[NN-Dialogue] Wotanging Ikche--nanews11.027
Gary Night Owl
gars at speakeasy.org
Wed Jul 2 00:38:59 CDT 2003
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/ ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 11, ISSUE 027
/ /-< / /--/ /--
__/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, WOTANGING IKCHE - Lakota - Common News
Wotanging Ikche and Native American News Copyright c. 1996-2003 nanews.org
Aboriginal/AmerIndian Perspective about the First Nations of Turtle Island
July 5, 2003
Hopi Kelmuya/fledgling raptor moon
Zuni Dayamcho yachunne/moon when limbs of are trees broken by fruit
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Much more happens in Indian Country than is reported |
| in this weekly newsletter. For daily updates & events |
| go to http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm |
+-------------------------------------------------------+
Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin -- Blackfeet -- News for All the People
Ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min -- Ojibwe -- We Are Talking About Ourselves
Aunchemokauhettittea -- Naragansett -- Let Us Share News
Kanoheda Aniyvwiya -- Cherokee -- Journal of the People O
Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse -- Creek -- People's New News O o O
Acimowin -- Plains Cree -- Story or Account O o O
Tlaixmatiliztli -- Nahuatl -- News O o o o o O
Agnutmaqan -- Listuguj Mi'kmaq -- News O o O
Sho-da-ku-ye -- Teehahnahmah -- Talking Birchbark O o O
Un Chota -- Susquehannic Seneca -- The People Speak O
Ha-Sah-Sliltha -- Ditidaht Nation -- News of the People
Ximopanolti tehuatzin, inin Mexika tlahtolli -- Nahuatl --
For you we offer these words
It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le -- Chickasaw -- Together We Are Talking
Dineh jii' adah' ho'nil'e'gii ba' ha' neh -- Navajo Nation --
What's Happening among The People News
Okla Humma Holisso Nowat Anya -- Choctaw -- People(s) Red Newspaper
Hi'a chu ah gaa -- Pima -- The stories or the talk of the People
Native American News -- Language of the Occupation Forces
==>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
<================<<<< >>>>================>
This newsletter is produced in straight ASCII text for greatest portability
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<================<<<< >>>>================>
This issue contains articles from www.owlstar.com; www.indianz.com;
www.pechanga.net; Iron House Drums Mailing List; 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: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +
========================
"We are living in a different time from the ancient past till now.
We must all learn to live and respect each other. For us, this
means to stop imposing and forcing an alien way of life upon us."
"The Indian world is a real world and we would like to keep on living.
We don't need pollution, greed, false power, atomic bombs, nuclear
plants, missiles, and a ruling system of "blind leading the blind".
__ Vivian Olds, Northern Paiute
+- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+
| 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!
I was asked why some past editorials referred to the U. S. justice
system as "Amerikkan Just-us". I will answer with two simple examples.
This week Marlon Taylor was acquitted of most of the counts he faced
for the murder of Shane Dean Zotigh, a 20-year-old Kiowa dancer. He faces
four years in prison for "taking place in the assault," but the jury was
unconvinced that he actually killed Zotigh.
On November 9, 1992, Lynn Crook, the US prosecutor who helped send
Leonard Peltier to prison for life for the killing of two FBI agents,
admitted to an appellate court: "We don't know who killed the agents," but
he pointed out that Peltier was on the scene and knew who did it.
Despite this open admission Leonard Peltier, an Ojibway/Dakota, remains
in Maximum Security for the June 26, 1975 murder of two FBI agents in a
fire fight at the seige of Wounded Knee.
The facts of the cases are remarkably similar, in spite of 30 years
passage of time and a remarkably dissimilar verdict. In both cases,
somebody with a clean, productive life died, and somebody was in proximity
to the killing. In both cases, there were others involved. But in the
Zotigh case, the victim was Indian and the defendant was not, in the
Peltier case, the victim was not Indian, but the defendant was.
June 18, 2002 a human-caused fire, the Rodeo Fire, broke out in east-
central Arizona.
June 20, a second human-caused fire, the Chediski Fire, broke out.
The combined Rodeo-Chediski fires destroyed over 470, 000 acres of
timber, largely on the Fort Apache Reservation.
A white woman considered to be mentally competent, Valinda Jo Elliott,
who was trespassing on Apache land started the Chediski fire, but was
never charged. (Late breaking news: This week the tribe filed a civil suit
against Ms. Elliot for her role in the fire on the same day she was
sentened to 60 days in jail for repeated drunk and unlicensed driving
convictions).
An Apache, Leonard Greg, just cleared competancy hearings after a year
of therapy and intensive tutoring and will now stand trial for several
felony counts related to the Rodeo fire.
There is nothing I can add to the two examples cited above. You either
understand why Natives feel that Justice is a myth if you are not a member
of the dominant society, or your blinders are firmly in place and you
refuse to see or believe the truth. Articles in this issue will clearly
demonstrate, to those with eyes and heart, "Just-Us" also is a reality
in Canada.
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 ----------
- A Struggle for History - Washoe Indian Tribe
- Family ties - Six in Navajo Social Unit
still bound by Battle are investigated by FBI
- Zuni Bones Stuck in Legal Limbo - Appeals Court rules
- Zuni Sacred Lake on Indian Burial Ground
1 of 11 most at Risk - Trial for Second Suspect
- Tribes want to give in murder of Kiowa
Buffalo New Home - Different standards
- Thames Oneida buy land in New York for NA Prisoners in Texas
- Oglala Riders retrace History - Native Prisoner
- Indian Trackers fear Customs Role -- Do First Nations Prisoners
- Swimmer challenged need Support?
on Bush reform Plans -- Prisoner wants pen pal
- Judge orders shutdown - Rustywire: Where are the You?
of Interior Web Sites - Poem: I am an Indian,
- Natives want Lumber Tariffs not unlike you
- New Prison will address - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days
Aboriginal Problems - Turbines generating Dreams
- Native Groups for Tribe
demand Justice Overhaul - Wampanoag revived
- Aboriginal Policing Grads and not forgotten
ready to serve - Honoring our Keeper
- Two evicted from Pine Ridge - Love of Tribe Shared
- White Mt. Apaches - This Week on First Peoples TV
sue Chediski Fire starter - Upcoming Events
--------- "RE: A Struggle for History" ---------
Date: Thu, 26 June 2003 08:05:49 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="LITTLE BIGHORN BATTLEFIELD NATIONAL MONUMENT"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usind263346052
A Struggle for History
A people who survived now seek to thrive in the 21st century
By Andrew Metz
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
June 26, 2003
First in an occasional series on American Indians in the 21st century
Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Mont. - In the sagebrush
and tall grass that reach to the edge of the mountains beyond here, the
grandsons and granddaughters of great Indian warriors greeted the first
light of day like victors.
As sun warmed the hard Plains yesterday, they trudged on foot and
horseback, up hills and berms soaked with the spirits of their forefathers
and those of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer's Seventh Cavalry, who were
wiped out 127 years ago in the legendary Battle of Little Bighorn.
With meditation and cheers, drum-beating and song, Indians in the
thousands - men, women and children - symbolically reclaimed this sacred
ground and a place at the shrine to one of America's most storied
skirmishes.
"It took 127 years to get this," said Geofredo Little Bird, a Northern
Cheyenne Indian, leading daybreak prayers on a ridge below a dramatic
bronze memorial dedicated yesterday to the warriors and their victory June
25, 1876. "They were trying to exterminate all the tribes from the face of
the earth. But we are still here."
For more than a century, the austere battlefield on the Crow Indian
Reservation has had a memorial and grave markers for Custer and more than
260 troopers, while any trace of the Indians' participation, as winners or
as scouts who died alongside the cavalrymen, was largely invisible. Now,
after years of controversy, foot-dragging and prejudice, American Indians
can finally point to this site and see something of their own here, too: a
sculpture of three "spirit warriors" on horseback with a woman trailing
behind and a circular stone dugout with plaques for the names of the
warriors who fell.
"This is the moment we have been waiting for," said Little Bird, who
traces his relatives to the Bighorn warriors and is a spiritual adviser to
his tribe's leader. "This memorial shows us as we are today, Native
American people. We belong here now."
The dedication of the $2.3 million memorial filled the rolling hills
with Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Crow and Arikara and is a major achievement
for the Indians, who persisted in the face of an oppression that pushed
them toward extinction. In broader terms, the long campaign to round out
the historical record of that iconic battle reflects a new, dynamic time
in Indian Country, where Indians from New York - home to the sixth largest
Indian population in the nation - to the Great Plains are making strides
unseen in generations.
All across the United States, on reservations and in cities, a world of
achievement is quietly under way, even as the shackles of history continue
to pull on America's first people.
As an ethnic minority, the more than 2.5 million Indians still occupy
the outer reaches of most mainstream indices: they live in more crowded
conditions and far deeper poverty, receive less schooling and suffer from
higher rates of social and medical ills than other Americans. The
cornerstones of their identity - language, culture and sovereignty - are
still fragile and struggling for solid footing. But at the same time,
fresh energy is promising a new place for American Indians in the 21st
century.
"We have come through extraordinarily trying times over these two
centuries, and we have emerged strong ... In the face of policies aimed at
ensuring our destruction, we have chosen survival," Tex Hall, president of
the National Congress of American Indians, said in an address earlier this
year. "Now we seek not just to survive but to thrive."
The events taking place in Indian County are as varied as the more than
500 tribes themselves, but from New Mexico to New England, educators and
activists, entrepreneurs and academics, progressives and traditionalists
are sounding similar chords.
Beyond the popular stories of wealth that a small collection of tribes
has earned from casino gambling in recent years, economic and social
development is spreading, from bed-and-breakfasts and construction firms,
to media outlets and banking. American Indians are making headway at
reviving native languages and culture through immersion programs and
Indian colleges. The American Indian population is actually growing and
outpacing other ethnic minorities. And as American Indian lawyers and
activists are fighting harder than ever against perceived injustices,
there have been important resolutions to age-old land claims and advances
in the courtrooms of this country, most notably in the pursuit of billions
of dollars in unaccounted-for Indian money held in trust by the federal
government.
Like the fight to have Indians recognized at the Little Bighorn, much of
the action has taken years to gain momentum and has been met with stiff
resistance.
"A lot of things that have been percolating in Indian Country for some
time are coming together now and beginning to attract some attention,"
said C. Matthew Snipp, an American Indian demographer at Stanford
University. "The whole idea of the vanishing American was a major cultural
trope through the 19th and much of the 20th century and that has now
become sort of a quaint notion that was more wishful thinking than
anything else."
"The fight over Little Bighorn memorial," he said, "and how it was to be
portrayed is emblematic of the struggle for history; here is this cultural
struggle between Indian people on the one hand and this glorified history
that has come to be accepted as the truth."
Indeed, generations of Americans were introduced to this battle as
Custer's Last Stand, a moniker that persists today. The ceremonies
yesterday seemed as much about setting the record straight as celebration
and reverence.
"One hundred and twenty-seven years ago, our warriors defended our
beliefs, and we are here to honor, not mourn these warriors," George
Amiotte, an Oglala Sioux told hundreds of his people gathered in a circle
around the memorial. As prayers and dances and drumming echoed through the
valley along the Little Big Horn River, where as many as 7,000 Indians
were said to be camped when they were attacked by Custer, many in the
crowd spoke of the tragic irony of the famous Indian victory being honored.
"Even though the battle was won, our way of life completely changed
forever," said Clifford Long Sioux, a Northern Cheyenne Indian and early
advocate for the memorial.
After Custer's stunning defeat, in which fewer than 100 Indians were
believed killed, the U.S. government stepped up its campaign against the
tribes, exacting a treacherous toll that American Indians consider nothing
short of attempted genocide.
Secretary of the Interior Gail Norton, whose agency has long borne the
brunt of the criticism for the handling of Indian affairs, suggested to
the audience that the memorial would help speed overdue reconciliation.
"Of course, we cannot reclaim or change the past. The wrongs, the
battles and the broken promises remain as they are written into history,"
Norton said. But, she said, "today's ceremony finally lets healing songs
begin in this place."
The fight for the memorial is almost as epic as the battle itself. As
far back as 1925, descendants of the Indian warriors were calling for
official recognition. Over the years, there were attempts to plant plaques
and markers, but it wasn't until 1991 that Congress, spurred on by the
persistence of the lone Indian representative, Sen. Ben Nighthorse
Campbell (R-Colo.), approved changing the name of the site from Custer
National to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. At that time
they also authorized an Indian memorial, but no funds were appropriated
until two years ago.
Every step was met with controversy, from the location across from the
granite Custer obelisk to the design, which was done by a non-Indian, to
the funding, which unlike many other memorials was paid for with public
money.
And amid the elation yesterday, there were still lingering critics of
the end result.
"Unfortunately, this battleground and the Seventh Cavalry have become
lightning rods for all the troubles that the government has laid at the
doorsteps of the Indians," said Kevin Connelly, president of the Custer
Battlefield Historical Museum Association, which long opposed the memorial.
Connelly, who was milling around the grounds, said he was not opposed to
marking the Indian role in the battle, but disagreed with the placement
and the public funding.
"At this point it is a done deal," he said. "It has come to pass and it
is reality."
Even with shrill victory calls echoing off the hills and traditional
dress everywhere, some Indians, too, regarded the site with a tinge of
resignation.
"There will never be a day when everything will be made up to us," said
Emmanuel Red Bear, a great-great-grandson of both Crazy Horse and Sitting
Bull, two of the most fabled leaders of the battle, who accompanied
members of his Sioux tribe in traditional songs with a buffalo hide drum.
"But coming back here is like a healing for us."
Gerard Baker, a Mandan-Hidatsa Indian from North Dakota and a former
superintendent of the national monument who was instrumental in pushing
for it, said the criticism is healthy and understandable.
"Sure I have bitterness. The bitterness I have is we people in
reservations who don't have adequate water, adequate housing, adequate
health care. But it's a start and it's progress," he said. "We're taking
steps in the right direction."
The Legacy Of Little Bighorn
The Battle of Little Bighorn, June 25-26, 1876, was one of the most
famous engagements ever fought on American soil. Yesterday, the National
Park Service dedicated a memorial to the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho
Indians who fought on both sides to preserve their lands and culture.
Prelude to Confrontation
Rising tensions between native Sioux and Cheyenne and white
settlers came to a head at Little Bighorn in June 1876.
1862: Montana gold rush brings white settlers onto sacred Sioux lands.
1868: Treaty with U.S. government establishes Great Sioux Reservation in
the Black Hills of South Dakota. Some Sioux refuse to sign treaty.
1874: Gold is discovered in Black Hills. More whites flock to Sioux lands,
forcing outraged Sioux and Cheyenne to leave their reservations.
1875: U.S. government tells Sioux to return to reservation by January
1876 or be forcibly removed. Non-treaty Sioux ignore decree.
1876: Sioux and some reservation Indians gather in protest under Sitting
Bull. Decision is made to force Sioux onto reservation.
The Battle Plan
The Army's plan to relocate the Sioux seemed doomed from the start. Two
Sioux victories in 1875 emboldened Sitting Bull's forces to fight on. The
Army responded with a three-pronged plan of attack.
1. Gen. Alfred Terry leads a column, including Custer's Seventh Cavalry,
from Fort Abraham Lincoln in Dakota Territory.
2. Gen. George Crook leads a column north from Fort Fetterman in
Wyoming Territory.
3. Col. John Gibbon leads a column southeast from Fort Ellis in
Montana Territory. He meets Terry along Yellowstone River.
The Last Stand
Ordered to pursue hostile Indians, Custer departs from main army's
advance on June 22. Three days later, Custer's scouts notice a gathering
of Indians to the west. Custer immediately rides toward the Indians, a
disastrous miscalculation.
4. From a point called the Crow's Nest, Custer spots a Sioux village 15
miles away along Rosebud Creek. He also spies a nearby group of
warriors.
5. Custer ignores an order to wait and attacks, fearing the warriors will
alert the main party. He underestimates size of the warrior force.
6. Sioux and Cheyenne counterattack. Another force, led by Crazy Horse,
moves downstream and traps Custer. As Indians close in, Custer orders
his men to shoot their horses and stack the carcasses to form a wall,
but they provide little protection against Indian bullets. In less
than an hour, Custer and his 210 men are killed.
SOURCES: Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum Association,
Ibis Communications (Eye Witness), Little Bighorn Battlefield
National Monument, National Park Service
Building an Indian Memorial
Events leading to yesterday's dedication of the Indian Memorial at Little
Bighorn Battlefield National Monument:
June 25-26, 1876: Battle of Little Bighorn
January 1879: Secretary of War George McCrary orders establishment of a
national cemetery and construction of a monument on site of the
battle.
1881: A granite monument is placed on a mass grave at Last Stand Hill to
memorialize soldiers, U.S. Indian scouts and civilians attached to
Seventh Cavalry.
December 1886: President Grover Cleveland issues an executive order
setting forth boundaries of Custer Battlefield National Cemetery.
July 27, 1925: Mrs. Thomas Beaverheart, a Northern Cheyenne, requests a
marker to show where her father, Lame White Man, died along Battle
Ridge. Request is denied.
March 1946: Custer Battlefield National Cemetery is designated Custer
Battlefield National Monument.
June 25, 1988: The American Indian Movement protests lack of an Indian
memorial by cementing an iron plaque at the Seventh U.S. Cavalry
Monument.
Dec. 10, 1991: Law changes name of Custer Battlefield National Monument
to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.
February 1997: Indian Memorial Advisory Committee recommends the memorial
design of John Collins and Alison Towers of Philadelphia.
Nov. 11, 1999: Groundbreaking ceremonies held at site of planned Indian
memorial.
Fall 2001: Interior appropriations bill approves $2.3 million to build an
Indian memorial.
Spring 2002: Construction begins.
Yesterday: Memorial is dedicated.
Copyright c. 2003, Newsday, Inc.
--------- "RE: Family ties still bound by Battle" ---------
Date: Tue, 24 June 2003 08:24:10 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="BATTLE of LITTLE BIG HORN"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2003/06/24/
Sioux legacy: Family ties still bound by Battle of the Little Bighorn
By LORNA THACKERAY
Of The Gazette Staff
June 24, 2003
After Minniconjou warrior Dog's Backbone's skull was shattered by a
Seventh Cavalry bullet on June 26, 1876, his orphaned children were
dispersed throughout the Sioux Nation.
A. Gay Kingman's grandfather, only a boy when Dog's Backbone died at the
Little Bighorn, was swept to Canada with Sitting Bull in the aftermath of
the great battle. Some of his three sisters may have fled north, too,
Kingman said. But, when they returned, they were strewn across the Dakotas.
Her grandfather, Harry Kingman, spent his life as a tribal leader on the
Cheyenne River Reservation. After the storm of history passed, his sisters
and their families landed at the Standing Rock, Rosebud and Pine Ridge
reservations, she said.
Dog's Backbone will bring his family back together on June 26, when a
red granite headstone marking the spot where he fell will be dedicated in
ceremonies planned at Little Bighorn National Monument.
Kingman, her son, her grandchildren and cousins from all over the
country, plan to make the pilgrimage to Montana on the 127th anniversary
of his death.
"I am so proud of having this legacy," said Kingman, of Rapid City. "I'm
telling my grandchildren and hope it will be an influence for them because
they come from such honorable people."
Dog's Backbone and a nameless Sioux warrior who died in the attack at
Last Stand Hill will be honored June 25 and 26 as part of christening
ceremonies for the new Indian Memorial honoring all the warriors and
scouts who died in the fighting.
The nameless warrior, whose death was witnessed by a Cheyenne ally,
Wooden Leg, will be remembered with a special ceremony on June 25, the
anniversary of the day he died.
Ceremonies for Dog's Backbone are scheduled for June 26. He was shot
while Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors laid siege to seven companies
of Custer's divided force on a bluff about six miles from where Custer and
220 men under his direct command were killed. Most of the troops under Maj.
Marcus Reno and Capt. Frederick Benteen survived.
Kingman has asked Cheyenne River medicine and ceremonial men who will be
traveling to the battlefield for dedication of the Indian Memorial to stay
an extra day and bless the memorial to Dog's Backbone. She doesn't plan to
take part in many other activities while in Montana for the dedication.
"I just want to go and pray and just walk the grounds," she said.
Kingman learned of Dog's Backbone from her grandfather's stories. Harry
Kingman, one of the first of his tribe to be educated in the white world,
helped his school, the Hampton Institute of Virginia, raise funds by
traveling the East Coast to talk about the battle and his father's death,
she said.
Her grandfather told her that Dog's Back Bone was killed on the day the
tribes were breaking camp to leave the valley of the Little Bighorn River.
Although only a child at the time, Harry Kingman remembered that his
father must have been an important man because of the care and ceremony
given his body.
Like other Sioux killed in the battle, he was probably laid to rest in
his best clothes on a scaffold in his tepee, Gay Kingman said. His war
horse probably would have been killed to join him in the next world. And,
like other dead warriors left in the camp, his remains were probably
desecrated by troops who arrived at the battlefield two days later.
Dog's Backbone's world was shattered on the afternoon of June 25, 1876,
when three companies of the 7th Cavalry under Maj. Marcus Reno charged
across the river into the Indian camp.
Dog's Backbone may have been near the heart of the attack, which had
struck near Sitting Bull's Hunkpapa village. The Minniconjou and Hunkpapas
were camped next to each other on the banks of the Little Bighorn.
What part Dog's Backbone played in sending Reno's troops back up the
river and into the bluffs was not recorded. The warrior may well have
battled Reno's troopers, and then, with hundreds of other warriors,
galloped a few miles north to confront troops under Custer.
History does record that the next day, after all of Custer's command was
dead, Dog's Backbone was at the Reno-Benteen site exhorting young warriors
to be careful of the troopers trapped on the bluffs. The soldiers were
firing with some accuracy at long range.
White Bull, Sitting Bull's nephew, told his biographer Stanley Vestal
that Dog's Backbone was riding among his comrades and admonishing them,
"Look out, now, boys. Those soldiers are a good way off, but their bullets
are coming over mighty fierce."
Just as Dog's Backbone finished his warning, a ball fired from a
soldier's gun hit him in the forehead, White Bull said.
That night, those left in the village mourned their dead.
Deeds of the unnamed Sioux warrior who died during the Custer fight at
Last Stand Hill were recorded by Cheyenne warrior Wooden Leg, who
recounted the battle for his biographer, Thomas Marquis.
Battlefield Chief Historian John Doerner said a cairn, a small pile of
stones that the Sioux placed on the site of the man's death, was recently
found. The headstone honoring the warrior will be placed there.
According to Wooden Leg, he saw a Sioux wearing a war bonnet lying down
behind a clump of sagebrush on a knoll just north of Last Stand Hill.
"He was about half the length of my lariat rope up ahead of me," he said.
"The Sioux was peeping up and firing a rifle from time to time. At one of
these times, a solider bullet hit him exactly in the middle of the
forehead. His arms and legs jumped in spasms for a few moments, then he
died."
The war bonnet indicated that the man Wooden Leg saw was an experienced
warrior, Doerner said. But his name has been lost to history. Like Dog's
Backbone, the fallen warrior's family probably carried him from the field
and laid him out on a scaffold in the camp.
Markers for Dog's Backbone and the unknown Sioux warrior will join three
others - those of Cheyenne warriors Lame Whiteman and Noisy Walking,
dedicated in 1999, and of Long Road, a Sans Arc who died at the Reno-
Benteen site, dedicated in 2001.
Doerner designed the granite markers to match those of the other
warriors and to distinguish them from those of he fallen troopers. The
unknown warrior's marker will be inscribed with a war bonnet modeled on
one worn by Sitting Bull.
The inscription will read, "An unknown Sioux warrior died here on June
25, 1876, while defending the Sioux way of life."
A new interpretive sign near the Indian Memorial will provide a
narrative of what happened on the knoll, now called Wooden Leg Hill, where
the Sioux warrior was killed.
The marker for Dog's Backbone will include the Cheyenne River Sioux
official symbol. It will be inscribed with his Indian name, Sunka Cankohan,
as well as its translation, Dog's Backbone.
Imprinted on the stone will be: "A Minniconjou Sioux warrior died here
on June 26, 1876, while defending the Sioux way of life."
Lorna Thackeray can be reached 657-1314
or at lthackeray at billingsgazette.com.
Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.
--------- "RE: Zuni Bones Stuck in Legal Limbo" ---------
Date: Thu, 26 June 2003 08:05:49 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="DESECRATION"
http://www.sfnewmexican.com/~/ArticleID=29067
Indian Bones Stuck in Legal Limbo
Zunis claim remains unearthed last summer by utility company,
but government awaiting direction from tribe
By BEN NEARY | The New Mexican
Thursday, June 26, 2003
Zuni Pueblo members are pained that an Arizona utility company dug up the
prehistoric remains of seven American Indians the pueblo believes are its
ancestors and still hasn't reburied them after nearly a year, a tribal
councilman says.
But federal regulators and a utility-company spokesman say they've been
frustrated in trying to get Zuni and other tribes to agree to rebury the
remains.
The Salt River Project, the Arizona utility company, is pushing to
develop an 18,000-acre coal strip mine in western New Mexico.
The mine is proposed for development near a lake the Zunis and other
Southwestern tribes hold sacred.
Fearing the mining could harm the flow of salt-water brine into the lake,
the Zunis have mounted an all-out effort to block the project.
Archaeologists working for SRP unearthed the human remains in eastern
Arizona last summer while excavating a site along a proposed rail line.
The company intends to build nearly 50 miles of rail line to carry coal
from the mine to its power plant, just across the state line in St. John's,
Ariz.
Since digging up the human remains, SRP has stored them at the power
plant while it has tried to work out an agreement with Zuni and other area
tribes on how to rebury them.
"Leaving them out like that is a real heartache to those of us who know
about it," Dan Simplicio, a member of the Zuni Pueblo Council said
Wednesday.
"We have already mentioned this to our community that that is what's
going on," Simplicio said. "Certainly that is felt by every tribal member,
about what our beliefs of burials are all about."
Simplicio said the pueblo believes the remains are Zuni ancestors
because of their location. While the Zunis have land in New Mexico,
Congress also restored some of the tribe's most important lands in eastern
Arizona in the 1980s.
Simplicio said Indian burials aren't given the same respect as non-
Indian cemeteries. "That's been our challenge, to try to get that
understanding that this is a true violation that's occurring that's truly
affecting our people down here in Zuni," Simplicio said. "But we have laws
that are not adequate to protect them."
State and federal agencies as well as SRP signed a memorandum of
agreement in the mid-1990s specifying how to handle human remains SRP
expected to encounter during the mine project. Zuni Pueblo, Acoma Pueblo
and the Hopi Tribe participated in early meetings on the agreement but
never signed it.
The burial agreement, now only signed by government agencies and SRP,
calls for the Hopi to rebury any human remains unearthed during the
project no later than 16 days after their discovery.
Simplicio said SRP and the government agencies were in a hurry to get
the tribes to sign onto the agreement. However, he said the prospect of
reburying ancestors is not a simple thing for Zuni.
"Zuni made a big statement about that, that we do need to have some sort
of signed documentation in place -- that whoever did the reburial, there
should be some sort of signed documentation in place before they do that,"
Simplicio said
Charles Carroll, planning and environmental coordinator with the U.S.
Bureau of Land Management in Socorro, said he has tried since last year to
work with the tribes to get the human remains reburied.
The human remains were found on private land in Arizona, and Carroll
emphasized his agency would have no role in their disposition except that
it signed the memorandum agreement.
"We thought that the tribes were going to step up to the plate and
participate," Carroll said.
The remains will be moved from the power plant to the Arizona State
Museum in Tucson, perhaps this week, Carroll said. He said they will be
professionally cared for at the museum until an agreement on their
reburial can be worked out with the tribes.
"It's the tribes' wish to rebury," Carroll said. "We're just bending
over backward to give them their wish to rebury. We're not about to
rebury without their participation."
Carroll said he can't specify what the tribes want before they will
agree to rebury the remains because negotiations with the tribes are
ongoing.
Speaking of the tribes' desires for handling of human remains, Carroll
said, "Basically, in the simplest form, they don't want them disturbed at
all. But if they are going to be disturbed at all, they want them
disturbed for the shortest time possible."
Carroll said he has heard that the issue has been portrayed somehow as
the state or federal agencies holding the burials hostage. "It's just
utter nonsense," he said of that interpretation. "We've been pleading with
the tribes to do something about this."
Salt River Project has set aside land in New Mexico and Arizona for
reburial of remains it encounters in the mine project, Carroll said. The
company doesn't anticipate encountering many more human remains during
actual mining in New Mexico, he said.
Bob Barnard, mine-project manager for SRP in Phoenix, said Wednesday
that the company had no choice but to store the remains at the power plant
after the Hopi declined to bury them. He said Hopi officials told the
company that they wouldn't rebury the remains because Zuni Pueblo had
asked them not to do so.
Barnard said he has seen letters from the Zunis stating that they want
to negotiate a new burial agreement with the state and federal government
agencies.
"Either the tribes will finally decide that they're willing to do what
they negotiated, which is rebury them, or the bodies will be stored in the
Arizona museum, which is where they go according to state law," Barnard
said.
Barnard said SRP intends to move the human remains from the power plant
to the museum as soon as it gets permission from the BLM to do so. An
attempt to reach an official at the Arizona museum for comment was
unsuccessful on Wednesday.
Content c. 2003 Santa Fe New Mexican.
--------- "RE: Zuni Sacred Lake 1 of 11 most at Risk" ---------
Date: Sat, Jun 28 2003 09:18:40 -0700
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="SACRED ZUNI SALT LAKE"
http://www.pechanga.net/
http://www.gallupindependent.com/06-27-03zunisacredlake.html
Zuni sacred lake 1 of 11 most at risk
Lake's plight to air on TV
Tom Purdom
Staff Writer
PUEBLO OF ZUNI - The plight of sacred Zuni Salt Lake will be part of a
History Channel presentation July 12 entitled "America's Most Endangered."
It's no accident the lake is on this particular show. In May the
National Trust for Historic Preservation placed Zuni Salt Lake on its 2003
list of the 11 most endangered sites in America.
The Zuni Nation, the Sierra Club, and a huge coalition of Native
American tribal supporters from Mexico to Florida are in a pitched battle
with the Salt River Project, the nation's third-largest electric utility.
SRP wants to open a coal strip mine which will straddle Cibola and Catron
counties and the Zuni's are fighting to keep it from ever happening
because of Zuni Salt Lake, about 11 miles from the proposed mine.
According to the Zuni Nation, SRP's planned 18,119-acre mine, called the
Fence Lake Coal Mine will lower the lake water level and ruin it. Zuni
religion places Zuni Salt Lake as home of Zuni Salt Mother, a deity of
peace called Ma'l Oyattsik'i. Zuni Salt Lake is about 60 miles south of
the Pueblo of Zuni.
The lake is an actual salt lake. Far below the earth's surface water
from the Dakota Aquifer which feeds the lake bubbles up through porous
rock containing salt. Water and salt mix and travel into the bottom of the
lake. Natural evaporation from the environment leave large deposits of
salt.
Dan Simplicio, Zuni tribal council member, said Wednesday the television
show and historic preservation status, will help in the Native American
fight against SRP's proposed Fence Lake Mine.
SRP officials said the mine will boost the area economy through jobs.
To get coal from New Mexico to Arizona, where it will be burned in SRP's
Coronado Generating Station near St. Johns, Ariz., the utility giant also
plans to build a 44-mile railroad, which will cross a 5,000 acre area
surrounding Zuni Salt Lake.
Known in Zuni culture as The Sanctuary, and in Zuni as A:shiwi A:wan
Ma'k'yay'a dap an'ullapna Dek'ohannan Dehyakya, the area is crisscrossed
with ancient trails, contains burial grounds and shrines. The Sanctuary is
widely known for ages in Native American cultures as a traditional neutral
zone where warring tribes could come together without fear of conflict.
People from the Pueblo of Zuni, Navajo, Hopi, the Pueblo of Laguna and
the Pueblo of Acoma used ancient trails leading across The Sanctuary to
reach the sacred lake, where they gathered salt for religious purposes.
SRP's Fence Lake Coal Mine is expected to produce more than 81 million
tons of coal from the 18,119 acres in Cibola and Catron counties. The
total project also includes coal handling systems, a rail loadout station,
silos for explosive materials used in blasting, offices, a shop, and even
a 69-kilovolt power line leading from the Coronado Generating Station back
to the mine.
Zuni documents show that railroad construction began in 2002 and in the
first two weeks alone remains of four humans were disturbed.
Mine plans call for a process requiring 85 gallons of water a minute (44,
676,600 gallons of water annually) to be pumped from the Atarque Aquifer,
which lies in close proximity to the Dakota Aquifer. The mine is expected
to have a 38-year life. The Dakota directly feeds the Zuni Salt Lake. No
hydrological studies have been done to see if a link exists between the
Atarque and Dakota aquifers.
According to a New Mexico coal mining study taking water from the
aquifer will have no effect on Zuni Salt Lake. But the Zuni Nation hired a
hydrologist of its own and the hydrologist's study shows the mine's need
for water would have a negative effect on the lake.
What's more, a Bureau of Indian Affairs study shows the lake could be
damaged by taking water from the aquifer, but the Office of Surface Mining
took issue with the BIA study. The oddity is, both the BIA and OSM are
part of the Department of the Interior and the interior department later
gave SRC the go-ahead to start building the mine.
Even though SRP has the permits its needs, the court system is available
to fight the process and in a previous interview Simplicio said the matter
is far from over. "This could be tied up for years," Simplicio said.
Copyright c. 2003 the Gallup Independent.
--------- "RE: Tribes want to give Buffalo New Home" ---------
Date: Fri, 27 June 2003 08:35:06 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="UMATILLA"
http://www.indianz.com/News/
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/135104213_buffalo27m.html
Tribes want to give buffalo new home in which to roam
By Lynda V. Mapes
Seattle Times staff reporter
Friday, June 27, 2003
POVERTY FLATS, Ore. - Used to be, this tribe snugged by the foothills of
the Blue Mountains had to travel by horseback to Montana to get buffalo,
prized for its meat, hide and sinew, said to create the fastest bows.
But lately, the buffalo are grazing toward them - hopefully all the way
into a baited trap, where the tribe would like to round them up, possibly
to become tourist attractions at its casino.
The saga began in April. A man caring for the buffalo herd turned it
loose and moved to Mexico after the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation cited the operation for violating its environmental-
health rules.
Carl Scheeler, manager of wildlife programs for the confederation -
comprised of the Cayuse, Walla Walla and Umatilla tribes - hasn't had a
normal day since.
Instead of managing paperwork in the office, he has been calling around
to tribes who know about keeping buffalo, treasured symbols of the Old
West that once were almost extinct.
The Umatilla have a long history of hunting the animals to use for food,
tools and clothing, but no tradition of raising buffalo, which are native
to the Great Plains.
The tribes' board of trustees decided earlier this month to round up the
unruly herd of about 32 animals, which has been roaming free on lush
spring pasture.
Baiting the animals into a corral made of 8-foot-high panels has been
tricky: with all the delicious, fresh grass, the buffalo aren't much
interested in grain, alfalfa or salt. "They've got filet mignon, and we
are offering them beef jerky," Scheeler says.
The tribe is going to try apple-flavored treats for horses next, to up
the ante. "You can't herd them; if you push them like cattle, the dominant
bulls will knock you right over," Scheeler said.
Letting the buffalo roam isn't an option: they break through fences,
strip trees for fun, and could charge people - not good with animals that
can weigh as much as a ton and have been clocked at 35 mph. This is also
calving season, which makes the cows aggressive.
"You can't have a roving, fence-mutilating team out there completely
unregulated," Scheeler said.
He has been putting out bait for weeks, always leaving the door open,
hoping the animals get used to the trap. The plan is to yank the door shut
on the trap - a 100-foot-wide corral - once enough animals are inside.
"All of this depends on the bisons' cooperation," Scheeler said. "I
could be out here for months trying to trap these things."
On this fine summer day, with a butterfly flitting over blue cornflower
and purple vetch twining in the grass, that doesn't seem a terrible fate.
"It's actually fun," Scheeler had to admit of his new role as tribal bison
coordinator. "I usually spend a great deal of my time behind a desk."
The bison have been the talk of the reservation. They are front-page
news in the tribe's newspaper, the Confederated Umatilla Journal. The New
York Times, The Associated Press and Oregon Public Broadcasting all have
sicced reporters on the bison.
"I think they thought we'd have a big bunch of people chasing them
around," said Debra Croswell, the tribe's public-affairs officer, making a
lassoing motion with her arm.
But so far it's just a few staff members, the bait, and the buffalo,
sunning themselves, swishing their tails and snoozing contentedly in the
grass - at a safe distance from the trap.
The herd includes some calves born this spring. There were more than 70
animals originally. As many as 10 may already have been killed by poachers.
Dozens of other buffalo wandered back into their old corral, where they
met their fate in a mobile slaughter unit set up by the property owner.
Just what to do with the remaining buffalo, assuming they are rounded up,
is another question.
Options under discussion include keeping a small herd for tribal
subsistence and confining some of the animals near the tribe's Tamastslikt
Cultural Institute and Wildhorse Resort & Casino, as an educational and
tourist attraction.
No final decision has been made. But Scheeler has one plan of his own:
In the buffalo pies in the grass, he sees a memento in the making.
"I'm going to collect one of those babies and shellac it."
Lynda V. Mapes: 206-464-2736 or lmapes at seattletimes.com
Copyright c. 2003 The Seattle Times Company.
--------- "RE: Thames Oneida buy land in New York" ---------
Date: Tue, 24 June 2003 08:24:10 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="CANADA ONEIDA"
http://www.indianz.com/
http://www.syracuse.com/news/poststandard/~/1056443875148374.xml
Thames Oneida buy land in CNY
Indians living in Canada say house in Oneida County will be used by
nation members.
By Glenn Coin
Staff writer
Oneida Indians who left New York hundreds of years ago for Canada are
beginning their journey home.
The Oneida of the Thames, based in Ontario, recently bought a house on
Route 5 in Oneida Castle for $61,000. Tribal spokesman Bob Antone said
it's the first step for hundreds of Oneidas who want to return to the land
of their ancestors.
"We've been looking for years to get a place in the homelands," Antone
said. "This is probably the first in our acquisitions of sites throughout
the original territory."
The house at the corner of routes 5 and 365 sits in what once was the
center of an Oneida village, Antone said. The tribe will use the house as
a cultural center and a way station for Thames Oneidas moving to the area.
The Oneida Castle purchase makes the Thames band the last of the three
Oneida tribes to own land in the area. Over the past 10 years, the Oneida
Indian Nation of New York has accumulated more than 15,000 acres in
Madison and Oneida counties. The Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin
bought a former bed and breakfast inn on Route 31 in Lenox in 1996.
The three tribes are suing Madison and Oneida counties for the return of
250,000 acres the Oneidas say were taken illegally from them in the 18th
and 19th centuries. The U.S. Supreme Court gave the tribes a preliminary
victory in 1985, but the case has yet to come to trial.
Antone said about 150 Thames families, with a total of about 600 people,
have said they are ready to move back to Central New York. He said tribal
members would eventually like to live together in one area here.
"Our big concern is moving and developing a community and returning back
to the homelands, and we're going to do that in a way that builds
relationships with local authorities and local people," Antone said. "Now
we've got a starting point to make that a reality."
The tribe has about 5,000 members, Antone said. About 500 already live
in New York, he said, and 2,000 live on the tribe's reservation near
London, Ontario. The rest are scattered across Canada and the United
States, he said.
Unlike the other two Oneida tribes, the Thames Oneida do not run a
casino and have no other tribal businesses. Money to buy land comes from
"scrimping and saving," Antone said.
Local government leaders say they haven't spoken with the Thames Oneida.
"I don't know what their intentions are," said Myron Thurston,
supervisor of the town of Vernon. "I heard they had purchased that house
on the corner, but that's all I know."
The Thames band has been the least visible of the three Oneida tribes.
The Oneidas of New York run the Turning Stone casino and have a chain of
12 convenience stores and gas stations. The Wisconsin tribe last year
filed separate land claim suits against 60 people and businesses in the
area.
Although the three tribes claim the same heritage, they have fought in
court and in the media for years. Thames Oneida leaders were angry in
early 2000 when their tribe was cut out of a proposed land claim
settlement.
In 1996, the New York Oneidas adopted an ordinance requiring the other
two tribes to obtain a license before buying land in the land claim area.
New York Oneida leader Ray Halbritter sent a letter to local real estate
agents, cautioning them against brokering land deals involving the other
tribes.
Vaughn Lang, the lawyer who represented the Thames Oneida in the land
sale, said the tribe did not seek permission from the New York Oneidas
before buying the Oneida Castle house on March 31.
Copyright c. 2003 The Post-Standard. Used with permission.
--------- "RE: Oglala Riders retrace History" ---------
Date: Wed, 25 June 2003 08:57:22 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="VICTORY RIDERS"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.billingsgazette.com/~/2003/06/25/build/local/30-lbh-riders.inc
Oglala riders retrace history
By JAMES HAGENGRUBER
Of The Gazette Staff
June 25, 2003
CROW AGENCY - The descendants of Crazy Horse trotted across 360 miles of
prairie for a chance to charge up Last Stand Hill early this morning.
The 20 riders of the Great Sioux Nation Victory Ride set out June 9 from
the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. They wanted to take
a slow, contemplative path to the battlefield where their ancestors found
victory 127 years ago.
It was a chance to remind the tribe's young people of the one
unmistakable outcome of the battle, rider Doug War Eagle said.
"We're still here," he said.
Tuesday night the riders pitched tents in a cottonwood grove along the
Little Bighorn River, about 400 yards from where Crazy Horse and his
family camped. Not far away camps were filled with horsemen and women from
other tribes.
They will all be galloping across the battlefield today to mark the
Indian Memorial dedication. Horses were vital in Plains Indian culture,
and it's only fitting they play a starring role in the dedication, said
Kitty Belle Deernose, curator of the battlefield museum.
"Indian people are still very much a horse culture," she said.
The Crow are sending 200 riders, including one riderless horse to honor
Pfc. Lori Piestewa, a Hopi soldier who was mortally wounded in a March 23
ambush in Iraq. She was the first American Indian servicewoman killed in
action.
The Oglala Sioux have sent 39 riders. The Northern Cheyenne will
decorate 20 horses before riding up to the monument to honor their fallen
warriors. The Cheyenne-Arapaho tribes of Oklahoma have also sent a horse,
Deernose said.
Mel Lonehill, of Batesland, S.D., is part of the Oglala delegation,
"Lokal Oyate Kawilau," which translates to "Gathering of the Traditional
People." The group began riding on battle anniversaries 10 years ago.
"We honor our ancestors by riding," Lonehill said.
Horses came to the Plains Indians with the Spanish conquistadors. The
Sioux called them the "holy dog," Lonehill said. "The horse came to our
people and said he would travel with us if we would respect him."
Re-enacting a horse charge up Last Stand Hill is an amazing feeling,
Lonehill said. If the rider is focused and spiritually prepared, he can
visualize oncoming enemy warriors, even with tourists as spectators.
The Cheyenne River Sioux riders used their horseback journey to the
battlefield as a chance to educate young people on traditional values.
During the two weeks of the Great Sioux Nation Victory Ride, the
descendants of Crazy Horse camped in sites once covered by their
ancestors' teepees. They told stories each night and paid respects to
their traditional allies, the Northern Cheyenne.
A support crew drove ahead each day to set up camps. The riders raised
their own money but received food and places to stay along the way. The
horses spent every third day at rest in a trailer, said rider Scott Dupree.
The riders weren't always so lucky.
"I was sore by the time we got here," he said.
The days were long and hard, but spirits surged at the sight of the Deer
Medicine Rocks outside of Lame Deer, said rider Floyd Clown. The group was
given permission to camp next to the sacred rock formations, which bear
prophetic drawings of the battle and the eventual murder of Sitting Bull.
The ride was mostly to infuse traditional values in the young people,
Clown said. Marking the Indian memorial dedication is just a side event.
"Our monument is already there," Clown said. "That big, white monument
up on Last Stand Hill shows our victory. It shows that our grandfathers
were already here."
Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.
--------- "RE: Indian Trackers fear Customs Role" ---------
Date: Wed, 25 June 2003 08:57:22 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="SHADOW WOLVES"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0625shadowwolves25.html
Indian trackers fear customs role
Billy House
Republic Washington Bureau
Jun. 25, 2003
WASHINGTON - Despite assurances from an Arizona congressman, an elite
group of 21 Native American customs agents known as the Shadow Wolves says
it remains concerned about its role within the new Department of Homeland
Security.
After 30 years in customs enforcement, the Shadow Wolves are worried
that moving to the department's Bureau of Customs will mean a change in
their emphasis from investigating and tracking illegal narcotics traffic
to more-regulated border-patrolling duties.
"We won't feel comfortable within the Border Patrol," a Shadow Wolves
supervisor, Marvin Eleando, said Tuesday.
The unit's concerns prompted Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., a member of the
U.S. House Select Committee on Homeland Security, to meet last week with
Robert Bonner, commissioner of the new Bureau of Customs and Border
Protection.
According to Shadegg, Bonner "looked me in the eye and committed to me
that the mission and function of the Shadow Wolves would continue."
But Eleando said his group as of Tuesday still had seen nothing "in
black and white that shows us that we are going to continue to do what
we've been doing."
Spokesmen for the Bureau of Customs and Border Patrol had no comment
Tuesday.
The Shadow Wolves, established by Congress in 1972, are based on the
Tohono O'odham Nation in southern Arizona. The unit has received renown
for its success in traditional tracking techniques instead of using the
latest high-tech equipment.
According to Shadegg's office, the unit last year seized 105,063 pounds
of illegal drugs and another 84,697 pounds this year. The group made the
seizures while covering the 76-mile long border within the Tohono O'odham
reservation.
Copyright c. 2003 The Arizona Republic.
--------- "RE: Swimmer challenged on Bush reform Plans" ---------
Date: Thu, June 26, 2003 15:23
From: "Bill McAllister" <bmcallister at cox.net>
Subj: Judge Expresses Concern Over Yet Another Plan for Trust Reform
For Immediate Release:
JUDGE EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER YET ANOTHER PLAN FOR TRUST REFORM
WASHINGTON, June 26 --- U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth expressed
frustration this week as the Interior Department presented him with
yet another plan to reform the broken Indian Trust system.
"I'm pretty pessimistic," the judge declared Wednesday.
Lamberth said the new plans from the Bush administration are
identical to plans he heard from the Clinton administration four
years ago.
Ross O. Swimmer, the government's final witness in the latest trial
over the trust system, conceded that much of what he was saying
about the need for a new computer system to resolve programs with
the trust system was similar to what his predecessors had told the
judge in 1999.
"I am, your honor, saying the same thing," said Swimmer, Interior's
special trustee charged with overseeing the trust system.
Twice during Swimmer's testimony, the judge told him his plans to
reform the system had a familiar ring.
"The people who were sitting in your seat said the same thing to me
in 1999," the judge said. "...I don't see the difference, do you?"
Lamberth said he regretted not listening then to the testimony
presented to him by experts for Elouise Cobell and the class of all
past and present individual Indian trust beneficiaries. Those
experts were skeptical of the Clinton administration's plans for a
new, $40 million trust management computer system.
But Lamberth said he accepted the arguments of Interior officials
who assured him their computers would work. They didn't, Swimmer
acknowledged.
When the judge asked Swimmer, how long his proposed trust
information system would take to become operational, Swimmer
replied: "I'd be hard-pressed to say." He then added it was "a good
12 months away."
Whether such a promise is acceptable is one of the key issues
before Lamberth. Since May 1, he has been holding a trial on how to
best reform the trust system.
Swimmer confirmed a $6 million shortage in the current pool of
individual Indian trust accounts, held at the Treasury Department.
A group of Indians suing the government have said that their
accounts may be billions of dollars short, the result of massive
mismanagement of their accounts and missing records. The accounts
were established in 1887 to hold the proceeds from the leases of
Indian lands in the West for oil, gas, mineral and grazing leases,
as well as timber sales.
Numerous studies dating almost from the trust's inception showed
that the individual Indian trust accounts have been, and continues
to be, plagued by malfeasance, systematic records destruction, fraud
and incompetence.
Swimmer, the former assistant Interior secretary for Indian affairs,
will remain on the stand for the rest of the week.
The trial is expected to end July 8.
For additional information
Bill McAllister
703-385-6996
202-257-5385
--------- "RE: Judge orders shutdown of Interior Web Sites" ---------
Date: Sat, Jun 28 2003 09:18:40 -0700
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="INTERIOR WEB SHUTDOWN"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0628interior28.html
Judge orders shutdown of Interior Web sites
Associated Press
Jun. 28, 2003 12:00 AM
WASHINGTON - A federal judge pulled the plug Friday on many of the
Interior Department's Internet systems - the second time the judge has
ordered such a shutdown to keep hackers from reaching $1 billion in
American Indian money managed by the department.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said the government left him little
choice when it refused to allow a court-appointed special master to test
the measures in place to protect the Indian money.
Dennis Gingold, the attorney for the Indian plaintiffs, argued that
without the tests, there could be no assurances the Indian money is safe
from hackers.
In December 2001, Lamberth ordered the department to disconnect nearly
all of its computers from the Internet after special master Alan Balaran
hacked the department's porous security system.
Many of the systems were down for months, including popular Web sites
that contained information about National Parks and other public lands.
It took months to install security fixes that allowed the sites to go
back online.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs Web site has still not been restored.
Copyright c. 2003 The Arizona Republic.
--------- "RE: Natives want Lumber Tariffs" ---------
Date: Sat, Jun 28 2003 09:18:40 -0700
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="OUR LAND/OUR TARIFFS"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
hhttp://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/news/20030628/20030628n2.html
Natives want lumber tariffs
Saturday, June 28, 2003
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
A northern B.C. First Nations group said this week they want the hundreds
of millions of U.S. tariffs already collected on softwood lumber exports.
"On the basis of our aboriginal title we have a legal interest in the
timber resources on our territories," said Justa Monk, co-chair of the
Northwest Tribal Treaty Nations. "Funds associated with what I view as
illegal logging on our territories should flow back to First Nations."
Monk said the treaty group has not had any discussions with the province
on their demand.
The tariffs -- about $1.5 billion in total -- are currently in the hands
of the U.S. federal government. What will happen to the tariffs is part of
the discussion between the U.S. and Canada on how to resolve the long-
running trade fight. The American lumber industry wants to keep the
majority of the funds. Canada also wants the duties back, which would be
distributed back to the companies that paid them.
About half of the duties originate in B.C., and of that, about $300
million have been paid by companies in the Northern Interior of B.C., the
largest lumber-producing region in Canada.
Forests Minister Mike de Jong said he's not interested in linking the
issues of the already-collected softwood duties with the province's
oblgiation to consult and accomodate First Nations land and title
interests. "The funds being held in trust in the U.S. relate to a trade
dispute involving two countries and their forest industries, and that's
where that issue needs to be resolved," he said.
The northwest treaty group made a series of other demands last March,
including that they wanted half of the stumpage revenues from their
traditional territories in northern B.C. and half of the annual allowable
harvest.
Copyright c. 2002 Prince George Citizen.
--------- "RE: New Prison will address Aboriginal Problems" ---------
Date: Thu, 26 June 2003 08:05:49 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="ABORIGINAL PRISON"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=a01b5955-687e-4b93
New prison will address aboriginal problems
Silas Polkinghorne
The StarPhoenix
June 26, 2003
Saskatchewan's first federal minimum security penitentiary for aboriginal
men officially opened Wednesday.
The Willow Cree Healing Lodge on the Beardy's and Okemasis First Nation
Reserve aims to prepare offenders for reintegration into society through
Native spiritual and cultural interventions.
It's been about 15 years in the making, and officials say the lodge can
address the disproportionate number of aboriginal people incarcerated in
federal prisons.
According to the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), 39 per cent of
federal offenders in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the North West
Territories and northwestern Ontario are of aboriginal descent.
The goal is to help offenders become law-abiding, productive citizens.
'We have a vision of creating a healthy aboriginal community," said
Garnet Eyahpaise, chief of Beardy's and Okemasis First Nation.
Solicitor general of Canada Wayne Easter and commissioner of the
Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), Lucie McClung, oversaw the opening
ceremony.
Drums pounded and aboriginal dancers led the dignitaries in a grand
march after a traditional pipe ceremony.
Elders, veterans, and First Nations leaders also took part in the event
at the 40-bed facility, located on a 30-hectare area 90 kilometres north
of Saskatoon, near Duck Lake.
"We know the jails are filled by our people," said Federation of
Saskatchewan Indian Nations Chief Perry Bellegarde, during the ceremony.
"That's not right," he said, adding high social costs will continue is the
existing situation isn't corrected.
"There need to be a change in that justice system."
Dormitory-style housing, complete with kitchen and laundry facilities,
will provide offenders with a more "normal" environment. Inmates will also
have access to elders' teachings and spiritual ceremonies.
"I believe we are making gains," said Easter. According to Easter,
incarcerating offenders and throwing away the key is not how Canadian
corrections operates.
A similar facility for women in Saskatchewan houses 28 women on the
Nekeneet First Nation in the Cypress Hills. A healing lodge for 60 male
offenders is located near Hobbema, Alta., on the Samson Cree Nation.
McClung said she is encouraged by a "slight reduction" in reoffending
rates during the supervision period among offenders who return to society
after staying at healing lodges.
Sherle Gamble is the chair of the community advisory committee for the
lodge. She has a grandson in a maximum security penitentiary. She said she
hopes her grandson can someday enter a healing lodge and gain an
understanding of First Nations culture.
"It's up to him. He has to make up his own mind," she said. "He'll have
a lot of support, but he has to be responsible for his own actions."
For inmates to be referred to Willow Cree, they must pose a low escape
and public safety risk and show progress in their correctional program.
Gamble also said people need to understand the purpose of the healing
lodge.
"They have to recognize that there's good in everybody and you have to
draw out that good and work on it."
The budget for the lodge was $6.6 million and it will cost $3 million to
operate annually, employing 46 full-time staff. Offenders will begin
arriving in September.
Copyright c. 2003 The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon).
--------- "RE: Native Groups demand Justice Overhaul" ---------
Date: Tue, 1 July 2003 08:33:48 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="SEXUAL ASSAULT ACQUITTAL"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.aboriginalcanada.gc.ca/abdt/interface/interface2.nsf/
Acquittal 'outrageous': FSIN official
Native groups demand justice overhaul in wake of sexual assault trial
Jason Warick
Saskatchewan News Network
Saturday, June 28, 2003
A fiery debate over race and jury selection has been ignited after two
white men were acquitted Thursday of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old
aboriginal girl near Tisdale.
The justice system needs to do more to ensure aboriginal people are
represented on juries, say various groups.
"It's a system that's sick and we've got to do some work on it together
here to cure it," said Bob Hughes, president of the Saskatchewan Coalition
Against Racism.
The jury was all white, and there was only one visibly aboriginal person
in the pool of more than 100 potential jurors the lawyers chose from.
Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations vice-chief Lawrence Joseph
called the decision to acquit Jeffrey Brown and Jeffrey Kindrat
"outrageous."
"(Aboriginal people) should have been part of that. There was not one
First Nations member of that jury," Joseph said.
"This exemplifies why First Nations are calling for a total revamping of
the justice system."
A relative of the girl told reporters outside court that the "all-white
jury" did not give the girl the justice she deserves.
"We take a look at this country and the way the justice system has
served us -- it's served us now by an all-white jury. It's open season on
our young aboriginal girls," he said.
"I know the justice system has to change."
Potential jurors are selected by the provincial government based on a
random draw of health card numbers for the judicial area. In Melfort's
case, that area extends past Hudson Bay to the east and the Northwest
Territories to the north.
Notices are then mailed to the potential jurors. Travel costs to the
selection and trial are covered by Saskatchewan Justice.
Those excluded from the list are elected officials and their spouses,
justice officials such as police officers and lawyers, people confined to
an institution, people judged mentally incompetent, and those who cannot
understand the language the trial is conducted in.
The Justice Department regards it as the "least biased database in the
province."
Alberta, for example, selects from a database of drivers' licences,
which excludes a significant number of people.
There was also an all-white jury at the trial of a third man accused in
the incident, Dean Edmondson. Edmondson was found guilty but has filed an
appeal.
Regardless of that result, more needs to be done, say critics. Some,
such as Joseph, think quotas or other measures might be necessary.
Even Mark Brayford, who successfully defended Jeffrey Brown, thinks
public perception would be improved if juries were more representative.
Brayford, however, said the justice system currently does an "admirable"
job of being neutral and unbiased when it comes to issues of race.
University of Saskatchewan Prof. Norman Zlotkin said the aboriginal
justice commission under way in Saskatchewan should make this one of its
priorities to study.
"It is a concern. People are complaining about it," Zlotkin said.
"It's definitely worth looking at."
Zlotkin noted there have been requests to stage trials on reserves or to
move them to communities with greater aboriginal representation, but no
judge has ever granted such a request.
Zlotkin isn't sure why the current method with health cards doesn't seem
to yield more aboriginal jurors.
He said the system was much worse 20 years ago before the current system
was adopted. The individual sheriff could pick and choose as he saw fit.
But some have also argued the opposite, that this would give the sheriff
the latitude to ensure aboriginal people for the jury pool.
Kripa Sekhar of the Saskatchewan Action Committee on the Status of Women
called Thursday a "tragic day in our justice system.
"It's very important to have a jury that is balanced, where you do have
aboriginal people who can relate."
The gender composition of juries was an issue at the start of the first
trial, where nearly all men sat in judgment of Dean Edmondson. However,
they found him guilty, while a mostly female jury acquitted Brown and
Kindrat this week.
Copyright c. 2003 The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
--------- "RE: Aboriginal Policing Grads ready to serve" ---------
Date: Tue, 1 July 2003 08:33:48 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="RCMP GRADS"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.aboriginalcanada.gc.ca/abdt/interface/interface2.nsf/
Aboriginal policing grads ready to serve
Innovative college program prepares RCMP applicants for rigorous training
Sutton Eaves
The Edmonton Journal
Sunday, June 29, 2003
EDMONTON - In Cree, they are simakins. The Metis call them lee polis.
They are also the first class to graduate from Alberta's newest college
program for aspiring aboriginal police officers. And if the next nine
months go as expected, they will be members of the RCMP's aboriginal
policing unit.
"I think that the group that we're sending there, because of their tight
relationship and because of the courses we've chosen to give them in their
training here, are going to stand a very high chance of completing and
graduating in February (from RCMP training)," said Dave Patterson, chair
of the aboriginal police studies program at Grant MacEwan College.
The certificate program, the first of its kind in Alberta, is the brain
child of Ron Hepperle, of the Solicitor General's Office, and Sgt. Don
Ladouceur, of K-Division's aboriginal policing unit.
"We felt obligated to help aboriginal people because there was nothing
like it" to help the disproportionate number of unsuccessful aboriginal
applicants to the RCMP. "When they write the test they fail it all the
time," said Ladouceur.
Often, for those from rural communities, "their Grade 12 doesn't compare
the same to anybody in a big urban centre like around the hub city of
Edmonton," said the Lac la Biche native. Aware of the burgeoning demand
for more aboriginal officers to police the First Nations community, he
developed a program to equip applicants with the skills to pass the
rigorous examination.
"If you can fine-tune those tools and bring them back in a college
program, then you are going to get success when you come to write the
exam," said Ladouceur.
Five graduates of the Grant MacEwan program are slated to begin training
with the RCMP in September. After the mandatory six months at Regina's
RCMP training facility, called DEPO, they hope to graduate and become
full-time officers.
Michael Carr says he is more than just hopeful, he is ready.
"I want to work right now, but I still have to go through summer student
and then DEPO," said Carr from the Leduc RCMP detachment where he is an
intern.
The son of a Metis air force member, Carr has been waiting since he was
13 to become an officer.
"When we were little kids growing up in smaller communities, it was
always the RCMP (we saw). There's never been any other police force I've
ever wanted to apply for."
For Jennifer Kroetsch, her future was less definite. Standing 5-foot-1,
she was the smallest member of the class and an unlikely candidate for
passing the intense physical exam needed for entry into the RCMP. On her
first try she was stonewalled by the push-pull machine, unable to move 36
kilograms of dead weight in the required time.
"Because I'm so short, it was all arm strength. It was really difficult
and I couldn't finish it the first couple of times," said Kroetsch.
Discouraged but persistent, she took kickboxing and grappling to build up
her strength. By April, she passed the test with a minute to spare. Today,
she shares an office with Carr at the Leduc detachment.
"What the community wants and what they need is kind of the (policing)
approach the RCMP is looking at. And if you have an aboriginal background
and you are dealing with an aboriginal community, you can get closer to
those needs and those wants, you'll understand that they want this and
need this because they have different beliefs," said Kroetsch, whose
parents are Metis.
"They have a completely different plan for their community than down
here."
Approved by Alberta Learning last year, the aboriginal police studies
program is offered at Grant MacEwan College, NorQuest in Hinton and
Northern Lakes in Groard. Students undergo 10 months of intensive law
enforcement training, including criminal law, police protocol and
aboriginal issues.
The curriculum also includes a monthly physical police entrance test in
preparation for the grueling final exam.
Despite the large demand for aboriginal officers to police their own
communities, the colleges struggled to find enough students -- the program
can take more than 60, but only 27 registered.
"There's still youth that don't like police, they don't want to be a
part of it.
"But there's a good side to it, you know, to help your community and
give back to them," said Kroetsch, who is proud to be part of a group of
trend setters breaking down an age-old stigma. She and Carr speak
enthusiastically about bridging the gap between the aboriginal community
and the officers who police them.
"A lot of people are intimidated by the police because they think that
when you deal with a police officer it's because you are getting in
trouble," said Carr.
"We kind of want to change that idea, and it goes the same with
aboriginal policing where we want the community to be able to come talk to
us and not be nervous or afraid that we're out to get them."
Neither one shies away from the label role model. They see that as their
responsibility as police officers and the essence of community policing.
Both are aware of the unique needs of the communities where they will be
working, including mentors for their youth.
"We can let them know that there are better things out there. And we
have that connection with those people, 'cause a lot of times they're not
going to leave that community. They're not going to get out there to see
the bigger picture and that they can be something they want to be," said
Kroetsch.
Patterson said he can't think of any better ambassadors for that message.
"As we have more aboriginal students show success and become role models
in the community" more individuals will be inspired to get involved in the
program, in policing and in the wellness of their community said Patterson.
seaves at thejournal.canwest.com
Copyright c. 2003 Edmonton Journal.
--------- "RE: Two evicted from Pine Ridge" ---------
Date: Fri, Jun 27, 2003, 11:10 AM
From: tlagiloi <tlagiloi at netscape.net>
Subj: Two evicted from Pine Ridge
Newsgroup: alt.native
Two evicted from Pine Ridge
LAKOTA JOURNAL
http://www.lakotajournal.com
WOUNDED KNEE -- Accusations continue to be hurled at the different
factions involved with what started out to be a Community based-project,
but now has developed into a fight between AIM Chapters, Oglala Sioux
Tribal officials and members of the Wounded Knee community.
The Wounded Knee community recently celebrated a groundbreaking for
their new Community Center and Head Start building that was being erected
with donated funds that the community had raised on it's own. There was no
funding from the Oglala Sioux Tribe or other government agencies.
Derek Whirlwind, also known as Derek Diskin, had arrived from New York
to donate his time and expertise in erecting the outer portion of the
Community Center. He and his associate, Barbara Nixon were staying with a
local family while in Wounded Knee.
Whirlwind claims to be the Regional Director of the Northeast Chapter of
the American Indian Movement and said he also owns and operates a
construction business in New York.
Nixon, also from New York, is his Public Relations Officer and said she
is a journalist.
Both were "escorted" off the Pine Ridge Reservation June 13, by OST
Public Safety Officials. The order for "Removal of Non-Members" was given
and signed by John Yellow Bird Steele, OST President. Alberta E. Miller,
OST Attorney General drew up the paperwork.
Neither Steele or Miller could be reached for comment about the
situation, but Debbie Blue Bird, secretary to Steele, confirmed that he
had issued the order and signed the document.
"They were asked to leave the reservation because they had been
disruptive at a Council meeting in Martin over certain issues. They spoke
out of order and interrupted the meeting. You have to ask permission to
speak at the Council meeting," Blue Bird said.
According to the signed document, Whirlwind and Nixon were ordered off
the reservation in a "Removal of Trespassers" order.
It stated in part that, "Both individuals are engaged in conducting
business on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation without permission from the
Oglala Sioux Tribal Council and therefore, are in violation of the section
referenced above," which was a paragraph detailing reasons that non-
members could be requested to leave the reservation.
Those reasons include, "...all persons hunting, fishing, cutting wood,
driving livestock, peddling, or doing any commercial business on Trust
Indian Allotments without the permission of the owner, or Tribal land on
this Reservation without the permission of the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council,
may be forcibly ejected from the Pine Ridge Reservation by a police
officer, officer of the United States Indian Service, or Tribal Police,
and may be turned over to the custody of the United States Marshall or
Sheriff or other officer of the State of South Dakota or Nebraska, for
prosecution under Federal or State law."
The order stated that, "Derek Whirlwind a.k.a. Diskin has represented
himself to be a construction contractor and has interfered with
construction of a tribal Head Start Center in Wounded Knee. Barbara Nixon
has represented herself as a journalist and has also interfered with the
activities of the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council."
Therefore, the OST Public Safety Department was ordered to remove the
two individuals "in the best interest of the OST."
Whirlwind said the tribal police came to the home of Julie Shot to
Pieces where he and Nixon had been invited to stay during their time in
Wounded Knee. They were told to get their personal belongings together and
be ready to leave in 20 minutes.
"Three officers came--a commander, lieutenant and another guy--they said
'it's time for you to go--to leave. I have a tribal order,' and they
wanted us to go immediately. I told them we had to have some time to get
our things together. They gave us 20 minutes and then two of them escorted
us off the reservation," Whirlwind said of the experience.
He added that, "Their allegations that I was trespassing and doing
business there was totally false--it has been known since February that I
was coming there as a volunteer only. I was not conducting any business on
the reservation. Barbara and I were invited guests of members of that
tribe."
Speaking from their New York home Nixon said, "I didn't feel safe until
we were out of the state of South Dakota. It was very upsetting."
She emphasized her belief that there are many more issues than just a
Community Center building going on in the area with tribal politics and
control from the National Grand Governing Council of AIM, which Vernon
Bellecourt is the head spokesperson.
"The bigger issue is the tribal corruption going on there. It's economic
oppression for the people on that reservation with the tribal government
in control. People lose their jobs if they speak out against the
corruption," Nixon said.
Nixon was referring to Phyllis Hollow Horn who was recently terminated
from her position as secretary for the OST Judiciary Committee. Hollow
Horn has been outspoken about the current political situation and the lack
of help from the tribal government in supporting the rebuilding of the
Wounded Knee community.
She said that her two-year, full-time temporary position was terminated
without any written documentation of reason for the termination, even
though she had requested several times for it.
Nixon said that Whirlwind had confronted Steele the day of the Council
meeting in Martin and asked him when the last time he was in a Sweat Lodge
or walked traditionally with his heart and not with his hand in his pocket.
They said that it was on that day after some confrontation with a few
council members outside the meeting place that Whirlwind was arrested
before leaving town and was taken to the tribal jail in Kyle where he was
incarcerated until paying bail and was released.
"I was kicked out of the meeting and arrested, now I've been evicted and
yet I'm ordered to appear on July 8, in Tribal Court in Kyle on those
charges and since I was kicked off the reservation, I'm not sure what I'm
supposed to do or how that will work," Whirlwind said.
He believes that several illegal charges took place, including false
arrest, illegal detainment and illegal removal. "I'm looking at all of my
options right now. They violated my rights with obstruction of Justice and
obstruction of the judiciary process. They have no regards even for their
own laws."
Hollow Horn said, "They said Derek was interfering with the building of
the Community Center--and he wasn't interfering--he came here to help
build it."
She added, "It's all about the land--the land site really is the real
issue and I don't know why. We had three acres where we were going to
build the Center and the Head Start on, but the tribe wanted the land site
for their Head Start and they didn't have the paperwork for the site, yet
they got the land back and what they gave us in return is full of rock and
requires more excavation to prepare it before we can build."
Hollow Horn emphasized again, "All of this started from the land issue
and that's a mystery why the Tribe didn't want us to build on that!"
Another blow to the community was the recent unexpected death of William
"Bill" Loafer. Hollow Horn said that Loafer had agreed to donate his time
and equipment to do the foundation for the Community Center and now, they
don't know what will happen in that part of the construction, either.
"It's the kids in the community that will suffer the most from all of
this, but the Tribe don't seem to care about our young people. Right now
it's discouraging to a lot of people in the community. The kids are upset
and afraid that it's not going to happen. We were all so excited about
this--something that was giving us hope and bringing healing to our
community--now the tribal politics have gotten in the way again and
they've turned it into an AIM issue," Hollow Horn said.
She explained that the community would probably have a meeting to
determine what their next step will be, but it would be after Loafer's
funeral. "He was really upset about the Tribe's behavior and about Derek
being run off the reservation."
Hollow Horn said that Loafer was also going to donate all of the
plumbing for the building. "His death is another blow."
She said there was already some talk in the community about the
possibility of trying to impeach Steele and another discussion was to have
a Hunka ceremony to adopt Whirlwind into a family of a tribal member. In
that way, he would have a right to be on the reservation.
The rift between Bellecourt and Whirlwind goes back to July of 2001 when
Whirlwind was on the National Board of Directors along with Bellecourt,
his brother Clyde, Dennis Banks and others.
Bellecourt claims that Whirlwind was never a part of AIM, but copies of
documents of minutes from a meeting at that time lists members who were
present, including Whirlwind.
At that same meeting, it's recorded that Banks was voted to serve as
National Chairman and Vernon Bellecourt was voted to serve as
International Director. "Motion to close that nomination was made by Susan
LaMorie and seconded by Derek Whirlwind."
In a letter dated December 8, 2002, Nixon wrote to Paul Shaverson,
Executive Producer of "Crossing Over" and refers to Whirlwind as the
Northeast Regional Director of AIM.
She stated, "...Although an elder of the AIM and involved as that of the
director of International Affairs on Racism and Bias in Sports and Media,
Mr. Bellecourt is not that closely involved with the internal networking
of the new Leadership that has emerged through the visionary efforts of
the Movement's Chairman, Dennis Banks."
However, Bellecourt said he has received several inquiries from the
Northeast region asking if Whirlwind was indeed who and what he represents
himself to be and also alleging that he and Nixon are causing trouble
among the Native Americans in the East.
Bellecourt furnished copies of documents supporting his claims. He
responded to one inquiry and wrote, "...that Derek Diskin who goes by the
name, Derek Whirlwind, and fraudulently represents himself as the
Northeastern director of the American Indian Movement...We are putting you
on notice that Derek Diskin has no authority from the American Indian
Movement Grand Governing Council, which is the leadership of our Movement."
Bellecourt continued, "Mr. Diskin has no authority to represent the
American Indian Movement in any capacity. He is self-appointed...it is
doubtful that Mr. Diskin is a member of any Indian tribe."
Another individual wrote Bellecourt that Whirlwind claimed he was sent
to the Northeast Chapter by his "uncles" Vernon and Clyde (Bellecourt) and
Dennis (Banks) to find out what AIM could do for the people in that area.
The writer, Bonnie Spencer also stated in the letter, "...There is a lot
of trouble out this way with various groups and a lot of fighting and
people trying to shut down pow wows and such."
Spencer also wrote, "Our people have enough to deal with as it is
without all this garbage and infighting going on. It seems we don't need
the white man to destroy us, we are capable of self-destruction all on our
own! It saddens me."
Bellecourt said that the claim that he and his brother or Banks were
"uncles" of Whirlwind were lies and mis-information.
He also claims that Whirlwind is not of Indian heritage, but Whirlwind
claims to be from the Mayan ancestry and has been a Sundancer at Pipestone,
Minnesota for many years.
In a copy supplied by Nixon and Whirlwind of minutes from a meeting
during the World Peace and Prayer Rally in Washington, D.C., it states
that, "At the behest of Clyde Bellecourt and Dennis Banks, Derek Whirlwind
was summoned to Washington, D.C. to discuss Derek's position and title in
the Northeast. Clyde Bellecourt stating to me, Barbara Nixon, that,
'Dennis would really like to see Derek come to D.C. for the prayer
conference and that some issues needed to be discussed.'"
There's more notes stating who attended and what some of the discussion
was about at that meeting.
But, Bellecourt holds that Whirlwind has never represented AIM in any
capacity.
Bellecourt admitted that Steele had called him about the disruption at
the Council meeting and about Whirlwind getting arrested and put in jail
in addition to what Steele described as disrupting the Wounded Knee
community.
Accusations continue to fly back and forth between the individuals and
the groups involved. In the meantime a couple of questions remain--what is
going to happen to the building of the new Community Center in Wounded
Knee--and why was the original few acres of land such an issue to the OST
President and Council?
Reprinted under the Fair Use http://nativenewsonline.org/fairuse.htm
--------- "RE: White Mt. Apaches sue Chediski Fire starter" ---------
Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 14:10:45 -0700
From: "Chris Milda (_Akimel O`odham_)" <NewsAndInformation at EarthLink.net>
Subj: White Mt. Apaches sue Chediski Fire starter (Fwd)
>To: gars at speakeasy.org
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
From: News Gathering <akimeloodham at earthlink.net>
Subj: White Mt. Apaches sue Chediski Fire starter
http://www.azstarnet.com/star/sat/30628WILDFIRE2fLAWSUIT.html
White Mt. Apaches sue Chediski Fire starter
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tucson, Arizona Saturday, 28 June 2003
An American Indian tribe filed a civil complaint against a woman who
started a fire that later merged into the largest wildfire in Arizona
history, officials said Friday.
Valinda Jo Elliott was served with the tribe's six-count civil complaint
Friday as she left a court in Tolleson after receiving a 60-day jail
sentence for a drunken driving conviction. She remains free while a judge
considers other legal issues raised by her lawyers.
The civil complaint alleges Elliott disobeyed an executive order banning
nearly all people from certain areas of the reservation because of extreme
fire danger.
Last summer's 469,000-acre Rodeo-Chediski Fire destroyed 491 homes and
forced the evacuation of 30,000 people.
Elliott started the Chediski Fire as she tried to get the attention of a
television news helicopter after being lost on White Mountain Apache land
for two days.
Elliott, 32, wasn't criminally prosecuted for starting the fire because
federal prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence of criminal
intent on Elliott's part.
Copyright c. 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 AzStarNet, Arizona Daily Star
and its wire services and suppliers and may not be republished without
permission. All rights reserved.
--------- "RE: Washoe Indian Tribe" ---------
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2003 10:47:35 -0700
From: "lkibby1" <lkibby1 at citlink.net>
Subj: Washoe Indian Tribe
For Immediate Release
Wednesday, June 25, 2003
CONTACT: Tessa Hafen (202)224-9521
PROTECTION OF WASHOE LANDS AROUND LAKE TAHOE CLEARS SENATE COMMITTEE
WASHINGTON - An effort by Senators Harry Reid and John Ensign to
preserve ancestral lands of the Washoe Indian Tribe while protecting
Lake Tahoe cleared a major milestone today. The Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Committee approved a bill sponsored by Nevada's
Senators that would convey land at Lake Tahoe to the Washoe Tribe for
cultural purposes
The legislation, which was first introduced by Reid in 2000, would
transfer 24 acres from the Secretary of Agriculture\U.S. National Forest
to the Secretary of the Interior to be held in trust for the Washoe
Tribe. The legislation passed the Senate unanimously in 2000 and 2002,
and a version also passed the House in 2000, but the measure has never
achieved final passage.
"I'm going to keep fighting for this bill until it passes," said Sen.
Reid. "Not only does it guarantee the Washoe access to their ancient
ancestral lands, it also protects undeveloped land around Lake Tahoe."
"I am pleased that the committee recognized the importance of approving
this legislation," Ensign said. "This is a great victory for the Washoe
tribe in their efforts to practice and preserve their culture."
On being told that the Washoe Tribe bill had been reported out of the
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Brian Wallace, the
Chairman of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada said, "This is wonderful news.
It has been almost a century and a half sine the Washoe people were
forcibly removed from Lake Tahoe. The lake is a place to which we have
sacred connections and is the source of much of our culture. The Washoe
people - especially the elders - are going to be very pleased. We are
happy that Senators Reid and Ensign introduced this legislation again
and were able to get it reported out of Committee today. We are
gratified with the support we have received this measure from our
neighbors throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin."
The transfer of the land to a trust for the Washoe was included in the
recommendations of a 1997 forum that Reid helped convene to discuss the
future of the Lake Tahoe Basin. The forum committed to support the
Washoe Tribe's traditional uses of the area and to ensure that members
of the Tribe would have access to the shore of Lake Tahoe to engage in
traditional cultural practices.
Under the proposed legislation, Sen. Reid said, the 24-acre parcel will
be protected from development and managed according to the Lake Tahoe
Regional Plan. The transfer of the land would not hinder public access
to the lake, Reid added.
After approval by the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the bill
will head to the full Senate.
--------- "RE: Six in Navajo Social Unit are investigated by FBI" ---------
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2003 23:10:58 -0700
From: "Chris Milda (_Akimel O`odham_)" <NewsAndInformation at EarthLink.net>
Subj: 6 in Navajo social unit are investigated by FBI (Fwd)
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
Date: Jun. 27, 2003 12:00 AM
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/~/0627azroundup27.html
Arizona news briefs
Jun. 27, 2003 12:00 AM
6 in Navajo social unit are investigated by FBI
WINDOW ROCK - Six employees of the Navajo Nation social services division
have been suspended as an investigation into possible fraud is conducted, a
tribal spokeswoman said Thursday.
Deana Jackson, spokeswoman for Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr., said the
FBI has been investigating possible misuse of child care development and
block grant funds.
A call to the FBI in Phoenix wasn't immediately returned Thursday.
Jackson said the FBI seized documents at the social services agency.
No charges have been filed.
Wire services
--------- "RE: Appeals Court rules on Indian Burial Ground" ---------
Date: Wed, 25 June 2003 08:57:22 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="OLD HICKORY DESECRATIONS"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section_id=9&screen=news&news_id=24111
Appeals Court rules on Indian burial ground
By Amanda Wardle, awardle at nashvillecitypaper.com
June 25, 2003
Tennessee Native Americans involved in a long-standing dispute over an
Indian burial ground near the Old Hickory Boulevard and Hillsboro Road
intersection do not qualify as "interested parties" who might have the
right to intervene in procedural legal action over the property, Tennessee
Court of Appeals officials ruled this week.
Members of the Alliance for Native American Indian Rights of Tennessee
sought relief from state appellate court officials after being denied the
right to intervene in a case over whether the state would be granted
permission to pursue road construction on the newly discovered Indian
burial site in 1999. Members of the alliance held that they had interest
in the site, located on the border of Davidson and Williamson Counties,
and should therefore be given the right to fight the state's use of the
property.
State officials requested in 1999 that they be allowed to move the
remains from the site in order to complete a road widening project in the
area, a prospect that Tennessee's Native American community felt violated
their ancient beliefs. The state later dismissed their case, saying they
would not have to remove the remains after all, but could simply
"encapsulate" and then pave over the burial site. The encapsulation was
completed, and that construction project was finished last year, said
Tennessee Department of Transportation Public Information Officer Kim
Keelor.
Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbes Lyle denied the Native
Americans' request to intervene in the case, saying they could be given
"friends of the court" status, which would allow them only limited
involvement. Their case has already been before the appellate court once,
and blamed at one point for delaying construction and causing road
congestion for more than a year.
While members of the alliance asked the Court of Appeals to determine
the constitutionality of the Termination of Use of Land as Cemetery Act,
which allows the state to request permission to disinter human remains in
cases where the land is being requested for other official purposes, the
court did not review that issue, saying instead that the issue of whether
Native Americans could intervene in the case was the only issue that was
"properly before this court." The state argued the act doesn't implicate
Native Americans' fundamental rights.
But members of the alliance plan to continue fighting to determine the
constitutionality of several issues, including the Termination of Use of
Land as Cemetery Act. Attorney Joe Johnston said the Native American
Indians would appeal this week's dismissal to the Tennessee Supreme Court,
and alliance President Pat Cummins said there may be appeals on other
issues, including the constitutionality of the "encapsulation" process.
"This has been going on since '99 and we don't see it ending anytime
soon," Cummins said.
Copyright c. 2003 The City Paper,LLC/Nashville, TN.
--------- "RE: Trial for Second Suspect in murder of Kiowa" ---------
Date: Wed, 25 June 2003 08:57:22 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="MURDER"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=2501
Trial for second suspect in murder of Kiowa man to start
First suspect will be sentenced tomorrow
LONG BEACH CA
SAM LEWIN 6/24/2003
Sentencing for one of the two men accused in the death of a 20-year-old
Kiowa dancer in southern California is set for tomorrow. Meanwhile, the
preliminary hearing for the second suspect in the slaying was postponed
today.
20-year-old Marlon Taylor was acquitted of most of the counts he faced
for the murder of Shane Dean Zotigh, a member of the Kiowa Tribe who made
a living performing traditional dances across the country. A Long Beach
jury found Taylor guilty of assault with a deadly weapon, but exonerated
him of charges carrying much stiffer penalties: first degree murder and
attempted murder. Taylor will be sentenced on the assault conviction
tomorrow. He faces 4 years in state prison.
The preliminary hearing for his alleged accomplice, Toncko Jamel
Williams, was postponed today because one of the attorneys was sick.
Los Angeles County prosecutors blamed the failure to gain the serious
convictions against Taylor on a reluctant eyewitness, Julio Ortiz. Ortiz
testified he was intoxicated the night of the shooting and could not
identify the man who shot Zotigh. Some investigators have privately stated
they believe Ortiz intentionally lied for fear of retribution.
Zotigh's uncle, Ben Wolfe, will speak during Taylor's sentencing, but he
says the case has left him with a bitter taste in his mouth. Wolfe is
confident, as are many of the police involved in the case, that Taylor
murdered Zotigh.
"I'm very angry, very disappointed and frustrated. There is just a sense
of hopelessness. We have been cheated and robbed," Wolfe told the Native
American Times Tuesday.
Police have publicly theorized that Zotigh was killed because he may
have been mistaken for a Latino gang member by one of Long Beach's
African-American gangs. The city has seen a serious increase in violence
between warring groups of ethnic gangs.
Tensions rose so high during the first trial that the judge ordered the
courtroom cleared after the verdict to prevent violence.
Native American Times is Copyright c. 2003 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc.
--------- "RE: Different standards for NA Prisoners in Texas" ---------
Date: Fri, 27 June 2003 22:43:57 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="TEXAS PRISONS"
http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=2518
Different standards for Native American prisoners in Texas
Indian chaplain defends policy
AUSTIN TX
SAM LEWIN 6/27/2003
When a Christian or Muslim inmate enters the Texas prison system, he
or she is allowed to attend services simply by stating their religion.
Not so for Native American inmates. They are one of two religions
required to take a test to pray traditionally.
That change in policy comes as Texas officials are cutting back the
number of prison chaplains administering in the system.
Cherokee inmate James Franklin is incarcerated at the Daniel Unit in
Snyder.
"We have a Native American circle in our unit that (at one time) met
every Wednesday. A couple of weeks ago they stopped giving half of us
passes to attend the circle. They say we must take and pass some Native
American test before they will let us start going again," wrote Franklin.
Officials with the Texas Department of Justice confirmed there has been
a change in policy.
"Those who wish to practice the Native American religious ceremonies
must accept and complete a study packet that explains the practices of
that religion," DOJ spokesman Larry Todd told the Native American Times.
Todd said only one other religion, Judaism, places a similar restriction.
No other denomination requires Texas inmates to pass a test to pray.
"This is not a policy to prevent offenders from practicing their
religion. It is to ensure that they study and understand the religion,"
said Todd.
Franklin doesn't buy that.
"No other religion has to take a test, why us?"
The policy change came from the DOJ's Director of Chaplains, Bill Pierce.
Contacted by the Native American Times, Pierce was unable to answer a
central question: Other religions consider their practices just as sacred
as Native Americans consider the prayer circle. Why can, say, a Catholic
prisoner attend organized prayer simply by claiming to be Catholic, and
not have to prove knowledge of Catholicism? Pierce referred those
questions to Ron Teal, the chaplain contracted by the DOJ to conduct
Native American prayer services.
Teal, Cherokee and Creek, said the change was instituted following a
prison break in Connolly. That prison was placed on lockdown, with inmates
confined to their cells. Teal said a large contingent of gang members
claimed to Native Americans so they could be shipped out to a Native
American unit. Inmates are placed in units depending on their stated
religion.
"They were saying `if I claim to be Indian, I can go to another unit.'
All of a sudden we have all these black Crip gang members attending our
prayer service," said Teal.
Teal maintains the test is not difficult. He says questions include:
What nation are you from? What is smoked inside the pipe?
Meanwhile, Texas officials are in the process of slashing jobs in the
state prison system. 1500 employees are being laid off, including 66
chaplains. That means that even if an Indian inmate passes the test, the
frequency of prayer services is decreasing. Franklin said services have
been cut back to once a month, when they used to be held every week. Teal
confirms that is correct.
Despite the reasoning for DOJ officials on requiring a test, Franklin
believes it means prisoners needing spirituality in a hellish environment
won't get it.
"I'm not taking a test and most of the others won't either. Some guys
are looking to the law for help. I don't know yet what I'm going to do."
Native American Times is Copyright c. 2003 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc.
--------- "RE: Native Prisoner" ---------
Date: Mon, Jun 30 2003 19:18:40 -0700
From: Janet Smith <owlstar at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="NATIVE PRISONER"
=====
Date: Sunday, June 22, 2003 4:50 PM
From: "Brigitte Thimiakis" <thimiakischool at the.forthnet.gr>
Subj: Do First Nations Prisoners need Support?
Greetings,
About the campaigns supporting the Prayer Warriors : I would like to say
that some of the Native prisoners at Montana State Prison have been
working very hard to have their religious issues improved, even when it
was very risky, and they are still struggling using the legal ways. By
saying this, I just want to make sure that no one thinks they are *only*
counting on outside support to solve their problems. Our support is to
back up their own struggle, using the same avenues they are pursuing.
Awareness and campaigns have made the MT officials realize they could
not easily get away with the discrimination against the Native Americans
prisoners. This has happened in other States too. Most people who are in
prison have made mistakes but they should still have the right to practise
their spiritual ways. It is proven that the Native prisoners have a
better chance of rehabilitation if they are allowed to practice their
traditional spiritual ways in prison, and that they are much less likely
to re-offend.
Unfortunately the system does not aim to reduce recidivism, but rather
to fill up more and more prisons, because prisons mean *big* money, and of
course their first choice is the people of color. This is wrong, and
everyone in the USA should try to stop this because there is no telling
who will be caught in that faulty system next, relatives, children,
friends - a system that is another form of genocide against the First
Nations. This is why it is important that many people support the struggle
of First Nations prisoners, and let the officials know that their system
is under watch.
Thank you to all of you who support their struggle.
Respectfully,
Brigitte
<Justice For First Nations Prisoners>
<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o
"Honor Your Spirit, Protect the Children"
Manuel Redwoman, Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html
STOP CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/stopabuse.html
<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o
>From Kim at khoward0723 at netscape.net:
Assistance requested for two Native American online organizations:
1) a Native American prisoner site dedicated to assisting prisoners obtain
outside support through pen pals, and displaying/promoting NA artwork,
crafts, and writings; and 2) a non profit organization dedicated to issues
concerning violations of NA religious rights violations.
General computer equipment and skills/experience needed. Legal / website
knowledge and/or knowledge of legal/web resource people (preferably
Native) a plus. Will include receiving/answering prisoner correspondence,
printing/mailing page print outs. Anyone interested and able to offer
assistance please contact Kim at naprisoners at netscape.net or
khoward0723 at netscape.net. As I have been told the khoward netscape
address has been bouncing please cc to catrelkim at yahoo.com. Additional
details provided to those seriously interested.
========================================
Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2003 13:54:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: "THUNDERINGDRUMS at webtv.net" <THUNDERINGDRUMS at webtv.net>
Subj: [IRONHOUSEDRUMS] Prisoner wants pen pal
Here's my information:
1/3 Cherokee and a good, caring man,
Mr. Anthony Byarse 320-269
S.O.C.F.
P.O. Box 45699
Lucasville, Ohio 45699
The Creator gave you two ears
and one mouth...
so you can listen twice as much
as you speak.
~Two Hawks' Grandfather~
~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/
--------- "RE: Rustywire: Where are the You?" ---------
Date: Tue, Jun 24 2003 09:02 AM
Subj: Where are the you?
From: rustywire at yahoo.com (john rustywire)
Newsgroup: alt.native
It was in a place where the walls are silent and the voices cary far,
and I was looking for people, the first born of this country, natives
to the soil where they live from the eastern shore, and travel to the
west. Looking North I can see the those that live way up high and to
the South cousins from an America we sometimes think of as another
country, but yet they are kin.
I wonder about them, the way of life, the stories of old and the songs
they sing, in this I am looking to see a little of their life, how it
is with them and maybe to glimpse into their world.
The old man used to say, that there are others out there, they have
stories like us and they travel the same road. You will find many lost
out there looking to teach you things you shouldn't know, calling them
their own ways and all the time asking you abut yours and one day they
tell you what you told them and they have become you knowing more than
you. He told me to stay away from them, they will steal your heart and
mind.
I remember asking where are the good hearts?
He told me look to the morning sun, in the early light of day when
yesterday is washed away and in the glowing colors of pink, gold and
blue chasing the night away you will see them just at the horizon,
they are calling out to you to join them. It is a life long quest to
travel that road, but yet each morning we catch a glimpse of them,
just a touch of what dreams are made of, the beautyway.
In the light of early dawn I stood this morning and thought on these
things and remembered his face and the steady gaze he held looking to
the horizon, singing old songs and yet in all this he rubbed my head
and said look, it is there.
Coming here, where are the songs, the stories, and lifeways of natives?
Tell me about your life, the way of living that I might get glimpse.
Where are you, native
I see many but the words are dark and twisted talk leaving no good feeling.
So I am wondering where are those that used to come and visit?
--------- "RE: Poem: I am an Indian, not unlike you" ---------
Date: Wed, June 18, 2003 11:14
From: "Lema, Ronald J. (Contractor)" <cst043 at persnet.Navy.Mil>
Subj: I am an Indian, not unlike you.
>To: <gars at nanews.org>
I am an Indian, not unlike you.
I have brown hair where yours is black.
I have blue eyes where yours are brown.
I have light skin, where yours is tan.
Yet my blood is red as is yours.
And my heart beats as does yours.
I speak differently then you, but say the same thing.
I look different then you, but appear the same.
Yet, I am an Indian, much different then you.
I believe in the Great Spirit, as do you.
I worship Mother Earth the same as you.
My totems are different, but the same as yours.
While our medicine is different, they follow the same path.
I am an Indian, much different then you.
I have honor and respect for my heritage, as do you.
I respect and honor my elders, as you do.
I here the cries of our ancestors, as do you.
I feel the pain of our tribes, much like you.
Yet, I am an Indian, much different then you.
I was raised in a city, where you were raised on a reservation.
I was raised a white man, and you as an Indian.
I walk this earth in mystery, where your eyes are clear
I have learned little, where you have experienced more.
Yet, I am young as you are.
Yet, I am an Indian, much different then you.
I work to learn the old ways, as do you,
Yet where I cannot, you can.
I raise a voice against atrocities against our people, as do you.
I raise a fist and cry in pain at the death of our kind, much like you.
Yet, I am an Indian, much different then you.
You have blood quantum where I do not.
And because of that, you are Indian, where I am not.
The Government dictates my laws, as it does you.
It states I am not Indian, because I do not have the required blood,
Yet I am an Indian much like you.
I suffer the same prejudices against me, yet different then you.
I have light skin, where yours is brown.
The white man holds no prejudices against me it is you.
Yet, I am an Indian, different then you.
While we may appear different in every way,
Our blood is still red,
And we breathe the same air,
Please my brothers, remember....
I am an Indian, not unlike you.
Ron Red Eagle
"If you take the Christian Bible and put it out in the wind and the rain,
soon the paper on which the words are printed will disintegrate and the
words will be gone. Our bible IS the wind and the rain." Statement by an
anonymous Native woman.
Before a Mountain can be moved, the pebble must move first. Are you willing
to be that pebble? ~ron red eagle~
"This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use
as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is
important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When
tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; in its place is something
that you have left behind...let it be something good." Author Unknown
--------- "RE: Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days" ---------
Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2003 11:32:08 -1000
From: Debbie Sanders <kepola at hgea.org>
Subj: Hawaiian Book of Days
A HAWAI`I BOOK OF DAYS, week of July 7-July 13
IULAI
July
Hinaia`ele`ele
7
Dance joyously in the memory of your ancestors, your kupuna.
8
Life is all around us, ... and within.
9
I weave a lei of maile leaves to celebrate the new day!
10
My flute echoes the cry of the wind.
11
The mantis pauses for a moment in its journey to bless those it
encounters.
12
Night passes a veil of introspection over the land.
13
To welcome the future, you must first release the burdens of the past.
(c) Copyright 1991 by D. F. Sanders
Me ke aloha i ka nani, ... Moe'uhanekeanuenue
(With love and beauty, ... Rainbow Dream)
--------- "RE: Turbines generating Dreams for Tribe" ---------
Date: Fri, 27 June 2003 08:35:06 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="WIND TURBINES"
http://www.indianz.com/News/
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2003/06/27/news/state/state03.txt
Turbines generating dreams for tribe
By Lisa Chamley, Pierre Capital Journal
June 27, 2003
On the Rosebud Sioux reservation, a wind turbine project is generating
dreams of clean energy and economic progress for an American Indian tribe.
"The wind is a gift and a blessing; that's how we feel about this," Pat
Spears, a consultant for the tribe, said. "It's a natural gift from the
creator, and it should be used more, same as the sun, same as solar power,
same as geothermal power."
In late February, the turbine was installed near the Rosebud Casino and
Hotel. On March 3, the blades that circle 190 feet into the air began
generating enough electricity for at least 220 homes.
The turbine was the culmination of eight years of work. It was named in
honor of Alex "Little Soldier" Lunderman, a former Rosebud Sioux president
who died in 1999. Lunderman believed the tribe could use technology and
natural-resources compatibly with tribal history, philosophy and values.
Basin Electric and Ellsworth Air Force Base are the turbine's first
customers, the latter of which has a contract to buy energy from the
turbine for five years.
"We're selling all of the power to Basin Electric," Spears said. "Part
of that, the energy for 450 kilowatts, is going to Ellsworth, the
remainder to Basin."
In addition to the energy, Ellsworth also bought "green tags," which are
dollars spent on investments in clean-energy projects. The turbine has a
life expectancy of 25 years.
The project was funded through a complicated combination of a matching
grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, "green tag" purchases by
Ellsworth and Native Energy, a Vermont company that promotes tribal energy
projects and a loan from the U.S. Rural Utility Service.
The Rosebud Sioux turbine is one of the first American Indian-owned and
operated turbines in the country and is also the first part of a plan to
develop wind power on tribal lands throughout the Northern Plains.
That is the plan of the Intertribal Council On Utility Policy, of which
Spears is president. Intertribal COUP consists of federally-recognized
tribes in North and South Dakota and their affiliates throughout the
plains. The organization is headquartered on the Rosebud reservation.
The second phase is a project at St. Francis, and the third phase for
projects on as many as eight reservations has been chosen as an
Environmental Justice Community Revitalization Group, which involves 15
federal agencies, according to Spears.
To move the energy it generates around to its markets, the tribe wants
to use the transmission infrastructure already in place owned by the
Western Area Power Administration.
"The need is in transmission buildout," Spears said. "We don't have the
transmission capacity to move to the urban markets, that's the problem."
The tribe feels that the WAPA system has the capacity for the additional
energy generated.
Spears said Intertribal COUP has written a study on the possible merger
of wind and hydropower in the Missouri River system.
In order to fulfill its energy contracts, WAPA now buys energy in the
"spot market" when generation is low. Spears said WAPA should buy its
backup energy from the tribes, rather than the high-priced spot market.
The reservations on the Northern Great Plains have the potential to
generate more than 100 times what the dams on the Missouri River can
generate.
"Just on tribal lands alone, that's the potential," Spears said. "If you
look at all of the land in the Northern Plains, North and South Dakota, we
could produce one-third of the energy needs of the entire U.S."
"The equipment is the cost, and it's an upfront cost, so it's known and
decided," he said. "That price per kilowatt hour is known and can be
projected for 20 to 30 years with no increase. No other source of fuel can
claim that."
Coal-fired electricity accounts for most of the energy used in this part
of the country, according to NativeEnergy.com.
Spears said fossil fuel costs will continue to rise.
The fuels are becoming more scarce and also negatively impact the
environment.
"We're at the top of the headwaters of a large windshed. We want to see
clean energy here, because we respect the earth. We want to maintain the
balance," Spears said.
"We also want the economic benefit that can be recognized with wind
energy."
Fossil fuels should be used to back up wind energy and other clean-
-energy sources such as geothermal energy, not vice versa, he said.
"It's all there if we put it together right and get serious about
development," Spears said.
The wind energy business can employ people on the reservations and boost
the economy in one of the country's most depressed areas.
According to NativeEnergy.com, more than 14 percent of American Indian
households are without electricity, which is 10 times the national average.
"We see wind energy producing jobs and other opportunities," Spears said.
"The economics of wind can work."
Copyright c. 2003 the Rapid City Journal.
--------- "RE: Wampanoag revived and not forgotten" ---------
Date: Wed, 25 June 2003 08:57:22 -0600
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="WAMPANOAG LANGUAGE"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/revivedand24.htm
Revived and not forgotten
Woman crusades to restore Wampanoag language
By JOE KILLIAN, Contributing Writer
June 25, 2003
MASHPEE - Wampanoag folklore speaks of a language prophecy. It is said
that the tribe's native language, not spoken for more than a century, will
return to the people.
Thanks to a Wampanoag linguist and her burgeoning language program, that
prophecy seems closer than ever to actual fulfillment.
"We're the first tribe on this continent to reclaim a language with no
speakers," said Jessie Little Doe Fermino, Wampanoag language teacher.
"It's a difficult process, but we've had a lot of interest and a lot of
success."
On Sunday, 21 students graduated from Fermino's program as speakers of
Wopanaak, the Wampanoag native language. They joined the more than 70
other graduates who have completed the course in the last four years.
"I feel like this is my place, this is what I'm supposed to be doing,"
said Fermino, a member of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe. "But it's really
our ancestors who are responsible for the return of the language."
Fermino traces the return of the Wampanoag language to a dream 10 years
ago where her ancestors asked her to help revive the language.
"I spoke with the tribal elders and they agreed," she said "So that's
when I began working to put together a way to teach this language that no
longer has any native speakers."
This desire drove Fermino to earn a master's degree in linguistics from
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In her studies, she literally
resurrected the Wopanaak language.
"I wrote a layperson's grammar of the language for my master's thesis,"
Fermino said "I had to, because otherwise only linguists could have read
any documents in the native language."
Wopanaak is one of 33 variations of the Algonquin language, prominent
all along the East Coast before the arrival of European settlers. When she
started writing her studies, Fermino said she worried there wouldn't be
many surviving documents written in Wopanaak.
As it turned out there were more than enough.
"We had a surprising wealth of documents to work from trying to
reconstruct the language," she said. "From wills and marriage documents to
treaties and histories. In fact the first Bible written on this continent
was in Wopanaak."John Elliot, a missionary working with two translators,
wrote that version of the Bible in 1663, she said.
Fermino began the classes, which are open only to Wampanoag tribal
members and their families, slowly at first. Her students learned simple
vocabulary and grammar, eventually moving on to reading native documents
and learning to write the language.
The courses, which run in six-week blocks, are taught in Mashpee and on
Martha's Vineyard and range in difficulty from beginner to advanced levels.
Some students have gone on to immersion classes where no English is
allowed.
Reclaiming their native language is a large part of reclaiming their
identities as Wampanoag people, Fermino said.
"Having a shared language is part of being a community. That's what the
prophecy is about," she said. "When the language returns to the community,
the community is more whole."
Copyright c. 2003 Cape Cod Times.
--------- "RE: Honoring our Keeper" ---------
Date: Mon, Jun 30 2003 08:17:03 -0700
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="REDEDICATION"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/6200379.htm
Honoring our Keeper
Indians rededicate beloved sculpture
BY MOLLY MCMILLIN
The Wichita Eagle
June 30, 2003
Nearly 30 years ago, representatives from 17 tribes performed at the
original dedication of artist Blackbear Bosin's 44-foot Keeper of the
Plains sculpture.
On Sunday, Bosin's family and some of the original members of the
Mid-America All-Indian Center gathered at the weathered steel sculpture
in a rededication ceremony at the confluence of the Arkansas and Little
Arkansas rivers.
Bosin's statue has become a symbol of Wichita and Sedgwick County, the
Indian Center's cultural programs coordinator, Vernon "Cy" Ahtone, told
a small group gathered at the foot of the statue.
Using the aromatic smoke from burning dried cedar -- one of Mother
Earth's gifts -- Ahtone asked blessings of the Earth in a symbolic
purification ceremony.
The cedar, gathered in Oklahoma, was mixed with coals in a shovel. While
Ahtone's cousin held the shovel, Ahtone fanned the coals with an eagle's
feather.
He then prayed that the Keeper would continue to unify the American
Indian community so members can support one another in their undertakings.
The sculpture is a symbol "of our lasting culture and lasting traditions,
" Ahtone told those present. Then they formed a line and took turns
cupping their hands and fanning the smoke over their arms and face.
In that way, they breathe in the prayers, then release them to the
spirit world, Ahtone explained.
Bosin's niece, Susan Seal, who helped plan the rededication ceremony,
said the Keeper -- with his palms raised to the sky -- was
enthusiastically welcomed by the city 29 years ago.
But she and others worry that many have forgotten about the statue and
its significance to the city, she said.
Erected in 1974, the sculpture was built as a tribute to the area's
first inhabitants and to beautify the city.
Sunday's event, which also included a powwow, dancing and a potluck
dinner, drew about 150 people.
Seal is coordinator of a committee planning a 30th anniversary
celebration for next year.
Bosin's son, Niles Bosin, was one of three Bosin children who attended,
along with nieces, nephews and grandchildren. Bosin died in 1980.
"It really makes the whole family feel really good that he was so
respected and loved," Niles Bosin said.
Copyright c. 2003 The Wichita Eagle.
--------- "RE: Love of Tribe Shared" ---------
Date: Mon, Jun 30 2003 08:17:03 -0700
From: Gary Smith <gars at Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="LOVE of TRIBE"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.journalstar.com/local.php?story_id=59421
Love of tribe shared all in the family
BY MARGARET REIST / Lincoln Journal Star
There's a wealth of Ponca tribal history stored in the mind of Donna
Wendzillo.
Memories that have accumulated there since she was born, 76 years ago,
on her grandmother's kitchen table in the farmhouse on what was then the
Niobrara reservation.
Stories she's shared with her seven children, 20 grandchildren and 14
great-grandchildren.
A history the Sioux City, Iowa, woman has brought, for most of the last
13 years, to the Ponca Tribal Council, the governmental body of the Ponca
Tribe of Nebraska.
"We're glad to have an elder on the council," said Mark Peniska, the
council chairman.
In November, Wendzillo brought something else. Her granddaughter.
Rebecca White, 36, of Omaha was elected to the council in November.
The Ponca council already was unusual because so many of the members are
distantly related.
"About six of us on the council have the same great-grandparents,"
Wendzillo said.
For some, that's great-great- grandparents. But having the
intergenerational grandmother-granddaughter team is even more unusual.
Not that they always agree on council issues.
"Sometimes we don't vote the same," Wendzillo said.
But they do agree on the importance of helping the tribe grow and on
maintaining its history and culture.
Much of that was lost when the tribe was terminated by Congress in 1965.
"We were like the Israelites:We just wandered until we were reinstated,"
Wendzillo said.
That happened in 1990, and Wendzillo was on the interim council and has
been elected several times since.
Because the tribe was terminated, White -- like many others in her
generation -- grew up with no chance to put her cultural heritage into
practice. White knew only the stories her grandmother told her.
"There was no basis to know what our culture was, no way to learn our
language or traditions, except through the elders," she said. And today,
there are few elders left.
Because the tribe is so scattered now, it is organized differently with
service areas across the state, rather than a reservation as a base.
But Niobrara, where Wendzillo grew up and where the reservation was once
located, is the headquarters.
There, Wendzillo was instrumental in establishing a museum and having a
refurbished community building added to the National Register of
Historical Places.
The tribe also has established a bison herd, something particularly
important to Wendzillo.
"I wanted to bring the buffalo back to our people," she said. "That was
everything to them." (Bison are more commonly referred to as buffalo.)
And now, as the herd grows and the tribe considers its economic benefits,
Wendzillo said, she wants to make sure the cultural importance of the
buffalo remains a priority.
White is not the only member of Wendzillo's family to be involved with
the tribe.
Two of Wendzillo's children hold positions: son Phillip Wendzillo is
cultural director and daughter (White's mother) Patricia Eichberger is the
education specialist. White's sister Candy Schott manages the health
clinic in Omaha.
White said she has been involved with the tribe since 1994, serving on
various committees until she decided to run for office.
And she and her grandmother are doing something else together working on
a tribal history, taking the boxes of newspaper articles and memorabilia
in Wendzillo's attic and sorting them, putting them into books for the
museum.
And they're taking Wendzillo's memories and personal history -- of
losing the family farm over a $300 grocery debt, of traveling with her
parents and weaving willow furniture, of being the 100th child her
grandmother delivered -- and recording them. For posterity.
"She said, `You'll have to do a story on me when I'm gone,'" White said
of her grandmother. "I said, `No, we'll do it while you're here.'"
Reach Margaret Reist at 473-7226 or mreist at journalstar.com.
Copyright c. 2003 Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved.
--------- "RE: This Week on First Peoples TV" ---------
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 08:03:22 2003 -0700
From: Gary Smith
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
filename="WORLD LINK TV"
Available on DirecTV (800-531-5000), Channel 375,
and on EchoStar/Dish Network (800-333-3474), channel 9410
= = = = = = = = =
Human Faces Behind the Rainforest
This program's length is: 1.00 hour
You can see this program at the following times:
Mon, Jun 30, 8:00 PM ET (Mon, Jun 30, 5:00 PM PT)
Tue, Jul 01, 2:00 AM ET (Mon, Jun 30, 11:00 PM PT)
Tue, Jul 01, 8:00 AM ET (Tue, Jul 01, 5:00 AM PT)
Tue, Jul 01, 2:00 PM ET (Tue, Jul 01, 11:00 AM PT)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
First Peoples' TV: Circles
In the Yukon, an innovative program is bringing together circle
sentencing, a traditional form of Aboriginal justice, and the Canadian
justice system. Sentencing circles don't focus on punishment. Instead,
they bring together the perpetrator of a crime, his or her victims,
and peers and family in an effort to bring healing to the community.
Brothers Harold and Phil Gatensby, who have both done their share of
jail time, now participate in circles as a way to allow offenders to
break the cycle of crime, court, prison, and allow them to reconnect
with their spiritual traditions. Circles works so well that Aboriginals
from the Yukon have helped set up similar programs elsewhere in Canada
and in the US. With its potential to bring community members together,
the circle is a powerful alternative to prison terms imposed by courts
- not only for Aboriginal people but, potentially, for all communities.
The film is available from the National Film Board of Canada.
"Circles" is part of the "First Peoples' TV"series made possible by
DreamCatchers, a non-profit organization working to bring Native films
to a wider audience.
--------- "RE: Upcoming Events" ---------
Date: Mon, 30 June 2003 15:39:14 -0
From: Gary Smith (gars at speakeasy.org)
Subj: Upcoming Events
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
EVENTS ARE FEATURED IN ODD NUMBERED ISSUES ONLY
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
Lists from Jim Anderson, OCB Tracker and Whispering Wind are listed here
for 60 days. Each web site is listed if you need a more complete list.
===================================
Date: Saturday, January 01, 2000 08:07 pm
From: "Edna H. King" <twobraidz at hotmail.com>
Subj: Island in the Sun Inter-Tribal Pow Wow
>To: gars at speakeasy.org
Island in the Sun Inter-Tribal Pow Wow
Boozhoo!
Can you please add our Pow Wow to your listing?
Beausoleil First Nation is hosting it's annual
Island in the Sun Inter-Tribal Pow Wow on July 5th and 6th, 2003.
Beausoleil First Nation is located in the beautiful Georgian Bay
in Ontario. Camping sites are available.
Grand Entry is 1:00 pm - 7:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday at 12:00 noon
Here is a link to the BFN Pow Wow Site.
http://islandinthesunpowwow.tripod.com./
For more information contact:
Nadine Kidd -- (705) 247-2535 (no collect calls please)
Fax -- (705)247-2536
Email: revelationhunter at hotmail.com
Miigwech,
Edna H. King
===================================
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 09:19:38 -0800 (PST)
From: "margrett okelley" <margrettok at elvis.com>
Subj: Comanche Homecoming 3rd week in July 2003
>To: gars at nanews.org
Dear Sir:
Please include the Comanche Homecoming dates
in your calendar of events.
The Comanche Homecoming will be July 17,18,19, & 20, 2003 at
Sultan Park, Walters, Oklahoma
This will be the 50th annual homecoming...
free parking, camping, rations, contests, and parade.
Thank you.
Margrett O. Kelley
===================================
52nd ANNUAL NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN DAYS
JULY 10-13, 2003
BROWNING, MONTANA
SPONSORED BY
BLACKFEET TRIBAL BUSINESS COUNCIL
MC'S earl old person, blackfeet
jay st. goddard, blackfeet
kenny scabby robe, sr., blackfeet
HOST DRUMS
american host: mandaree, international singing champions
canadian host: high noon, world singing champions
ARENA DIRECTORS
lucky white grass, frank goings, kevin kicking woman,
clarence comes at night
DANCE SPECIALS
alvin yellow owl iii, men's traditional $1,000 winner take all
miss blackfeet - myalyn spoonhunter, 2002 world champion teen girl's,
jingle dress special 16-25, in memory of peter tatsey
ld style shawl dance, 40 & over, 3 places & gifts, in honor of first miss
blackfeet, gail sharp, 1979-80, sponsored by leona sharp & family
audrey white grass scabby robe, drumming contest special & hand drum
contest, women's traditional contest, for more information contact: lucky
white grass at (406) 338-7552
prairie chicken dance showdown, sponsored by clinton croff, 1st place
champion jacket plus $1,000 plus, consolation prizes addes, for more
information contact: clintor or Justine croff at (406) 338-3703
women's golden age dance special - honoring the memory of bertha sharp
turle-ackerman, 1926-1987, first woman to dance modern style
CARNIVAL
sponsored by: candy apple amusement; rides: avalance, zipper, octopus,
tilt-a-whirl, scrambler, ferris wheel, kid ville, jolly frog, much, much,
much more!!!!
TWO MEDICINE RUNNING CLUB FUN RUN
saturday, july 12, 2003 at 2:00 p.m.,
contact: wendy or diana at (406) 338-7870 or 338-3876
N.A.I.D. GOLF TOURNAMENT
contact: vic hall at (406) 338-7440
REEVIS/WEBBER FAMILY BREAKFAST
in memory of "beatrice bear medicine,
friday july 11, 2003 7:00 - 10:00 a.m., campground arbor
N.A.I.D. RODEO
multi-sanctioned
july 11, 12, 13, 2003, $15,000 added & buckles per major event, all-
around saddles, youth rodeo & team roping jackpot on thursday, july 10th,
contact: mike tatsey at (406) 472-3398 or 338-5525
INDIAN RELAY/HORSE RACES
july 11, 12, 13, 2003 $15,000 cash & prizes, buckles & cooler blankets,
contact: Geri osbourne at (406) 338-3232, phillip rattler at 338-7748,
tony carlson at 291-0348, ernie fitz at 338-3489
STICK GAME TOURNAMENT
1st - $5,000 2nd - $3,000 3rd - $1,500 4th - $500
contact: jodi wippert at 338-7103 or myra knople at 338-7191
PARADE
saturday, july 12, 2003 at 11:00 a.m.
contact : jim mcneely at 338-7521
GIVEAWAYS
giveaways will be held on thursday and friday, july 10, 11, 2003
contact: jim mcneely at 338-7521
TEEPEES PAID DAILY
SECURITY & EMS PROVIDED
SEARCH & RESCUE TASK FORCE
ARTS & CRAFT BOOTHS
RATIONS/DAILY DISTRIBUTIONS
BLACKJACK TABLES
CATHOLIC SUNDAY MASS
sunday, july 13, 2003 at 10:00 A.M.
BISHOP ROBERT MORLINO, CELEBRANT
CAMPGROUND ARBOR
BROWNING UNITED METHODIST PARISH
SUNDAY SERVICES WILL BE HELD AT THE CHURCH AT 11:00 A.M.
VETERAN'S DAY
FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2003, WILL HONOR KOREAN WAR VETERANS,
PRESENTATION BY: MAJOR GENERAL JOHN E. PENDERGAST
N.R.M.A. OLD TIME DANCE
CCD CENTER, SATURDAY, JULY 12, 2003 AT 7:00 P.M.,
CONTACT: GALEN SINCLAIR AT 338-5456
COMPETITION CATEGORIES
MEN'S TRADITIONAL AGE 18-39 AND 40-54
MEN'S GRASS DANCE/CHICKEN DANCE
FANCY
MEN'S BUCKSKIN/WOMEN'S BUCKSKIN 55 & OLDER
WOMEN'S TRADITIONAL/FANCY/JINGLE DRESS
GOLDEN AGE 55 & OLDER
BOY'S TRADITIONAL/FANCY/GRASS DANCE
YOUNG MEN'S TRADITIONAL/FANCY/GRASSDANCE
GIRL'S TRADITIONAL/FANCY/JINGLE DRESS
YOUNG WOMEN'S TRADITIONAL/FANCY/JINGLE
For more information on 52nd annual north american indian days contact:
jodi wippert at (406) 338-7103 the north american indian days committee &
the blackfeet tribe are not responsible for travelers aid, weather damages,
accidents, or lost/stolen property.
===================================
2ND SALINE RIVER BENEFIT POW WOW
AUG. 08-09-10 2003
ALL DANCERS DRUMS and GENERAL PUBLIC
WELCOME at the SALINE COUNTY FAIR GROUNDS
BENTON ARKANSAS
Special kids American Indian Educators
Educators will be demonstrating bow making,
using adlatle and styles of lodging
ARENA DIRECTOR--------------KIETH LITTLE BADGER-FLA.
MCEE----------------------------------GARY SMITH-GA.
HEAD MAN----------------------GARY THUNDER WOLF ALA.
HEAD LADY--------------------------VALERIE COOPER-AL.
HOST DRUM---------------------------------Shadow Wolf
HOST DRUM----------------------------Red Hawk Singers
ALL DRUMS AND DANCERS WELCOME
ALL TYPES OF CRAFTS
FEATURING CHIEF LITTLE HORSE FILM STAR
WE WILL BE HONORING ALL ELDERS,VETERANS,
Volunteer FIRE FIGHTERS WHO THE POW WOW IS FOR
WILL BE OFFERING FREE BLOOD PRESSURE CHECKs
ADMISSION: 5.00 ADULTS
___________3.00 CHILDREN UNDER 12 and SENIORS 55 AND UP
Fri. Aug 08-12 pm till 4 pm kids day all admission free
Fri Aug 08 gates open at 5 pm
grand entry at 7 pm inter-tribal till 10 pm
Sat.Aug. 09 gates open at 10 am
gourd dancing 12pm till 1 pm
grand entry and inter-tribal dancing till 6 pm
6 pm till 7 pm gourd dancing
7 pm till 10 pm grand entry and inter-tribal
Sun. Aug 10 gates open at 10 am
12 pm till 1 pm gourd dancing
1 pm till 5pm grand entry and inter-tribal dancing
BRING YOUR LAWN CHAIRS AND SPEND THE DAY
FRY BREAD AND INDIAN TACOS
ALCOHOL AND DRUG FREE EVENT
FOR MORE INFO OR DIRECTION
CONTACT ROBERT BELLINGER 501-860-7220
JIMMY 870-879-1396 or LARRY 501-868-4108
HOST MOTEL TO BE ANNOUNCED
===================================
Aaron's Powwow Calendar Updated May 14, 2003
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/9173/powwows.html
July 2003
July 4-6 - Hobby Horse Ranch Native American Festival
Location: Rt. 73, Fleetwood, Pennsylvania.
Contact: (610) 944-5797.
July 18 - 1st Annual Lheidli T'enneh Tannot'enne Society Competition Powwow
Location: Kin Centres I and II, 1040 Whenun Road,
Prince George, British Columbia, Canada.
Notes: Over $45,000 prize money. Camping available.
Contact: (250) 963-8451; Fax (250) 963-8490; vanessaw at telus.net.
July 18-20 - The Lenape/Renape Wampanoo Confederacy Powwow
Location: The Ancoda Farm, Tuckachawan, Connecticut.
Contact: (860) 935-9226.
August 2003
August 29-31 - 22nd Annual Stockton Communiy Labor Day Weekend Powwow
Location: Webster Middle School Field, Stockton, California.
Contact: (209) 953-4803, Fax (209) 953-4261; clydehodge at earthlink.net;
www.geocities.com/nativeteacher/.
September 2003
September 17-20 - First Annual Miss Indian Rodeo America Pageant
Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Notes: CDIB card required.
Contact: Deborah Robertson rodeobest at aol.com; www.rodeobest.com/apic.
September 26-28 - 2003 Richmond Powwow
Location: Richmond, Kentucky.
Notes: Intertribal dancing.
Contact: (859) 623-6076; richmondpowwow at hotmail.com;
www.homestead.com/richmondpowwowassn/.
September 27-28 - Gathering of the People Powwow
Location: Vigo Conservation Club, Terre Haute, Indiana.
Contact: (812) 694-8745.
October 2003
October 10-12 - Fifth Annual Northern Lights Casino Thanksgiving Powwow
Location: Prince Albert Communiplex, 6th Avenue North, Prince Albert,
Saskatchewan, Canada.
Notes: Dance and drum contests. Mc, Russel Standingrock
and Tommy Christian; Host Northern Drum, Whitefish Jrs.
Categories include: Mens Fancy, Traditional, Grass;
Womens Fancy Shawl, Jingle.
Contact: (306) 764-4777; ctyrellstanding at hotmail.com.
October 11-12 - First Annual American Indian Powwow
Location: Faulkner Park, 3 miles north of Lindale, Texas.
Notes: Intertribal dancing, everyone welcome. Vendor space available.
Contact: m.l.bailey at prodigy.net; cheroke2 at earthlink.net.
=========================================================================
Aboriginal Multi-Media Society Updated May 14, 2003
Aboriginal Community Events Listing
http://www.ammsa.com/ammsaevents.html
July 2003
Kainai Indian Days
Standoff, Alberta
(403) 737-3753
July 3 - 6, 2003
Miapukek 8th Annual Powwow
Ktaqmkuk Mi'kmaq Traditional Gathering Powwow Grounds
Conne River, Newfoundland
Kelly: (709) 882-2470 / 2710
July 4-6, 2003
Wahpeton Dakota Nation Powwow.
north of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
306-764-6649
Erminskin Annual Powwow
Hobbema, Alberta
Emily: (780) 585-3835
Leech Lake 4th of July Powwow
Cass Lake, Minnesota
(218) 335-8200
White Bear Powwow 2003 Celebrations
White Bear First Nation, SK
Irene: (306) 577-4553
Wildhorse 9th Annual Powwow
Umatilla Indian Reserve
Pendleton, Oregon
1 (800) 654-9453
Yukon International Storytelling
16th Annual Festival
Rotary Peace Park, Yukon Territory
Lilyan: (867) 633-7550
www.yukonstory.com
Flathead Nation Powwow
Arlee, Montana
(406) 745-2700
Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Wacipi
136th Annual
Sisseton, North Dakota
(605) 698-3942
Northern Cheyenne Annual
July 4th Powwow
Lame Deer, Montana
(406) 477-6284
July 4-13, 2003
Calgary Stampede and
World Famous Rodeo
Calgary, Alberta
1-800-661-1767
July 5 - 6, 2003
Munsee-Delaware Nation
9th Annual Traditional Gathering
Munsee-Delaware Nation Park
and Gathering Grounds
Carmen/Floyd: (800) 257-7279
or (519) 289-5396
14th Annual Traditional Powwow
Sheguiandah First Nation
Hwy #6, Sheguiandah, Ontario,
Manitoulin Island
(705) 368-2781
July 10-13, 2003
North American Indian Days
Blackfeet Browning, Montana
(406) 338-7276
40th Annual Sac & Fox Powwow
Stroud, Oklahoma
Kim: (405) 968-9531
July 11-13, 2003
Sagamok Anishnabek
19th Annual Traditional Powwow
Sagamok Spiritual Grounds
12km South of Massey, Ontario
Linda (705) 865-2172
Carl (705) 865-1553
One Arrow Traditional Powwow
east of Rosthern & Batoche, Saskatchewan
(306) 423-5493
White Shield Powwow
White Shield, North Dakota
(701) 743-4535
Cold Lake Treaty Days
Cold Lake First Nation, Alberta
Noella: 1-888-222-7183
Enoch Annual Competition Powwow
Enoch, Alberta
(780) 470-4505
Echoes of a Proud Nation
13th Annual Powwow
Kahnawake Territory, Quebec
Laurie: (450) 632-8667
July 12 - 13, 2003
Mississaugas of Scugog
7th Annual Powwow
Mississaugas of Scugog Island, Ontario
Anne: (905) 985-1826
July 15-17, 2003
Assembly of First Nations
24th Annual General Assembly
Shaw Conference Centre
Edmonton, Alberta
Bonny Maracle: (613) 241-6789 x 297
July 17-20, 2003
Standing Arrow Powwow
Elmo, Montana
(406) 849-5968
July 17 - 26, 2003
Klondike Days
Edmonton, Alberta
1 (888) 800-7275
July 18, 2003
20th Anniversary Open House
Windspeaker
Aboriginal Multi-Media Society
13245 - 146 Street
Edmonton, Alberta
780-455-2700
July 18-20, 2003
Mandaree Hidatsa Celebration Powwow
Mandaree, North Dakota
(701) 759-3277
Carry The Kettle Powwow
South of Sintaluta, Saskatchewan
(306) 727-2169
Onion Lake First Nation Powwow
Onion Lake, Saskatchewan
(306) 344-2149
Standing Arrow Powwow & Horse Games
Elmo, Montana
(406) 849-6018
Wahcinca Dakota Oyate Powwow
Fort Peck Res. Poplar, Montana
(406) 768-5186
Sioux Valley
Competition Powwow & Games
Sioux Valley, Manitoba
Anna: (204) 855-2671
July 22-24, 2003
Sturgeon Lake Powwow
near Shellbrook, Saskatchewan
(306) 764-1872
July 25-27, 2003
Back To Batoche Metis Days
near Batoche, Saskatchewan
(306) 343-8285
The Little River Band of Ottawa Indians
10th Annual Anishinaabe Family Language & Culture Camp
Powwow Grounds, Manistee, Michigan
Kenny: (231) 933-4406
www.Anishinaabemowin.org
Touchwood Agency Tribal Council Powwow
near Raymore, Saskatchewan
(306) 835-2125
Keeweena Bay Powwow
Ojibway Campgrounds
Baraga, Michigan
(906) 353-6623
La Ronge 1st Powwow
Lac La Ronge, Saskatchewan
(306) 835-2125
Bitteroot Valley All Nations Powwow
10th Annual
Hamilton, Montana
(406) 363-5383
Wendake, Carrefour des Nations
Wendake (near Quebec City)
Contact: Marjolaine McKenzie
Phone: (418) 843-5550
Fax: (418) 843-2666
E-mail: pow.wow at cnhw.qc.ca
Native Contemporary Art Festival the 25th
2nd Annual Powwow 26th-27th
July 26-27, 2003
Milk River Indian Days
Fort Belknap, Montana
(406) 353-2886
Grand River Powwow
Chiefswwod Tent & Trailer Park
Six Nations of the Grand River
Brant County Road 54
Ohsweken, Ontario
1(866) 393-3001 or (519) 445-4061
Web Site: www.grpowwow.com
Gathering of Nations Powwow
Brunswick House FN &
Chapleau Cree FN host
Powwow during Chapleau's Nature Festival
Margaret: (705) 864-0174
Gagaguwon Powwow
Oscoda, Michigan
Joe/Sue: (906) 739-1994
August 2003
August TBA
Crooked Lake Powwow
Bradview, Saskatchewan
Colleen: (306) 696-3581
Aug.1-3, 2003
Little Red River Powwow
near LaRonge, Saskatchewan
(306) 953-7200
10th Annual Traditional Pow Wow
Thessalon First Nation, Ontario
Melva Bissaillion: (705) 842-2670
Thessalon First Nation
10th Annual Traditional Powwow
Thessalon First Nation
Powwow Grounds, Ontario
Melva: (705) 842-2670
Oglala Lakota Powwow & Rodeo
Pine Ridge, South Dakota
605-867-5821
Kamloopa Days
Kamloops, British Columbia
Carrie: (250) 828-9700
Rocky Boy's Annual Powwow
Rocky Boy's Agency
near Box Elder, Montana
(406) 395-4690
August 1 - 4, 2003
Lac La Biche Powwow
Lac La Biche, Alberta
(780) 623-4255
Wikwemikong 43rd Annual
Cultural Celebrations
2 Days Competition,
1 Day Traditional Powwow
Wikwemikong Thunderbird Park
Manitoulin Island, Ontario
Cynthis: (705) 859-2385
August 2 - 3, 2003
10th Annual Rekindling Our Traditions Powwow
Fort Erie, Ontario
Lila: (905) 871-8931
19th Annual First Peoples Festival
Royal BC Museum
Victoria, British Columbia
Leslie: (250) 384-2311
August 8th, 2003
Standing Buffalo Powwow
Fort Qu' Appelle, Saskatchewan
(306) 332-4685
August 4-10, 2003
Norway House Cree Nation
Treaty & York Boat Days
Norway House, Manitoba
Anthony: (204) 359-4729
August 7-10, 2003
Siksaka First Nation Powwow
near Gliechen, Alberta
(403) 734-5315
Hays Annual Powwow
Hays, Montana
(406) 673-3158
Omak Stampede and
World Famous Suicide Race
Omak, Washington
Contact: 1 (800) 933-6625
August 8th, 2003
Standing Buffalo First Nation Powwow
Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan
(306) 332-4685
August 8-10, 2003
Big Island Lake Powwow
(formerly Joseph BigHead)
near Pierceland, Saskatchewan
(306) 839-2277
Genaabaajing 13th Annual
Traditional Powwow
Serpent River First Nation, Ontario
Fran: (705) 844-2418
Heart Lake 4th Annual
Competition Powwow
Heart Lake First Nation, Alberta
Paula or Sam: (780) 623-2130
Millbrook First Nation 6th Annual
Traditional Powwow
Truro, Nova Scotia
Lavinia: (902) 897-0958
Big Grassy Powwow
Big Grassy, Ontario
Daryl / Gary: (807) 488-5614
Songhees Powwow
Maple Bank Park, British Columbia
Angela: (250) 385-3938
August 9 & 10, 2003
Saugeen Competition Powwow
Saugeen First Nation, Onario
(519) 797-2781
August 9-10, 2003
16th Annual Traditional Pow Wow
Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, Ontario
Sharon John: (613) 966-5602
August 12-14, 2003
Cowessess Powwow
near Broadview, Saskatchewan
306-696-2520
August 13-18, 2003
Crow Fair & RodeoCrow Agency
60 miles south of Billings, Montana
(406) 638-3793
August 14-17, 2003
Algonquins of Pikwa'kanaga'n
Traditional Powwow
Pikwa'kanaga'n (Golden Lake), Ontario
(613) 625-2800
Shakopee Powwow
Prior Lake, Minnesota
(952) 445-8900
August 15-17, 2003
Kahkewistahaw Powwow
near Broadview, Saskatchewan
(306) 696-3291
Muskoday First Nation Powwow
Veterans Memorial Park
Muskoday First Nation, Saskatchewan
Leroy: (306) 764-1282
Island Thunder Powwow
Khotwutsun Soccer Field
Duncan, British Columbia
(250) 748-9404
Aug. 16&17, 2003
Thunder Mountain Lenape Nation
5th Annual Native American Festival
Location: Saltsburg, PA
Contact: (724) 459-5276
Chippewas of the Thames First Nation
27th Annual Competition Powwow
30km Southwest of London
Thames First Nation, Ontario
(519) 289-2232
8th Wahnapitae First Nation
Traditional Powwow
Wahnapitae First Nation, Ontario
(705) 858-0610
10th Whitefish River Powwow
Sunshine Alley, Birch Island, Ontario
(705) 285-4321
Bernie Metecheah Memorial Rodeo
Halfway River First Nation
Wonowon, British Columbia
Info: Jeff: (250)261-7276
Joe: (250) 743-7743
Office: (250) 772-5050
August 18-21, 2003
Nekaneet International
Healing & Medicene Gathering
Maple Creek, Saskatchewan
Vonnie: (306) 662-3660
August 20-22, 2003
27th Annual Aboriginal Elders Gathering
Town Center Stadium
Coquitlam, British Columbia
(250) 544-1667
August 21-24, 2003
Schemitzun 2003
Mashantucket, Connecticut
(860) 396-6188 / 6290
August 22-24, 2003
Mistawasis First Nation Powwow
near Leask, Saskatchewan
(306) 466-4800
6th Rapid River Anishinabe Powwow
Hiawatha Forest, Rapid River, Michigan
(906) 474-9910
19th Annual Northern Gathering
Ojibways of the Pic River First Nation
Heron Bay, Ontario
(807) 229-1749
www.picriver.com
3rd Annual Spirit of The North Celebration
Shooting Star Casino & Event Center - - Mahnomen, Minnesota
Special Hotel Rate - Call (800)453-STAR
All Craft Vendors Welcome
Info.: (218) 846-0957
20th Annual Kehewin Cree Nation
Competition Pow Wow
& Handgame Tournament
Contact: Irvin Kehewin
E-mail: irvinkehewin at yahoo.ca
Fort Kipp Celebration
45th Year Fort Peck Reservation
Poplar, Montana
(406) 768-5155
August 23-24, 2003
Shawanaga First Nation Healing Center
6th Annual Powwow
Shawanaga First Nation, Ontario
(705) 366-2378
Silver Lake 9th Annual
Traditional Powwow
Silver Lake, Ontario
(613) 548-1500
August 24-27, 2003
137th Winnebago Homecoming
Winnebago, NE
(402) 878-3222
August 29-31, 2003
Poplar Indian Days
Fort Peck Reservation
Poplar, Montana
(406) 768-3826
The Minwaashin Lodge Women's Gathering
Ottawa, Ontario
(613) 741-5590
August 30-31, 2003
Frog Lake Labour Day Powwow
Frog Lake , Alberta
(780) 943-2173
Labor Day Powwow
Cass Lake, Minnesota
(218) 335-8200
21st Annual Labor Day Powwow
Grove City, Ohio
Carol: (614) 443-6120
September 2003
September 3-7, 2003
57th Annual Navajo Nation Fair
Window Rock, Arizona
(928) 871-6478
www.navajonationfair.com
September 6 & 7, 2003
Grand Valley American Indian Lodge
42nd Annual Traditional Powwow
Riverside Park, Grand Rapids, Michigan
(616) 364-4697
Email: wabushna at aol.com
September 12-14, 2003
Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory County Fair
Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, ON
WM. J. Brant : (613) 967-1129
(613) 396-3800 / 967-3603
September 16-19, 2003
10th Annual National Conference and AGM
The Drum is Calling...Journey to New Horizons
CANDO
Whitehorse, Yukon
Phone: (780) 990-0303
Email: cando at edo.ca
Web site: www.edo.ca
September 19-21, 2003
Gathering of Veteran's
Neillsville, Wisconsin
Mark: (715) 743-4224
Moosomin First Nations Powwow.
near Cochin, Saskatchewan
1-800-252-4977
Sept. 26-28, 2003
Last Chance Community Powwow
Helena, Montana
(406) 439-5631
Gathering of the Good Minds
A Celebration of First Nations Arts and Wisdon
FREE ADMISSION
London, Ontario
Dan & Mary (519) 659-4682
Email: dsmoke at uwo.ca
Mid-America All Indian Center Powwow
Wichita, Kansas
(316) 262-5221
September 27 & 28, 2003
10th Anniversary Native American Foundation Inter-Tribal Powwow
Waimea Ballfield Waimea, Hawaii
Email: waimeapowwow at yahoo.com
October 2003
October 10-12, 2003
5th Annual Northern Lights Casino Thanksgiving Pow Wow
Location: Prince Albert
Communiplex
Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
MC Russel Standingrock Rockyboy,MT
Tom Christian Popular,MT
Additional Info:1-306-764-4777
Email: nlcchampionship2k3 at hotmail.com
Website: http://www.siga.sk.ca/NorthernLights/AboutUS.aspx
October 15-17 2003
School Days
October 17-19 2003
Powwow
Lower Muskogee Creek Tribe
Tama Trible Town
Whigham, Georgia 39897
Phone: (229) 762-3165
Email: cate_esse at yahoo.com
web site: http://www.rose.net/~mvr
October 18-19, 2003
Wahta Mohawks 3rd Annual Powwow 2003
Iroquois Cranberry Growers, Hwy #69 North Mactier
Bill: (705) 756-2354
=========================================================================
Updated May 14, 2003
Andersons-web.com http://andersons-web.com/native_events.htm
July 5 - 6, 2003: Wagon Trails Pow-Wow Wagon Trails Resort 4051 State
Route 46, Jefferson, Ohio. For information call: 330-326-3248.
August 16 - 17, 2003: 5th Annual Thunder Mountain Lenape Nation Festival
in Saltsburg, PA. You can look this event up on the web at: http://www.
questpublish.com/thundermountain . For information call 724-459-5276 or
e-mail: thundermountain at questpublish.com or write Thunder Mountain Lenape
Nation, 1200 Nowrytown Rd., Saltsburg, PA 15681.
August 16 - 17, 2003: Dance Till Dark Pow Wow by the Red Hawk American
Indian Society at the Willow Ranch South Hubbard Road, just off Rt. 422,
Coitsville Township, Ohio. For more information call: Donna Wynn 1-330-
534-0424 or e-mail: WhBuffaloEagle at aol.com
September 20 - 21, 2003: 15th Annual "Everything is Sacred" Pow Wow
Gathering - 2003 at the Borchard Community Park 190 No. Reino Road,
Thousand Oaks, California. Check it out at http://www.everythingissacred.
com Hosted by the California Indian Council Foundation. For more
information contact 805-493-2863 or e-mail: TheWHITEHAWK at MSN.com
October 15 - 19, 2003: Lower Muskogee Creek Tribe Powwow at Tama Trible
Town, Whigham, Georgia 39897. Contact 229-762-3165 e-mail: cate_esse at yahoo.
com Seen on the web at: http://www.rose.net/~mvr
October 24 - 26, 2003: Southeastern Intertribal Powwow, Friendly City
Park/EB Hamilton Complex, Trifton, Georgia (I-75 @ 2nd Street, exit 63A &
west 2 miles) Contact Jerry Laney 229-787-5180 evenings or e-mail
Jerry at NativeWayProductions.com on the web at http://www.
NativeWayProductions.com
November 14 - 16. 2003: Tullahoma Intertribal Powwow, South Jackson Civic
Center grounds, Tullahoma, Tennessee. Contact Jerry Laney 229-787-5180
evenings or e-mail Jerry at NativeWayProductions.com this can be seen on the
web at: http://www.NativeWayProductions.com
A word of advice, no matter how hard we try, mistakes happen!
Please try to get in contact with the event staff and verify the
important information before leaving for it.
=========================================================================
OCB TRACKER Updated May 14, 2003
California's Native News www.ocbtracker.com
http://www.ocbtracker.com/index.htmlMay 21th, 2003
July 4th - 6th, 2003
Pechanga Casino Powwow
Pechanga Casino - Activity Field
Temecula, CA
Info: (888) PECHANGA
Contest powwow, arts and crafts booths, native foods.
July 4th - 6th, 2003
Three Rivers Powwow
13505 S Union
Manteca, CA
Info: (209) 858-2421
July 11-13, 2003
19th Annual Taos Pueblo Pow Wow
Taos Pueblo, New Mexico
Taos, New Mexico
A contemporary contest pow wow held on the grassy fields a few miles
from historic Taos Pueblo. Arts and crafts vendors and a wide variety
of food vendors to be sampled! djlujan at laplaza.org
Info: Taos Pueblo Tourism 505-758-1028
July 16th, 2003
American Indian Chamber of Commerce Monthly Meeting
(every third Wednesday)
11138 Valley Mall
Suite 200
El Monte, CA
Upstairs at the Bank of America building
Meetings starts 6:30 potluck social, 7:30 call to order.
Info: (626) 442-3701 or (714) 898-6364
July 17, 18, 19, 2003
Nevada Indian Days Powwow
Churchill County Fairgrounds
Scheckler Road & Hwy 95 South
Fallon, NV
Competition Dancing, Men's Fancy Spotlight Special, Princess Contest,
Gourd Dancing, Native Arts & Crafts,
Vendor applications please call or email.
Info: Francine Tohannie 775-427-2014 or 775-423-2949
July 19th - 20th,2003
12th Annual Lake Casitas Pow Wow
Lake Casitas
Lake Casitas Recreation Area
Ojai, CA
Contest pow wow, all drums welcome, camping, fishing, boating,
M.C.Tom Phillips. Head Staff TBA
www.goldcoastfestivals.com
Admission $10 adults, $5 children
Info: Dick (805) 496-6036
July 25th-27th,2003
Bitterroot Valley All Nations 10th Anniversary Powwow
BMX track/ driving range
4 miles south of Victor , MT. or 4 miles N. of Hamilton, MT. right along
the Lewis and Clark trail ( hwy.93)
Victor, Montana
Traditional and competition dancing, first 10 drums paid.
All dancers and drummers are welcome,
We offer dry camping for dancers, drummers and vendors.
Food vendors and native American arts and crafts market.
Please call for a vendor application if you are interested in
vending at our event www.allnationsmt.homestead.com
Info: Beckie : (406) 363-5383
July 25 - 27, 2003
1st Annual Competition
La Ronge, Saskatchewan
Info: Call Rose (306) 425-2157, Doris (306) 425-3284 or Anne (306) 425-3645
July 27th - 28th, 2003
8th Annual Big Time
Shingle Springs Rancheria
Hwy 50 east of Sacramento
Shingle Springs, CA
Free and open the public. Native dancers, vendors
Info: (530) 391-2540
August 16th - 17th, 2003
Thunder Motain Lenape Nation 5th Annual Native Ameican Festival
Saltsburg, PA
Join us for a Cultural Heritage Experience Proceeds Benefit
Thunder Mountain Programs & Land Purchase
Grand Entry Noon both days-Dancing until 5 p.m.
Shop for Unique Gifts & Collectibles: Native Arts & Crafts Hear, See,
Experience: Traditional Drumming, Dancing & Singing
Treat Your Tastebuds: Native Foods
Have Fun: Children's Activities & Dances, Public Participation Dances,
Storytelling Learn -
Native American Heritage: Hands-on Living History Area with Wigwams,
Tipi, Reproduction Artifacts, Garden
thundermountain at questpublish.com www.questpublish.com/thundermountain
Info: Call Pat (724)-459-5276
August 20th, 2003
American Indian Chamber of Commerce Monthly Meeting
(every third Wednesday)
11138 Valley Mall
Suite 200
El Monte, CA
Upstairs at the Bank of America building
Meetings starts 6:30 potluck social, 7:30 call to order.
Info: (626) 442-3701 or (714) 898-6364
August 22nd - 24th, 2003
34th Annual Southern California Indian Center Powwow
Orange County Fairgrounds
Fair Drive
Costa Mesa, CA
Info: (714) 962-6673
email: scicgg at indiancenter.net
web: http://www.indiancenter.net
August 29th - 31st, 2003
Barona Powwow
Barona Ball Field, past Barona Casino
Lakeside, CA
Contest dancing, food booths, craft booths, camping
Info: (619) 561-5560
August 29 - 31, 2003
Stockton Labor Day PowWow
Stockton
Stockton, CA
web site: www.geocities.com/native teacher e-mail: twolegsx2 at yahoo.com
Info: NAIC (209) 953-4803; or Julie (209) 477-5383
September 5th - 7th, 2003
Sycuan Pow Wow
Sycuan Reservation
Alpine, CA
Contest dancing, food booths, craft booths, camping
Info: (619) 445-7776
Sept 6th -7th 2003
7th annual Traditional family Pow-wow
Lake Silverwood, Black Oak area
Highway 138
Hesperia, Ca
Saturday 12:00pm -9:00pm. Grand entry 12:00 noon.
Dinner break 5:30,grand entry 6:30pm Sunday 12:00pm-7:00pm.
Grand entry 12:00 noon.
This a family event and we strongly encourage our young dancers.
All drums, dancers and public welcome!! Head staff TBA. Specials TBA
Info: (909) 887-6006
September 13th - 14th, 2003
9th Annual Precious Sunset Pow-wow
Recreation Point
Bass Lake
Bass Lake, CA
Arts and crafts, food, hand drum contest, princess contest,
team dancing contest. Camping available. MC: Wallace Coffey;
Arena Director: Art Martinez.
Info: (559) 855-2705; fax: (559) 855-2695
September 17th, 2003
American Indian Chamber of Commerce Monthly Meeting
(every third Wednesday)
11138 Valley Mall
Suite 200
El Monte, CA
Upstairs at the Bank of America building
Meetings starts 6:30 potluck social, 7:30 call to order.
Info: (626) 442-3701 or (714) 898-6364
Sept 20 - 21, 2003
15th "Everything is Sacred Pow Wow Gathering"
Borchard Park
190 No. Reino Rd.
Thousand Oaks, CA
MC, Brian Brightcloud, Headman Anthony Sanchez,
Host Drum-Stronghold Singers-Cree Nation, Lead Singer-Val Shadowhawk,
Honored Guest-Mr. Joe Morris, Sr. Navaho Code Talker,
Arena Director, Dean Webster, Chicken Dance Contest-Winner takes all!
Free Admission & Parking. More to be announced.
http://everythingissacred.com
Info: Call Richard (805) 493-2863
September 26, 27 and 28
Bishop Paiute Tribe Annual Handgame Tournament
Tribal Gym
390 North Barlow lane
Bishop CA
All Handgame Players are welcome to come and compete for the guaranteed
cash and bragging rights for your tribe, last years reigning champs were
the Fish Lake Shoshones, This year will host yet another True Double
Elimination, $175 entry fee per team, 2 to 5 players per team,
www.paiute.com
Info: (760) 872-1823
October 10th - 12th, 2003
5th Annual Northern Lights Casino Thanksgiving Powwow
Prince Albert Communiplex
Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
Info: (306) 764-4777
Email: nlcchampionship2k3 at hotmail.com
Website: http://www.siga.sk.ca/NorthernLights/AboutUS.aspx
Oct. 11-12, 2003
1st Annual Native American Intertribal Fellowship Powwow
William Carey International University
1539 E. Howard
Pasadena, CA
Info: Bryan BrightCloud 818/870-0000
October 25, 2003
1st American Indian Pow Wow
Faulkner Park
3 mi. North of Lindale
Lindale,Texas
Update Date has changed. from 10/11/03 to 10/25/03.
Electricity is available around Pavilion only
so Food Vendors will be limied.
Spaces with electricity $45.00 without electric $40.00.
Those needing power bring heavy duty extension cords.
Wooded area with small lake, camping allowed.
Our people will provide security.
Contact Louise Bailey m.l.bailey at prodigy.net
or Pat Barbour cheroke2 at earthlink.net
Info: 903 882 8380
January 2-3,2004
After the New Year Contest Pow Wow
Shonto Preparatory School
hwy 98/160
Shonto, Az
M/C-Dennis Bowen-Tuba City AZ;A/D-Lee Williams, Tempe AZ;
Host Northern Drum-Eagle Creek Singers, Dennehotso AZ;
HeadMan/Lady-pick per session;
Grand Entry-Fri(Jan 2) 7 pm, Sat(Jan 3) 1 & 7 pm;
Special Contest-Men's Grass Dance Special and Drum Contest;
Flag Ceremony and Veterans Give-Away
Info: 928/672-2652
============================================================
Whispering Winds Updated May 14, 2003
A Magazine of American Indian Crafts*Material Culture*Powwow
http://www.whisperingwind.com/
JULY 2003
3-5 Trail of Tears Drama. Cherokee Heritage Center, Tahlequah, OK.
Info: (918) 456-1995. www.cherokeeheritage.org
3-6 4th Annual July Celebration. Powwow Road, Arlee, NT.
Info: (406) 745-4984
3-6 Northern Cheyenne Powwow. Powwow Grounds, Lame Deer, MT.
Info: (406) 477-6284
3-6 Oneida Powwow. Norbert Hill Center, Oneida, WI. Info: (800) 236-2214
4 Bear Soldier Powwow. Bear Soldier District, McLaughlin, SD.
Info: (701) 854-7202.
4-6 Traditional Chippewa Powwow. Skunk Road Powwow Grounds,
Sault Ste Mari, MI. Info: (906) 632-6280
July 4th Weekend - Quapaw Powwow. Beaver Springs Park, Quapaw, OK.
Info: (918) 542-1853
July 4th Weekend - Leech Lake Powwow. Memorial Grounds, Cass Lake, MN.
Info: (218) 335-8289.
4-6 Calico Dancers Good Time Powwow. Harry J. Betar Jr. Recreational Park,
South Glens Falls, NY. Info: (518) 793-1693
4-6 Mashpee Wampanoag Powwow. Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council,
Tribal Lands, Mashpee, MA. Info: (508) 477-0208
4-6 Toppenish Powwow & Rodeo. Rodeo Grounds, Toppenish, WA.
Info: (509) 865-7588
4-6 9th Annual Woldhorse Powwow. Wildhorse Resort & Casino, Pendleton, OR.
Info: 541-1510.
5-6 Sussex County Powwow. Sussex County Fairgrounds, Augusta, NJ
11-13 First Annual Medicine Eagle Gathering of the People Powwow. Rank
Park, Keokuk, Iowa. Info: Dee Hagmeier, Pow wow Director (319) 526-3846
or (319)463-7367.
11-13 Honor all Children Pow-wow. Negaunee Michigan (old airport grounds
off of US 41). Info: CathyMorningLight Woman at Cathymorninglite at yahoo.com
11-13 FirstAnnual "Medicine Eagle" Gathering of the People Powwow. Rand
Park, Keokuk, IA. Info: (319) 526-3846 or (319) 463-7367
11-13 5th Annual Circle of Nations "Pauline R. Hunt" Powwow. Flushing
Meadows-Corona Park Lake, Queens, NY. Info: (516) 292-9447.
redballer76 at yahoo.com
12-13 Gathering of The People sponsored by United Cherokee of Ohio, Inc.
Preble County Fairgrounds, Eaton, OH.
Info: Chief Laughing Bear Lawson two_bears45005 at yahoo.com
18-20 The Lenape/Renape Wampanoo Confederacy Powwow. The Ancoda Farm,
Tuckachawan, CT. Info: (860) 450-1587
18-20 45th Annual Little Beaver Celebration Powwow. Dulce, NM.
Info:(505) 759-4322
18-20 Nevada Indian Days Pow Wow. Fallon, Nevada (located 1 hour east of
Reno, NV). Info: Fran Tohannie 775-427-2014 or ftohannie at hotmail.com
18-20 White Buffalo Society Pow Wow. The Gaston Fairgrounds in Indiana
for information contact mohrman at wesnet.com
18-20 Tamkaliks Celebration. Wallowa Band nez Perce Trail, Wallowa, OR.
Info: (541) 886-3101
18-20 Corn Creek Annual Traditional Powwow. Corn Creek, SD.
Info: (605) 747-2381
18-20 Mandaree Celebration & Powwow. Powwow Grounds. Info: (701) 759-3311.
18-27 Cheyenne Frontier Days. Frontier Park, Cheyenne, WY.
Info: (800) 227-6336. www.cfdrodeo.com
AUGUST 2003
1-3 Fort Randall Traditional Wacipi. Powwow Grounds, Lake Andes, SD.
Info: (605) 384-3641.
1-3 Menominee Nation Contest Powwow. Woodland Bowl Powwow Grounds,
Keshena, WI. Info: (715) 799-5645
1-3 19th Annual Little Elk's Retreat Powwow. Saginaw Chippewa
Campgrounds, Mt. Pleasant, MI. Info: (989) 775-4072
1-3 Peigan Nation Celebration Powwow. Powwow Grounds, Brocket, AB, Canada.
Info: (403) 965-3940
1-3 Lake of the Eagles Traditional Powwow. Eagle Lake First Nation,
Ontario, Canada. Info: (807) 755-5526
1-3 Oklahoma Indian Powwow. Concho, OK. Info: (405) 262-0345
2-3 American Powwow. Indian Hall Grounds, Kingston, RI.
Info: (401) 732-0621
3-4 Saco River Intertribal Powwow. Hussey Field, North Conway, NH.
Info: (603) 356-9075
6-10 82nd Intertribal Indian Ceremonial. Red Rock State Park, Gallup, NM.
Info: (505) 863-3698
7-9 Trail of Tears Drama. Chereokee Heritage Center, Tahlequah, OK.
Info: (918) 456-1995
7-10 Shoshone Bannock Powwow. Fort Hall, ID. Info: (208) 238-3700
7-10 Meskwaki Indian Pwwow. Tama, IA. Info: (641) 484-5366
7-11 Gallup Intertribal Indian Ceremonial. Gallup, NM.
Info: (800) 233-4528
8-9 Parmelee Community Traditional Wacipi. Powoww Grounds, Parmelee, SD.
Info: ((605) 856-2538
8-10 26th Annual IICOT Powwow of Champions. Tulsa State Fairgrounds,
Expo Bldg., Tulsa, OK. Info: (918) 836-1523 www.iicot.org
9-10 22nd Annual Paumanauke Powwow. Tanner Park, Copiague, Long Island.
Info: (631) 661-7558
9-10 Triangle Native American Society (TNAS) Powwow. Dorton Arena @ NC
State Fairgrounds, Raleigh, NC. Info: sandonlee at earthlink.net;
(919) 225-7751; vendors: 4locks at bellsouth.net
16-17 Thunder Mountain Lenape Nation 5th Annual Native American Festival.
10 a.m. to 6 p.m, Location: Avonmore, PA. Info: 724-459-5276,
thundermountain at questpublish.com or visit: www.questpublish.com
16-17 Mohegan Wigwam Pow wow. Fort Shantok Uncasville, CT.
info 1-800-MOHEGAN ext 6277
18-20 World Summit of Indigenous Entrepreneurs - The first ever World
Summit of Indigenous Entrepreneurs (WSIE) - in honour of the United
Nations Decade of the World's Indigenous People, will be held at the BMO
Financial Group Institute for Learning in Toronto, Canada. There will be
entrepreneurs representing over 40 countries.
Info: http://wsie.wtuglobal.org/intro.php.
or contact Ms. Dana Snell at 416-736-5646
22-23 3rd Annual Spirit of The North Celebration. Shooting Star Casino &
Event Center, Mahnomen, MN.
Info: Thomas Mason (218)846-0957 ortmas34 at hotmail.com
22-24 6th Annual Rapid River Anishinabeg Traditional Pow-Wow. Rapid River
MI - Upper Peninsula, 8 miles north of Rapid River in the Hiawatha
National Forest. Spiritual conference on Friday. Free Admission.
Info: (906) 235-1812 or (734) 623-0686
22-24 5th Annual West Valley City Native American Assn. Inc., Festival
and Contest Pow Wow. Cultural Celebration Center, 1350 West 3300 South.
West Valley City, Utah. Info: Harry James Sr. (801) 973-2078;
Vendor: Chrishel James, (801) 973-2078
26-28 12th Annual American Indian Council Spring Traditional Powwow.
Boone County 4-H Grounds, Community Bldg.,Lebanon, IN.
Info: (765) 482-3315.
29-31 22nd Annual Stockton Community Labor Day Weekend PowWow. Webster
Middle School Field, Stockton, CA. Info: (209)953-4803 FAX: (209)953-4261;
clydehodge at earthlink.net or www.geocities.com/nativeteacher
29- 30 33rd Annual LIHA Powwow, on the Dulac Land Trust, "Home of LIHA",
Sanbornton, NH. Info: (603) 934-4537 or tipihill at yahoo.com
30-31 43rd Annual Tecumseh Lodge Powwow, Tipton, Indiana
30-31 12th Annual Sounds of Thunder Mountain Contest Pow Wow.
Kaibab Indian Reservation, Pipe Spring, AZ.
Info: (928) 643-7245 or cbulletts74 at yahoo.com
Aug30-Sept.1,2003 at the Heimat Haus 4555 Jackson Pike St.Rt.104 Grove
City,Ohio. Sponsored by the Native American Indian Center Of Central Ohio
PO Box 07705 Columbus,Ohio 43207-0705 (614) 443-6120 naicco at aol.com
SEPTEMBER 2003
5-7 First Annual Contest Powwow sponsored by the Eastern Missouri All
Nations American Indian Council. Woodson Terrace City Park, Woodson
Terrace, MO. Info: pawneewarrior at hotmail.com or call 636-978-8732.
6-7 13th Annual Powwow, Keepers of the Circle. 1180 Main St, Rotterdam
Junction, NY 12150. Info: ckeepers at aol.com
11-13 DRUMS ON THE POCOMOKE Native American Festival and Pow Wow.
Cypress Park, Pocomoke, MD. Info: Gail Fox (757)331-2188
midnightstar002 at msn.com
Diane Baldwin (757)824-3060 firewolf at intercom.net
Trudy Smack (302)732-9350 pokey9350 at aol.com
13 Cannes Brulee Native American Village Powwow. 10am-6pm. Kenner's
Rivertown, Kenner, LA. Info: (504) 468-7231 ext 220
13-14 9th Annual Precious Sunset Powwow. Recreation Point, Bass Lake, CA.
Info: (559) 855-2705
13-14 11th Annual Four Winds Powwow. Killeen Special Events Center,
Killeen/Ft. Hood, Tx. Info: Four Winds - Box 10035 -
Killeen, Texas 76547-0035 (254) 618-5132 - e-mail fourwinds at seacove.net.
Web site www.fourwindstx.org
17-20 First Annual Miss Indian Rodeo America Pageant. Oklahoma City OK,
CDIB card required. www. rodeobest.com/aipc Email Contact: National
Director, Deborah Robertson rodeobest at aol.com
19-21 2nd Annual Crystal Valley Native American Pow-Wow. Romney, WV.
Info: www.crystalvalleypowwow.com
20-21 FDR PowWow, FDR State Park, Westchester, NY.
27-28 10th Annual Hart of the West Intertribal Pow Wow. William S. Hart
Park & Museum, Newhall, California. Info: (661)255-9295,
email: rmschultz at mindspring.com
27-28 Gathering of the People Powwow. Vigo Conservation Club,
Terre Haute, IN. Info: (812) 694-8745
27-28, 2003: Mt. Juliet Powwow. Mt. Juliet Horse Arena Mt. Juliet, TN.
Info: (615) 443-1537.
27-28 10th Anniversary Native American Foundation Inter-Tribal Powwow.
Waimea Ballfield, Waimea, Hawaii. Info: email:waimeapowwow at yahoo.com
OCTOBER 2003
4 11th Annual Nemki Friendship Pow-Wow. 2003 at the the Batavia Middle
School, 1501 S Raddant Rd, Batavia, IL 60510. Info: (815)667-4976
or Jeff Glaser (630)879-0117.
4-5 6TH Annual Choerkee Nation of New Jersey Powwow. 40th Street Park,
Irvington, NJ. Info: (973) 351-1210.
4-5 First Outdoor Powwow in Perrysburg, Ohio,
"They Walked Here Before Us - A Woodland Indian Celebration".
Buttonwood Park, Perrysburg, OH. Info: (419) 874-9378
or perrysburgpowwow at hotmail.com
24-26 Southeastern Intertribal Powwow. Friendly City Park/EB Hamilton
Complex, Tifton, GA (I-75 @ 2nd Street, exit 63A & west 2 miles).
Info: Jerry 229-787-5180 www.NativeWayProductions.com
or email nativeway at mindspring.com
NOVEMBER 2003
1-2 First Annual Native American Indian Gathering 2003 sponsored by The
Four Bay Winds. The Lockhouse, Havre de Grace, MD.Traders by invitation
only. Info: Amy Paul (Blessing Bird) 410-942-0542
14-16 Tullahoma Intertribal Powwow. South Jackson Civic Center grounds,
Tullahoma, TN. Info Jerry 229-787-5180 www.NativeWayProductions.com
or email nativeway at mindspring.com
15 Third Annual Cherokee Youth Center Pow Wow. Cherokee Youth Center,
Cherokee, NC.
Info: Helen Martin (828) 497-3119, or email: singerdad at GONmail.com.
JANUARY 2004
Dec 31-Jan 11 Thunder in the Desert. 10,000 years of culture,
150 tribal nations, 13 days, 1 location - Rillito Raceway Park,
Tucson, AZ. Info. www.usaindianinfo.org or call (520) 622-4900
MARCH 2004
5-7 Middle Tennessee State University 5th American Indian Festival,
Tennessee Livestock Center, Murfreesboro, TN -
Website:http://www.mtsu.edu/~powwow email: powwow at mtsu.edu
phone: 615-898-2872. All dancers welcome. All drums welcome.
Venders by invitation only.
2003 Powwows in the United Kingdom
JULY 13th / 14th BUFFALO FARM
BUSH FARM, WEST KNOYLE, WILTSHIRE 01747 830263
AUGUST 16th.WATTLEHURST FARM, A24, DORKING ROAD, KINGSFOLD,
WEST SUSSEX 01322 386423 01322 386423
NOVEMBER 8th NORTHAMPTON CLIFTONVILLE MIDDLE SCHOOL,
CLIFTONVILLE ROAD NORTHAMPTION 01604 414155
DECEMBER 6th MILTON KEYNES KINGSTHORPE MIDDLE SCHOOL,
NORTHFIELD WAY, NORTHAMPTON 01752 845092
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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, Bill McAllister, Tlagiloi, Chris Milda, Brigitte Thimiakis,
Larry Kibby, Janet Smith, Carol/Thundering Drums, Ronald J. Lema,
Debbie Sanders, Johnny Rustywire, Edna H. King, Margrett O'Kelley
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