_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 15, ISSUE 044 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 October 29, 2007 Mvskogee Otowoskv-rakko/big chestnut moon Eastern Cherokee Nvda tsiyahloha/harvest moon Anishnaabe Binaakwe-giizis/falling leaves moon +-------------------------------------------------------+ | Much more happens in Indian Country than is reported | | in this weekly newsletter. For daily updates & events | | go to http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm | +-------------------------------------------------------+ Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin -- Blackfeet -- News for All the People Ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min -- Ojibwe -- We Are Talking About Ourselves Aunchemokauhettittea -- Naragansett -- Let Us Share News Kanoheda Aniyvwiya -- Cherokee -- Journal of the People O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse -- Creek -- People's New News O o O Acimowin -- Plains Cree -- Story or Account O o O Tlaixmatiliztli -- Nahuatl -- News O o o o o O Agnutmaqan -- Listuguj Mi'kmaq -- News O o O Sho-da-ku-ye -- Teehahnahmah -- Talking Birchbark O o O Un Chota -- Susquehannic Seneca -- The People Speak O Ha-Sah-Sliltha -- Ditidaht Nation -- News of the People Ximopanolti tehuatzin, inin Mexika tlahtolli -- Nahuatl -- For you we offer these words It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le -- Chickasaw -- Together We Are Talking Dineh jii' adah' ho'nil'e'gii ba' ha' neh -- Navajo Nation -- What's Happening among The People News Okla Humma Holisso Nowat Anya -- Choctaw -- People(s) Red Newspaper Hi'a chu ah gaa -- Pima -- The stories or the talk of the People s ch mA mL tL squee Lux -- Okanogan -- News from the People Native American News -- Language of the Occupation Forces ++>If you speak a Native American language not listed above, please send us your words for "News of the People." We'd rather take up this whole page saving these few words of our hundreds of nations than present a nice clean banner in the language of the occupation forces who came here determined to replace our words with their own. email gars@nanews.org with the equivalent of "News of the People" in your tribal language along with the english translation <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is produced in straight ASCII text for greatest portability across platforms. Read it with a fixed-pitch font, such as Courier, Monaco, FixedSys or CG Times. Proportional fonts will be difficult to read. <================<<<< >>>>================> This issue contains articles from: www.indianz.com; www.pechanga.net; www.indiancountrytoday.com; Mailing List: Mohawk Nation News, Chiapas95-En, Native Poetry UUCP Mail IMPORTANT!! ----------- In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, all material appearing in this newsletter is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for educational purposes. <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is a way of keeping the brothers and sisters who share our Spirit informed about current events within the lives of those who walk the Red Road. ++ It may be subscribed to via email by sending a request from your own internet addressable account to gars@speakeasy.org ++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org <================<<<< >>>>================> +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | As historian Patricia Nelson | | Once a language is lost, it is | | Limerick summarized in "The | | gone forever | | Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken | | * Of the 300 original Native | | Past of the American West... | | languages in North America, | | "Set the blood quantum at | | only 175 exist today. | | one-quarter, hold to it as a | | * 125 of these are no longer | | rigid definition of Indians, | | learned by children. | | let intermarriage proceed as | | * 55 are spoken by 1 to 6 elders;| | it had for centuries, and | | when they die, their language | | eventually Indians will be | | will disappear. | | defined out of existence." | | * Without action, only 20 | | "When that happens, the federal | | languages will survive the next| | government will be freed of | | 50 years. | | its persistent 'Indian problem.'"| | Source: Indigenous Language | +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ | Institute | |http://www.indigenous-language.org| This issue's Quotes: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + "We're coming down to share our story." "As we sobered up, we started to deal with the sexual abuse in our community and residential school abuse. We've gone through all that." "We are definitely alive, and ever so aware - as before we were in a drunken stupor, those things didn't matter and people lived and died and that was an acceptable way of life." "But now we're involved in our lives. We hurt. We cry. We heal." __ Phyllis Chelsea, Shuswap +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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 lead story in this issue, "Alcohol exposure affects Generations", reminds us it isn't just meth and crack that are destroying our lives, our youth, our nations. We still live with the specter of the first devil presented to us by the Europeans, alcohol. My relatives, I will not dwell on or belabor the obvious. These drugs, and they are all drugs, solve nothing. These drugs destroy from within. These drugs leave a legacy of hopeless despair. You cannot teach your children to "Just say `No.'" if you are yourself hiding your humanity behind a mask that will suffocate your will to be a human being and your will to live. ' ' 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: - Views: South Dakota . Continuing deadly and Native Americans curse of Alcohol - Sho-Ban to meet with Governor - Alcohol exposure about Fuel Tax affects Generations - Shoshone-Bannock Tribes - Attorney to testify sign Fuel Tax Agreement against Interior in Trust Case - Navajo Council sends appreciation - BIA Official to Sen. Jon Kyl tells about Accounts - Convention to be broadcast - Cobell historical accounting in Native Languages Trial wraps up - O'odum return from Encuentro - Navajos seek Funds - EDITORIAL: Sac and Fox Nation to clear Uranium Contamination brings hope to City - Uranium legacy outrages Congress - YELLOW BIRD: Tribe - Ski Resort criticized Tribes uses naming rights with care in Sacred Site Case - CLARK: The Curse of Chief Wahoo - Bennett: Family that gave land - JODI RAVE: Native violence has no regrets topic of Conference - Tribe's nets spark Sports, - GALANDA AND JUAREZ: Rights rift 21st Century Indian Wars - Two Tribes among hardest hit - Confusion between Great Law by California Fires & Handsome Lake Code - Rincon lose 65 Structures: - Arguments delayed 'We were left behind' in UND Nickname Case - Wildfires burning up - Judge hearing case was in Group Southern Cal. Reservations with Indian Mascot - Harris Fire began - UND gets nickname reprieve at controversial Blackwater Site - Mille Lacs Enforcement: - Senators push for action The sticking Point on Lumbee Recognition - Native Justice - Bush blasts Native Hawaiian -- Native activists traveling Self-Determination to Omaha to aid Family - House passes Native Hawaiian Bill - Rustywire: - Oldest Member of Spirit Lake My Son and the Sick Old Man to celebrate 94 Years - Lee Goins Poem: One Life One Song - Hopi teacher wins - Native Discoveries Spirit of the Heard Award & Spanish Artifacts Unearthed - Autumn Moon PowWow Nov. 3-4 --------- "RE: Alcohol exposure affects Generations" --------- Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 07:26:11 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ALCOHOL" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/10/17/indianfasd/ Alcohol exposure affects generations on Indian reservations by Tom Robertson, Minnesota Public Radio October 22, 2007 Alcohol and pregnancy don't mix. Pregnant women who drink alcohol expose their babies to a wide range of birth defects. It's called Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, and in Minnesota alone, that damage affects tens of thousands of children and adults. Fetal alcohol damage affects all racial groups, but American Indians are hardest hit. Studies from the Center for Disease Control show the fetal alcohol rate among Indians is 30 times higher than whites. Health workers on Minnesota Indian reservations say fetal alcohol damage is a huge problem in some tribal communities. There's a growing effort to fight a problem that for years has been ignored or misunderstood. Bemidji, Minn. - It's no secret that alcohol has had a devastating impact on American Indians. But what many in Indian communities are less comfortable talking about is the damage caused when pregnant women drink alcohol. Some call fetal alcohol exposure the number one problem in Indian Country. It's causing a literal brain drain in tribal communities. "I would say it's very definitely a problem, almost pervasive," says Sandra Parsons, director of Family and Children's Services for the Red Lake Band of Ojibwe in northern Minnesota. "I haven't found anybody yet who disputes that. I think people would be literally amazed at how prevalent it might be." Parsons has worked with American Indian kids for years on three reservations. She says acknowledgement of the extent of fetal alcohol damage in tribal communities is scattershot, at best. Yet there are many families who know intimately how that damage can turn things upside down. When Red Lake tribal member Sue Antone adopted three kids in the 1990s, she had no idea what she was getting into. The children were adopted from an Indian tribe in Arizona, where Antone lived for several years. Antone says her kids seem normal to most people, but they have problems. Joshua, Matthew and Shyra all have the same biological mother, an alcoholic who's in an Arizona prison for murder. Antone has had the kids since they were babies. She could tell early on there was something wrong. She says 11-year-old Matthew is especially difficult. "I would be crying, because it was so hard," says Antone. "Having him in a room was like having 10 kids in that room, not just one. He never could sit still. He was very destructive, abusive, not only to his siblings, but to himself. I swear, I thought he could not feel pain." Matthew was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder when he was 18 months old. That made it easier for Antone to get her son into a fetal alcohol diagnostic clinic at the University of Minnesota. At age three, Matthew was diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Antone believes her other two kids are also damaged by alcohol. Like Matthew, Joshua and Shyra have learning, behavior or health problems. Antone wanted proof that alcohol could be the cause so she wrote a bunch of letters to the children's imprisoned biological mother. Antone pleaded with the woman to admit she drank while she was pregnant. Finally, in 2005, a letter from prison confirmed there was heavy drinking during all three pregnancies. That letter was hard to take for 16-year-old Shyra, but knowing the truth didn't change much. Shyra still struggles in school. She has memory problems. She has trouble with basic math and counting money. The soft spoken teenager is bitter over what her biological mom did to her. "I was mad and I got sad afterwards," says Shyra, "and I couldn't believe that she did that." Shyra has still not been diagnosed with fetal alcohol damage. Antone says she's asked doctors at Red Lake to refer Shyra and nine-year-old Joshua to a fetal alcohol diagnostic clinic. So far that hasn't happened. Antone says the schools are mostly unresponsive. She was denied disability services for the children. Antone says there's very little support in the Red Lake community for her kids' special needs. "Every time I try to do something to try to get somebody to help me with fetal alcohol, another door slams," says Antone. "And it takes me a few more years for another door to open. Well, I don't have that many years left and I don't know if I can keep doing this. I feel like I'm failing." Very few kids at Red Lake get diagnosed with fetal alcohol damage. Diagnosis is a long process that requires input from doctors, psychologists, and therapists. There's not even a diagnostic clinic on the reservation. Kids who get a referral are sent to Duluth hours away, where there's often a six month waiting list. Yet some say the need at Red Lake is enormous. Family and Children's Services director Sandra Parsons says last year the agency worked with more than 900 children, many with behavior problems. She believes prenatal alcohol exposure is largely to blame. Yet she says fetal alcohol is one of those hush-hush topics in the community. "It's kind of one of those don't talk about it, don't exist pieces," says Parsons. "But if we are damaging our kids in those kind of numbers, somebody needs to talk about it. Somebody needs to be looking at what is the reality." The reality is bleak on many Indian reservations. In some communities, the number of kids in special education is double the national average. American Indian students are three times as likely as other kids to drop out of school. In Minnesota, Indians are 12 times more likely to end up in prison. Parsons says there's little scientific research to connect the dots from those looming social problems to fetal alcohol damage. But she and others believe it's likely a root cause. Alcohol damages the wiring in the brain. People exposed have trouble understanding cause and effect. They sometimes have what Parsons calls a swiss cheese memory, making it difficult to process the world around them. "They're in trouble at school, they're in trouble at home, they're in trouble on the bus, you know," says Parsons. "It gets to be very frustrating for these kids to believe that nobody listens, nobody understands, nobody cares. And yet they have no clue themselves as to what's going on, or why." Parsons says Red Lake is trying to get the message out about fetal alcohol damage. They're developing a children's mental health service that will screen toddlers for the condition. And there are efforts elsewhere in Indian Country. Public health nurse Mary May works for the Leech Lake Health Division, she educates women on the dangers of drinking while pregnant. May believes most women know alcohol can damage their fetus, many quit drinking as soon as they discover they're pregnant. But May says alcohol is so engrained into the fiber of many tribal families, education isn't always enough. "Even though we have educational efforts, I still think they take their cues from their family, from the society they're living in," says May. "And it may be one thing to say you know alcohol damages a fetus. But if everybody is drinking around you and you want to be a part of that unit, then I think that inclusion is going to be a higher need. I think there's just an incredible level of denial about alcohol affecting babies, and I'm not sure how you break through that denial." Alcoholism is a big problem among American Indians. A U.S. Civil Rights Commission report says Indians are 770 times more likely to die of alcoholism than any other group. Indian Health Service data shows the alcoholism rate for Indians is more than 600 times the national average. Mary May says addiction makes it difficult to stop fetal alcohol damage. "Women tell me that if they're drinking, they don't get prenatal care, because they'll be confronted by the facts that alcohol does affect their fetus," says May. "And they just don't want to deal with the hassle of it." Alcohol is not only harming babies, it's destroying families. On the White Earth Reservation in northwestern Minnesota, there were around 350 new child protection cases in tribal court last year. That's not counting cases that go through state courts. And there may be many more kids outside the court system who are being raised by someone other than their biological parents. Tribal Judge Anita Fineday says she suspects fetal alcohol damage is behind much of the family dysfunction. "My guess is that 90 percent of those cases include a parent or a grandparent who has fetal alcohol effects or syndrome, and I think the children, as well," says Fineday. What that means is that fetal alcohol damage is two and three generations deep. Brain-damaged parents and grandparents are trying to raise brain-damaged kids -- and they're often failing. The fetal alcohol problem is complicated. It's often intertwined with mental illness and depression. Fineday says it's all being overshadowed by widespread poverty on many reservations. "All of those things kind of tie in," says Fineday. "What I see with our young moms is a sense of, 'What difference does it make? It doesn't matter whether I drink or not. Things are so bad that it couldn't be any worse.' They don't have any sense of hope, either for themselves or their children." Fineday has seen 10-year-old alcoholics in her courtroom. She's had 16-year-old pregnant girls roll their eyes at her when she lectures them about drinking. She's civilly committed a few pregnant women to treatment programs, but she says that's rare. Many American Indians have overcome alcoholism. Pat Moran has been in recovery since 1985. Now she heads the chemical dependency program at White Earth. Moran says she drank while she was pregnant. Moran knew in her heart her daughter was damaged by the exposure. The girl struggled all through school. She'd sometimes go into unexplained rages. It wasn't until her daughter's senior year in high school - the year Pat Moran quit drinking - that she was diagnosed with fetal alcohol damage. Moran says she and many other women live with the shame and guilt of hurting their children. She says that stigma holds many women back from seeking help. "Many years I denied the fact that my family or anyone else was hurt by my using," says Moran. "And that's a big thing to have to admit that you caused harm to someone else. Not intentionally, because I was addicted. I'm not justifying. I was addicted and I could not stop." The fetal alcohol problem is not just about alcoholism. The U.S. Surgeon General says there's no save level of alcohol for a pregnant woman. Even just a few drinks can potentially cause harm to a fetus. Moran says that's an important message for all women of child bearing age. "A lot of times when young people are out partying and drinking and pregnancy occurs, girls don't even know they're pregnant until maybe a month later, or two or three months later," says Moran. "In the meantime, they may keep drinking. That's a big problem for our young people, because that's a lot of times when the pregnancy happens. Alcohol causes promiscuous behavior and our kids are out there more and more drinking with the opposite sex. Alcohol is a big factor in a lot of the unplanned pregnancies." The White Earth Reservation got a five-year state grant to fight prenatal alcohol exposure. Allan Degroat, director of the three-year-old program, says changing the mindset of the community is a huge challenge. "Some days I sit there and think, 'Are we making a difference?' But I am passionate about this... I grew up around it and I need to help out," says DeGroat. "The Creator gave me this here opportunity to help out people that can't talk for themselves, are afraid to talk about fetal alcohol effects, or are in denial... We're not here to pass judgement on any male or female or any family. We're here to help them get a better life for themselves and their children." The goal of White Earth's fetal alcohol program is to create a reservation-based diagnostic clinic by the end of the year. There's education going on in schools and there are plans to create support groups for families. But those kinds of efforts are expensive. It's unclear what happens when the money runs out. People in the Indian community are quick to point out that fetal alcohol damage affects all races. It affects some 40,000 newborn babies across the country each year, not just Indians. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, alcohol causes more harm to a fetus than marijuana, cocaine, meth, even heroin. Yet experts say fetal alcohol exposure gets far less attention than it deserves. Copyright c. 2007 Minnesota Public Radio. --------- "RE: Attorney to testify against Interior in Trust Case" --------- Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 07:33:43 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INTERIOR ATTORNEY WHISTLEBLOWER" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=937 INTERIOR ATTORNEY TO TESTIFY AGAINST GOVERNMENT IN COBELL CASE Whistleblower to Detail Gross Mismanagement of Indian Accounts by Interior October 24, 2007 Washington, DC - A key witness against the federal government in a multi- billion dollar class action lawsuit this week will be one of its own 1 attorneys, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The pivotal testimony will contradict the Interior Department's central defense that it can accurately account for income from leases it manages on behalf of 300,000 Indian landowners. Palm Springs Field Solicitor Robert McCarthy is expected to testify on Tuesday, October 23, 2007. He is being called as a witness by the plaintiffs, based on his detailed disclosures documenting "gross mismanagement" of leases by Interior potentially costing Indian landowners millions of dollars every month. The Palm Springs area generates nearly a quarter of all the agency's Indian trust revenues. The litigation, Cobell v. Kempthorne, was filed back on June 10, 1996, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The court ruled in 1999 that the secretaries of Interior and Treasury had breached their trust obligations to the Indians and ordered Interior to give a complete accounting of all trust funds. The trial, which began on October 10, 2007, will determine whether Interior can provide a fair and accurate accounting and whether it has corrected the fiduciary breaches the court had previously found. Mr. McCarthy is likely to impeach much of the testimony presented by the government, particularly from James (Jim) Cason, an associate deputy Interior secretary, who testified last week that the agency found no "systemic" errors and that accounting problems "tend to be small, tend to be few, tend to be on both sides of the ledger, and tend to net out against each other." By contrast, Mr. McCarthy will testify that - He briefed Mr. Cason in 2005 about numerous cases of significant mismanagement and violations of laws, including missing records and failure to collect or account for Indian lease income; Interior officials routinely charged tribal members fees far in excess of those allowed by federal regulations, sometimes as high as $60,000, for transactions that by law may not result in fees more than $500, despite testimony by Cason that Interior does not charge for its management of Indian leases, aside from a "handful" of minor administrative fees; and The electronic system that Interior now uses to track lease payments and transactions has been described by the agency itself as "a data base of misinformation." "To the extent that the government is relying upon the credibility of Jim Cason, it is in trouble," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, noting that Cason was brought into Interior by now-imprisoned former Deputy Secretary Steve Griles. "In July, an Interior audit confirmed Robert McCarthy's charges but the agency continues to ignore repeated verifications that crippling weaknesses still exist." On August 9, 2007, one day after Mr. McCarthy notified the agency that he had been identified as a potential witness in the Cobell case, the Solicitor's Office issued a proposal to fire him, allegedly for disclosing confidential information to a reporter back in April. Two months later, the agency has yet to make a decision on the proposed termination. In that matter, McCarthy is being represented by PEER and the Government Accountability Project, both non-profit groups specializing in whistleblower protection. Normally a government attorney would be barred from testifying against his or her agency but the fiduciary relationship creates a special duty of loyalty for a lawyer to protect the interests of the beneficiaries of the trust, in this case the Indians, against malfeasance of the trustee, the Interior Department for which Mr. McCarthy still works. Copyright c. peer.org 2007. --------- "RE: BIA Official tells about Accounts" --------- Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 07:21:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DESPITE LAWSUIT ACCOUNTING REMAINED AN EVERYDAY NON-EVENT" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://newsok.com/article/3155246/1193200024 BIA official tells about accounts By Chris Casteel Washington Bureau October 24, 2007 WASHINGTON - Despite a class-action lawsuit and years of mandated reforms, the Bureau of Indian Affairs office in at least one city still doesn't properly account for the money owed to American Indians from leases on their lands, a Department of Interior attorney testified. Robert McCarthy, who works in the BIA office in Palm Springs, Calif., and once worked in the Department of Interior office in Tulsa, said there is no reliable system for monitoring Indian trust accounts. There is no follow-up on a lease that may have an automatic rent increase and sometimes the terms of leases aren't even recorded, McCarthy testified in a trial about trust fund accounts. What happened Tuesday - McCarthy testified he has sent memos to officials at all levels of the Interior Department but that the record-keeping is still sloppy. Though the department is now using an electronic system to track trust accounts, the information being entered about Palm Springs area accounts isn't reliable, he said. - Justice Department attorney Robert Kirschman, representing the government, objected several times to McCarthy's testimony, saying the trial was not about how the government managed the Indians' assets. - U.S. District Judge James Robertson said, "This trial is about the adequacy of accounting" as it relates to Indian leases Copyright c. 2007 The Oklahoman/News 9, Produced by NewsOK.com. --------- "RE: Cobell historical accounting Trial wraps up" --------- Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 07:09:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="AFTER ONLY TEN DAYS OF TETIMONY COBELL HEARING ENDS" http://indianz.com/News/2007/005595.asp Cobell historical accounting trial wraps up October 26, 2007 After just 10 full days of testimony, the trial into the Indian trust fund historical accounting concluded in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. Judge James Robertson, who was assigned the case last December, called the trial in April. At the time, he said it would "continue as long as necessary," indicating a potentially long haul that could rival prior proceedings in the 11-year-old case. Those expectations quickly faded as Robertson, throughout the trial, urged the government and the Cobell plaintiffs to keep their presentations short and to the point. It also helped that the judge decided not to visit the Interior Department's Indian records repository in Kansas as he earlier envisioned. The speedy pace appeared to surprise both parties. Earlier this week, the Cobell team -- after presenting their first witness on Monday -- predicted the trial would end by Thursday or Friday. The government and the plaintiffs now have until November 30 to present their final arguments. But just what Robertson will do next is anybody's guess. "He's so hard to read," a visitor to the courtroom said earlier this week. The Bush administration wants Robertson to keep his hands off the case so that the Interior Department can finish its historical accounting. The latest plan, issued in May, calls for the project to be finished by the end of 2011. Jim Cason, the associate deputy secretary at Interior who was the government's primary witness, testified that the "2007 plan is a continuation of the work that we have already accomplished, and the 2007 plan is a road map of the activities that we plan to undertake to finish this job." The Cobell plaintiffs want Robertson to keep a close eye on Interior. They say it's impossible for the historical accounting to be complete due to missing records, inaccurate data and destroyed documents. "What that means is that the accounting balances cannot be confirmed," Paul Homan, a banker who was the very first Special Trustee for American Indians, testified. According to his earlier court order, Robertson plans to determine whether the accounting plan satisfies fiduciary trust standards and whether the accounting was "unreasonably" delayed. He has been concerned about the limits and exclusions the Bush administration has placed on the project. "This trial is about the adequacy of the accounting," Robertson reiterated this week. Robertson also wants to determine whether the government has cured the breaches of trust that were first identified by Judge Royce Lamberth back in December 1999. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling in February 2001. But Robertson has said he is guided by some overarching principles that were more recently articulated by the D.C. Circuit. One ruling blocks his court from dictating the details of the government's plans and another requires him to be mindful of the funding limits imposed by Congress. Copyright c. 2007 Indianz.com. --------- "RE: Navajos seek Funds to clear Uranium Contamination" --------- Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 07:33:43 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="$500M NEEDED TO CLEAN UP MINES" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.latimes.com/features/health/ la-na-navajo24oct24,1,1243068.story?ctrack=1&cset=true Navajos seek funds to clear uranium contamination Tribal officials ask Congress for $500 million to deal with wastes left by mining for bombs, nuclear power plants. By Judy Pasternak, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer October 24, 2007 WASHINGTON - Navajo tribal officials asked Congress on Tuesday for at least $500 million to finish cleaning up lingering contamination on the Navajo reservation in the American Southwest from Cold War-era uranium mining, an industry nurtured by its only customer until 1971: the United States government. The tribe also sought a moratorium on new mining in Navajo country, which extends beyond the formal reservation borders into New Mexico, until environmental damage from the last round is repaired. The requests came at a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, marked by angry exchanges between the members and officials from five federal agencies with varying degrees of responsibility for protecting Navajo health and the environment. Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) instructed the agencies -- the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Indian Health Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs -- to return in December with a list of the money and authority they need to finally finish the job. "It's been a bipartisan failure for over 40 years," Waxman said. "It's also a modern American tragedy." Waxman scheduled the hearing in response to a Los Angeles Times series, published last year, detailing the effects of mine waste on Navajos who built their homes with it, played in it and regularly drank toxic water for decades. Exposure continues today, as cleanup efforts remain fitful and incomplete. The nation's largest tribal homeland, encompassing parts of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, contains about 1,000 abandoned uranium mines and four old processing mills. From 1944 to 1986, 3.9 million tons of uranium ore were blasted from Navajo soil, nearly all of it for nuclear bombs. After 1971, utilities also bought uranium for nuclear power plants. The mine operators often left behind open tunnels, shafts and piles of radioactive waste. Federal inspectors knew of the hazards but seldom intervened. Meanwhile, Navajo cancer rates doubled and certain birth defects increased. Tuesday's hearing came almost 14 years after the House Natural Resources Committee heard a plea from the tribe's frustrated environment director for "speedy, thorough and permanent remediation of all sites." Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) called on agencies to "focus and accelerate clean-up efforts," capping the 40 most dangerous open mines, limiting groundwater contamination and conducting human-health surveys. Some House members were visibly displeased by some of the responses to their questions. When EPA Regional Administrator Wayne Nastri said he needed "time" to protect a Navajo community from a radioactive waste pile abandoned 25 years ago, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) snapped: "Time passes, Mr. Nastri. People get sick. They get bone cancer, they get leukemia while we wait." Rep. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) asked BIA Director Jerry Gidner if he believed that the United States had fulfilled its pledge to protect the Navajos' welfare. "That's hard to say," Gidner answered. "Hard to say?" Udall said. "I would think that you'd be outraged." judy.pasternak@latimes.com Copyright c. 2007 Los Angeles Times. --------- "RE: Uranium legacy outrages Congress" --------- Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 07:21:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CONGRESS MAY FINALLY UNDERSTAND PAIN OF YELLOW DEATH" http://www.gallupindependent.com/2007/october/102407kh_urnmlgcy.html Uranium legacy outrages Congress Waxman: 'The primary responsibility for this tragedy rests with the federal government' By Kathy Helms Dine' Bureau October 24, 2007 WINDOW ROCK - A picture may be worth a thousand words, but the sound of an instrument used to detect radioactive contamination, clicking away over a soil sample from Tuba City, set a federal oversight committee on its ear Wednesday during a hearing in Washington. Chairman Henry Waxman's Committee on Oversight and Government Reform heard from a Navajo Nation delegation about the health and environmental impacts of uranium contamination during a four-hour hearing. Several congressional leaders expressed outrage at the federal government for allowing such conditions to remain unchecked on Navajoland for so many years, saying they were "ashamed" and "embarrassed." They offered apologies to the Navajo people. Their eyes were opened as they listened to George Arthur and Phil Harrison of the Navajo Resources Committee; Stephen B. Etsitty of Navajo Environmental Protection Agency; Doug Brugge, associate professor at Tufts University School of Medicine; Larry King and Edith Hood of Churchrock; and Ray Manygoats of Tuba City. Waxman's committee has held a series of hearings throughout the year, focusing on programs or agencies that once were effective but are now broken or dysfunctional. "This morning we are looking at an instance where the government has never worked effectively. It's been a bipartisan failure for over 40 years. It's also a modern American tragedy," he said. "The primary responsibility for this tragedy rests with the federal government, which holds the Navajo lands in trust for the tribe. Our government leased the lands for uranium mining, purchased the uranium yellowcake produced from the mines to supply our nuclear weapons stockpile, and then allowed the operators of the mines and mills to walk away without cleaning up the resulting contamination," Waxman said. "Over the years, open-pit mines filled with rain, and Navajos used the resulting pools for drinking water and to water their herds. Mill tailings and chunks of uranium ore were used to build foundations, floors, and walls for some Navajo homes. Families lived in these radioactive structures for decades," Waxman said. "When the U.S. EPA took readings at one mine site, the radium levels were over 270 times the EPA standard. That was last year," he said. Reservation stories The Navajo delegation brought Waxman's words to life with a few stories of their own. Resources' Chairman Arthur said the Navajo Reservation has served, "in the words of a government study, as an 'energy colony' for the United States ... The Department of the Interior has been in the pocket of the uranium industry, favoring its interests and breaching its trust duties to Navajo mineral owners. "We are still undergoing what appears to be a never-ending federal experiment to see how much devastation can be endured by a people and a society from exposure to radiation in the air, in the water, in mines, and on the surface of the land. We no longer are willing to be the subjects of that ongoing experiment," Arthur said. "I myself was present in Shiprock, the largest community on the Navajo Nation, in the late 1970s when federal officials decided to simply pile up all the radioactive mill tailings on land near the center of town, with no lining under the wastes and a lot of rocks on top to limit erosion. In what other town would the government allow this to occur and remain?" In Tuba City, an open dump and unlined mill tailings site pose an immediate threat to the main aquifer in the western Navajo area. "The government has devoted the money needed to remove similar tailings from a rural area near Moab. Are those people or their water resources more valuable than Navajos?" he asked. Navajo EPA's Etsitty said the legacy from past uranium activities lingers "due to the current slow pace of cleanup and the poor quality of remediation of known contaminated sites." Five former uranium processing sites have been cleaned up by the U.S. government, he said, "meaning that the radioactive mill tailings were capped with clay and rock and left in place at or adjacent to the former mill site." However, none of them were lined, he said. "As we gather mounting evidence that these unlined landfills seep uranium waste into our groundwater, we watch the federal government dig up and properly remediate a similar site located near Moab, Utah, which is outside of the Navajo Nation borders. Why is this not happening on the Navajo reservation?" he asked. Radioactive soil Because statistics alone do not tell the full story, Etsitty demonstrated, using a sample of radioactive soil shipped from the Rare Metals site in Tuba City, "a site that we call Highway 160," he said. "I have in front of me an instrument (Ludlum 19) that the Navajo Superfund uses to detect radioactive contaminants. "This particular device detects gamma radiation. Gamma radiation is all throughout the cosmos and the atmosphere ... The sample that I have before me is covered, and as we get closer to it, you'll hear the detection device starting to recognize the gamma radiation from the source," he said. There were a few audible beeps as Etsitty moved closer to the sample, which was 30 times above background level. "I'll remove the cover and just let the device tell you what's going on," he said. The instrument began to beep furiously. "The sounds that you have heard are just a small demonstration to show that Navajo families are, oftentimes, living within a few hundred yards of materials that we're told we shouldn't be exposed to for more than an hour. But we have Navajo residents that have been living in these areas sometimes more than 40 or 50 years," he said. Dr. Brugge told the committee, "There has been too little research on the health impacts of uranium mining in Navajo communities. One study under way, for example, will mostly assess kidney disease, and not birth defects, cancer or neurological problems. "Today, as we begin the public process of addressing community exposures, I can only hope that the path is far shorter than the one traveled by the uranium miners and their families." Churchrock spill Larry King, a former uranium miner, described the foul odor and yellowish color of the fluids associated with the Churchrock spill. "I remember that an elderly woman was burned on her feet from the acid in the fluid when she waded into the stream while herding her sheep. "Many years later, when waterlines were being installed in the bed of the Puerco, I noticed the same odor and color in a layer about 8 feet below the stream bed. To this day, I don't believe that contamination from the spill has gone away," he said. Edith Hood, who worked at Quivera, also known as the Kerr-McGee mine, was diagnosed with lymphoma in the summer of 2006. She talked about living on Red Water Pond Road, sandwiched between two abandoned mines, where she can still see equipment and "vent bags sticking out of the earth." "These places are still contaminated. I know because I learned how to survey the ground for radiation when our community got involved in a monitoring program in my area four years ago. I know because the government people told us it was," she said. "My father has pulmonary fibrosis. My mother was diagnosed with stomach cancer. My grandmother and grandfather died of lung cancer. Many of my family members and neighbors are sick, but we don't know what from. Today, there is talk of opening new mines. How can they open new mines when we haven't even addressed the health impacts and environmental damage of the old ones?" she asked. Resources' Harrison of Red Valley grew up in uranium mining camps, watching children playing on waste piles and drinking mine water, which also was used to mix infant formula. "My little brother, Herman James Harrison, died of a stomach ailment at the age of 6 months. He drank the uranium-contaminated water. "My father died of lung cancer in 1971 at the age of 46. My cousin's father, also a mine worker, died of lung cancer at the age of 42. All of my brothers and sisters have thyroid problems and disorders. They didn't work in the mines but they grew up in places around contamination. "I have scarring on my left lung. In 1999 my kidneys failed and I was on dialysis until 2001 when I received a kidney transplant from my sister. My story is not unusual," he said. Yellowcake grill Ray Manygoats of Tuba City told how his family cooked their meals on a grill his father brought from Rare Metals. The grill had been used to sift yellowcake. "We would play in the yellowcake sand at the mill, jumping and rolling around in it. We also found many small metal balls at the mill. The balls were used to crush and process the uranium. We played marbles with them and had contests to see how far we could throw them." Manygoats has had surgery three times to remove growths from his eyes. His father had breathing problems, he said. "Many of my sisters and brothers also have had problems with their eyes. I lost my mother to lung cancer and stomach cancer ... Another family member, Lucille, was never able to grow her hair and always wore a wig all her life. "Today I still live in the same area, the land of my family. The mill is no longer operating, but the waste from the mill is everywhere," he said. Harrison told the committee, "It's been about 25 years since the last mines closed. My people shouldn't have to wait another 25 years for the federal government to accept a responsibility that it should have accepted many years ago." Copyright c. 2007 The Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: Ski Resort criticized Tribes in Sacred Site Case" --------- Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 07:21:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SNOWBOWL SOILS TRIBES IN APPEAL" http://www.indianz.com/News http://www.azcentral.com/abgnews/articles/1025abg-snowbowl1025.html Snowbowl's bid to recycle sewage revived Court of Appeals agrees to take look at dispute Howard Fischer Capitol Media Services October 25, 2007 The owners of a popular ski resort are going to get another chance to make their case that there's nothing wrong with using recycled sewage to make snow - even on a mountain native tribes consider sacred. Without comment, the full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to review the findings of three of its judges rejecting a claim by Snowbowl that it would shut down if it does not get permission to use sewage to create artificial snow. The panel had concluded there is "no compelling governmental interest" in having artificial snow on the San Francisco Peaks - and specifically on the federal land where the operation is located. The decision does not necessarily mean the court will give Snowbowl the go-ahead for the project. But it does give the resort another shot at completing plans for a 15-mile pipeline to carry up to 1.5 million gallons a day of treated effluent up the mountain from Flagstaff. On a broader note, it means the full court will review the scope and significance of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act. That 1993 law requires government agencies to use the "least restrictive" means of interfering with any religious practice when considering projects built on federal land. The three-judge panel cited that law in concluding that the plan improperly interfered with the rights of nearby tribes who have relied on the purity of the water on the mountain "from time immemorial." Attorney Howard Shanker, who represents the tribes, said the original ruling in March was the first time a court had used the federal law to block government action. The plans by Snowbowl are to cover about 205 acres with artificial snow at the beginning of the season, with more as necessary. Several tribes brought suit. But the appellate judges in their 64-page ruling relied mostly on the evidence presented by the Navajo and Hopi tribes about the religious significance of the mountains and, to a lesser extent, the impact on the Hualapai and Havasupai tribes. Judge William Fletcher noted that even the Forest Service conceded that the mountains are the most sacred place for the Hopi and Navajo. And he said the evidence showed that putting treated sewage on the mountain would place a "substantial burden on their exercise of religion." That then left the question of whether the Forest Service had a "compelling governmental interest" in permitting the use of sewage for artificial snow, and whether the snow making was the "least restrictive means" of advancing that interest. Attorneys for the federal government and Snowbowl argued that the artificial snow was necessary to maintain the facility for public recreation. But Fletcher noted that the operation, first opened in 1938, always has relied on natural snowfall. In the 2001-02 winter, the judge said, there was just 87 inches of snow, with four days of skiing and just 2,857 skiers. But Fletcher also pointed out that in 2004-05 there was 460 inches of snow, with 139 ski-able days and 191,317 skiers. "The evidence in the record does not support a conclusion that the Snowbowl will necessarily go out of business if it is required to continue to rely on natural snow and remain a relatively small, low-key resort," Fletcher wrote. "The current owners may or may not decide to continue their ownership," the judge said. "But a sale by the current owners is not the same thing as the closure of the Snowbowl." And Fletcher said even if there were some danger that the resort would close, "we are not convinced that there is a compelling governmental interest" in allowing the use of recycled sewage to prevent that from happening. "We are struck by the fact that the Peaks are located in a desert," the judge explained. And he said it is predictable that some winters will be dry. "The then-owners of the Snowbowl knew this when they expanded the Snowbowl in 1979, and the current owners knew this when they purchased it in 1992," Fletcher wrote. That March decision provoked an angry reaction from Snowbowl General Manager Eric Borowsky, who said the environmental laws have been abused "and the taxpayers of our country held for ransom by a small group of activists who believe that they personally own our nation's public lands." Borowsky said the decision, if not overturned, kills the intent of Congress for multiple uses of public land. Borowsky, in his prepared statement, also lashed out at native tribes, saying that the White Mountain Apache tribes sprays "virtually untreated" sewage on its own ski resort "without question or environmental review." He also mentioned the scenic walkway the Hualapai tribe erected at the Grand Canyon for tourism and economic development. "The political position of several of the Indian tribes, with less than stellar environmental records, who are involved in this matter is nothing short of hypocritical," he said. The case is Navajo Nation et al. vs. U.S. Forest Service (06-15371). Copyright c. 2007, azcentral.com. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Bennett: Family that gave land has no regrets" --------- Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 07:21:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LAND DONATION THAT SETTELED HOPI/NAVAJO DIVIDE " http://www.thenavajotimes.com/news/index.php Bennett Freeze Family that gave land has no regrets By Cindy Yurth Navajo Times October 24, 2007 Max Goldtooth doesn't want his land back. Most days. Today he's looking out across Kerley Valley from the backyard of his Navajo Housing Authority rental, pointing out the 32,000 acres to which his family had the grazing rights until last year. He briefly contemplates taking a reporter and photographer out to the land, to show them the little springs and shady groves where he herded sheep as a child. He doesn't think the Hopis who graze their flocks there now would mind. Several of them were his childhood friends. But to cross the barbed-wire fence that demarcates Hopi and Navajo partitioned land could cause an inter-tribal incident, and Goldtooth decides not to risk it. These days, what's left of the Goldtooth family's flocks has to be trucked to Grey Mountain to graze. Goldtooth's father, the late Teddy Goldtooth, made the painful decision to sacrifice the 32,000 acres of grassland and scrub forest to settle once and for all the conflict over the land known as the "Bennett Freeze." The valleys that surround the Hopi mesas have long been occupied by both Hopis and Navajos and both tribes claim customary use rights to them. Until a compact between the two tribes was signed last Oct. 4, the land had been "frozen" to development. Not even an addition to a cramped house could be made without approval from both tribes. Teddy Goldtooth, who had served as a Navajo Nation Council delegate from 1991 to 1995, had watched with concern as the area, frozen since 1966, fell further and further behind the modern world. Though power lines ran through the valleys, just yards from home sites in some cases, generations grew up and died without knowing what it was like to turn on a light switch. In the late 1990s, Goldtooth approached the tribe about offering his land to the Hopis to help push along the compact that would lift the Bennett Freeze. It wasn't an easy decision. Goldtooth had put his heart and soul into that land, quarrying sandstone and building homes for his extended family, a trading post, even a church for the Christian community although he himself was a traditional practitioner. "I remember he rode around to all the relatives to talk to them about what he wanted to do," says Max Goldtooth, looking out across the valley. "Not one time but many times. He talked to everybody before he made the decision to give up the land." According to Max, Teddy Goldtooth told the attorneys who were negotiating on behalf of the tribe he wanted his acreage to be the last Navajo land ceded to the Hopis. "He told them, 'Take my land and leave all those other people alone,'" Max Goldtooth recalled. He was distressed to learn later that 10,000 more acres had been ceded. "But he couldn't do anything at that point." As Max recollects, Teddy was never completely comfortable with his decision. "He said, 'It wasn't something good that I did,'" Max recalls, his voice shaking a bit. "'But all these people living here, they deserve to live better than this. When I go before the Creator and he asks me, 'What did you do for your people?' I can show him this.'" Max watched this past summer as power poles went up in the Freeze, and one by one the lights came on in the dilapidated little shacks and hogans. He hears people talking excitedly about the improvements they plan to make to their properties, and he's glad his father made the choice he did - even though his mother, Teddy's widow, has yet to get a power line. "I just want people to be happy and live full lives," he says. "That's the way to honor my father's sacrifice. "The Hopis too," he said, "I hope they're enjoying the land and using it well. There's been so much intermarriage around here, I don't think we can say 'us' and 'them' any more. We're all relatives." As for his neighbors who are challenging the compact in court, he hopes they're able to achieve a settlement they can live with. "There's still some friction there," he admits. "It's hard to be around them. I'm just looking forward to the day we can put all this behind us and move on with our lives. "Sometimes I feel like a little wheel caught between two big wheels that are moving opposite ways," he added. Teddy Goldtooth didn't live to see the power poles go up in the Bennett Freeze. He died Feb. 13, 2006, seven months before the compact was signed. But Max has no doubt he was looking down and smiling. "I know he helped us," he says confidently. "He's still helping us. He's in the spirit world now, so he's even more powerful." Copyright c. 2007 The Navajo Times Publishing Co., Inc. --------- "RE: Tribe's nets spark Sports, Rights rift" --------- Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 07:09:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ANGLERS, TRIBES CLASH OVER FISHING RIGHTS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071027/METRO/710270377 Tribe's nets spark sports, rights rift Anglers, tribe clash over fish: Conflict has led to boycotts, charges of racism Francis X. Donnelly / The Detroit News October 27, 2007 MANISTEE - In this tranquil beach community, the gentle lapping waves of Lake Michigan have brought ashore a brutish dispute. Sports fishermen and charter boat operators are fighting a local American Indian tribe over its use of fishing nets in one of the top salmon spots in the nation. The issue has led to vandalism, boycotts and charges of favoritism and racism. Some boaters refer to the town as Manisteepee. "It's racial," said Matt Stone, 28, an American Indian netter who has been called racist names. "I know it. I feel it. I see it. I hear it." But John King, 60, a charter boat captain from Manistee, denied race was a factor in the opposition. "This ain't the O.J. Simpson trial and Johnnie Cochran is dead," he wrote on his popular fishing Web site. The disagreement began in the summer but, in truth, it's older than the state of Michigan. It's just the latest territorial battle involving an 1836 treaty where the United States recognized tribes as governments exempt from state law, state regulators said. Today, 171 years after settling their difference, whites and American Indians are still fighting. Manistee is caught in the middle of this latest Indian War. The former factory town of 6,600 is remaking itself into a tourist spot and both the charter boat operators and the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians figure prominently in their plans, city officials said. Its slice of Lake Michigan attracts fishermen from all over the state while the tribe's casino is the region's biggest employer and pulls in visitors from many surrounding counties. "No one likes the situation," said Fred MacDonald, 65, who was director of the Manistee County Convention and Visitors Bureau for 10 years before recently retiring. "We don't want the animosity. The casino is huge for us." 2000 pact sparked conflict The issue roiling the waters of Lake Michigan began in 2000 with an agreement between Michigan and its seven tribes. The American Indians, who fished north of Traverse City, were allowed to extend their commercial netting operations south to Grand Haven. The netters have never been popular with other fishermen, regulators said. In the early 1980s, relations got so tense in Leland, north of Traverse City, that a boater fired a gun at a netter. No one was injured. "There will always be a few incidents," said Howard Vass, 41, a charter boat operator from nearby Fountain. "Everyone has preconceived notions." When the Little River Band set nets off Ludington in 2003, sports fishermen and charter boat operators howled. They tried to stop sporting goods stores from advertising with the tribe or participating in tribe- sponsored fishing tournaments, but only seven of 30 businesses participated in the boycott. Then, this summer, the nets came to Manistee, which, like Ludington, is popular with fishermen throughout the state. The tribe set 18 nets along a 22-mile stretch of coast. The nets range from 600 to 1,200 feet with a height between 20 and 40 feet. The wide-open expanse of Lake Michigan wasn't big enough for the two groups. Charter boat operators said the nets are poorly marked and the tribe doesn't give their locations in a timely manner. They're worried about their fishing equipment getting tangled in the nets, costing them hundreds of dollars in new gear, tackle, downrigger weights and cables. "It's hard to fish around them," said Paul Schlafley, 42, a charter boat captain from Manistee. "I don't mind a few, but when will it end?" 'It's been a tough fight' Tribal netters say the complaints against them are as exaggerated as a fish story. Don Stone, a tribal member whose family operates most of the nets, said all nets are marked with buoys that rise four feet above the water and hold flags that are 12 by 12 inches. He said the tribe has tried to accommodate the concerns, but that the real goal of sport fishermen and charter boat operators is to get rid of all nets. They want the lake for themselves, he said. The boating groups have chased white commercial netters away but won't succeed against the tribe because of its unique legal status, Stone said. In 1836, one year before Michigan became a state, the Treaty of Washington allowed the American Indians to continue fishing in north Michigan as part of ceding the territory to the U.S. Those rights along with others have frequently been upheld by the courts. "It's been a tough fight," said Stone, 59. "It's still a tough fight." In the 2000 agreement between the tribes and Michigan, the American Indians agreed to help the sport fishermen by switching from gill to trap nets. The tribes are interested in whitefish while sport fishermen like salmon, trout, steelhead and other species. The gill nets, which the tribes had used for centuries, killed any fish they captured -- whitefish or game fish -- by snagging them by the gills. The trap nets, by snatching the fish whole, allow the netter to then release the non-targeted fish back into the water alive. Battle moves downtown Across the street from Manistee's public boat ramp is a Michigan National Guard Armory, including two tanks in front of the building. Thus far, they haven't been necessary to quell the local disturbance. Another positive sign: At the boat ramp, a glass-enclosed map showing locations of the nets hasn't been attacked with a baseball bat, as some people had feared when it was posted in the summer. Not as lucky are the nets themselves. They've been vandalized several times with people cutting off the buoys, netters said. "We go through things daily, not just fishing, that come with the territory," Stone said. Many sport fishermen and charter boat operators no longer go to the Little River Band casino or patronize any of its growing number of businesses around town. During the summer, they pressured an annual local fishing tournament to drop the tribe as a sponsor by threatening to hold their own contest. The organizer returned the tribe's $5,000. The battle has moved from the boat ramp to downtown. A flutter of bumper stickers and store signs endorse the boycott. At Riley's Bait & Tackle, a handwritten sign in the window proclaims, "NO NETS. Boycott Manistee casino!" In response, someone stuck a note on the door: "To bad. USA belongs to the Indians. We own Manistee. Miiwetch (Thanks)." The note had the ruffled edges of a restaurant placemat. Across the street is House of Flavors, a restaurant reopened by the tribe, but workers denied they wrote the missive. "I can't understand how so few (American Indians) disrupt so many," said Dick Hansen, 70, a clerk at the tackle shop. The controversy has percolated through the state via online fishing chat rooms where the charges against American Indians frequently become superheated. They're accused of single-handedly depleting the lake of sport fish by catching and killing large numbers of them. But representatives of sport fishing and charter boat groups recently rode along with the American Indian netters to watch their operation. In three lifts, the reps said, the netter caught 400 pounds of whitefish but four or five lake trout. You can reach Francis X. Donnelly at (313) 223-4186 or fdonnelly@detnews.com. Copyright c. 2007 The Detroit News. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Two Tribes among hardest hit by California Fires" --------- Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 07:21:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CALIFORNIA FIRES" http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/005575.asp Two Tribes among hardest hit by California Fires October 25, 2007 The Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians and the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians are among the hardest hit by fires in southern California. The Poomacha Fire hit both reservations, destroying homes and sending residents into shelters. At Rincon, 65 homes, trailers and other buildings have been destroyed. At La Jolla, at least 41 homes have been destroyed. "This has just shocked the entire community," La Jolla Chairman Tracy Nelson told The San Diego Union-Tribune. "We're just trying to pull ourselves together." Other reservations hit by the fires include the Yuina, San Pasqual, Pala, Capitan Grande, Mesa Grande, Santa Ysabel, Barona, Jamul and Inaja-Cosmit reservations. More than 26,000 acres of tribal land have burned, according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Copyright c. 2007 Indianz.com. --------- "RE: Rincon lose 65 Structures: 'We were left behind'" --------- Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 07:21:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NOBODY LEFT TO HELP RINCON FIGHT FIRES" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071025/news_2m25tribes.html 'We were left behind,' tribal official says Rincon Indians lose 65 structures By Onell R. Soto STAFF WRITER October 25, 2007 A day after fire swept through the Rincon Indian reservation in North County, destroying 65 homes, trailers and other buildings, a tribal council member wondered when outside help would arrive. "We were left behind, nobody here to help," Councilwoman Stephanie Spencer said yesterday. "We are doing everything we can with our casino and all our resources here, but they don't last forever." The Rincon and La Jolla reservations were hit hard by the Poomacha fire Tuesday morning, with tribal members and others seeking refuge in the Harrah's Rincon casino near Valley Center. As of yesterday afternoon, 350 people remained at the casino-hotel. Representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Red Cross and other agencies will meet with tribal leaders Tuesday at Rincon, said Jim Fletcher, Southern California superintendent for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Riverside County tribes, including Pechanga, Soboba and Torres-Martinez, are offering space on their reservations as evacuation centers for Indians displaced from San Diego County, Fletcher said. The San Diego Foundation has begun a special fund for the tribes. Information is at www.sdfoundation.org- /fire2007. This year's fires rank with the 2003 Paradise and Cedar fires as the worst disasters to hit Indian Country in Southern California, Fletcher said. "We thought we had a chance," said Tracy Nelson, chairman of the La Jolla Band of Mission Indians. That changed Monday night, when the Poomacha fire began at a house that ignited on the La Jolla reservation, possibly from a power line blown down by high winds, Nelson said. "It just took off like you wouldn't believe," Nelson said. About 400 people live in more than 200 homes on the reservation; at least 28 homes have been destroyed, he said. The fire still was burning parts of the reservation last night. "This has just shocked the entire community," Nelson said. "We're just trying to pull ourselves together." He has been heartened by how other tribes have pitched in so far, offering refuge and food. "It's really incredible," Nelson said. "Everybody came to help us in this time of need." Onell Soto: (619) 593-4958; onell.soto@uniontrib.com Copyright c. 2007 Union-Tribune Publishing Co., A Copley Newspaper Site. --------- "RE: Wildfires burning up Southern Cal. Reservations" --------- Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 07:21:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CALIFORNIA FIRES" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415977 Raging wildfires burning up southern California reservations by: Shadi Rahimi October 25, 2007 SAN FRANCISCO - All Don Magee could see was darkness when he looked outside his office on the Pala Band of Mission Indians reservation Oct. 24. The sky above the reservation 55 miles northeast of San Diego was covered in a thick fog and ashes were "falling all over," said Magee, the tribe's housing director. "You can't see the sun," he said by telephone. The wildfires roaring across Southern California have burned more than 17,200 acres of land on the Yuina, Rincon, La Jolla, San Pasqual and Pala reservations, said Jim Fletcher, superintendent for the BIA in southern California. Another 8,960 acres have burned on the Capitan Grande, Mesa Grande, Santa Ysabel, Barona, Jamul and Inaja-Cosmit reservations. Fletcher has called a meeting with tribes and federal officials Oct. 30 to assess the damage and coordinate the relief effort. "Mesa Grande is a poor tribe and La Jolla does not have gaming operations," he said. "Those folks need a lot of help." Across San Diego County, gaming tribes are continuing to assist those whose reservations are being devastated by wildfires. The fires have caused at least $1 billion in damage in San Diego County alone and have led to the largest evacuation in state history. At least 500,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, including thousands of tribal members. More than 1,400 homes have been destroyed in the 18 fires raging in seven counties, according to the Governor's Office of Emergency Services. At least 41 homes on the La Jolla reservation have burned along with 65 on the Rincon reservation and five on the Yuina reservation, Fletcher said. To the southeast, a fire swept through a 900-acre parcel where the Mesa Grande tribe keeps a herd of 45 bison. The bison are now loose, Fletcher said, but tribal members must remain evacuated. The Jamul Indian Village and the San Pasqual casino have also been evacuated. Fires have melted water lines on the La Jolla reservation, causing water mains to burst. A well has been lost and the tribe is working to have the reservation declared a disaster area, according to the Native American Environmental Protection Coalition. The lack of water has also been an issue on the reservation of the Campo Band of Kumeyaay Indians, 60 miles east of San Diego. Nearby fires have led to power outages that have disrupted the electrical power pumps, said tribal administrator Lisa Gover. Less violent winds offered some hope to the more than 8,800 firefighters Oct. 24, but more homes remained on the path of the fast-moving fires driven by furious Santa Ana winds across drought-stricken lands, burning more than 426,000 acres thus far. The Governor's Office of Emergency Services attributed at least one death to the wildfires, while some news reports placed the number at five. State officials were continuing to order mandatory evacuations Oct. 24. More than 50 shelters statewide were housing more than 22,000 people. Thousands have streamed into San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium, which is being praised in comparison to the conditions of shelters set up at the Louisiana Superdome and Houston's Astrodome during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. President Bush has signed a major disaster declaration for California that will provide long-term federal recovery programs to assist state and local governments, families, individuals and nonprofit organizations. Meanwhile, gaming tribes are housing tribal evacuees and donating food, supplies and funding for emergency response crews. On the morning of Oct. 23, evacuees being housed at the Pala hotel were evacuated once again, along with about 400 Pala tribal members, to homes of relatives and free hotel rooms and RV spaces offered by the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians in nearby Temecula. The Pechanga are providing hotel rooms for about 250 tribal members from the La Jolla, Mesa Grande, Santa Ysabel, Pala and Pauma bands, said Jacob Mejia, public affairs director for the Pechanga Development Corp. The 522-room hotel is now full, so the American Red Cross has provided cots, he said. Council members are purchasing clothing and toiletries for people who left their homes quickly without any belongings, and the tribe is providing free meals to evacuees. "It's really bad out here," Mejia said. "We're doing everything we can for people who come this way." The tribe assisted in similar efforts during the Cedar Fire in October 2003, known as the worst California wildfire of the past decade. It killed 15 people and burned nearly 300,000 acres in San Diego County. Rumors of destroyed homes from the current wildfires are worrying evacuees, but fire officials in north San Diego Country have yet to prepare a list of homes affected, Mejia said. "We're cautiously optimistic that the winds are going down, but it raises other risks because that creates the opportunity for the fire to change directions," he said. The Santa Ana winds begin in eastern deserts and whip quickly over mountains and through canyons to reach southern California communities. The summer fire season lasts through October, though officials consider the season to be almost year-round in southern California because of continuous droughts. Don Hankins, a geography professor at California State University at Chico and a member of the Miwok Tribe, says the problem could be alleviated with a return to traditional burning techniques to clear brush. "Prior to the curtailment of Native burning, there weren't these large fires that consume hundreds of thousands of acres in one fire," he said. "They were frequently quite patchy and ranged in scale from an individual plant to perhaps a few thousand acres." As wildfires continue to rage, Sonny Skyhawk, a member of the Rosebud Sioux in South Dakota who lives in Pasadena, is helping to coordinate relief efforts there on behalf of the Oneida Indian Nation in New York. (The OIN owns Four Directions Media, parent company of Indian Country Today.) He said 60 rooms have also been offered by hotels owned by the Agua Caliente and the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians. Another wealthy gaming tribe, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, previously contributed more than $1 million to the American Red Cross and is now funding two Red Cross emergency response vehicles, said tribal spokesman Waltona Manion. The reservation has not been affected by wildfires, but some tribal members who live outside remain worried about their homes. Tribal member Emeline Laiwa said her 19-year-old nephew had to evacuate a home he recently purchased for $1 million in Alpine, about 30 miles northwest of San Diego. "He said, 'I left my sprinkler on and my hose running,"' she said. "We're keeping our fingers crossed; we're just praying for him." For more information on the wildfires or how to help: * The San Diego Foundation's emergency fire relief fund for tribes: www.sdfoundation.org/fire2007 * American Red Cross: www.redcross.org * Map of federally recognized California tribes: www.kstrom.net/isk/maps/ca/california.html * Southern California Fire Report: www.calfires.com Copyright c. 1998 - 2007 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Harris Fire began at controversial Blackwater Site" --------- Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 07:09:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HARRIS FIRE" http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/ San Diego Harris fire began at controversial Blackwater site October 25, 2007 The Harris fire, that is still burning in San Diego Country, began near Potrero, where one man was killed in the fire on Sunday. Potrero is where Blackwater plans to build a military-style training facility near the border. Now, four more burned bodies have been found. The fire is only 20 percent contained and 97 homes have been lost with many injuries. San Diego Fires: A Good Reason To Stop Blackwater 23 hours ago by Rosemary If you have been following the efforts of Blackwater to create a facility in Potrero, you will know that many San Diegans have been blindsided by the plans for the mercenary corporation to build here. These fires are just another reason ... ...Beyond the damage and destruction to life and property, the timing of this wildfire could not be much worse. This fire exploded just as the people of Potrero were preparing for a recall election on December 11 to kick out the planning group members who approved Blackwater's base. With ballots scheduled to be mailed in early November to less than 600 registered voters in this historic vote-by-mail recall, Potrero residents were preparing for an intense campaign over the next six weeks. Four more burned bodies found near Potrero: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20071025-1757-bn25fires2.html California wildfires at a glance La Jolla: 60 homes lost, 12 firefighters injured By The Associated Press California wildfire overall statistics:_ Acreage: 486,766_ Homes Destroyed: At least 1,780, according to authorities._ Deaths: Three confirmed fire deaths, seven fire-related deaths._ Injuries: 52 to firefighters, and about 30 injuries to civilians._ People taking shelter in 45 evacuation centers as of 4 p.m. Thursday: 12,465, according to the state Office of Emergency Services. Active wildfires burning in Southern California, by county:San Diego County:_ Witch Fire: About 197,990 acres in northern San Diego County from Witch Creek to Rancho Santa Fe. 30 percent contained. 1,061 homes, 30 commercial properties, 175 outbuildings and 230 autos destroyed. Firefighting cost: $7 million. Two burned bodies found in a charred home. Two civilians and 22 firefighters injured._ Poomacha Fire: 38,500 acres on the La Jolla Indian Reservation and in northeastern San Diego County. 30 percent contained. 60 homes destroyed and 12 firefighters injured. Firefighting cost: $1.6 million._ Horno/Ammo Fire: 17,000 acres on the Camp Pendleton Marine base. 40-50 percent contained._ Harris Fire: 84,000 acres burned 70 miles southeast of San Diego and north of the border town of Tecate. 20 percent contained. 97 homes, 17 outbuildings, 120 autos and two commercial buildings destroyed. One civilian killed, 21 injured civilians and seven injured firefighters. Firefighting cost: $5.4 mil lion. _ Rice Fire: 9,000 acres in Fallbrook in northern San Diego County. 40 percent contained. 206 homes, 40 outbuildings, 91 autos and two commercial properties destroyed. Three reported injuries. Firefighting cost: $1.9 million.Ventura County:_ Ranch Fire: 55,756 acres in the Castaic area near Piru. 80 percent contained. One home, eight outbuildings destroyed. One firefighter injured. Firefighting cost: $7 million.Orange County:_ Santiago Fire: 26,000 acres east of Irvine. 30 percent contained. 14 homes destroyed, and eight other structures damaged; four minor injuries to firefighters. Firefighting cost: $4 million.San Bernardino County:_ Slide Fire: 11,675 acres in Green Valley Lake area of the San Bernardino Mountains. 15 percent contained. At least 200 homes destroyed. One firefighter suffered minor injuries. Firefighting cost: $3 million._ Grass Valley Fire: 1,100 acres in Grass Valley area in the San Bernardino Mountains. 70 percent contained. At least 113 homes destroyed. Firef ighting cost: $2.5 million.Contained FiresLos Angeles:_ Buckweed: Burned 38,356 in northeastern Los Angeles County. Contained Wednesday evening. 21 homes, 22 outbuildings, two bridges and 40 vehicles destroyed. Three civilians and two firefighters injured. Firefighting cost: $5.8 million._ Canyon: Burned 4,565 acres in Malibu. Contained Wednesday. Six homes, two businesses and a church destroyed. Three firefighters suffered minor injuries. Firefighting cost: $5.2 million._ Magic: About 2,824 acres in northern Los Angeles County._ Meadowridge: About 40 acres burned with no damage to property.Riverside:_ Rosa: Burned 411 acres and two outbuildings near Temecula._ Roca: Burned 270 acres. Contained Wednesday. One home destroyed and one person injured.San Diego:_ Cajon: 250 acres._ McCoy: 300 acres._ Coronado Hills: 300 acres._ Wilcox: 200 acres.Ventura:_ Nightsky: 35 acres.Santa Barbara County:_ Sedgewick Fire: 710 acres near Los Olivos. A service of the Associated Press(AP)_ Witch Fire: Ab out 197,990 acres in northern San Diego County from Witch Creek to Rancho Santa Fe. 30 percent contained. 1,061 homes, 30 commercial properties, 175 outbuildings and 230 autos destroyed. Firefighting cost: $7 million. Two burned bodies found in a charred home. Two civilians and 22 firefighters injured. Posted by brendanorrell@gmail.com --------- "RE: Senators push for action on Lumbee Recognition" --------- Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 07:09:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LUMBEE RECOGNITION" http://www.indianz.com/News http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=275942 Senators push for action on Lumbee recognition By Venita Jenkins Staff writer October 26, 2007 LUMBERTON - North Carolina's U.S. senators - with an assist from a colleague in Hawaii - are pushing for the Senate to act on a bill that would grant full recognition to the Lumbee tribe. Republican Sens. Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr of North Carolina and Sen. Daniel Inouye, a Hawaii Democrat and longtime Lumbee supporter, sent a letter to the chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs calling for action. They want a the Lumbee Recognition Act voted out of the committee and forwarded to the full Senate. "Fairness and legislative precedent indicate that Congress should enact a bill that extends full federal recognition to the Lumbee tribe," says the letter, which was dated Wednesday. The senators want the committee to act on the same Lumbee bill that passed the full House in June to avoid conferencing two separate bills calling for federal recognition of the tribe. U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, a Democrat from Lumberton, submitted the Lumbee bill in the House in January. Dole submitted a similar bill in the Senate. Dole thinks this is the right time to move the bill forward because of the House action, said Katie Hallaway, communications director for Dole's office. Lumbee recognition bills have been approved by the Senate committee previously. "That said, there is a different committee chairman now, and there are many challenges ahead," Hallaway said. "But Senator Dole and her staff are working closely with a bipartisan group of Lumbee supporters, and they will continue to explore every possible avenue for advancing the Lumbee bill." The committee has not held a hearing on the Lumbee bill, but Tribal Chairman Jimmy Goins testified before the committee in September about the federal recognition process. During his testimony, Goins spoke about the difficulties faced by the Lumbees in the decades-long effort to gain recognition. "We are grateful to Senator Dole, Senator Burr and Senator Inouye for their efforts concerning Lumbee recognition," Goins said Thursday. The status would bring millions of dollars to the tribe for education, health care, housing and economic development. Previous estimates by the U. S. Department of Interior showed the Lumbee tribe could receive more than $400 million over five years. There are about 57,000 Lumbees, most of whom live in Robeson and surrounding counties. The tribe is the largest east of the Mississippi River that is not federally recognized. Staff writer Venita Jenkins can be reached at jenkinsv@fayobserver.com or at (910) 738-9158. Copyright c. 2007 The Fayetteville Observer. --------- "RE: Bush blasts Native Hawaiian Self-Determination" --------- Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 07:19:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NATIVE HAWAIIAN BILL SLAMMED BY BUSH ADMIN." http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/005524.asp Bush blasts Native Hawaiian self-determination bill October 23, 2007 The White House on Monday slammed a bill to extend self-determination to Native Hawaiians, calling it divisive and unconstitutional. The Bush administration has long opposed efforts to organize a Native Hawaiian governing entity. But the statement from the Office of Management and Budget marked first time the White House put its objections into writing. "The administration strongly opposes any bill that would formally divide sovereign United States power along suspect lines of race and ethnicity," the White House said. The statement comes on the eve of consideration of H.R.505, the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act. The House is set to debate the measure on Wednesday. Most of Hawaii's politicians - Republicans and Democrats - support the bill. They say it would ensure the flow of federal funding to Native Hawaiian programs and protect Native-owned land, culture and heritage. The House previously voted in favor of Native Hawaiians in late 2000, before President Bush took office. But due to objections from the administration, the current measure has been held up by conservative Republicans. In June 2006, Republicans kept the Senate version of the bill from advancing to a final vote. And this past March, Republicans temporarily blocked a Native Hawaiian housing bill. The opposition is based largely on constitutional concerns. Republicans say the bill would create a race-based government that is not open to people of all ethnic backgrounds. Supporters counter that the federal government has long treated American Indians and Alaska Natives as political entities. They say Congress has the power to place Native Hawaiians in the same category. Though a series of court cases have raised the issue, it has never been decided definitively. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2000 struck down an election in Hawaii that was limited to Native Hawaiians but the justices did not rule on the legality of a Native Hawaiian governing entity. More recently, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a school admissions policy limited to Native Hawaiians. A settlement prevented the case from being heard by the Supreme Court. Despite the apparent uncertainty, the Bush administration called the Native Hawaiian bill discriminatory. The statement from the White House also said Native Hawaiians do not fall in the same category as American Indians and Alaska Natives. "Given the substantial historical and cultural differences between Native Hawaiians as a group and members of federally recognized Indian tribes, the administration believes that tribal recognition is inappropriate and unwise for Native Hawaiians and would raise serious constitutional concerns," the statement said. Until the release of the statement, opposition was coming from the Department of Justice. Since Bush took office in 2001, officials there have been quietly questioning a slew of Native Hawaiian programs. Earlier this year, the campaign was extended to urban Indians, lineal Indian descendants and certain Alaska Natives. A DOJ official told the Senate Indian Affairs Committee that providing health care to these groups of people would be unconstitutional. "Under the Supreme Court's decisions, there is a substantial likelihood that legislation providing special benefits to individuals of Indian or Alaska Native descent based on something other than membership or equivalent affiliation with a federally recognized tribe would be regarded by the courts as a racial classification," Frederick Beckner III, a deputy assistant general at DOJ, said at a March 8 hearing. Tomorrow's debate is slated to start at 10am. Copyright c. 2007 Indianz.com --------- "RE: House passes Native Hawaiian Bill" --------- Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 07:21:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HOUSE PASSES AKAKA BILL OVER BUSH OBJECTION" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.adn.com/24hour/politics/story/3725919p-13179452c.html House passes Native Hawaiian bill By JIM ABRAMS - Associated Press Writer October 24, 2007 WASHINGTON (AP) Native Hawaiians should regain some of the self- governance powers lost when the islands' queen was overthrown more than a century ago, the House decided Wednesday. The White House threatened a veto, saying the legislation that passed by a 261-153 vote would divide Americans "along suspect lines of race and ethnicity." The bill would give the 400,000 people nationwide of Native Hawaiian ancestry the right to form a governing entity that could negotiate with the state and federal governments over such issues as control of natural resources, lands and assets. The interior secretary would have to approve that governing body. Native Hawaiians, who long have sought the bill, insist they deserve many of the self-autonomy rights provided to American Indians and Native Alaskans. The legislation is backed by Hawaii's Republican governor, Linda Lingle, its Legislature and the state's all-Democratic congressional delegation, including Native Hawaiian Sen. Daniel Akaka. The vote on the proposal was the first in the House since the chief sponsor, Rep. Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii, won passage in 2000. Last year Akaka fell four votes short of the 60 needed to advance the bill to a final vote in the Senate. To win over critics, the legislation spells out that the Native Hawaiian government could not take private land or set up gambling operations similar to those allowed to Indians. The bill would not affect military facilities in the state and Native Hawaiians would not gain new eligibility for programs and services available to Indians. Rep. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii said the measure would begin to "provide a measure of justice" to Native Hawaiians who "have an inherent sovereignty based on their status as indigenous people." Abercrombie said Native Hawaiians have ceded some 1.8 million acres since Queen Lili'uokalani was driven from the throne in 1893. "This creates the opportunity for Native Hawaiians to take responsibility for their own actions with regard to the control and administration of their own assets," he said. But the White House said the bill "raises significant constitutional concerns that arise anytime legislation seeks to separate American citizens into race-related classifications rather than according to their own merits and essential qualities." The House GOP leader, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, said "granting broad government powers to an exclusive group based on race is simply unconstitutional." Republican opponents of the legislation also said it could open the door for Native Hawaiians to declare territorial independence from the United States. The rights of Native Hawaiians have been an issue since the 1893 coup. In 1959, when Hawaii became a state, the federal government pledged to use lands and assets to the benefit of Native Hawaiians. In 1993, on the 100th anniversary of the coup, Congress approved a resolution apologizing for the illegal overthrow and acknowledging that Native Hawaiians never directly relinquished their claims to sovereignty over their lands. The legislation still needs to be considered by the Senate, where it is backed by two of the chamber's most senior members - Hawaii's Akaka and Sen. Daniel Inouye. Akaka said in a statement that the House vote "provides great momentum in our effort to extend federal recognition to Hawaii's indigenous people." Copyright c. 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 2007 Anchorage Daily News, a subsidiary of The McClatchy Co. --------- "RE: Oldest Member of Spirit Lake to celebrate 94 Years" --------- Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 07:21:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LILLIAN SHAW NEARS 94 YEARS" http://www.devilslakejournal.com/articles/2007/10/24/news/news01.txt Oldest living member of Spirit Lake Nation to celebrate 94 years By Mike Bellmore - Features Editor October 24, 2007 FORT TOTTEN, N.D. - As the oldest current living member of the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe south of Devils Lake, Lillian Shaw is held in high regard and even higher esteem. The native of the Crow Hill District will celebrate her 94th birthday in December, and through all those years she has created an incredible story of courage, determination and fortitude after losing her husband at the relatively young age of 39. "Back in those days we had very limited sources of income," recalls her sister, Hermenia McKay. "You had a lot of days when you wondered where the next dollar or next meal would come from and it was really a struggle." Hermenia said her sister loved to garden, and that was a way of putting food on the table. A good part of her income was attained through beadwork on the reservation. But she just kept plugging away, and now her family is taking care of her as her health declines from the effects of arthritis and a stroke. She's confined to a wheelchair and spends a good part of the day sleeping. "She has her good days and her bad days," Hermenia added. "But every day we get with her is special." Lillian married William Shaw in Minnewaukan, but Hermenia couldn't remember the exact date. William died in 1952, and left the family with limited sources of income. One of her kids, Andy, was a POW in the Korean War. His survival and return to the reservation was a morale boost to the family and the entire reservation. "It was the happiest day of our life when he returned," recalled Hermenia."It was tough on all of us when Andy was captured in the war," Hermenia added. "We were awfully happy when he came back to us." "But through it all Lillian just kept plugging away. It will be a sad, sad day when she leaves us." Hermenia said her older sister by 14 years was an incredibly tough lady who was devoted to her family. She was held in extremely high regard and very well respected on the reservation, and now lives at the home of her daughter, Ardis, who works for the Tribal Planning Council. Her other surviving child is Vincent. Copyright c. 2007 Devils Lake Daily Journal. --------- "RE: Hopi teacher wins Spirit of the Heard Award" --------- Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 07:33:43 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="EMORY SEKAQUAPTEWA WINS PRESTIGIOUS HEARD MUSEUM AWARD" http://www.gallupindependent.com/2007/october/102307jch_sprtofthehrd.html Hopi teacher wins Spirit of the Heard Award By John Christian Hopkins Dine' Bureau October 23, 2007 PHOENIX - Emory Sekaquaptewa doesn't take things for granted, his philosophy, you could say, is "Don't worry, be Hopi." So Sekaquaptewa didn't get a big head when he won the fourth Spirit of the Heard Award from the Heard Museum. "I was surprised but grateful for the recognition," Sekaquaptewa said. "I'm not really doing these things for recognition; I enjoy doing them and feel it has to be done." The central work of his life has been to try to save the language for future Hopi generations. The Spirit of the Heard Award recognizes a person's actions and work experience to further the Heard mission: "To educate the public about the heritage and the living cultures and art of Native peoples, with an emphasis on the peoples of the Southwest." The recipient of this national award must be a living member of an American Indian tribe or community. The museum's Board of Trustee's American Indian Advisory Committee created the Spirit of the Heard Award to honor an individual who has demonstrated a level of personal excellence in his or her life either individually as a community leader. The award ceremony was part of this year's Native American Recognition Days in the Phoenix area. This year marks the 25th Annual, and the theme is "Celebrating 25 Years of Native American Communities and Cultures." Committee members chose Sekaquaptewa, a research anthropologist at the University of Arizona, for this honor because of his tireless work to help preserve all aspects of Hopi life, including the Hopi language for future generations. One of his major works was the Hopi dictionary, which has more than 30, 000 entries in it. It was published in 1998 after a decade of work. The latest revision of the Hopi Dictionary was completed in February 2004. Sekaquaptewa was born on Third Mesa on the Hopi Reservation. He has worked at the U of A since 1972, in teaching, research and service. In addition, he was awarded a law degree from the university in 1970. Sekaquaptewa is also an appellate judge for the Hopi Tribe. During his tenure at the U of A, Sekaquaptewa has published dozens of scholarly articles and books. "Emory Sekaquaptewa's dedication to preserving all aspects of Hopi culture and language, his accomplishment in the Indian law field and his work as an educator at the U of A serve as an inspiration to all of us at the Heard," said Frank Goodyear Jr., the museum's director. "We are truly honored to present the Spirit of the Heard Award to such a stellar figure in Native American today." Sekaquaptewa has no plans to rest on his laurels, though. His current project involves laying foundations for Hopi literacy programs at Hopi High School and other school on the Hopi Nation. He is also involved with the Hopi Murals Projects, funded by the Getty Foundation at the Museum of Northern Arizona . He still teaches the "Hopi Language in Culture" course at the U of A, where he also co-teaches anthropology. And, as one might expect, Sekaquaptewa is an active member of the Hopi community in all of its activities, both modern and traditional. "It's like I never left. I've been involved in every aspect of Hopi life," Sekaquaptewa said. He points to his 1966 Chevy Impala as an example. "I think it had nearly 300,000 (miles) when I last looked," he said. Like his car, Sekaquaptewa just keeps on rolling along. The Heard has educated visitors from around the world about the art and cultures of Native people of the Southwest since 1929. It has nearly 40,000 artifacts in its permanent collection, an education center and an award-winning shop and bookstore and restaurant Copyright c. 2007 Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: Views: South Dakota and Native Americans" --------- Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 07:19:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RESPONSES TO POLL" http://www.indianz.com/News http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200771022056 State's relationship with Native Americans By staff reports October 23, 2007 This past week, we celebrated Native American Day. How would you grade South Dakota in its dealings with its Indian residents? Are relations between Native Americans and white people improving? What can non-Indians do to help change the persistent problems, such as alcoholism and unemployment, on the reservations? Rick Albrecht, 51 Sioux Falls business owner I think that the South Dakota state Legislature should permit the gambling industry on the reservations to be on par with those off the reservation. Increased revenue from the Native American gambling industry could then be used to continue funding for antitobacco, antialcohol, antiabuse, and health/education programs in the Native American communities. A portion of the gambling profits could also be targetted to fund the Crazy Horse Monument -- too bad that concept hasn't been adopted nationwide already by the existing Indian casinos. Scott Allan, 53 Sioux Falls I have thought for a long time that what the white man did to the Native Americans was terrible: putting them on a reservation that basically is land where you can't grow or produce anything here in South Dakota. My father used to take student teachers from Yankton College to Pine Ridge and to Kyle, and one year I went out there with him for a week and became good friends with several Native Americans, who are some of the most beautiful people I have ever met in my life. I really do feel that they got a raw deal from the white man. I do know a Native American who is in charge of a casino here in South Dakota, who is one of the most smartest businessmen I know. I know a couple of Native Americans who are Vietnam vets, and the things they saw while in the service makes my hair stand up on end. And the discrimination they received when they got back from Vietnam was deplorable compared to the white men and women who served in Vietnam. I think that education is most important with the Na tive Americans. I feel that health care is very important with the Native Americans. And I just think that the U.S. government has to provide good education and very good health care to the Native Americans. I would also like to say that the Native Americans are the most religious and spiritual people I have ever met in my life. Martin Blath, 61 Dell Rapids retired police officer Native American Day is a good start in the education process of the history of all Native American nations. Native Americans have been oppressed since foreigners landed here. They are still living in the shadow of all the other races in the country. They are owed money by our federal government. Their land was taken from them. They were placed on reservations. The motion picture industry made millions by releasing movies that were not factual. You hardly ever hear good news concerning them, only bad, like the beer sales in Whiteclay, Neb., to residents of the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. If it weren't for St. Joseph's Indian School, you would not know of their education. The Native Americans did not cause their problems; most of the ancestors of those living here now did. It is up to the federal and state governments and us to correct the problem. Kenneth Hillner, 69 Brookings professor emeritus I do not know the origin of the use of the term "Indian" to denote the peoples inhabiting the "New World" when Columbus "discovered" it. I think that the phrase "indigenous people" is more neutral and realistic. The phrase "Native American" is OK or passable; however, note that the Canadians refer to their indigenous people as "First Nation" individuals, not as "Native Canadian." (By the way, I think I am correct in the belief that any indigenous individual is a citizen of North America per se - the border between the U.S. and Canada does not apply to them.) With this as a context, the relationship between any indigenous people and a later invader and occupier of the country is very complex and has consequences on virtually an infinite number of dimensions. The state of the indigenous person in America today certainly is far from ideal; however, I am heartened by the fact that there seems to be a general leavening of the traditional view of the original inhabitants of our continent. At any rate, it is my perception that this is the case, and it is probably due to the fact that there is a conscious attempt these days to include diversity topics and human relations in both the public school curricula as well as college/university offerings. One critical thing that an educated person learns today is that there is no such entity as a "primitive" people or society. Indigenous societies are just as complex as so-called contemporary, technologically-oriented ones - both sociologically and metaphysically. Once the dominant white power structure or establishment realizes this and begins to actively encourage and reinforce the general values and goals of an indigenous culture and society, the day-to-day problems of an indigenous person (society), i.e., poverty, unemployment, alcoholism, political estrangement, and such, will begin to disappear. In sum, I think the stage has been reached in South Dakota where this process can be meaningfully begun. Specifically, we can start with more participation by the individual reservations in the political activities and decisions occurring in Pierre. Bill Kunerth, 82 Belle Fourche retired rancher How would you grade South Dakota in its dealings with its Indian residents? Lousy but improving, to some extent through the courts, thanks to considerable help from the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union). But racism is still out there. Are relations between Native Americans and white people improving? Small organizations and South Dakota citizens are working to improve relations. Some school districts have implemented Native American education into their curricula. More Indian teachers are badly needed on reservation schools. Indian parents need to be made more comfortable in their relations with the schools. What can non-Indians do to help change the persistent problems, such as alcoholism, and unemployment, on the reservations? Start over! Would that we could. The keys are education and job training. There needs to be a cooperative effort among the Native American community and all levels of the non-Indian community - government, business, education, the legal and medical professions, churches and voluntary organizations. Native Americans must identify their problems and offer solutions. Then, non-Indians must work with them to adopt programs that deal with these problems. Honest communication is essential, and it cannot be accomplished unless Indians bring their concerns into the non- Indian community and non-Indians learn firsthand of these concerns and bring their ideas into the Indian community. Nothing beneficial will be achieved if "committees" and "task forces" and agencies continue to have their meetings and act in isolation of the Indian community and their involvement. Gerald Lange, 79 Madison retired professor The late Governor George Mickelson's "reconciliation" policy was gaining momentum when his life was ended tragically in a plane crash in 1973. Governor Mickelson's sincere effort to meet with Indian leaders on each reservation was not sustained by his successors. To understand the profound disfunction on the reservations today requires an understanding of the history of violence and oppression imposed on the Native Americans as "recent" as the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890 and going back to the Treaty of 1868, which gave the Indians all of western South Dakota, "as long as the grass grows and the dead are buried." The answer to alcoholism and unemployment? Concentrate on creative programs for the kids. If there's any possibility to break the cycle, concentrate on the kids! Kevin Loker, 17 Mitchell student One problem South Dakota has to face here is ignorance. So many people in our state simply do not know the slightest bit about Native Americans. Culturally from one another, we're too removed. Too few people actually know the history of how the reservations came to be, the values Native Americans hold most important, or even how a tribal government is set up. The even bigger problem? Too few people even care. Apathy is a nasty player in relations. When constituents can care less about alcoholism and unemployment on the reservations, a slice of motive is taken away from a policymaker, even if that policymaker knows the conditions, the reality. And that's the thing - our government does realize there are problems, that everything is not sound. It's that extra push that just needs to come. Thankfully, even with a small base of awareness, there is hope. Small signs of heading in the right direction do exist - at least we don't celebrate "Columbus Day." As far as a report card rating goes, however, it's only right to put a check in the "Needs Improvement" box, and that box doesn't just lie in the government; it lies in the general public as well. Fred Schroeder, 57 Sioux Falls full-time volunteer South Dakota has better relations with Native Americans than other states I have lived in. I do not think that the relations between Native Americans and the immigrants that have arrived since 1493 have improved much. We immigrants are still on their land that we either moved in on or broke treaties to get. To help ease the persistent problems on the reservations, the non-Native Americans need to encourage the government and the churches to give back the land still in their possession. Elizabeth Schulte, 21 Madison student The very small education I have on Native American relations extends to this: As far as I know, the state has implemented programs to help Native Americans get the same opportunities. The state seems to be aware of the issues and addressing them. Without knowing how effective the programs are, I would give the state a B-. The state has room for improvement but is above average on its awareness and willingness to assist the Native American community. The relations between Native Americans and Caucasians are improving. We are more aware now of the benefits of diversity, and our attitude toward it is improving. We, as the non-Indian society, can encourage positivity. We do this on a individual basis. As soon as we stop stereotyping Native Americans as alcoholics and unemployed, we will be able to have the same expectations of them as any other South Dakotan. Native Americans are individual people; they each have their own future and choices to make. The sooner we start realizing that th ey have the same potential to be upstanding members of society, the sooner they will start meeting greater expectations. John Swanson, 84 Sioux Falls accountant On a grade basis, we might earn a "D." We could possibly correct it by realizing they are fellow, human, Sioux Dakotans and treating them as equals, not as "Savages." Our problem is guilt. We did steal their land and consider ourselves "humanitarians" because we don't shoot them anymore. And, after a fashion, we minimally, feed, house and clothe them. Quit treating them like pariahs and put them back in the mainstream. NieeMA Thasing, 58 Elkton small business owner/substitute teacher Having just gotten back form the Netherlands, I missed the advent of this celebration of the Native American Culture becoming a "DAY." As I looked at the things that were done and the things that were said on Native American Day, I could not help looking back at my own excitement of having a month to celebrate my history and culture ... even if it is the shortest in the year. It was recognition. Judging from the things I have heard since I have been in South Dakota, when speaking about Native Americans with an non-Native person, the conversations are spoken of in a matter-of-fact way. People truly feel there is no problem between whites and Native people. They, the Native people, do their thing and we do ours. I have heard people protesting, asking, "Why do they need a day?" When I speak to a Native person, minority to minority, I get a totally different picture. The Native person felt as many other minorities do, "Why am I still an underclass person?" When asked if things are getting better, the standard answer came out "Well, things have not gotten any worse, you know what I mean." That phrase tells me, as an African-American person, that things are as they have been - no improvement in the eyes of the Native person I was conversing with. Being what I guess one would call an alternative health advocate and a learning addict, I would have loved seeing some of the things that have been used in the Native culture for health, spoken of more on Native American Day. While some of mainstream healers will tell you the history of the product or rituals such as sweat lodges, herbs and countless other things, "Big Pharma" has many pills based on Native cures with little or no recognition given to the tribe or region that used the herb it is based on. Recognition of those facts would have been nice to see. Recognition would go a long way in helping to restore a person's dignity. Letting someone know that they are a valued part of society and that their contributions are remembered could help the situations Native persons face. When you feel respected, you begin to respect yourself. Linda Tom, 58 Sioux Falls registered nurse I would give South Dakota a grade of C in its dealing with our Native American residents. I believe our state still has a long way to go in regard to its relations with our Native American population. The problems of alcoholism and unemployment on the reservations remain as great a problem today as they where 20 years ago. Many times, these two problems are the result of not completing high school or not continuing education past high school. Until the education element is fixed, no matter if on the reservation or not, the problems of alcoholism and unemployment/underemployment will continue. Libby Trammell, 15 Sioux Falls student For kids my age, I think that we still have racial gaps. The Native Americans sometimes mass into one big clique that seem intimidating to us "non-Natives." To improve this relationship, I think we just need to keep an open mind. Accept their culture just like we'd except a Hispanic or black individual's culture. Also, trips to volunteer on reservations would really help non-Indians grasp what Native Americans struggle through on those reservations. I myself went to Rosebud to help my mother teach and was shocked by how these people lived. What we need is understanding, and these trips would do that. Martha Vanderlinde, 56 Sioux Falls registered nurse Relationships between Indian and non-Indians in S.D. are different depending on where you live. I believe that on the reservations, the non- Indians have more animosity towards the Indians because they see the Indians do not have to follow the same laws as the non-Indians. They also see the day-to-day plight of the Indians and wonder why some of them don't seem to want to change their lives. The vocal minority or acts of criminal activity of a few tarnish the goodness and hard-working nature of those who truly live their life respectfully and in cultural integration. Off-reservation, especially in areas of greater population, the non- Indians are more accepting of minorities whether they are Indians, blacks, Mexican or other minorities. In these areas, the non-Indians view Indians as people trying to improve their lives. The Multi-cultural Center has really heightened the relationship and visibility of minorities. Education, co-habitating and sharing of cultures creates a melting pot of individuals who just want to live together in harmony. The more we know, the better we can co-exist. Al Whitlatch, 61 Brookings education professor It's fine that we honor our state's Native citizens with a day, but it is going to take more than just re-naming Columbus Day to show substantial respect. I would give our state a C-; it's not failing but allows lots of room for improvement. I think South Dakota is doing more than many states. Most of the issues, though, are federal in nature and unlikely to be much affected by state efforts. The current sad state of family life, massive unemployment and alcoholism are direct results of the federally imposed reservation system and federally imposed Indian Education system, all dating from the 19th century. For much of the late 19th and well into the 20th century, official policy of the U.S. government was to "Save the Man, but Kill the Indian." Conferences such as the "19th Annual Consider the Century Conference: Native American Perspectives," sponsored by SDSU, provide opportunities for all South Dakotans to hear and understand the Native perspectives on issues such as efforts to pr otect the cultural integrity and spirituality of Mato Paha (Bear Butte), and other sites sacred to native peoples. As cultural understanding grows, we will begin to break down the barriers of mistrust and ignorance. Belinda Young, 47 Mitchell assembler at trailer manufacturer I gave this question a considerable amount of thought before coming up with a response. I asked a couple of friends/co-workers (Native Americans) for their opinion, and from their point of view things have gotten better, but there is room for much more improvement. One of the people I spoke with expressed his solution for part of the problem of joblessness would be industry on the reservation. Unfortunately, greed on both sides (white and tribal) prevent these things from getting off the ground. The casinos on the reservations only seem to add to the poverty there because desperation causes people to gamble the little they have in the hopes of getting ahead. Copyright c. 2007 Argus Leader Media. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Sho-Ban to meet with Governor about Fuel Tax" --------- Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 07:19:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SHO-BAN, FUEL TAX" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.kpvi.com/Global/story.asp?S=7250275 Sho-Ban Tribe to Meet With Governor Otter About Fuel Tax October 22, 2007 For years, the price of gasoline has been lower in Fort Hall than other cities because the tribes didn't have to pay state tax on fuel. However, that is likely to change soon, when the tribe and Governor Butch Otter sign an agreement as early as Wednesday. Aaron Kunz explains the fuel tax pact. The pact will likely be similar to a deal between the State of Idaho and the Coeur d'Alene tribes over a state fuel tax. The pact between the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe and the State of Idaho would require gasoline sold on the reservation be taxed at the same rate as elsewhere in the state. It would also limit what the taxes collected could be used for. For instance, in the Coeur d'Alene Tribe pact, the money could only be used for transportation-related needs. According to John Hanian with Governor Otter's office, the pact is not a done deal yet and they feel it would be prudent to see what happens Wednesday before they issue a comment. He did say an agreement is likely to happen between now and December. Since 2001, the State of Idaho has spent thousands of dollars trying to collect taxes on fuels despite a federal law that said collection violated tribal sovereignty. That federal law was overturned by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, allowing the Idaho Legislature to pass a law giving the state the right to collect a fuel tax from indian tribes. However, the bill that passed the Idaho Legislature won't go into effect until December 1st - enough time for the state and each tribe to reach an agreement on collection protocol. All of Idaho's indian tribes are likely to sign a deal, although each may be slightly different in terms. Copyright c. 2000 - 2007 WorldNow and kpvi. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Shoshone-Bannock Tribes sign Fuel Tax Agreement" --------- Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 07:21:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OTTER GETS HIS WAY" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.kpvi.com/Global/story.asp?S=7259390 Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Sign Fuel Tax Agreement October 24, 2007 Governor "Butch" Otter and representatives from the Shoshone-Bannock tribes have signed a landmark agreement. This agreement resolvings long- standing questions over the collection and allocation of motor fuel taxes on Eastern Idaho's Fort Hall Indian Reservation. The agreement provides that the tribes will impose a 25-cents per gallon tax which is the same rate as the state motor fuels tax. The tribes also must increase the tribal fuel tax in the future if the state increases its tax. In addition the agreement requires the Shoshone-Bannock tribes to spend tribal fuel tax revenue on transportation needs on the reservation. Copyright c. 2000 - 2007 WorldNow and kpvi. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Navajo Council sends appreciation to Sen. Jon Kyl" --------- Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:14:11 -0600 From: Joshua Lavar Butler Subj: Navajo Nation Council Sends Appreciation to U.S. Senator Jon Kyl For Jail Advocacy The Navajo Nation Council Office of the Speaker October 22, 2007 For Immediate Release 21st Navajo Nation Council Sends Appreciation to U.S. Senator Jon Kyl for Jail Advocacy WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. - U.S. Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) is advocating for increased funding for tribal detention facilities in Arizona and the 21st Navajo Nation Council are greatly appreciative of Sen. Kyl's efforts. Senator Kyl explained that the United States, through the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Justice Department, operates and funds detention facilities throughout Indian Country as part of its trust responsibilities to Native Americans. Members of the 21st Navajo Nation Council are elated to know that Congressional funding committees have recently acknowledged the deplorable conditions of detention facilities in Indian Country and have suggested funding increases for jails on Indian reservations. "The Navajo Nation Council's Public Safety Committee is greatly appreciative of the advocacy and efforts by Senator Kyl on behalf of all the victims who have yet to see justice. This advocacy and attention is desperately needed for our children who are subject to the daily abuse by perpetrators who cannot be locked up and for our justice system that is hindered by the lack of detention facilities," MacDonald-Lonetree said. "Our communities deserve to feel safe from harm and violent offenders. I thank Senator Kyl for fighting for justice on Navajo." Speaker Morgan also expressed his gratitude for Sen. Kyl's support, "I'm thankful for Sen. Kyl's attention to this matter to seek additional funding for jails that are badly dilapidated. It's a shame that many do the crime, but are not held accountable because of the lack of jail facilities." New Detention facilities are desperately needed on the Navajo Nation, which is approximately the size of West Virginia with a population looming at 250,000. Detention facilities on the reservation have recently been closed for health and safety reasons and the Nation only has 59-jail beds. This need has created severe overcrowding and represents less than 10 percent of the total need. --------- "RE: Convention to be broadcast in Native Languages" --------- Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 07:19:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ALASKA NATIVE CONVENTION TO BROADCAST IN NATIVE LANGUAGES" http://newsminer.com/2007/10/22/9490 Convention to be broadcast in Native languages By Chris Freiberg cfreiberg@newsminer.com October 22, 2007 Do not adjust your radio. There is nothing wrong with your reception. If you tune into Anchorage-based KNBA at noon this week, you might find they're speaking a language you're not familiar with. That's because the station will be giving recaps of each day of the Alaska Federation of Natives conventions in three languages spoken by the Native people of Alaska: Inupiaq, Yupik and Koyukon Athabascan. Each recap will last about five minutes and be recited by a longtime speaker of the language. While KNBA has been broadcasting the convention for the past 11 years, last year marked the first time updates were given in a language other than English. "The folks listening to our programming were very appreciative of being able to understand what was going on in their own language," said Vernon Chimegalrea, resource development specialist for Koahnic Broadcasting Corporation, which owns KNBA. The station decided to add Koyukon Athabascan this year since the convention is being held in Fairbanks, an Athabascan territory. While KNBA's content is broadcast throughout much of Alaska, and some of its original programming is even syndicated in the Lower 48, it's not actually broadcast in Fairbanks. It is, however, streamed live on KNBA.org, and fliers are being handed out to delegates as they arrive at the airport and hotels to make them aware of that. The Web site receives more than 50, 000 hits each week. Live broadcasting of the convention will run from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. In addition to the updates in Native languages at noon, the station also will feature panel discussions about the convention from youth and elders. Hot topics this year are expected to be the high cost of energy in rural Alaska and the role of AFN. "It's something that I feel is important to start a dialogue," said Dixie Hutchinson, news director for KNBA. The broadcast will also offer brief interviews with tribal leaders delegates after the keynote speakers. "From feedback we've gotten from the audience, people are unbelievably appreciate of this," Chimegalrea said. Contact staff writer Chris Freiberg at 459-7545. Copyright c. 1999-2007 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Inc. --------- "RE: O'odum return from Encuentro" --------- Date: Monday, October 22, 2007 04:19 am From: Chiapas 95 Moderators Subj: En;NN,O'odum return from Encuentro,Oct 18 Mailing List: Chiapas95-english This message is forwarded to you by the editors of the Chiapas95 newslists. To contact the editors or to submit material for posting send to: . From: "Dana Aldea" O'odham Return from Gathering with Mexico's Indigenous and Subcomandante Marcos "I Felt a Sense That This Is an Awakening of the People" By Brenda Norrell Special to The Narco News Bulletin October 18, 2007