chapter President Duane "Chili" Yazzie said he was not altogether pleased with the judge's decision to suspend three years of the initial nine-year sentence. "I was a little disappointed," Yazzie said. "With the one-year enhancement, he should have got 10 years. I don't know if (the suspended sentence) sends a strong enough signal that these types of hate crimes should not happen." Yazzie said he hopes Winer's sentencing also will deter future hate crimes. "We really can do without them and try to get along, and live as one community," he said. "The Navajo people aren't going anywhere, and I'm sure the Anglo community isn't going anywhere." Morrow said Monday he plans to file a motion for the judge to reconsider Winer's probation. Winer was initially sentenced to two years of probation following his prison sentence, but the prosecutor hopes Hynes will increase that amount of time. "Having (Winer) serve five years of supervised probation following his incarceration would protect the community and also help the defendant," he said. Rhys Saunders: rsaunders@daily-times.com Copyright c. 2007 Farmington Daily-Times. --------- "RE: Navajo Corrections faces another Jail crisis" --------- Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 07:31:05 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INADEQUATE JAIL SPACE" http://www.gallupindependent.com/2007/april/041607kh_jailcrisis.html Corrections faces another jail crisis By Kathy Helms Dine' Bureau April 16, 2007 WINDOW ROCK - With the closure of Chinle Adult Detention Center, coupled with the condemnation of Tuba City jail, Window Rock is booked full to overflowing, according to Delores Greyeyes, director of Navajo Department of Corrections. "We're just loading them down in Window Rock," she said. "We're moving inmates from Chinle every day. Last night, I understand, they brought in close to 20 inmates through the night's arrests," she said Sunday evening. "When I left Friday, we had 50 people at Window Rock. Our capacity is 33. Monday morning, I don't know how many we'll have." The Chinle jail was closed last week due to safety risks following an electrical fire. Greyeyes said, "We are, within our limited resources, trying to do something. The dispatchers are right now housed in the chapter house and then law enforcement is coming in and out of there as well. "The Adult Corrections personnel is over at the fire department, so any new arrests, they're taking them over there, booking them and then hauling them in, and then they're booked again into Window Rock, so it's double the work," she said. "Basically, we have 59 beds that we can use. In Kayenta, Chinle and Tuba City, we're hauling inmates from there to Window Rock. It's certainly costing us a lot as far as mileage, manpower, overtime. So, we're really raking in (expenses) and we need to do something immediately. "Otherwise, those vans are going to start falling apart pretty quick. Most of them are not new vans, the transport vans that we're using. So the council needs to immediately do something." Back to D.C. Greyeyes said she has been invited by Public Safety Committee Chairperson Hope MacDonald-LoneTree to travel with her this week to Washington, D.C., in search of emergency funding for Navajo jails. "We've been working real hard, this administration, trying to get plans in place that no other administration has done, even though we've had facilities that have been falling apart for years," Greyeyes said. She has developed a position paper which details some of the overall problems Navajo is having with its jail facilities and is taking along a diskette of pictures for show-and-tell. "We've already told BIA, 'Tuba City is shut down. The next building coming down is Chinle' and sure enough, here we go," she said. MacDonald-LoneTree recently presented testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Some of Navajo's concerns are addressed in SCIA's March 1 letter to the Senate Budget Committee. The "views and estimates" letter details the committee's funding recommendations for consideration by the Budget Committee in developing the annual budget resolution. The Indian Affairs Committee gathered information about the FY 2008 budget request for tribal programs from federal agencies and received testimony regarding funding recommendations from representatives of tribal organizations at an oversight hearing in February. MacDonald-LoneTree has been invited to testify next week before the House appropriations subcommittee which oversees the budget for the U.S. Department of Justice, through which Navajo obtains some of its funding. Dealing With It Greyeyes said she is hoping the Navajo Nation Council supports emergency legislation to be introduced this week addressing Navajo's newest jail crisis. "I've gone before the council, I've told them, 'Here's the problem.' But most times when you do presentations before the council, they all kind of get up and walk out as if it's not important. I hope they see this as a really important issue," she said. "This affects all districts because Window Rock really has to cut back on their number of beds, but law enforcement is not going to stop arresting. They're charged with making sure people are punished for their criminal activity." In the meantime, "We continue to overload," Greyeyes said. The Navajo Nation, once again, has requested jail bed space from Gallup- McKinley County. Now, Greyeyes said, "We're waiting for the BIA. They've had that request since Tuesday. When I talked to them through the week they basically told me, 'We're working on it,' or 'We're waiting.' " Greyeyes said she was told the request has to go to the chief of Corrections at the regional office in Albuquerque, and then on to the deputy director of Corrections under Chris Cheney. "I've gone up the ladder," she said. For now, "We're just trying to deal with it the best way we know how." According to MacDonald-LoneTree, "Navajo facilities are widely acknowledged as posing a danger both to staff and inmates, yet the BIA spends nearly all of its detention facility repair and renovation dollars on BIA and not tribal facilities. "Congress needs to direct the BIA to apply a fair portion of this funding to address the detention facility crisis on the Navajo Nation," she said. Copyright c. 2007 the Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: Native Justice" --------- Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 07:42:47 -0700 From: Janet Smith [owlstar@bellsouth.net] Subj: NA News Item -- Blackfeet Council listens to emotional complaints about justice http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ article?AID=/20070419/NEWS01/704190302 Blackfeet: Council listens to emotional complaints about justice By ERIC NEWHOUSE Tribune Projects Editor April 19, 2007 BROWNING - Anger alternated with tears Wednesday as the families of victims of lawlessness on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation struggled to tell their stories. Watching impassively from tables up front, occasionally jotting notes, were BIA Blackfeet Agency Supervisor Steve Pollock, BIA Police Chief Clifford Serawop, Glacier County Sheriff Wayne Dusterhoff, Montana Highway Patrol Col. Paul Grimstad, FBI Special Agent Scott Cruse, and Assistant U. S. Attorney Joe Thaggart. Congressman Denny Rehberg also sent a representative to the meeting. The standing-room-only meeting in the Blackfeet Nation council chambers was organized by the tribal business council because of persistent complaints about law enforcement, which has been run by the BIA on the reservation since February 2003. The three-hour session was dominated by the spirit of Zach Gervais, the 18-year-old son of tribal Treasurer Joe Gervais, and other recent crime victims. Zach was stabbed to death last January and a 16-year-old is being held on tribal charges until a federal investigation is completed. "They say when you want to get away with murder, come to the Blackfeet Reservation," said Robert Mad Plume, tribal forester. "And that's what's happening. Mad Plume held up his granddaughter, 1-year-old Melina. "This is Zach's baby, and she's fatherless now," he said, his voice breaking and tears beginning to roll down his cheeks. "It's so heartbreaking that nothing has happened to the man who left this baby without a father, and I can't stand it anymore," said Mad Plume. He also said that his daughter was stalked last week. "One gentleman told me that we need to take the law into our own hands, and I'm not afraid to do it," he said. "I'm not going to let anyone stalk any member of my family." Back in the audience again, Melina began crying, "Daddy. Daddy." Her mother, Robin Mad Plume, said such crimes would not go unpunished off the reservation. "But I'm afraid to be back on this reservation," she said. "I'm going to go back to school and study criminology so I can come back here because I want to make a difference" As the tears began flowing, she said: "We had this dream that we were going to be a family, but the police need to put this monster away. He is a monster, but I still feel sorry for him." Murder is all too familiar on the reservation, she said "I had a cousin, Crickett, who was killed, and I've had other friends who were murdered, but now my own baby is fatherless," said Robin Mad Plume. Nuggett Mad Plume, Crickett's brother, told the audience of several hundred residents that he was still struggling to get justice for his brother and to find answers. "My boy was stabbed on Mother's Day, and his life was taken on Father's Day," sobbed his mother, Penny Mad Plume. "I just wish justice was done," she said. "I never seen the FBI except once when he was lying in the hospital, and no cops either." Kayo Bearmedicine said she and her husband Melvin had lost both of their daughters. "One of our daughters was killed in an accident, and our little baby was killed by a drunken driver," she said. "He spent two days in jail, paid a $250 fine, and 30 days in the halfway house. "But I see him around town. The other day, I seen him coming out of a store with a case of beer under his arm." Alfred Still Smoking described how his daughter was killed by a drunken driver on New Year's Day 2006 as she attempted to get away from two drunken women. "I believe that these individuals and agencies have dropped the ball," he said, eying the officials at the tables up front. "I believe that the system has victimized all of us. "We have all talked about vigilante law, and perhaps it will come to that," he added. ""We hope you will prosecute and convict these people, but if not, who can tell?" Gene Dubray suggested the lawmakers should just be run off the reservation. "If they want to steal from us and kill us, let's get rid of them," he said. Rick Lucke said drugs are everywhere. "I have a friend who called me and asked for $75 so she could get a restraining order against her brother who's making meth in a shed behind her house," he said. Children often suffer the most, said Ginny Farmer Lawson. ""They're living in alcoholic households, suffering from meth exposure and abuse," she said. Her 12-year-old nephew was abused by a 36-year old man, she said. "Why should this man walk the streets when he beat up this 12-year-old boy, choked him and scratched him?" asked Lawson. "It makes me sick." And Myrna Monroe described how she was jailed for drunkenness last August when she was suffering a diabetic seizure in her car Her children found her after six hours and got her medical attention, she said. "The doctor in Cut Bank told my children, 'Pray for your mother because she shouldn't be here (after what she's been through),'" she said. After more than three hours of emotionally charged testimony, Councilman Rodney "Fish" Gervais, who acting as moderator, adjourned the meeting and told an equal number of people who had been unable to testify that the council would schedule another listening session as soon as possible. Copyright c. 2007 The Great Falls Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Rustywire: The Goat Woman-Asdzaa Tlizi'" --------- Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2006 08:10:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RUSTYWIRE: GOAT WOMAN" http://www.rustywire.com/starship/grymtn.html The Goat Woman-Asdzaa Tlizi' by Johnny Rustywire One day on the Western Navajo, just East of the Grand Canyon, at a place on Highway 89 not far from Tuba City there is Gray Mountain. Like any small place you have people stopping to buy gas and head on down the road. There were some old Navajo men standing around there visiting with each other. There was Hosteen Acothley from a place call the Gap who was talking in a small group of old men standing near the door to the store. There was a Yellowman from Coppermine, a Bedonie from Navajo Mountain and old man Sloan from up by Marble Canyon way near Page, Arizona. They stood in a group with worn straw hats and a Stetson with a silver band. Hosteen Yellowman said, Way over by Skeleton Mesa, one of those Blackhair boys came home maybe two or three weeks ago they say...one of Johnny Blackhair's boys... Acothley said, Yes I heard about that boy, what was he called? Johnny Blackhair, the one we call Curly Toes from Shonto in the Navajo way of speaking, it is his son. Yes, that's the one. His son came home from California, brought a white girl from over there. There was a Sing over near there, by Kaibeto a little ways from there... When was this? Probably a few days ago, maybe two three weeks ago, I guess. This woman came with big hair, it looked white, blonde they say in a big car with big wheels and sat there they say. She never been to the place before, just sat there while he went in and visited. After a while the people there said to him, Why don't you go get her and bring her in so we can talk to her. He said, she has never been here before. she doesn't know what to think of the place. Go get her, and so the women followed him out there to the big car and spoke to her and she got out... Someone cleared a place in the Chaoh-shade house for her and brought some stew and frybread. Her clothes were bright colored they say, yellow with pink pants, some said she looked like the colors of dawn... She sat down and ate the food, and then after a while she went out of the Chaoh and the women didn't see her for a long time. Someone said where did she go...tak