_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 15, ISSUE 039 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 September 24, 2007 Assiniboine Wahpegiwi/yellow leaf moon Cree Weweopizun/wavy or snow goose moon Anishnaabe Manoominike-giizis/Rice moon Eastern Cherokee nvda udatanun/nut moon Mohawk Seskhoko:wa/moon of much freshness +-------------------------------------------------------+ | 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 Lists: Mohawk Nations News, Remember The Cherokee/Tsalagi UUCP Mail IMPORTANT!! ----------- In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, all material appearing in this newsletter is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for educational purposes. <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is a way of keeping the brothers and sisters who share our Spirit informed about current events within the lives of those who walk the Red Road. ++ It may be subscribed to via email by sending a request from your own internet addressable account to gars@speakeasy.org ++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org <================<<<< >>>>================> +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | As historian Patricia Nelson | | Once a language is lost, it is | | Limerick summarized in "The | | gone forever | | Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken | | * Of the 300 original Native | | Past of the American West... | | languages in North America, | | "Set the blood quantum at | | only 175 exist today. | | one-quarter, hold to it as a | | * 125 of these are no longer | | rigid definition of Indians, | | learned by children. | | let intermarriage proceed as | | * 55 are spoken by 1 to 6 elders;| | it had for centuries, and | | when they die, their language | | eventually Indians will be | | will disappear. | | defined out of existence." | | * Without action, only 20 | | "When that happens, the federal | | languages will survive the next| | government will be freed of | | 50 years. | | its persistent 'Indian problem.'"| | Source: Indigenous Language | +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ | Institute | |http://www.indigenous-language.org| This issue's Quote: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + "Some day the Earth will weep, She will beg for Her life, She will cry with tears of blood. You will make a choice, if you will help her or let her die, and when She dies, you too, will die." __ John Hollow Horn, Oglala Lakota +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Indian Pledge of Allegiance | The Indian Pledge of Alleg- | | iance was first presented | I pledge allegiance to my Tribe,| on 2 December '93 during the | to the democratic principles | opening address of the Nat- | of the Republic | ional Congress of American | and to the individual freedoms | Indian Tribal-States Relat- | borrowed from the Iroquois and | ions Panel in Reno, NV. NCAI | Choctaw Confederacies, | plans distribution of the | as incorporated in the United | Indian Pledge to all Indian | States Constitution, | Nations. | so that my forefathers | | shall not have died in vain | Walk in Beauty! Night Owl +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Journey | In the summer and early fall | The Bloodline | of 1998 the Treaty Unity Riders | | rode a thousand miles on horse- | For all that live and live by law | back, carrying a staff and | We Stand, we Call, We Ride | praying each step of the way. | For All that fear and fear by sight | | We Hear, we Listen, we Ride | These prayers were offered for | For all that pray and pray by strength| each of us, and that the Unity | We Feel, we Move, we Ride | of all Peoples might happen. | For all that die and die by greed | | We Hurt, we Cry, we Ride | Tatanka Cante forwarded this | For all that birth and birth by right | poem on behalf of all the Unity | We Smile, we Hold, we Ride | Riders that we might stop and | For all that need and need by heart | ask if the next words we say, the | We Came, we Went, we Rode. | next act we make is for the good | | of the People or is it from ego | Treaty Unity Riders | for self. +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ O'siyo Brothers and Sisters The home page of the Prosecuting Attorney of Nez Perce County Idaho proclaims the following: "The Nez Perce County Prosecutor's Office takes pride in providing services for victims, citizens and law enforcement officers. Our mission statement is "Do the right thing, at the the right time, in the right way". We have an experienced and professional staff of Deputy Prosecutors and office support. We are aggressive, fair and thorough in pursuing accountability for offenders. We are progressive and innovative in our approach toward special victims and the needs of those who have been injured." In this issue's "Native Justice" column we learn about a hate attack on a thirteen-year-old girl. Her crime? ... she is Indian. A white woman and her daughter have been arrested for the beating. I am reminded of an Apache brother who was killed by a racist in Tennessee. The perpetrator had a rap sheet several pages long, and was still walking free after his homicidal attack on an Apache family. He might still be walking free if it were not for letters and calls of outrage from readers of this newsletter. It is true this girl is not dead. She was hospitalized and she and her mother forced to move for their own protection. I assure you if there is not a clear message sent by the prosecutor's office these acts of hate by this woman, her daughter and her sons will not stop here. Please make sure the Prosecuting Attorney and the Nez Perce District Court know they are being watched by concerned citizens. Daniel L Spickler Prosecuting Attorney P.O. Box 1267 Lewiston, ID 83501 Phone: (208) 799-3073 Email:DanSpickler@co.nezperce.id.us NEZ PERCE COUNTY DISTRICT COURT 1230 Main St. P.O. Box 896 Lewiston ID 83501 Phone: (208) 799-3040 ' ' 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: - COBELL: Upcoming Trial . Stop the HATE now! tackles important Issues - Senators probing delay - YELLOW BIRD: Dreaming, in Tribal Recognition dawdling at Dahlen esker - Lumbee Leader to speak - GIAGO: I remember Kyle at Recognition Hearing - JODI RAVE: Put Indigenous - Little Shell to testify: Declaration to good use Recognition Frustrations - EDITORIAL: Shameful inaction - Lumbee Recognition fight ongoing on Indian Health Care - Misrepresentations - MNA adopt their own cloud Juaneno Application Harvesting Laws - Dorgan proposes doubling - Youth Programs receive Tribal College Funding much needed Funding - Drilling surge - Saskatchewan tackles projected across West affordable Housing Crisis - Native American Veterans - Red-X escapes Guantanamo Gulag! seen at risk - Tribal Judges: - Minn. Indians want more Case of killed Whale is Personal recognition of Tribal IDs - Hopi Council approves - Museum returns appeal of Court Decision Stolen Lock of Sitting Bull's Hair - Native Justice - In Oklahoma, -- Native American Girl attacked Native Tongues dying Fast -- Lewiston Woman jailed - Muscogee passing Tradition on in alleged Hate Crime thru Documentary - Rustywire: My Granddaughter Sings - Bison Face hunting - Del "Abe" Jones Poem: at Wyoming Refuge POW/MIA Recognition Day - American Indian Group - Turtle Island Project: gets cheap lobbying Michigan N.A. Roundtable - Upcoming Events --------- "RE: Senators probing delay in Tribal Recognition" --------- Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:34:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CONGRESSIONAL HEARING ON RECOGNITION DELAYS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ article?AID=/20070917/NEWS01/70917008 Senators probing delay in tribal recognition By Tribune Staff September 17, 2007 Why it takes so many years for some Indian tribes seeking federal recognition to get answers from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs will be probed Wednesday by a U.S. Senate committee. John Sinclair, president of the unrecognized Great Falls-based Little Shell Chippewa Tribe, is among those scheduled to testify. Sen. Bryon Dorgan, D-North Dakota, chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, has asked tribal representatives from the Little Shell and other tribes seeking recognition to testify before the committee. Sen. John Tester, D-Mont., also serves on the committee. Dorgan spokesman Barry Piatt said the committee may issue a report recommending changes in the law to speed up the process. "It's kind of a diagnostic hearing to try and understand where this system is going wrong," Piatt said. The Little Shell Chippewa Tribe has been trying since 1978 through the Office of Federal Acknowledgement to be recognized. Copyright c. 2007 The Great Falls Tribune. --------- "RE: Lumbee Leader to speak at Recognition Hearing" --------- Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:34:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CONGRESSIONAL HEARING ON RECOGNITION DELAYS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=272600 Lumbee leader to speak By Venita Jenkins Staff writer September 17, 2007 PEMBROKE - The Lumbee tribal chairman is scheduled to address a congressional committee Wednesday about flaws in the federal recognition process. Jimmy Goins will be one of four American Indian representatives to testify before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Also testifying are tribal chairmen from the Muscogee Nation of Florida, Little Shell of Chippewa Indians of Montana and the Grand River Bands of the Ottawa Indians in Michigan. All four tribes have legislation pending in the Senate that would grant them federal recognition, which could mean millions of dollars for housing, education, health care and economic development. The Department of Interior estimates that the Lumbees - based in Robeson County - could receive more than $400 million over five years. The Lumbees have sought recognition for more than a century. In June, a bill to extend recognition to the tribe passed the U.S. House. The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. If the bill advances out of that committee, it would face a vote by the full Senate. On Wednesday, Goins and others will explain why the tribes should not be required to go through the Bureau of Indian Affairs' administrative process. "The tribe is looking forward to the opportunity to make its case why special legislation is needed in our situation," said Arlinda Locklear, a Lumbee lawyer representing the tribe. For several years, tribal and congressional leaders have complained about the long administrative process required for recognition. Information from the hearing will be used to determine whether the process needs to be revised. There are 314 letters of intent and petitions filed with the Bureau of Indian Affairs seeking federal recognition. Some of the petitions were submitted in 1978. At least 21 groups from North Carolina have petitioned the government for the status, according to a February 2006 Bureau of Indian Affairs status report. "This is a process that cannot only take years, but decades in some cases," said Barry Piatt, communications director for Sen. Byron Dorgan, who is chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. "If the process takes decades, something is not working right," Piatt said. "The senator and the committee are looking at ways that might improve the process." The tribal representatives will share their experiences with the Office of Federal Acknowledgement within the Bureau of Indian Affairs and discuss obstacles they faced, Piatt said. "This is kind of a diagnostic hearing to gather evidence from those who administer the process and those who have gone through it," he said. Tribes must meet seven criteria to be recognized by the Department of Interior. They include demonstrating that the tribe has been identified as an American Indian entity on a substantially continuous basis since 1900; showing that a predominant portion of the petitioning group comprises a distinct community and has existed as a community; and demonstrating that its members descend from one or more historical Indian tribes. The Lumbees first petitioned the bureau in 1980. It was deemed ineligible because of language in the 1956 Lumbee Act that prohibited the tribe from going through the administrative process. The 1956 Lumbee Act recognized Lumbees as Indians, but it barred any services the tribe could have received with full recognition. 11 studies Supporters of the Lumbee bill say the Department of Interior has 11 studies to prove the Lumbees are Indians and that the administrative process is designed for those who must prove their identity. Others fear that bypassing the administrative process would open a Pandora's box for any group that wants to gain federal recognition. Arlinda Locklear, the tribe's lawyer, said it's possible that the committee could move the Lumbee bill to the Senate based on information provided during Wednesday's hearing. "The Senate committee had a full hearing on the bill in the last Congress and not much has changed in the bill," Locklear said. Legislation has been voted out of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee twice before, but the bills died on the Senate floor. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, who submitted the Lumbee Bill earlier this year, plans to introduce Goins and question the panel. "Sen. Dole thinks this week's hearing is a very good step," said Katie Hallaway, a spokesman in Dole's office. "She hopes it will not only bring attention to the Lumbee's quest but also emphasize the unique situation the Lumbees are in regarding the BIA process." There are no plans to push for another hearing on the Lumbee Acknowledgement Bill, Hallaway said. "Her goal is to move it out of the committee as quickly as possible," she said. Staff writer Venita Jenkins can be reached at jenkinsv@fayobserver.com or (910) 738-9158. Copyright c. 2007 The Fayetteville Observer. --------- "RE: Little Shell to testify: Recognition Frustrations" --------- Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 07:09:56 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JOHN SINCLAIR, LITTLE SHELL CHIPPEWA, TO TESTIFY" http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ article?AID=/20070918/NEWS01/709180302 Little Shell leader to testify on federal recognition frustrations By KARL PUCKETT Tribune Staff Writer September 18, 2007 John Sinclair, president of the Little Shell Chippewa Tribe, is hoping a heartbreaking story about a child hits home with federal lawmakers and leads to a brighter future for the Great Falls-based tribe. Sinclair will testify before the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. on the recognition process the federal government uses to recognize the nation's Indian tribes. He will tell committee members about the 1985 case of a Little Shell child who was placed in foster care with a non-native family and later died because of physical abuse. The tribe couldn't intervene in that child welfare case, or any other, because it was not federally recognized. It still can't. "Hopefully, that will break their hearts," Sinclair said. More than 20 years after the tragic case - and after more than a century of seeking recognition - the tribe still is not recognized by the U.S. government. Federal lawmakers are beginning to question why it's taking so long for recognition requests of the nation's Indian tribes to be processed. The federal recognition process is the focus of the hearing, which will feature first-hand accounts from officials of tribes seeking recognition and the head of the Federal Acknowledgement Office of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. "No one should have to wait 30 years to get an answer to a question," said Barry Piatt, a spokesman for Sen. Bryon Dorgan, D-North Dakota, the committee's chairman. Federal acknowledgement is critical to tribes because it establishes a government-to-government relationship between the United States and the tribes, making them eligible to receive funding and services from the BIA. "We're not after the dirty 'R' word - reservation," Sinclair said. Depending on what they learn, committee members could issue a report or recommend changes in the law to speed up the recognition process, Piatt said. "It's kind of a diagnostic hearing to try and understand where this system is going wrong," Piatt said. As part of its quest, the Little Shell applied for recognition through the Office of Federal Acknowledgement in 1978. The tribe has been recognized by the state of Montana and all seven other tribal nations in the state and even has its own state license plate. Preliminary recognition came from the Office of Federal Recognition in 2000 and an anthropologist is scheduled to travel to the area in October to interview tribal members, said Toni Jo Atchison, the tribe's tobacco abuse prevention specialist. She said the tribe could know as soon as February 2008 about the final recognition. The Little Shell has an estimated enrollment of 4,500. Many of the members live in Great Falls, although Sinclair said they are scattered about the state. Russell Boham, executive director of the Little Shell, said committee members are "interested in finding out from us the brokenness of the administrative process." Tribes recently have turned to federal legislation in their quests for recognition. Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg and Max Baucus and Jon Tester, the state's senators, introduced legislation in March that would bring national recognition to the Little Shell. Matt McKenna, a spokesman for Tester, who serves on the Indian Affairs Committee, said the senator wants the administrative process streamlined so legislation becomes unnecessary. Piatt said tribes have "thrown up their hands" and turned to the legislative process out of frustration. The Little Shell want both the administrative and legislative avenues of recognition to remain open, Sinclair said. To be recognized, seven criteria must be met. For example, tribes have to show they have been in continuous social and political existence and descend from a historical Indian tribe or tribes. While waiting for recognition, Little Shell officials say members have died from inadequate health care and Indian children have been adopted to non-Indian parents, sometimes with tragic consequences. Sinclair hopes the story of the foster child who died hits home with the senators. "That's my aim," he said. The Little Shell, because they are not federally recognized, do not qualify for child custody services under the Indian Child Welfare Act. Therefore, the tribe could not intervene and place the child with a family member another native family, Sinclair said. Reach Tribune Staff Writer Karl Puckett at 791-1471, 800-438-6600 or kpuckett@greatfallstribune.com. Copyright c. 2007 The Great Falls Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Lumbee Recognition fight ongoing" --------- Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 07:01:42 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TUSCARORA PROTEST HEARINGS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/paper885/news/ 2007/09/24/StateNational/Lumbee.Recognition.Fight.Ongoing-2985908.shtml Lumbee recognition fight ongoing Tuscarora protest Senate hearings By: Stephen Largen, Staff Writer The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina has a new hurdle to overcome in its decades-long fight for federal recognition: intertribal feuding with the Tuscarora Nation of Indians. Katherine Magnotta, traditional council chairwoman of the Tuscarora, attended a Senate hearing last week that addressed the possibility of federal recognition for the Lumbees, but she was not allowed to testify. She said her tribe is angry about the Lumbees' pursuit of federal recognition, which requires a clear tribal lineage, because members believe the bill would lump them together with a tribe that has oppressed them and stolen their heritage. "They have been using the history of our people to get recognition," she said. The leadership and ancestry of the two tribes overlap, and the Tuscarora believe they deserve federal recognition - and the benefits that entails - more than the Lumbees. Last week's hearing highlighted the difficulties the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs has in conveying that complex history in the advice it gives Congress on recognition. Bureau officials and some senators said during the hearing that the statute's requirement of a clear lineage makes federal recognition unlikely for the Lumbees. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., testified to open the hearing and urged the committee to send her Lumbee recognition bill to the Senate floor for a full vote, which is the only way the Lumbees can gain federal recognition. Dole introduced the bill this month to grant federal recognition to the tribe. She has repeatedly tried to pass a Lumbee recognition bill during her five years in the Senate. A similar bill passed in the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year. Federal recognition would make the Lumbees eligible for education, health care and economic development opportunities, which would significantly benefit both the tribe and the regional economy. Robeson County, where most of the Lumbees live, is one of the poorest counties in the state. Amy Auth, a Dole spokeswoman, stated in an e-mail that Dole has pushed the legislation not only for the potential economic benefits but also because she believes it's a way of righting a historical wrong. "The Lumbee Tribe is the largest American-Indian tribe east of the Mississippi River and the largest nonfederally recognized tribe in the United States," Auth stated. "They have been unfairly deprived full federal recognition for more than a century." North Carolina is home to 53,000 Lumbees and 400 Tuscaroras. Auth said Dole respects the Tuscarora. "While she may disagree with the Tuscarora over their opposition to the Lumbee Recognition Act, Sen. Dole is always willing to listen to their concerns." Magnotta said the meetings with Dole have amounted to no concrete action from the senator. The Lumbee Tribe's chairman, Jimmy Goins, who testified at the hearing, declined to comment for this story. Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu. Lumbee History 101 * 1711-1712: Cheraws, ancestors of the Lumbees, participate in intertribal warfare against the Tuscarora in northeastern North Carolina. Thousands of Tuscaroras were killed or enslaved. * 1868: The N.C. Constitution is amended to give American Indians the rights of citizenship stripped from them in 1835. * 1885: North Carolina officially recognizes the Lumbee tribe. * 1952: A community referendum determines the name of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. * 1956: The federal government recognizes the tribe with the Lumbee Act but does not grant it benefits other tribes receive. The act prohibits traditional recognition through the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the tribe. * 1987: Lumbees petition the U.S. Department of the Interior for federal acknowledgment. * May 2007: The House passes its bill to recognize the Lumbee. Copyright c. 2007 The Daily Tar Heel. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Misrepresentations cloud Juaneno Application" --------- Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 07:01:42 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JUANENO RECOGNITION HITS BIG SNAGS" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415808 Misrepresentations, NCAI resolution cloud Juaneno application by: Jerry Reynolds / Indian Country Today Analysis September 24, 2007 WASHINGTON - On the eve of a BIA Office of Federal Acknowledgment decision on the Juaneno bid for federal recognition, Anthony Rivera has associated himself with misrepresentations that seek to bolster his credibility as the band's chairman while giving new interest to the allegations of a faction that disputes his leadership. The misrepresentations, printed over Rivera's signature in the September edition of Juaneno Tribal News, concern statements attributed to Indian Country Today on the basis of three separate interviews in as many months with four band members, including Rivera, and a lobbyist hired by the Rivera administration, Paul Moorehead of Drinker Biddle and Reath in Washington. The attributions are false, and one appears to be a particularly brazen fabrication - the concept that anyone (in this instance, alleges the newsletter, Rivera rival David Belardes) could "own" or pay to own an application for federal recognition. Rivera agreed the newsletter's attributions are mistaken. He red-flagged them in the editorial process, but by an oversight they made it into print anyway, he said. Moorehead said he had not seen the newsletter as of late Friday, Sept. 21. Rivera offered to print corrections in the next edition of the newsletter. But with an OFA decision on the Juaneno due on or before Sept. 26, according to OFA director Lee Fleming, that won't be soon enough for Billy Horton of Hard Count Inc. or for Belardes, a former chairman of the band who is now represented by Horton. Horton has insisted for months now that Rivera owes the many organizational endorsements of his chairmanship to a pattern of misrepresentation that relies on first achieving visibility, either through his presence or alleged monetary and in-kind donations, and then requesting an endorsement of his leadership without acknowledging the factions that challenge it. He offered the newsletter accounts as proof of a pattern of misrepresentation on Rivera's part. Horton has not substantiated his allegations of a pattern of misrepresentation and influence-peddling behind Rivera's endorsements, and the minutes and eyewitness accounts behind a National Congress of American Indians resolution of support for the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians Acjachemen Nation actually refute them in the case of NCAI. A nationally prominent tribal leader in southern California, where the Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Association has endorsed Rivera and the Juaneno, declined to comment for the time being because the Juaneno recognition bid is at a delicate stage. Rivera does not acknowledge factions within the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians Acjachemen Nation that has elected him chairman. All of the supposed "factions" are in fact individuals, he contends, adding that only the band he leads constitutes a government. The Interior Department, of which the BIA and OFA are agencies, has identified Rivera "and the governing body he represents" as a spokesman for the band in the active consideration phase of its petition for federal recognition. Interior treats Belardes as an interested party, but its phrasing goes further: "The governing body represented by Mr. David Belardes will be treated as an 'interested party."' Though the general council under Rivera voted to eject Belardes from that governing body, Interior describes him years afterward as still representing a governing body. Rivera presented a support resolution for the band under his leadership at the 2005 NCAI annual conference in Tulsa, Okla. NCAI's policy on federal recognition is that all tribes deserve a fair process, according to NCAI general counsel John Dossett. Based on the precedent of a previous resolution in favor of federal recognition for another tribe, Rivera successfully argued that his resolution should be considered. But it was debated in committee, and in subcommittee, and the general assembly voted on it. In the process, the resolution was stripped of Rivera's name and of territorial designations. The support resolution that passed spelled "Acjachemen" with two e's instead of two lower-case A's, a significant difference in some quarters. But Belardes acknowledges that the spelling and pronunciation of the word occur in many variants, and Rivera said that in exasperation, after a long day of salvaging any resolution at all, "They could have spelled it in Greek for all I cared." The ambiguities of NCAI's policy and the processing of the Juaneno resolution in its original and amended versions led Dossett to characterize the resolution as "a mistake." Moorehead said he's not going to argue with NCAI's general counsel, but added that his understanding of NCAI resolutions is that once adopted by the general assembly, they can only be revoked by the general assembly. In Denver in November, Dossett said, NCAI will consider clarifying its policy on support resolutions for tribes that are in the process of seeking federal recognition. NCAI will also consider revoking all previous support resolutions for non-federally recognized tribes, he said. Regarding Horton's allegations of a pattern of misrepresentation on Rivera's part, eyewitness accounts and the NCAI minutes demonstrate that consideration of the Juaneno resolution took place in the full light of day and due process, with full opportunity for all sides of the issue to make their case. All sides agree that with Juaneno ancestral territory extending into the phenomenally lucrative Los Angeles gaming market, gaming prospects and their representatives have had a bearing on the factionalism acknowledged by Interior. Belardes admits that through "a friend of a friend," he first explored gaming as an option for the band, while he was chairman in the early 1990s. "We got caught up in the gaming issues. It was new to us. ... I don't think anybody understood our sovereignty or anything. They were looking at the gaming money, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It was like a runaway train. I couldn't stop it. ... Seeing the fight, seeing the people get involved in the greed, was really disheartening. ... It was craziness, it was unbelievable. "People couldn't understand that Juaneno sovereignty pre-dated the United States." He sought legal advice that soon discredited a too-good-to-be-true contract that had been offered the band. Then-vice chair Jean Frietze and other council members signed the contract, according to Rivera and to documents provided by Horton, in part precipitating an election dispute between Frietze and Belardes. Belardes did not sign the contract and did not run for chairman again. Frietze won the election, which Belardes considers illegitimate and Rivera describes as certified. Belardes asserted himself as the Juaneno chief, arguing that his status did not change. He retained a following according to Juaneno tradition, he said. Rivera succeeded Frietz. He said the general council revoked the contract shortly afterward, and described it all as "ancient history." Gaming remains an option for the tribe but not a goal, Rivera said, approving the words of current vice chair Fran Yorba. Rivera reiterated that neither he nor his administration have signed contracts with gaming interests. Belardes also considers gaming an option. But because of local opposition and the Juaneno disputes, he considers a tribal casino a distant prospect. "We're so far away from that. ... I think we're going to have to do some other [business] venues if we get recognized, if we get that far." Whatever the preliminary OFA decision due by Sept. 26, Belardes and other observers (lobbyists who spoke on condition of anonymity because of other client interests) expressed doubt the office has gotten clear on Juaneno leadership. "It's all of us or none of us," he said. "You can't be arguing ... We get to tearing each other apart before we get through the government's process and they'll tear us apart for sure." Copyright c. 1998 - 2007 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Dorgan proposes doubling Tribal College Funding" --------- Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:34:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TRIBAL COLLEGE FUNDING" http://www.devilslakejournal.com/articles/2007/09/17/news/news01.txt Dorgan proposes doubling tribal college funding By Mike Bellmore - Features Editor September 17, 2007 Cynthia Lindquist-Mala, head of Cankdeska Cikana Community College at Fort Totten, says Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) has always been supportive of the 34 tribal colleges across the country. So it was no surprise to her to hear that an amendment offered by Dorgan recently in the U.S. Senate to double funding to tribal colleges to help with building improvements and infrastructure was approved. "We've made some progress, but we've been underfunded for years," she said. "We've never been fully funded at equal levels, but Dorgan has always been supportive of us." Dorgan's amendment, which was co-sponsored by Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND), will increase to $5 million the federal funding devoted to the Tribal Colleges and Universities program. Through the program, tribal colleges and universities receive funding on a competitive basis to improve their facilities and help expand the role of the schools in their respective communities. All of North Dakota's tribal colleges have benefited from the program. The Fort Totten-based college, on the Spirit Lake Reservation, has received nearly $1.6 million since 2002 for projects on its campus. "Our tribal colleges provide an avenue for students who want to advance their education and their career, and that's a critical function for our American Indian communities," Dorgan says. "This amendment will help make sure these schools have the resources they need to train their students and to expand their involvement with the community. That will not only improve the education for American Indian students, but can bring services like health care and job training to the community." Dorgan's amendment was added to the Fiscal Year 2008 Transportation-HUD Appropriations bill, which was approved by the Senate. He is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. Copyright c. 2007 Devils Lake Journal. --------- "RE: Drilling surge projected across West" --------- Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 07:09:56 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DRILLING TO INCREASE ACROSS NETWORK" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/68730.html Report: Drilling surge projected across West By MATHEW BROWN | Associated Press September 18, 2007 BILLINGS, Mont. - Oil and gas drilling on federal lands across the Rocky Mountain West could increase by more than 160 percent over the next two decades, in part because of pro-industry regulations enacted by the Bush administration, according to a report released Monday by an environmental group. The Washington, D.C.-based Wilderness Society analyzed drilling plans and said oil and gas exploration was poised to push into some of the West's most environmentally sensitive areas. That includes plans to drill in Colorado's Roan Plateau, the Upper Green River Basin in Wyoming and Montana's portion of the Powder River Basin. "The impacts of this type of development would be truly staggering. It would likely well exceed 1 million acres," said the Wilderness Society's Nada Culver, who authored the report. "This is the time to take a step back and consider what current levels of drilling are already doing to our public and private lands." At least one federal official questioned the accuracy of the report, arguing it appeared to be based partially on plans that are not yet final. The report comes amid a bitter debate in Washington over the national security benefits of domestic drilling versus its potential effects on water, air quality and wildlife. Congress is considering legislation that would reverse portions of the administration's 2005 Energy Policy Act to tighten oversight of drilling. Backers of the legislation, sponsored by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, contend reforms are needed to ensure adequate environmental protection wherever drilling occurs. Industry representatives counter that the proposed changes would hamper future development and undermine attempts to wean the country off foreign fuels. "The fact that energy companies are working with the federal government to ensure our nation has an adequate supply of energy for years to come - that seems like a good thing," said Marc Smith, executive director of the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States. Smith said the Rockies now produce about 25 percent of the country's natural gas and 9 percent of its oil. That figure has risen steadily under the Bush administration, which has exempted some drilling proposals from environmental reviews and told federal regulators to speed up the approval process for new permits. More than 126,000 new oil and gas wells have been approved or are under review for federal lands in Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, Utah and New Mexico, according to the Wilderness Society report. Wyoming would see the most activity: 58,000 new wells. By comparison, the five states had 77,000 wells producing oil or natural gas as of earlier this year. Plans to sharply increase that number have not gone unchallenged. In Colorado, for example, a proposal to drill up to 1,570 new wells over 20 years on the Roan Plateau west of Denver has drawn opposition from hunting and fishing groups, environmentalists and members of the state's congressional delegation. Monday's report analyzed drilling plans under consideration or already approved by the federal Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. Wells proposed for private or state lands were not considered. A similar analysis in 2006 found 118,730 wells were planned. The increase in this year's figure was due largely to new drilling proposals in Wyoming and Colorado. BLM spokeswoman Michelle Barret said the numbers used in the report appeared to be "at the high end of what is even possible." Many of the drilling projections cited, she added, included figures from long-range "scoping" documents or other planning documents that are not final. "It's clear they're trying to imply all of these wells are all going to be approved and drilled. I'm confident that's not going to happen," she said. The Pelosi-sponsored energy bill was approved by the House in August on a 241-172 vote. Most of the reforms it called for were not included in a Senate energy bill passed in June. That means the two chambers will have to work out compromise legislation sometime this fall. With some Democrats opposed to the House version, the Wilderness Society's Dave Alberswerth said his group must enlist Republican support for the changes to prevail. "There simply aren't enough Democrats who are sympathetic to our perspective to put it over the top," he said. Smith described as slim the chance the Senate would accept the House changes to the 2005 energy act. Two years after passing the act, Smith said he doubted many senators would want to roll back many of its provisions. Copyright c. 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. 2007, Santa Fe New Mexican, all rights reserved. --------- "RE: Native American Veterans seen at risk" --------- Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 07:34:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PTSD AMONG NATIVE VETS" http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/ 2007/09/17/native_american_veterans_seen_at_risk/ Native American veterans seen at risk Region lags in efforts to help stress-afflicted By Anna Badkhen, Globe Correspondent September 17, 2007 Mental health workers are looking for new ways to help Native American service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. In some parts of the United States, specialists are combining modern treatments with traditional healing methods, employing medicine men, participating in sweat lodges, and asking tribal elders to encourage veterans to seek professional medical help. But in New England, the effort to reach out to Native American veterans is lagging, mental health specialists and some Native Americans say. At risk, they say, are thousands of Native American veterans, who historically are more susceptible to combat trauma than other troops, but who also are less likely to seek, and receive, mental health help from government-operated agencies as their non-Indian comrades. Studies of Native American veterans who fought in Vietnam showed that they were twice as likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder as other veterans. Although no one has studied the prevalence of trauma among Native American veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, mental health workers anticipate that those troops may suffer from similarly high levels of trauma. At least 18,000 of the 22,000 Native Americans currently in uniform had been deployed at least once to Iraq or Afghanistan as of July, according to the US Department of Defense. Recent Army studies have found that up to 30 percent of soldiers coming home from Iraq suffer from depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder. The studies did not include other branches of the military. New England centers operated by the federal Department for Veterans Affairs, which is responsible for providing mental healthcare to veterans, employ coordinators, usually members of a minority group, who attend some tribal powwows and invite the region's approximately 10,000 Native American veterans to take advantage of the agency's programs. The VA hospital in Bedford holds an annual powwow on the hospital grounds, to which the veterans are invited. "We work with the North American Indian Center," another federally funded organization serving more than 5,000 Native Americans in Greater Boston, "to learn all of the [tribal] events that are being planned, and then we try to make it to these events," said Shirley Jackson, a minority coordinator for the Boston VA. Jackson said she sometimes refers Native American veterans to the center. But the efforts fall short of reaching most Native American veterans because many of them do not trust the federal government and the services it offers, say some Indian veterans and mental health workers who work for the VA. "The [Indian] community's past dealings with federal agencies as a whole, some of these experiences may not have been very positive," said Jay Shore, a Denver psychologist who works with Indian veterans. "Historically. . . the Indian vets may have good reason not to feel very comfortable in the system." Native American veterans are four times less likely to receive healthcare than other veterans, according to the congressional testimony in 2004 of Gordon Mansfield, a deputy secretary for veterans' affairs. "You can't go in and say, 'I'm the VA, I have a cure for you, come take it.' You have to win their trust. You have to go back and ask, again and again," said W.J. "Buck" Richardson, a VA minority coordinator in Montana. To make its programs more effective for Native American veterans, the agency must tailor its services to the cultural needs of those veterans, reaching out to tribal elders and families to persuade the veterans to accept the agency's help, said Mose Hearne, a mental health counselor at the North American Indian Center of Boston who is a veteran of the Gulf War and a member of the Mohawk tribe. The Narragansett tribe in Rhode Island holds a dance honoring veterans during its annual powwow. But Alberta H. Stanton-Wilcox, a veteran of the war in Korea and a tribal elder, said the VA has never asked to join it. "They can always contact me here if they want to," said Stanton-Wilcox. James Cates, chairman of the Texas-based National Native American Veterans Association, said the federal agency also must embrace the use of sweat lodges, dances, and medicine men. The veterans "would be better served if there were more of traditional healing methods available to them," Cates said. In some parts of the country, the Department of Veterans Affairs is already using traditional Native American healing techniques. Hearne pointed to the programs as efforts the VA in New England should consider adopting. Copyright c. 2007 Boston Globe, The New York Times Company. --------- "RE: Minn. Indians want more recognition of Tribal IDs" --------- Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:34:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TRIBAL ID CARDS" http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/ web/2007/09/10/tribalids/?rsssource=1 American Indians want more recognition of tribal IDs by Tom Robertson, Minnesota Public Radio September 18, 2007 Some American Indians in Minnesota are upset that their tribal identification cards aren't recognized off the reservation as legitimate ID. Tribes have issued ID cards to their members for years. A state law passed last year makes tribal IDs an acceptable form of identification just like a drivers license. But some Indians say their ID cards are still being rejected. -- Bemidji, Minn. - Kevin Mahto is a member of the Red Lake Band of Ojibwe. He lives just around the corner from a Bemidji pawnshop, and knows owner Don Josefson by name. On a recent day, Mahto stopped in to pawn a full- length coat. "Hey Don," Mahto says. "Hi Kevin, how ya doing?" Josefson replies. "Pretty good this morning," Mahto says. "I'd like to pawn this item. And I'd like to get 25 bucks for it." Kevin Mahto"OK, I can do that. You got an ID?" says Josefson. Josefson and Mahto know what's going to happen next. The only ID Mahto carries is his Red Lake tribal identification card. Josefson can't accept the card, even though it has Mahto's photo and a lot of the same information that's found on a Minnesota drivers license. Pawnshops are government-regulated, so Josefson is required by law to ask for an ID. He can accept Canadian IDs or IDs from other states. But the computer system he's mandated to use isn't set up to accept tribal IDs. Josefson says he's frustrated not only because he's losing business, but because he thinks not accepting tribal IDs is wrong. Tribal ID card"This is not New York City. This is Bemidji, Minnesota," Josefson says. "I know a good deal of these people personally, and unless they've been lying to me since they were 15, they are who they say they are. But I can't do business with them, because they don't have a Minnesota state-issued ID." Technically, when Josefson rejects a tribal ID he violates a state law passed just last year. The law says that if a Minnesota drivers license is an acceptable form of ID under state law, then a tribal ID is, too. But here's where things start to get complicated. The law applies only to specific situations where people are required by the state to show an ID. Pawning something at a pawn shop, for example. Or buying tobacco or alcohol. The law says tribal IDs are now an acceptable form of identification in those sorts of transactions. Even in the limited situations where the law applies, some say things aren't going very well. Some businesses in the state still have signs hanging by their cash registers declaring that tribal IDs aren't accepted. According to Audrey Thayer, coordinator of the Greater Minnesota Justice Project, a program of the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, Indians have had trouble for years using their tribal IDs to buy a pack of cigarettes, cash or write checks or board an airplane. Thayer says American Indians are starting to complain about tribal ID rejection. Thayer says her office and other American Indian advocacy groups will soon start pushing the issue. She says a lawsuit over tribal IDs has already been filed in Hennepin County, and more suits could be in the making. "I'm moving rather quickly now to negotiate, and work with the county and the cities in the areas up here so that we don't have to have suits. No one wants to have suits filed against them," says Thayer. One of the issues tribal governments are going to have to resolve deals with ID card security. The new law says tribal IDs must contain security features that make them impervious to tampering or duplication. But many tribal IDs may not meet the vague standards set out in the 2006 law. Beltrami County Attorney Tim Faver says that makes the situation confusing. He says state agencies are working with tribes to establish clear criteria for secure tribal IDs. Faver says until there's some uniformity to the tribal cards, there will continue to be problems. "It is really not fair in my mind that a clerk in a convenience store or, quite frankly, a city or county government, to be making the determination in a given case as to what ID card meets the requirements of the statute," says Faver. "I think those are standards that need to be further defined and set by the state." What Indian tribes in Minnesota would like to see is full recognition of tribal IDs as legitimate forms of identification everywhere. The new state law doesn't do that. A video store, for example, can still turn away American Indians who want to use their ID to rent a movie. Observers say it may be difficult for the state of Minnesota to force private businesses to honor tribal IDs. Minnesota Public Radio Copyright c. 2007. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Museum returns Stolen Lock of Sitting Bull's Hair" --------- Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:34:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HAIR AND LEGGINGS RETURNED BY MUSEUM" http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070917/lf_afp/lifestyleusculture_070917221814 Museum returns stolen lock of Sitting Bull's hair to descendants September 17, 2007 WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US museum has decided to return a lock of hair and leggings worn by legendary American Indian chief Sitting Bull after learning that they were stolen by an army doctor at the time of his death more than 100 years ago. "As part of doing research on our collection as part of the repatriation law, we realized how these objects had been acquired and they hadn't been acquired properly," said Bill Billeck, director of the National Museum of Natural History's Repatriation Office. "That's the reason why it has triggered us to do this work and to look for family members," he said. Sitting Bull was a Lakota chief best known for defeating General George Custer in the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn in Montana. He was killed on December 15, 1890, two weeks before the Battle of Wounded Knee, the last major battle between US forces and American Indians. The lock of hair is braided and narrow, about 16 inches (40 centimeters) long, and the wool leggings are a traditional type worn by Indians of the period, Billeck said. After Sitting Bull's death, his body was transported to a military fort where an army doctor, Horace Deeble, took the hair and leggings and six years later sent them to the museum for display. "These are the only objects that I know that this doctor took. There are many objects that Sitting Bull owned during his life in the US that are in collections across the country," Billeck said. "The question that we often have is there are many more objects than probably he could have ever had, because he was famous and things were attributed to him that may not be from him." However, the Sitting Bull's great-grandson Ernie LaPointe, who requested the items be returned, said he was grateful to finally have them back. The repatriation "will bring closure to my grandfather and I hope that it will lead to a healing among the lineal and collateral descendants of Sitting Bull and the Lakota Nation," he said. Copyright c. 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. Copyright c. 2007 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: In Oklahoma, Native Tongues dying Fast" --------- Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 07:09:56 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LANGUAGES DYING" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.tbo.com/news/nationworld/MGB5BYH8R6F.html In Oklahoma, Native Tongues Dying Fast By RICK WEISS The Washington Post September 19, 2007 WASHINGTON - Oklahoma has earned the dubious distinction of being one of the five worst "language-loss hotspots" in the world - places where native languages are going extinct the fastest - according to a new analysis released Tuesday. The Sooner State's inclusion in the global top five is a reminder, researchers said, that the United States has a long history of linguistic diversity and that the problem of language extinctions is not limited to distant lands. Of the approximately 7,000 languages spoken around the globe, about half are expected to disappear in this century, said K. David Harrison, a Swarthmore College linguist and co-director of the Enduring Voices project. That project, a collaboration between the National Geographic Society and the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages of Salem, Ore., assembled the latest statistics on global language loss. While previous analyses have focused on individual languages that have just one or a few surviving speakers, Harrison and his colleagues took a geographic approach, identifying where in the world languages are disappearing fastest. Oklahoma and nearby areas of the American Southwest, it turns out, have an extremely rich linguistic fabric because of the many Native American tribes that were corralled there in the 1800s. Today those languages are disappearing by the month, and with them a treasure trove of ecological insights, culinary and medicinal secrets and complex cultural histories, including mythologies that can teach a lot about universal human fears and aspirations, Harrison said: Following in the footsteps of early colonialists, but carrying high- quality digital video and audio equipment instead of guns and trinkets, the Enduring Voices project has launched a number of expeditions to document dying languages, about half of which have no written form. Where there is interest in preserving those tongues, it has helped create teaching materials for use in local classrooms. Among those on the brink of extinction in Oklahoma is Yuchi, a language native to the same-named tribe from Tennessee and thought to be unrelated to any other in the world. It is spoken by just a handful of elders because youngsters in government boarding schools were punished if they veered from English. Yuchi tales tell of Earth's creation from water with the help of a crawfish and the emergence of the tribe's forbears from a drop of menstrual blood in the sky. The other four hot spots are: * Northern Australia, where project members recorded the last known speaker of Amurdag - a man who remembers about 100 words that he last heard spoken by his now deceased father. * Central South America, where the Kallawaya of Bolivia have for at least 400 years maintained a secret language about medicinal plants. * The Northwest Pacific Plateau, where there is but a single woman who can still speak Siletz Dee-ni, the last of 27 languages once spoken on Oregon's Siletz reservation. * Eastern Siberia, where a high proportion of the 23 known tongues are unrelated to any other languages in the world. TBO.com - Copyright c. 2007 Media General Inc. All Rights Reserved --------- "RE: Muscogee passing Tradition on thru Documentary" --------- Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 07:09:56 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GIVING MVSKOKE YOUTH THE TOOLS TO LEARN FROM THE PAST" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=9023 Muscogee Creek's passing tradition on thru documentary Gerald Wofford September 18, 2007 When Native Americans talk about the past, it is often stressed of how 'self-sufficient' they were long ago. How the languages of the tribes helped them to communicate and how their hunting, fishing, and farming skills kept them sustained long before the arrival of European settlers. In the area of farming, food production was so important in keeping the traditional ways alive in a healthy outlet. Today, many organizations continue to keep the ideas and goals alive of their traditional ancestors. According to their brochure, the Mvskoke (pronounced Muscogee) Food Sovereignty Initiative (MFSI), a non-profit organization based in Okmulgee, Oklahoma is dedicated to enabling the Mvskoke people and their neighbors to provide for their food and health needs, now and in the future through sustainable agriculture, economic development, community development as well as cultural and educational programs. One educational venture the program is creating is a film production about the importance of traditional food history and the preservation of knowledge about it. A documentary film project to help engage youth to interview and learn from elders to be more aware of their food system and the Mvskoke food heritage will begin meeting. This will be a youth-led project where they (youth) will take the lead in planning, filming, editing and marketing the final product. "We have grant money from the First Nations Development Institute to help support this project," says Vicky Karhu, who serves as Executive Director of MFSI. Karhu says MFSI will begin to plan meetings in the coming weeks and the project will culminate in a film festival in the spring to debut the film. "Please think of any and all youth that you would like to see become involved with this project," says Karhu. "They can be from your family, church, grounds, youth organization or just friends. We will make plans to start a regular shooting/interviewing schedule. This project is open to all people in the area." MFSI also provides technical, garden and website development assistance to community groups and organizations interested in establishing and maintaining community gardens. The organization also maintains a database of resources and information for: community gardens, traditional knowledge, natural meat production, natural and small farming techniques with a hands on approach. If you are interested in becoming involved with the film project or learning more about the services of the MFSI, contact Karhu at (918) 756-5915 or at (918) 470-3819. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Bison Face hunting at Wyoming Refuge" --------- Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:34:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="THREAT TO FREE RANGE BISON HERD" http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070915/D8RLP77G0.html Bison Face Hunting at Wyoming Refuge By MATTHEW BROWN September 15, 2007 JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) - In the three decades since 18 bison stumbled onto a federal elk feeding ground outside this mountain town, the herd has ballooned to 1,200 animals - one of the largest groups of bison in the United States. But the National Elk Refuge was not created for bison, 6-foot-tall, 1- ton brutes also known as buffalo. Since their arrival, the bison have pushed elk off the refuge's artificial feed lines, trampled its 25,000 acres of grasslands and introduced diseases that put livestock at risk. Beginning Saturday, refuge officials and state wildlife officials will hold annual hunts aimed at cutting down the herd by at least 700 animals over the next few years. Hunters are entitled to one bison each. Meanwhile, the artificial feeding will continue each winter, angering animal rights groups and environmentalists who say the government is baiting bison to unnecessary slaughter. Refuge managers agreed that feeding the very bison they want hunters to shoot was not ideal. They said the conservative politics of northwest Wyoming - home to Vice President Dick Cheney and a strong hunting culture that is a driving economic force - gave them little choice. "It's a political compromise," said Eric Cole, the refuge's wildlife biologist. "The worst-case scenario is the hunt doesn't happen and we have 1,200 bison. That's a lot of mouths for a limited land base." Through a separate hunt, federal and state officials want to reduce the refuge's elk population, from almost 8,000 animals to about 5,000. Yet it's the plan to kill bison that has garnered the most objection. That's because of the animals' docile nature - hunting them has been compared to hunting a sofa - and their iconic status as a last vestige of the once-wild American West. "It's senseless and it's inhumane," said Jonathan Lovvorn, an attorney with the Fund for Animals. The group filed a lawsuit in 1998 seeking to stop the hunt, which forced the federal government to delay the killing of bison until an environmental study was completed earlier this year. Refuge manager Steve Kallin said the bison hunt would have been much smaller if the Fund for Animals had never filed a lawsuit. When a hunt was first proposed in 1998, there were about 500 bison on the refuge - a number Kallin said could have been sustained by hunting 70 animals a year. Most states forbid or discourage feed grounds because they allow the easy transmission of wildlife and livestock diseases. Aside from the elk refuge, there are 22 state-run feed grounds in northwest Wyoming, a region of towering mountains and fertile valleys where punishing winters routinely kill off wildlife. Local hunters and federal wildlife officials say the first were started a century ago, by ranchers hoping to keep elk from eating the hay they had set aside for livestock during winter. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service established the National Elk Refuge in 1912. Feeding of the elk began the same year. As elk hunting gained popularity, bringing streams of wealthy outsiders to Jackson every fall, the feed grounds helped ensure an ample supply of the animals. The refuge's feed lines have since expanded into a $250,000 annual program that doles out up to 80 semitrailer loads of alfalfa pellets each winter, according to federal documents and former refuge manager Barry Reiswig. In recent years, a separate feed line was established for bison to keep them from out-muscling elk. Bison eat up to 20 pounds of alfalfa a day, versus about 8 pounds for elk. Reiswig, who retired from the Fish and Wildlife Service in June, said he never liked the feeding program but was forced to accept it as a political reality. "For us to march in and say, 'We're going to phase out this feeding program,' that was not an option," Reiswig said. "Realistically, in a Western state, given this administration, that's just not the way this game is played." Copyright c. 2007 Associated Press. All right reserved. Copyright c. 2007 IAC Search & Media. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: American Indian Group gets cheap lobbying" --------- Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 07:09:56 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JUANENO BAND OF MISSION INDIANS GET LOADS OF CHEAP HELP" http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0907/5888.html American Indian group gets cheap lobbying By: Ben Smith and Samuel Loewenberg September 19, 2007 06:20 AM EST Promoting Indian gaming hasn't typically been considered an altruistic venture - particularly on K Street, where greed and gambling met to produce a low point for the lobbying industry, the Jack Abramoff scandal. But one of Washington's most powerful lobbying firms has apparently taken up, for a relative pittance, the high-stakes cause of a one-time tribal leader whose bid for recognition, if successful, could permit him to open the first Indian casino in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The lobbying by Barbour Griffith & Rogers is raising eyebrows on K Street and among American Indian groups in part because of the unusual client and payment arrangements. Instead of listing the tribe, the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians, as its client, BGR lists a little-known Texas lobbying firm, Hard Count Inc. And disclosure forms, along with the client's comments, show that BGR is working for a fraction of its usual fee. The firm typically charges from $15,000 to $50,000 and more per month for its lobbying services. And some of BGR's heaviest hitters have registered to lobby on Juaneno recognition, including founder Edward M. Rogers, a former senior political aide to President George H.W. Bush; Daniel Murphy, a top Housing and Urban Development official under the first President Bush; and two former senior officials of the current administration: Eric Burgeson, who was chief of staff at the Department of Energy, and Robert Wood, who was chief of staff at the Department of Health and Human Services. On the firm's lobbying disclosure form for the first six months of 2007, BGR reported earning less than $10,000 for its work, which began some time around April. At issue is a 25-year battle by the Juaneno band to be recognized by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. The bureau is in the final stages of its decision-making process and is expected to make a ruling within weeks. If the Juanenos' claim of ancestral territory in Southern California is recognized, the tribe could open a casino in what is potentially one of the most lucrative gaming markets in the country. The gap between BGR's muscle and its price tag has raised allegations, from other tribal factions and from opponents of Juaneno recognition, that BGR stands to gain from what could be an enormously lucrative Los Angeles casino. Suspicion is fueled by Hard Count's contract. Its president, Billy Horton, is in line to receive 5 percent of the tribe's business revenue for seven years if, at any point, the annual revenue exceeds $10 million. Such contingency arrangements are not illegal, but they are unusual in the lobbying community. BGR officials say they are receiving only a small monthly retainer now. But they demurred when asked if future payments could include percentages of tribal businesses. "Barbour Griffith & Rogers is not being paid by any gaming or casino interests for its work on behalf of Hard Count and the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians," BGR's Burgeson said in an e-mail. Horton said BGR is doing the work because they were moved by the cause of his client. "They basically felt compelled to help us [because] these guys are getting the shaft," said Horton, who represents an ousted chairman of the tribe, David Belardes. Horton said he and BGR are working both for the tribe's recognition and to restore Belardes' leadership status. Rather than a casino, Horton said, Belardes' first priority would be to expand the tribe's museum. But Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.), who represents Orange County and opposes the idea of putting a casino in his district, scoffed at such good-hearted motivations. "There is nothing charitable about these Indian casino deals - this is all about very, very, very big money," he said. Horton said that he had met Belardes through a family connection and that he and BGR are both motivated by the alleged wrong done Belardes, whose "identity was stolen" by his rivals for the potentially lucrative tribal designation. The tribe's leaders say they and the thousand or more members are descendants of Indians who lived for thousands of years in the part of Southern California now known as Orange County, and whose downfall began with the arrival of Spanish missionaries in 1769. The websites of various tribal factions agree that their troubles with the federal government extend from the 19th century to the present and that they deserve recognition as an autonomous nation, a status that would - they say incidentally - permit them to open and operate casinos. But the tribe has been plagued by internal divisions. Belardes was ejected from the tribe in 1997 after losing a leadership battle, and the tribe subsequently split into at least three feuding groups. The federal government currently recognizes a group labeled 84(a) and led by Anthony Rivera as its primary interlocutor, though Belardes claims that the group he leads deserves that designation. Belardes is also in talks with at least one other faction, known as 84(b), about reunification, said Sonja Johnson, an official of that faction. Belardes did not respond to several messages left for him at his home and office in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. Rivera, who - like Belardes and at least one other tribal leader - claims the title of chairman of the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians, dismissed Belardes' complaints as sour grapes and called Belardes' arrangement to share revenues with Horton "outrageous" and "desperate." Horton, in turn, accused Rivera of being on the payroll of gambling investors and demanded to know how he was paying his own Washington lobbyists. Rivera's lobbyist, Paul Moorehead, a former chief counsel to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, reported being paid $20,000 in his 2007 midyear disclosure form. Rivera denied having any connection to gaming but said he would not disclose the identity of donors to the tribe. Rivera also condemned the choice of BGR, which is controversial in Indian country for its work on behalf of a successful drive to revoke the sovereignty of two Indian tribes in Connecticut in 2005. "If he can't get his way, he's going to find a way to oppose our petition, and the best way to do that is to turn to BGR," Rivera said of Belardes. Horton denied the charge. "[The lobbyists'] commitment is to assist in any way they can with the Belardes petition," he said, referring to the original 1982 petition. "You either, as a tribe, win or lose together." TM & Copyright c. THE POLITICO & POLITICO.COM, a division of Allbritton --------- "RE: COBELL: Upcoming Trial tackles important Issues" --------- Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 07:09:56 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="COBELL: BASIC TRUST TRIAL ISSUES ALL OVER AGAIN" http://www.indianz.com/News http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070918/COLUMNS/70918006/0/FRONTPAGE Writers on the Range: Indians keep up the fight for the money that's theirs BY ELOUISE COBELL Writers on the Range September 18, 2007 After 11 years of litigation, it's hard to believe that basic issues about the government's acknowledged mishandling of thousands of individual Indian trust accounts could remain unresolved. But thanks to the government's determination to prolong our class-action lawsuit over a scandal that dates back to 1887, many issues remain. On Oct. 10, that may change. That's when U.S. District Judge James Robertson will walk into Courtroom 23A in Washington, D.C., and attempt to resolve basic questions about what happened to the individual Indian Trust accounts the government established for 500,000 Native Americans. Ever since Judge Robertson was assigned the case late last year, he has been asking hard questions. In response to a request we filed, he is going to tackle some of the vital issues that have evaded resolution for years. We're talking about elementary issues, such as: How will the Interior Department conduct its long-promised accounting? How many of the thousands of trust accounts must it cover? What standards must the government use? Must it follow the accounting standards imposed on commercial banks and other fiduciary institutions? Or does the government, because it's the government, get a special pass? The judge has declared that he hopes the proceeding will give the public a dollar figure as to the amount of "through put" - as he calls it - money that never got to the Indians or their accounts. In short, he wants to know how much money the government stole from the Indians. Both sides in the case agree that since the trust accounts were created in 1887, roughly $13 billion has flowed to Native American beneficiaries. But while acknowledging major problems with the accounts, the government argues that Indians have gotten most of the money they were due. We say otherwise. There is documented evidence that Indians were cheated out of revenues that came from our lands. Abuses were widespread as oil and gas leases, timber sales and coal and hard-rock mining agreements were never even recorded, and payments were never made. What records existed were stored in barns and allowed to rot. Rats became the only record keepers at some sites. Numerous Indian families in the West have watched as oil wells chugged away 24-hours a day on their lands. But their government checks were often minuscule and, in some cases, they stopped coming even as the wells continued to chug. A major issue facing Judge Robertson will be how the Interior Department can now contend that it is able to recreate many of those lost trust records at an underground records center it has built at considerable taxpayer expense in Kansas. The judge will also have to weigh the fairness of the government's attempt to use statistics to make up for the many gaps in its records. We will argue that the government's plans are nothing more than a field of dreams. Interior Department bureaucrats have argued that the government can fix the trust - if Congress will just keep giving them millions more each year for their snail-paced effort at creating records we know are lost. No one can predict how long the trial will last. It will be an often technical proceeding, dealing with the fine points of accounting and what the government must do to perform the accounting. On May 31, the Interior Department submitted its latest plan to "complete" the court-ordered historical accounting. Its scheme excludes many beneficiaries from the process, and Judge Robertson must decide whether those exclusions are proper. Indian families who had trust accounts have suffered losses in the billions of dollars. Much of what they are owed is interest on monies that were never paid on time. Several appeals courts have agreed that the government must pay compound interest to make the Indian beneficiaries whole, and this is what we think is fair. That's why the government will be fighting so hard to restrict the number of trust beneficiaries covered by the accounting, since reducing the number of accounts can dramatically change the government's liability. For our part, we believe that 120 years ago, Congress created a trust agreement with Native Americans. It entitled every Indian covered to an accurate and timely accounting. But because the government has so totally failed some of our poorest citizens, a federal judge now has to put on the green eyeshades of an accountant. He must see that these forgotten Americans get justice - and their money back. --- Elouise Cobell is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (hcn.org). She is a member of the Blackfeet Nation from Browning, Mont., and lead plaintiff in the class-action lawsuit, Cobell vs. Kempthorne. Copyright c. 2007 Summit Daily - Frisco, CO. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Dreaming, dawdling at Dahlen esker" --------- Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 07:12:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: DAHLEN ND DREAMING" http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=51231 Dreaming, dawdling at Dahlen esker Dorreen Yellow Bird September 22, 2007 On a recent journey into the Plains area near Dahlen, N.D., I was introduced to the "Dahlen esker." It's a glacial hill that must be at least 100 feet high, a few hundred feet wide and several miles long. I also saw two old American Indian sites. The evening before, I'd talked with Marlene and Sandra Larson and new friends Jean and Russ Hoverson, all from Larimore, N.D. I'd learned there are some really interesting things to be found right here in our backyard. The next day, we explored those sites. It was one of those mixed days when the gray clouds hang low, threatening to pour rain yet never quite following through but it remained cool. The Dahlen esker is about 20 miles northwest of Larimore and was most impressive. My sister and daughter really were surprised that I hadn't heard of an esker. They learned back in grade school about those glacially built surprises on the surface of the Plains, they told me. I pretended not to hear as we drove the rough road up and over the Dahlen esker. I watched the sky instead. There were two big eagles soaring and diving above the tall hills. Then, more eagles joined until there were about six moving in circles, probably watching for movement on the ground between the eskers. The esker must look like a smile from an airplane because it seemed to curve in a giant half-circle. I'd guess it stretches several miles east and west. My daughter, Karen, climbed to the top and said the ground was covered with small rocks, almost as if someone had dumped them there. I suspect those small rocks had been big rocks or even boulders that were ground fine by the glaciers. Eskers are inverted riverbeds, Marlene and Sandra told me. Hmm, I thought; that doesn't really make sense; how can a riverbed rise so high above the Plains? But when I got back to the office the next day, I looked up the Dahlen esker. My friends were right. According to a North Dakota Geological Survey article, eskers "were deposited by streams and rivers that flowed on top of the glacier, in the cracks of the glacier, or in some cases, in tunnels beneath the ice. Imagine a river flowing in a valley or crack in the glacier. The banks of the river were ice and, in some places, the floor was also ice." The ancient rivers deposited sediment, just like rivers do today. The ice banks eventually melted away, leaving these gigantic hills on the plains. We spent some time watching the eagles and wishing we had the energy to climb the steep hills, but also enjoying the chilly day and good conversation. Then, we drove to explore two other sites, both of them on private land. The first was what many people in the area suspect was an Indian ceremonial ground. I suspect it was a village site at one time because I thought I could see the steps in the side of the hills beside the river a telltale sign of tribal people who grew crops. On the other side of the river, which now is dry, was an area that looked like it might have been ceremonial site. The site might need an expert eye to determine if it is indeed an old village site. Our last stop before returning home was a trail that went south and gradually turned west. The land is privately owned, as I mentioned, but the people who own it let us on their property to see the path. They knew this was a trail followed by Indian people who were moving from one area to the next because the stories of these travelers have been passed down from generation to generation. You actually could see the path, which still is worn down into the earth. This part of the land never was cultivated, and so the path is easy to see. There also are rocks in a small circle, probably used for these Indian travelers' cooking fire. Did I feel the presence of the spirits of the past relatives, probably who had passed that way many years ago? Probably . . . yes. I also must add that the good spirit of the people who live there now is evident, too evident in that they were willing to share with us the secrets of their land. --- Dorreen Yellow Bird is a reporter and columnist. Her columns appear Wednesdays and Saturdays on the opinion pages of the Herald. Reach her at (701) 780-1228 or dyellowbird@gfherald.com Copyright c. 2007 Grand Forks Herald, Forum Communications Co., Fargo ND. --------- "RE: GIAGO: I remember Kyle" --------- Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 07:12:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GIAGO: RESEARCH LEADS TO RECOLLECTIONS" http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=9028 I Remember Kyle By Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji) September 21, 2007 While researching on the Internet today I ran across the announcement that a 75-year-old man from Kyle, on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, had passed away. His name was Sidney Hunter. I remember Sid as a young boy swimming and playing at Kyle Dam. You see, Kyle was my hometown and it was a place where everybody felt safe. It was a place where all of the kids could go to Kyle Dam and spend the entire day and our folks wouldn't worry one bit. Sid was two years older than me and was already a veteran of the Holy Rosary Indian Mission Boarding School. After I started school there I remember him as a really tough kid that nobody wanted to mess with. He was good on a horse and in the cowboy language of today he would be called a "real hand." I had a lot of friends at Kyle. There was my immediate family as playmates, my brother Tony and my sisters Mary Jane, Sophie, Ethel, Lillian and the baby Shirley. Mary Jane would join the WACS in 1941 and report to San Antonio, Texas for basic training. Billy and Johnny Bear lived down the hill from me and "Dutch" Apple and Albert Janis, plus the Garnette boys, "Heavy" and "Frosty," and their sister Elizabeth, always stopped to visit and stay awhile when they were in town. We spent most of that summer fishing and swimming in Kyle Dam. At other times my dad would take us out to Three-Mile-Creek to visit his sister, my Aunt Lucy Vocu, and we would ride horses with my cousins Leo, Bobby, Melvin, Donna Mae, and Rosie. Leo would join the Navy as World War II started and Bobby and Melvin, we called Melvin "Buzzy," would join the Marines. The Lakota people are very patriotic. My father stood up as the godfather to Shirley Apple Murphy and she became my Lakota sister. Her little sister Cecelia would be the first woman ever elected as president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. There was an elderly priest named Father Sialm who was from the German- speaking area of Switzerland who had come to the reservation to save souls. He had a console radio and would play it very loudly with his front door wide open. We children would get a special kick out of him as he listened to the ranting of Adolph Hitler because he would shout back at Hitler in German at the top of his lungs. Of course we didn't know what Der Fuhrer was saying and we didn't know there was a war raging in Europe. This was before Pearl Harbor. It's funny how the death of a friend can bring back long forgotten memories. The Pine Ridge Reservation was in the news this week because some of the tribal members had asked Budweiser Beer to stop selling their product at the liquor outlets in the community of White Clay, Nebraska, a town that is just across the border from Pine Ridge. Many years ago there was a drive on to legalize the sale of alcohol on the reservation. I remember one of the alcohol counselors named Melvin "Dickie" Brewer speaking out in favor of legalizing it. He felt that anyone that wanted booze could get it from the bootleggers or just drive across the border to Nebraska. He thought that if it were legal the Tribe would have some control over it. And his alcoholism program would be able to raise money on liquor taxes to help alleviate the problem. Dickie used to say, "When I was drinking nobody ever put a gun to my head and told me to drink that booze or they'd shoot me." Another drug and alcohol counselor, Glen Three Stars, told me that when men and women from Pine Ridge went to the border towns to get alcohol they tried to drink it up before they got back to the reservation and that made the highways pretty dangerous. He called it "gulping and binging." Of course, none of this has anything to do with Sidney Hunter or my family, but there are a lot of mixed feelings on the reservation about legalizing the sale of alcohol and since it in the news today, I thought it was important to get a couple points of view on the subject. I was lucky to have lived in Kyle. In the summer of 1941 the annual Kyle Wacipi (dance or pow wow) was held across the street from my house. It was held next to the Kyle Day School, the school where I attended kindergarten before I left home for the boarding school. One elder told me many years later that this was the last pow wow before so many of the young men and women joined the armed forces and went off to fight in World War II. Many of them never came home to Kyle. Many of the people mentioned in this column have since departed this world. My sisters Mary Jane, Sophie and Shirley, and my brother Tony have all passed on. And "Buzzy" is the only child of my Aunt Lucy still alive. Billy Bear and Dutchy Apple have made that trip to the Spirit World. Perhaps they'll meet up with their old classmate Sydney Hunter as he rides that horse across the morning sky. Copyright c. 2007 Native American Journalists Foundation, Inc. --- Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, was born, raised and educated on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard in the Class of 1991 and founder of The Lakota Times and Indian Country Today newspapers. He founded and was the first president of the Native American Journalists Association. He can be reached at najournalist@msn.com Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: JODI RAVE: Put Indigenous Declaration to good use" --------- Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 07:01:42 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JODI RAVE: UN INDIGENOUS RIGHTS DECLARATION" http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/09/23/jodirave/rave35.txt Native News Column: Time to put indigenous declaration to good use By JODI RAVE of the Missoulian September 23, 2007 Beverly Jacobs arrived at the United Nations to see standards put in place to protect the human rights of the world's indigenous peoples. I met Jacobs Sept. 13 in the United Nations General Assembly hall just before 144 nations voted to adopt the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Four countries voted no. Eleven abstained. Jacobs, president of the Native Women's Association of Canada, was one of the only people I met from an English-speaking country who arrived in New York specifically to advocate for the rights of indigenous women. "A lot of our work is focused on the human rights violations that are happening to aboriginal women in Canada," she said. "Right now we're dealing with major crises of violence." The United States and Canada were among two of the four countries that voted against the declaration. Meanwhile, both nations share a responsibility in the horrendous treatment of indigenous women. This past Wednesday, police in Ontario released a composite sketch of a suspect in the murder of Kelly Morrisseau, a 27-year-old aboriginal woman found naked and stabbed in a parking lot last December. Kelly died later in a hospital. She was seven months pregnant. Family members hope witnesses will step forward. A vigil will be held in memory of Morrisseau on Oct. 4. She will be a reminder that aboriginal women in Canada are five times more likely to die a violent death than non-aboriginal women. They are more likely to live in poverty and more likely to be homeless. These women are being wiped out of existence. Some 500 indigenous women were missing or murdered in Canada in 2003. In the United States, one in three Native women will be raped in their lifetime. And violence against them is nearly three times higher than any other group in the United States, according to a U.S. Department of Justice report. While there are several Native women's coalitions in the United States, I'm not aware of a single organization dedicated specifically to indigenous women, unlike the Native Women's Association of Canada, which consists of 13 aboriginal women's organizations. The group provides a national voice for women in Canada and empowers women by developing and changing legislation to better protect them. In the United States, women are undisputed victims of a state, tribal and federal jurisdictional maze that endangers their lives. The last time I was at the United Nations was in December 2000. I had been invited to be a part of the U.N. Workshop on Indigenous Media as part of a subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. As the only U.S. Native journalist, I joined 35 media colleagues from around the world. We discussed a number of issues, including this question: How do the world's indigenous peoples get the mainstream media to pay attention to Native issues? It's an important topic because news outlets help define the world around us and provide a framework for daily community discussions. When indigenous peoples are missing from the framework, it's the equivalent of being invisible. It's one of the reasons why I express sincere appreciation for women like Jacobs who provide a presence and voice for indigenous women. She expressed hope that the declaration would be used to protect women. "Now we have an international declaration that can be used in the sense of the government's responsibilities to address these issues," said Jacobs. "They keep saying it's not a legal responsibility, but it doesn't matter. When it comes to responsibilities to indigenous people, one of the biggest principles that needs to be addressed is respect and trust." Those ideals were expressed by others. "The declaration does not represent solely the viewpoint of the United Nations, nor does it represent solely the viewpoint of the Indigenous Peoples," Les Malezer, chair of the International Indigenous People's Caucus, told the U.N. General Assembly. "It is a declaration, which combines our views and interests and which sets the framework for the future. It is a tool for peace and justice, based upon mutual recognition and mutual respect." The declaration states that countries "shall take measures, in conjunction with indigenous peoples, to ensure that indigenous women and children enjoy the full protection and guarantees against all forms of violence and discrimination." The declaration had been a U.N. work-in-progress for 25 years. Many others worked years before that to clear the declaration's path to the United Nations. Now it's time to put the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People to work. Reach Missoulian reporter Jodi Rave at 1-800-366-7186 or at jodi.rave@lee.net. Copyright c. 2007 Missoulian, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: EDITORIAL: Shameful inaction on Indian Health Care" --------- Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 07:12:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="EDITORIAL: HEALTH CARE" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/ 20070920/VOICES01/709200309/1162/VOICES01 Hope for Indian Health Service S.D. delegation must back long-needed reform passed by panel By Editorial Board Argus Leader September 20, 2007 It's been years since the federal Indian health care system received the kind of wholesale review and overhaul it so desperately needs. So while it was encouraging to see the Senate Finance Committee voted 20-1 to approve the Indian Health Care Improvement Act last week, one could be forgiven for a measure of skepticism. For years, the program has been funded at per-person levels far below mainstream health care, and the quality of care has suffered for it. According the IHS's own fact sheets, more than two thirds of claims for necessary health care procedures not available within the IHS system are denied because of budget constraints. The system functions by paying claims for only the most necessary care - when loss of life or limb are imminent. That policy puts a strain on the mainstream hospitals that rightly treat Indian patients. But more importantly, it's a predicament that has surely cost lives in the past eight years. The United States government has an obligation, under the terms of treaties signed long ago, to provide health care to the Native American population. It is difficult to argue that this obligation has been fully and fairly met. South Dakota's congressional delegates have supported improvements to the Indian health care system in the past - particularly Sen. Tim Johnson, who holds a seat on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. It has been a long road to get even this close to a better system, and it will take strong leadership to see it through. Who better than the delegates from South Dakota, where the results of years of shameful inaction are most obvious, to provide it? Copyright c. 2007 Argus Leader Media. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: MNA adopt their own Harvesting Laws" --------- Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 07:34:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ME'TIS NATION OF ALBERTA ABOPT OWN HARVESTING LAWS" http://www.ammsa.com/sweetgrass/Sweet-Sept2-2007.html MNA adopt their own harvesting laws By Dianne Meili Sweetgrass Writer EDMONTON September 2007 The Me'tis Nation of Alberta (MNA) has adopted its own policy to regulate hunting and fishing by its members. In a move to retain their Constitutional right to hunt, MNA members rejected the Alberta government's harvesting regulations at their Aug. 19 general assembly in favour of their own policy. "If members do decide to hunt, we're not sure how far this will go," cautioned MNA President Audrey Poitras. "If you're charged, your meat may be confiscated, maybe even your vehicle. But as far as your legal concerns go, the MNA has a legal defense fund to help you." Harvesters eligible for this support must be acting within the terms of the MNA's policy. "We've turned away hunters who've come to us for help in the past if their charge stems from being irresponsible - like a safety issue," Poitras said. "Our's is a good, responsible policy," said MNA's Me'tis rights expert Cecil Bellerose of the eight-page harvesting policy. "It clearly states who is Me'tis and where they can hunt, and it addresses responsibility and conservation issues." Eligible harvesters must apply for identification stickers to be affixed to the back of their MNA membership card. Members must be approved by the MNA to obtain this sticker. "Our staff will be out checking harvesters as usual, just as we always have," said Sustainable Resource Development spokesperson Dave Ealey, who underlined the department is not trying to be unfair. "There needs to be an understanding out there we are merely upholding the law of the land as handed down by the Supreme Court, in the absence of having our own provincial agreement." An Interim Me'tis Harvesting Agreement (IMHA) had been in place that gave Me'tis harvesters the same hunting and fishing rights as First Nation members, but the agreement came under severe criticism from the Alberta Fish and Game Association and other conservation groups who protested it had been developed without public or stakeholder input. While the interim agreement was in place, the MNA and Aboriginal Affairs department worked to draft a long-term harvesting policy with the understanding that either party, with notice, could terminate negotiations. In April, Guy Boutilier, the provincial minister of Aboriginal Affairs, indicated the IMHA would be terminated within 90 days, giving the MNA and the province three months to hammer out a long term harvesting policy. When talks stalled, the MNA requested the IMHA be extended for an additional 60 days to allow for continued negotiations. "We received a letter that no extension would be granted," Poitras said. When the IMHA ended in July, the province replaced the agreement with the regulations that were in place before the interim agreement was finalized in 2004-harvesting regulations resulting from the 2003 Powley case, in which the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed the Metis right to hunt and fish under certain guidelines. The government then posted a policy that, according to the MNA, contained none of the points of agreement the two parties had been working on. "The Powley case sets standards for hunting, and since we haven't been able to agree upon a long term harvesting agreement for Alberta, we are bound - as the agency responsible for enforcing hunting laws - to go back and uphold the Supreme Court's stipulation," Ealey explained. In a letter submitted to Windspeaker, MNA Vice President Trevor Gladue took issue with government's latest policy because the Me'tis were not consulted regarding its impact. He questions the designation within which Me'tis harvesters are allowed to hunt (an area within a 160-kilometre radius around Alberta's eight Me'tis settlements and 17 designated Me'tis communities). None of these are located within Southern Alberta. "So is the government saying that our Me'tis people in Southern Alberta are less Me'tis than those in the North? I think not," he said. "The government believes that it has the right to tell us who we are as a people," Gladue wrote. "We as the Me'tis Nation know who we are. We have worked hard over the years determining a national definition of Me'tis. We do not just give out membership cards to anyone; we have a very stringent process in place in which our people are required to provide proof of ancestral connection to the Me'tis community." "The province has no say in this matter," Me'tis hunter Art Majeau said. "My hunting rights are a Constitutional right." He wonders exactly what kind of proof he will need to prove to the government he is an eligible harvester with an affiliation to a Me'tis community. Should he be charged, he will have 60 days to prove his eligibility. "The details of that proof falls under the Aboriginal Affairs department," explained Ealey. Copyright c. 2007 Alberta Sweetgrass, AMMSA-Aboriginal Multi-Media Society. --------- "RE: Youth Programs receive much needed Funding" --------- Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 07:34:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="EDMONTON ABORIGINAL YOUTH PROGRAMS GET FUNDED" http://www.ammsa.com/sweetgrass/Sweet-Sept1-2007.html Youth programs receive much needed funding By GAURI CHOPRA Sweetgrass Staff Writer EDMONTON September 2007 Five Edmonton based Aboriginal youth initiatives received some much needed grants from the Canadian Heritage department in late July. The overall sum of $851,020 was provided for specific programs that focus on helping Aboriginal youth make positive life choices. Each organization was allotted different amounts of money depending on the programs they provide. The five organizations to receive money were, Native Counselling Services of Alberta, John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights, Me'tis Child and Family Services Society, Edmonton Native Healing Centre and the Edmonton Native Basketball Association. Funding for the groups came from different facets of the Canadian Heritage department. Majority of the money came from the Urban Multi- purpose Aboriginal Youth Centre Initiative of the department. The association provides support to initiatives that work with Aboriginal inner-city youth between the ages of 15 and 24. The other facet of the Canadian Heritage department that did put forth money was the Exchanges Canada Initiative's Youth Forums component. The Exchanges Canada Initiative, "offers young Canadians the opportunity to learn more about their country, to connect with one another, and to experience the diversity of Canadian communities, languages and cultures," according to a press release. Native Counselling Services of Alberta received the most money, $379,000. It was put towards four programs; Negan Tapeh (Looking towards the future), the Aboriginal Multi- Media Arts program, gang prevention/intervention program, and the Nikanihew Future Leaders Program. "This year we were lucky we had the four programs that were funded. I think that particularly with the gang prevention program and intervention program, I think it's very timely at this point, because gangs are becoming an issue of concern in the city of Edmonton. And have been identified by many organizations as being an emerging issue. So if we can get out and talk to service providers and parents and children at risk, then we are starting to do part of our part," said Director of operations Robyn Scott. The John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights was founded in 2000 as a a non-profit organization. It was given $111,000, for it's annual Global Youth Assembly. The assembly took place August 1-4, in Edmonton. Youth participants spoke about issues of racism, youth violence, and poverty among many things.The Me'tis Child and Family Services, also based in Edmonton, received $131,020 for its CHOICES program. The program strives to encourage Me'tis youth to stay in school, using cultural methods. Students are referred to the program by their schools, and get involved in various activities such as Me'tis outfit making, educational field trips, and cultural teaching sessions taught by Elders. The Edmonton Native Healing Society put in an application to the Department of Canadian Heritage, and received $140,000 for their Striving for Excellence program. The program is youth driven and focuses on teaching participants useful and culturally sensitive life skills. The three 12-week sessi ons are open to Aboriginal youth ages 15 to 24. Over the 12 weeks, youth have access to language courses, young mothers courses, one on one counselling and suicide prevention and intervention. "We offer youth programming throughout the year, so all of the money we received helps us keep our programs running. We are a community based agency, and we work with urban Aboriginal people," said Michelle Nieviadomy, youth program coordinator. The final youth initiative to receive funding this year was the Edmonton Native Basketball Association. The association received funds for $90,000. The two-year old program provides a place for Aboriginal youth to remain active while gaining self-esteem and life-skills, as well as an appreciation for teamwork. The group also encourages participants to stay drug and alcohol free through substance abuse education, and gang awareness training. Copyright c. 2007 Alberta Sweetgrass, AMMSA - Aboriginal Multi-Media Society. --------- "RE: Saskatchewan tackles affordable Housing Crisis" --------- Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 07:34:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="AFFORDABLE ABORIGINAL HOUSING" http://www.ammsa.com/sage/Sage-Sept1-2007.html Province tackles affordable housing crisis By Cheryl Petten Sage Staff Writer SASKATOON September 2007 The Saskatchewan government is putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to addressing the shortage of affordable housing in the province. Over the past few weeks, the government has announced a slew of projects aimed at increasing the amount of affordable housing in Saskatchewan. Many of those projects will see more affordable housing created in northern communities, while others are geared specifically to providing affordable housing options to First Nation and Me'tis people living in urban centres. At the end of August, the province announced the official opening of a number of housing developments in the north-two renovated fourplexes in Cumberland House that will provide additional affordable rental housing to single people and childless couples in the community; a new modular housing project in Sandy Bay that will provide affordable housing to 10 families; a four-unit rental housing project in Air Ronge that will accommodate four families; a two-unit development that will provide affordable housing for low-income single people and small families in Ile a la Crosse; 12 new rental units for low-income families in La Loche; and eight one-bedroom housing units that will provide additional affordable housing to the residents of Beauval. On Aug. 21, a new affordable rental housing project officially opened up in North Battleford. The 89-unit project is owned by the Nationswest Housing Corporation, a non-profit organization created by the Battlefords Tribal Council. The project was funded jointly by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation, the City of North Battleford and Nationswest. A week later, another affordable housing complex was officially opened in Regina. Red Ribbon Place, a joint venture between the All Nations Hope AIDS Network and AIDS Program South Saskatchewan, will provide 12 affordable apartments for low-income individuals and families. But the bulk of the announcements concerned bringing more affordable housing to Saskatoon. On Aug. 16, the province issued a news release about its commitment to provide funding for Sasknative Rentals' plans to buy and renovate two apartment buildings to create 70 affordable rental units for Aboriginal families in the city. On Aug 20, another announcement was made, this one touting the province's plan to partner with the City of Saskatoon and One Arrow First Nation to fund renovation of an inner-city apartment building to provide affordable housing to 15 First Nation families. In addition to the new projects, the official opening of two new rental housing projects in Saskatoon was also announced in August-a newly renovated apartment building that will provide 12 new affordable rental units for Me'tis families and individuals, and a 12 unit apartment building that was renovated with funds from the provincial and federal governments, the City of Saskatoon and the Saskatoon Tribal Council and that will provide affordable housing for First Nation families moving from their reserve to Saskatoon. Another government announcement, made by Community Resource Minister Kevin Yates on Aug. 29, will see an increase in the amount of the shelter allowances paid out to social assistance and transitional employment allowance recipients. Lower income families and people with disabilities that are receiving the Saskatchewan rental housing supplement will also see the amount they receive increase, as will individuals receiving the provincial training allowance. The allowance increase is part of the provincial government's overall strategy to deal with housing concerns. Announced on Aug. 8 by Kevin Yates, Justice Minister Frank Quennell and Judy Junor, minister of the Crown Investments Corporation and minister responsible for the Status of Women, the strategy included a series of consultation meetings, which took place in Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert during the month of August. Junor, who was asked by the premier to look into the housing situation in the province's urban centres, took part in the roundtable sessions, gathering input from community leaders-including representatives from the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and local tribal councils-and service delivery providers. The recommendations coming out of those meetings have been submitted to the premier, but they have yet to be released to the public. The province has also launched a toll-free housing information line - 1- -888-3-HOME-07 (1-888-346-6307). The information line will provide people with assistance if they are having troubles finding affordable accommodations or are facing large rent increases or possible eviction. The information line will be manned seven days a week-from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday and from 8 a.m. to 5 p. m. on Saturday and Sunday. Callers to the line will receive information about the programs or services that can best help them with their current situation, whether it be a government program or an organization or business operating out in the community. "We find as we're meeting with people that they don't know what's out there. And we think, we have the services that we're offering so we don't have people living in campsites and women with four children not having anyplace to go. We think, we've got that covered. But then we hear from women that they don't know about these things, or where to call, or aren't getting the response that they need," Junor said. Having well-trained and knowledgeable staff in place manning the information line will be key to its success, Junor explained. "We don't want people calling in and getting, press one for this and star for that and whatever. They want to talk to a person. They want to know that that person knows where to send them. Because the person will have to know quite clearly what's available and where to direct the person to get the best service. And that has to happen in a timely manner because many of these people are facing issues that are pretty much 'Hurry up and find me something because I've been told I can't live here anymore.' And so we can't have a lot of to-ing and fro-ing about whose responsible for what and where things are," she said. There's an amazing array of support systems out there. And I think one of the big challenges we have is to make sure people know them. And that we make them work for them. Sometimes we're not terribly flexible, and I find that that's something that we also need-to think outside the box. And we need to be flexible in applying some of the things that we do have." Copyright c. 2007 Alberta Sweetgrass, AMMSA-Aboriginal Multi-Media Society. --------- "RE: Red-X escapes Guantanamo Gulag!" --------- Date: Monday, September 17, 2007 02:21 pm From: orakwa Subj: MNN Red-X escapes Guantanamo Gulag! BULLETIN! INFAMOUS INDIGENOUS SAGE "RED-X" EXCAPES FROM GUANTANAMO - WITH A MESSAGE! MNN. Sept. 17, 2007. At this time we don't know how the infamous Indigenous sage, Red-X, escaped from the Guantanamo Gulag. His captors tried to break his spirit. But the Red-X said, "I already know this scene. I went to rez school!" The account of his escapades is forthcoming. People Magazine, E-Talk Daily and the New York Times are all reportedly fighting for first dibs on his story. Red-X is keeping his mouth zipped. "I don't need to talk to no colonial rag. MNN is the only one I'll talk to. My story is just for my people!" As MNN reported months ago, the Red-X had been captured and was being tortured. He had communicated that he would make contact with those who had fine tuned their perceptions, who had ears to hear, eyes to see and minds to know. Red-X indicated that he did receive a sign from the "war counsel" of the Third Dimension which makes itself known to those who are placed in abject confinement. Red-X was inculcated with lyrics passed on to him on a stone tablet which was presented to him by a powerful warrior spirit, who spoke with thunder in his voice, lightening emanating through his eyes and with the head of a burning bush. His muscles looked like the mountains surrounding eternity. The truth inscribed on this tablet from this ethereal being were to be transmitted to the mundane realm which we live in. The communicative enlightenment was to manifest its elucidation by means of melodious tonality. The musical vibration and the message would liberate the millions of people who have been imprisoned in their minds, deprived of free thought and the ability to contemplate in full cogitation. This is all part of his "sageocity". People have been traumatized by the horrible shock and awe perpetuated by the neo conservative cabal of the Bush administration. They murdered over 3000 people in blood so cold that it would make Truman Capote shiver with a need for a steam bath at the nearest spa. As one can imagine, the "force" tells no lies. The ethereal realm presented sacred missives in honor of the Red-X. Red-X was instructed to deliver the words in the appropriate manner so that the truth could be converted into power. That power would then suffuse a sonorific voice that could translate into psychic transfusion. The words would be transmitted by means of rhythmic nuances for the understanding of those who are ready to hear it. As he crossed the ocean from Cuba escorted by a fleet of dolphins onto Turtle Island , his silver eagle was waiting. He quickly mounted the silver eagle and headed back West to the place where the sun never sleeps. As he flew he reminisced about the horrible atrocities that had been perpetrated upon his mortal form, which he never succumbed to, because his will to live is unyielding. He understands the suffering of his Arab brothers and sisters by the U.S. military torturers who have been given unlimited powers according to their so-called "extraordinary rendition". The Red-X was constantly tortured on the "water board". Nothing could break him down. They wanted him to reveal the secret power of the Indigenous people who are able to communicate with the "kasastenera kowa sa oiera". They want to know why they have not been able to totally exterminate us. We know who we are. We have the marks that denote our special place on this earth. They put a hood over his head so he could not recognize his torturers, as if he couldn't tell they were Americans, especially when they greeted him with "Howdy Doody!" They put him face down suspended by a pulley. He was then lowered into a pit of gurgling water so that he would sink to the bottom and be made to think he would drown. His torturers fed him during the day one sparse portion of cornmeal and a piece of sugar came. They thought they were starving him. They did not know that maize is an integral part of the indigenous diet and thus the main sources of the Red-X's mystical psychic power. They were totally "amaized" at his strength. "I have tried to expose the truth about what happened in New York City at the Twin Towers on September 11th 2001. I have been greatly concerned about the falsehoods being spread because it was built by my people, the Onkwehonweh". He was troubled by the official story given by the U.S. government through their mouthpiece Ari Fleischer who said, "Be careful what you say and who you say it to". He was warning about the police state that was coming and the penalties for those who talked about 911 in any other form except from the "official patriotic" perspective. The War Counsel told him, "You have suffered enough, Red-X. We will make it easy for you to escape". He memorized the lyrics that were on the tablet, which then evaporated right before his deep set eyes. As he flew the words kept coming to him: 1. 911 was a "false flag", nothing new It's been tried and true As a means to perpetuate The war mongering greed Of the very elite few Hell-bent on dictating Who we are and what we do CHORUS: You can't escape the eagle's eye The winds can hear your plans and lies Your skull and bones and false flag flies But the spirits of justice are on the rise 2. The epitome of evil false flag operations When you kill your own people To justify attacking other nations Side stepping the rules Governing war crimes and treason Murder and genocide for your own sick reason CHORUS 3. How dumb do you think we are? You control-demoed those Twin Towers Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom! From the very top floor down Anti-terror fire and brimstone With a dash of pyrotechnics Suspending rights and cleansing ethnics CHORUS 4. Stand down orders to the U.S. Air Force Allowing four planes To go unchecked and off course But, hey, what happened to The plane that flew into the Pentagon? Come on! No parts! No luggage! No bodies! Something is very wrong Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowich and Bush Have the motive, the means and the opportunity Just like Hitler, Pinochet, PolPot and Mouselini Your crimes are against humanity And for that there is no immunity CHORUS 5. Your game is up Burn in HELL Your future generations Will know this story well Your oiligarchy is The next tower to come down And the history of truth is The only story we'll tell CHORUS Red-X spoke these words to his messenger, Bro'hawk, who found Dacajawea [Splitting the Sky], who converted it to music with the assistance of She- Keeps-The-Door, Speaks-The-Truth, Shahada and Nat. "Truth to Power" came into being. [contact: splitting_the_sky@yahoo.com] Listen and live on! http://www.myspace.com/truthtopowertimes2 Kahentinetha Horn MNN Mohawk Nation News See: "Red X" http://www.mohawknationnews.com/news/news4.php?en=en&layout=mnn&category= 13&srcurl=%2Fnews%2Fnews3.php%3Flang%3Den%26layout%3Dmnn%26sortorder%3D0 --------- "RE: Tribal Judges: Case of killed Whale is Personal" --------- Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 07:34:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MAKAH TRIBAL JUDGES PROMISE DRASTIC MEASURES" http://www.theolympian.com/northwest/story/219080.html For Makah tribal judges, case of killed whale is personal The Associated Press September 16, 2007 NEAH BAY, Wash. - Jean Vitalis isn't feigning impartiality when it comes to the case of five Makah tribal members who hunted - and killed - a gray whale without permission this month. "We have a treaty right to hunt and fish," the chief judge of the tribe's court said. "But by God, that doesn't mean you go after king salmon when it is out of season." Nor is Emma Doulik, the 73-year-old associate judge. "Right now I am just so angry because they hurt the tribe so blatantly," she said. These are the judges the five men could face, perhaps in addition to a U.S. District Court judge. Federal prosecutors say they might decide this week whether to file charges against tribal members Wayne Johnson, Theron Parker, Andy Noel, Billy Secor and Frank Gonzales Jr. for getting into a motorboat Sept. 8, chasing down a gray whale, and harpooning and shooting it. After 10 hours, the whale died and sank to the bottom of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Tribal leaders rushed to Washington, D.C., where they apologized and tried to do damage control in an effort to keep the killing from hurting their efforts to hunt legally again. In 1999, they killed their first whale in 70 years. Vitalis and Doulik are lifelong residents of Neah Bay and leaders among the Makah. They don't have law degrees, but they have had legal training. They are traditional judges, trained in Makah tribal culture, customs, and ordinances passed by the tribal council. And they'll be the first to tell you: Reservation justice is not blind. "I look them right in the eye," Vitalis, 58, told The Seattle Times of defendants before her court. "They know where I live and I know where they live. I know what kind of car they drive, and whether they have a license. I am a mother in the community, and grandmother, and to say we are blind, that is impossible." Tribal law requires the judge to consider not only what happened to the whale but damage done to the entire community. Possible penalties could include up to a year in jail in Neah Bay and a $5,000 fine. "Of course I'm worried about what could happen," Wayne Johnson, one of the whalers, said. "That jail is like a dog pound. I had a friend in there and they fed him the same surplus-commodity TV dinners from Fort Lewis for three months." But Johnson, who is unapologetic about the hunt, insists that the whalers can fall back on their treaty rights - an argument Vitalis and Doulik reject out of hand. "We are just trying to follow today's standards and procedures, and now we have gone back to square one, and it's really sad," Doulik said. Is it problematic for Doulik and Vitalis to sit on cases about which they have already formed opinions? They said they always offer to find a substitute if a defendant doubts their fairness. "If we had to recuse ourselves on the basis of prior knowledge, we would never be able to hear anything or manage anything," Vitalis said. No tribal charges have been filed or trial date has been set. Both judges say they are ready for the responsibility, whenever it comes. "It's terrible, but we are going to have to show we have the capability of taking drastic action on something like this, because it is wrong," Doulik said. Copyright c. 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 2007 The Olympian, McClatchy Newspapers. --------- "RE: Hopi Council approves appeal of Court Decision" --------- Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 07:09:56 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HOPI COUNCIL VOTES TO APPEAL NUVAMSA DECISION" http://www.navajohopiobserver.com/main.asp? SectionID=35&SubSectionID=47&ArticleID=6166 Hopi Tribal Council approves appeal of trial court decision Submitted by Art Batala Special to the Observer September 18, 2007 KYKOTSMOVI - During its Sept. 10 meeting, the Hopi Tribal Council voted overwhelmingly to appeal the trial court decision of Aug. 27, issued in the Nuvamsa v. Honyaoma case. That decision purported to nullify the Hopi Tribal Council's adoption of Resolution H-036-2007, which had nullified the special general election of February 2007. The Council adopted the resolution following its receipt of information showing that candidate Benjamin Nuvamsa was not qualified for office, given his failure to meet constitutionally mandated residency requirements. All decisions of the Hopi Tribal Court are subject to appeal to the Hopi Appellate Court. Every party to a lawsuit who disagrees with the court's decision has the right to appeal that decision to the Hopi Appellate Court. The council decided to appeal the decision because it believes the court unlawfully asserted authority over the legislative actions of the council and because the decision invites lawsuits against future council actions, regardless of their nature. Specifically, a majority of the council views the judge's decision as laying the foundation for future unfounded lawsuits not only against the Hopi Tribal Council, as the governing body of the Hopi Tribe, but also against each individual council member in their official and individual capacities. "The danger in the decision is that it provides an opportunity for anyone-Hopi and non-Hopi alike-to file a lawsuit against the [Hopi] Tribal Council and/or its members anytime an individual is unhappy with a law, resolution or other action adopted by the council," said Vice Chairman Todd Honyaoma Sr. The council's decision to file the appeal was also based on the fact that if the trial court's decision is allowed to stand, any party could sue the council and overturn its actions, simply by suing individual council members, even though the council i