[NN-Dialogue] Wotanging Ikche--nanews11.016
Gary Night Owl
gars at speakeasy.org
Wed Apr 16 00:38:15 CDT 2003
WOTANGING IKCHE -- Lakota -- Common News
Kanoheda Aniyvwiya -- Cherokee -- Journal of the People
Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin -- Blackfeet -- News for All the People
Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse -- Creek -- People's New News
Aunchemokauhettittea -- Naragansett -- Let Us Share News
Ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min -- Ojibwe -- We Are Talking About Ourselves
Ha-Sah-Sliltha -- Ditidaht Nation -- News of the People
Un Chota -- Susquehannic Seneca -- The People Speak
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
Sho-da-ku-ye -- Teehahnahmah -- Talking Birchbark
Acimowin -- Plains Cree -- Story or Account
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
Tlaixmatiliztli -- Nahuatl -- News
Native American News -- Language of the Occupation Forces
Wotanging Ikche and Native American News Copyright c. 1996-2003 nanews.org
==>If you want your Nation represented in the banner of this newsletter<==
email gars at nanews.org with the equivalent of "News of the People"
in your tribal language along with the english translation
O +-----------------------------+
O o O | Much more happens in Indian |
O o O VOLUME 11, ISSUE 016 | Country than is reported in |
O o o o o O | this weekly newsletter. For |
O o O April 19, 2003 | For daily updates & events |
O o O | go http://www.owlstar.com/ |
O | dailyheadlines.htm |
Hopi kwiyamuyaw/windbreaks moon +-----------------------------+
Blackfeet matsiyikkapisaii'somm/frog moon
<================<<<< >>>>================>
This newsletter is produced in straight ASCII text for greatest portability
across platforms. Read it with a fixed-pitch font, such as Courier, Monaco,
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<================<<<< >>>>================>
This issue contains articles from www.owlstar.com; www.indianz.com;
www.pechanga.net; Canadian Aboriginal News, Frostys AmerIndian,
Tn-Ind and Iron House Drums Mailing Lists; Newsgroup: alt.native;
UUCP email
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 at 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 Elder Quote: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +
========================
"In 1868, men came out and brought papers. We could not read them and
they did not tell us truly what was in them. We thought the treaty was
to remove the forts and for us to cease from fighting. But they wanted
to send us traders on the Missouri, but we wanted traders where we were.
When I reached Washington, the Great Father explained to me that the
interpreters had deceived me. All I want is right and just."
__ Chief Red Cloud (Makhpiya-luta), Oglala Lakota
+- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+
| Indian Pledge of Allegiance | The Indian Pledge of Alleg-
| | iance was first presented
| I pledge allegiance to my Tribe,| on 2 December '93 during the
| to the democratic principles | opening address of the Nat-
| of the Republic | ional Congress of American
| and to the individual freedoms | Indian Tribal-States Relat-
| borrowed from the Iroquois and | ions Panel in Reno, NV. NCAI
| Choctaw Confederacies, | plans distribution of the
| as incorporated in the United | Indian Pledge to all Indian
| States Constitution, | Nations.
| so that my forefathers |
| shall not have died in vain | Walk in Beauty! Night Owl
+- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+
+- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+
| Journey | In the summer and early fall
| The Bloodline | of 1998 the Treaty Unity Riders
| | rode a thousand miles on horse-
| For all that live and live by law | back, carrying a staff and
| We Stand, we Call, We Ride | praying each step of the way.
| For All that fear and fear by sight |
| We Hear, we Listen, we Ride | These prayers were offered for
| For all that pray and pray by strength| each of us, and that the Unity
| We Feel, we Move, we Ride | of all Peoples might happen.
| For all that die and die by greed |
| We Hurt, we Cry, we Ride | Tatanka Cante forwarded this
| For all that birth and birth by right | poem on behalf of all the Unity
| We Smile, we Hold, we Ride | Riders that we might stop and
| For all that need and need by heart | ask if the next words we say, the
| We Came, we Went, we Rode. | next act we make is for the good
| | of the People or is it from ego
| Treaty Unity Riders | for self.
+- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+
O'siyo Brothers and Sisters!
There is a strong movement to remove "squaw" from the names of landmarks.
The governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano, was looking at an opportunity
to remove the most glaring example in her state in a way that even the
most ardent bigot would be hard pressed to object to publicly. Naming it
Piestewa Peak would have granted honor to a Hopi who gave her life for her
country, and not rubbed the name change in anyone's face.
Two problems have arisen with that solution. Federal regulations
prohibit naming anything in honor of a deceased person until five (5) years
have passed. The law isn't a bad one - it prevents questionable or
marginal naming in the "heat of the moment" emotionally that must later be
lived with or rescinded. That isn't likely to be the case here and could
easily be circumvented with an executive order. Public and legislative
support are almost unanimous.
The second problem is far more genuine. The family, tired of publicity
and concerned with traditions, have reportedly told state legislators
they want the naming delayed or shelved. Further, these legislators
report that some tribal leaders have expressed concern about hastily naming
any facility after this fallen warrior.
I cannot speak for Navajo, Hopi or Hispanic teachings. I can tell you
what mine are. As much as I thought, and still do that Piestewa Peak was
an idea whose time had come, I absolutely believe the wishes of the family
must be honored.
Governor Naplitano graduated from Sandia High in Albuquerque, NM, Santa
Clara University and received her law degree from the University of
Virginia. This has certainly exposed her to multiculturalism. I would
hope she will do the right thing by the family and not the expedient thing.
Dohiyi Ani Oginalii
, , Gary Night Owl gars at nanews.org
(*,*) P. O. Box 672168 gars at speakeasy.org
(`-') Marietta, GA 30008, U.S.A.
===w=w===
----------- News of the people featured in this issue ----------
- Crossings - Natives unmoved
- Lawsuit alleges Abuse by Coleman Apology
at Government-Run Schools - Grassy Narrows Protest
- Adoption Act helps keep - Blackfeet gauge BIA Takeover
Indian Culture Alive - Former Wampanoag Chief
- Recreation, Spirituality suing R.I. for Land
clash in Northern Nevada - Ex-IHS Worker gets Prison for Fraud
- Big Mountain to Baghdad - Mescalero Man sentenced
- Frontier lays off for Forest Fires
Navajo-Speaking Operators - Native Prisoner
- Supreme Court hears -- Card from Daniel Poole
Bishop Sovereignty Case -- Statement from Manuel Redwoman
- Confederated Tribes -- Our Help Requested
Land-Restoration Bill - Rustywire: Dibe' Bii Nataani
- Learn about the Anasazi's - History: Carlisle Indian School
last stand at Hovenweep - Poem: Speak to me Please
- Coon Come opens - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days
European Human Rights Visit - Trail of Tears Memorial Walk Reminder
- First Nations face Housing Crisis - APTN: Report Card/You're the Critic
--------- "RE: Crossings" ---------
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 08:10:52 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="CROSSINGS"
April 13, 2003
Tecumseh Cook Dies at Age 103; Va. Indian Chief Associated Press
KING WILLIAM, Va. -- Chief Tecumseh Deerfoot Cook, 103, who led the
Pamunkey Indian tribe from 1942 to 1984, died here April 11. The cause of
death was not reported.
He had acted as the group's unofficial ambassador until recently. He
represented the tribe at the annual tribute to Virginia's governor -- a
tradition dating to 1646 -- until 2000.
As head of the tribe, he oversaw everything from resolutions of tiny
squabbles to negotiating restitution from Southern Railway Co. in the
1970s for the railroad's use of 11/2 miles of track running through the
reservation, one of the nation's oldest.
During his tenure, the Pamunkeys expanded their shad hatchery and
secured federal grants to build the Pamunkey Indian Museum and Community
Center on their reservation in southeastern Virginia.
He was also a deacon of Pamunkey Indian Baptist Church for more than 60
years.
Those who knew him say he never took credit for his accomplishments but
worried constantly about the betterment of his people.
"People who don't know us think there is nothing to being a chief,"
Chief Cook said in a 1984 interview. "There have been many nights when I
have gone to bed and woken up with my pillow wet. You are always fighting
to get something done."
He was once asked the secret to leading a long life.
"Eat plenty of raccoons and muskrats and drink Pamunkey River water," he
said. "But lay off the possum."
The chief was born on the reservation and married Ruth Bradby on April
25, 1925. The couple briefly moved to Philadelphia during the Depression
but returned soon after.
He was most at home outdoors, working as a hunting guide for Old Town
Farm, a private lodge located next to the reservation. He was also a
fisher and trapper, catching snapping turtles by setting up stationary
poles in the creek and baiting them with eels, said his son, G. Warren
Cook, who is the tribe's assistant chief.
Every year, Chief Cook participated in the tribe's traditional shad
fishing, milking the female fish to provide eggs for the hatchery. Cook
was a firm believer that whatever came out of the water should be put back
in, his family said.
Still, despite all his accomplishments, he said he never thought he was
a good chief. "I served because I was asked to serve," he said at a 1984
ceremony marking the end of his tenure.
But his son said his presence went far beyond his role as chief.
"He worked with the people all those years to keep peace on the
reservation and to uphold all our laws," G. Warren Cook said.
The Pamunkey tribe currently numbers about 75 people on the 1,200-acre
reservation, which was set aside next to King William County in a 17th-
century peace treaty.
Cook's survivors include two daughters, Eleanor Cook Fields of
Millington, Tenn., and Elizabeth Cook Allmond of Warminster, Pa.; his son,
of the Pamunkey Indian Reservation; 13 grandchildren; 21 great-
-grandchildren; and a great-great-grandchild.
Copyright c. 2003 The Washington Post Company.
-=-=-=-
April 10, 2003
Louise Day
Louise Boyd Day, Baa bii waa shii kwe, 54, of Crosby, formerly of
McGregor and Onamia, died Sunday, April 6, 2003, at the Cuyuna Regional
Care Center in Crosby. Services will take place Thursday, April 10, at 10
a.m. at the East Lake Community Center with Lee Staples officiating.
Burial will be in the Big Sandy Lake Burial Grounds. Arrangements are
with McGregor Funeral Home.
Copyright c. 2003 Mille Lacs Messenger/Isle, MN.
-=-=-=-
April 10, 2003
Verbena M. Dreamer-Crow
OGLALA - Verbena M. Dreamer-Crow, 73, Oglala, died Monday, April 7, 2003,
in Oglala.
Survivors include three nephews, Philip Sounding Sides and Santos
Sounding Sides, both of Rapid City, and Duane Chalmers, Lake Andes, and
four nieces, Joyce Marcy, Dewitt, Mich., Lolo Brings Plenty, Oglala, Linda
Furman, Springfield, Mo., and Lorrie Whistler, Sturgis.
A one-night wake will begin at 11 a.m. Friday, April 11, at Brother Rene
Catholic Church Hall in Oglala.
Services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 12, at the church hall, with
the Rev. Asa Wilson officiating. Burial will be at Makasan Presbyterian
Cemetery in Oglala.
Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements.
April 11, 2003
Jordan Jeremiah Fire Thunder
KYLE - Jordan Jeremiah Fire Thunder, infant son of Edwina Fire Thunder
of Kyle, was stillborn Tuesday, April 8, 2003, at Rapid City Regional
Hospital.
Survivors include his mother; one brother, Tiger Brown Bull, Kyle; three
Hunka brothers, Tyson Mills, Jay Jacobs and Ted Standing Soldier Jr., all
of Rocky Ford; and his maternal grandmother, Betty Robertson, Kyle.
Services will be at 2 p.m. today at Lakota Anglican Church in Kyle, with
the Rev. Francis Apple officiating. Burial will be at Fire Thunder Family
Cemetery in Allen. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of
arrangements.
Copyright c. 2003 the Rapid City Journal.
-=-=-=-
April 9, 2003
Don Mermejo
1917-2003
Highly respected elder, Don Mermejo, age 85, from Picuris Pueblo, passed
away peacefully in the early morning hours of March 24, 2003, surrounded
by his family at the Santa Fe Indian Hospital. Don was born September 30,
1917, in Picuris Pueblo. He lived in Picuris all his childhood, was a
Golden Gloves Boxer at the Santa Fe Indian School and later at age 20,
married the love of his life, Augustina Lopez, on May 23, 1938, at San
Lorenzo Church in Picuris Pueblo. They enjoyed 59 years of a loving
marriage until the passing of his beloved wife, Augustina, on September 4,
1997. Don was a farmer around the Picuris and Penasco community and also
worked as section hand for the Union Pacific and Denver & Rio Grande
Railroad. Don and Augustina were former residents of Ophir and Stockton,
Utah, where Don worked as a welder at the Tooele Ordinance Depot and
retired at age 55, shortly after his son, Lance Corporal, Joseph Michael
Mermejo, United States Marine Corps, was killed in action, March 29, 1969,
in Vietnam.
Don, Augustina and their family returned to Picuris Pueblo where Don
continued with farming, cutting and selling wood and alfalfa and being a
participating member in the Picuris Pueblo Tribe, such as serving on the
Tribal Council, working as Game and Fish Warden and living the traditional
Picuris life.
Don's life was a full one and he thoroughly enjoyed spending time with
his family as well as other interests including hunting, fishing,
silversmithing, creating traditional Indian beadwork and weaving
ceremonial belts, watching live and televised professional boxing and
wrestling matches, martial arts movies, especially ones starring Jackie
Chan; he was an avid Denver Bronco fan and a proud supporter of the Santa
Fe Indian School athletics, especially when the grandchildren were playing.
Don was a wonderful, loving husband, father, grandfather and great-
grandfather who touched the lives of many people during his life through
endless acts of kindness. He will long be remembered as a gentle, hard-
working man with a generous heart, a warm sense of humor, a strong Picuris
spirituality and an unconditional love for family.
Don was preceded in death by his wife, Augustina, two infant sons, son,
Joseph Michael Mermejo, grandson, Joseph James Mermejo, and brothers,
Domingo Mermejo and Reyes Martinez. He is survived by his two sisters,
Bertha Suina and Rose Allrunner; brother, Robert Duran; sister-in-law,
Annie Martinez; four sons: Joe Quanchello, Peter Mermejo, Joe Howard
Mermejo, and Randy Mermejo; four daughters: Caroline Kowalski, Sadie
Stabenow, Donna Mermejo, and Susie Mermejo; 10 grandchildren, 13 great-
grandchildren, as well as many good friends, cousins, nieces, nephews and
relatives. Funeral Mass was held on Tuesday, March 25, 2003, at San
Lorenzo Church in Picuris Pueblo; interment Picuris Pueblo cemetery,
followed by traditional Picuris tribal rites. The family is very
appreciative of the prayers and support of so many people who loved Don.
He will be greatly missed.
Copyright c. 2003 The Taos News.
-=-=-=-
April 12, 2003
Chanda Holly Gutierrez
CHANDA HOLLY GUTIERREZ , 27, of Santa Clara Pueblo, died Wednesday
following injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident.
She graduated in May 1993 from McCurdy High School. She was employed for
several years with Sunwest Bank in Espanola. At the time of her death, she
was employed as an accounting clerk with the Santa Clara Pueblo tribal
administration.
She was preceded in death by her maternal grandparents, Lee and Betty
Tafoya; and an uncle, Michael Gutierrez.
She is survived by her daughter, Vanessa Gutierrez of Santa Clara
Pueblo; mother and stepfather, Phillis Tafoya-Bustos and husband Gus of
Fairview; father, Desiderio 'Star' Gutierrez Jr. of Mescalero; sisters,
Dana Bustos of Fairview, and Michelle Bustos of Espanola; brother, Brian
Bustos of Espanola; father of her daughter, Andrew Espinoza of Espanola;
two nieces; one nephew; and many other relatives and friends.
Funeral services will be held at 8:30 a.m. today at the Tafoya Family
Home with burial to follow at the Santa Clara Pueblo Cemetery.
DeVargas Funeral Home of the Espanola Valley.
Copyright c. 1997 - 2003 Albuquerque Journal: Albuquerque, New Mexico.
-=-=-=-
April 8, 2003
Harry Enjady
Funeral services for Harry Duane Enjady, 49, of Mescalero, were Monday
at the Mescalero Reformed Church, with burial at the Enjady Family
Cemetery at White Tail. Mr. Enjady died Thursday, April 3, 2003, in
Mescalero.
He was born in Mescalero on July 31, 1953.
He had lived there all his life and was a member of the Reformed Church.
Survivors include his children Duane Enjady, Krystal Enjady, Priscilla
Enjady and Tralin Enjady; his mother, Lorraine Moquino; brothers Zeno
Enjady, Collins Enjady, Gene Enjady, Larry Enjady, Wayne Enjady, Omar
Enjady and Kevin Chee; sisters Wynelle Geronimo, BonnaDell Ortega,
Stephanie Chico and Rena Chee; grandchildren Arian Enjady and Malia
Enjady; and aunts Clara Mae Johnson and Cornelia Gaines.
Arrangements were under the direction of LaGrone Funeral Chapel of
Ruidoso.
Copyright c. 1999-2003 MediaNews Group, Inc./Ruidoso NM.
-=-=-=-
April 11, 2003
Paul Hosteen Begay, Sr.
March 15, 1919 - April 7, 2003
Paul Hosteen Begay, Sr., 84, of Lukachukai, Ariz., went home to be with
his Heavenly Father Monday, April 7, 2003, in Shiprock. He was born March
15, 1919, in Red Valley, Ariz.
Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m., Saturday, April 12, 2003, at
the Christian Reformed Church in Red Valley, Ariz. Interment will follow
at the Red Valley Community Cemetery.
Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Brewer, Lee and Larkin Funeral
Home of Shiprock, (505) 368-4607.
April 12, 2003
Pauline Pinto Tsosie
- April 10, 2003
Pauline Pinto Tsosie, 63, of Mexican Hat, Utah, passed away on Thursday,
April 10, 2003, in Price, Utah.
Funeral arrangements are pending with Chapel of Memories Funeral Home of
Kirtland, (505) 598-9636.
Copyright c. 1999-2003 MediaNews Group, Inc./Farmington, NM.
-=-=-=-
April 9, 2003
Michaelis "Sonny" Burnham
PHOENIX - Services for Michaelis Burnham, 34, will be held at 11 a.m.,
Wednesday, April 9 at the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,
Sanders, Ariz. S. Shakespear will officiate. Burial will follow at
McCarroll's Cemetery, Chambers, Ariz. Visitation will be held one hour
before services at the LDS Church.
Burnham died April 3 in Phoenix. He was born April 19, 1968 in Tuba City,
Ariz into the Mescalero Apache clan.
Burnham graduated from Snowflake High School. He played football at Snow
College. He was self-employed as an artist, where he received many awards
and recognition for his work.
Survivors include his parents, Bruce and Virginia Burnham; brothers,
Patrick, Austin and Brent; sisters, Dionne and Sheri; and Ella and Leonard
Deal.
Pallbearers will be Patrick Burnham, Austin Burnham, Jeremy Riggs, Ron
Wade, Brent Burnham, Carlos Deal, Bob Burnham and Kary Dunham.
Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.
April 10, 2003
Mildred M. Benally
CHURCH ROCK MINE - Services for Mildred Benally, 90 will be held at 10 a.
m., Friday, April 11 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,
Gallup. President Vernon Silversmith will officiate. Burial will follow at
Sunset Memorial Park.
Visitation will be held one hour prior to services.
Benally died April 7 in Gallup. She was born Nov. 20, 1912 in Coyote
Canyon into the Red House People Clan for the Salt People Clan.
Benally was a sheepherder, rugweaver and rancher. Her hobbies included
watching baseball, football and boxing.
Survivors include her sons, Harrison Benally of Shiprock, Notah Benally
of Pueblo Pintado, Richard Benally of Sawmill, Ariz., Tom Benally Jr. of
Church Rock and Wilson Benally of Fort Defiance, Ariz.; daugher, Annie
Benally of Church Rock; sister, Wilhemina Benally of Church Rock; 31
grandchildren; 40 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.
Benally was preceded in death by her husband, Tom Benally Sr.; parents,
Jennie and Charlie Moore; sons, Francis Benally and Robert Benally;
daughters, Alice Benally and Mary B. King; brothers, Hiya Benally and
Frank Moore; and sisters, Maritta Benally and Bessie Duncan.
Pallbearers will be Kirk Benally, Matthew Benally, Jeromy Hood, Eddie
Livingston, Corbitt T. Ramone and Wilson Williams.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Dan Begay
GALLUP - Services for Dan Begay, 74, were held at 10 a.m., today at St.
Michaels Catholic Church. Father Gilvert Schneider officiated. Burial
followed on a family plot.
Begay died April 5 in Gallup. He was born Nov. 16, 1929 in St. Michaels,
Ariz. into the Salt People Clan for the Bitter Water People Clan.
Begay died April 5 in Gallup. He was born Nov. 16, 1929 in St. Michaels.
He attended Fort Defiance Boarding School, worked for the railroad,
Tooele Army Depot and Kincheelie Ranchers.
Survivors include brothers, Daniel Begay and Henry Begay; and sister,
Marie Laughing.
Pallbearers will be Edison Tully, Herbert Yazzie, Benson Yazzie, Harold
Clark Jr., William Hubbard and Toby Wallace.
Tse Bonito Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Raymond Ray Gray
LUKACHUKI, Ariz. - Services for Raymond Gray, 49, will be held at
10 a.m., Friday, April 11 at St. Isabel Mission. Brother Coromon will
officiate. Burial will follow at St. Isabel Mission Cemetery.
Gray was born May 28, 1954 in Lukachukai into the Red Running into the
Water People Clan for the Bitter Water People Clan.
Gray attended Intermountain High School. He was a welder, carpenter, and
served in the U.S. Army during Vietnam. His hobbies included reading,
playing guitar and writing.
Survivors include his sons, Manuel Gray and Zane Gray; daughters,
Alberta Gray, Elfreida Gray and Manuel Gray; parents, Allen and Lucy Gray;
brothers, Julius Gray, Herbert Gray and Sam Gray; sisters, Elsie Yazzie,
Bertha Chee, Lucille Gray and Martha Davis and three grandchildren.
Gray was preceded in death by his sister, Stella Chee and grandparents,
Minnie Notah, Wallace Gray, Joe Benally and Ahadibah Nali.
Pallbearers will be Army Veteran Service.
The family will receive friends and relatives after the burial services
at one-third of a mile west of Lukachukai Chapter House.
Tse Bonito Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Sonny "Bono" Joe
MANUELITO - Services for Sonny "Bono" Joe, 71, will be held at 10 a.m.,
Friday, April 11 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,
Lupton, Ariz. Arno Joe will officiate. Burial will follow on family land,
Manuelito.
Visitation will be held one hour prior to services.
Joe died April 7 in Gallup. He was born April 8, 1931 in Manuelito Box
Canyon into the Bitterwater People Clan for the Blackstreak People Clan.
Joe attended school in Fort Defiance. He was employed in Idaho Falls,
Idaho, as a farmer for 40 years. His hobbies included planting corn,
cutting wood with a chainsaw and ranching.
Survivors include his brothers, Leo Rocky, Joe, Ben Miguel Joe and
Arnold Joe; sister, Lucita B. Joe and two grandchildren.
Joe was preceded in death by his parents, Marie Begay Joe and Navajo Tee
Begay Joe; son, Timothy Joe; sisters, Rita Joe-Pettigrew, Kenabah Joe-Jim,
and brothers, Charlie Joe and Sam Joe.
Pallbearers will be Vincent Joe, Hector Goodluck, Roland Joe, Waylon Joe,
Agamemnon Goodluck, and Tulley John Pettigrew.
The family will receive friends and relatives after the burial services
at Manuelito Chapter House.
Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.
Gilbert Clichee
TWO GREY HILLS - Services for Gilbert Clichee, 82, will be held at 10 a.
m., Friday, April 11 at the Assembly of God Church, Newcomb. Burial will
follow at Northwest Community Cemetery, Toadlena.
Clichee died April 8 in Farmington. He was born July 12, 1920 in Two
Grey Hills into the Towering House People Clan for the Water Flows
Together Clan.
Clichee graduated from the old Fort Wingate Boarding School. He served
in the U.S. Army and was a World War II veteran. He was employed with the
Fort Wingate BIA Hospital, Union Pacific Railroad and Navajo Nation Police
Department, as a Sergeant and EMT with Fort Defiance Service Unit.
Survivors include his sons, Randall Clichee of Naschitti, Gary Clichee
of Farmington and Rick Clichee of Two Grey Hills, Johnny Clichee, Michael
Clichee and Melvin Clichee all of Navajo, N.M.; daughters, Deanna Clichee
of Gallup; Victoria Clichee and Gloria Johnson of Two Grey Hills; brother,
Hubert Johnson Sr. of Two Grey Hills; sister, Elsie Napoleon of Two Grey
Hills; 18 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Clichee was preceded in death by his wife, Nellie E. Clichee, parents,
Jerry and Lillie Johnson; brothers, Alvin McDonald, Wilbert McDonald,
Herbert Johnson Sr. and Albert Johnson and sister, Nettie Castillo.
Pallbearers will be Johnny Clichee, Gary Clichee, Ricky Clichee, Jeffery
Clichee, Brandon Davis and Brent Davis.
The family will receive friends and relatives after the burial services
at Two Grey Hill Chapter House.
April 12, 2003
Tom Williams
SPRINGSTEAD - Services for Tom Williams, 84, will be held at 10 a.m.,
Monday April 14 at Cope Memorial Chapel. Pastor Tom White will officiate.
Burial will follow at Sunset Cemetery.
Williams died April 9 in Gallup. He was born Feb. 2, 1919 in Springstead
into the for the Towering House People Clan.
Williams retired from the City Of Gallup. He held various leadership
positions for Church Rock Chapter. His hobby included watching the Gallup
Bengals basketball game.
Survivors include his wife, Ann Williams; sons, Leon Williams of Post,
Ore., David Williams of Winslow, Ariz., Jimmy Williams from Flagstaff,
Ariz., Harvey Williams of Jones Ranch, Paul Williams of Gallup, Roger
Williams amd Jones Williams both of Springstead; daughters, Evelyn Johnson
of Church Rock, Donna Clark and Julia Holland both of Springstead; sister,
Dorothy Livingston of Springstead; 44 grandchildren, 27 great-
grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.
Williams was preceded in death by his parents, Alice and Tom Touchin Sr.
; and brothers, Kenneth Williams, Leonard Whitman, William Naylor and Joe
R. Whitman.
Pallbearers will be Harold Williams, Joshua Williams, Terry Williams,
Sylvester Williams, Lionel Williams and Ryan Williams.
The family will receive friends and relatives after the burial services
at Church Rock Chapter House.
Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.
Tommy C. Shourti
CROWNPOINT - Services for Tommy Shourti, 56, will be held at 10 a.m.,
Monday April 14 at Bible Baptist Shephard Church, Standing Rock. Pastor
Neil Forester will officiate. Burial will follow at Crownpoint Community
Cemetery.
Shourti died April 9. He was born July 14, 1946 in Crownpoint into the
Towering House People Clan for the Salt People Clan.
Shourti graduated from Gallup High School. He attended University of New
Mexico, received a bachelors and the Tsail Din College, majoring in law.
He was employed with the Navajo Nation Law Enforcement, as a prosecutor
and a private legal advocate. Tommy's hobbies included reading and
crossword puzzles.
Survivors include his daughter, Tammy Shourti of Albuquerque; mother,
Dolly Shorty; brothers, Tim Shorty and Timothy Shorty both of Crownpoint;
sisters, Diana Shorty and Darlene Greyhat both of Crownpoint; and one
grandchild.
Shourti was preceded in death by his wife, Tonita Shourti; son, Darrell
Shourti; father, Tom C. Shorty; and grandparents, Mamie and John Shorty.
Tse Bonito Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Copyright c. 2003 the Gallup Independent.
-=-=-=-
April 11, 2003
Harrison Begay Sr.
Harrison Begay Sr., 75, died Tuesday, April 8, 2003, in Phoenix.
Mr. Begay was born Dec. 15, 1927, in Whitecone, Ariz.
He is survived by his wife, Laura Begay, of Jeddito; daughters, Marie
Bahe of Flagstaff, Laraine Max of New Mexico, Bernine Bitsoie of Jeddito,
Nina Joseph of Jeddito, Mildred Budka of Flagstaff, Lisa Begay of New
Mexico and Ovida Davis of Winslow; sons, Willie Mitchell, Andy Begay and
Harrison Begay Jr. all of New Mexico, Ricky Begay of Ganado, Felix Begay
of Jeddito and Ronald Williams of Jeddito; brother, Howard Begay of
Whitecone; sisters, Violet Clark of Whitecone, Maggie Yazzie of Whitecone,
Susie McKee of Show Low and Lena Bedonie of Whitecone; 43 grandchildren
and 5 great-grandchildren.
Funeral services for Mr. Begay will take place on Saturday, April 12,
2003, at 10 a.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
Winslow Stake Center. President Peter Yazzie will be officiating.
Interment will be in Desert View Cemetery, Winslow.
Copyright c. 2000-2003 Arizona Daily Sun.
-=-=-=-
April 9, 2003
Victor 'Kenneth' Walking Eagle
WOLF POINT - Victor "Kenneth" Walking Eagle, "Wounded by White Man," 49,
a Wolf Point native who enjoyed powwows and being with his family, died
Saturday in Portland, Ore. The cause of death was unavailable.
A wake is today at Wolf Point Community Hall, with a service at 7 p.m.
His funeral is 10 a.m. Thursday at the hall, with burial in Oswego
Presbyterian Cemetery.
Survivors include sons Victor Walking Eagle III of Salem, Ore., Melvin
Martell of Juneau, Alaska, and Casey Garfield of Wolf Point; daughters
Marie Due of Veronica, Ore., Anna Myers of Portland, Ore., and Robin
Walking Eagle of Rapid City, S.D.; and sisters Rose Walking Eagle and
Phyllis Walking Eagle of Bremerton, Wash., and Myrna Walking Eagle of
Fairview, Ore.
April 12, 2003
Harold J. Hawthorne
Harold J. Hawthorne, 60, of 2322 7th Ave. N., a ranch hand, died Tuesday
at a local hospital of complications from diabetes.
Services will take place in Farmington, N.M. O'Connor Funeral Home is
handling local arrangements.
Survivors of Great Falls include his adopted family, Ruth Chippewa,
Patsy Evans, Conrad Chippewa and Jerry Chippewa.
April 14, 2003
Cora Rita Crabtree
BUTTE -- Fort Belknap native Cora Rita Crabtree, 83, an active member of
the North American Indian Alliance, died Sunday in a Butte nursing home
of natural causes.
Her funeral is 1 p.m. Wednesday at Lodgepole Senior Citizen's Center,
with burial in Lodgepole Cemetery. Wayrynen-Richards Funeral Home in
Butte is handling arrangements.
Survivors include a daughter, Barbara Colten of Airway Heights, Wash.;
her grandchildren Joseph Sandoval, David Sandoval, Cheryl Storey, Cora
Armstrong and Shane White. Her great-grandchildren include Russell
Phillips, Micah Phillips, Corissa Storey, Tyler Storey, Lisa Burch, Joseph
Sandoval Jr., David Sandoval, Monica Sandoval, Jonah Sandoval,
Bryan Armstrong, Douglass Armstrong, Barbara Biggers, Shanna White, Shivon
White and Cy White. Her great-great-grandchildren are Bryce, Bryan,
Taran, Braxtyn and Brytan Armstong, Anthony and Aneesa Burch,
Joseph Sandoval III, Jordyn Sandoval, Baylie Phillips and Wyatt Biggers.
Also surviving are her sisters and brothers, Angela Shawl,
Virginia Fuhrman, Violet Wing, Albert Cliff, Gilbert Cliff and
Christine Main.
Cora was preceded in death by her parents, Charles Longfox Sr. and
Olivia Healey; her son, Dickie Merle Longfox; her brothers, Charles
Longfox Jr. and Henry Cliff; her sisters Leona Messerly and Caroline
Sullivan; and her grandson, Thane White.
She was born on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation on Sept. 16, 1921,
to Charles and Olivia (Young Buck) Longfox. She attended schools at
Fort Belknap.
She was an extremely hard worker and a perfectionist at everything she
did. She was generous to a fault and would give even when she had
nothing to give. She always did the best she could do for everyone,
especially her family. She was totally devoted to her grandchildren,
great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
She loved going to powwows and was an active member of the North
American Indian Alliance. She attended all their functions and will be
missed by her many friends there. Cora worked at Unique Cleaners and on
the housekeeping staff at St. James Hospital until her retirement.
She was honored at the North American Indian Alliance in Butte for
being the Oldest Native American woman in Butte.
Copyright c. 2003 Great Falls Tribune, a division of Lee Enterprises.
-=-=-=-
April 5, 2003
Caroline (Venables) Buck
BUCK (Venables) Caroline died at home on Tuesday, April 1, 2003,
Caroline Buck; beloved mother of Tony (Kathy), Bill, Chris (Donna), Dave,
Ted (Lorraine), Nadine Silversmith, and Shelly (Kevin) Attwood; dear
sister of Vera Powless, Delores King, and Florence Skye; also survived by
her 17 grandchildren and one great-grandson Jacob; predeceased by her
brother Dick Buck and her sister Wilma King.
Resting at her sister's home, 2388 Cayuga Road, Six Nations, after 12
noon Saturday. Funeral Service and Burial will be held at the Lower Cayuga
Longhouse on Sunday, April 6, 2003 at 11 a. m.
Arrangements by STYRES FUNERAL HOME, Ohsweken.
April 11, 2003
Arnold Lawrence "Charlie" Thomas
After a courageous battle with cancer on Thursday, April 10, 2003, in
the presence of his family, at the West Haldimand General Hospital,
Hagersville, at the age of 65 years; beloved husband of Melba (Hill)
Thomas; loving father of Christofer and Cathy, Gregory and Peggy, and Rob
Williams (customary son); dear grandfather of Brody, Tyler, Hillary, and
Hannah; brother of Alvin, Seymour, Ivan, Ron, Delma, Carol, Elvera, Gloria,
Butch, and Darb; also survived and will be sadly missed by many nieces and
nephews, and friends of his weekly Pool League; predeceased by son Brad,
parents Evan and Daisy, brothers Emerson and Danny, and sisters Rose and
Joyce.
Charlie taught elementary school for 38 years on the Six Nations Reserve
and was founding member of the Six Nations Lions Club, Six Nations Golf
Club, and Memorial Classic. Charlie was inducted into the Ontario Lacrosse
Hall of Fame. He also served as a director of the Six Nations Sports
Cultural Memorial Arena.
The family will honour his life with a visitation at his home, 2167
Cayuga Road after 7 p. m. Thursday. Funeral Service and burial will be
held at Onondaga Longhouse on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 11 a. m. In lieu
of flowers, donations may be made to the Six Nations Memorial Classic.
Arrangements by STYRES FUNERAL HOME, Ohsweken.
Copyright c. 2003 Brantford Expositor.
-=-=-=-
April 8, 2003
Gertrude Scott IN LOVING MEMORY OF GERTRUDE SCOTT (GERTIE)
Suddenly on April 2, 2003 Gertie passed away peacefully at the Lake of
the Woods District Hospital. She is survived by her three daughters, Marie
Wagamese, Barbara Scott (John) and Mary Ann Bain, her grandchildren
MaryJane Scott (Stan), Archie, Flora, Jeff, Steven, Stuart, Brian, Scott,
Edith Fisher (Jacob), Howard, Shirley, Emily, Julia (Bob), Bertha (Joe),
Melanie (Adrian), Gary Smith, Deana Carpenter, also nephews and nieces of
Shoal Lake, Cecil (Grace) and Brian Redsky, Gwen, a sister in Wabigoon,
Melly Brown.
Great grandchildren Rachel, Roberta, Adrian, Destiny, Keenan, Harmony,
Samantha, Stephanie, Russll, Rheanna, Adrianne, Cyrena, Bruce, John, Karen,
Brent, Kristine, Michelle, Russell, Joelle.
She is predeceased by her husband Robert Scott, her children Paul, Eddy,
William, Pete, Percy and her daughter Victoria, her great grandchildren
Allister, Ethan, Valentina, Christine Scott, Norman Smith, Allan Boyd,
Joanne (Brenda Muckle).
Wake Services were held at the Resource Centre at Wabaseemoong First
Nations on Friday, April 4, 2003. Funeral Services were held on Monday,
April 7, 2003 at Wabaseemoong First Nations followed by interment.
BROWN FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION CENTRE ENTRUSTED WITH ARRANGEMENTS.
Copyright c. 2003 Kenora Daily Miner and News.
-=-=-=-
April 9, 2003
Gladys (nee Nokahoot) McArthur
Carlyle, SK
McARTHUR--Gladys (nee Nokahoot) October 14, 1915 - April 7, 2003 at 88
years old. Kawuwuskanuhisihk Muskwa (Bear turning around in circle before
lying down) has continued her journey to the spirit world...to be reunited
with her relatives that have journeyed before her.
Together we will stand,
Embracing our memories of...you
Together we will stand,
Missing and mourning, our tears are for...you
Do you here the beating of the drum?
The fire is burning...a new journey, for you, has begun.
Your spirit and strength remains, in each in everyone
In the lives you gave and the hearts you touched.
Forever and Always with the rising of the...Morning Sun.
Born at Moose Mountain Indian Agency, Treaty Four Territory. Passed away
at Moose Mountain Lodge, Carlyle, SK with family by her side.
Predeceased by: Parents - Ollie Nokahoot and Katie Shewack; Brothers -
Joe and Arthur Ewack, Howard, Hughie and Teddy Nokahoot; Sisters - Mary
Gaddie, Mariah McArthur, Eva Nokahoot, Grace Shepherd, Hazel Nahbexie;
Children - Rosella Ponicappo, Ruth McArthur, Philomene McArthur, Edward
McArthur; Special Grandson - Lydell Wayne McArthur; Grandchildren - Janet
McArthur, Lorraine Ponicappo, Darryl Ponicappo, Josephine McArthur, Joseph
Patrick McArthur; Great Grandchildren - Jacinta Frances McArthur, Orion
Wolf McArthur, Debbie McArthur, Jeremy McArthur, Anthony Lonechild, Kyra
Kakakaway.
Survived by: Husband - Joseph McArthur; Sister - Blanche Nokahoot;
Sisters-in-law - Rose Ewack and Rosabelle Standingready; Sons - James,
Alvin (Audrey), Danny (Donna), Peter; Daughters - Pearl, May, Rita (Don),
Vera; Special Grandchildren - Kathleen, Nova-Lee (Howard), Bernadette,
Trevor; Special Great Grandson - Clark; 93 grandchildren; 209 great
grandchildren; 42 great-great grandchildren. Traditional Wake to be held
at Kisbey Recreation Centre, Kisbey, SK, 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 10, 2003.
Interment to be held Thursday, April 11, 2003, starting at 2 p.m.
Raymond Emile Whitequill
Regina, SK
WHITEQUILL--On Sunday, April 6, 2003 Raymond Emile Whitequill, Regina,
Sask. age 44 years. The funeral service will be held in the Kahkewistahaw
Complex, Kahkewistahaw First Nation on Friday, April 11, 2003 at 2:00 p.m.
Rev. Hector Bunnie officiating. Interment in Kahkewistahaw Cemetery. The
wake will be held in the Kahkewistahaw Complex, Thursday evening.
Raymond was predeceased by two sons, Sonny and Ray Whitequill in
infancy; his father Emile Whitequill in 1972; his mother Lena Whitequill
in 1987; five brothers: Bradley Louison Sr. in 1983; Louis Whitequill in
1998; Michael Whitequill; Linus Whitequill and Richard Starr; one sister,
Theresa Whitequill.
Raymond is survived by five daughters; Heather (Quincey) Dustyhorn,
Regina, Judy Whitequill, Saskatoon, Monica Bourassa, Saskatoon, Shelley
Whitequill, Regina, Sonja Whitequill, Pasqua First Nation; one son Leslie
Whitequill, Pasqua First Nation; eight grandchildren; two brothers, Allen
and Morley Whitequill; five sisters: Marion (Eugene); Noreen Louison;
Doris (Robert); Faye and Janice; special uncle Joseph Crowe and his nieces,
nephews and cousins.
Copyright c. 2000-2003 Regina Leader Post Group Inc.
-=-=-=-
April 11, 2003
Anthony (Tony) Samuel Wolf Child
In Loving Memory of ANTHONY (TONY) SAMUEL WOLF CHILD who passed away
peacefully and went to be with our creator on April 1st, 2003 at the
Cardston Hospital, at the age of 66 years. Beloved husband of Rosie Wolf
Child (Many Hides).
He was born on June 7th, 1936 to the late Joe Wolf Child and the late
Alice Owl Howling At Night of the Blood Reserve.
He is survived by and left to mourn his children: Molly (Ricki), Oliver,
Jordan (Francis), Bernard (Beverly), Joyce (Ernest) Gros Venture Boy,
Charles (Pam), Myra (Leland), Jason (Carolyn), Kenny, Delia HindBull,
Calvin Prairie Chicken, Norman (Brenda) Calf Robe; Step children: Melvina
(Chester) Daniels, Violet (Terry) Watson, Vera (Lloyd) Rider, Harvey
(Jennifer) Sansavera, Charles Sansavera, Joseph Sansavera; his sisters-
Bertha Crying Head, Alice (Gerald) Shepard, Elizabeth (Albert) Hunt;
brothers- Harrison (Caroline), Bruce (Ann Marie), John (Irma), Albert
(Madeline) Wolf Child, Jimmy (Linda) Doore, Stan Black Water; adopted
brother Bernard Shouting; brother-in-law Peter Many Hides (Browning);
aunties- Isabella Spear Chief, Lena Chief Calf, and Annie Brewer. He is
also survived by numerous nieces and nephews, 37 grandchildren, 30 great
grandchildren, 19 step- grandchildren and 7 step- great grandchildren.
Tony received his education at the St. Paul's Boarding School. After
leaving school he began working at numerous occupations. They included
construction, carpentry, breaking and training horses, CP rail, and
ranching. Places of work were Stirling, Vauxhall, Taber, Iron Springs, and
St. Mary's Dam.
Tony started singing pow-wow/hand game songs at a very young age.
Singing and stick games were his main hobbies and he loved them very much.
He first began with Kainai Singers then the Moses Lake Drummers consisting
of brothers only. He travelled all around Canada and the United States.
Singing and competing brought a lot of happiness to his life. Other drum
groups were Big Corners, Wolf Child, and Yellowtail Feathers. He won
numerous stick-game tournaments and drumming contests at various places.
In 1973 his team won a hand game tournament in Peigan. In 1978 with Moses
Lake Drummers, they won a drumming contest at the University of Lethbridge
Pow-Wow. In 1987 with the Wolf Child Drummers, they won another drumming
contest. Other places included Siksika, Hobbema and Browning.
During his athletic days he enjoyed boxing, playing hockey, fastball,
and riding horses. He was also a member of the Youthmen Society, Magpie
Society, and the Headdress Society. He was proud of his traditional ways
and also encouraged other beliefs, like the gospel. A proud Indian who
lived to be known for his dress, no one could bring him down. He
encouraged a lot of people and he always had a smile for everyone. He was
successful in everything he tried. He lived a long and tiresome life, but
a good one, the way he felt would make him happy. Tony loved his family
very much and will be deeply missed by all who knew him. He will always be
remembered for his proudness. His words of wisdom shall live on in his
children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
He was predeceased by his parents Joe Wolf Child and Alice Owl Howling
At Night ; adopted father Albert Wolf Child Sr.; his brothers Edwin Calf
Robe Sr., Allen, Patrick, Mark, and Frank Wolf Child; brother-in-law
Stephen Crying Head Sr.; sisters Albertine Wolf Child, Rita Many Shots;
his children Bernice, Lucille (Martha), Ann Marie Gros Ventre Boy, Delray
Hind Bull; aunties Eva Mills, Annette Russel, Annie Shot Both Sides;
uncles Leo Wolf Child Sr. and Sam Wolf Child Sr.
The Wake Service will be held on Thursday, April 10th at Senator
Gladstone Hall, Blood Reserve from 7 to 11:00 p.m. and continue at Bernard
Gros Ventre Boy's residence (near Little Chicago), Blood Reserve. The
Funeral Service will be held at Senator Gladstone Hall, Blood Reserve on
Friday, April 11th, 2003 at 2:00 p.m. Interment in the Wolf Child Family
plot, Blood Reserve. Feast will follow at the Senator Gladstone Hall.
Copyright c. 2000 Alberta Newspaper Group, Inc./Lethbridge Herald.
--------- "RE: Lawsuit alleges Abuse at Government-Run Schools" ---------
Date: Fri, Apr 11 2003 08:24:13 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="SIOUX SUIT"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/101/nation/Sioux_lawsuit
Sioux lawsuit alleges abuse at government-run schools
By Dan Whitcomb, Reuters
April 11, 2003
LOS ANGELES -- Six members of the Sioux Nation who say they were
physically and sexually abused in government-run boarding schools sued the
United States for $25 billion yesterday, hoping to launch a lawsuit on
behalf of hundreds of thousands of mistreated American Indians.
The six plaintiffs all attended Catholic boarding schools in South
Dakota, but claim in their lawsuit that psychological, physical, and
sexual abuse was inflicted on Indian children throughout the school system
and covered up by a government that forced them to leave their homes for
boarding schools.
The plaintiffs allege violations of treaties that date back to the 19th
century between the US government and American Indian tribes.
A Department of Justice spokesman could not be reached yesterday for
comment on the lawsuit, which was filed in the US Court of Federal Claims
in Washington, D.C.
"All my life, I've never wanted to think about these things. I pushed
them as far back as I could," tearful plaintiff Adele Zephier said at a
press conference in Los Angeles to announce the lawsuit. "I'm really happy
to be here today to tell everybody the truth about what happened to us as
children."
Zephier said she was abused by nuns and sexually molested by a priest at
a school run from 1948 to 1975 by St. Paul's Catholic Church in Marty, S.D.
Her brother, plaintiff Sherwyn Zephier, said he endured beatings at the
school.
American Indian activist Russell Means, who attended the press
conference, said the US government tolerated the abuse as part of a plan
to destroy Native American culture and called the allegations a "legal
euphemism for genocide."
"It's against the law for us to sue the United States for genocide, but
that's in effect what we're doing," said Means, who helped lead the 1973
armed conflict in South Dakota between American Indians and law
enforcement officials known as the "Siege of Wounded Knee."
"We're putting the United States of America on notice that you can't
pretend to be who you are to the world, while in your own backyard you are
murdering and maiming us," he said.
Copyright c. 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
--------- "RE: Adoption Act helps keep Indian Culture Alive" ---------
Date: Sat, 12 Apr 2003 17:39:32 -0700
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="YELLOW BIRD: ADOPTION"
http://www.pechanga.net/
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/columnists/dorreen_yellow_bird/
DORREEN YELLOW BIRD: Adoption act helps keep Indian culture alive
April 12, 2003
While speaking at a conference in Minot recently, I met a woman who is an
example of why the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 has been good for
Indian children.
The policy requires that before any Native child can be adopted or
placed with a family other than that of their parent or extended family,
the tribe must be informed. The tribe then has the right to place the
child within the tribe if members decide to accept the responsibility.
The act is an extension of the Tribal Self-Determination Act of 1975,
which helps tribes take control of their own government and improves
tribal governance. Why is this act important to Native children? Because
it helps keep children from slipping into the murky waters of mainstream
society. Placing Native American children in non-Native homes can and does
result in adoption by foster parents. It isn't unusual for a child and
foster parents to bond and want to become a family, regardless of the
races of the people involved.
The woman I met in Minot recently was Dakota. It was easy to see that
she was scared by her earlier life. I don't know what happened to her, but
I could hear from our conversation that she was on a journey to claim her
heritage, and it would be a long road.
She was in an abusive relationship that ended when she could take no
more, and she took the life of her abusive partner. This happened before
the laws were passed that provide some relief for abused spouses, so she
spent time in prison.
Her life has since changed, she told me. She is living in a good
community and has married a supportive and kind man.
This woman has tried to rid herself of some of the awful things that
have happened to her, but they are so raw and hurtful she can't seem to
get past them, she told me - and she cried.
Here's a different scenario, but one in which the result is the same:
Several years ago in Chicago, I met a Lakota woman who had been adopted by
very supportive parents who cared for and nurtured her. She was happily
married but wanted to find her mother. She told a friend and me of her
experience.
At first, I couldn't understand her coolness toward me. After her story,
I realized that I probably looked like and was about the same age as the
relatives whom she'd met when she went to find her mother. The life she
saw on the reservation was so foreign to her that it was hard for her to
relate to that lifestyle.
I often think about her when the Indian Child Welfare Act comes into
play in life situations. I think she missed the gift that the Creator gave
Indian people - the gift of the culture. She missed the good things about
the culture but was lucky to find a family that replaced her reservation
relatives.
I told a friend from Spirit Lake about the woman whom I met in Minot. My
friend, Winona Fox, told me how important it was for people to understand
who they are.
Fox's mother, Alvina Alberts, understood the culture and how important
it was for Indian children to maintain a relationship with their tribe. I
met Alberts several years ago. She was a quiet, wise woman who was an
advocate for Indian people, especially Indian children. Much of her life's
work has gone unrecognized, but she did have an effect in Indian country
because she was one of the outspoken activists who championed the Indian
Child Welfare Act and saw it through to fruition. She died in 1996.
Fox told me that if a woman such as the ones I met were on the
reservation and had parents or a parent who weren't taking care of them,
there would be relatives or tribal members who could have helped. Those
people could build a cultural foundation for the child. Knowledge of the
culture and the people is a strength, she told me.
Many times, all the outside world hears is that reservations hold people
who are alcoholic, jobless and full of despair. But there is more to
Indian culture than that. And the Indian Child Welfare Act many times has
reached into the mainstream and helped a foundering Native child by giving
him or her the gifts of the culture that the Creator gave Indian people.
Yellow Bird writes Tuesdays and Saturdays.
Reach her by phone at 780-1228 or (800) 477-6572, extension 228,
or by e-mail at dyellowbird at gfherald.com.
Copyright c. 2003 Grand Forks Herald.
--------- "RE: Recreation, Spirituality clash in Northern Nevada" ---------
Date: Wed, Apr 9 2003 08:13:57 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="SACRED LAND"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Apr-07-Mon-2003/news/
Recreation, spirituality clash in Northern Nevada
Outdoor enthusiasts often trample on sacred Indian land
By MARK VANDERHOFF
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 7, 2003
RENO -- A long time ago, a giant serpent left the Walker River and
burrowed into the land, according to the lore of the Fallon Paiute-
Shoshone Tribe. Today, the serpent still lies in the ground, creating what
many call Sand Mountain.
"It's a place where our people rarely go, only the spiritual (leaders)
and elders," said Rochanne Downs, cultural resources director for the
tribe.
Yet, riders on off-road vehicles continually race up and down the giant
sand dune, a sight that deeply disturbs many of the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone.
Black specks, never before seen by tribe members or their ancestors, now
streak the sand from carbon deposited by the vehicles' engines, Downs said.
"You can't do the spiritual things because you don't know if an (off-
highway vehicle) is going to come over the hill and run you over," Downs
said. "You can't even hear yourself think."
In Nevada, the long-standing clash of values between American Indians
and the ancestors of settlers now plays out in a new way:
Often, those who say they love the outdoors are committing the
equivalent of vandalizing another culture's church when they visit their
favorite spots.
Many hikers, sandboarders and motorized vehicle riders don't even know
the story of Sand Mountain.
John Crowley, an off-road rider and president of Friends of Sand
Mountain, said he only recently heard from a Bureau of Land Management
official that a tribal legend about the area existed.
Friends of Sand Mountain organizes cleanups, educates other riders about
environmental and safety issues and has worked with the BLM to study a
rare butterfly in the area.
"Obviously, we want to respect (Sand Mountain)," he said. "But right now
it's owned by the federal government and managed by the BLM for motorized
recreation, and that's what we're using it for.
"I'm not saying that I don't care. I just don't fully understand all
their beliefs. I'd like to learn more."
When visitors come to the Pyramid Lake Cultural Center asking where the
sacred spots are, Ben Aleck tells them, "They're all around you."
American Indians regard the whole world as sacred, so when non-Indians
talk about "sacred sites," they reveal their lack of familiarity with
tribal culture, said Aleck, cultural resources manager for the Pyramid
Lake Paiute.
It's hard for Aleck to put the value of places like Sand Mountain into
words.
"They're just different," he said of sites such as the Needle Rocks at
Pyramid Lake, an area of needle like geological formations and a hot spring.
"The tribe always used that as a natural place to offer prayer," he said.
"It'd be like a church."
Many visitors left no impact, but some off-road vehicle riders damaged
parts of the delicate ground and vandals defaced some of the formations,
Aleck said.
"The tribe wants people to come out and enjoy the lake, but just show
that respect for the tribe and the environment," he said.
At Tahoe's Cave Rock, sharing the land is at the heart of a dispute.
The rock is also at the center of Washoe mythology.
In another age, according to Washoe history, a warring tribe kept the
Washoe people as prisoners. The god of the world set the Washoe free by
putting their captors in the cave below Cave Rock and trapping them
underwater.
Washoe history also says that powerful spirits called water babies lived
in an underground cave and a monster also lived in a cave in the area.
"Cave Rock was a place where only our medicine men went. The rest of the
tribe walked around it," said Bill Dancing Feather, cultural resources
manager for the Washoe Tribe.
Although a few tribe members still use the rock, Dancing Feather said
Cave Rock's visitors these days consist mostly of picnickers soaking in
the views and climbers who challenge themselves on popular routes high
above the lake.
In December, the Forest Service announced a proposal to ban all climbing
from the rock to preserve the cultural value to the tribe. Climbers who
have worked to maintain access to Cave Rock for years bristled.
The national climbers advocacy group Access Fund has been at the
forefront of efforts to keep Cave Rock open to climbers. Access Fund
policy director Jason Keith said their quarrel lies with Forest Service
management, not the Washoe tribe.
"Churches in this country are privately owned," he said. "I live in Moab,
in Utah, and if I try to climb a Mormon church I'm going to get hauled off
to jail for trespassing. This (Cave Rock) is a different proposition. It's
public land."
Copyright c. 1997-2003 Las Vegas Review-Journal.
--------- "RE: Big Mountain to Baghdad" ---------
Date: Fri, Apr 11 2003 08:24:13 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="BUSH CONNECTION"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.thenavajotimes.com/nation.html
Big Mountain to Baghdad
Bush's coal and oil contributors pave the way
By Brenda Norrell
Special to Navajo Times
BIG MOUNTAIN, Ariz.
April 10, 2003
The road from Big Mountain to Baghdad is short - it goes right through
the White House.
What makes Big Mountain and Baghdad sister cities? The oil and coal
companies that contributed to President Bush's campaign.
The proof is in the nation's energy plan, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling
against the Navajo Nation in the Peabody coal royalty case and the
corporate friends of Bush in line to profit from the rebuilding of Iraq
and oil development after the war.
As bombs fell on Iraq, American Indian activist Renee Still Day in
Pueblo, Colo. pointed out that Bush has already lined up corporations who
would benefit from billions of dollars in contracts. The corporations
include Halliburton Company, where Vice President Dick Cheney served as
CEO for five years.
"This could have been solved diplomatically but that was never an option
with this 'selected' leader of our country," Still Day said. "The fact is
he has already opened the door to Halliburton and other 'old buds' with
contracts."
The five firms tentatively chosen for the rebuilding effort contributed
$2.8 million in campaign contributions over the past three years, most
going to Republicans.
The companies include Kellogg and Brown and Root, whose parent company
is Halliburton, Bechtel, which helped rebuild Kuwait after the Gulf War
and allegedly supplied weapons to Saddam Hussein in the 1980s, and Flour.
While heading Halliburton, an oil supply and development company, Cheney
received $36 million in income in 2000.
Those who contributed to Bush and Cheney's campaigns and careers are in
line for contracts to rebuild roads, schools and hospitals and develop oil
in Iraq. Iraq's oil reserve, estimated at 110 billion barrels, is the
second largest in the world, exceeded only by Saudi Arabia.
Bechtel spokesman Jonathan Marshall in San Francisco confirmed Bechtel
is bidding on a contract for post-war Iraq and worked under contract in
post-war Kuwait, but denied the company supplied weapons to Hussein.
"Bechtel does not manufacture weapons and did not supply any to Saddam
Hussein," Marshall said.
He said Bechtel halted projects in Iraq after workers were taken
prisoner in the 1990s. After the Gulf War, Bechtel was hired by Kuwait Oil
Company to manage the rebuilding of its oil facilities.
"We are currently bidding on a $600 million USAID contract to help
rebuild damaged or neglected schools, hospitals, irrigation facilities
and other civilian infrastructure in Iraq," he said.
Marshall said Bechtel, an engineering and construction firm, was among
the corporations asked to bid on post-war contracts in Iraq, but added
that Bechtel does not promote war.
Follow the money
From Big Mountain to Baghdad, from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
to sacred sites throughout Indian country, the Bush-Cheney national energy
plan focuses on increasing oil, coal and nuclear plants.
From the beginning, Cheney's task force on energy development included
those who contributed to his political campaign, including Peabody Coal.
Cheney has refused to release the task force documents to the General
Accounting Office, Time magazine and the Los Angeles Times report.
Before gaining access to Cheney's energy task force, Peabody Coal, the
largest coal company in the world, and its affiliates had given more than
$900,000 to the Bush campaign.
When Cheney's final energy report was released May 16, 2001, it called
for additional coal production. Five days later Peabody issued a public
stock offering, raising $60 million more than expected.
Clean air standards for power plant emissions were rolled back and Bush
reneged on a campaign pledge to restrict power plant emissions.
Irl Engelhardt, chairman of Peabody, was a major contributor to the
Bush-Cheney transition team, as Peabody lobbied for Bush to lower
standards of arsenic levels in water. Peabody contributed $100,000 for the
inauguration and $25,000 for a party honoring Bush on May 21, 2002.
"The president is friendly to energy, and so is the vice president, and
thank God," said Fred Palmer, a vice president at Peabody Energy.
Even before the Navajo Nation lawyers went before the U.S. Supreme Court
to argue their case against Peabody Coal this year, the Bush
administration took the unusual step of persuading the court to rule
against the Navajo Nation's $600 million case against Peabody.
The Navajo Nation alleged that a conspiracy between energy companies -
including Peabody, Southern California Edison and the Salt River Project -
and the U.S. Department of Interior, which holds energy resources in trust
for the tribe, led to the Navajo Nation being denied a fair royalty rate
for its coal.
The U.S. Department of Justice urged the U.S. Supreme Court to rule
against the tribe, saying the U.S. government could face "adverse
consequences."
"The decision below will encourage the filing of damages against the
United States for breach of trust," Solicitor General Ted Olsen wrote on
March 15, 2002. "At a minimum, such a development will subject the United
States to costly litigation."
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that it was irrelevant that former
Interior Secretary Donald Hodel met behind closed doors with officials of
Peabody Energy as he was deciding the royalty rate issue.
The Supreme Court ruling against the Navajo Nation and in favor of
Peabody in March came less than three weeks before war was launched in
oil-rich Iraq.
Celebrating the victory, Peabody spokesperson Beth Sutton said the
Supreme Court ruling was an important step to bringing the royalty matter
to a close and continuing to work with the Navajo Nation.
"In the decision, the U.S. Supreme Court rejects the Navajo Nation's
allegation that there was a breach of trust when the U.S. Department of
the Interior approved the 1987 lease agreements," Sutton said.
"The U.S. Supreme Court also found there was no violation of law
governing discussions regarding the proposed royalty rate as contended by
the Navajo Nation," she said.
As Baghdad was bombed, the Bush-Cheney agenda of more power plants in
Indian country in America continued, with the Houston-based Steag
Corporation announcing its proposal to build a new power plant on the
Navajo Nation in New Mexico.
Immediately Navajos, many living without running water and electricity,
responded they have had enough of polluted air, soil and groundwater from
the coal, oil and nuclear industries that have left behind a trail of
cancer and disease.
Leroy Morgan in Rough Rock, Ariz. said Navajos would suffer once again
for the electricity which flows off Navajoland.
"What do the Navajo people get in return?" he said. "This proposed idea
is another scheme of ripping off the people and our basic use of the land.
"Who is going to benefit from this proposed power plant? Definitely it's
not going to be the Navajo people," he said. "All the electricity will be
used elsewhere instead of on the Navajo Nation.
"Therefore leave the idea and power plant somewhere near Houston, Texas
where they need the electricity the most," he said.
Oil, treaties and trust
On Rosebud tribal land in South Dakota, Andrew Catt-Iron Shell, Sicangu
Lakota and Eastern Cherokee, said large numbers of American Indians fight
wars with little recognition or honor from the U.S. government which
continues to dishonor their treaties.
"How do they thank us? By ignoring treaty obligations mandated by the
United States Constitution and perpetuating an atmosphere of animosity
between our two sovereign governments," Iron Shell said. "It is really a
sad world that the white man has created."
Iron Shell said he is in full support of the soldiers who have chosen to
serve the United States. His own grandfather served in the Armed Services
before he was accepted as a U.S. citizen.
American Indians were among the first U.S. military to leave for Iraq.
"Many of our young native men and women were again some of the very first
to volunteer for duty in these challenging times," Iron Shell said.
"It's very ironic to me personally, that we have been fighting the
terrorism that has been bestowed upon our indigenous tribal nations since
1492 but yet we still are the first to react to threats against our
homeland now called America," he said.
"When Congress and the George W. Bush look at who sends the most
warriors to battle to protect our nation, I hope they realize that Indian
Country has more volunteers to the Armed Services per our specific
population than any other race in this country," he added.
In Pueblo, Colo., Still Day said in this war, for the first time since
its war of genocide against American Indians, "The United States is the
aggressor, the bully, the warmonger."
She said, "No one supports Saddam Hussein, he is an abomination and a
horrible person, but who made Bush God?
"That we could defeat Saddam was a foregone conclusion, this was not
even a question in anyone's mind," she said. "But we should never forget
that the actual weapons that Bush claimed Saddam had, came directly from
Bush the first, Donald Rumsfeld and the whole band of renegades that now
attack him."
Still Day said Americans now live in a police state where an attorney in
New Mexico was arrested for speaking out against Bush and demonstrators
are arrested for wearing peace shirts.
"The government is now talking about those who placed themselves as
human shields in Iraq to protect the civilians, suggesting that they be
prosecuted at traitors," she said. "These were nuns, Medal of Honor
winners, decorated war veterans and people of conscience, who went there
unarmed to protect the innocent.
"Now they will be labeled at traitors? What next?" she asked.
Still Day said Bush has set a dangerous precedent.
"If a country doesn't like another country's leader, this action says,
'it is now acceptable to take them out,' she said. "With all the enemies
Bush has made across the world and the danger that he poses to them, he
has set himself up as the possible next target."
Still Day points out that American Indians know too well what it means
to place oil in trust.
"The oil of Iraq will now be placed 'in trust' for the people of Iraq,
according to Colin Powell," she said. "Anyone living in Indian Country
already knows how that will work - it won't!
"This war was for oil, for the Bush cronies ... " she claimed.
Danny Zapata, a supporter of the struggle at Big Mountain who lives in
Europe, said the real machinery behind the war in Iraq is oil, not human
rights.
"When our peoples' hear and remember these words from Bush saying we're
there in Iraq to 'fight for their freedoms, their human rights to self-
determination, sovereignty and to liberate them from oppression,' hey,
great! When can we start that in America?" he said.
"It's hard to have any remorse for bullies, whether they are Saddam
Hussein or this sawed-off version of a trigger happy Texan cowboy," he
said.
Meanwhile, some American Indians say the United States has long been a
country in denial of its foundation, a country built on the genocide of
American Indians and the enslavement, rape and torture of blacks.
On the Northwest coast, Victoria Redstarr, Nez Perce and descendant of
Chief Joseph, said the war will expose America at its root.
"The forces that started this war are the same forces that went against
us, as a people," he said. "In some strange sense, this war is showing the
world how evil those forces really are.
"The divide it is creating throughout our country and the world is very
telling," he said. "Very essential. We mustn't back down from the
challenge to get even stronger spiritually - together.
Copyright c. 1999-2003 Navajo Times/Navajo Nation.
--------- "RE: Frontier lays off Navajo-Speaking Operators" ---------
Date: Wed, Apr 9 2003 08:13:57 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="NO NAVAJO 1411"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.thenavajotimes.com/biz.html
Frontier lays off Navajo-speaking operators
By Bill Donovan
Special to the Times
WINDOW ROCK
April 3, 2003
For more than 50 years, telephone users on the Navajo Reservation have
been able to call 1411 with the knowledge that the person who answered
would be fluent in Navajo.
But on Monday, that was no longer the case as the local telephone
company, Frontier Communications (formerly Navajo Communications Co.),
laid off all of its operators and signed a contract with a company in
Rochester, N.Y. to handle this area's information calls.
But Joe Hauser, the local manager, stressed that provisions have been
made to provide Navajo translators in case someone who knows only Navajo
calls 1411 for a number.
A total of 15 personnel were laid off as part of the change.
While this will provide a savings for the company, Hauser said the main
reason for the decision was time.
"New technology did away with the jobs," he said.
This has been a trend throughout the United States in recent years as
many local phone companies have contracted with large phone information
centers to handle their 1411 calls.
"Five years ago, we were handling 180,000 information requests a month,"
said Hauser.
That's gone down to 14,000 a month, he said, and the midnight to 5 a.m.
shift would often get only two requests a night.
But people who have called information in other parts of the country
know that most times people asking for a phone number don't even get a
live operator - a computer takes care of the request.
Frontier would probably have gone this route but they had a problem -
what do you do with the few phone calls that come in daily whereby the
caller spoke only in Navajo? That was a service that only could be
provided by the local company - until now.
The company in Rochester has the ability to provide almost immediate
translations into a wide variety of languages and one of those languages
now is Navajo.
Hauser said it works this way.
Someone who speaks only Navajo calls 1411 and gets an information
operator located in Rochester. He or she realizes that the person is not
speaking English and checks where the call is coming from.
If it is in a prefix that has a large Russian population, the operator
would contact someone on call who speaks Russian and that person would
translate for the caller.
Here on the Navajo Reservation, people in Rochester have a list of what
prefixes are on the Navajo Reservation. If someone from one of these
prefixes calls in speaking a language other than English, the operator
knows to call a number whereby someone who speaks Navajo is on call who
can act as a translator.
Hauser said the company has hired several Navajos to be on call at
various times of the day and night in case they are needed.
"We tested this out several times and it worked each time," he said,
adding that the longest it took was a minute and 45 seconds.
The Navajo Times also conducted tests on Monday.
In the test using 928-555-1212, the operator was puzzled when the caller
spoke only Navajo, asking him several times to repeat the number he wanted.
She said later to a Times reporter that she was located in Florida and
would have asked the caller to spell out the person or organization he
wanted.
Trying 1411 went better.
The operator did, within 80 seconds, have a Navajo translator from the
Phoenix area on the line to help out with the call.
Hauser said Frontier hated to see this service eliminated but modern
technology is such that it is not needed anymore.
Copyright c. 1999-2003 Navajo Times/Navajo Nation
--------- "RE: Supreme Court hears Bishop Sovereignty Case" ---------
Date: Fri, Apr 11 2003 08:24:13 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="BISHOP PAIUTE"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.mammothtimes.com/times2003/BishopPaiutes04-10.html
US Supreme Court Hears Bishop Tribe's Sovereignty Case
By Christina Reed
April 10, 2003
Times Staff Writer
PQ- The basic question is, when can local sheriffs use search warrants on
tribal lands while investigating incidents that occur off the reservation?
US Supreme Court justices tackled one of the most difficult cases of the
current term on March 31 when they debated whether to intrude on the
rights of the Bishop Paiute tribal government. The one-hour hearing
scratched the surface of sovereign immunity, state police powers within
Indian Country, and tribes' versus states' rights.
At issue in the Inyo County v. Paiute-Shoshone Indians, 02-281, case is
whether Inyo County law enforcement violated the tribe's rights when Inyo
County law enforcement used bolt-cutters in March 2000 to break into the
tribe's casino as part of a criminal welfare fraud investigation. The
investigation was later dropped for lack of probable cause.
The federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on January 4, 2002,
that Inyo County violated the sovereign immunity of the Bishop Paiute
tribe when it broke into casino employee records. The federal court also
held that the Inyo County district attorney and sheriff went outside of
their jurisdiction as county officers when they executed the search
warrant.
The court's decision modified the scope of the controversial Public Law
280 (P.L. 280), a federal statute which gives California and five other
states the right to handle law enforcement on American Indian land in
place of federal agencies. Many tribes perceive P.L. 280 as an insult to
their sovereignty.
Circuit Judge Harry Pregerson ruled that P.L. 280 extended state
jurisdiction "only to individual Indians and not Indian tribes." In
enacting the law, Pregerson wrote, "Congress neither waived the
sovereignty of the tribes, nor granted state jurisdiction over Indian
tribes."
The Case Begins
This historic case began as a lawsuit filed by the Bishop Paiute tribe
in reaction to a county investigation into welfare fraud. Three employees
of the Bishop Paiute Casino were also receiving welfare.
Ralph LePera, the Bishop Paiute tribal attorney, said that under
different welfare laws, it was legal to earn a certain amount of money
while still collecting welfare. The Inyo County district attorney wanted
to see the records of the three casino employees, and wanted to determine
if they were earning over the maximum amount at their jobs. The district
attorney demanded the casino turn over the records.
The tribe and casino managers refused, and the Inyo County Sheriff
entered the casino, went to the administrative offices, and broke into the
employee records. LePera said the records of 78 other individuals were
confiscated, as well as the three employees in question.
The three employees were found not to be in violation of welfare laws,
and no other evidence of wrongdoing was found. The tribe had agreed to
grant the county information with the proper welfare application forms.
These forms would have shown the employee's consent to the release of
requested information.
A month went by, and the county demanded additional records to be turned
over to law enforcement. At this juncture, the tribe filed a lawsuit in
the federal District Court alleging their sovereign immunity as a tribal
entity had been violated.
The basic question is, when can local sheriffs use search warrants on
tribal lands while investigating incidents that occur off the reservation?
"If the states don't have the ability to issue search warrants, then
that evidence is immune," attorney John D. Kirby argued on Inyo County's
behalf, and "what we end up with is gaps in the criminal justice system."
The tribe has several allies, including states such as Washington,
Montana, and New Mexico. The allies say that tribal sovereignty protects
Indian land, and while local law enforcement officials can investigate
individuals, the tribes say this doesn't extend to tribal governance. The
tribes also say that P.L. 280 doesn't permit the seizing of tribal
property.
The case is an important one, and with the growing number of federally
recognized tribes (560) building casinos, the casinos and their employees
potentially pose more targets for outside investigations.
Kirby said that search warrants should be granted, and the tribe can
file a complaint later.
A skeptical Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg said, "That's not much of a
remedy, is it?"
Justice Antonin Scalia offered a middle-of-the- road position, and he is
pressing for the distinction between tribal and commercial documents.
Chief Justice William Rehnquist has suggested that there is a
distinction between tribal-government documents and the casino's business
records. "These are basically commercial records," Rehnquist stated.
Reid Chambers, the tribe's lawyer, stated there is little difference
between the corporation that runs the casino and the tribal government.
Chambers is advocating cooperation between the tribe and county, and four
states (Arizona, Montana, New Mexico, and Washington) are asking for
"things to be worked out cooperatively." These four states represent two-
thirds of the Indian trust land and more than half the Indian population.
A dozen other states and law-enforcement officials from across the
country support Inyo County.
The Bush Administration is siding with the tribe. Spokesperson for the
administration Barbara McDowell said the tribe's immunity should be upheld
to preserve "the dignity which their sovereign status entitles them."
A ruling by the US Supreme Court is expected this summer. MT
Copyright c. 1990 - 2002 Mammoth Times/Mammoth Lakes, CA.
--------- "RE: Confederated Tribes Land-Restoration Bill" ---------
Date: Sat, 12 Apr 2003 17:39:32 -0700
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="COOS, LOWER UMPQUA, SIUSLAW"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2003/04/12/news/news05.txt
Smith introduces tribal land-restoration bill
By Andrew Sirocchi, Staff Writer
April 12, 2003
The Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians
greeted with cheers the introduction in the U.S. Senate of a long-awaited
bill to restore about 62,000 acres of national forest to the only
recognized tribe without a land base.
The bill, which would give the tribes a portion of the Siuslaw National
Forest in Lane and Douglas counties, is the culmination of nearly a
decade's work and was proposed Thursday by Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., in a
legislative session.
"We are elated," said Tribal Administrator Francis Somday on Friday. "We
are thrilled."
Smith said he has championed the tribes' efforts to have the land
restored since being elected. In a floor statement introducing the Coos,
Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Restoration Amendments Act of 2003, Smith read a
written speech recounting the tribes' loss of land.
"In 1855, in good faith the tribes signed the Empire Treaty with the
federal government," Smith said. "But somewhere between Empire, Ore., and
the floor of the U.S. Senate the treaty was lost. No land was allotted for
their reservation and no compensation given."
The three tribes occupied 1.6 million acres from Oregon's south coast to
what is now the I-5 corridor through the mid 1800s. As gold prospectors
began to encroach on the territory, the federal government made pacts for
the peaceful acquisition and settlement of many of those acres.
But the treaties were lost and no compensation was ever given to the
tribes. Eventually, during the Rogue River War era, the tribes were
marched north and held prisoner in the Coast Reservation until the mid
1870s. The government finally disbanded the tribes in 1954. President
Ronald Reagan re-recognized them in 1984.
Since then, the 700-plus tribal members have struggled to gain economic
independence. With a negligible land base and no real revenue-producing
industries, the tribes have made the return of portions of the Siuslaw
National Forest a priority for years.
"We just are so appreciative to Sen. Smith for understanding the tribe's
story and understanding that it's the right thing to do," Somday said.
If the land is returned, the Confederated Tribes intend to thin the
forest and expect it can generate up to $1 million per year. While the
tribes would not be required to follow provisions of the Northwest Forest
Plan, a plan presented to the senate indicates it intends to follow
cutting provisions consistent with adjacent federal properties.
Smith is in support of those goals.
"Revenue gained from activities on these lands will help meet the self-
sufficiency goals of the Confederated Tribes," Smith read in his speech.
"It will be used to assist seniors through elder housing programs, youth
through scholarships, low-income housing for those in need and provide
health care benefits for all the Tribal members."
A coalition of environmental groups, led by the Oregon Natural Resources
Council, worry that the transfer will reduce their ability to oversee
logging in the national forest and could lead to cutting of old-growth
timber.
In a March 24 letter to U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., 23 environmental
groups objected to the land transfer and claimed many of the acres
proposed for the deal are suitable for wilderness designation. They also
questioned what the impact of the transfer would be with other tribes that
have received far less compensation for their losses.
"The only previous transfer in Oregon's recent history was the transfer
of 5,400 acres of federal forest to the 695 members of the Coquille Tribe
in 1996," the groups wrote. "Should this new legislation pass, what will
be the response of the Coquille, Grande Ronde and Siletz tribes, who have
considerably less acreage?"
The Confederated Tribes has argued that its proposal should be judged
for its own merits. A forestry consultant with Pacific Management
Associates working for the Tribes has said that only about 2,500 acres of
the land being proposed for restoration qualifies as old-growth and the
tribes have set up protections and limitations not to cut those acres as
well as to leave three sensitive areas untouched.
Provisions in the bill will require the tribes put 20 percent of the
gross revenue generated from timber harvesting into a fund to pay for
watershed restoration programs for 20 years.
In addition, the tribes are prevented from building a mill on the land
and are required to follow competitive bidding processes when selling logs.
As written, the bill also will require the land to be kept open to the
public and that fishing and hunting regulations not change.
Somday said the tribes want to meet with environmental groups to bridge
the gap of understanding.
"The tribes will in fact protect the old growth-trees," he said. "The
bill clearly says that."
Meanwhile, the tribal administrator who recently returned from
Washington, D.C., to meet with Oregon's Congressional delegation said the
tribes will continue to push the Senate to pass the bill, and will return
to the nation's capital to work for the restoration of the Siuslaw
National Forest lands.
"The cultural part will be something which will have to be portrayed to
the delegation and to the congress at large," Somday said. "Probably the
biggest hurdle for this bill will be an understanding from the
environmental community."
Copyright c. 2003 Southwestern Oregon Publishing Company/Coos Bay, OR.
--------- "RE: Learn about the Anasazi's last stand at Hovenweep" ---------
Date: Fri, Apr 11 2003 08:24:13 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="HOVENWEEP"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.daily-times.com/Stories/0,1413,129%257E6574%257E1318499,00.html
Learn about the Anasazi's last stand at Hovenweep
The Daily Times
April 11, 2003
MONTICELLO, Utah Join Four Corners School May 3-8 for an exciting
opportunity to learn about the last days of the Ancestral Puebloans near
Hovenweep National Monument.
This trip will focus on the late Pueblo III communities of A.D. 1200-
1300, and provide a glimpse into the stresses faced by their last
survivors, the school said in a news release Tuesday. During this time
period, there were not enough caves to accommodate the entire population,
and not everyone chose to live in the high cliffs of Mesa Verde. Instead,
some people chose the spring-fed canyons located to the northwest of
Cortez, Colo., and Sleeping Ute Mountain. Many previously successful
farming regions were abandoned as people clustered into large central
place communities surrounded by quantities of satellite villages. Trying
to survive a terrible drought, limited food and the need for protection
from other people, threats of destruction were full time problems that
could not be resolved.
The Anasazi kept trying new and different survival strategies, but in
the end the problems they encountered where too immense to overcome. By A.
D. 1300 they had abandoned the entire Four Corners area and the majority
headed for the Rio Grande region of New Mexico.
Hovenweep National Monument, located along the Colorado-Utah border will
be your basecamp for this ed-venture. From there you will look at the
immense prehistoric community located at the head of Sand Canyon and then
hike down the canyon to McElmo Creek. A day will be spent exploring the
unique architecture of towers and structures scattered throughout
Hovenweep National Monument. Another day will be spent exploring Cross
Canyon and the new Canyons of the Ancients National Monument located west
and north of Hovenweep. The final adventure will be to the Lowry Ruins
regions, in Canyons of the Ancients. Containing the highest known density
of archaeological sites in the Nation, the Canyons of the Ancients
National Monument hold evidence of cultures and traditions spanning
thousands of years. The cost of this trip is $950 with all food, group
camp gear, guides, and transportation from Cortez included.
Join Virginia Wolf, MA, geography, and MA, Native American studies and
archaeoastronomy, who has taught geography, anthropology and history at
Butte Community College since 1969, specializing in Native American
studies. Since 1989 Virginia has been surveying Ute Mountain Tribal Park
for Basektmaker-Early Puebloan petroglyph panels. Her research into these
petroglyphs led to her second master's degree, a commercially produced
videotape, and several articles. Over time, her research has expanded to
include work in Chaco Canyon, and the Hovenweep area. Currently, Wolf is
documenting unrecorded Basketmaker-Early Puebloan petroglyph sites in the
Ute Mountain Tribal Park for the Colorado Historical Society.
A complete schedule of Four Corners School 2003 Southwest Ed-Ventures,
and detailed itineraries for all of FCS's ecotourism offerings, can be
found on the Four Corners School Web site at www.sw-adventures.org
Copyright c. 1999-2003 MediaNews Group, Inc./Farmington, NM.
--------- "RE: Coon Come opens European Human Rights Visit" ---------
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 09:15:13 -0600
From: Canadian Aboriginal News <guay_marcel at hotmail.com>
Subj: National Chief Matthew Coon Come Opens European Human Rights Visit
Mailing List: Canadian Aboriginal News <guay_marcel at hotmail.com>
PRESS ADVISORY -
National Chief Matthew Coon Come Opens European Human Rights Visit
Concerning "Hidden Shame" of First Nations' Situation in Canada
LONDON, UK, April 8 /CNW/ - Matthew Coon Come, National Chief of the
Assembly of First Nations opened his "Hidden Shame" European mission
concerning socio-economic conditions facing Aboriginal peoples in Canada
in London, UK today.
At a well-attended "back-to-back" press conference held in conjunction
with Amnesty International at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at
London University, Chief Coon Come cited detailed official data
establishing that Aboriginal peoples in Canada continue to face "gross
socio-economic disparities". Quoting directly from the findings of recent
Royal Commissions and official human rights entities, Coon Come stated
that Aboriginal peoples in Canada are "on the margins of Canadian society"
and are being "pushed to the edge of economic, social and political
extinction".
Chief Coon Come said "First Nations peoples in Canada have endured a
history of blatantly colonial suppression of our existence and of our
status and rights as nations and peoples. Right now, as we talk, First
Nations in Canada face the imposition -- over our protest and against our
will -- of a huge suite of federal legislation, "Indian Act II" that
derogates from Aboriginal and treaty rights that are, ironically,
recognized in Canada's Constitution," said Coon Come.
"I have concluded that Canada is actually abandoning the rights-based
agenda that was tentatively started in 1982 when Canada's new Constitution
recognized and affirmed Aboriginal and treaty rights," said Coon Come.
"Current federal "Indian policy" is still oriented to the involuntary
assimilation of our peoples and the deconstruction of our societies. This
is being brought about through extinguishment of our treaty rights, the
deliberate maintenance of appalling social conditions in our communities,
the renewed use of coercive and colonial Indian Act legislation, and
through the use of criminal sanction and force against us when our people
protest."
Chief Coon Come stated that "I take no pleasure in making this critical
presentation outside of Canada about the 'hidden shame' of conditions
facing indigenous peoples in Canada, but it is increasingly clear to me
that effective recourses at home in Canada are few and diminishing."
-30-
For further information:
Marie Frawley, AFN: cell (in Europe) 1-613-263-5674;
Don Kelly, AFN: 1-613-241-6789 x. 320 or cell 1-613-292-2787
--------- "RE: First Nations face Housing Crisis" ---------
Date: Wed, Apr 9 2003 08:13:57 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="HOUSING CRISIS"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.canoe.ca/NationalTicker/CANOE-wire.Auditor-General-Native
First Nations face housing crisis with no action plan, says auditor
April 8, 2003
OTTAWA (CP) -- Canada's native housing program leans like a shack about
to collapse from neglect, says the auditor general.
Many First Nations face an all-out crisis, Sheila Fraser reported
Tuesday to Parliament.
A growing shortage of 8,500 reserve houses was logged in 2001 when it
was estimated that almost half of 89,000 homes countrywide needed repairs.
Poor construction, toxic mould and lax controls all contribute to a
nasty problem, Fraser said.
Lack of maintenance and severe overcrowding spread illness and social
dysfunction.
Worse, Fraser said, no one has clearly taken on the job of fixing what
native leaders call Canada's Third World shame.
"Unless action is taken quickly, the already unacceptable housing
conditions are only going to get worse."
Reserve birth rates are about twice the national average, and more than
half the population is under 25, Fraser notes.
The Indian Affairs Department says at least 4,500 more houses will be
needed each year for the next decade to handle such growth.
But current federal funding rates will only cover about 2,600 new houses
and renovations for 3,300 units a year.
The shortfall highlights a long-standing dispute.
Many First Nations believe they have a treaty right to free homes on the
reserves they were forced to occupy. Indian Affairs disagrees.
Ottawa isn't obliged to house every member of a reserve population that
tops 420,000 people across the country, said Indian Affairs Minister
Robert Nault.
Government policy "is intended to create a market process to allow First
Nations ... to have mortgages like other Canadians," he told the Commons.
That remark drew opposition jeers.
"The government is going to leave our First Nation Canadians right out
in the cold," said Canadian Alliance MP John Williams.
"What is the minister going to do other than tell them to go out and get
a mortgage when they do not even have a job?"
The department, along with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., helps
within reasonable limits, Nault said.
That assistance totaled $3.8 billion over the last 10 years, the
auditor general said.
However, the federal government hasn't always fully accounted for how it
spends such tax dollars, she added.
"Parliamentarians have not been getting a complete picture.
"The government needs to clearly articulate . . . the expected results
of housing programs; report on costs, program performance and results; and
clarify the impact on the critical housing shortage."
Fraser chided Indian Affairs for last-minute spending sprees in which
bureaucrats raced to use up budgets by fiscal year-end. Money that isn't
spent tends to disappear from future funding.
About $34 million late in fiscal year 2000-01, and $40 million the next
year was suddenly shifted from other programs for urgent housing needs,
Fraser said.
"The department could not demonstrate how well emergency housing funds
were used or whether they were actually spent on housing."
Fraser also urged:
-- An action plan to ease growing health problems blamed on toxic mould.
-- Clarification of housing duties and goals for Indian Affairs, CMHC and
First Nations.
-- A strategy to ensure reserve houses meet federal building codes.
-- Streamlined programs and better communication between Indian Affairs
and CMHC.
Indian Affairs broadly agreed with Fraser's recommendations and said it
will work with CMHC and First Nations to adopt them.
Copyright c. 2003, CANOE, a division of Netgraphe Inc.
--------- "RE: Natives unmoved by Coleman Apology" ---------
Date: Wed, Apr 9 2003 08:13:57 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="RACIST REMARKS"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.canada.com/search/story
Natives unmoved by Coleman apology
Judith Lavoie
Times Colonist
Wednesday, April 09, 2003
British Columbia Solicitor General Rich Coleman apologized to aboriginal
groups Tuesday after he was accused of making racist comments.
Coleman, who talked to reporters Monday about students at the University
of Saskatchewan using arrest mug shots of Premier Gordon Campbell on an
anti-drunk driving poster, said he had absolutely no intention of
offending anyone or saying anything that was racist or offensive.
"If you offend a group of people, it's not a problem to say sorry to
those people," he said.
Later, he repeated the apology in the legislature. On Monday, Coleman
said he did not like the Campbell drunk-driving mug shots being used on
the poster as there were many drinking and driving issues in Saskatchewan
on which the students could focus.
"They could find all kinds of issues within their significant aboriginal
community that they could be focusing on (such as) FAS (fetal alcohol
syndrome) issues in and around alcohol," he said on Monday. On Tuesday,
Coleman said he has seen the social pressure brought to bear in aboriginal
communities across the country by alcohol and FAS.
"When you see that, it really strikes you in the heart how you need to
have programs in those communities so we can rebuild them," said Coleman,
who denied he was trying to divert attention from Campbell's arrest in
January.
However, Stewart Phillip, Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs president, said
Coleman was trying to deflect attention from Campbell's drunk driving.
"He's saying, 'Why don't you concentrate on those drunken Indians in
Saskatchewan,' " he said.
The remarks were racist, said Phillip, who was not impressed with
Coleman's apology.
"He's just tap dancing around it."
Chief Perry Bellegarde of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations
is writing to Coleman demanding a written apology and suggesting he take
sensitization courses to make him aware of issues plaguing First Nations.
"If he doesn't become enlightened he should consider stepping down," he
said.
Bellegarde said he does not know why a cabinet minister would make such
a comment.
"Sometimes it's better to stay silent and appear stupid than to say
something and remove all doubt," he said.
Campbell said Coleman has apologized for the comments and obviously
wishes he had not made them. Campbell said he does not have a problem with
the Saskatchewan students using his mug shots on the poster.
"If there are some benefits from my horrible mistake that's a positive
thing. If this convinces people not to drink and drive, that's a good
thing," he said.
lavoie at island.net
Copyright c. 2003 Times Colonist.
--------- "RE: Grassy Narrows Protest" ---------
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 08:24:53 -0400
From: "Frosty" <frosty at frostys.qc.ca>
Subj: Fw: Grassy Narrows Protest
Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian <frostysamerindian at yahoogroups.com>
-------- Original Message --------
From: wolfe at island.net
>To: kahtou at dccnet.com, dbain at telus.net
Dear Friends, The Grassy Narrows First Nation in Ontario has been
blockading Abitibi Forest Products for over 4 1/2 months now, through the
long cold -40 temperatures of the winter there and are growing stronger
and building. They have support from the Ontario Chiefs, AFN, and people
across Canada and Internationally. This is a recent update, MNR is
Ministry of Natural Resources who are working hand in hand with Abitibi.
There is a vote at www.mykenora.com to support them. Please send them
your support. For All Our Relations, First Nations Environmental Network.
----- Forwarded message from steve fobister -----
Date: Mon, 07 Apr 2003 00:53:10 -0500
From: steve fobister
ahneen Kakinna,
Mr. Shawn Stevenson has made it clear that MNR sides with muti-national
corporations and will support every tree to be cut for the benefit of all
Ontarians because it hires 250 people not ordinarily residence of Ontario,
no of course not because it makes quarterly profits of 300 million dollars
and that MNR manages for the benefit of Ontarians not exclusive rights of
first nation rights. however, his government is responsible for the
dumping of 50 tons of mercury into the environment and 30 other type of
dangerous chemicals and first Nations still has no rights! There are
approximately 17 thousand first nations in the so called Kenora whiskey
jack forest management area and the same amount as non aboriginals and we
still have no say. Where is this man coming, is he trying to inflame
emotions for the white people to take his side and support his agenda
locally! There are 25 first nations in treaty #3 and 45 first nations
from treaty 9 ( territory). Who is pouring money into the municipal
economy of kenora and dryden. If these communities ever boycott these
towns just one single weekend, who do think the townspeople would rather
have Abitibi or First Nations money.
During the last close downs the mills done because of over inventory of
wood supply of closures which last about 2 to 3 weeks at a time. The
economy remains study because of first nations patronizing these towns.
All Abitibi moneys and earnings leave town and a chance for even those
working to take holidays out of town. I have a hard time understanding my
neighbor. for instance they were really against the Americans for the war
in Iraq. Then the cancellations came to their tourist camps and they took
a complete 90 degree turn in support of the Americans all of sudden.
Where is their principles? They complain about the Ontario budget that
they're is nothing for northwestern Ontario? No money is coming in,
but they fail to see that it is only the first nations that bringing in
the money to Ontario as always.
The other I had a long talk with a elder who does not talk very good
English or to read for that matter. I was briefing on the fragile forest
and what we are up against. He told me that long time ago the Indians
said, it would be the whiteman who change our ways and he will be the one
to end everything life as we know it, what you see is the beginning he
said. Our opposition party has disappeared, corporate interest dictate
public policy. The war in Iraq he said, Corporations and big business
and investors are lining up to rebuild that country after the war. This
country will pay a heavy price and corruption will be ramped he said. We
will have to be expected to expect less he said and to feel patriotic
about it. Taxes will be high, and if it gets really bad move to Iraq he
said? This old guy remind me alot like old chief Dan George and goes on
to talk about something else and if you ask him more questions he tells
you you weren't listening?... Awsa ... steve
--------- "RE: Blackfeet gauge BIA Takeover" ---------
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 19:47:12 -0700
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="BIA COPS"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20030413/localnews/
Blackfeet gauge BIA takeover
Relief, resentment greet federal police
By KAREN IVANOVA
Tribune Regional Editor
April 13, 2003
BROWNING -- As a young policeman on the Goshute Indian Reservation, which
straddles the Utah-Nevada state line, Ed Naranjo responded to a routine
domestic assault call that had a daunting twist. The perpetrator was the
tribal chairman.
Naranjo was driving his suspect to jail when an order to call his
supervisor crackled over the radio: He was to turn his cruiser around and
take the chairman back home.
Against his conscience, Naranjo followed orders. "I had to," he said. "I
needed the job."
Almost 30 years later, as a high-level official with Bureau of Indian
Affairs Law Enforcement, it's now Naranjo's job to stamp out such
corruption.
In February, he headed up a surprise takeover of the Blackfeet tribe's
police department, where a special BIA report had exposed evidence of
poorly trained cops, mismanaged budgets, bungled case reports and
political interference from tribal council members.
A SWAT team armed with assault rifles drove onto the reservation in a
column of federal vehicles one Saturday and confiscated officers' guns,
badges and uniforms, firing everyone from the police chief to the jail
cook. Though a rumor spread that BIA agents held some tribal police
employees at gunpoint, Naranjo said weapons never were drawn.
The BIA is rebuilding the Blackfeet police department from scratch,
hiring 32 uniformed officers -- effectively doubling the reservation's law
enforcement -- and mailing a 15-page questionnaire to homes across the
reservation to gauge the public's needs, said Naranjo of Billings. He
oversees a six-state region for BIA law enforcement.
The takeover ends a nearly eight-year effort by the Blackfeet Tribe to
run its own police force under contract with the BIA.
"Our plan is to stay there long-term," at least long enough to bring the
police force up to par before handing it back to the tribe, Naranjo said.
Residents -- from tribal elders fed up with gang graffiti in their
neighborhoods and drug dealers next door, to families who've lost children
in drunken driving accidents -- cheered the BIA's arrival.
The 3,000-square-mile reservation along the Rocky Mountain Front is home
to 10,100.
Alicia Crawford lives in the remote Heart Butte community on the
southern end of the reservation, where residents complained they scarcely
saw an officer on patrol. She fired off an impassioned letter to the
Tribune following the BIA's arrival.
"I am completely for the BIA takeover. I don't see it as disrespectful.
I see it as a change for the better," she wrote. "Myself and others in
Heart Butte just want justice and if that means people are out of jobs,
then so be it."
The shakeup also gave fresh hope to citizen activists, who say there's
still much work to be done to bring a fair and effective law and order
system to the Blackfeet.
"We need to find a way to make our tribal councilmen responsible," said
Tom Whitford Sr., a Blackfeet and retired career BIA superintendent who is
working to establish a Blackfeet Civil Rights Commission. "Until we do
that, we're going to continue to have a rogue government."
Activists also are calling for reform in the tribe's courts and business
council structures and even a revamp of its constitution, ratified in 1935.
But some of the loudest critics of the former police force and the
current tribal council say the BIA isn't the long-term answer.
The Blackfeet must take control of their own destiny, said Gene "Sub-
Chief" DuBray of Great Falls, who served as chairman of the Blackfeet
Tribal Business Council's Law and Order subcommittee in the mid-'90s, when
the tribe took over its police force.
"The tribal people could do their own (police) job and that's what's got
to happen," DuBray said. "As Blackfeet tribal members for thousands and
thousands of years we policed ourselves."
Council resistance
The tribal council initially threatened to seek a federal court
injunction to stop the BIA takeover.
"This is a sovereign Indian nation, and it's an insult," Tribal Vice
Chairman James "Jimmy" St. Goddard said. "I still question the takeover.
It should have happened in a transition, not just in a show of force."
St. Goddard is offended not only by the manner in which the BIA swept in,
but also by the very idea of the agency policing the Blackfeet.
"The BIA is a white-oriented police force," St. Goddard said. "It's
military (style), and that's white. That isn't Indian training. That's
white training."
Councilman William "Allen" Talks About, a political foe of St. Goddard's,
shares St. Goddard's antipathy for his own reasons.
Talks About, who was tribal chairman until the council demoted him to a
regular council member in January, said he and his advisers had a plan in
place to correct tribal law enforcement's shortcomings.
"When they (BIA agents) came in, I thought, 'If I had anything to do
with it, I would've probably made it very hard for them,'" he said.
But both men acknowledge the tribe's police force was troubled.
"I always talk to the people, especially the elders, and they were happy
they (BIA agents) were coming in because there were so many uninvestigated
incidents," Talks About said. "The elders came to me and said, 'I'm very
glad they're here. I can sleep now. I don't have to sit up in the dark
watching for intruders, now the BIA is patrolling the streets.'"
An insider's view
Some of the gravest stories of incompetence come from within the ranks
of the former tribal police.
Kevin LaDue worked for six years with Blackfeet Law Enforcement as a
jailer and patrol officer. He was fired in November, three months before
the BIA takeover.
LaDue said he was accused of drinking at a house party in violation of
the department's conduct code, but insists he wasn't there.
He says his firing was political, describing an inner circle of
favorites of which he was not a part. He claims he's a victim of
retaliation for a closed-door conversation he had with a BIA officer sent
to help Blackfeet law enforcement correct shortcomings.
LaDue said he sometimes was left to tend up to 30 jail inmates alone,
escorting groups of them between cells or into the hearing room.
The job was especially dicey in the summer, when the sweltering
building's doors were thrown wide open. On one occasion, an inmate slipped
out through an open door on LaDue's watch.
"The way the system worked it was like, 'Oh well, it's just another
person that escaped. We'll get him later,'" LaDue said.
Grave consequences
A week before the BIA's arrival, the jail's lax security rules turned
tragic when an inmate was released unsupervised to attend an Alcoholics
Anonymous meeting.
Instead, the BIA alleges, he tracked down his girlfriend, raped her and
kicked her so hard he broke her pelvis. The incident was one of the
triggers for the BIA takeover, Naranjo said.
The suspect is in custody and his case likely will go through federal
court, Tribal Prosecutor Wendy Running Crane told the Tribune.
That's an especially egregious case, but the BIA's arrival unleashed a
flood of lesser complaints.
"I remember numerous times when the police were called out to Heart
Butte and the dispatcher said they couldn't send an officer out because
they had only one officer on duty in Browning," Alicia Crawford wrote.
Cruel and unusual
Public scorn for the tribal police department went beyond the
fundamentals of public safety. And the problems weren't all budgetary.
Widespread complaints of tribal council members running interference for
cronies or family members who broke the law eroded police credibility.
In a July 2000 memo obtained by the Tribune, councilman James St.
Goddard, who then served on the council's Law and Order Committee, asked
former Blackfeet police chief Fred Guardipee to release four individuals
from jail.
Charged with assault in a drunken brawl, the four were being unfairly
held without bail, he wrote.
"I have attempted to contact a Tribal Court Judge because of the
conditions of the jail, which is hot and amounts to cruel and unusual
punishment," he wrote.
Bail is considered a basic right.
But Pat Schildt, a Browning businessman and founder of the activist
group Blackfeet Against Fraud and Corruption, notes that hundreds have
spent the night in the hot jail before and since.
"It only amounts to cruel and unusual punishment to the people he (St.
Goddard) wants to get out of jail," Schildt said.
St. Goddard said he interceded because the individuals on the opposite
side of the brawl were treated differently and given bond.
As far as the sweltering conditions, St. Goddard said he would shut down
the jailhouse for good if he could.
"I've got hundreds and hundreds of letters from prisoners asking to shut
that jail down," he said. "It's worse than living in a doghouse that jail."
Replacing, deodorizing
Built to hold 45 inmates, the building has no air conditioning and
sometimes overflows with 100 or more during summer festivals, Naranjo said.
The beds were pulling out of the walls and many had to sleep on the putrid
floor.
The BIA is in the process of replacing the old beds, painting, replacing
fixtures and deodorizing the floor, Naranjo said.
St. Goddard said the tribe struggled to keep up the aging facility and
to keep enough officers on the streets because of a lack of federal
funding from the BIA.
A 1997 Department of Justice report found that tribal police departments
across the nation lacked financial resources for basic law enforcement
functions.
But St. Goddard acknowledged that money wasn't the only problem.
Tribal council members interfered with law enforcement, often at the
request of tribal employees.
"By letting employees come to us constantly, that was wrong," St.
Goddard said.
Takeover opens eyes
Since the Blackfeet police takeover, Naranjo said his office has
received calls about similar concerns on the Fort Hall Reservation in
Idaho and elsewhere.
"I think it's opened a lot of eyes across Indian Country," he said.
Since 1995, the majority of the nation's tribes contracted all or part
of their law enforcement services from the BIA, according to the
Department of Justice.
Overall, they've been successful, said John Dossett, general counsel
with the National Congress of American Indians, a Washington D.C.-based
organization of tribal governments.
Some failures are only natural, he said.
"Maybe this police department needs to be cleaned up and fixed, but that
happens in other parts of society as well," Dossett said. "Institution
building is something that takes time. There's steps forward, and there's
steps back.
"Sometimes people don't recognize that the tribes haven't had a lot of
time to work on this."
A rough start
The Blackfeet tribe took over its law enforcement the second time in
1995, after a previous failed attempt from 1975 to 1981.
"It was so poorly run, (members of the Blackfeet tribe) thought they
could do a better job," Naranjo acknowledged.
A background check of the BIA officers cost a number of them their
security clearances, he said.
So the tribe inherited a malfunctioning police program -- and the
challenge of rebuilding it on a thin budget.
Five years later, the situation was worse.
A special BIA report in September 2000 catalogued 58 problem areas, from
eight employees who lacked basic training to tribal councilmen ordering
the release of prisoners.
The BIA returned in May 2001 and found little change, Naranjo said. The
agency moved to take over law enforcement in October 2001, but the tribe
appealed and was given 15 more months to fix things with the assistance of
three special BIA agents.
Naranjo said there continued to be little improvement. And after two
alarming incidents -- including the rape of a 13-year-old, which was
reported to tribal police by the hospital but never investigated -- the
BIA decided to move in.
In addition to public safety, the federal government was concerned about
its liability under the Blackfeet tribal police contract.
The BIA paid out more than $7 million in tort claims related to the
Blackfeet police force in the past three years, Naranjo said.
Cases ranged from police car pursuits in which residents were hurt to
assaults by officers.
"To me, we should have done it (the takeover) a lot sooner," Naranjo
said. "We gave the tribe every opportunity to get the program in
compliance."
Rebuilding, improving
This time around, the BIA will create a stellar Blackfeet Law
Enforcement program before handing it over, Naranjo said.
"They deserve a good program, not a run-down, poorly run program," he
said.
BIA police programs failed in the past because employees reported to
reservation BIA superintendents, who weren't trained or equipped to
oversee police work, Naranjo said.
"Our programs just didn't get the guidance they needed," he said.
In 1997, the BIA restructured its police programs so that employees
answer to law enforcement professionals with a traditional police chain of
command.
"We started to professionalize and establish standards that we need to
meet," Naranjo said. "We're making it better all over."
The agency is completely rebuilding Blackfeet law enforcement, Naranjo
said. Few of the former tribal officers will be hired back.
"There are a lot of background issues on some of these former employees
that will prevent them from being re-employed," he said.
The new force will consist of 15 uniformed police officers, including
three supervisors, on the BIA payroll, plus 17 officers paid through the
federal Community Oriented Policing Program, otherwise known as COPS.
All of the officers will work under the BIA's supervision.
That's almost double the former tribal police force of roughly 17
uniformed officers.
Additional grant money may be available through the city of Browning to
hire officers, Naranjo said.
So far, hiring selections have been made for 10 BIA police positions,
five of six detention officer positions and five of six dispatch positions,
Naranjo said.
He would like to see the police force add a K-9 unit.
The agency plans to tailor police service to each area of the
reservation, Naranjo added.
While residents of one area may be concerned with vandalism, another may
be more worried about drunken driving.
Officers will be assigned to each of five districts on the reservation:
Babb, St. Mary, Seville, Heart Butte and East Glacier Park. Each district
will have regular community meetings.
"We want to know from the community exactly what their issues are,"
Naranjo said.
Each district will have a "cop shop" where residents can drop in to talk
with police.
"What we'd like to eventually see is maybe some volunteer citizens in
there taking reports that don't really require an officer," Naranjo said.
For example, a resident could report vandalism or a habitual speeder in
their neighborhood.
Change apparent
Browning School Superintendent Stan Juneau said he's already seeing
change.
In the past, the school was sometimes told there was only one officer on
duty for the entire reservation when staff called for help with a student.
Finding police to monitor events such as basketball games also was a
challenge.
"We have a much quicker response since the bureau's been in here,"
Juneau said. "The whole atmosphere of the community is changing. It's a
little more positive."
Juneau also has been able to sit in on job interviews for the BIA's four
school resource officers.
The tribal courts are responding as well, slapping parents of truant
students with fines, Juneau said.
Constitutional question
Ultimately, the Blackfeet should be able to police their own people, St.
Goddard said.
To make the system work, he suggests amending the tribal constitution to
make tribal council interference with law enforcement punishable with jail
time.
Ratified in 1935, the constitution gives the tribal council authority to
write laws, enforce them and control the courts.
"There is no separation of powers. You don't have the legislative branch,
you don't have the judicial branch, you have the council," said Eddie Gray
Owl, Schildt's brother and a member of Blackfeet Against Fraud and
Corruption. Gray Owl is business manager of the Glacier Way store.
In a room adjacent to the store, the citizens group holds Tuesday
evening political meetings to discuss concerns about the tribal government.
"You have nine people here who execute the laws, who do the creation of
the laws, and they control the courts," Gray Owl said.
If the tribe is ever to take back law enforcement, the constitution will
need an overhaul to put some boundaries on the tribal council's power,
said DuBray, who was a tribal council member when the Blackfeet took over
law enforcement from the BIA in 1995.
"Until that happens we're going to be in this quagmire of lawlessness,"
DuBray said. "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours."
People power
Whitford, the retired BIA superintendent, said the tribe's constitution
is a solid document.
The problem, he said, is a "rogue" tribal council that flouts the law
and has no oversight.
"The general population here has absolutely no rights," Whitford said.
He's among five prominent residents who want to establish a Blackfeet
Civil Rights Commission that would give residents who feel they've been
wronged by the tribal justice system a place to go for a second opinion.
They've already met to draw up plans.
DuBray may not agree with Whitford's assessment of the problem, but,
like others who have spoken out since the BIA's takeover, he said change
will have to come from the people.
"The people have to get together and say enough is enough," DuBray said.
"We don't like it. We'd rather be the people we want to be -- proud
Blackfeet, not people with no law, no justice for everybody."
Tribune reporter Jennifer Perez contributed to this report.
Copyright c. 2003 Great Falls Tribune. All Rights Reserved.
--------- "RE: Former Wampanoag Chief suing R.I. for Land" ---------
Date: Wed, Apr 9 2003 08:13:57 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="LAND SUIT"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.browndailyherald.com/stories.asp?storyID=885
Former Wampanoag chief suing R.I. for 34 square miles of land
By Zoe Ripple
April 9, 2003
A former chief of the Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe is suing the state of
Rhode Island for 34 square miles of land in Cumberland and Woonsocket, but
without the tribe's consent.
Wilifred Green, a former chief of the Wampanoag Tribe, has filed a suit
claiming on behalf of the group that land taken during King Philip's War
is rightfully the property of the Wampanoag people.
According to Earl Pasbach, Green's attorney, an agreement between
colonists and Wampanoags made during colonization in the 1600s guaranteed
the tribe "a competent portion of land" in what is now Cumberland. But
after the war between Native Americans and the colonists in the late 1600s,
the victorious colonists drove the Wampanoags off of the land that Green
claims in his suit is theirs, as specified in the agreement.
Green's suit specifies 34 square miles of land in Cumberland and
Woonsocket.
"We are still studying it," said Jeff Neal, spokesman for Governor
Donald Carcieri '65, in reference to the suit.
The executive counsel's office met with Wampanoags about two weeks ago
to discuss the suit, Neal said. During the meeting, they were "given an
opportunity to explain their history and grievances."
Not all Wampanoags agree with the suit. Michael Markley, first
councilperson and tribal spokesman for the Seaconke Wampanoag tribe, said
that, although Green sued on behalf of the Seaconke Wampanoag tribe, in
reality, "we are not suing anyone.
"We are not involved with any land claims," he said, speaking on behalf
of the tribal council of the Seaconke Wampanoag tribe.
Green did not return calls seeking comment.
Green, a former chief of the tribe, has had no conversations with the
tribal council about suing and never sought nor received approval for
suing Rhode Island, Markley said.
Green is genealogically connected to the Seaconke Wampanoags, said
Markley, and, despite Green's five-year absence from tribal meetings,
Markley said the door is open to him returning.
"We'd like him to come back and come to meetings," Markley said.
Green is using information gathered and presented during meetings in
1996, Markley said. Although the information he is using and the case he
is making may be legitimate, Green's actions are not endorsed by the
Seaconke Wampanoags, Markley said, and "he is off doing his own thing."
Markley speculated that Green started his own non-profit called Seaconke
Wampanoag Tribe of Rhode Island, but the organization is not affiliated
with the Seaconke Wampanoags, says Markley, and the Web site maintained by
the organization is not the tribe's official site.
Green was a chief from 1997 to 1998. Wampanoag people appoint and depose
their chiefs, and Green was removed from his position of chief after a
business meeting in 1998, Markley said. "The people voted him out," he
said.
Copyright c. 2003 The Brown Daily Herald/Brown University.
--------- "RE: Ex-IHS Worker gets Prison for Fraud" ---------
Date: Thu, Apr 10 2003 08:22:09 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="IHS FRAUD"
http://www.indianz.com/
http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?display=rednews/2003/04/10/
Ex-IHS worker gets prison for fraud
By CLAIR JOHNSON
Of The Gazette Staff
April 10, 2003
A former Indian Health Service employee who took kickbacks for sales of
light bulbs and lighting equipment will spend time in federal prison.
U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull Wednesday sentenced Arthur C. Alden,
60, of Crow Agency, to a year and one day in prison for his conviction on
one count of wire fraud. The sentence will enable Alden to accumulate good
time. The judge also ordered Alden to pay restitution of $23,540 to the
IHS. The restitution includes what Alden accepted in kickbacks and a
portion of the loss from excessive orders.
"I'm sorry for what I did," Alden said.
Alden's sentence was at the low end of the guideline range of 12 months
to 18 months.
Alden's attorney Jay Lansing tried unsuccessfully to have the judge
depart down from the guidelines. He argued that Alden had medical
conditions and that his actions represented aberrant behavior.
But Cebull said Alden's medical conditions occurred before his choice to
engage in criminal conduct. And the judge questioned how Alden's behavior
could be considered aberrant when he took kickbacks over a period of a few
years. "I don't believe Mr. Alden was a victim," he said.
Alden pleaded guilty in December to wire fraud. Cebull dismissed four
other counts in an indictment.
Alden and two other ex-IHS employees, Keith Reece, 54, of Hardin, and
Gale G. Three Irons, 52, of Hardin, were involved with Kirm G. Kath, who
was a sales representative for the West Lite Corp., of North Dakota. West
Lite sells lighting supplies through independent salesmen working on a
commission. A 19-year employee, Alden was a maintenance leader in the
Facilities Maintenance Branch, which is in the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services at Crow Agency. He also held or had access to a
government-issued credit card for purchases up to $2,500 of supplies
relating to official duties.
Between December 1997 and July 1999, Alden used an IHS credit card
issued to another employee to buy goods and services totaling $80,880 for
West Lite. During the time when West Lite received the orders, Kath paid
Alden $12,764.
Financial records indicated that the payments were made by Western Union
transfer and were closely related to West Lite credit card purchases
originating from Alden, Reece and Three Irons, prosecutors said. An audit
of the supplies at the IHS facilities showed that many of the West Lite
orders from the three men were for supplies that either were unnecessary
or inappropriate for use in the federal buildings.
The audit also found that although the three men sponsored West Lite
orders of more than $180,000, few, if any, of the West Lite light bulbs
were present at the federal facilities.
Last month, Cebull sentenced Kath, 41, of Gering, Neb., to six and one
half years in prison and ordered restitution of $77,263 for his role in
the corruption scandal. Kath was a central figure in the scheme, which
involved six others including five IHS and Bureau of Indian Affairs
employees and a businessman.
The judge also sentenced Reece to one year and a day in prison and
ordered $11,275 restitution on a wire fraud conviction and Three Irons to
two years probation and ordered $1,497 restitution and a $1,000 fine for a
bribery conviction.
Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.
--------- "RE: Mescalero Man sentenced for Forest Fires" ---------
Date: Sat, 12 Apr 2003 17:39:32 -0700
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="ARSON"
http://www.pechanga.net/
http://www.imdiversity.com/Article_Detail.asp?Article_ID=15886
Mescalero Man Sentenced to Two Years for Forest Fires
by AP, The Associated Press
April 12, 2003
Albuquerque (AP) - A former U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs firefighter was
sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison for arson-related charges
involving forest fires in southern New Mexico.
U.S. District Judge John E. Conway also sentenced Brian Neil Klinekole,
27, to three years of supervised release after he completes his prison
term.
In January, Klinekole pleaded guilty to illegally setting a blaze on the
Mescalero reservation, admitting to setting the 11-acre Crooked Fire in
the Lincoln National Forest on March 12, 2002. At the time, Klinekole, a
former BIA forestry technician who belonged to a fire engine crew, told
Conway he flung a lit cigarette that started the blaze.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Louis Valencia has said Klinekole gave two
different reasons for starting the fire _ family problems and the need to
work.
Klinekole originally faced six counts in connection with four fires last
April and May. He had been accused of one count for the Palmer Tank 2 Fire
about May 24, 2001; two counts for the Crooked Fire; two for the Peso One
and Two Fires and one for the Chihuahua Fire, all around last April 20.
Authorities have said there were 160 arsons reported in 2001 and 2002 in
the Mescalero and Ruidoso areas.
Klinekole was arrested and indicted after an investigation by the
Mescalero Arson Task Force, which was formed last May and includes agents
of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the FBI, the Forest Service, the state
police and the Otero and Lincoln County sheriff's offices.
Copyright by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Copyright c. 2002 IMDiversity Inc. All rights reserved.
--------- "RE: Native Prisoner" ---------
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 06:42:57 -0500
From: Janet Smith <owlstar at speakeasy.org
Subj: Native Prisoner
=====
Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2003 21:57:19 -0800 (PST)
From: "THUNDERINGDRUMS at webtv.net" <THUNDERINGDRUMS at webtv.net>
Subj: [IRONHOUSEDRUMS] Daniel Poole
I received a card from Danny Poole today and thought I'd share it with
you. After his letter is the info from Kay's site to update you and give
you his address in case you would like to send him get well
card.........
Wowahwa,
~Carol~
Dear Carol,
Thanks for your card which I received. It means a lot to me that people
out there such as yourself are concerned for people such as myself. It
gives me hope that there is kindness out there yet.
I am feeling alright I guess, though I do have my good and bad days. It
seems that the mornings are the worst though.
The support I received from people such as you will give me the added
strength to fight this illness and get well quicker. It brought a smile
and a warm spot to my heart when I opened your card. Thanks for the
thoughts.
Respectfully,
Danny
Daniel Poole, Union CI Medical Neglect
Address:http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/fci/danielpoole.html
UPDATE ON DANIEL'S HEALTH CRISIS
March, 2003
MTWT'S GOLD STAR HEREBY AWARDED TO Sgt. Cox and Sgt. Curtis
FOR PROFESSIONALISM and COMPASSION
On March 15, Saturday night, Daniel appeared to be having a stroke...
We want to recommend Sgt. Cox and Sgt. Curtis who work the 4PM to
midnight shift, for their swift and compassionate attention to Mr.
Poole, by rushing him to medical, and getting him help in the crucial
first few minutes....
Medical at UCI recommended he be taken to the hospital in
Jacksonville.... He was back in his dorm early Sunday morning, where it
was determined that he has Bell's Palsy, which closely resembles a
stroke, but which affects the upper and lower part of the face with
paralysis, and may also affect the eyes by not being able to produce
tears properly....
Some of the men in Daniel's dorm have asked that readers send him get
well wishes during this time.......
Mr. Daniel Poole
363485
Union CI
7819 N.W. 228th Street
Raiford, Florida... 32026-4140
~Thundering Drums~
http://www.angelfire.com/wy/nainmatessupportgrp/index.html
--------------------------------
Date: Friday, April 11, 2003 5:26 PM
From: "Brigitte Thimiakis" <thimiakischool at the.forthnet.gr>
Subj: Statement from Manuel Redwoman
In our beliefs, the lives of innocent women and children must be
protected.
We ask you and people of all Nations to join hands with us and
peacefully oppose any action that causes the loss of innocent lives of
women and children.
Close to a million children have died in the previous war due to birth
defects, cancers from depleted uranium and childhood diseases that become
rampant after the water purification system was destroyed with precision
guided missiles.
The forming of this Sacred Circle is not only meant for one group of
people but for all Nations, all nationalities, and all Indigenous People
regardless of race, color or creed.
It is our duty to honor the Spirit of our Ancestors and oppose any
action that will take the sacred and innocent lives of women and children.
Respectfully,
Manuel Redwoman
& <Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children>
<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>
Manuel Redwoman, Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
http://www.geocities.com/occitaniafr/index.html
& "Honor Your Spirit, Protect the Children"
http://www.geocities.com/occitaniafr/ProtectTheChildren
www.geocities.com/occitaniafr/Child_Abuse
<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 11:45:00 -0700 (PDT)
From: "THUNDERINGDRUMS at webtv.net" <THUNDERINGDRUMS at webtv.net>
Subj: [IRONHOUSEDRUMS] Our Help Requested
I am forwarding this e mail I received today. I will do as he asked and
hope all of you will also.
Wowahwa,
~Carol~
~~~~~~~~~~
Hello Carol,..
I'm a friend of StandingBear (B.Hayes).
He told me to contact you about getting people to email the governor. I
have a friend on death row who has an execution date of May 2, 2003.
Bear thought the folks from the prison support group would like to help
me ask the governor for Kevin Hough's clemency. ...
Kevin has been on death row since 1987.
He has been active in the Catholic community at Indiana State Prison. He
has shown his love of God and his fellow brothers on the row by his
behavior. He has a grandma, mom, daughter, son and two grandson's who
love him very much.
It would do no good to kill him. It would only cause more pain. ...
Please consider contacting Governor Frank O'Bannon Ask him to grant
Kevin Clemency with an alternative punishment such as life in prison.
............................................................
Governor Frank O'Bannon
206 State House
Indianapolis, IN 46204
FAX 317 232-3443
Tel... 317 232-4567
Email FOBANNON at state.n.us
Web: http://www.ai.org/gov/index.html
...
Thanks very much, your love ones are in prayer,
Alex (your friend in Jesus Christ)
... ~Thundering Drums~
http://www.angelfire.com/wy/nainmatessupportgrp/index.html
"To those of us locked away in here, there's nothing more
important than being remembered."
Leonard Peltier
September 1998
Leavenworth Prison
"Prison Writings...My Life Is My Sun Dance"
=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=
"Freedom For All Of Our Warriors"
=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=
http://www.angelfire.com/wy/nainmatessupportgrp/index.html
=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>+<+><+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<
Shortcut URL to Group Home: IRONHOUSEDRUMS
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IRONHOUSEDRUMS/
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
IRONHOUSEDRUMS-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com
--------- "RE: Rustywire: Dibe' Bii Nataani" ---------
Date: Fri, Feb 21 2003 04:09:47 -0900
From: rustywire at yahoo.com (john rustywire)
Subj: dibe' bii nataani
Newsgroup: alt.native
dibe' bii nataani
in the old days, way back then but not so long ago, a man named
collier said those sheep, cattle and horses have to go. way out on the
navajo rez, the grass is narrow, small and few and far between. some
say you have to have a balance in the way of living, so they say. in
some ways this was how the churro sheep, some call them, to navajos
they are dibe', they have longer legs than regular sheep and so they
don't eat the plants all the way to the ground but leave some feed to
grow back.
in each community, you can see at midmorning the old folks who go out
each day with the sheep, they forage across sage covered lands, making
the rounds finding their way to a spring or watering hole. during the
long days of summer you can see the grandchildren nestled in the rocks
watching the sheep, walking behind the old folks. there is nothing
like seeing such a sight, because during those times they talk about
the way things were, hopes dreams, places and how certain things
happened, mythic beings and stories of how so and so was, or why that
person is called curly toes, or that place is called fluted rock. it
is a way of life, akin to the very heart of the navajo way.
dibe' bii nataani is the local headman on matters involving sheep,
horses, cattle, who sits and listens to problems involving disputes
about customary grazing areas, increasing livestock, getting animals
doctored, improving watering holes, and sit in council to patiently
listen to what is happening out there on the flat lands, halgai. it is
a position regarded by the people as a place of respect, requiring
honesty, wisdom, fairness and common sense. as time goes on and one
gets older, at some point people will seek you out to become a dibe'
bii nataani.
out beyond the wash, not too far from captain tom reservoir, near two
gray hills, an old ford truck pulls up in front of a small house with
a green roof.
the smell of cedar smoke is in the air, and it is near evening time,
with the sun hanging low in the sky. as the truck stops, an elderly
couple get out with their daughter. kee mike's bighan (house, his
place), he s the local dibe' bii nataani.
oshde' (come in he says to them) the old couple and their granddaughter
of sixteen step into his place. there is stew and fry bread and his
wife offers them a bowl. kee mike his face is wrinkled a little, some
stubble from an old razor leaves a few gray whiskers on is face, he is
a quiet man. the old couple come in and sit down at the table covered
with the old fashioned red and white checkerboard vinyl table cloth.
they take their time and eat with him, he shares what he has. as they
finish they set aside the plates and he pours them some sheepherder
coffee off a wood stove, the kind with coffee grounds on the bottom of
the pot.
the old man says, the road is pretty rough from the trading post, the
ruts are hard on the truck. oh' (yes) says kee mike, nodding his head.
it would be better with a horse, you could take a straight cut. kee
mike remembers the old man is known for good horses, he used to have
matched set of appaloosas in the old days that could haul anything off
the mountain, they were good horses and still talked about from when
the 30's when was a young man.
che'-the old man, tells him, there is no water, and the grass is gone.
the horses and sheep need water, and the spring has gone dry, even the
water we drink is dry, we have to haul water from burnhams. (it is a
place 14 miles away.) we wonder about how to take care of the sheep,
they wonder where to drink, and when they go out they wander around
looking for something to eat in the rabbit brush, but there is nothing
there. our place has always been a good place, we have been in the
same area since red mustache's daughter had her children under the
cedar tree, (way back in the 1800's) now there is nothing for the
sheep to eat and it makes it hard on them, they are skinny and in a
bad way.
kee mike listens, not looking directly at them but off to the side,
listening as they tell him about the hard conditions they are going
through. they don't really ask for help but in the traditional way of
speaking lay out what is going on and let the way things are talk for
themselves.
the old lady sits quietly, listening to the old man, she is the one
who goes out every day, her feet have worn a path through the sage and
red rocks and she knows the land well. it was her people's place from
way back, coming here before the spanish, a time when the coyote pass
people settled here many lifetimes ago. she has a name for each of her
sheep knowing their life story and how each piece of rusty wire was put
on the corral posts. she remembers these things stretching back to her
youth. she has a name for each one of her sheep, how they are and how
they act. when she goes out she knows who likes to wander off. on
saturdays when they go to town, she always worries about getting back
to check on them. this is what she thinking about as the men talk.
kee mike listens and in a round about way talks about bistai' (the
badlands) and it is further east of them and he says the people from
there, the towering house people, who settled there have had to put
their sheep away and their horse too since there is no water. he
speaks of washing done' (the US Government) has not provided enough
funds to help with water hauling or feed, the tribe has expended what
assistance it could offer, so that people will have to go to cortez
(where the livestock auctions are located)
in the navajo way of speaking as a matter of respect he calls them "my
father" and "my mother" as he speaks to them, looking to the north, he
says there is cortez, there is no other way. the springs have dried
and there is no feed.
the old lady sits there and wonders what she will do, and quietly
begins to cry after her sheep. the old man talks a little about the
next grazing committee meeting, knowing that in these days of no
water, he can not haul water or work far off like he used to, to bring
back hay for his sheep. he looks to the mountain and remembers how
green it was when he was a child, the life of taking care of sheep and
horses is coming to an end, how will it be, how does one find a way to
walk in beauty without the basics of life, everything revolves around
the sheep. he stands up and offers a navajo handshake and they walk
slowly out to the truck, they get in the old ford truck. as he is
about to leave the old man offers kee mike white corn, the kind used
for ceremonies and hard to find. kee mike accepts it quietly.
kee mike walks over to the wood pile and watches them as they head
back to their place. what will happen to them without their sheep, it
is the worst thing, we need water and feed. he goes inside and thinks
i am the dibe bii nataani, and can offer nothing to them. he stokes
the fire and gets ready to go out and chop some more wood.
The Navajo Nation is going through a drought that is so severe that
such a time has not been remembered like this and many of the people
are being forced to sell their way of life.
father, and all those that lived before...
--------- "RE: History: Carlisle Indian School" ---------
Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2003 18:19:42 -0500
From: Barb Landis <blandis at epix.net>
Subj: March 21, 1890 INDIAN HELPER, Carlisle Indian School.
[Editorial Note: These reprints are being included in this
newsletter so that you might know the mind of those who
ran institutions like Carlisle.]
THE INDIAN HELPER
-------------------------
A WEEKLY LETTER FROM THE CARLISLE INDIAN
SCHOOL TO BOYS AND GIRLS
CARLISLE, PA.
============================
VOLUME V NUMBER 29
=============================
FRIDAY, March 21, 1890.
=============================
TRUE MANLINESS
-----
DOES it make a boy any more of a man,
To smoke a cigar, pray tell?
If he's honest, and earnest and kind of heart,
I think he will do very well.
Does it make a boy any more of a man,
To be tricky and cheat at his play?
And trade off his marbles and pocket-knife
In a senseless, foolish way?
Does it make a boy any more of a man,
To boast that he owns a gun,
And can shoot down the little, harmless birds,
And relish it all as fun?
Does it make a boy any more of a man,
To master the slang of the street,
And find a "hale fellow well met," if he can,
In every rowdy he meets?
Does it make a boy any more of a man,
To be saucy to aged folk,
And call his father the "Governor,"
And think it a pleasant joke?
True manliness dwells in the soul, my boy,
And is courteous to young and old;
'Tis a jewel no station or wealth can buy,
For it never yet was sold.
It grows as the sturdier virtues grow,
On the universal plan;
And a temperate, honest, and noble boy
Is the germ of a noble man.
-[Scattered Seeds.
-----------------
FROM A-TE-KA.
-----
Who Among the Readers of the HELPER Can
Answer the Questions?
-----
"Eva, dear," called Grandma, as she heard footsteps in the hall,
"will you bring a pail of water before you take off your wraps? I never
saw water boil away so fast as it does today."
"O, yes," was the cheerful answer as the beaming face of Eva peered
through the half open door of the kitchen, where Grandma was hastening
to complete preparations for dinner for herself and the two college
girls who were ever ready to share in the household labors and thus
lessen their expenses while adding to their fund of knowledge.
When seated at the table Grandma apologized, saying, "I didn't mean
to ask you to go to the well again today, but Mamie, I told Eva,
I never saw water boil away so rapidly as it did today. Why, nearly all
that pailful you brought this morning disappeared in the cooking of our
little dinner. I remember hearing when a child that the cook said we
were to have a storm, if the water evaporated so rapidly when at boiling
point."
"We will watch," said Mamie, "and see if a storm comes soon and thus
prove the old saying true."
"And I," responded Eva, "shall ask our Natural Science Club if it is
true, and if so, what is the reason."
"Shall I tell you something more?" said Grandma, "that you may have
another question to ask?"
"O, yes," was the ready response.
And this was the story Grandma told:
"I spent a few weeks at a farm on Indian Hill, near Cincinnati, in
1843, when I was on my way to the great American Desert.
While there it was my special delight to watch a pair of pea-fowls,
as they moved about over the lawn, in all the glory of their Spring
plumage, and especially to see them fly up to their perch at night.
It was the one limb of the stub of a large dead tree, that shot out
at a right angle from the trunk, about fifty feet from the ground.
The circling round and round, the crouching and rising upon tip-toe
and apparent testing of every muscle of the birds before they took to
the wing, was very amusing.
And now as I tell it I am reminded of having seen Michael in the
gymnasium at Carlisle as he was trying to walk up the ladder without
touching it.
He made more than one trial and failed.
Finally, he folded his arms, walked near and in front of the ladder,
and I could see the Michael within him saying, "I am going to do what I
have been trying to do."
And he did go up the ladder, walk on the one that lay horizontally
across-beams and descend on the other side, without unfolding his arms.
I wonder if those birds had at some time tried to fly up to their
perch and failed, and so
--------------------------------------
(Continued on Fourth Page.)
===============================
(page 2)
The Indian Helper.
-----------------------------
PRINTED EVERY FRIDAY, AT THE INDIAN
INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, CARLISLE, PA. BY THE
INDIAN PRINTER BOYS.
--> THE INDIAN HELPER is PRINTED by Indian boys, but EDITED by
The-Man-on-the-band-stand, who is NOT an Indian.
-----------------------------
Price: - 10 cents a year.
==============================
Address INDIAN HELPER, Carlisle, Pa.
Miss M. Burgess, Manager.
==============================
Entered in the P.O. at Carlisle as second class mail matter.
==============================
The INDIAN HELPER is paid for in advance, so do not hesitate to take
the paper from the Post Office, for fear a bill will be presented.
=============================
It is one thing to borrow, but quite another to return what you borrow.
========
When this paper you renew.
Please say "RENEW" Yes, do! Oh, do!
========
In answer to inquiries again we say, that no letter in the word
"reluctantly" may be used more than once except "l" and "t" and of
course, these but twice in the same word.
========
John S. Kewaygeshik, of Petoskey, Mich., says he can't get along
without hearing from Carlisle, so he sends for the *Red Man* and HELER.
Mr. Kewaygeshik is evidently a man of good judgment.
========
The Sisseton pupils will be pleased to learn of the recent marriage of
their agency friend Miss Arrie A. Grant to Mr. Jenkins, of Wilmot, Kas.
She writes to have her address of *Red Man* changed and says she does
not wish to lose a single copy "for I find no other paper that contains
the Indian news it does."
========
Nancy Cornelius who is at the School for Trained Nurses, Hartford,
writes frequently. She still enjoys her work. From the spirit shown in
her own letters and from the reports received about her we are delighted
to find that she is certainly successful as a nurse. Lilly Wind, who is
newer at the business, passed her examination and is getting along
well. Phebe Howell is at the Pennsylvania Hospital, in Philadelphia,
doing responsible work, and we hope she will prove as successful as
Nancy has and as Lilly no doubt will. A nurse must have good judgment
and NEVER fail in doing what she is told to do by the doctor or the head
nurse. She must be kind, and patient and ALWAYS willing. *Such* a
nurse is worth the money.
=========================
At the Carlisle School is published monthly an eight-page quarto of
standard size, called THE RED MAN, the mechanical part of which is done
entirely by Indian boys. This paper is valuable as a summary of
information on Indian matters, and contains writings by Indian pupils,
and local incidents of the school. Terms: Fifty cents a year, in advance.
For 1, 2, and 3 subscribers for THE RED MAN we give the same premium
in Standing Offer for the HELPER.
Address, THE RED MAN, Carlisle, PA.
"RELUCTANTLY."
------
We are very much gratified at the interest manifested by our
subscribers in making words out of the letters contained in the word
"Reluctantly."
We have made no restrictions. Any words found in the dictionary are
permissible, and we shall not throw out proper names. English words of
any kind, class or color is what we want and the one who sends the
greatest number on or before the 1st of April shall have the prize
offered as soon after as the mail can carry it. The greatest number so
far reached is 450. Each word must be complete in itself, parts of
words are not counted.
========
The exhibition last Friday night brought its usual enjoyment for our
school. We never tire of these school entertainments although there is
much sameness to them.
There are always new speakers and the old ones have new pieces. We
sometimes wonder, however, why certain pupils appear more frequently
than others. Is it because they are more willing and less trouble to
teach? This is a good fault of the pupil, but it does not give all a
chance. Because a boy or girl is backward about coming on the platform
or is difficult to teach, is no reason why he should be excused. The
choir always enlivens the occasion by a new piece or two charmingly sung
and an occasional instrumental piece by some member of the music class
is brought to the front this year, making a pleasant change.
========
Clarence Three Stars of Pine Ridge Agency, Dak. sent a list of words
by far the longest received from any member of the Indian race. We want
the Indian boys and girls to show as bright, quick minds as our white
subscribers. Where there is a chance to run a race with the whites we
like to see the Indian take hold with a determination to beat.
Since the above a list of 317 words has been received from our Annie
Thomas, now at Alma College, Mich. "*If* I come out ahead," she says,
"which I *hope* I will, please send me the Invincibles. The name sounds
big and I am curious to know if the members are as big as the name.
========
If the boys in the different shops and on farms when looking at their
instructors doing a particular piece of work would speak out and say,
"Please let me try that, " and if the instructors at such times would do
the looking on instead of the work it would be to the benefit of the
boy. But, no! It is so easy for a beginner to stand back and allow his
instructor to do the work, and the instructor who is often in a hurry to
get the work done would a hundred times rather do it himself than to
take time to show the boy how.
========
When the weather is not suitable for the girls to go walking on
Saturdays they enjoy as much the two hours in the large gymnasium trying
their sill with the different apparatus and in doing as they please,
generally.
===================================================
(page 3)
Johnson Webster has entered the printing office.
--------
The Michigan girls enjoy the snow, it makes them think of home.
--------
Mr. Potter spent Sunday with friends at Shephardstown, Va.
--------
Below Cozad and Laban have rolled up the biggest snow-ball of the season.
--------
Aren't some of us glad Miss Hunt has a sister who lives in a
maple-sugar district?
--------
Keep off the grass! Ha! Ha! Ha! The snow is an Indian helper this
week for it halps the Indians to obey orders.
--------
Little Nina *would* go with Miss Rote to the creamery but she
couldn't find her "slippers" (over shoes) anywhere.
--------
The Invincibles entertained the Endeavors last evening the
particulars of which are too late for this week's paper.
--------
Mrs. Worthington had a delightful little visit in Philadelphia, with
her daughter, Miss Marie, Saturday and Sunday.
--------
Some of our singers will insist upon saying, "Sing right
cheer-rah-ly," It is better to say Cheer-REE-ly than cheer-RAH-ly.
--------
Mr. Grayson and Mr. McIntosh, of the Creek Nation, I. T., visited
Carlisle, this week. They took with them to Washington, Millie and John
McIntosh, and Lena Jacobs.
--------
The Endeavor Society was photographed on Tuesday afternoon. If it is
a good picture we may offer it for a prize, too. It *will be* a prize
for in it are the faces of 40 of our most scholarly girls.
--------
The color Mr. Norman finally reached for the woodwork in Capt.
Pratt's office, is 'positively fine." The new old carpet looks well
too, and the Captain will hardly know his office when he returns.
--------
The Man-on-the-band-stand has received a most excellent letter from
Capt. Pratt which we are sorry came a little too late for this week's
issue of the HELPER. It will be given in full next week. The party were
on the Steamer at the Golden Gate, and Mrs. Pratt was already beginning
to feel the effects of the sea. If the voyage has been a favorable one,
at this writing they are more than half way across the broad Pacific's
waters.
--------
On Saturday evening, Mr. Standing in the course of his remarks to our
pupils stated that he graduated with a class of London boys which
numbered 80. The class is now scattered far and wide. Some are in
Africa, some in Australia, some in Canada, others in the United States.
The Man-on-the-band-stand could but draw comparisons. If such a
scattering is proposed for the Indians, how they are "poored" and
"deared" and "babied." It is such a shame, you know, for Indian tribes
and families to break up and scatter even when it is to their interest
to do so.
The "Standard" entertainment to be, is looked forward to with
pleasant anticipations.
--------
Thanks to the carpenter boys for four handsome tables for the
teachers' new dining-room.
--------
Bessie Grinnell took tea at the club Thursday evening, a happy little
guest of Richenda Pratt.
--------
The stray dog which came to the grounds one day this week was very
friendly, making lost of fun for the girls.
--------
Malthos E-ki-eh and Bishop E-ten-nah, Mt. Vernon Apache boys, have
returned to their people in Alabama.
--------
The party at Campbell's Thursday night was very impromptu, but there
was enjoyment to every square inch.
--------
The furnace gas came near being the death of Mrs. Campbell one night
this week. She was stupefied and sick, and discovered only in the niche
of time to save her life.
--------
Otto Zotom returned from Hampton Va., Wednesday evening, where he
went to visit a little sick friend who died while he was there. We will
hear what Otto has to say of Hampton when he is at leisure.
--------
A great deal of pleasure is being got from the old gymnasium piano
since it returned from Philadelphia, where it went to be decked out in a
new dress and to have its voice cultured.
--------
How charming it is to have such good order in the chapel as we had at
English speaking Saturday evening and at the Sunday evening service.
All was quiet, and every one seemed to be giving ear to what was going on.
--------
Rev. W.W. Cadle, Rev. E.M. Stevens, Rev. A. Lamberton, and Rev. S. L.
Mussina, in attendance upon the M.E. Conference held in town this week
are stopping at the school. The town is full of ministers.
--------
Last evening Mr. Morrett, our shoe-shop instructor, was married to a
young lady from Shephardstown, near Carlisle. He brings his bride to
town, where he has a nice little home fitted up. The
Man-on-the-band-stand wants to wish the happy couple much joy, but he
doesn't know exactly how to do it.
--------
The girls' and boys' reading room have each been presented with "A
Chronicle of Conquest," by its author Miss Frances C. Sparhawk, at one
time a worker with us. The scene of the story is the Carlisle School
itself., which will make the book doubly interesting to our pupils. The
school returns thanks to our generous friend for being thus kindly
remembered.
--------
Misses Hamilton and Botsford have moved into their new quarters which
at one time was occupied by the teachers club dining room and kitchen.
The rooms were altered, papered kalsomined and newly floored, and fitted
up really quite handsomely or, at least, they are comfortable.
===================================================
(Continued from First Page)
------------------------------------------------
always after made such special preparations for their flight as I noticed!
One night, at the close of a cloudless day, soon after sunset they
made their usual ascent, but the male bird instead of settling to rest
began scanning the horizon, turning slowly toward every point, nicely
balancing himself as he moved carefully round.
No fleck of a cloud was visible to a human eye. There had been no
unusual heat, and there was no [illegible] breeze to give warning of an
approaching storm. But after this outlook the fowls came down and going
to a beech-tree that grew beside a shed, they settled fro the night on
one of its lower limbs close to the trunk, on the side next the shed.
A violent thunderstorm came to us that night, attended by a fierce
wind, and had the beautiful birds been on their usual perch they must
have been blown off-but how did they know the storm was coming?"
The next morning after telling the story, while it rained and hailed
and snowed and blew, Grandma said: "Our sign proved true this time,
didn't it girls, but we must be glad, for our dry wells and cisterns
need to be filled, and all the roots underground that are waking from
their winter's sleep will laugh to see the water come trickling through,
that they may drink."
It will take many a storm of snow and rain to prepare the dry earth
of Iowa's western slope, for the farmers' hopeful spring work.
A-TE-KA.
Iowa, March. '90.
=================
IMPOLITE THINGS.
---------
Loud and boisterous talking.
Reading when others are reading aloud.
Cutting finger-nails in company.
Reading aloud in company without being asked.
Whispering or laughing during worship in the house of God.
Receiving a present without an expression of gratitude.
Not listening to what any one is saying in company.
Commencing to eat as soon as you get to the table.
===============
Let All Hands Try the Following.
1. Two boys buy a hog weighing 240 pounds, for $9.50. They divide it
between them so that the boy taking the hind quarters pays 4 1/2 cents a
pound and the boy taking the front quarters pays 3 1/2 cents a pound.
Find the weight of the hind quarters?
(The example similar to the above, which was sent to us by a
subscriber was incorrectly written.)
WHAT A BOY SHOULD LEARN.
------
To run.
To swim.
To carve.
To be neat.
To be honest.
To be truthful.
To be punctual.
To do an errand.
To cut kindlings.
To sing if he can.
To hang up his hat.
To sew on a button.
To respect his teacher.
To hold his head erect.
To help his mother or sister.
To wipe his boots on the mat.
To read aloud when requested.
To speak pleasantly to the aged.
To help the boy smaller than himself.
To put every garment in its proper place.
To remove his hat upon entering a house.
To keep his finger-nails from wearing mourning.
To treat the girls so well that they will wish he was their brother.
To close the door quietly, especially when there is a sick person in
the house.
-[Sunshine.
===================
Enigma.
I am made of fifteen letters.
My 15, 4, 12, 3 is what eagles do in the air.
My 14, 2, 7 is a boy's nickname.
My 6, 1, 8 is what we have not had much of this winter.
My 10, 9, 3 is what we should say to gentlemen.
My 13, 8, 5, 11 is a girl's nickname.
My whole is a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean.
SUBSCRIBER.
========================
ANSWER TO LAST ENIGMA: Stars and Stripes.
=======================================
STANDING OFFER: - For FIVE new subscribers to the INDIAN HELPER, we
will give the person sending them a photographic group of the 13
Carlisle Indian Printer boys, on a card 4 1/2 X 6 1/2 inches, worth 20
cents when sold by itself. Name and tribe of each boy given.
(Persons wishing the above premium will please enclose a 1-cent stamp
to pay postage.)
For TEN, Two PHOTOGRAPHS, one showing a group of Pueblos as they
arrived in wild dress, and another of the same pupils three years after,
or, for the same number of names we give two photographs showing still
more marked contrast between a Navajoe as he arrived in native dress,
and as he now looks, worth 20 cents a piece.
Persons wishing the above premiums will please enclose a 2-cent stamp
to pay postage.
For FIFTEEN, we offer a GROUP of the whole school on 9x14 inch card.
Faces show distinctly, worth sixty cents.
Persons wishing the above premium will please send 6 cents to pay postage.
=============================================
[Transcribed weekly by Barbara Landis. For more information about
the Carlisle Indian School, go to http://www.epix.net/~landis]
--------- "RE: Poem: Speak to me Please" ---------
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 16:19:24 -0700
From: "otterplaying\(Dee\)" <otter.playing at verizon.net>
Subj: Speak to me..
Newsgroup: alt.native
SPEAK TO ME PLEASE.....
The little child whispered,
"Great Spirit, speak to me"
And a meadowlark sang,
but the child did not hear.
So the child yelled, "Great Spirit,
speak to me" And the thunder
rolled across the sky,
But the child didn't listen.
The child looked around and said,
"Great Spirit, let me see you"
And a star shone brightly,
but the child did not notice.
And the child shouted,
"Great Spirit, show me a miracle"
And a life was born,
but the child did not know.
So the child cried out in despair
"Touch me Great Spirit, and
let me know that you are here"
Whereupon God reached down
and touched the child.
But the child brushed the butterfly
away and walked away unknowingly.
Often times the things we see
are right under our noses.
Don't miss out on your blessings
because it isn't packaged
the way you expect.
--------- "RE: Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days" ---------
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 13:40:29 -1000
From: Debbie Sanders <kepola at hgea.org>
Subj: Hawaiian Book of Days
A HAWAI'I BOOK OF DAYS, week of April 21-27
21
Sail the ocean by moonlight, and you may find the secret island of the
ancients.
22
To know true power, capture the wind in your sails and journey to the
place which no one has ever seen before.
23
Three things sustain life -- food, hope, and an abiding sense of
wonder.
24
Give me the beauty of nature to restore my spirit, where the morning
dew glistens in the sunlight, and the wind is the only sound that I
hear.
25
A wave upon the sand takes only a little of the land and gives the
blessings of the sea in return.
26
The family, `ohana, goes on from generation to generation: the seeds
of tradition we plant bear fruit in a thousand different ways.
27
Morning sunlight flees -- how brief my contemplation of life's
mysteries.
(c) Copyright 1991 by D. F. Sanders
Me ke aloha i ka nani, ... Moe'uhanekeanuenue
(With love and beauty, ... Rainbow Dream)
--------- "RE: Trail of Tears Memorial Walk Reminder" ---------
Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2003 09:40:15 -0500
From: "D. Mitchell" <wanige1 at hotmail.com>
Subj: Fwd: Trail of Tears Memorial Walk Reminder
Mailing List: Tn-Ind <tn-ind at highertech.net>
----------Forwarded Message ---------
From: John Graham
This is just a simple reminder that the walk we hold each year down in
Vonore, TN is fast approaching. It is scheduled for this coming weekend
the 11-13th. It is a family oriented event and I have all ready been
contacted by several people around the state who plan to attend. The whole
purpose is to honor our ancestors and to draw people in the Knox, Blount,
Sevier, and surrounding counties together to discuss issues that are
pertinent to Native Americans in the East Tennessee area and around the
state. We will be walking from Lotterdale Cove campground again this year
to the Sequoyah Museum this coming Saturday and all are invited to come
and join. Since the Nancy Ward Days is going on this same weekend at the
Sequoyah Museum there will be a chance to meet and talk there as well
after we have completed the walk.
This is an opportunity to meet old friends and make new acquaintances.
To listen and hear others thoughts and views on a variety of topics. To
develop and bind together the community here in Tennessee. If you have the
time this weekend, why not come by and join in? It costs nothing other
than your time and camping fees if you decide to stay.
I can be reached by e mail or phone if you have any questions and links
to sites are listed below.
Respectfully,
John Graham
2003 TRAIL OF TEARS MEMORIAL WALK
VONORE, TN. APRIL 11TH - 13TH
It is time once again to announce our annual walk that we make to honor
the memory of our ancestors and families that were removed from this area
during the period of history known as the Trail of Tears. This will be the
5th year for this walk and I am happy to say that I have been blessed with
seeing the number of people who attend has grown.
Last year we were blessed with an increase in numbers and good weather
for the walk, which in April is not often easy to find.
I want to make clear that this is not a powwow, nor an opportunity for
vendors to turn a dollar. It is not to attract the media. Anyone trying to
do this will be asked to leave by myself quietly, but quite persuasively.
I will not allow anyone to detract or dishonor from the true purpose of
this walk and gathering.
The purpose of the walk is to honor the memory of those who sacrificed
all to keep their culture alive and pass it on to their children. To honor
those that died along the way to the territories and a new land and way of
life. And to honor those that have persevered and not forgotten what it is
to be true human being.
The walk is held in April for several reasons. First it is the spring, a
time of rebirth and gathering together. We gather together to renew
acquaintances and make new ones. To hear what each other has to share with
all that come on issues that effect others and ourselves. To be reborn in
our beliefs and to pass them on to our children so they may know, and
remember. Second; it was in April that the councils of the Eastern and
Western bands reunited at Red Clay, showing the world that the Tsalagi
Nation was not divided any longer, and that the Tsalagi had returned from
the West to their home.
During the walk we walk toward Chota, not away; signifying a return of
the people to the land.
This year as last, the walk will be from Lotterdale Cove Campground to
the Sequoyah Museum; a distance of approximately 11 miles. It is not a
walk for the faint of heart. While the area is fairly level ground it is a
good distance. Those that come to walk should be prepared for such with
proper clothing and shoes. Ribbon shirts and dress are acceptable if you
wish to wear them during the walk; regalia is not. Weather in Tennessee is
very changeable in the spring; therefore it is suggested that you dress
accordingly. There will be spotters with us that will assist those who
need help with ride to the museum if they cannot complete the walk for
health reasons, or for those that may need to use bathroom facilities
during the walk.
It is not a requirement to participate in the walk if you wish to come
and join in the gathering. It is enough to be there and give support and
share in the community as our families did in the past.
We gather on Friday and set up camp in the campground, sharing a
community meal with each other and getting to know everyone who comes. All
are welcome to speak on issues they feel are important to native people
here in the Tennessee area. We hope to have some members of the various
organizations such as the proposed Tennessee Commission of Indian Affairs,
and the TNVS participating as they did last year, and being available to
speak with those that come and answer any questions those that attend may
have. On Saturday we share a community breakfast and prepare for the walk.
After the walk, we meet back at the campground for a community meal and
gathering that goes on into the night. On Sunday, we share one more meal
in the morning and leave as we feel the need to do. Often, there are those
of us who are hesitant to leave right away and stay as long as we can.
The campground is very nice and has ample clean facilities. There are
spots for primitive and RV sites as well. All have fire rings, and tables.
Use the following link to find out information for the campground.
http://www.the-campground-network.com/LotterdaleCoveCampground.html
Anyone that plans to attend, please contact me as soon as possible so I
can try and insure that we all are camped in the same general area.
I can be reached either via e-mail at jrgrahm at comcast.net
or at home (865) 689-7172.
Respectfully,
John Graham
--------- "RE: APTN: Report Card - You're the Critic" ---------
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 17:17:38 - 0500
From: Naomi Clarke <nclarke at aptn.ca>
Subj: APTN REPORT CARD -- YOU'RE THE CRITIC>>This Week on Contact
APTN REPORT CARD -- YOU'RE THE CRITIC
*live* Friday April 18 (GOOD FRIDAY)
Aboriginal Peoples Television Network
8 pm eastern / 5 pacific
As we head into our fourth year -- On Good Friday, April 18,
Join Rick Harp and APTN's CEO Jean Larose in studio to answer
your questions. What do you like about APTN? What could we do better?
Do you enjoy our programming? What's your favorite show?
What keeps you watching or do you simply switch the channel?
What would make you stay?
Here's your chance to get your voice heard on what you'd change,
or share your critiques & accolades.
Call in this Friday with your questions and your stories:
(toll-free) 1-877-647-2786 or email contact at aptn.ca or visit our
web forum at http://www.aptn.ca/en/ContactCurrentAffairs/index_html
--------- "RE: Upcoming Events" ---------
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 15:39:14 -0
From: Gary Smith (gars at speakeasy.org)
Subj: Upcoming Events
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
EVENTS ARE FEATURED IN ODD NUMBERED ISSUES ONLY
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//-
Notice of Copyright Clearance by Contributors:
The following have granted permission for their original articles to
be reposted in order to help mend the Sacred Hoop:
Gary Smith, Marcel Guay, Don Bain, Steve Fobister, Frosty Deere,
Carol/Thundering Drums, Brigitte Thimiakis, Janet Smith,
Johnny Rustywire, Brigitte Thimiakis, Debbie Sanders,Naomi Clarke,
Dale Mitchell, John Graham, Otter Playing
--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//-
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