_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 15, ISSUE 026 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 June 25, 2007 Pomo butich-da/moon when bulbs mature Assiniboine wahequosmewi/full leaf moon Western Cherokee dehaluyi/green corn moon Potawatomi msheke'kesis/moon of the turtle +-------------------------------------------------------+ | 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.indianz.com; www.pechanga.net; www.indiancountrytoday.com; Mailing List: Mohawk Nation News; 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: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + =================== "Earth Mother is fighting back - not only from the four winds but also from underneath," "Scientists call it global warming. We call it Earth Mother getting angry." __ Talking Hawk, Mohawk +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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 Hellllloooooo... Is anybody home? Can anyone hear? Does anyone care? Long before this simple newszine began its 15 year journey, the same basic issues existed and the same questions were being asked. The dominant society wants control over Indian Country but wants no responsibility dealing with it. When Indian Nations and Indian people would not accommodate the invaders by conveniently all dying, often due to introduced diseases or malnutrition, and refused to assimilate into red (and indentured) versions of the white conquerors, they were swept off to reservations in hostile, inhospitable chunks of land deemed unusable by the white society. Oh sure, there are treaties. Treaties were and are enforced to the nth degree when it comes to control of the Indian population, and to policies that quickly or gradually reduce our numbers; and broken at will when treaty provisions inconvenience the folks in Washington and Ottawa, or when they block profiteering by their corporate masters. However, sometimes things become so bleak or so damn rotten the stench simply cannot be ignored. In these cases, where the poverty, rotten provisions and valueless education splashed over into border towns, or the outcry became loud enough it could no longer be ignored, the legislative representatives in the US Congress and Canadian Parliament would add "the issue" to their collective agenda. There would then be hearings and proclamations, but little action of any real substance. The law makers would pat themselves on the back for handling the job in such a profound way, and go onto real "bizness", like pork barrel legislation and sound bites for the news media. So I'm asking, "Is anybody home? Are you listening? Do you give a damn?" I hope there are a few with hearts and souls that haven't sold out totally to corporate interests, because there are real education, health and social issues in Indian Country. If you legislators continue to play your old, tired games you may discover too late it is like Pandora's Box. The evil has spilled out into whiteland and you will not be able to put it back in its Indian Country box. Get off your ass and provide real legal, health and educational help. For at least this once, honor the treaties your predecessors made. There are real human beings out here with real problems. , , 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: - GIAGO: The great horse . Does anybody care? of the Pawnee Nation - Indians speak forcefully - YELLOW BIRD: on Climate Festival days and Prairie nights - US Border Barrier - YELLOW BIRD: Embrace change, desecrated Burial Sites but don't forget past - Tribes question Land Swap - ANDRADE: - Leaders are dedicated The education of President Bush to improve Health Care - UKB CHIEF: - Tensions build between Seneca Cherokee Nation can't break Treaty & State of New York - OPINION: - Urban Indian: Keeping the law in Indian Country Portland's invisibile Minority - Land Deal could - Farmington, Navajo Nation prevent Rail Blockade still seek Bridges - Stop AFN Fontaine - Federal regs make from signing protocol with RCMP Traditional Foods scarce - Joint AFN/RCMP - The Cherokee Nation's New Battle Response Team set up - CNO votes to - Province allows remove Feds from Process Me'tis decision to stand - Tribe pleads for Artifacts - It's time for Ottawa - American Indian veterans honored to pay the rent - Battle over - ACLU: NA Families Memorializing Sitting Bull and Winner School Settlement - Oklahoma Tribal Leaders - Native Justice attend Ceremony -- Indian Country problems - Woman tries to save regarded as `local issues Ottawa Language -- Time to deal with Law - Grandmother's advice enforcement problems guides Dine' man's Path on Reservations - FEMA Trailers to go - Rustywire: to American Indian Tribes In the Midst of Them Yeis - JODI RAVE: A long walk - Del "Abe" Jones Poem: Falling Tear for fitness, fellowship - New Online Drum Contest --------- "RE: Indians speak forcefully on Climate" --------- Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 07:36:03 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CLIMATE, GLOBAL WARMING" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/06/17/ indians_speak_forcefully_on_climate/ Indians speak forcefully on climate US tribes join discourse on global warming By John Donnelly, Globe Staff June 17, 2007 WEST FACE OF MT. MOOSILAUKE, N.H. - Talking Hawk stood above the South Branch of the Baker River one warm spring day recently and grimaced. "It's August color," he said of the tea-colored river. "It's not normal." The Mohawk Indian, along with members of five other Native American tribes, was preparing for a sacred ceremony by the river to pray for "Earth Mother." He said the planet was reacting to the overwhelming amount of pollution humans have produced that caused changes around the globe, even in the river at his doorstep. "Earth Mother is fighting back - not only from the four winds but also from underneath," he said. "Scientists call it global warming. We call it Earth Mother getting angry." In recent months, some Native American leaders have spoken out more forcefully from New Hampshire to California about the danger of climate change from greenhouse gases, joining a growing national discourse on what to do about the warming planet. Scientists have documented climate change, but Native Americans speak of it in spiritual terms and remind others that their elders prophesized environmental tragedy many generations ago. Those who study Native American culture believe their presence in the debate could be influential. They point to "The Crying Indian," one of the country's most influential public-service TV ads. In the spot, actor Iron Eyes Cody, in a buckskin suit, paddles a canoe up a trash-strewn urban creek, then stands by a busy highway cluttered with litter. The ad ends with a close-up of Cody, shedding a single tear after a passing motorist throws trash at his feet. The "Keep America Beautiful" public service announcement , which aired in the 1970s and can be seen on YouTube.com, helped usher in landmark environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act. "Within the last six months, there's just been a loss of faith in the insistence [by some politicians] that global warming isn't happening, and that we have nothing to do with it," said Shepard Krech III , an anthropology and environmental studies professor at Brown University. Krech is the author of "The Ecological Indian," which examines the relationship between Native Americans and nature. Though many citizens will look for "a consensus in the scientific community" to convince them of climate change, Krech said, others will seek "perspectives from Indian society . . . Native Americans have a rich tradition that springs from this belief they have always been close to the land, and always treated the land well." At a United Nations meeting last month, several Native American leaders spoke at a session called "Indigenous Perspectives on Climate Change. " Also in May, tribal representatives from Alaska and northern Canada - where pack ice has vanished earlier and earlier each spring - traveled to Washington to press their case. In California, Minnesota, New Mexico, and elsewhere, tribes have used some of their casino profits to start alternative or renewable energy projects, including biomass-fueled power plants. Here in the White Mountains, where Native Americans have become integrated in the broader society, some have questioned the impact of local development. Jan Osgood , an Abenaki Indian who lives in Lincoln, N.H., and who attended the sacred ceremony on the Baker River, said she worries about several proposals that would clear acres of national forest on Loon Mountain for luxury homes. "It breaks my heart," she said. She approached Ted Sutton , Lincoln's town manager, about the project and gave him a book called "Touch the Earth: A Self-Portrait of Indian Existence ," a collection of writings by North American Indians that detailed the history of the US government's unfulfilled promises to their tribes. The gift spurred their friendship, and an exchange of ideas of how to ensure development does not ruin the mountains. After reading the book, Sutton said he agrees with the Native American philosophy of life: Use nature respectfully, never taking more than is needed. "American Natives have been telling us all along that this was going to happen to the earth," Sutton said. "They were telling us hundreds of years ago that what we were doing [to the environment] would come back and haunt us. They have been proven right. But hopefully we've started to listen to them and move back to some better management of our lives." Christopher McLeod , a filmmaker who produced "In the Light of Reverence, " a documentary about Native American sacred sites, said that many tribal leaders were now trying to craft messages about global warming for the wider population. "Their feeling is, 'We need to work that much harder to protect the earth, because you guys are killing the earth,' " McLeod said. "But at the same time, they are trying to strategize internally about what message to send, how to survive themselves, and how to get non indigenous people to realize that the people on the front lines - the Inuit, the [Arctic] coastal people - have to be listened to." At the United Nations forum, McLeod noted that several tribal leaders said the current global warming trends were "nothing new, nothing different, a manifestation of what we've been telling you guys for [hundreds of] years of what is going to go wrong." Henrietta Mann , a leader of the Southern Cheyenne Sioux tribe, told the conference, "Day and night are out of sync. We know that Mother Earth, that beautiful, loving, most generous of all mothers, that her body has been violently treated. We live in an increasingly polluted land." Wahela Johns , a member of the Dine' tribe, who helped form the Black Mesa Water Coalition , an environmental group, joined the fight against carbon trading - a system to control greenhouse gases in which a polluting company or industry compensates for its carbon dioxide emissions by purchasing credits from a company that invests in alternative energies. In Johns' s view, companies paid for "planting trees . . . in South America, so we can pollute more as an industry in the Northern region. That is not a solution. "Our people are being first and foremost affected by climate change," she said. "We have the knowledge as indigenous peoples, we understand the caretaking we need to do, we need to share that with the rest of the world." Alongside Baker River, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Talking Hawk, who asked to be identified by his Indian name, prepared for the "Medicine Wheel Ceremony." The ceremony is based on the belief that "all of life is a circle . . . and human beings travel around a great wheel" in sync with nature, he said. He blackened his face as "a sign," he said, "of humility that I am one with Earth Mother." Around the circle were members of the Passamaquoddy, Mohawk, Blackfoot, Micmaq, Lakota Sioux, and Abenaki tribes. Osgood, the Abenaki, played the flute. Thunderbull , a Lakota Sioux, banged on drums. And Talking Hawk addressed the group, and the spirits. "We've come here to pray for Earth Mother," he said. "We pray for the healing of Earth Mother in these troubled times." Thunderbull offered a prayer for people who had suffered from recent flooding in the Midwest. Talking Hawk prayed for those who would suffer from natural disasters ahead. "Think of the people who will die in the cleansing of Earth Mother, all around the world," he said. "Think of their spirits." John Donnelly can be reached at donnelly@globe.com Copyright c. 2007 The New York Times Company. --------- "RE: US Border Barrier desecrated Burial Sites" --------- Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2007 07:29:52 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BORDER PATROL, HOMELAND SECURITY TRENCH GRAVES" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21961409-1702,00.html US border barrier 'desecrated burial sites' By correspondents in Arizona June 24, 2007 CONSTRUCTION work to secure the US border with Mexico has desecrated an ancient American Indian burial ground, members of a local tribe claim. The US Border Patrol is building a 120km barrier along the border of Arizona and Mexico in a bid to stop drug and human traffickers driving between countries. The barrier, which crosses lands belonging to the small sovereign American-Indian nation of Tohono O'odham, is being built in consultation with the tribal government. But members of the tribe claim that sacred burial sites have been desecrated to pave way for the new barrier, made of closely-set steel posts sunk in concrete. The tribal government said on Friday that "human burials" dating from the 12th century had been found during preparatory work and dealt with according to protocol. Members of five families who say they are directly descended from the dead, complained that their removal is a desecration of a site they hold sacred. "It is a place where our ancestors have slept for many, many years, and someone just dug them out of their graves and put them in little bags in storage," said Ofelia Rivas, a traditionalist who lives in the tiny, cactus-ringed village of Ali Jegk in Arizona. The Tohono O'odham nation, whose name means "Desert People", reaches up to Casa Grande in the north and stretches across the international line into Mexico, where some members live in nine scattered communities. The tribal government said in a news release that the areas in which the human remains were found were among 11 archeological sites identified by the tribe that lie in the path of the barrier. Ms Rivas said the remains were discovered in May. Ms Rivas said she expected further discoveries of hallowed remains in coming months. "This is just the beginning. There will be many more sites," she said. The Tohono O'odham are one of only a few American Indian tribes that have never been relocated from their ancestral lands. Members share traditional beliefs centred on the natural world and many speak the tribal language. Tribal authorities support the vehicle barrier, which they say is needed to stop smugglers from Mexico, who frequently duel with the Border Patrol in high-speed chases on back roads and dump tonnes of trash including clothing and water bottles. The tribal government said the excavation at the burial sites had been carried out in full compliance with arrangements set out in a memorandum of understanding with US authorities. "A detailed investigation into the handling of the remains has been completed and it has been determined that the US Border Patrol, tribal monitors, and the archeological team all followed set procedures." The remains have been placed in safe storage on the Tohono O'odham nation, and will be reburied at a ceremony later this year, the government said. Copyright c. 2007 News Limited. --------- "RE: Tribes question Land Swap" --------- Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2007 07:32:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SIMPLOT TO ACQUIRE PROTECTED HUNTING LAND" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.idahostatejournal.com/ articles/2007/06/20/news/breaking/news02.txt Tribes question land swap By John O'Connell June 20, 2007 POCATELLO - Shoshone-Bannock tribal officials say they oppose a land swap that would give J.R. Simplot Co. a large parcel of federal land near its Don Plant in exchange for key mule deer winter range near Blackrock Canyon. In the early 1990s, Simplot acquired 680 acres of habitat contiguous to federal land in the Blackrock area to offer as a trade for 719 acres of Bureau of Land Management property in the Trail Creek area near the agribusiness giant's large local phosphate operation. Much of the land Simplot stands to receive was charred by this week's Howard Fire. Simplot spokesman Rick Phillips said the land would enable Simplot to expand its towering gypsum stack - a pile of gray dirt remaining after phosphate is removed from slurry. "The long-term viability of the Don Plant depends on our ability to handle that gypsum product," Phillips said. Roger Turner, air quality manager with the tribes, said the tribal council has come out against the swap based on concerns that expanding the gypsum pile could impair Portneuf River water quality and local air quality, and too few alternatives have been considered. "(The BLM) didn't go into very much detail in their scoping of the controversial nature and impacts of phosphogypsum on the environment," Turner said. The BLM announced the proposed exchange in the Journal last summer and hosted a scoping meeting in early fall. Local BLM officials proposed allowing the transfer, a suggestion that must still be considered by the agency's federal office and could be returned with additional recommendations. By this fall, the BLM hopes to have the revisions made and release a document to the public. Turner would like the BLM to reopen the exchange proposal for additional public comment. David Pacioretty, the BLM's Pocatello field office manager, argued the land exchange and environmental concerns about the gypsum stack are separate issues. Regarding the land trade issue, Pacioretty said the BLM's charge is to make sure the land the agency stands to receive is of equal or greater value to the public than the parcel up for trade. He said the tribes will have the opportunity to voice their concerns when the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Environmental Quality consider Simplot's application to build a new stack. "There is a potential for these selected lands once in private ownership to be utilized in phosphate management practices," Pacioretty said. "Any future development by Simplot would be subject to regulatory oversight." When the Superfund site that includes Simplot and the former FMC site was created, Simplot's gypsum stack was identified as a potential source of water contamination. Phillips said when a new stack is built, Simplot will have to take certain steps to prevent contaminants from leaching into the watershed - building a clay or vinyl liner for example. "It would be a matter of studying the geography and geology of the area and coming up with something that would meet the standards of the DEQ," Phillips said. "If we were to build a new stack, it would probably be built differently than that 60-year-old stack up there now." But Phillips assures the public his company worked diligently to find a prime piece of land to offer in trade. Given the rapid pace of development occurring in mule deer winter range, Phillips believes the Blackrock property will only grow in value. "We bought property that was critical to wildlife and to what the BLM was all about," Phillips said. "We thought we were serving a larger public good by doing that." Copyright c. 2007 Pocatello Idaho State Journal. --------- "RE: Leaders are dedicated to improve Health Care" --------- Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2007 08:04:03 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HEALTH CARE" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415263 Leaders are dedicated to improve health care for tribes by: David Melmer / Indian Country Today June 22, 2007 SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Tribal chairmen and members of the Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairmen's Health Board rededicated themselves to work for the people on health care in light of the fact that many health care disparities exist in the American Indian communities and funding is always inadequate. When tribal health officials gather, the two main topics of discussion are funding and the disparity of health care. Health care funding in Indian country has frequently been compared to that of federal prison inmates who receive nearly $2,000 more per inmate than each American Indian. Even though health care funding for fiscal year 2008 has been increased in the White House budget, the bottom line received a boost in the House, but the final mark-up still falls short of the need. Mary Lou Stanton, deputy director of Indian Health Policy, told the chairmen and health officials that with the increases, a $13 million reduction in facilities expenditure is in the budget. That means the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe clinic and hospital will not receive funding until possibly 2009. CRST has been waiting for several years for this facility. "There are 76 tribes signed up for the joint ventures, but we can only fund two," Stanton said. The joint venture means the tribe and IHS will work together to build the facility. The tribe usually constructs the building and IHS provides the staff and equipment. Stanton said there is an emphasis on the collection of third party payer funds, such as Medicare and Medicaid. In the Aberdeen Area that amounts to $60 million per year and nationwide the figure reaches $700 million. But that figure still doesn't equal the need. Stanton said at this time the Indian Health Care Improvement Act is up for reauthorization. The IHCIA has not been reauthorized since 1999 and this version has some provisions included that will benefit Indian country. The bill includes the elevation of the IHS director to assistant secretary of Indian health, and it would also exempt Medicaid patients from any co- pay, as an example. She said it is expected that the FY '08 budget will be passed this year. "We live on the four poorest counties in the United States. The U.S. government has people on Pine Ridge with cancer, and they can't get treatment because their life and limb are not threatened," said John Yellow Bird Steele, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. "What is the IHS responsibility to the individual when they can get to the hospital and then have to wait? People are misdiagnosed and they receive the wrong prescriptions. "People talk about funding, but nobody does anything. Being poverty- stricken, it is hard to live and you put an additional burden on them. It seems the IHS doesn't care," Steele said. Steele pointed out that if health care was funded properly, many of the problems, such as suicide, drug addictions and others, would go away by themselves. The Aberdeen Area tribes are direct service tribes and do not compact their health services. Steele reminded the IHS that the tribes do not want to let the government off the hook for their fiduciary responsibility that was written into the treaties. "Health care should be at today's standards. Our people want to catch up with the rest of America," Steele said. Stanton assured the summit attendees that she understood the frustrations and that it would be necessary to educate the congressional delegations from those states that do not have an American Indian population. "We put in the budget needs, Congress appropriates and it's not enough," Stanton said. "We have to depend on the tribes to plea for more funds. IHS is funded at 60 percent of need," she said. Some tribal leaders use the funding level of 40 percent or 50 percent of need. The frustrations caused by underfunded health care run deep. "The government gives $65 million for farmers not to farm. Then they give peanuts for Indian health. The government gives farmers $85 million to buy surplus food that return to us as commodities and that is a cause of our health problems," said Matthew Pilcher, chairman of the Winnebago Tribe. The frustrations expressed by the tribal chairmen are caused because the message they convey to Congress and the IHS is repeated year after year. Steele used the loss of road construction funding to the self-governance tribes as an example of what might happen to the health care dollars also. Caution was expressed that tribes could be pitted against one another in the overall debate for more money and adequate health care. Leaders of the treaty tribes, which include all tribes in the Aberdeen Area, claim to be in a struggle for funding for many programs and argue that some self- governance tribes do not have the same land base or physical responsibilities as do the treaty tribes. "Treaties are legal obligations. Self-governance tribes hurt us," Steele said. Copyright c. 1998 - 2007 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Tensions build between Seneca & State of New York" --------- Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 07:20:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SENECA LAND USE, TAXES" http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=8813 Tensions build between Seneca Nation and State of New York Over Separate Issues of Land Use and Taxes ALBANY NY By Shelley Bluejay Pierce, bluejay@3riversdbs.net June 20, 2007 Current land usage dispute between the Seneca Nation and the State of New York have increased tensions between the two entities this past week. On Tuesday, the President of the Seneca Nation, Maurice John Sr., submitted a bill to Governor Eliot Spitzer and the New York Transportation Department for more than $2.1 million. The amount due is based on charging one dollar per vehicle for each of the 28,000 vehicles that travel daily across the three mile stretch of the I-90 Thruway built on tribal lands. "We're sending the check to New York State, the DOT, it's not up to us whether they pay it or not, it's up to New York State," replied Maurice John during the press conference on Tuesday. The Seneca Tribal Council voted on May 12, 2007, to charge the state for highway tolls retroactively to April 14, 2007. This decision was rendered after the council voted to rescind a 1954 right-of-way agreement between the nation and the state of New York for the I-90 Thruway that crosses tribal land. The first Thruway bill sent by the Seneca leadership on Tuesday does not include historic penalties or costs for damages to native lands but if the bill is not paid in full within the 10 day time limit, interest penalties will be applied. The Seneca Nation said the original land agreement, which paid the tribe $75,000, was invalid from inception due to the documents having never received proper federal approval. Tribal leaders have requested negotiations over the issues with New York State but no discussions have been set to date. Conflicts between Gov. Spitzer and the Seneca nation have been on the increase since Spitzer assumed office in January. The Governor announced his intentions of collecting state tax on reservation sales of cigarettes and gasoline to non-Indian customers. The Seneca leadership insists that their tribal protection from state taxation is mandated according to the terms of treaty agreements made between the tribe and the United States. "The Thruway tolls had nothing to do with the tax fight. We're talking apples and oranges," Maurice John stated. Governor Spitzer's proposed budget for this year includes $200 million in revenues from reservation sales, though the administration has not yet disclosed how those figures will become a reality. The Seneca nation demands that treaty stipulations regarding the tax-free status be honored. The current charges for access to the land the New York Thruway crosses deals with legal contracts and agreements totally separate from any historical treaty agreements. Tribal leaders displayed architectural drawings during the press conference of a tollbooth they might consider erecting across the roadway in dispute. Erecting signs that clearly alert motorists that they have entered into Seneca territory is one of the immediate actions planned by the tribe. In 1994, New York won a U.S. Supreme Court Case over the Indian tax collection effort that some officials for the state claimed would increase state income by as much as $400 million a year. Officials attempted to enforce cigarette and gasoline tax laws on Indian retailers back in 1997 but gained only protests, blocked portions of the Thruway and clashes with New York state police. Seneca leadership has taken aim as well, at a 1976 agreement that allowed construction of the Southern Tier Expressway which in now Interstate 86, and resides upon the Allegany Reservation. Maurice John explained that the tribal council has extended a deadline for negotiations with the state on that issue for one month. Asked for an official comment from the New York Governor's office regarding their having received the bill from the Seneca Nation, Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Pritchard said, "The governor's office is declining comment." Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Urban Indian: Portland's invisibile Minority" --------- Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 07:20:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="URBAN INDIANS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.wweek.com/editorial/3332/9118/ Urban Indian A tight-focus lens on Portland's invisible minority. BY BETH SLOVIC June 21, 2007 On Margo Guajardo's right arm is the tattoo "N8ive Pride." It may be callous to ask what she has to be proud of. Callous, but not entirely inappropriate. By traditional standards, Margo's own life story has not been one of triumph. Twenty years old, she has two kids, one of whom was fathered by Margo's uncle. She is unemployed, unmarried and largely unmoored. She does not know much about her biological mother, other than that she was once a prostitute. She has no relationship with her father. She has a history of drug and alcohol addiction. And she has $103 in her bank account. At times, it appears Margo's existence is as fragile as the plastic hairclips that hold open the burgundy curtains on the front window of her outer Southeast Portland home. But Margo, a member of the Mnicoujou band of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe (also known as the Lakota), does have reason to be proud. As a Native American, Margo belongs to Portland's most disenfranchised minority, one whose members face challenges that dwarf the hurdles confronting Portland's other marginalized communities. While media and political pressure is focused yet again this week on the rights of illegal immigrants, her story is a reminder of a different minority that receives far less attention. It's a story that's 400 years old, not 40. And it's a story that is often hidden under a shroud of obscurity as dangerous and as seemingly benign as a warm blanket infected with small pox. "The U.S. worries more about Mexican people being here illegally," says Margo, whose biological father was Mexican. "You hear more about that because it's OK to talk about." By several measures, the Native American experience in Portland stinks. According to the most recent figures from the city's Bureau of Housing and Community Development, Native Americans and Alaskan Natives comprise 10 percent of the homeless population. Yet they comprise only about 1 percent of the city's overall population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. A recent Portland Schools Foundation study revealed Native American students in 2004 had the lowest high-school graduation rate of any ethnic group. More than 13 percent of all foster-care cases in the state in 2005 involved Native American youth, although Native American children made up only 1.3 percent of Oregon's under-18 population. And while the numbers are not available locally, Native Americans have the highest rates of suicide, binge drinking and poverty of any minority group in the United States, according to various government sources. They also have the lowest median income, according to the Census in 2000. The situation is no less bleak for Native Americans in the criminal justice system. "Native American youth are disproportionately showing up in the correctional system at a higher rate than any group but African Americans," says Barry Krisberg, president of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, a California-based advocacy group. Compared with the overall state population, the official number of Native Americans in Oregon is small indeed, less than 2 percent. But while Portland is the 23rd-largest metropolitan area in the United States, the Portland area also has the ninth-largest Native American population in the U.S., about 38,000 people. Still, the plight of Native Americans may be one of the untold secrets of the "minority beat" in modern-day journalism. Rarely does one read about members of the 300 tribes represented in Portland. Even rarer is a discussion of what is causing Native Americans to fall behind - or what is preventing them from advancing. What does remain in the news is talk of the nine Indian casinos in Oregon. And although profits at the nine casinos vary widely from tribe to tribe and not every tribal member in Oregon is entitled to money from those operations, many people continue to assume that the benefits of Indian gambling are spread among all Native Americans. What follows is a photo essay about a young Portland woman whose life is both a confirmation of some startling statistics defining what it means to be Native American today and a rebuke of the forces that cast a shadow on her valued heritage. It was Margo's arrest at the age of 14 that began her ascent from hell and led her to create the family she has today. For most of her life, Margo bounced between foster-care families and relatives' houses in Texas, where she was born, and South Dakota, where her tribe is based. But at the age of 9, Margo and her younger half-sister Roxanne Ashley moved to Sheridan, near McMinnville, to live with their uncle and his wife. In 2001, when Margo was caught along with friends for stealing and crashing one friend's mother's car, she was arrested and placed in juvenile detention in McMinnville. As she was about to be released back into the custody of her uncle, she told an officer there was something she wanted to share. Her uncle, Margo said, had been molesting and raping her since she was 9. Weeks later, Margo would discover that she was five months pregnant with her uncle's child. Her uncle, Art Ashley, would ultimately be sentenced to nearly 48 years at the Snake River Correctional Facility in eastern Oregon on 27 counts - including five counts of rape in the first degree, four counts of rape in the second degree and 18 counts of sexual abuse in the first degree, for incidents spanning a period of nearly three years. According to the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics, the sexual-assault rate among Native Americans is double that for all other races. Margo calls her daughter Lexi, who's now nearly 6, her "magic" baby. Even given the circumstances, Margo considers the moment of Lexi's birth to be a moment of rebirth for her, too. "I'll never be his friend," Margo says of her uncle. "I'll never like him. But I've come to let go of what he's done. [Lexi's birth] opened my eyes to adulthood and to adult responsibility. I had a lot to learn, and it took me a few years after I had her to understand what I had taken on." Two years after Lexi was born in 2001, Margo entered drug and alcohol treatment, and for another two years she was under the thumb of caseworkers who monitored her schooling, her finances and her parenting. It was during this time period that she moved to Portland. "I guess I have major authority issues because I've been in the system all my life," says Margo, whose sentences are frequently followed by nervous giggles. "Once I got to the age I could do something about it, I took charge and kicked them to the curb," she said - before laughing quietly. Last year, Margo and her boyfriend, Tony Ream, who is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, decided to get married when Tony turned 21. He is now 17. Maellina is their 8-month-old daughter. Margo met Tony, who has green eyes and black hair that he sometimes slicks back like John Travolta in Grease, in the summer of 2005 at a college-prep program sponsored by the Native American Youth and Family Center. "I talked to him first," Margo says. "I told him he looked like a porcupine," because he had dyed the tips of his hair blond. "No, a hedgehog," she said, correcting herself and insulting him at the same time. Back then, Margo was still living at the Salvation Army's White Shield Center, an independent living program in Northwest Portland for pregnant and parenting teens. She had pink bangs, tattoos and piercings. "I liked that he was different and unique and that he wasn't afraid to say he liked soft music like Mariah Carey," Margo says. He was "hip-hop," she adds. She was punk. He was a virgin, and she already had a young child. He was 15. She was 18. As an enrolled member of the Grand Ronde, Tony belongs to Oregon's wealthiest group of tribes. When he turns 21 he will be given at least enough money to afford a down payment on a comfortable house. Meanwhile, Margo is from one of the country's poorest tribes, which does not have a casino or the money to pay its members dividends. "[The other teenagers] thought I was an ex-druggie who was trying to get with a goodie two-shoes." They do have one common bond: Tony's mother was also a prostitute. He has nine brothers and sisters who all have different fathers. Margo and her two children get by on food stamps and welfare checks, and her life is filled with the endless errands that are required to maintain that public assistance. For instance, Margo must meet periodically with nutritionists and caseworkers who monitor the children's well-being. Since she was forced to drop out of Portland Community College this spring (after her scholarship fell through), she's had to meet regularly with another caseworker to discuss her efforts at finding a job. And for the most part she relies on the buses that pass near her home to run those errands. Her life, she says, often feels like one long waiting game. The No. 71 and 72 bus lines order her existence. Margo relies on the money she collects from the agencies she's required to visit periodically. Her monthly rent is $700. She receives $400 in food stamps a month, plus an additional $400 in welfare. Tony, who works at New Seasons, helps to cover the rest. Margo says she would rather not depend on state agencies for support. She finds caseworkers' guidance patronizing and cold at times. Signs posted on the walls of one of Portland's welfare offices instruct visitors in all manners of things: cover your mouth, don't sit on the windowsill, do not adjust the curtains. No food or drink. "It's a passive-aggressive way of telling parents, 'Watch your children,'" Margo says. There's also a children's play area with a small table but no toys. Margo is there on a recent Tuesday for the second time in two weeks to try to exchange the baby-formula vouchers she has for vouchers that will allow her to buy another brand, one that won't upset Maellina's stomach. In the intervening days she's been using her food stamps to cover the $14 cans of formula Maellina prefers, which last only three days. While waiting, Margo says she and Tony are hoping to move from outer Southeast Portland to Southwest Portland in the fall to be closer to Portland Community College's Sylvania campus, where Tony plans to enroll. But Margo says she feels as if some neighborhoods have landlords who would not accept her rental applications because she is on welfare and doesn't have a job. "It sucks knowing that there are homes you'll never live in," Margo says. Nichole Maher, 28, is one of the most vocal advocates for Native Americans in the Portland area. An Alaskan Native from the Tlingit tribe, Maher has turned the Native American Youth and Family Center from a relatively shoestring operation with a budget of $280,000 in 2001 to a $4 million nonprofit agency in 2007. She is outspoken in her criticism of practices and policies that do not support or respect Native Americans, especially children. To some extent she also represents a new wave of Native American activism. "We were always just taught to stand back and watch," says Darlene Foster, a 60-year-old member of the Warm Springs tribes, who is a case manager at the Native American Rehabilitation Association in Portland. Tabitha Whitefoot, the 52-year-old coordinator for Portland State University's Native American Student and Community Center, who attended Lewis & Clark College in the 1970s, echoes Foster's sentiment. "When people like us went through school, we had to make a choice about whether we were going to be Native American or successful in the dominant culture," Whitefoot says. "They were very oppositional." Today, Maher and others are fighting for recognition of Native American customs, which she considers a crucial element of the struggle to minimize the effects of poverty and harmful government policies on Native Americans in Portland. (At left is an example of those efforts at the Native American Youth and Family Center's high-school graduation celebration.) "Systematic government interventions that took place up until 1978 created social conditions that broke down the family, broke down the culture and exposed a lot of our children to abuse and neglect," Maher says. "You can't do what the U.S. government has done to our community for a few hundred years and not expect there to be some consequences. The reality is our children are still paying a price for what happened. It's absolutely obvious that our children and probably our children's children - unless we do something very differently - will continue to pay a very steep price for being born into our community." N8ive Pride is essential, she says. "There are so many messages in this community that we're not welcome," Maher says, rattling off a litany of stereotypes about Indians found on cigarette packages, among sports franchises and in the media. "We're very unique in that we want to do everything that we can to hold on to our culture. We tried assimilation for 300 years. We're not interested in that. It hasn't done anything positive for us." One date Margo remembers just as clearly as the birthdays of her two daughters is Oct. 8, 2005, the day she left White Shield in Northwest Portland. "I was waiting for that day to come," Margo says. "I was only supposed to be there for nine to 12 months." Instead she was there for 20 months, during which time she earned her high-school diploma and attended classes at the Native American Rehabilitation Association and the Native American Youth and Family Center. During this time, she strengthened her ties to her Native American heritage. Yet Margo and Tony are both acutely aware that much of Portland does not share their interest in Native American history and culture. At times, that indifference reaches offensiveness. At a Lloyd Center event recently, Margo wore her colorful regalia and participated in a Native American dance. Passersby said, "It's a little early for costumes." Margo's younger sister Roxanne was disappointed to learn she would not be permitted to wear an eagle feather in the tassel of her cap at her graduation from Portland's Marshall High School last month. But in a mildly subversive gesture she carried the eagle feather instead - and wore a satchel of dried sage for good luck under her robe. "A lot of people think we were wiped out," Tony says. "No one really talks about our culture - in schools especially. They talk about so many other cultures but not Native culture." "They just figure there aren't that many," Margo says. At the same time, both Margo and Tony struggle to assert their Native American identity. Margo's last name, Guajardo, leads many people to believe she is fully Latina. And Tony's comparatively pale skin and green eyes throw other people off, too. Some people simply don't believe he's Native American. "Even my own family kind of discriminated against me," Tony says. "I'm Native American, though. That's how I see it. I still want a little more tone to me, because I just like the way it looks." Margo says, "I don't care how much you are of anything, you are who you identify as." Copyright c. 2007 Willamette Week.' --------- "RE: Farmington, Navajo Nation still seek Bridges" --------- Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2007 07:28:39 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="" http://www.daily-times.com/news/ci_6215374 City, Navajo Nation still seek bridges By Andrea Koskey The Daily Times June 24, 2007 FARMINGTON - Equality. Education. These simple words carry a lot of meaning. They also are something the city of Farmington is trying to tap into by creating a Community Relations Commission that would strive for equality through education. "We are part of a diverse population," Mayor Bill Standley said. The commission "would be more than an omnibus for listening to complaints. There would also be an element of proactive efforts in education of all the various cultures in the area: Native American, Hispanic and African American." Two separate incidents last summer - one in which an American Indian male was beaten by three white attackers and another in which a Navajo man died from police gunfire - sparked talks of such a commission. But its creation timeline is a coincidence, Standley said. Although public discussion began after these incidents, plans to create the committee took place years before the violent activity in 2006. "In 2004, John Foster Dulles asked if we had any type of committee representing the minority population," he said. "We did. We had the Farmington Inter-tribal Indian Organization, Citizens Police Advisory Committee, but he wanted to know what we had to build relationships. But before we started this committee, I wanted to see some other projects through." That time to explore this new commission came mid-summer 2006. The commission, as finally presented to the Farmington City Council during a special work session Tuesday, will be designed as a liaison to the community as well as being capable of making recommendations to the elected body. "The key is for this to be a venue to communicate," said Marshall Plummer, facilitator of the exploratory committee. "Our objective of the exploratory committee was to see whether or not the city would buy in to the concept. (To create) a place for people to come in to the forum and say here is my concern.'" The city did "buy in" to the idea of the commission, with the request of a more focused structure. Members of the exploratory committee - including Plummer, Five Star Security CEO Art Allen, the Rev. Eugene Baker, community member Karen Bayless, local businessman David John, the Rev. Randy Joslin, Catalina Liles, Francis Mitchell and Homeworks owner Tina Pacheco-White - suggested the permanent commission be made up of nine voting members and six ex- officio members from all council districts with as much diversity as possible. Recommendations from the committee also included that the commission be proactive in educating the public, marketing the community and developing a reward system for positive relationships within the private sector as well as hear complaints and make referrals. The group also developed a mission statement, goals and visions for the commission focused on education, equality and positive community relations to make Farmington more inviting to other cultures. "Something has to be done," Plummer said. "We just can't keep things the way they are." In addition to Farmington's efforts to organize a commission and heal wounds between cultures, the Navajo Nation agreed to create a similar organization on the reservation. Earlier this year, the Navajo Nation Council voted to move forward with the creation of a Human Rights Commission. However, the Nation has made no announcements regarding progress on the commission. "Council delegates felt something needed to be done as a result of last summer's incidents," said George Hardeen, spokesman for Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. "The president supports what the mayor is doing. We hope everyone takes part with an open heart and an open mind." Shirley wants open communication for all border towns, Hardeen said. "The president has always said we're all in this together, we're all five-fingered people," he said. "Those incidents (from last summer) were isolated. What happened is regrettable, but that's not to say that incidents of racism don't happen in border towns or any town across the country. Conflicts are inevitable." Despite efforts to positively affect change in the community, officials and exploratory committee members acknowledge that even with such a commission in place, events from last summer still might not have been prevented. "Bad occurs even if (the commission) was in place," Standley said. "Even though there are penalties in place, people are going to do it. Would it have made a difference in the shooting or the William Blackie case? I think it would have happened any time. Hopefully, the CRC would make it better." Plummer said educating the public will have a positive change. "I don't think you can stop an event from happening," he said. "However, being proactive and taking the opportunity to educate others in Farmington and the surrounding areas can be very valuable." So, with all of this discussion, what's the next step? Both Standley and Plummer agree that suggestions and questions will go back to the exploratory committee for a more detailed structure, including the number of commissioners as well as looking at overlapping responsibilities with other organizations under the city. Officials hope to have the commission in place and making strides by the summer's end. "Do we think we will end racism with this commission?" Standley questioned. "No. But we can make it unacceptable." Andrea Koskey: akoskey@daily-times.com Copyright c. 2007 Farmington Daily Times, a MediaNews Group Newspaper. --------- "RE: Federal regs make Traditional Foods scarce" --------- Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 07:20:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="COMMERCIAL MEAT PACKERS BEING FORCED AWAY FROM TRADITIONAL FOODS" http://www.gallupindependent.com/2007/june/062007nkj_fedregstradfdscr.html Federal regs make traditional foods scarce By Natasha Kaye Johnson Dine' Bureau June 20, 2007 WATERFLOW - The Original Sweetmeat, Inc. has served a landmark for Waterflow and the nearby communities since 1958. "Squeak" R.G. Hunt, Jr. third-generation owner of Original Sweetmeat, Inc., and wife Carla Hunt, store manager, have formed many personal relationships with families, and provide services for the Navajo and Hispanic population what many grocery stores and meat shops just can't offer. They carry large quantities of traditional foods, like a'chii, or "bunitas" in Spanish, that cannot be found in large grocery chains. A'chii is prepared by wrapping sheep intestines around fat from the sheep, and then fried. Navajo customers often go to the store and request that the store butcher a sheep by hand because the meat will be used in traditional ceremonies. Respectful and understanding of the culture, the Hunts comply with these requests. They also fill large mutton orders for special occasions, like election fund-raisers or special homecoming events for soldiers. Other local grocery stores, like Albertson's and Safeway, are not able to fill such special orders, Hunt said. Standards and requirements Over the years, the standards and requirements for slaughterhouses have becoming increasingly strict, causing six similar locally owned shops in the area to permanently close. Ray Begaye, New Mexico State Representative for District 4, became more familiar with the strict federal and state requirements that were putting small slaughterhouses out of business after he was contacted by El Rito, a meat processing company based in Chama, whose owners shared with him the obstacles they were facing. "They did close their business because the federal food inspector got really strict," Begaye said. It was just over three months ago when the owners of the Original Sweetmeat, Inc. were instructed to stop selling a'chii and were forced by the New Mexico State Livestock Board to destroy 400 pieces of the prepared meat the same day. The concern about a'chii processing came in January 2005 when a USDA Food and Safety Inspection Service program review officer from Omaha, Neb., saw the item for sale at the store. The food was unfamiliar, and inspectors questioned its safety, though the store had offered the food since it opened nearly 40 years ago. Two months after a'chii was banned, the Hunts fought for the item to be sold once again, sending e-mails and making calls back and forth between federal and state officials. On March 19, they were allowed to start selling the meat again. Begaye said he did not know about the difficulties that the store was facing when he introduced a joint memorial at the 48th Legislature First Session in late March that would help to retain small businesses in communities throughout the state and preserve traditional practices of Native American and Hispanic communities. The memorial urges that cultural and traditional practices be considered by the USDA in adopting regulations for meat inspection of slaughterhouses, especially since 10 percent of the New Mexico population is Native American and over 50 percent of the overall population is of Spanish ancestry. The joint memorial states that food and food preparation are basic to maintaining belief systems and the traditional practices of both the Hispanic and Nave American populations of New Mexico. Begaye also explained that these slaughterhouses are disappearing from communities due to expense of having to implement sophisticated equipment to stay open. "The federal government has been very naive in who they're been dealing with in Native American foods and Hispanic foods," Begaye said. Neither officials with the USDA program in Washington or the New Mexico Livestock Board could be reached for comment. While the USDA has taken other religious groups' food preparations into consideration, like Jewish dietary guidelines of kosher foods, they are far behind when it comes to Native Americans and Hispanic foods. As far as meat processing, there are no written standards on how to prepare mutton or traditional foods from the area. "This has been our diet for such a long time," Begaye said. "Both the meat and by-products have been since the introduction of sheep and goat in this area." The legislation was signed by Gov. Bill Richardson in March and is pending review from the New Mexico congressional delegation. It was also sent to the USDA and New Mexico Livestock Board. Generations The possibility of the store closing because of the strict standards set by the federal and state governments makes Hunt uneasy, even though his store equipment and technology has been praised in written reviews. Hunt has been around sheep and livestock his whole life. At the age of 7, his late father "Slim" R.G. Hunt put him to work at the store. In 1995, after his father passed away, Squeak was given the store to continue, and he plans to one day give it to his 30-year old son "Skeeter" R.G. Hunt, Jr., who is hopes will be continued to be passed on for generations to come. Taking care of sheep, Hunt said, is what he was raised doing. "It's a lot of hard work, but it's all I know," said Hunt. For Hunt, raising and being around sheep is an integral part of his life, much like the Navajo people. "One time there was an old lady that came in named Mary Jumbo from Sanostee," Hunt recalled from his early teens. Hunt remembers when Jumbo, who was a frequent customer, shared a story about the federal livestock reduction. "She said 'when they loaded up sheep and goats, I just cried and cried, '" remembers Hunt. Being a 15-year old teenager, Hunt did not understand what she meant. "I asked her, 'Why?', and she said, 'I became poor then. I didn't have no sheep or goats.'" It would not be until years later when Hunt said he would be able to understand just what she meant. "A sheep is a lot if you don't have a sheep. A dollar was a lot if you didn't have a dollar," Hunt said. "It made a big change in my life on how I look at things." Even 40 years after her passing, he said he still remembers her so well, and keeps her story close to his heart. "I always admired seeing Mary come in," he said. "Some of the best people I've seen in my life have been the Navajo people." Copyright c. 2007 the Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: The Cherokee Nation's New Battle" --------- Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 07:32:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS JUMPS INTO CNO FREEDMEN ISSUE" http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1635873,00.html The Cherokee Nation's New Battle By JENINNE LEE-ST. JOHN June 21, 2007 Should Washington have a say in who is considered a full-fledged member of a Native American tribe? That question has now moved to the forefront of a heated racial battle within the Cherokee nation, which earlier this year voted to exclude a group of blacks and multiracials known as the Freedmen from citizenship in the tribe. The Cherokee say they have the right to determine their membership, while the the Freedmen say their expulsion violates the tribe's post-Civil War treaty with the U.S. government. As the courts and the Interior Department mull over the case, Rep. Diane Watson, a Democrat from California, introduced legislation Thursday that would block the estimated $300 million in federal funds that the Cherokee receive annually and nullify their gaming rights unless the tribe reinstates equal membership to the Freedmen. The Freedmen's expulsion would strip them of tribal voting, housing and healthcare rights (though they will keep those benefits until the case is resolved). The question of who decides Indian identity affects not just the 2,800 or so Freedmen and 100 times as many Cherokee Nation citizens, but the half a million people who identified themselves on the last census as being of Cherokee heritage but not belonging to the Cherokee Nation - as well as, potentially, the more than 4.3 million Americans who consider themselves at least part American Indian and who could find themselves randomly booted from their tribes. And it creates new complications for the relationship between blacks, who have long held a romantic view of their kinship with American Indians, and Native Americans, some of whom owned black slaves and fought for the Confederacy. That's why the case has drawn the ire of the entire Congressional Black Caucus, which, in recognition of the shared suffering of Native- and African-Americans, has been a consistent champion of Indian causes. When Cherokee voters decided to strip the Freedmen of their full membership they were essentially legitimizing the one-drop rule. At the turn of the 19th century, the U.S. government relied on that racist tool, originally used to determine whether people were black or not, in combination with other factors for a census of people living on Native American tribal lands. Those who seemed Cherokee, or Cherokee mixed with white, were placed on a "Cherokee-by-blood" list. Those who seemed black, or Cherokee mixed with black, were generally placed on a "Freedmen" list. Both lists, known as the Dawes Rolls, were used to divest the collective tribe of its land holdings and apportion acreage to individual members - to make way for white settlers to move in and buy up the individual holdin gs. But spouses of Freedmen did not receive land allotments, while spouses of Cherokee-by-blood did, and land given to Freedmen was made available for sale sooner than Indian land. The Cherokee Nation has not kicked out all people of African descent. Some of them were on the Cherokee-by-blood list, and some Cherokees-by- -blood intermarried with blacks in the century since the lists were made. Tribal officials say this shows the movement to exclude the Freedmen isn't racist. "If you really look at the Cherokee population, we have a wide difference of appearances," says Principal Chief Chad Smith, who is hoping to retain his post in a general election this weekend. But the Freedmen and their advocates contend that this historic inclusiveness only makes the sudden casting-off of people with black blood more unfair. "There really is an ethnic cleansing going on," says Jon Velie, the attorney who represents the Freedmen. Adds Marilynn Vann, president on the Descendants of the Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes, "It's not a matter of Indians versus non-Indians. The majority of Freedmen can prove they have Indian blood, if not through DNA then through government documents." Both sides, oddly enough, agree that tribal membership is a political designation, rather than a racial one. No one wants to use a strict blood quantum - say, a requirement of 1/16th Cherokee blood - to determine who belongs. "I refuse to create a sieve through which our grandchildren will fall out," says David Cornsilk, a Cherokee-by-blood who sides with the Freedmen. But each side sees very different implications. "What is identity?" posits Smith. "What is an Indian? What is a Cherokee? I would say it's someone part of a recognized community." Recognized, though, meaning on the proper Dawes List - not meaning active members of the tribe, as Vann asserts it should. "Even though Freedmen people didn't participate in tribal councils for many years, they have served in Cherokee schools and hospitals." Perhaps more importantly, they have considered themselves Cherokee their whole lives. "There's a tremendous amount of cultural identification that former slaves felt with Native tribes, of shared homeland, food, familial ties," says Tiya Miles, a historian who runs the Native American Studies program at the University of Michigan. Cherokee had slaves. Cherokee also married, and slept with, blacks. And there were blacks who were adopted into the Cherokee tribe though they had no blood or slave ties. They all walked the Trail of Tears with the Cherokee, from the Deep South to Oklahoma. These are the facts, but for blacks, especially, the mythology holds equally strong sway. A kinship with Native Americans has been a logical way to claim some sort of "non-black" status in a society where black is the most demeaned racial category. It's also helped ground many black people searching for an original homeland, says Miles. "Native America was connected to freedom," says Miles. "It was said slaves could run away to tribes and find shelter." Clearly that wasn't always the case, and the Cherokee controversy is, for Miles, "the end of innocence about what the historical relationship between African Americans and Native Americans really consisted of." It is ironic that the tribe wants to use the Dawes Rolls, which discriminated against Native Americans collectively, as a tool of discrimination against a group of blacks. But the Cherokee case is not without precedent. Several years ago, the Seminoles tried to kick their Freedmen out of their tribe. So, the federal government declared the Seminoles in violation of their treaty and refused to recognize the tribe's sovereignty. As a result the Freedmen were reincorporated in the Seminole nation in 2003. That could bode well for the Cherokee Freedmen, if Watson's bill passes. But Oklahoma Representatives Dan Boren, a Democrat, and Tom Cole, a Republican, have come out against any Congressional action right now, saying it would be premature. Most folks agree that this country owes the Cherokee a lot for centuries of theft and brutal oppression. But if the Cherokee won't reinstate the Freedmen, or both sides can't come to a mutually acceptable compromise, the U.S. government will have to take the impolitic step of overruling tribal sovereignty, withholding federal dollars, and ushering the Freedmen back into the fold. Copyright c. 2007 Time Inc. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: CNO votes to remove Feds from Process" --------- Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2007 07:28:39 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CHAD SMITH RE-ELECTED" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.examiner-enterprise.com/articles/2007/06/23/news/news504.txt Cherokees Re-Elect Chief Tribe votes to remove feds from Constitutional process By E-E Staff Report June 25, 20076 According to unofficial general election results posted to the tribe's Web site, Chad "Corntassel" Smith has retained the office of principal chief of the Cherokee Nation in balloting held Saturday. At press time, Smith had outpolled challenger Stacy Leeds with 7,974 votes (58.77 percent) to 5,593 (41.23 percent). In the deputy chief's race, Joe Grayson, Jr. defeated Raymond Vann with 8,230 (61.26 percent) to 5,205 (38.74 percent). Cherokee Nation voters also voted "Yes" for Resolution No. 55-07 which affirms the removal of the federal government from the tribe's Constitutional process. The measure appears to have passed overwhelmingly with 7,912 (67.01 percent) to 3,896 votes (32.99 percent). A similar amendment was passed by Cherokee Nation voters in 2003 but was rejected by the Bureau of Indian Affairs four years after being submitted for approval. The new amendment will also be submitted for approval to the BIA. Locally, Buel Anglen defeated Roy Eugene Herman for District 8 - Seat 1 with 745 votes (74.87 percent) to 250 votes (25.13 percent). Bradley Cobb defeated Stephen D. Early for Council Member District 8 - Seat 2 with 69.14 percent of ballots cast. Cobb garnered 681 votes to Earley's 304 votes. Copyright c. 2007 Bartlesville Examiner Enterprise, Stephens Media, LLC, All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Tribe pleads for Artifacts" --------- Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 07:32:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LAKOTA WANT BARRE TO REPATRIATE COLLECTION" http://www.telegram.com/article/20070621/ NEWS/706210751/1160/SPECIALSECTIONS04&source=rss Tribe pleads for artifacts Lakotas to visit Barre, plan protest at library By Kim Ring TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF June 21, 2007 BARRE - American Indians who believe the spirits of their ancestors are trapped among items from the 1890 Wounded Knee, S.D., massacre in a museum at the Henry Woods Memorial Library plan to visit the facility and hold a peaceful protest later this month. The group hopes to encourage library officials to return the artifacts to tribe members during a visit slated for June 30. Peter Bormuth, one of the organizers of the event, said that since members of the Lakota Sioux tribe of South Dakota first visited the library in 1993, only one of about 100 artifacts displayed there has been repatriated, despite requests that the items be returned to the tribe. A lock of hair believed to have been taken from the body of Chief Big Foot, the Sioux leader at Wounded Knee, was returned to his great-great- grandson, Leonard Little Finger, in 2000. The hair was burned in a sacred ceremony to release Big Foot's soul, in accordance with the tribe's beliefs. While he is not an American Indian, Mr. Bormuth has, along with a handful of others, taken up the cause. Organizers expect to be joined by Alex White Plume, a past president of the Oglala Lakota Tribe; Mr. Little Finger; Rebecca Three Stars, who is the descendant of a Wounded Knee victim; and John Fusco, screenwriter of the movie "Hidalgo." Mr. Bormuth said tribe members were told during earlier visits to the museum several years ago that items would be repatriated, but an inactive member of the library association said that's not the case. "At one time, they were hoping to obtain some items," John Cirelli said. "But no promises were made." Mr. Cirelli recalled the 1993 visit and said he smoked a pipe with some tribe members. He said they seemed satisfied with the respectful way the items were displayed and there was no agreement to return anything at that time. Still, a 1993 article published in The New York Times quotes then- Librarian James Sullivan as saying, "Eventually it (the collection) will be repatriated." At that time, some were concerned over the Sioux tribe's plans to burn or bury sacred artifacts, and they worried the tribe would place the delicate items in storage because they have no appropriate place to display them. Mr. Bormuth said what becomes of the items should be of no concern to anyone but the rightful owners. "It is our contention that the Lakota have the right to do anything they want with these artifacts when they are returned," he said via e-mail. "These things are the property of their people, stripped from the bodies of their ancestors on a field of infamy." About 300 Indians, including Big Foot, were massacred at Wounded Knee by members of the 7th U.S. Cavalry. The collection came to Barre more than a century ago, when it was brought to the area by Frank R. Root. Among the items is a Ghost Dance shirt similar to one returned to the tribe in 1998 from Glasgow, Scotland. The collection also includes scalps, umbilical cord medicine bags, beaded items and sacred pipes. Under the federal Repatriation Act, the items would have to be returned if the library had ever taken federal funding. Mr. Cirelli said the library has not used such money because trustees never saw the need. He said keeping the collection was not a consideration in the decision to avoid using federal funding. The library recently lost its state certification after refusing to accept state funding. The facility can no longer borrow materials through the interlibrary loan service. Librarian James K. Knowlton has said the move was part of a rebuilding plan. Mr. Bormuth said the protest next week will be peaceful and include a purification (smudging), an opening invocation, speeches, poetry, drumming, singing and chanting. He is hopeful that there will also be opportunities to view the museum. Tiokasin Ghosthorse of New York, whose great-great-grandmother survived the massacre, said he believes the Repatriation Act should extend beyond its current limits to "people's conscience." He said in a telephone interview that since the items were taken at a time of terror, those who think they are preserving the items are likely being affected by the negative energy. "Once the native people receive these things back, and they will, there will be great blessings," he said. Mr. Ghosthorse said he has not seen the museum and though he would like to, he finds such visits difficult. "It's like seeing myself on display," he said. "As a kid, I got sick (visiting a museum display). I felt like I was dead." Mr. Knowlton said yesterday he has been told not to discuss the issue. Calls made to the association president and the group's lawyer were not returned last night. Copyright c. 2007 Worcester Telegram & Gazette Corp. --------- "RE: American Indian veterans honored" --------- Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 07:32:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MUNUMENT AT OGLALA LAKOTA COLLEGE" http://www.kxma.com/getArticle.asp?ArticleId=136927 American Indian veterans honored Associated Press June 21, 2007 KYLE, S.D. (AP) A monument honoring more than 18-hundred American Indian military veterans will be dedicated Saturday six miles southwest of Kyle, South Dakota at the administrative headquarters of Oglala Lakota College. College President Thomas Shortbull says the monument will include the names of Indians who served in both World wars, the Korean War and Vietnam. Shortbull says American Indians have had the highest rate of military service during wars of any racial group. The monument features life-size bronze statues of a male Indian veteran and a female Indian veteran. Copyright c. 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 2007 Dickinson News KXMA, Part of the KXNet.com North Dakota News Network. --------- "RE: Battle Over Memorializing Sitting Bull" --------- Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2007 17:48:51 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SITTING BULL" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.theledger.com/article/20070616/APA/706160632 Battle Over Memorializing Sitting Bull By ERIN McCLAM AP National Writer STANDING ROCK INDIAN RESERVATION, S.D. June 16, 2007 You have to travel back in time to get from the nearest town to the chipped and wind-whipped little stone face that peers out over the Missouri River and the endless plains beyond. The drive from Mobridge across the river takes you from the Central Time Zone into the Mountain, and if you turn off the main road and clatter four miles down a winding path, you find it - a modest monument on a lush green bluff. This simplicity is striking because of what lies beneath: The remains of Sitting Bull, the Sioux chief said to have foretold the defeat of Lt. Col. George Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. But it is more striking because of the state of extreme disrepair that befell the resting place of one of the best-known American Indians in history for half a century, until just two years ago. It was shot and spat at, and worse. On the surrounding grounds bonfires burned and shattered beer bottles glittered. Someone tied a rope around the feather rising from the head of the bust, rigged it to a truck and broke it off. The site is on what is called fee land, within the boundaries of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe but privately owned, and two years ago two men - one white, the other a tribesman - paid $55,000 for it and began cleaning it up. They have plans for a $12 million monument complex they hope will honor Sitting Bull's memory with the dignity missing for so long, and let new generations learn about him. But these plans, like Sitting Bull himself, are not so simple. And they have torn open a wound over who will control the great Sioux chief's legacy. --- First some history. By 1868 there was relative peace between the Sioux and the U.S. government. The Second Treaty of Fort Laramie had secured for the Sioux a patch of land in southwest South Dakota. Then gold was found in the Black Hills, whites rushed in, and the Sioux were ordered back to their reservations. Sitting Bull, having retreated into Montana, was said to have had a vision of a slaughter of soldiers. Of soldiers falling like grasshoppers from the sky. It was not long afterward that Custer and the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry were defeated at the Little Bighorn, in Montana, in the summer of 1876. In the same way the Civil War has names particular to points of view - think "War of Northern Aggression" - Little Bighorn is also known as Custer's Last Stand, and, to some American Indians, as the Battle of the Greasy Grass. The United States ultimately prevailed in the Indian Wars, but Sitting Bull became, and remains, an icon, a hero to his people. Later in his life he may have taken up - the point is disputed - the "ghost dance" movement, which forecast the return to life of dead Indians and an end to white domination. This spooked U.S. authorities, and they went after Sitting Bull, who had settled back at Standing Rock. He was killed in a battle with Indian police and American soldiers on June 15, 1890. --- There are pictures of Sitting Bull - instantly recognizable, the single feather rising from the parted hair, the look at once stern and at peace - hanging today in the home of Ernie LaPointe, in the Black Hills town of Lead. He is a great-grandson of the chief, with a craggy face and jet-black hair pulled back into a pony tail. And he is furious. His mother always told him never to stand on Sitting Bull's back. Never boast of your heritage, she said. LaPointe, 58, believes the plans for a memorial complex atop his great-grandfather's grave are doing worse - cashing in. "They want to use our grandfather," he says, speaking for his three sisters, "as a tourist attraction." So this February he drafted a letter. He sent it to an assortment of Sioux tribes, including Standing Rock, which claims Sitting Bull. "North Dakota, South Dakota and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe have not honored their promise for proper care and maintenance of our Grandfather's burial sites," the letter said. It called for a "final reburial" - in Montana, at the site of Little Bighorn. "So that he may spend eternity," the letter went on, "at the sacred place where his vision had predicted the greatest victory for our people, the victory at the Battle of the Greasy Grass." --- The two men who want to turn Sitting Bull's resting place into a memorial complex are Rhett Albers, an environmental consultant who is white, and Bryan Defender, who owns the sanitation system for the Standing Rock tribe and is enrolled there. They say people who come to the banks of the Missouri to see the site are confused - wondering: Well, where is the rest of it? Their plan for the site would stream visitors through an "interpretive center," focused on the four Sioux ideals they say Sitting Bull represented: Fortitude, generosity, bravery and wisdom. Other features under consideration are a snack bar, offices and meeting rooms, a gift shop and a restaurant serving wild game and American Indian dishes. Confronted with LaPointe's suggestion that all this adds up to an attempt to cash in on Sitting Bull's legacy, they look perplexed. "We are not wealthy people," Albers says over lunch at a diner on the opposite side of the river. "We've donated our time and expense and money to do this, pursue it, do it in a positive way." Defender, 35, said he and Albers have met with groups on the Standing Rock reservation and received an overwhelmingly positive reaction to their plan. (The tribe's chairman did not respond to requests to be interviewed for this story.) Albers said they hope someday to recoup their $55,000, but have no plans to draw salaries from the tourist center. "It's not about the money," Albers, 45, says on a bumpy drive across the river in his pickup truck. "It's about the man. And the tribute. And to have these sites which everyone recognizes as being significant." The two men take pride in their friendship, pointing out that in Mobridge, there is still lingering distrust between whites and members of the tribe. "There's all these hard feelings, racial discrimination all over the world, and in this area also," Albers says. "There's a way we can understand each other better, reconcile these differences, learn from this tradition." --- This is not the first struggle over Sitting Bull's remains. The Standing Rock Sioux reservation, where the great chief lived his last years, straddles the Dakotas, and for the first half of the 20th century his remains lay at Fort Yates, N.D. The grave was poorly marked. Weeds sprouted. So in the early 1950s, a group of businessmen from Mobridge approached North Dakota authorities about having the remains moved south of the state line. North Dakota balked. And that is how, in 1953, during a blizzard and in the middle of the night, a group from Mobridge, with a mortician in tow and with the blessing of the Standing Rock tribe, dug up the remains and secreted them into South Dakota. Ernie LaPointe says his mother, Angelique Spotted Horse, was among those who agreed to the 1953 disinterment, and was assured by South Dakota authorities that the remains would be treated with dignity. She had her doubts, telling relatives: "They never lived up to it before. What makes them want to do it now?" The Polish sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski contributed the granite bust that marks the remains today. The bust is 6 feet tall and sits atop an 8-foot pedestal yet still seems small set against magnificent, mostly undisturbed, natural surroundings. For a time volunteers visited the bluff to mow the grass and clean up. But those efforts waned, said Larry Atkinson, publisher of the Mobridge Tribune. Into the vacuum stepped vandals, drunks, partying teenagers. "It was isolated. It was up on a spot where you could see vehicles coming," Atkinson says. "Kids are kids, and they saw it as an easy place that everybody knew where it was. It was a party place." It was also a dumping ground. Refrigerators were dropped there. Shower stalls, too - tubs and faucets, the whole thing. Water heaters, furniture, tires. Bullet holes pock the shaft on which the bust of Sitting Bull sits. Trashing the site became something of a rite of passage, Albers says. You became a senior in high school here and you and your friends drove out to Sitting Bull to raise a little hell. He hears from them today. "You mean we can't have the senior keg at Sitting Bull anymore?" Albers laughs. "We're stopping that." --- The aspects of the plan that anger LaPointe are the very attractions Albers and Defender say are most needed to sustain a fitting memorial to Sitting Bull - the visitors center, the amphitheater, the snack bar. The pair are in the early stages of raising an estimated $12.7 million to bring the memorial to reality. For guidance, they have consulted the operators of a monument to Crazy Horse, carved into South Dakota's Black Hills, about 200 miles southwest of the Sitting Bull site. More than 1 million people a year visit that still-unfinished sculpture, begun by Ziolkowski in 1948, which features the Sioux warrior atop his horse. Crazy Horse's head alone is spacious enough to house the four presidential heads of Mount Rushmore. Enthusiasts support the monument with memberships at donor levels from $41 to $1,500. Pat Dobbs, a spokesman for the Crazy Horse site, said its success has taken "quite a bit of effort and years." --- LaPointe says he has the backing of the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument to move the bones of Sitting Bull to Montana, and that an environmental assessment is planned soon. And he has the backing of Darrell Cook, superintendent of the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, where there are already some memorials and markers recalling the battle in 1876. If LaPointe is successful, expect nothing like what Albers and Defender are trying to do in South Dakota. "Sitting Bull, he was a humble man," Cook said. "I don't think building memorials and visitors centers and that type of stuff is appropriate." The Smithsonian Institution, meanwhile, is researching Sitting Bull's living descendants and preparing a "repatriation report" for a lock of the chief's hair and a pair of his leggings it holds, which would be returned to them. South Dakota authorities, in letters to LaPointe, have deferred to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which says removal of human remains, even from private land enclosed by a reservation, requires the consent of the tribe. Members of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe, which also claims descendants of Sitting Bull, have voted to leave the remains where they are. Ron His-Horse-Is-Thunder, the chairman of Standing Rock, did not return repeated calls from The Associated Press over several weeks. But Tim Mentz Sr., who is enrolled at Standing Rock and handles issues related to the repatriation law, said the tribe established a formal "lineal tree" for Sitting Bull in the early 1990s that named LaPointe as one, but not the only, direct descendant. He refused to say who else was on the list. As for LaPointe, "He cannot promote or say that he is the only closest relative," Mentz said. "That is clearly false." There are whispers that the dispute may wind up in court, and LaPointe said he has been looking for law firms that might represent him for free. --- It is difficult to nail down any aspect of the dispute as provable fact, particularly in a culture that for centuries has relied on a tradition of oral history. It is not even possible to nail down as fact the presence of the actual bones of Sitting Bull on that Missouri River bluff. One story that persists in North Dakota is that his remains are still buried at Fort Yates, that fakes were placed atop them, and that the fakes that were taken to Mobridge in 1953. Another story goes further, holding that Sitting Bull's remains are somewhere in Canada. According to that legend, the great chief himself ordered that fakes be planted at Fort Yates. The story holds that he foresaw a bitter fight over his bones once he was gone. Copyright c. 2007 The Ledger, Lakeland, FL. --------- "RE: Oklahoma Tribal Leaders attend Ceremony" --------- Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2007 07:32:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HOME OWNERSHIP" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.newsok.com/article/3068032/ Tribal leaders attend ceremony The Associated Press June 19, 2007 TULSA - Leaders of Oklahoma's five major American Indian tribes watched as President Bush signed a bill to reauthorize an existing program that encourages home ownership among American Indians by guaranteeing mortgages. Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith; Chickasaw Nation Gov. Bill Anoatubby; Assistant Chief Gary Batton of the Choctaw Nation; Chief A.D. Ellis of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and Chief Enoch Kelly Haney of the Seminole Nation were on hand in the Oval Office as Bush added his signature to the Native American Home Ownership Opportunity Act of 2007, which Rep. Dan Boren, D-Muskogee., supported. "This program increases homeownership in Indian Country and improves the quality of life in Indian communities," Boren, who also attended the signing ceremony, said in a story from the Tulsa World's Washington bureau. "Seeing this legislation passed and signed into law is critical to continue providing homeownership opportunities throughout Indian Country." Cole Perryman, a spokesman for Boren, said the White House had linked the event to the president's push for home ownership for specific communities. The new law reauthorizes HUD'S Section 184 Loan Guarantee Program, which was created in 1992 to address the lack of mortgage lending for American Indians. "Native Americans deserve an equal opportunity to share in the dream of homeownership, and this program helps them do just that," HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson said in a news release. "Indian tribes around the country have utilized these loans to increase and improve their housing." According to HUD, more than 4,500 loans have been guaranteed for $573.1 million. Boren said 24 tribes in Oklahoma have participated in the program. Since its inception, the program has guaranteed $121.9 million in loans in Oklahoma, which represents 34 percent of the total loans to American Indians nationwide, Boren said. Copyright c. 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 2007 The Oklahoman/News 9, Produced by NewsOK.com. --------- "RE: Woman tries to save Ottawa Language" --------- Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2007 07:32:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OTTAWA" http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/ base/news-36/1182349560130730.xml&coll=6 Woman tries to save Ottawa language By Morgan JaremaThe Grand Rapids Press June 20, 2007 ADA TOWNSHIP - Pat DiPiazza just wanted somebody to talk to. The Ada Township resident, who grew up in a household where Ottawa was spoken, said it has been five years since she carried on a conversation with another person who speaks the American Indian Ojibwe dialect. "When I was young, there was an Americanization of Indian kids in school," DiPiazza said. "They weren't allowed to speak it, and their parents wanted them to learn English. "Now, their children want to learn the language so they can pass it on, but there aren't many people left to teach it." Even at local cultural events, she said, she couldn't find anyone else who spoke Ottawa. According to Minnesota-based Native Languages of the Americas, a nonprofit organization that aims to preserve and promote endangered Native American languages, there are only about a half-million native speakers of American Indian languages in Canada and the U.S. So DiPiazza gathered about a dozen other Native Americans she knew who range in age from 22 to 78 who wanted to learn - plus a few of their spouses - and now is wrapping up a class teaching conversational Ottawa at Ada Park. DiPiazza doesn't know the spellings of the words she teaches. She has made a key of hundreds of words, all spelled phonetically. For example, "hello" is "boo-shoo." "Thank you" is "mig-wetch." Shirley Francis is taking the class with her husband, Simon, who is Ojibwe. Francis, 78, said she wishes there was a class in the language when she was raising her children. Now, she finds herself taping pieces of paper with Ottawa words to furniture and other items around her Southeast Grand Rapids house. At a recent class, Francis pulled a black wide-brim straw hat from her head and twirled it with a finger. "Duh-guan-don chi wik-won," she said with what seemed like effortlessness before she admitted "I've been practicing that sentence for six weeks straight." Spenser Cantu, 22, drives with his father, Phillip Cantu, from the Muskegon area, for the weekly class. Father and son already knew many Ottawa words, but were not conversational. "It's something I'd like to be able to pass to my children," Spenser Cantu said. Copyright c. 2007 Michigan Live LLC. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Grandmother's advice guides Dine' man's Path" --------- Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2007 17:48:51 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MEDICINE MAN" http://www.gallupindependent.com/2007/june/061607nkj_lfechngngwrds.html Life-changing words Grandmother's advice guides Dine' man's path By Natasha Kaye Johnson Dine' Bureau June 16, 2007 SHIPROCK - Benjamin Clark never knew the words his late grandmother Mary Yellowhair spoke to him when he was 9 years old would change his life. It was a late-summer afternoon in Teec Nos Pos when Yellowhair shared with her grandson the importance of maintaining traditional ways as a Dine' person. "She told me as a traditional Dine' Indian, you have to accomplish something," Clark, now 47 years old, remembers her saying. "She told me, 'Yes, you are taking the English courses from the bottom to 12th (grade), but you have to stick with Dine' culture." Clark said his grandmother was a weaver, and knew different traditional songs. Her grandpa was also a medicine man in the 1800s. "You have to keep that going," he remembers his grandmother telling him in Navajo. "There is really none of us here in our family that are like that. I kind of depend on you." A year later, Yellowhair passed away, and although she had spoken often and shared stories filled with Navajo teachings and philosophy, that particular conversation remained vivid in Clark's memory. But it would not be until almost 30 years later that Clark would understand why the words she spoke that day would forever be engrained in his memory. One ordinary summer night, Clark woke up around midnight from a dream. He walked outside where the saw the face the Yei'bi'chei formed by the clouds. There was no mistaking that it was a face, but because the sighting was out of the unusual, he began rethinking what he saw. "What did I see up there?" he remembers thinking. "Was that my imagination?" Clark initially decided to not over think the image and went to sleep. But that night, he dreamt about his grandma. "She told me to be up and be thinking positive, and to go on and do what I told you before you have to become a medicine man," recalls Clark. As soon as he awoke, he remembered what she said in his dream, and then immediately remembered the day when she told him that he must accomplish something as a Dine' person. "I had that in my mind (when I woke up)," Clark said, still astonished as to how that dream came to him that night. "I never thought about it (what his grandma said)." Clark consulted with a medicine man and shared what happened. He was told it was just a dream, but during a Beauty Way ceremony, Clark saw a vision of a medicine bundle and a figure told him that he was to do something in this world. He didn't know what it meant, but he prayed. That was nearly eight years ago. Eight years of learning, singing, praying After the ceremony, Clark began consulting with different family medicine men. One medicine man interpreted the dreams and visions to mean that Clark might become a medicine man. But Clark didn't understand how that could be. "I don't really know those kind of stuff," Clark remembers thinking. Clark also felt that he did not fit the image of a medicine man. Not only was he young, he didn't possess many of the physical traits medicine men have, like a traditional bun and earrings. While these were initial thoughts that Clark had, the image of the bundle and the figure remained strong. "That thought of what I'd seen, it kept coming to me," he said. Careful not to rush into what the thoughts meant, he took his time asking medicine men questions about medicine bundles. One medicine man shared a story of how generations ago, long before the days of the Long Walk and Fort Sumner, medicine men traveled to the top of the sacred mountains to get mountain dirt. At first Clark remembered thinking, "I'm not a Holy person. How can I get one of these mountain dirt?" It wouldn't be long after that Clark would discover what his visions and thoughts meant. He was to climb the four sacred mountains and get mountain dirt for a medicine bundle. "One day I said, 'I'm going to go do it. I'm going to go hike these sacred mountains,'" he said. He began preparing mentally, physically, and spiritually from that day. Each morning, he woke before the sun rose, and prayed, and then ran. With the permission of medicine men, he began learning prayers and songs. He even changed his diet to healthier foods, knowing that he had to be in shape to climb the mountains. Six days, six sacred mountains Eight years later after dreaming about his grandmother, it was decided that he was ready to climb the mountains. Traditional Dine' teachings hold the sacred mountains in high regard. According to the Dine', the sacred mountains were placed on the earth by the Holy People during the time of the Holy World. Each mountain represents policies and procedures that help to define Navajo beliefs. The Dine' people were instructed by the Holy People to stay within the sacred mountains because they would protect them, just as a mother would. The mountains are what allow the people to live in harmony with the earth, the animals, and the holy beings. It was early morning hours of July last year when Clark prayed before leaving Teec Nos Pos for Tsisnaajini' (Sierra Blanca Peak), the sacred mountain to the East that represents early dawn, white shell, and thinking. He drove to San Luis Valley, Colo., where he got specific directions from locals to the mountain. He drove as far as he could, and then began hiking to the top. His shirt became soaked with sweat, and his knees were shaking, but he kept going until he reached rocky areas he could not climb. He did not eat during the time he climbed the mountain, but allowed himself only one bottle of water for each mountain. As he walked, he saw remnants of white fossil shell, and thought about the Navajo deity White Shell Woman. He blessed himself with the mountain, grateful and humble that he was blessed with being able to step foot on the mountain. As Clark shared the moment when he reached as far up the mountain as possible, the tone of his voice changed into awe and amazement. "Oh man, it was just something else," he recalls of the view and feeling of knowing that he was on a sacred mountain. He picked a spot, and began praying and singing. He made an offering and then began making his way down. His wife, parents, two sons and daughter were supportive of what he was doing, and stayed home and prayed. Each time he went down the mountain, Clark said he called them, and told them he would share what happened on the mountain. He reminded them to keep praying. That same night, he drove to Gallup and stayed in his truck before making his way to Tsoodzil (Mount Taylor) just north of Laguna, N. M., the next morning. As he began climbing the South Mountain, representing the sky, turquoise stone, and planning, he saw horses wandering in the deep woods of the mountain, and he heard cattle grazing. He took a deep breath of fresh air, and once again sang, prayed, and made an offering. He then left for Doko'oosliid (San Francisco Peaks) in Flagstaff, Ariz., that evening, the West Mountain that represents evening dusk, abalone shell, and living. Just as the two days before, he began climbing before dawn, going through miles of deep forest and clay mud to get as high up as he could. When he reached the top, he was drenched in mud and his body was drained, but he prayed, sang, and offered corn pollen. The following day around 3 a.m., he drove to Dibe Ni'saa (Mount Hesperus) in La Plata, Colo., the North Mountain that represents the darkness, black jet stone, and respect. It was there that Clark walked through the tall slippery grass that was still wet from the previous night's rain. He prayed, made an offering, and then climbed back down the mountain at sundown. The fifth mountain he would visit would be Dzil'Na'oodili (Huerfano Peak) 60 miles southeast of Bloomfield. The mountain is one of two inner mountains that are significant in Navajo teachings. Referred to as the Center Mountain, it represents the center of the hogan, and prayers. The mountain is where Talking God performed the first Kinaalda (puberty ceremony) for Changing Woman. It is also where Changing Woman gave birth to the Warrior Twins. Clark followed a sheep trail up to the very top. Unlike the four previous mountains, he was able to make it clear to the top, where he prayed again. The next day, he made his way to Ch'oo'ili (Gobernador Knob), southeast of Navajo Dam, representing the door of the hogan and songs. It was at the top of the peak that Changing Woman was found by First Man and First Woman. When Clark reached the top, he found a pion tree surrounded with offerings like silver dollars, dimes, nickels, pennies, diamonds, and stones. "There was a pile of jet stones," said Clark. "It was like an ant hill. It was amazing." As he took in the amazing view, he couldn't help but imagine how the first sacred corn field looked during the holy days. Humbled and blessed, Clark returned home to his family in Teec Nos Pos that same evening. After the mountains A year later, Clark wrote about his experience of climbing the mountains for one of his culture classes at Dine' College in Shiprock. His professor Robert Hurley was intrigued by his story, and convinced Clark to share his story. While Clark shared some details about his experience, he explained that how he could only reveal the most intimate details about what he learned and experienced in a ceremonial setting. The experience, Clark said, allowed him to understand the importance of who he is as a Dine' person. It was a life changing event for him, and his family. "I never thought of myself climbing on these Holy sacred mountains, with my feet on these holy sacred mountains," Clark said. When Clark told a medicine man that he climbed the mountains, he was surprised. "He said only a few traditional men, they do that," Clark said. The medicine man shared Clark's story with other medicine men, who came together and told him that they're going to recommend him for the Medicine Man Association. Four months later, in November 2006, Clark prepared a medicine bundle with the mountain dirt and was initiated as a medicine man. He is still completing the paperwork for the Association. After some young men learned about what Clark did, they began asking him questions. "They ask, 'How did you get the thought that you wanted to go over there?'" Clark explained to them how something was telling him that he had to be something else in the world. Before becoming a medicine man, Clark was a field supervisor. Today, he is a full-time student at Dine' College and is working toward getting certification to become a mental health counselor as well. He is Bit'ahnii (Folded Arms People) born for Hashtl'ishnii (Mud People Clan). His maternal grandfathers are of the Tl'asshchi'i (Red Bottom People Clan) and his paternal grandfathers are Ashii'i (Salt Clan). Clark also explains how his decision to climb the mountains did not come suddenly, and it was not something that he took lightly. "I thought about it and prayed about it for a long time," he said. "For me, I took about seven years to climb these mountains." He tells them that unlike a Holy Person, or maybe even a coyote who can climb the mountains when they wish, human beings are different. "You have to really study yourself," Clark tells them. "You have to have a clear mind to do it." And even though Clark is aware that he is rather young compared to other medicine men, he is certain that what his grandmother told him led him to be what he is today. "I was blessed with this," Clark said. Copyright c. 2007 the Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: FEMA Trailers to go to American Indian Tribes" --------- Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2007 07:33:42 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MOTHBALLED KATRINA TRAILERS HEADED TO RESERVATIONS" http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ article?AID=/20070623/News01/70624005 2,000 unused Hurricane Katrina FEMA trailers to go to American Indian tribes By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press Writer June 23, 2007 WASHINGTON (AP) - American Indian tribes throughout the country will receive 2,000 unused trailers that were intended for but never given to Hurricane Katrina victims. Thousands of trailers have been idling in Arkansas and Texas, prompting criticism about government waste. They originally were purchased to house people displaced by the hurricane, but FEMA officials said regulations against placing the homes in flood plains prevented their use on the Gulf Coast. Last year, Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., urged the agency to donate the trailers to American Indian country, but the agency said federal law dictated the trailers must be used for disaster victims. In September, Johnson pushed through legislation allowing FEMA to sell or donate the trailers. Nine months later, the trailers will finally be distributed, Johnson said in a statement issued by his office Friday. "I saw pictures of tens of thousands of empty mobile homes sitting unused in Hope, Ark., while South Dakota's Indian tribes were struggling through a tough winter with inadequate housing," Johnson said in the statement. "There is still much that needs to be done to improve Indian housing, but this is a good step toward addressing this serious problem." Indian housing has been a problem for decades. According to a 2003 survey, approximately 90,000 Indian families are homeless or "under-housed." Johnson is out of the Senate recovering from a December brain hemorrhage, but he has been working from home on the issue, said spokeswoman Julianne Fisher. Copyright c. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 1994-2007 South Bend Tribune. --------- "RE: JODI RAVE: A long walk for fitness, fellowship" --------- Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 07:36:03 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="" http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/06/18/jodirave/rave55.txt Native News with Jodi Rave Column: A long walk for fitness, fellowship June 17, 2007 SALEM, Ore. - A friend recently sent me an e-mail about her walk down the West Coast, one that started in Alaska. "I am in Eugene, Oregon. Yes!!!" wrote Missoula's Linda Juneau, who began her walk four weeks ago with Native Griz team members. Actually, more than 2,000 teams and 41,000 walkers are participating in the WOMAN Challenge - Women and Girls Out Moving Across the Nation - a national walking event that ends July 7. The eight-week challenge allows teams and individuals to choose from six virtual walking tours. The Native Griz chose the path from Alaska, down the West Coast and to Hawaii. We log our miles on the WOMAN Challenge Web site. I first wrote about the challenge on Mother's Day, after learning about the Sistergirls team in New Mexico and Arizona, whose captain is Brenda Manuelito. Last year, two of its walkers logged more than 1 million steps, including Manuelito's now 75-year-old mother. That averages out to some 500 miles in eight weeks. The Navajo elder inspired me to walk. I was invited to join the Sistergirls this year. But interest grew among friends and acquaintances in Missoula, so we created the Native Griz. We grew to 18 members in three states. I've been keeping up with the team via e-mail from Oregon, where I'm on assignment. We all started the walk at different fitness levels. Amy Sings In The Timber chalked up some 57 miles, or about 114,000 steps the first week. And she has averaged some 45 miles a week, or about 90,000 weekly steps. "My motivation is total fitness - mind, body and soul," she said. Linda Osler said after four weeks she is "beginning to relax and enjoy the walking more than in the beginning, when it was all work. I actually sleep better when I walk more." During the first week, Iris Pretty Paint, Juneau and I met on the Clark Fork River walking trail in Missoula. Pretty Paint told us her husband dropped her off at the store so she could buy shoes. She's also been making him drop her off blocks from her office so she can walk. "I have become much more aware of walking across campus, to lunch and doing housework," she said in an e-mail. "I convinced my husband to join and we are both benefiting from this virtual walking group." The challenge allows participants to build up steps through activities such as biking or housecleaning. So if you clean house for 30 minutes, that's worth 1,530 steps, or about 1.5 miles. One of the biggest surprises for me has been the realization that I was previously working out like a wimp. Even though I was going to the gym about four times a week, my typical two-mile treadmill workout is considered "sedentary," according to the U.S. Department of Health Web site at www.womenshealth.org. I'd have to walk between 2.4 and 3.74 daily miles - or do 30 to 44 minutes of exercise - to kick up my routine a notch, which even then would be considered "low activity." "Somewhat active" exercise amounts to 3.75 to 4.99 miles a day. And an "active" lifestyle means completing 60 minutes or more of daily exercise. The challenge encourages walkers to shoot for 10,000 steps a day. It takes about 2,000 steps to walk a mile, so that means charting five miles a day. A pedometer helps track the steps. Several of our team members, including me, have reached and maintained an active daily activity level. I've easily quadrupled my old walking routine. The WOMAN challenge Web site lets all walkers chart their individual progress. So now, after four weeks, most of us are somewhere along the West Coast. As for team success, the Native Griz is still in Alaska, because each member must meet her goal before the whole team advances. The good news is we're all walking more than we used to. We're enjoying the health benefits, and it doesn't cost anything to put on shoes and hit a trail. And we are enjoying the outdoors. Juneau reminded me of this in one of her last e-mails from Missoula. She's enjoying "the sweet smells of spring and summer here, as well as the intricacies of flowers, weeds and grasses along my route with the clear view of Lolo Peak. Aaahh. How awesome our Creator is with all these extra treats for the day." --- Jodi Rave covers Native issues for the Missoulian. Reach her at 1-800-366-7186 or at jodi.rave@lee.net Copyright c. 2007 Missoulian, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: GIAGO: The great horse of the Pawnee Nation" --------- Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 07:36:03 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GIAGO: SHUNATONA" http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/003466.asp Tim Giago: The great horse of the Pawnee Nation June 18, 2007 There is a well-kept graveyard in the rolling, green hills on the outskirts of Pawnee, Oklahoma. There lie the graves of the fallen warriors and women of the Pawnee Nation. In one corner is the headstone of an Indian scout identical to the government issued headstones found in Indian cemeteries across America to honor the scouts who served the U. S. Army during the Indian wars of long ago. On this beautiful June day fluffy white clouds float slowly over the graveyard and the afternoon sun reflects off of the large tombstone bearing the names of Mary and Charles George Shunatona. He was known as Chief Shunatona to the many friends he made in his 84 years on this earth. On the back of the tombstone is the family name of the Shunatona clan. It reads, "Great Horse," and there is a story behind the name. Told to me many years ago by Charles this is how the story goes: "One day long ago while the warriors were away from camp hunting, only the women, children and a few elders remained in the camp. A young boy spotted enemy warriors approaching and he raced back to the camp to warn them. The only way to safety was to cross the river now swollen and crashing from the melting snow and spring rains. An elderly man told the boy who brought the news of the enemy to get the great horse that stood grazing at the edge of the camp. He then summoned all of the people together and they followed him as he led the horse to the edge of the raging river. In the Otoe language he told the horse to start across the river and he held out his hand to the boy who in turn held out his hand to a woman and so it went until all of the people in the camp were joined together with clasped hands. The elderly man then grasped the tail of the horse as it started to swim across the river and all of the people held hands tightly as the mighty horse pulled them all across the river to safety." The elderly Otoe man was the great grandfather of Chief Shunatona and so that is why the name "Great Horse" is etched on the gravestone at Pawnee. More than 30 years ago I was about to begin hosting a weekly television show on KEVN-TV in Rapid City, S. D. I wanted the show to have an Indian theme song. I knew of only one man that could give me that song and his name was Charles Shunatona. Chief Shunatona was known all across Indian country for his mastery of the flute. I visited him one spring day in Wichita, Kansas. His wonderful daughter Gwen, then an assistant dean at Stanford University in California, was my hostess. Charles asked me a few questions about my television show, about its format, and then he told me he would have a theme song ready for me by the end of the week. He was true to his word and a couple Sundays later, when my show made its debut, we had taken a Lakota pipe, hung it from the ceiling with black thread against a black background, filled it with tobacco and lit it, touched it gently so that it would appear to be floating in the air with smoke drifting from its bowl, and then came the beautiful tones of an Indian flute enriched by the deep voice of Chief Shunatona telling the story of the flute. In this way my new show, "The First Americans" was introduced to the people of Western South Dakota on December 15, 1976. All of these memories came back to me as I looked at the headstone of Charles and Mary Shunatona last week. His daughter Gwen was once again my hostess and she delighted in showing me around the campus of the new Pawnee Nation College located on the grounds of the old Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school. I never cease to be amazed at the outrageous optimism of the Indian people. Through the eyes of Gwen Shunatona, George Howell, the president of the Pawnee Nation, Elizabeth Blackowl, Todd Fuller, president of the Pawnee Nation College, Deb Echo-Hawk, Les Hand, Roberta Gardipe, and Dawna and Charlie Hare, they see a beautiful college campus developing like a Phoenix rising from the ashes of a boarding school that has been closed for 40 years. The old Pawnee Boarding School was built at the turn of the 20th Century to house and educate the Indian children of the Pawnee, Otoe-Missouria, Kaw, Ponca, Tonkawa and Shawnee. Not only would the children be educated, but they would also cease to be Indians. The BIA policy of "Kill the Indian; save the child" would see to that. The school eventually became known as "Gravy U" by the children in honor of the watery gravy that was served at every meal. Through my eyes I saw buildings that were ancient and in disrepair. I saw that it would require millions of dollars to restore the buildings (You can see what the campus looks like today by Googling Pawnee Indian School). But I could not help but be uplifted by the unvarnished enthusiasm of Gwen, George Howell, Todd and the other school board members. Gwen returned to the land of her people to pursue this dream and George returned to his homeland from a life as an administrator for the Indian Health Service in order to help make the dreams of his people a reality. Pawnee Nation College is a dream that, with the help of the American people, can come true. A couple of miles away, beneath a beautiful headstone with the words "Great Horse" carved upon it, Chief Shunatona and his wife Mary, wait, watch and share the optimism and enthusiasm of the people of Pawnee, Oklahoma and today I join them in their shared hopes and dreams that one day there will rise from the ashes of "Gravy U," a college that will grab the tail of the "Great Horse" and be pulled along the path to safety and success. --- Tim Giago is an Oglala Lakota. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard in the Class of 1991. His latest book "Children Left Behind, the Dark Legacy of the Indian Missions," is now available at: order@clearlightbooks.com. The book just won the Bronze Star from the Independent Publishers Awards. He can be reached at najournalists@rushmore.com. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Festival days and Prairie nights" --------- Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 07:20:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: PRAIRIE" http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=41527 Enjoying festival days and prairie nights Dorreen Yellow Bird Grand Forks Herald June 20, 2007 Dorreen Yellow Bird is a reporter and columnist. Her columns appear Wednesdays and Saturdays on the opinion pages of the Herald. In the great and wide-open Plains of North Dakota, we often find islands of land that are different from the surrounding prairie. Many of these islands are being turned into recreation areas. One of those places is the updated Sullys Hill National Game Preserve near the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation and looming above the water of Devils Lake. Devils Lake is largest lake in North Dakota and holds Sullys Hill in a crooked hand. The game preserve has turned into a beautiful place for birding and discovering prairie and forest. Late last week, I took part in the Eighth Annual Sullys Hill Birding and Nature Festival. Rain had drenched the area for some weeks, pushing water into the Devils Lake outlet and filling every small pool and waterhole in the park to capacity. These downpours also turned the forest into a vibrant, emerald green. The floor of the forested area was like a soft carpet with grasses and broadleaf sarsaparilla plants blanketing every space beneath the trees. The contrast between the dark tree trunks and the green was stunning. Two deer stood stock-still as my car approached. I had to smile at them. I suppose they thought they were well-hidden, but their tawny brown coats against the green made them stand out like a red cardinal would in this green land. In one of the small ponds, several tiny, baby ducklings paddled with all their might away from my car and toward their mother. The festival included both indoor and outdoor activities. My sister, Liz, and I went on the prairie tour. My sister had insisted before this trip that I bring extra shoes, more socks, a jacket and umbrella. Did I mention it had been raining earlier in the week and, I might add, for most of the month, it seemed? Well, as luck would have it, Saturday's blue sky stretched from horizon to horizon. As we gathered for the prairie tour, I realized that a jacket, extra shoes, extra socks and an umbrella were unnecessary. But a hat to keep the sun out as well as insect spray or sunscreen would have helped. Cami Dixon, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wildlife biologist, showed us flowers and plants such as prairie smoke, sage, purple coneflowers (not in bloom yet), prairie roses that smelled wonderful, a milkweed, wild turnips (bread root) and lead plant. Also included were grasses such as big and little bluestem that were just beginning to grow, side oats and others. Dixon is committed to the prairie and the land. It shows. She is a naturalist who loves what she is doing, which made the walk through rough terrain in the heat of the day worthwhile. I thought I saw the rare Dakota Skipper butterfly, but it was gone so fast that I can't be sure, and no one else saw it. However, they are in this area, Dixon said. That rare butterfly is only one of the unique features of our prairie lands. The prairie changes almost magically day after day, until the fall when it turns tawny and golden. The Sullys Hill festival is over, but another festival even closer to our area is coming. It's called Prairie Days and will be held SaturDay from 7:30 a.m. to the evening at Turtle River State Park. Why are these festivals becoming part of North Dakota's list of things to do and see? Prairie islands such as these indicate the strength of the land to recover in spite of man's encroa