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INDIAN NEWS AND ISSUES
INDIAN NEWS AND ISSUES
Welcome and please feel free to post any news and events in your area
THE NATIVE AMERICAN ADVOCATE
NEWS AND ISSUES -- Anonymous, 09:35:56 06/27/01 Wed

Native broadcasters honored

Staff and correspondents at Anchorage-based Koahnic Broadcast Corp. took several top awards for national radio programming last week at the Native American Journalists Association Convention in Buffalo, N.Y.

Bernadette Chato, host and producer of National Native News, received first place for best radio news story and honorable mention for best overall radio news reporting. NNN correspondents in South Dakota and Illinois took the top overall radio news reporting award and first place in the best news story by a non-native reporter.

The show received an honorable mention for best ongoing radio program.

Wishelle Banks, producer for national radio show Native America Calling, won first place in best feature writing for her work on the magazine Indian Cinema Entertainment.

Koahnic Broadcast Corp. also operates KNBA FM 90.3 and a training center.



EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 27 JUNE 2001 AT 00:01 ET US
Contact: Ann Cairns
acairns@geosociety.org
303-447-2020 x1156
Geological Society of America

Healing the waters: A holistic Native American Indian approach

For the Pacific Northwest Indian tribes, integrating spirituality and science is a practical reality and a way to keep precious resources vibrant for future generations.

The tribes have been in this area for thousands of years and have relied on the nearby water for their mainstay of fish, clams, oysters, crabs, and mussels. They also found food in cattail tubers and the bulbs of water lilies. They were fishers par excellence and experts at building canoes. But now, water pollution and development threatens this precious source on which their way of life depends.

That's why the Suquamish Tribe (Chief Sealth aka Chief Seattle's Tribe) and the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe asked geologists to help them manage water quality through a long-term approach. These tribes have reservations on a large peninsula in the central portion of Puget Sound. Their vision is to implement programs to protect their water resources for at least seven generations.

David R. Fuller is a water resources manager and hydrogeologist for the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe. He will provide an overview of the water quality issues as well as the approaches, projects, and activities these two tribes have taken to address their water concerns at Earth Systems Processes on Thursday, June 28, in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Geological Society of America and the Geological Society of London will co-convene the June 24-28 meeting.

One example Fuller will present is the wetland monitoring program. The Suquamish Tribe established staff gauges and monitoring wells in this upland wetland. The project included weekly water level measurements, precipitation monitoring, and basic water quality monitoring for 18 months to establish changes in hydrology and quality. Wetland vegetation was mapped and impervious surface areas were determined with GIS and GPS to assist in the analysis of the changes in water quality and quantity in the wetland as a function of increased impervious surfaces from development in the watershed. The monitoring is continuing with renewed interest this year due to drought conditions in Washington. The tribe is implementing recommendations for wetland and watershed protection and best management practices to pro-actively protect the water and its cultural resources (i.e., wetland plants and animals) that the tribe has traditionally used.

A second example is the Port Gamble S'Klallam tribe's review and analysis of a closed, up gradient, off-reservation unlined and leaking landfill. In this case, the toxic plume daylights from the unconfined aquifer on the Port Gamble S'Klallam Indian Reservation as the headwaters of small creeks. The creeks then flow less than one half mile into shellfish beds in Port Gamble Bay. The Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe is working with the State of Washington, the landowner, and the landfill operator to remediate the problem.

And a third example is a watershed study to help protect the largest native salmon run in central Puget Sound from land-use and development pressures. A sidelight of this project was documentation of the structural control of the drainages supporting this salmon run. This project is similar to most of the other tribal projects in that it's long-term and strives to be pro-active in nature.

"Tribal activities and technical participation have made definite impact to regional water resource programs," Fuller said. "The Suquamish and Port Gamble S'Klallam tribes have provided leadership roles on local, county, and State water resources studies, water resource planning committees, and technical advisory committees."

One of the most effective models Fuller will mention is the Coordinated Tribal Water Quality Program. Under the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, this program has been effective in stretching limited financial resources and facilitating inter-tribal technical communication.

"We will provide the professional community with a recognition that tribes are out there using science and have both data and understanding to contribute to the environmental and scientific community," Fuller explained. "My perspective on the tribal approach and direction I have received is to look at the big picture and long time frame. Most of my 'clientele' hasn't been born yet and won't be for some time to come!"



###
CONTACT INFORMATION

During the Earth System Processes meeting, June 25-28, contact the GSA/GSL Newsroom at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre for assistance and to arrange for interviews: 44-131-519-4134

Ted Nield, GSL Science and Communications Officer
Ann Cairns, GSA Director of Communications

The abstract for this presentation is available at:
http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2001ESP/finalprogram/abstract_4631


A broken treaty haunts the Black Hills
By STEVE YOUNG
Argus Leader

published: 6/27/01

RAPID CITY -- Rick Two Dogs leans against his pickup
in the forested hills west of Rapid City, lulled by
the saw-blade cadence of a tree cutter and the sight
of a white ash falling in the distance.

Each spring, the Oglala medicine man travels here to
the sacred Paha Sapa, or Black Hills, to harvest tipi
poles for his annual July sun dance on the Pine Ridge
Reservation. It's like coming home again, Two Dogs
says, to what the Lakota believe is the womb of Mother
Earth.

"All of our origin stories go back to this place," he
says as the tall, slender trees continue to fall
nearby. "We have a ... spiritual connection to the
Black Hills that can't be sold. I don't think I could
face the creator with an open heart if I ever took
money for it."

Yet 125 years after the Great White Father broke his
treaty promises to the Sioux and illegally confiscated
the gold-rich Black Hills, a pot of money now worth
$544 million is all that is being offered in return.

Sioux ownership of the land is gone, given away to
towns and cities, sprawling commercialism and
government-run forests and parks. Now to

drive into the woods and cut down trees --as his
ancestors once did freely --Two Dogs needs a permit.
While he readily complies, it still doesn't seem right
to him.

"I don't believe we ever gave up the land," he says.
"Technically, if you look at the treaties, what it
reads is that we rented the Black Hills to the whites.
We never said we were going to sell it. And we never
did."

Few issues in Indian-white relations today are more
charged than the taking of the Black Hills. Throughout
history, the two sides have shed blood over it. They
have paid lawyers to fight over it. They have argued
about it before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In fact, on June 30, 1980, after decades of legal
wrangling, the high court upheld an award to the Great
Sioux Nation of $17.1 million for the illegal taking
of the Black Hills, plus $88 million in interest.
Since then, that total has multiplied five-fold.

Yet 21 years after that decision, the money remains
untapped in the U.S. Treasury as the Sioux hold out
for return of the land.

"This is just my opinion, but I believe that the
tribes would like to resolve this claim in a fair and
honorable manner," says Mario Gonzalez, a tribal
attorney for the Oglala Sioux Tribe who worked on the
Black Hills claims issue.

"The only way that can be accomplished is through a
negotiated political settlement through the U.S.
Congress. And any settlement must include land
restoration as well as monetary compensation for the
denial of the absolute and undisturbed use and
occupation of the Black Hills as guaranteed under
Article II of the 1868 treaty."

Treaty history

Such usage was promised to the Lakota 133 years ago in
return for their agreement to allow safe passage of
settlers and travelers through their homelands on the
way to gold fields in California, Colorado and
Montana.

Until about 1850, white America hadn't shown much
interest in what it called the "Great American Desert"
on the Northern Plains. Undisturbed Indian occupancy
of the area was assumed.

But that view changed with the discovery of gold, the
Mormon migration to Utah and the opening of Oregon.
When California became a state in 1850, establishing a
secure route west became a priority for federal
lawmakers.

The government accomplished that in 1851 with the
signing of the Fort Laramie Treaty. Some 10,000
Indians representing 12 tribes came to the fort to
negotiate. A settlement was reached on Sept. 17 of
that year.

In exchange for allowing the government to establish
roads and military posts along the Oregon-California
Trail, they were promised undisturbed use of the land
north and south of the trail.

They also were promised $50,000 in goods a year for 50
years because of previous damage done to their lands
--the killing of their game, the using up of their
scarce wood supplies and the deadly cholera and
smallpox brought by the white man.

But the U.S. Senate trimmed the annuity from 50 to 10
years before ratifying the treaty. That didn't sit
well with the Sioux.

Settlers ignored the boundaries of Indian territory,
and when gold was discovered in southwestern Montana
in 1862, prospectors and settlers started following a
route across eastern Wyoming that became known as the
Bozeman Trail, bringing the same problems.

The government also built military posts along the
trail, and through 1866 and 1867, the forts were under
a virtual state of siege by the Indians. Traffic on
the trail was in constant danger.

Congress, caught up in the costs of Civil War
reconstruction and battling a debilitating recession
along the eastern seaboard, attempted to pursue a
"policy of peace."

That meant providing for a concentration of the Plains
Indians in two large reserves. The Northern Plains
tribes would be concentrated north of the North Platte
Valley. The Southern Plains tribes would occupy the
area south of the Arkansas River. The Black Hills were
conceded to the Sioux as part of the northern reserve.
And the Bozeman Trail and the forts along it would be
abandoned.

Numerous attempts were made to push the idea in
councils with the tribes at Fort Laramie. But Red
Cloud and others refused to participate until the
forts and the Bozeman Trail were removed.

In April 1868, the treaty commission made one more
attempt. Again, few Indians showed up. But Spotted
Tail and a few other Brule leaders did eventually come
to the fort and "touch their pens" to the original
draft. That became the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie.

In addition to promising protection from intrusion
from non-Indians and provisions such as clothing, food
and health care, the government guaranteed the Sioux
absolute and undisturbed use of present-day western
South Dakota, including the Black Hills.

It also agreed that no part of the Great Sioux
Reservation could be ceded away unless three-fourths
of all adult males consented. In return, the Sioux
would give up the right to occupy land outside the
reservation, though they could still hunt buffalo in
eastern Wyoming and Montana, and would allow
construction of railroads.

In many ways, it was a flawed agreement. For one
thing, the treaty leaves the impression that the
Oglala, Minneconjou, Hunkpapa and Blackfeet bands of
Lakota all signed the document when Spotted Tail did.
Some Oglala eventually did sign. But many of those
represented on the treaty did not.

According to David Miller, a former history professor
at Black Hills State University, the treaty was taken
to Chicago from Fort Laramie for Gen. Phil Sheridan,
commander of Military Division of the Missouri, to
review.

Concerned it would limit military operations -- and
convinced a showdown was inevitable -- Sheridan had an
addition made, Miller has written. Called "the Chicago
rewrite," the new language stipulated that the Sioux
would not oppose the "construction of railroads, wagon
trains, mail stations or other works of utility or
necessity which may be ordered or permitted by the
laws of the U.S."

Miller wrote there is no evidence that the bands of
Indians who signed onto the treaty ever knew that
language was added. But years later, the Army argued
that the "works of necessity" clause justified Lt.
Col. George Custer's expedition into the Black Hills
in 1874 looking for sites for a military post, Miller
says.

On top of all that, because the tribal leaders
involved in the treaty negotiations were illiterate,
they were dependent on the spoken word of interpreters
for their understanding of the treaty.

"Chances that all the bands of Indians influenced by
the 1868 treaty had the same understanding of the
document are not very great," Miller wrote.
"Therefore, it could be argued that almost from its
inception, the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 was
misunderstood and never provided a valid point of
departure for ethical and moral questions concerning
the taking of the Black Hills."

The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on Feb. 16, 1869.
But peace would be short-lived.

Gold in the Hills

In July 1874, Custer was ordered out of Fort Abraham
Lincoln near Bismarck with 1,200 men on a 60-day
reconnaissance of the Black Hills for potential
military fort sites. It would be the first major
violation of the 1868 treaty.

On July 30, 1874, two miners found placer gold in
French Creek. The rush to western Dakota Territory was
on. For the next 17 months, the military fought a
constant battle trying to keep miners out of the hills
--and trying to prevent the Lakota from attacking
those that got through.

Miners poured in by the hundreds. Those who were
caught were escorted out by the soldiers. Few were
ever prosecuted.

White America seemed to have little regard for the
Sioux's claim to the land. Editors at newspapers from
Sioux City, Iowa, to Sidney, Neb. -- including the
Sioux Falls Independent -- saw the financial
possibilities of their cities becoming the jumping-off
point for the gold fields. So they promoted the
possibility.

Growing frustration

Gen. Sheridan complained about the double duty of
protecting settlements from raids by hostile Indians
while dealing with the illegal occupation of the Black
Hills by miners.

In fact, it was those Indian hostilities, caused in
large part by white incursions into the Black Hills,
that helped to fuel the animosities that exploded on
the battlefield at the Little Bighorn on June 25,
1876.

President Ulysses S. Grant apparently shared
Sheridan's frustrations. In a Nov. 3, 1875, meeting
with Sheridan and several cabinet leaders in
Washington, D.C., the president made a decision that
ultimately figured heavily in the Supreme Court's 1980
ruling that the Black Hills were taken illegally.

"... the President decided that while the orders
heretofore issued forbidding the occupation of the
Black Hills country by miners should not be rescinded,
still no further resistance by the military should be
made to the miners going in; it being his belief that
such resistance ... complicated the troubles,"
Sheridan wrote in a confidential memo to Gen. Alfred
Terry afterward.

In other words, the government admitted it was going
to violate the 1868 treaty, says Mark Leutbecker, a
researcher with Nicklason Research Associates in
Arlington, Va., who helped the Sioux in their case.
"The Sheridan letter resulted in proof of a ...
taking, the only time that happened in the history of
the Indian Claims Commission," Leutbecker says. "It
really exposes an incredible government conspiracy."

Call off your men, Grant told Sheridan. And get the
Sioux and Cheyenne to sell their rights to the Black
Hills. To assist in the cause, Congress passed the
Sioux Appropriation Bill in August 1876 that said,
basically, either the Sioux signed away their claim to
the Black Hills and Powder River country or they would
lose promises of food and other provisions forever.

Hungry and malnourished, many Sioux did sign. But
tribal lawyer Gonzalez says it fell far short of the
three-fourths of adult males required, and probably
numbered closer to 10 percent.

By the fall of 1876, the government had all the
signatures it was going to collect. Congress made the
taking of the Black Hills official on Feb. 28, 1877.

What followed was decades of legal wrangling over the
issue. In 1920, Congress passed an act allowing the
Sioux to submit claims before the Court of Claims
specifying that the Black Hills were illegally taken.
The Sioux did so in 1923, but in 1942, the Court of
Claims dismissed their grievance, saying it didn't
have jurisdiction.

In 1946, Congress established the Indian Claims
Commission to hear Indian complaints about property
improperly taken. It allowed the Sioux to resubmit
their claim, but stressed that they could only sue for
monetary compensation, not for the land.

Three decades of legal maneuvering followed until
1974, when the Indian Claims Commission decided the
Sioux were entitled to $17.1 million for reimbursement
and interest of 5 percent from the time the land was
taken.

In 1979, that decision was affirmed by the Court of
Claims, and the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed it on
June 30, 1980.

Land, not money

The trouble is, the Sioux don't want the money. In
fact because so much time has passed, Gonzalez says
Congress would have to reauthorize the payment now if
the Sioux decided to take it.

Which they have no intention of doing, says Johnson
Holy Rock, an 83-year-old Oglala elder whose father,
Jonas, survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

"It's a healing place, a nurturing place, for us,"
Holy Rock, of Pine Ridge, says. "Red Cloud used to
say, 'A man almost on the verge of death could go into
those hills in the fall and not come out all winter,
and when he did finally come out, he'd be fat and
robust and saved from starvation and totally healthy.'


"It's always been that way. That's why the buffalo
would go into the hills in the fall. And that's what
we want returned."

Sen. Bill Bradley proposed in a 1985 bill that the
government return 1.3 million acres --about one-fifth
of the Black Hills --to the Sioux, along with monetary
compensation. It wasn't the towns Bradley intended to
give back, but the land held through the parks, forest
service and Bureau of Land Management.

"We're not interested in taking people's homes," says
Oliver Red Cloud of Pine Ridge, great-grandson of
Chief Red Cloud. "The only thing that changes is
instead of the taxes and fees being paid to the
government for the minerals and forest, that will go
to the tribes."

It also would have meant that any use of the Black
Hills would have been based on Lakota respect for the
earth. That means sacred areas like Bear Butte and
Harney Peak could have been temporarily closed for
Lakota religious or ceremonial activities.

Bradley's bill made little headway in Congress, in
large part because of opposition from South Dakota's
congressional delegation. A similar bill introduced by
Rep. Mathew Martinez of California in 1990 also went
nowhere. No further legislation has been introduced.

There have been, however, more radical efforts by the
Lakota to reclaim their land.

On April 4, 1981, the Dakota American Indian Movement
established a settlement called Yellow Thunder, 12
miles southwest of Rapid City, to dramatize their
demand.

The 800-acre site was supposed to become a permanent
Indian religious, cultural and educational community.
But it was framed in controversy, including an
incident in July 1982 when a Rapid City resident was
shot to death by an alleged camp member. Ultimately,
the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from
the Lakota, who were denied a special-use Forest
Service permit for the camp.

The same summer that Yellow Thunder was established,
1981, a group of 100 Oglala Sioux --many of them
elderly -- set up a camp on the north edge of Wind
Cave National Park to dramatize their claim to the
area.

This time the group was granted a 14-day camping
permit from the National Park Service. And the
occupation went peacefully.

What next?

How reasonable is it to think the Lakota might ever
get all or part of the land back? In September 1993, a
poll by Political/Media Research of Washington, D.C.,
found that 26 percent of South Dakotans favored
returning unoccupied federal lands in the Black Hills
to the Sioux people; 58 percent opposed it and 10
percent were undecided. Tribal officials viewed those
numbers with optimism.

"I am very pleased with the poll because it indicates
that we are making progress," Gonzalez said at the
time. "If the same poll was taken in 1980, my guess is
that only 1 or 2 percent ... would have favored
returning federally held lands."

Even now, many Lakota see promise in the attitudes of
their white brethren. For example, discussions are
going on among state Game, Fish and Parks officials,
lawmakers and tribal people about the use of Bear
Butte near Sturgis and land around it.

For decades, GF&P officials have looked at purchasing
land around Bear Butte as a buffer against
commercialization. Such a buffer would preserve the
site's tranquility for tribal people who practice
traditional religious rites there, says Webster Two
Hawk, commissioner of the state Tribal Government
Relations office.

The GF&P officials also are looking at other options
including asking the public to limit use of the hiking
trail at Bear Butte in June, a peak month for
religious use, and directing hikers to an educational
program abut religious use at Bear Butte.

To many Lakota people, that's a start. But it is only
a raindrop in the vast and complex sea of issues
enveloping the Black Hills.

Teaching the young

Perhaps one of the great challenges facing the Lakota
today and tomorrow is connecting their future
generations to the significance of the past of the
Paha Sapa.

For if they can't, will the lure of millions, maybe
even billions of dollars in the U.S. Treasury override
any attachment their parents and grandparents had to
the land?

"You can only speculate about future generations,"
Gonzalez says. "Over time, people die and new
generations come into existence, and it's the
long-term plan of the U.S. government that ties to the
old ways will eventually diminish upon the passing of
several generations.

"What they hope is that at some point in the future,
the ties to the old ways will only be a remembrance.
And thereafter, new generations will have more loyalty
to the U.S. government than the Sioux government. At
that point, the 'conquest' will be completed."

It's up to the Sioux people to determine whether that
happens or not. The education process is occurring,
says Faith Taken Alive of McLaughlin, who works with
Standing Rock Reservation's schools to teach students
about the treaties and the old ways.

"The Black Hills is not just the Rushmore Mall in
Rapid City to our young people," Taken Alive says.
"It's not the shrine of hypocrisy at Mount Rushmore.
It's not Crazy Horse Mountain.

"We tell our young people that. They understand the
meaning of what the Black Hills is once they've been
to Bear Butte."

They understand it is a sacred place, a land rich,
nurturing and sustaining, Rick Two Dogs says. And that
lesson is learned as simply as cutting down a white
ash tree in the forest outside of Rapid City to be
used as a tipi pole in a sun dance.

"When we visit sacred sites, or do things like this,
we're part of that same spiritual journey that our
forefathers did long ago," Two Dogs says. "Accepting
money for the land is like giving all of that away.
How could we do that? How could we ever do it?"

Reach reporter Steve Young at syoung@argusleader.com
or 331-2306


[ Edit | View ]

NEWS AND ISSUES -- Anonymous, 09:33:22 06/27/01 Wed

Native American community accuses Canadian Govt. of neglect

The chief of a small native American community in Canada, which has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, has accused the Federal government of failing to meet its responsibilities towards his people.

The Pikangikum nation in western Ontario lacks many basic services including clean water and a local school.

The BBC reports living conditions in Pikangikum have deteriorated to levels which would be unacceptable elsewhere in Canada.

Water is undrinkable after the treatment plant broke down last October.

Many houses need major repairs and the school shut a year ago because of a fuel spill, and now the water problems.

Fresh food is scarce and the remoteness makes it pricey.

Milk is five times more expensive than elsewhere in the country.

These conditions are fuelling a social crisis.

Eleven children and young people have killed themselves in the last year; three in the last few weeks.


Kenai man sues Safeway, says he was fired because of ponytail
CODE: Grocery chain says men's hair can only be collar length.

By Ben Spiess
Anchorage Daily News

(Published June 23, 2001)
A Kenai Peninsula man who says his ponytail cost him his job at a Safeway Oaken Keg liquor store has sued the company, charging that firing him for long hair is a violation of his freedom of speech, right to privacy and amounts to discrimination against Alaska Natives.

Soldotna resident Frank Miller, 57, is an Athabaskan Indian with a ponytail that reaches to the middle of his back. He brushes and washes his hair daily. He trims it every two weeks. He has worn his hair long his entire life except for a stint in the Navy during the Vietnam War, according to court documents filed June 11.

So when a Safeway manager told him to cut his hair above his shoulders, Miller refused, according to court filing. When Safeway bought the Oaken Keg chain as part of its 1999 takeover of rival Carr Gottstein Foods Co., Miller was not offered a job, he said. He had worked for Oaken Keg since 1997.

"I don't think Safeway has the power to impose a code like this," said John Havelock, an Anchorage attorney who filed Miller's lawsuit in Kenai. Not only is the ban a violation of freedom of speech and Miller's privacy, Havelock said, long hair is an expression of Miller's religion as Athabaskan.

Safeway's hair code requires men's hair be collar length and prohibits goatees and beards, said Richard Near, the former head of Safeway in Alaska, in a 1999 interview. At the time, Near called the policy an "industrywide" standard. Health issues are the primary reason for the policy, he said.

Cherie Myers, Safeway spokeswoman in Seattle, declined to comment about the Miller case.

"We believe that you should look professional and that men should have clean-cut hair," Myers said. "I'm sure people can look professional in other fields with hair past their shoulders. If you are in rock 'n' roll maybe you want your hair standing up. For a retail grocery that means short hair."

After Safeway took over Carrs, which was the state's biggest retailer, it put in place several changes, from new checkout stands to different brands to new employee policies, such as hair length.

In general, Alaska law offers a broad protection of privacy, said Jennifer Rudinger, executive director of the Alaska Civil Liberties Union, citing a 1972 Supreme Court ruling that said students may wear hair any length.

If hair is an expression of religious belief, a company could be in violation of the employee's civil rights, said Paula Haley, director of the State Commission for Human Rights.

Havelock said that Safeway's policy is unreasonable. As a liquor store clerk, the hair poses no health or safety risk. Havelock scoffed at the suggestion that Miller's long hair could drive away customers.

"When people buy a bottle of booze they don't care what the clerk's hair looks like," Havelock said. "I've been around Alaska long enough to know that."

Reporter Ben Spiess can be reached at bspiess@adn.com.


Jesse Jackson calls Vieques bombings 'arrogant' acts of colonialism



By IAN JAMES, Associated Press




VIEQUES, Puerto Rico (June 23, 12:21 p.m. PDT) - Calling the Navy's bombing of its Vieques firing range the "arrogant" act of a colonizer, the Rev. Jesse Jackson denounced the bombings Saturday and said the treatment of detained protesters is an effort to break their spirit.

Jackson said Saturday that he was lobbying Attorney General John Ashcroft for a meeting to air complaints that the U.S. government is trying to intimidate detainees, including his wife, Jacqueline, with excessive jail terms, fines and cruel treatment.

"It's gratifying to be here on Vieques, in Puerto Rico, where the people have met the challenge of those who try to break their spirit and have not given up," Jackson said when he arrived for a day on the outlying island of this Spanish-speaking U.S. Caribbean territory.

"To bomb Vieques is a colonial act," he said, and "arrogant."

The Jacksons are the latest celebrities to embroil themselves in protests to force an immediate end to six decades of bombing exercises that activists say have harmed the environment and islanders' health.

Jackson charged that the bombing "has resulted in a high incidence of cancer, in a high incidence of asthma." Later he visited the Lujar neighborhood, said to have the highest cancer and asthma rates on Vieques.

The Navy says health studies on the island have been biased and unscientific.

Decades of subdued resentment exploded into island-wide protests after two stray bombs killed a civilian security guard on the range in 1999, which forced the Navy to stop using live bombs.

Protesters have taken to invading Navy land to prevent sorties to drop inert bombs of up to 1,000 pounds. More than 100 protesters were arrested in the last exercises in April and May. Since exercises resumed Monday, at least 55 trespassers have been arrested, including Jacqueline Jackson.

Mrs. Jackson, 57, was jailed Tuesday when she refused to pay $3,000 bail. On Thursday, her husband said, she was put into solitary confinement for refusing to submit to a strip search.

A Federal Bureau of Prisons incidence report, supplied by the Jacksons' Rainbow/Push Coalition, quotes a prison officer as saying Mrs. Jackson stripped and complied until "I asked her to bend over and spread her buttocks. Inmate Jackson just stood facing me and told me 'No.' "

Protests have continued despite President Bush's announcement this month that the Navy must withdraw from Vieques in two years.

Bush's decision was largely interpreted here as a move to win Latino votes and avoid embarrassment if Vieques islanders reject the exercises at a federally organized referendum scheduled for November. The referendum would give residents the opportunity to vote for the Navy to remain and resume use of live ammunition, or leave in 2003.

Puerto Rico's Gov. Sila Calderon is organizing a local referendum in July that offers the additional option of voting for an immediate withdrawal of the Navy, a position she reiterated Friday at her first meeting with U.S. Navy Secretary Gordon England. England, who flew to San Juan unannounced, repeated his position that the Navy was ready to withdraw, but only in 2003, Calderon said.

Meanwhile, England has said the Navy will search for alternative sites, though the Navy has repeatedly said there is none to match Vieques, where it can practice amphibious landings and aerial and sea bombardments simultaneously in an area unhampered by much commercial air and sea traffic.


Isabell Ides, matriarch of Makah and a link to old ways, dies at 101
Saturday, June 23, 2001

By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Isabell Ides, one of the last living links to old Indian ways on the Northwest Coast, died Wednesday on the Makah reservation. She was 101.

Known by everyone in the small fishing village of Neah Bay simply as Isabell, this eldest of elders had more than 100 direct descendants. In this tribe that is so focused on authentically living their ancient culture, Isabell served as the matriarch of the Makah.


Isabell Ides, who was the oldest living Makah, died Wednesday. / Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Click for larger photo
She was one of just a few people left who grew up speaking the Makah language. Isabell did not learn English until her teenage years, when she was sent away to a boarding school in Tacoma, said her nephew Ed Claplanhoo. There, like thousands of other native children of the time, she was punished if she was found speaking her native tongue.

But the language and culture have endured and even prospered since then, in part because of Isabell's lifelong commitment to teach what it means to be Makah, say many at Neah Bay.

"She taught literally hundreds of people language and basketry," said Janine Bowechop of the Makah Museum and Cultural Center. "Those were the formal things she was known for as far as cultural preservation goes. But she was probably loved by more people than anyone I've ever known."

"She taught me who I was," said her grandson Gordon Smith. "She emphasized how you should act, how you should be, how to participate in culture."

When a fierce storm in the 1960s unearthed a centuries-old Makah village at Ozette, Isabell and other tribal elders were called upon to identify perfectly preserved artifacts that were a mystery to archaeologists.

"When they were growing up at the turn of the century, they still had some of the kind of toys that they had, had for centuries," said Clapanhoo. The toys, he said, were a reflection that the culture was still alive.

Isabell also taught numerous outsiders what it meant to be Makah as a kind of informal ambassador for the tribe.

In the summers, Isabell would move from the village to her home on a dirt road along Tsoo-yes Beach. It is the last house, on the last road in the farthest Northwest tip of the United States. Hikers on the way to the Olympic National Park's wilderness beaches would park in her yard and put a few dollars in the milk box on her porch. The lucky ones might spend a few minutes with her, or buy one of the baskets for which she was famous.

"She had baskets all over the world that she sold to tourists," said Smith, who is vice chairman of the tribe.

College students would come with their professors to visit Isabell and spend the day weaving baskets while she told them Makah legends.

Isabell credited her longevity to her strong Christian faith. She was a Sunday school teacher and member of the Assembly of God church, said Claplanhoo. While she sustained her spirit in the church, she sustained her body with a more native diet than most people consume, said Bowechop.

"She kept up with eating a more traditional diet for so long," said Bowechop. "And she taught so many people how to cut and smoke fish."

Tribal member Bobbi Rose tells the story about the first time she tried her hand in the smokehouse. When she took the fish to Isabell, the old woman ate some and said: "Take me to your smokehouse. Your wood is too dry -- it makes the fish bitter."

Rose said that when they got to the smokehouse, "the alder was bone dry. She knew just by the taste."

When the people converge this afternoon on the Neah Bay High School gymnasium for Isabell's memorial service, six generations spanning a century will be present.

There will be her 2-year-old great, great, great grandson and her 99-year-old sister Ruth Claplanhoo, Ed's mother.



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NEWS AND ISSUES -- Anonymous, 09:31:06 06/27/01 Wed

June 27, 2001
Hopi and Navajo protest Peabody's coal slurry pipeline
By Brenda Norrell
Today staff

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - Former Hopi Chairman Ferrell Secakuku joined Navajos from Big Mountain to protest the use of aquifer water for Black Mesa coal slurry and urge creation of new, sustainable forms of energy.

"We are not always on the same side of the fence, but today we are all trying to do something on the same side of the fence," Secakuku told a crowd of American Indians and other environmentalists that included longtime resisters of Navajo relocation at Big Mountain.

"We found out the water table is being depleted," Secakuku said, denying reports by the federal government and Peabody Western Coal Co. that claimed otherwise.

Secakuku entered the offices of Black Mesa Pipeline Inc. to urge officials to halt the slurry pipeline that annually depletes 1.3 billion gallons from the Navajo Aquifer. He said using water to transport coal threatens to leave the Hopi village of Moenkopi without water in the year 2011.

"Every time you breathe, Peabody is pumping 50 gallons," Secakuku had told the crowd.

Secakuku said even though he is a Republican, Bush's energy policy, pressing to increase electricity and oil production, causes him serious concern.

Further, he said there has been no response from Interior on a proposal to provide Lake Powell water to Hopi for drinking water. He said if no alternative water source is provided by the year 2004, he and Preston would march to the Hopi Tribal Council and demand that contracts be severed, ending the slurry and coal mining on Black Mesa.

"By the year 2004, we will stop the mining."

"Soon the aquifer will crumble and no longer take the recharge."

Minutes after Secakuku entered the office, one protester outside was handcuffed, arrested and charged with blocking the sidewalk.

As the group of about 25 peaceful protesters dispersed, Flagstaff police arrived in five police cars, a police panel truck and undercover officers in unmarked vehicles.

An hour earlier, during the peaceful kickoff of the "Just and Sustainable Energy Campaign," Roberta Blackgoat, held a sign proclaiming, "The Creator is the Only One who is Going to Relocate Me,'" and appealed for protection of Mother Earth.

"I'm traveling for the whole universe, and the people around the globe," said Blackgoat who has spent years opposing Navajo relocation. She said coal is the liver of Mother Earth and the gouging of her liver is making the Earth sick.

"Mother Earth is really suffering. She is having a lot of pain." Appealing for future generations, she said, "I am doing this for all these unborn."

Blackgoat said money and materialism possess the peoples' mind and hearts. "The money is the most important part of the government."

Her son, Danny Blackgoat, told protesters, "With one voice we can free the globe.

We are all in a common struggle." He said corporations are draining the resources of the world. "They have been taking, taking, taking. They have never been able to give anything in return."

Urging life in harmony with nature, he countered those who say life is harsh on Big Mountain and Black Mesa. "The environment is very nurturing, you just have to know how to live with it."

Hunter Red Dog, Diné/Dakota member of Casper's 602 Band, and Tohono O'odham Tim Toro and Mike Flores were among Hopi, Navajo, Tohono O'odham and Dakota opposing coal slurry and calling for creation of alternative energy sources.

David Orr, director of field programs for Living Rivers in Moab, Utah, urged solidarity between Indigenous groups fighting for protection of Mother Earth and environmentalists struggling for restoration of the Colorado River watershed and other ecosystems.

Paul Torrence, of Arizonans for the Arctic Refuge, said proposed oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge threatens caribou, grizzly bears, snow geese and owls. It also threatens the culture and way of life of Gwich'in Indians.

"It would destroy the caribou herd," he said of the 129,000-member Porcupine River caribou herd.

The protest focused on Black Mesa Pipeline, which carries coal slurry from Peabody's Black Mesa Mine. Enron Corp., a major contributor to the Bush campaign, owns the pipeline. Financial disclosures last month showed Bush's White House staff owned stock in Enron.

Bucky Preston, Hopi, encouraged traditional American Indians to share their ways with others to preserve the Earth and its resources. "We need to close the mines down wherever they may be. We need to teach the whole world what we know.

"We need to do this in order to be who we are."

Flagstaff Activist Networks organized the protest with Hopis, Navajos, Sierra Club, Black Mesa Trust, Glen Canyon Action Network, Living Rivers and others.




Tuscarora groups seek federal recognition as tribe







LUMBERTON, N.C. (AP) -- Four groups of Tuscarora Indians in North Carolina are seeking federal recognition as a tribe, a step that would provide the tribe with millions of dollars in federal aid.


The groups have formed a committee called the Skarureh (Tuscarora) Nations Rights Restoration Committee.


Unification of the bands would allow the tribe's voice to be heard by government officials, said Marilyn Mejorado-Livingston, the bear clan mother of the Southern Band of the Tuscarora Bertie County.


Groups involved are the Bertie band in Winton as well as the Eastern Carolina Skarureh Nation Territory in Pembroke, the Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina in Maxton, and the Tuscarora Nation of the Kautanoh in Shannon.


Nearly 2,500 pages of documentation have been gathered by the group showing its ancestry from the Tuscaroras who once lived in Bertie County.


The Tuscaroras inhabited land from the Virginia border to South Carolina. They were forced onto a reservation in Bertie County in northeastern North Carolina after the Tuscarora War in 1713. They migrated to New York and in 1722 became the Sixth Nation to join the Iroquois Confederacy.


Tribal members who stayed in North Carolina were scattered.


"The Tuscaroras have been and are in North Carolina," said Mejorado-Livingston. "We are not extinct. We want to clarify our status as Tuscaroras of North Carolina and not New York."


Federal officials only recognize the Tuscaroras of New York as a sovereign nation.


North Carolina has six state-recognized tribes with about 80,000 members, the largest Indian population east of the Mississippi and the seventh-largest in the country. Only the Eastern Band of the Cherokee has federal recognition.


Federal recognition would establish the Tuscarora tribe in North Carolina as a sovereign nation and enable the tribe to receive millions in aid for various programs.


The four bands are asking Tuscaroras from across the state who haven't joined a group to get their names on the rolls.


"We are inviting them to come home," Mejorado-Livingston said.


Not all bands have accepted the invitation.


The Tuscarora Nation East of the Mountains in Rowland and the Tuscarora Tribe of North Carolina in Pembroke decided not to join the alliance. Both groups also are seeking recognition through the Bureau of Indian Affairs.


The Tuscarora Tribe of North Carolina council voted not to take part because of previous failed attempts to gain federal recognition, said Vice Chief Elijah Locklear.


"We just want to stand back and watch," Locklear said. "We have seen several things that looked really good, but never came to fruition."


Killing Us Slowly: The Relationship Between Type II Diabetes and Alcoholism

Ann Dapice, Ph.D., Clark Inkanish, ICADC, Barbara Martin, B.S., and Elizama Montalvo, M.D.

Onyx Mooney, a Choctaw, was heard to say recently, "Practically everyone in my family is either diabetic or alcoholic. I'm 38 years old and I'm not alcoholic so I wonder when the diabetes will hit." He didn't realize at the time how true his statement was, nor the physiological relationship between the two diseases. His observations are accurately demonstrated in the statistics. American Indians have had the highest incidence of Type II Diabetes of any racial group resulting in related cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and high amputation rates. American Indians also have the highest incidence of alcoholism, nicotine addiction and suicide of any racial group. Physiologically, these are all interrelated.

Conquest by Europeans resulted in genocide, great poverty and oppression for all Indians across the Americas, but until recently, diabetes and alcoholism were mainly seen as problems among Indians north of the US-Mexican border. This was true even for tribes divided by the border. Why? How is the present incidence of alcoholism and diabetes among Indians the continuing result of earlier European and US policy towards Indians from the beginning?

There has been found a physiological relationship between alcoholism and Type II Diabetes. Both are related to problems in blood sugar regulation. An elevated insulin response to carbohydrates exists in both the pre-diabetic and the alcoholic. Most people are unaware that between 75% and 95% of alcoholics are hypoglycemic. (It should be noted that not all people who are hypoglycemic are or will become alcoholic or diabetic.) Dr. Joan Larson author of Seven Weeks to Sobriety has written that Native Americans are particularly vulnerable to adult-onset diabetes when associated with drinking. Although long considered a moral weakness and still treated as an emotional problem, alcoholism, like diabetes, is a physical disease. There are mental, emotional and spiritual components to all illnesses, but at base, alcoholism is a physical disease.

Alcoholism in Native Americans is partly related to an allergic response. American Indians are allergic to a number of the foods brought by Europeans and especially to grains (e.g., wheat, barley, oats, etc.) Food allergy symptoms include fatigue, mental confusion, depression, physical aggression and suicide attempts. After repeated exposure, intense cravings for the allergen and physical addiction resulting in withdrawal symptoms are the maladaptive responses. This allergy was demonstrated by the initial reaction of Indians to grain alcohols described in historical accounts. Alcoholism is lowest in countries where these grains originated thousands of years ago (e.g., Africa, Italy, Greece, etc.) and highest in countries that received these grains more recently (e.g., Russia and northern European countries.) Indians in the US are a prime example of people most recently exposed to these grains and therefore most acutely affected by allergic symptoms.

Corn is the grain indigenous to what is now called the Americas. However, traditionally Indians processed corn in a variety of ways using lye or lime. Science has since discovered that this process was required to release complete amino acids and the niacin required to regulate blood sugar. Different tribes had different recipes for treating corn using this method (e.g., softkey, hominy, etc.) Some tribes still have official "corn lyers." Mexican tortillas purchased in the US have this process listed on their labels presently. In the US, governmental policy demanded re-socialization of Indians to European ways--the English language, European dress, how to cook their foods, etc. The policy was known as "Kill the Indian, save the man." South of the border, oppressive but distinctly different policies allowed Indians to continue to cook in traditional ways. Meanwhile in the US, corn was purposefully engineered to achieve the sweetness found most desirable.

In addition to the proper processing of corn, traditional diets of buffalo, fish, turkey, deer along with roots, vegetables, nuts and wild fruits are now seen as important to the treatment of both diabetes and alcoholism for Indians and non-Indians alike. The key is a diet high in protein and fiber, low in carbohydrates, grains and refined foods. Unlike modern life, obtaining these foods once involved considerable exercise as well. Cokes, candy, fast food, cakes and pies were of course not traditional. Fry bread--made from refined wheat flour--was not traditional either. Many dishes now considered to be "Indian" are the result of Indians losing their lands and cultural ways. Forced to live on commodity rations, Indians made recipes from what they had in order to survive. Unfortunately, these wheat-based, sugared, refined foods keep us sick.

Meanwhile, indigenous peoples are suffering increased problems with diabetes and alcoholism worldwide. For example, the Tarajamara Indians in Mexico, long known for their superior foot races, have also been recognized for their ability to drink corn beer without suffering from alcoholism. Until recently this tribe shunned European and industrials ways and lived in a close and strongly moral community. Now forced off their native lands and into factories for work, and with the adoption of refined western foods, they too are beginning to suffer problems with alcohol and diabetes. So the genocide continues. Yet, the effects of modern, refined foods are no longer limited to indigenous people. Related illnesses and addiction are a problem for all people worldwide.

The need and effectiveness for addiction treatment that promotes physical healing and repair of physiologic damage has been studied for decades. Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, first established the link between alcoholism and hypoglycemia and the need for biochemical treatment using niacin and B vitamins. His own experience suffering depression long after he'd been sober caused him to research the need for niacin in treating alcoholism. For some reason this information was never incorporated into present AA practice.

Wilson's work has been supported in recent studies by considerable scientific research demonstrating that the physiological effects of sugar, caffeine and tobacco (up to 75% sugar cured) are the major causes of alcoholic relapse. Unfortunately, once thought to be appropriate substitutes for alcohol, these substances remain the mainstay of 12 step and drug rehab programs whose present success rates are only 7% after four years.

Even after sobriety, hypoglycemia and maladaptive allergic responses continue unless treated. New technologies enabling scientists to view changes inside the brain have shown alterations in brain pathways after prolonged exposure to alcohol. After years of sobriety many sober alcoholics not treated for hypoglycemia remain depressed, irritable and anxious, often hostile and paranoid as well. These are what often have been referred to as "dry drunk" symptoms. They are the symptoms of hypoglycemia as well. This is related to a statistic showing that one in four deaths among sober alcoholics is due to suicide. Allergic response to grains and chemicals continue to cause intense cravings, trigger "addictive memory", and lead to relapse. These sustained effects often make the thought of sustained sobriety and wellness seem unattainable.

Decades of research by others--and the research and practice at T. K.Wolf & Associates--show that cranial electrical stimulation and correct nutrition achieve healing. They provide the necessary electrical impulses to the brain cells along with the proteins and amino acids needed for neurotransmitter production allowing manageable withdrawal, prevention of cravings (sugar, caffeine, tobacco and alcohol), repair of the damaged brain and other organs, and prevention of relapse. They also respond to the related depression, anxiety, stress and insomnia of alcoholism. Unlike attempts at pharmacological solutions, there are no side effects. Curiously, well documented research using these methods to control withdrawal and promote biochemical repair have been published in major scientific journals for decades, yet have been implemented in only a few treatment facilities in the US. Fortunately, here in Oklahoma, as well as in California, Alaska and Canada, Indians are leading the way.

References and research are available upon request.

“Return to your Roots” Diabetes Conference will include speakers who specialize in treating alcoholics with nutrition. The carbohydrate connection to alcoholism and diabetes will be discussed. Click Here for more information on the Conference to be held in October.


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NEWS AND ISSUES -- Anonymous, 09:29:01 06/27/01 Wed

Tribes descend on Washington
By Brian Stockes
Today staff
Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Education and advocacy on a number of issues were the focus of a two-day legislative conference sponsored by the National Indian Gaming Association and the National Congress of American Indians. Nearly 200 tribal leaders and their representatives took part.

"We know it's active on the hill this time of year. There's a lot of things going on, so we want tribal leaders in town," said Ernie Stevens Jr., newly elected association chairman and a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. "We're very excited about what we can get done."

There were strategy sessions and meetings with members of Congress and the administration. During the gathering, a variety of priority issues were outlined including: tribal gaming, energy issues, taxation, appropriations, education and welfare reform.

A number of tribal gaming issues were raised within Congress and the administration. Many association-member tribes are focused on proposed regulations drafted by the National Indian Gaming Commission which is charged with oversight and regulation of tribal gaming. The proposed regulations deal with the definition and classification of gaming terms under the law and environmental and safety regulations.

Throughout the draft process tribes expressed concern about how far new regulations many go, especially regarding environmental and safety issues.

In Congress, many gaming tribes also focused on proposed amendments to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act originally passed in 1989 which covers all tribal gaming activities. Proposed amendments include a bill, introduced by Sen Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., which many view as pro-tribal and another, introduced in the House by Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., which most tribes view as anti-tribal.

Campbell's bill, S. 832, would amend the definition of Class II gaming, establish a strategic plan to make the commission more accountable to tribal governments, recognize the authority of the commission to issue regulations on minimum standards, in negotiation with tribes, and outline the allocation of funds from fines imposed by the commission.

Wolf's bill, which has not yet received a number, would expand authority of a state with regard to tribal/state gaming compacts. Under the proposed bill, approval of the state Legislature, in addition to the governor's approval, as outlined under current law, would be required to take land into trust for gaming purposes and for final approval of gaming compacts. It also would set up a commission to report to Congress on the current living and health standards in Indian country.

"This bill could snowball into something more significant, so we'll keep our eye on it," Stevens said. "Right now its just a challenge to the efforts of tribal leadership who could be doing other things. For those legislators to say they are doing this in the interests of tribes is just nonsense."

Other congressional issues discussed at length included: federal appropriations for tribes and the upcoming reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act and national welfare law. Reauthorization of both laws must occur before the end of the year, when they are due to expire.

The Indian Health Care Improvement Act initially was authorized by Congress in 1976 and enables the Indian Health Service to provide a variety of health care services to American Indian people. Tribal representatives have held meetings throughout the country on health care and welfare reform to draft language for the new measures.

The president's new energy policy and the inclusion of tribal governments in the search for solutions to the energy crisis came under scrutiny. Tribal governments and organizations have begun submitting policy documents and statements on the implications of the President Bush's proposed national energy policy and the need for tribal input.

"Our issues are broad, but we have to focus our efforts at the right time,"

Stevens said. "We are working on that and I hope we'll even see some results by the end of the week."



Lack of funding delays memorial to Indians killed
By STEVE YOUNG
Argus Leader

published: 6/26/01

Ten years after Congress agreed to erect a memorial to the natives who died fighting Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer at the Little Bighorn, the promise remains unfunded and unfulfilled.

And that just doesn't seem right to Little Bighorn Battlefield Superintendent Neil Mangum.

"I think it's time to build it," Mangum says as he sits in his office in the visitor's center at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. "It's been way too long. They need to build it, or otherwise it looks like another government promise to a people that will be broken."

Legislation approving construction of a memorial to the 100 tribal men, women and children who died at the battle on June 25 and 26, 1876, was signed by President George Bush in December 1991. At the same time, Congress agreed to rename the battlefield from "Custer" to "Little Bighorn" Battlefield National Monument.

Since then, an advisory committee comprised of representatives from the tribes involved in the battle, as well as historians, artists and landscape architects, have developed a design.

But Congress provided no construction dollars when it approved the memorial, preferring instead that it be built with private money. In 1999, the National Park Foundation --the fund-raising arm for the National Park Service --began going after financial support in earnest. But in two years, it has generated just $70,000 on a project whose price tag now is up to $2.3 million.

It shouldn't take this long, says Leonard Bruguier, a member of the memorial's advisory committee and director of the Institute of American Indian Studies at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.

"When the design was done and we dedicated the site two, three years ago, I said I'd like to see this built in my lifetime," Bruguier says. "I'm starting to wonder if that will happen."

The battlefield has requested an additional $1 million in the fiscal year 2004 construction budget to help get the memorial built, Mangum says. But some congressmen are trying to push that schedule ahead.

Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., has asked the Senate Interior Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee to approve $1.8 million in 2002 for building the memorial. Thus far, there's been no answer.

"Clearly we are still a ways from what we perceived we were doing 10 years ago, (when he led the move in Congress to authorize the memorial) and that was to get it built," said Sen Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo. He spoke at a ceremony Monday commemorating the 125th anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Mangum, for one, is determined to make it happen. He got approval to raise fees to the battlefield from $6 for a seven-day pass to $10 as of last Feb 1. Out of that $10, Mangum says, $5 is available for the memorial.

"We sell $50 passes, too, that will get people into any national park for a year. And of that, we retain $35," Mangum says. "But it's a sad commentary that this little park is trying to come up with the money on its own. I think Congress owes it to the public to build this."

Whether it will or not is another matter. For now, Mangum says he will set aside the dollars he collects in fees until there is enough to build the memorial. How long that will take is anybody's guess, he says.

The memorial would get built sooner, Mangum says, if Congress came up with the money. It also would allow him to use what he collects for other critical needs at the battlefield, such as road repairs and building pullouts for wayside exhibits.

"In 1881, your U.S. tax dollars paid for the Custer Memorial," said Chauncey Whitright, former national advisory committee member at the anniversary program on Monday. "All we're asking is for you to give us the benefit of the doubt, too."

But for now, a grassy stretch of land sits 75 yards northeast of where another memorial -- built in 1881 -- rests over a mass grave of 7th Cavalry soldiers.

Visitors to the battlefield often ask staff where the Indian memorial is located, or when it's going to be built, Mangum says.

"And of course there is a small percentage who say it's un-American to build such a memorial," he says. "They still think Indians are the enemies. But I think most of us realize today that the Indian wars of the post-Civil War era was like the Civil War. ... Americans fighting Americans for control of the land."

A model of the proposed memorial, designed by John R. Collins and Alison J. Towers, is on display at the battlefield monument site.

"People haven't been absorbed into the memorial. They haven't reconciled to it yet," Bruguier says of the design. "I know when I first saw the Vietnam Veterans Memorial I did not like it. Now, there's nothing better."

Bruguier thinks the memorial will help draw Indian visitors to the site to share their stories.

"I know when they open this thing, Indians will start coming here. We'll start seeing reconciliation."

Mangum hopes he's right.

"This memorial is not meant to denigrate Custer or the country's military. It's like going to Gettysburg and seeing the monumentation of the Union side and no monumentation of the Confederate side. We need to get this memorial built."

Argus Leader reporter Peter Harriman contributed to this report. Reach reporter Steve Young at syoung@argusleader.com or 331-2306


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NEWS AND ISSUES -- Anonymous, 09:27:24 06/27/01 Wed

Plains Indians want federal money for oil, gas
exploration

By Christopher Thorne, Associated Press, 6/26/2001
18:15

WASHINGTON (AP) Indian leaders want Congress to spend
more money on roads, schools and
housing for poverty-stricken reservations, but some
Great Plains tribes are also looking for federal
money to lure oil and gas companies.

Exploiting the natural resources of their land is key
to the long-term fiscal health of tribes that don't
operate casinos, Indian leaders said Tuesday in
testimony to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

Sixteen tribes, scattered across the Dakotas and
Nebraska, say they need at least $150 million for
venture capital funding, tax incentives and studies
of drilling feasibility.

As much as 20 percent of the nation's oil and gas
reserves lie untapped on Indian reservations, said
Tex Hall, chairman of North Dakota's Mandan, Hidatsa
and Arikara Nation, known as the Three
Affiliated Tribes.

If the tribes do not have federal seed money to pay
for feasibility studies, Hall said, the tribes could
stand to lose a significant amount of any revenue
from oil and gas drilling. He estimated that private
drilling companies could keep as much as a third of
potential tribe revenue if the companies had to
pay for exploration and study upfront.

Senators who heard the testimony said they were
generally supportive of the budget requests of the
tribes, but stopped short of promising outright
support for the goals outlined Tuesday.

''If there is one place we have a distinct
responsibility, it is here,'' said Sen. Kent Conrad,
D-N.D.
He described the federal government's treatment of
Indians as a black mark against the country.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has a budget of about
$2.1 billion this fiscal year. That includes
$129.2 million in this year's Interior Department
spending plan that is earmarked for replacing
schools on Indian land. President Bush has proposed
spending $2.2 billion in the next fiscal year.

The tribes of the Great Plains estimate that in terms
of necessary improvements to infrastructure in
their region alone, they need $2 billion.

Indian leaders like Hall and Greg Bourland, chairman
of the Cheyenne River tribe of South Dakota,
said tribes need more money now so they won't need
even more later.

''We have to keep coming back, coming back and coming
back again to the U.S. Congress
seeking to sustain what lifestyle we have left,''
Bourland said.

Hall testified that focusing on oil and gas drilling,
for example, will allow Indians to build their
economies and stop asking Congress for help.

''Our tribal people don't want a welfare check. We
want a paycheck,'' Hall said.

The final Indian Affairs budget is not yet complete.
One amendment to the 2001-2002 budget, that
would have called for $4.2 billion in additional
funds for the Indian Health Service, was adopted in
committee but was killed in the budget conference
committee between House and Senate
Republicans.

On the Net:

Bureau of Indian Affairs:
http://www.doi.gov/bureau-indian-affairs.html



Reconciling Little Bighorn
By Peter Harriman
Argus Leader

published: 6/26/01

LITTLE BIGHORN BATTLEFIELD, Mont. -- A line of vehicles parked by the roadside and bearing license plates from Virginia to Oregon stretched nearly a mile from Interstate 90 up to the Little Bighorn Battlefield Monday.

On the 125th anniversary of the most celebrated conflict between Indians and whites in this country, hundreds of representatives of both races sprawled on the lawn of the visitors' center here. Then they made the hike of several hundred yards up to the white marble monument where approximately 210 members of George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry command were wiped out, and to the site of the proposed memorial to Cheyenne and Lakota victims located nearby.

"This place and what happened here is only now beginning to be understood," said former Rep. Pat Williams, a Montana Republican who used the occasion to call for creation of an Indian-white reconciliation center, to be based at the battlefield.

On a day given over to commemoration of this battle and reflection on what it meant to Indian-white relations, the most fitting memorial now may be the diversity in the crowd that attended.

Participating tribes were all given time on the program, and the Northern Cheyennes opened their portion of the ceremony with a parade up from the battlefield memorial entrance to the site of the proposed Indian memorial.

There, they held a ceremonial victory dance before returning to the lawn below the visitors' center where Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., and Williams were among their speakers.

Nighthorse Campbell, a Cheyenne tribal member with many Montana relatives, sponsored legislation in 1991 that resulted in the Indian memorial being authorized and the site being renamed the Little Bighorn Battlefield from the Custer Battlefield.

Since then, he said Monday, he has observed the evolution of this battle in the national consciousness to the point where all its participants are honored.

Twenty-five years ago, he said, when he attended the centennial celebration, military helicopters flew overhead, Indians at the ceremony were forced to travel as a group and to park their cars in a block "and when we came back, our cars were being searched and our licenses recorded.

"There has been a great deal of change," he said.

Williams, who led the effort in the House to authorize the Indian memorial and change the battlefield name and currently is on the University of Montana faculty, heralded what he hopes will be the next step in that understanding. He said this year members of the Cheyenne tribe approached him with a suggestion that an institute of Indian-white reconciliation be established at the Little Bighorn Battlefield "to help remove the barriers of misunderstanding between our people."

More than a century after the battle "the scars are not healing on their own," he said.

"We need to do better."

Nighthorse Campbell said while Congress can pass laws affecting how this site is interpreted, it cannot pass laws "to make people tolerant, to make them love their neighbors, to make them realize the strength of this country is its diversity.

"Those laws come from the Creator. We have to pass them down to our children."

Williams referred to the recollections of Charles Windahl, a soldier with Maj. Marcus Reno's command who survived Reno's attack on the Indian encampments along the Little Bighorn River and the ensuing two-day siege when that charge was beaten back by the Cheyenne and Lakota, who then overwhelmed Custer. Windahl, Williams said, wrote of watching night fall and listening to the wild cries of the Indians' victory celebration.

"But he was wrong," Williams said. What Windall heard "were songs of death and mourning" for the Indian victims.

"Like so many before and after Lindahl, there is a terrible misunderstanding about the people native to this land."

It has been abetted, he said, by films, "fictional paintings, and one-sided novels."

At the time of the battle and in its aftermath, there have been "broken promises, inattention, lack of respect, and, yes, outright bigotry and racism.

"Let us pledge this site to become a genuine place of reconciliation among the races," he said.

Establishing an institute of reconciliation, "will be a very difficult task, but not as difficult as what people faced on these hills 125 years ago."

Lindall's misinterpretation of what he heard after Custer was anihilated has characterized the historical perspective of the Battle of the Little Bighorn and this nation's image of its Indians for most of the past 125 years, Williams said.

"His misunderstanding can end with us. Let us begin."


[ Edit | View ]

News and Issues -- Anonymous, 09:25:52 06/27/01 Wed

Survivor's daughter, 94, attends rites
> By LORNA THACKERAY
> Of The Gazette Staff
> Seventh Cavalry blacksmith Henry W.B. Mechling was
> already a dying man when his daughter was born April
> 21, 1907.
>
> "He had heart trouble," the daughter, Minnie Grace
> Mechling Carey, told The Gazette in an interview
> Monday. "He got it while he was in the service. It had
> something to do with the cold."
>
> In fact, he had been ill since leaving the service in
> 1880 - four years after the Battle of the Little
> Bighorn. The winter after Custer's defeat, when the
> 7th Cavalry was still in the field, was punishing.
> Temperatures dropped to colder than 40 below. He
> wasn't the only soldier who complained of chronic
> illness after that miserable year.
>
> Carey and her older brother were late-in-life
> offspring of Mechling and his wife of 20 years. He was
> 55 when Carey was born.
>
> While she was growing up in their hometown of Mount
> Pleasant, Pa., Mechling resided at Soldiers' Home in
> Washington, D.C., where he could receive the medical
> care he needed. He died there in 1926. She saw him
> occasionally when her mother, ill herself, would call
> him home in emergencies. The family kept a lively
> correspondence during those years, but Carey never got
> to travel to Washington to visit.
>
> "We were so doggone poor, we didn't have any good
> clothes or any way to get there," she said.
>
> By the time she received the telegram telling her
> father's death, he had already been buried. Carey
> didn't get to visit his grave until 14 years later.
>
> Through the years and the separation, Carey never
> stopped honoring her father.
>
> On Monday, the 125th anniversary of the Little
> Bighorn, Carey, now a frail 94, read the names of
> members of her father's comrades in Company H during
> commemorative ceremonies at Little Bighorn Battlefield
> National Monument.
>
> "I hope I can get through it without crying," she said
> a few hours before the event.
>
> Carey, the last surviving child of 7th Cavalry
> troopers who rode with Custer to the Little Bighorn,
> has visited the battlefield five times since 1993,
> when she donated her father's belongings to the
> National Park Service museum.
>
> "To walk the ground where my father walked - you don't
> know what a wonderful feeling that was," she said. "I
> was just where my dad was, and I loved my dad. I love
> to come here."
>
> She uses a wheelchair now, and for this special
> occasion traveled from Pennsylvania to Montana with
> her daughters, Betty Myers of Bentlyville, Pa., and
> Sara McIlvaine of Sebring, Fla., and Sara's daughter
> Grace Wilson, who lives in Kentucky. Carey resides in
> Florida with McIlvaine.
>
> Carey gracefully signed autographs and posed for
> pictures with dozens of people who spotted her in the
> Fort Custer Trading Post Cafe across Highway 212 from
> the battlefield entrance. She had been interviewed and
> celebrated and had traveled all the way across the
> country in the last few days, but she smiled and
> answered questions from all who asked.
>
> She has a lot to be proud of. Her father survived the
> famous encounter with the Sioux and Cheyenne because
> he was assigned to Company H, one of several companies
> divided from Lt. Col. George Custer's immediate
> command just before the June 25, 1876, battle began.
>
> Mechling, reported as Mecklin in his citation for a
> Medal of Honor, was pinned down with the rest of the
> command under Maj. Marcus Reno and Capt. Frederick
> Benteen about five miles away. The Sioux and Cheyenne
> laid siege to their position above the Little Bighorn
> River for two days. Mecklin won his medal for
> volunteering as a sharpshooter. His mission was to
> draw enemy fire away from other volunteers who risked
> their lives bringing water to the wounded and dying.
>
> He was awarded the Medal of Honor Aug. 29, 1878. The
> citation reads: "With two comrades during the entire
> engagement courageously held a position that secured
> water for the command."
>
> Carey inherited the Medal of Honor along with a unique
> collection of artifacts brought back by Mechling from
> his adventures out West. She said that after his
> discharge from the Army, Mechling stayed in Dakota
> territory and met Sitting Bull.
>
> "They were great friends," she said. Sitting Bull
> presented Mechling with a necklace made of bear claws
> and a bow and arrows. "The bow had little holes. In
> those little holes, they would take the venom of
> rattlesnakes and dip their arrows in it."
>
> Of all her father's possessions, it was his Bible that
> held the greatest meaning. Mechling's mother had given
> him the Bible when he entered the Army in 1875. From
> memory, Carey recited the inscription: "To my son,
> from your mother. Trust in God. Far from your home,
> but near to God. Good by. Mother."
>
> "When I was 12 years old, he presented it to me,"
> Carey said. On the inside, Mechling had written: "Dear
> Minnie, presented to my daughter Minnie Grace. Read
> and think of your God, and he will guide you through
> life. Your father, W.B. Mechling."
>
> For most of her life, she kept the precious objects at
> home under her bed.
>
> "I remember grandma taking me to the bedroom and
> spreading them out on the bed," Wilson said. "She
> would tell me the story about each one."
>
> Carey said her father didn't talk much about the
> battle or its aftermath, but he told her that he cut a
> button from Custer's jacket. The button was among the
> items Mechling gave to his daughter.
>
> Carey presented Mechling's collection to John Doerner,
> chief historian at Little Bighorn Battlefield National
> Monument, at Fort Lee, Va., quartermaster headquarters
> for the modern 7th Cavalry. Carey and her family had
> been invited to the fort where the Mechling Appomattox
> River Training Site was dedicated to his memory in
> 1993. Doerner brought the collection back to Montana.
>
> Mechling was discharged from the service at Fort
> Meade, S.D., on Aug. 4, 1880. Carey said he made at
> least one trip back to the Little Bighorn after the
> battle. He married Julia Stevenson of Ohio in 1885 and
> they eventually moved to Mount Pleasant. He opened a
> blacksmith's shop there, and then, with a partner,
> operated a shop in nearby Laurelville.
>
> Her brother, Henry Frederick Benteen Mechling, named
> for Mechling's commanding officer, was born in 1905,
> and Carey came two years later. Their life together
> didn't last long. Mechling had moved to the Soldiers'
> Home, and Julia was stricken with cancer. She died in
> 1919. Carey said that her father first found homes for
> the children with relatives. Later, they moved to a
> farm with a couple named Byers.
>
> Their father continued to supply money for clothes and
> paid for her to attend business school. At 18, she
> married. While in the process of moving, her husband
> stopped at the telegraph office in Uniontown, Pa. A
> telegram was waiting telling her that Mechling had
> died.


[ Edit | View ]

News and Issues -- Anonymous, 09:38:54 06/23/01 Sat

Story Filed: Friday, June 22, 2001 7:33 PM EDT

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- The Miami Nation of Indians of Indiana is not a
tribe and the federal
government does not have to recognize it, a federal appeals court has ruled.

``Probably by 1940 and certainly by 1992, the Miami Nation had ceased to be a
tribe in any
reasonable sense,'' a three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Court of Appeals said
in a ruling issued
June 15.

``It had no structure. It was a group of people united by nothing more than
common descent,
with no territory, no significant governance and only the loosest of social
ties.''

Arlinda Locklear, a Jefferson, Md., attorney representing the Miami Nation,
said Friday the
group plans to appeal.

``We think the decision is wrong,'' she said. ``We think the decision is
based in large part to a
misrepresentation of facts to the court by the government.''

An 1840 federal treaty called for the removal of the Miamis from Indiana.
Soldiers were sent to
force them out in 1846, and they were moved to Kansas and then to Oklahoma.

Today, Miami, Okla., is the seat of the Miami Indians of Oklahoma, which has
federal
recognition.

The court said about 4,700 Indiana Miamis are left. Only a third of those
live in five contiguous
counties in Indiana, and they don't live in a group. They constitute less
than 0.05 percent of the
counties' population, the court said.

The appeal court ruled that ``Indian nations, like foreign nations, can
disappear over time.''

The Interior Department ruled in 1992 that the Miamis were not a tribe,
saying the group didn't
live in a distinct community and had not maintained authority over it
members.



Rep. Rips Pol Who Says
Puerto Rico 'On Welfare'

By RICHARD SISK
Daily News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON

The Vieques dispute exploded on Capitol Hill yesterday over a House
Republican's suggestion that Puerto Rican protesters were ingrates who "sit
down there on welfare."



Jacqueline Jackson, wife of civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, is
detained during protest inside Navy camp on Puerto Rican island of Vieques.


Rep. Jose Serrano (D-Bronx) called the remark by Rep. James Hansen (R-Utah)
"one of the meanest things I've ever heard."
In a letter to Hansen, Serrano said Hansen was entitled to his view that the
Navy should remain on Vieques, but he added, "As an American citizen who was
born in Puerto Rico, I was personally offended by your harsh comments."

Hansen, an 11-term conservative, told National Public Radio that Puerto Rico
should not get "favorite treatment" over other parts of the country that
accommodate military training ranges.

"They sit down there on welfare, and very few of them paying taxes, got a
sweetheart deal," Hansen said.

Bill Johnson, Hansen's legislative director, didn't flinch at his boss' tough
talk. "We have nothing to apologize for," Johnson said. "We don't get into
games of political correctness" or "racial and ethnic grandstanding," he said.

Puerto Ricans benefit from federal aid, but "the problem is they don't put
anything in, that's just a fact," Johnson said. Puerto Rico "is in fact a
welfare state supported by the federal government," he said.

Puerto Ricans have shown their patriotism in the military, Johnson said, but
the demonstrators on Vieques are "siding with the wackos and leftist nuts who
started the protests. These folks are traveling back and forth to Cuba."

The verbal fireworks erupted in Congress as Navy jets resumed shelling the
Vieques bombing range yesterday, despite attempts by protesters to disrupt
the exercises. Thirteen people, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson's wife, were
arrested in protests yesterday.

A proposal by President Bush to end the Vieques bombing in two years has left
protesters angry and has enraged conservatives in Congress like Hansen.

Serrano said Hansen's remarks reflected demeaning stereotypes and "a lack of
understanding of the Puerto Rico-U.S. relationship."
Serrano said even members of Congress still do not know that Puerto Ricans
are U.S. citizens.

Members of Congress he would not identify have approached him and ask him to
bring back Puerto Rican stamps and money for their collections, Serrano said.

The last time a House member asked for a sample of "Puerto Rican money,"
Serrano said, "I pulled out a [U.S.] dollar bill and gave it to him."

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), who has been arrested in Vieques
demonstrations, said, "Civil disobedience is as old as America. I'm proud of
the peaceful, nonviolent civil disobedience" on Vieques.

Jim Kennedy, communications director for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton
(D-N.Y.), said his boss has "made the point that the people of Puerto Rico
volunteer for the armed services at a higher rate than just about anyone in
the country, probably including Utah."

Original Publication Date: 6/19/01


[ Edit | View ]

News and Issues -- Anonymous, 09:37:52 06/23/01 Sat

F.B.I. Analyst Arrested for Selling Information to Mafia





June 20, 2001


F.B.I. Analyst Arrested for Selling Information to Mafia

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


Filed at 6:02 a.m. ET

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- An FBI security expert who had access to informant identities and witness lists is accused of selling classified files to the mafia and others involved in criminal investigations, according to a complaint filed against him by the FBI.

James J. Hill, 51, an Air Force veteran and security analyst in the Las Vegas FBI office, is charged with obstruction of justice, conspiracy and stealing and selling the top-secret FBI information.

The six-page complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, says Hill was paid $25,000 for files from November 1999 until last week. He was arrested Friday in Las Vegas after allegedly faxing classified information drawn from computer files to an FBI informant in New York.

A detention hearing was scheduled Wednesday in Las Vegas.

The accusations against Hill follow a series of embarrassments for the FBI, including the arrest in February of counterintelligence agent Robert Hanssen who is accused of spying for Moscow for 15 years; the announcement last month that more than 4,000 FBI documents had been withheld from lawyers for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh; and the botched investigation last year of former Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee.

They also come as a Senate Judiciary committee prepares for a hearing on the agency Wednesday and as the White House seeks a replacement for retiring FBI director Louis Freeh.

The FBI spent Tuesday assessing the damage that could have been caused by the potential release of what the complaint refers to as ``hundreds of different classified FBI records and documents pertaining to criminal cases and grand jury investigations.''

According to the complaint, Hill had security clearances and access to national security data, confidential informant identities, witness lists and electronic surveillance information. An FBI official in New York said the case involves criminal files and not national security secrets.

The complaint, filed by Special Agent Demetrius Barkoukis, accuses Hill of selling classified FBI records relating to organized crime, white collar investigations and international immigrant smuggling.

The unnamed informant, identified as a private investigator arrested Thursday, told the bureau he got FBI records from Hill. In one recent case, the informant said he sold them for $4,000 to a man in Oyster Bay, N.Y., who also has been indicted in the case, the complaint said.

Barkoukis also cited telephone records showing that Hill was in communication with people in Cuba and Mexico and said passport records showed Hill had traveled within the last year to Colombia.

Grant D. Ashley, Las Vegas' FBI special agent in charge, declined to provide further details because a criminal investigation is continuing.

^------

On the Net:

FBI Las Vegas: http://lasvegas.fbi.gov



Skeleton's fate still unclear: Court hears Kennewick Man debate

By Hal Bernton
Seattle Times staff reporter
PORTLAND - A federal magistrate wrestled with the meaning of the word "is" yesterday as he sought to determine the fate of the 9,300-year-old Kennewick Man skeleton that five Pacific Northwest tribes seek to bury and scientists want to study.

In 1990, Congress authorized the repatriation of Native American remains and defined Native American as relating to a tribe, people or culture that "is" indigenous to the United States.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John Jelderks appeared skeptical that Kennewick Man bore a relationship to any tribe that is now in the U.S. And without that relationship, he appeared uncertain that Kennewick Man qualified as a Native American under the 1990 act.

"We're spending a lot of time on this," Jelderks said. "It might be very important."

Yesterday's hearing is part of a bitter six-year legal battle over the Kennewick Man, one of the oldest and best-preserved skeletons ever found in North America. The case pits scientists who seek further study of the skeleton against federal Interior Department officials who say it should be turned over to the five Pacific Northwest tribes.

The skeleton is held, under court order, at the Burke Museum in Seattle, and Jelderks is expected to issue a written ruling in the next few months to decide the disposition of the skeleton.


Yesterday's hearing was attended by more than a dozen attorneys, with some giving lengthy oral arguments that are scheduled to continue today.

Attorneys for the Interior Department and the tribes said Jelderks may be reading too much into the word "is." They say Congress, in passing the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, intended a broad definition of Native American. That definition would include the direct ancestors of current tribes but also more ancient remains with ties less fully understood. They said that even if Jelderks had doubts about congressional intent, those doubts - under federal Indian law - should be resolved in favor of the tribes.

"When there is more than one interpretation here, it would be erroneous, in my view, to adapt the more narrow interpretation," said Walter Echohawk, an attorney with the National Congress of American Indians.


Kennewick Man was found in the Columbia River shallows near Kennewick on July 28, 1996. In September of that year, federal officials - citing the 1990 act - said that Kennewick Man should be turned over to Northwest tribes for reburial.

That decision touched off the legal battle by eight scientists who sued in federal court for the right to conduct DNA and other tests.


Interior Department officials, through a limited series of scientific tests and other research, found that the skeleton resembled people from southern Asia. But former department Secretary Bruce Babbitt ruled that the skeleton is "culturally affiliated" with modern tribes.


The 1990 Native American Graves and Repatriation Act reflected tribes' frustrations with the warehousing of human remains and cultural artifacts that had been gathered through more than a century of intensive collection.

Since the passage of the act, museums have returned some remains and artifacts to tribes. Tribes have been able to take control of new finds of Native American remains and artifacts on tribal and federal lands. In some instances, tribal officials say cooperative efforts have allowed studies before reburial.

Echohawk said cooperation is more likely if scientists acknowledge they must first gain consent for studies.


Hal Bernton can be reached at 206-464-2581 or hbernton@seattletimes.com.



Aboriginal rights are meaningless
July-2001
Aboriginal rights are meaningless

Taiaiake Alfred, Windspeaker Columnist
Recently, on the pretext of ruling against Mike Mitchell, a Mohawk of
Akwesasne, who asserted an Aboriginal right to conduct cross-border trade,
the Supreme Court of Canada went much further and took the opportunity to
deny the Mohawks of Akwesasne, and by extension Indigenous peoples as a
whole, any rights at all outside of those accorded them by the Canadian
government. In Mitchell v. MNR, the Supreme Court has explicitly denied that
we have an existence that is in any way independent of Canadian law and
society. That is a statement of major significance.

Many of our people were upset when the Supreme Court of Canada gave its
decision on the Mitchell case. To be sure, there were upsetting and even
sickening words contained in the Supreme Court's decision. It always hurts to
be hit in the face with the racism that bubbles just below the surface of
polite Canadian society, especially when it is laid bare in clinically
precise legal language. But beyond the Supreme Court justices' shocking
ignorance of fact and the plodding, sophomoric attacks on history, there is
nothing much surprising in the decision. Did anyone actually think that the
Supreme Court of Canada would recognize Mohawk sovereignty?

Spiteful denials of our rights by government lawyers and judges are nothing
new. After a generation of jurisprudence on the question of our peoples'
relation to the Canadian state, a time in which the trend and the vanishing
point of our rights have been visible, we should not be surprised by what was
said in Mitchell. All of the recent Supreme Court decisions on Aboriginal
rights have given and taken away at the same time, yet our lawyers and our
leaders have been looking at those decisions through rose coloured glasses.
The problem is that we have wanted to see progress where there was none, and
we have bought into the false promise of steady progress toward a just
accommodation of our existence as peoples with that of the Canadian state.
This decision surely puts that lie to rest.

Am I being too cynical? Read the chief justice's words yourself: She wrote
that the court has "affirmed the doctrines of extinguishment, infringement
and justification as the appropriate framework for resolving conflicts
between Aboriginal rights and competing claims, including claims based on
Crown sovereignty." She is telling us here in no uncertain terms that any
conflicts between the rights we claim and the Canadian government's claimed
authorities, between our law and Canadian law, will be resolved by
extinguishing our rights. Case closed. Aboriginal rights and title have been
rendered meaningless.

The vaunted section 35(1) of the Canadian Constitution has been exposed as an ultimately useless protection in the face of white people's material or
ideological interests. The Supreme Court's decisions have been proven time
and again, especially in Marshall II and now Mitchell, to be nothing more
than transparent covers for government policy decisions, and obviously based
on economic and political factors rather than on historical facts or sound
legal reasoning (Mitchell explicitly links the interests of the Canadian
state to the denial of the Aboriginal right).

So now what? The lesson is very clear: politics and economics determine
everything. The lesson also points the way forward. We must reconcile
ourselves to the fact that our struggle is political. It is not about law but
about power. Forget about appealing to the courts; forget negotiating
self-government and land claims agreements; forget about Aboriginal rights
and title. All of these can only lead our people toward an imminent vanishing
point on a very short horizon. The horizon of our future generations can only
be extended if we commit to take direct action in defence of our lands and
rights, and begin to demand respect from Canada.


[ Edit | View ]

News and Issues -- Anonymous, 09:36:31 06/23/01 Sat

By Bruce Selcraig
High Country News
and Shane Benjamin
Herald Staff Writer

Wendell Chino, the president of the Mescalero Apaches of southern New Mexico for 34 years, until his death in 1998, often joked: "Zunis make pottery. Navajos make rugs. Apaches make money."

Chino brought to his once-anemic reservation a ski resort, sawmill, metal factory and casino. But surely some must have doubted when, more than a quarter-century ago, he gazed upon a fallow field and declared it perfect for the country’s first tribal-owned golf course.

Chino’s dream – a manicured golf course attached to the Mescaleros’ Inn of the Mountain Gods resort – not only became a sensation among golfers, it also planted the seed for one of the more surprising economic success stories in all of Indian Country.

Tribal sources and golf-design firms estimate there are about 25 tribal-owned courses – now open or under development – in some 10 states.

Golf is now seen as a near-perfect magnet for attracting young professionals and small corporate conferences. But money and marketing savvy couldn’t draw golfers if pueblos didn’t have golf’s two essentials: land and water. The pueblos are blessed not only with landscapes that golf-course architects dream about but bountiful water rights.

Yet, with golf’s deserved but fading reputation for racist, sexist, Republican country clubs, and a sordid environmental record of excessive water and chemical use, one could understandably ask: Is there any game on the planet more alien to the American Indian ethic than golf?

The Colorado Ute tribes have been waiting to bring power plants, strip mining, a dude ranch and golf resorts to the Four Corners with water from the Animas-La Plata Project.

Leonard Burch, chairman of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, said a golf course would compliment the Southern Utes’ Sky Ute Casino and give tribal members and local communities a place to recreate.

"It is a good sport, and we would like to see young people participate in it," Burch said. "Recreation is part of growing up and educating young ones."

A golf course does not exactly fit in with traditional Ute culture, but it would be a good resource to utilize where there is a need, he said. Some tribal members go to Oxford to play, Burch said.

"We’ve moved into the 21st century," he said. "Now we have to move ahead and develop according to the needs ... but not forget the culture."

The tribe is waiting to see if it is awarded enough water from A-LP to maintain a golf course, he said.

It would be conducive to the local needs rather than attract players like Tiger Woods, Burch said.

Surprisingly, golf came before gambling at the Santa Ana Pueblo near Bernalillo, N.M.

"We were looking for something where white people would come, spend their money and leave," joked tribal administrator Roy Montoya.

The pueblo opened the Santa Ana Golf Club in 1991. Today, the 27-hole Santa Ana Pueblo is joined by a new 350-room Hyatt Regency and Hyatt’s just-opened Twin Warriors golf course, which is already well-booked and will cost the public $125 per round.

The Cochiti Pueblo, north of Santa Ana, has opted out of a casino culture, and tribal members seem confident about their choice.

"We have been inoculated," says Princeton-educated Cochiti Governor Regis Pecos.

The Great Western Cities Corp. in the 1960s enticed Cochiti leaders to lease land for a retirement/vacation community called Cochiti Lake. But in 1984, the pueblo bought back its lease and title to the golf course. Now the Cochitis, who have rejected hotels, waste dumps and casinos, rely on the golf course’s million dollar-a-year gross.

"We want to define the kind of visitor who comes here," says Pecos. "We want them to have respect; golfers represent those kinds of values."Not ‘green’ enough?

One cannot discuss golf in New Mexico without talking about water. The third-driest of the 50 states, rainfall averages about 15 inches a year in Santa Fe and less in Albuquerque. During summer peak, many courses will use nearly 1 million gallons a day for irrigation, enough to supply three families of five for a year.

For some, the thought of a clover-green playground for the rich is unconscionable.

"Golf in the desert is a total abomination," says John Horning, director of the Santa Fe-based Forest Guardians’ watershed protection program.

The tribes, he says, have no corner on environmental sensitivity.

"Some have environmental ethics – some don’t," he said.

Clearly, the impact of the Indian-owned courses in New Mexico goes far beyond environmental practices and economic development: Many tribal members now regularly play for free or reduced rates, and youth programs are becoming "cool."

Michael Peacock, a golfer and director of the New Mexico Native American Business Development Center, credits the influence of pro golfers Tiger Woods and Notah Begay III, who is Navajo and Pueblo, with breaking down the game’s racial and cultural barriers.

Benny Shendo, senior manager of Native American programs at the University of New Mexico and a Jemez Pueblo member, says kids on his pueblo west of Albuquerque flock to golf summer camps.

"We’re the best sand-trap players because we have nothing but dirt out there," he jokes.

Yet, Shendo wonders if the pueblos are jeopardizing their cultural integrity.

"We’ve been approached about a resort-style golf course," he says, "but I don’t think the pueblo is ready to compromise itself.

"If you look at the pueblos that have done well economically, they have also lost quite a bit in terms of language, culture and ceremonies ... but we look at things through a different lens."



Jacqueline Jackson in solitary confinement

June 22, 2001BY LYNN SWEET SUN-TIMES WASHINGTON BUREAU Jacqueline Jackson was
thrown into solitary confinement after refusing to be strip-searched at the
Puerto Rican jail where she is protesting U.S. naval bombings off the island
of Vieques, her son Yusef said Thursday.Jacqueline Jackson, 57, declined to
post $3,000 bail, her son told the Chicago Sun-Times, because "she wants to
be released with dignity on her own recognizance."Yusef Jackson said his
mother refused a body cavity search as she was returning to her cell after
meeting with her legal team, which includes Yusef, 30, a corporate attorney
who is the president of a Chicago beer distributorship.A prison guard told
Yusef Jackson that his mother was put in solitary for refusing to disrobe, a
sanction that is standard policy at the prison."I said that is most excessive
for someone who is here for civil disobedience," her son said.Yusef Jackson
flew to San Juan, arriving early Thursday morning "after I realized she was
not going to be released on her own recognizance." He was interviewed by
telephone from his room at the Ritz-Carlton in San Juan.He said his mother is
not allowed visits by family members, and he was able to see her only because
he is a lawyer.Jacqueline Jackson was arrested on misdemeanor trespassing
charges Monday as she climbed through a fence to a restricted area of the
bombing range.The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson plans to fly to the island today to
appeal to the judicial authorities for the release of his wife.Yusef said he
expects to be joined today by his brother, Jonathan, 35, and sister,
Jacqueline Jackson II, 25.Another son, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), was
part of a news conference in Washington on Thursday protesting his mother's
confinement and the Navy's use of a portion of Vieques for target
practice.President Bush announced last week the Navy will leave in two years,
while critics want an immediate halt to the bombing.Jacqueline Jackson came
to Puerto Rico at first to observe, Yusef said, and "she rather quickly
decided to cross the fence for an act of civil disobedience for which she was
rightly detained." Her decision to stay "kind of shocked everybody," he
said.Jacqueline Jackson went to Vieques at the suggestion of Rep. Luis
Gutierrez (D-Ill.), himself arrested twice for trespassing on the range. He
is awaiting a trial on Aug. 29.Gutierrez wrote to Attorney General John
Ashcroft on Thursday, urging him to "intervene immediately on Mrs. Jackson's
behalf." He said "this type of detention is extreme, dehumanizing and
completely inappropriate." A Justice Department spokesman could not be
reached to comment.


"COURAGE IS THE PRICE THAT LIFE EXACTS FOR GRANTING PEACE..."



Chief Seattle's tribe clings to its identity
By SARA JEAN GREEN, Seattle Times staff reporter

[Photo caption: "Chief Seattle's daughter, Kickisomlo, who was dubbed
Princess Angeline by the white settlers, was born sometime around 1820. She
died in 1896. In this 1890 photo, she's seated by a photo of Snoqualmie
Falls."]

"Theirs was the land the white people wanted most.

To the Duwamish, the indigenous people of what is now Seattle and King
County, this place was an ideal site for winter longhouses and summer camps,
salmon weirs and canoe landings. To the newcomers, the place lent itself to
a new town, with gridded streets, a mill, deep-water anchorage and,
eventually, steel mills and boat docks, concrete plants and sports stadiums.
The newcomers' vision won, and the Duwamish were dispersed. For them, there
would be no reservation, no fishing rights, no visible landmark of their
legacy.
"But ... many of our people never left," says Cecile Hansen, the Duwamish
tribal chairwoman.

One hundred and fifty years after the Denny Party arrived and started the
settlement that would become Seattle, Hansen and other Duwamish have no
desire to turn back the clock. But they do seek federal recognition as a
distinct tribe and want a place where their people can gather in the city
that bears their chief's name. Hansen is the great-great-grandniece of Chief
Seattle, and her grandmother is buried next to him on the Suquamish
reservation.

The Duwamish want to deal with the United States on a
government-to-government basis and want to offer their members services such
as education and health care - rights guaranteed in the treaty they signed.

In the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott, 81 Indian leaders representing 15
tribes ceded Puget Sound to the United States. Chief Seattle was the first
to make his mark on behalf of the Suquamish and Duwamish. The Suquamish got
their own reservation; the Duwamish didn't.

The Duwamish were supposed to move to the Suquamish, Tulalip, Muckleshoot or
Lummi reservations and live among other tribes. Many did, but others never
left or soon returned to their homeland, dismayed by the restrictions of
reservation life.

Without a land base, the 570 or so registered Duwamish members struggle
against invisibility. Their numbers are small, their blood mixed. Without
recognition, "the prospects of the tribe existing and surviving are
extremely limited," said James Rasmussen, a third-generation Duwamish
council member. "We followed through on our end of the agreement, and we're
waiting for the federal government to follow through on theirs."

Federal recognition, he says, will fulfill the treaty that guaranteed
signatories a government-to-government relationship with the United States.
And it will ensure the Duwamish "more than a place at the table" when
decisions are made about environmental and other issues, said Rasmussen,
whose great-great-great-grandmother was a Duwamish elite and niece of one of
Puget Sound's last medicine men.

A brief recognition

The Duwamish thought they were close to establishing such a relationship
when, on Jan. 19, just before 9 p.m., Washington, D.C., time, tribal
chairwoman Hansen got a phone call from Lee Fleming, head of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs' Bureau of Acknowledgement and Research.

With three hours left in the Clinton administration, Fleming told Hansen the
federal government was recognizing the Duwamish tribe.

But less than 48 hours later, Hansen learned President Bush suspended a
batch of his predecessor's 11th-hour orders, including federal recognition
of the Duwamish.
"Now we're 'pending.' We're in this terrible limbo," Hansen said.

The Duwamish had the misfortune of living on some of the most sought-after
real estate in the region, says historian David Buerge. Their longhouses
were torched, and they were banned from owning land that had been theirs for
generations.
The Duwamish ceded 54,700 acres of land, but it took almost 120 years and a
long court battle for the United States to pay up: In 1971, about 1,000
people were each paid $64.
"I bought groceries," said Hansen. "What else can you do with $64?"

The Duwamish and other landless people were dropped from the list of
federally recognized tribes sometime in the 1960s, Hansen said. Though Judge
George Boldt ruled in 1974 that tribes who signed the Point Elliott Treaty
had rights to half of the area's fish, he later ruled the Duwamish and four
other groups weren't political entities and so weren't entitled to treaty
rights.

Tribe takes priority

Hansen's story is much like the story of her tribe, a people who have
adapted to survive while holding tight to their Duwamish identity.

She's brusque, tough and funny. She's a Catholic and volunteers at her
church. She has borne eight children and buried three. She loves Neil
Diamond, boats and her rose bushes.
She's a private woman who has tried to resign many times in her 26 years of
leadership. The last was in 1996, when the BIA rejected Duwamish
recognition.

Hansen called the council together and they split up the tribe's roster,
phoning every Duwamish to find out what to do next.
"They overwhelmingly said, 'We want to keep fighting,' " Hansen said. "That
gave me the motivation to go on.
"The tribe always takes priority to everything else," she continued. "As
many times as I've tried to get away from this work, I think this is the
Lord's plan for me because I was just minding my own business, trying to
raise my kids."

She was elected tribal chairwoman in 1975. It's a lifetime position and,
until this year, an unpaid one. Hansen was a young mother when the tribe
began fighting for recognition in 1978. Now, she's a great-grandmother.
Hansen works out of the tribe's office, most recently a rented Burien
storefront next to a hair salon, less than two miles from the house where
she lived as a Highline High School student in the 1950s.

Her dad was a longshoreman, fisherman and woodsman who knew how to fix cars.
Her mom was raised in Indian boarding schools from age 4 to 17, worked in
canneries and raised five children. At age 50, she went to college and
became a nurse.
In the early 1970s, Hansen's late brother Manny was arrested several times
for fishing in the Duwamish River, and that was the beginning of Hansen's
research into her people's past. Around the same time, she met Buerge, a
teacher and local historian who is writing a biography of Chief Seattle.

Hansen credits him with piecing together much of what's known about Duwamish
history. But there were many people along the way - historians,
anthropologists, linguists and others - who helped compile necessary
evidence for the tribe's application for federal recognition.

Should the Bush administration approve Duwamish recognition, the decision
inevitably will be appealed, likely by tribes already recognized.

According to Rasmussen, the Muckleshoot have already indicated they would
appeal. The Muckleshoot didn't return phone calls requesting comment.

Herman Williams Jr., chairman of the board of directors for the Tulalip
Tribes, said it was unlikely the Tulalips would appeal, having lost other
recognition cases. The Tulalips argue that the Puget Sound Indians who moved
to reservations are the ones who kept their end of the treaty bargain.

"We ceded our land and moved to reservations, went through the hardships,
sifted bugs out of our flour and endured the diseases. We were Indian when
it wasn't popular to be Indian, while other people got to assimilate into
the community," said Williams.

Hansen knows if and when recognition comes through, there will be more red
tape. The tribe will need to write a constitution, determine membership
criteria and establish ordinances.

The tribe's top priority now is getting a longhouse built on West Marginal
Way, across the street from the city's new Herring House Park, site of an
old Duwamish village and a 360-foot potlatch house.

A couple of years ago, an anonymous group of West Seattleites gave $52,000
so the tribe could put a down payment on a small parcel of land downstream
from Terminal 107 and Kellogg Island.

So far, the tribe has secured two $60,000 grants from King County and $5,000
from Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods for design work and mortgage
payments. Hansen estimates the tribe needs to raise $2 million more.

"We need to be able to bring our people back together again, to educate our
children in their culture, to welcome other tribes to the area, and most
importantly, to be able to tell a story to the people who live here, to give
them a sense of place and history," Rasmussen said."

[Sara Jean Green can be reached at 206-515-5654 or at
sgreen@seattletimes.com]


[ Edit | View ]

A VISIT TO PINE RIDGE -- Anonymous, 10:12:23 06/07/01 Thu

' A Visit to Pine Ridge'

As I drove up to the Lakota or Indigenous Embassy, my attention was drawn to
the now flag that sits at the top of the flag pole joining the others which
are there.
This flag is blue and white........the flag of the United Nations!

Many were at the building and one has to ' sign in' immediately upon entering.

Studying , discussions and meetings are going on as the Elders, members of
the Tribe, friends, supporters and many who work there greet you as you
enter.

I have enclosed below excerpts from the Lakota Journal on present situations.
The full article will be posted as soon as some additional information is
received.

Excerpts from the Lakota Journal June 4-10,2001:

" According to those now occupying the building, the Indigenous Embassy's
main focus will be to offer a human rights defense on a Nation-to-Nation
level through such forums as the World Court and the United Nation's
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
Many good programs are in the process of being developed and implemented
to help the people. They will be announced at future dates, said White
Mountain ( Robert)
At a recent meeting of the Working Group they were told by Tony
Blackfeather that United Nation's Leader Special Rapporteur Miguel Alphonso
Martinez from Cuba will be visiting the Indigenous Embassy a day prior to the
Treaty Gathering meeting that will be held at Storm Mountain. Professor
Martinez wrote Study on Treaties, Agreements and Constructive Arrangements
Between States and Indigenous Peoples ( the Treaty Study), which was
sponsored by the United Nationa Commission on Human Rights.
Also, the Unrepresented Nations and People's Organization will be sending
delegates from around the world to perform a fact-finding mission on the Pine
Ridge Reservation tentatively scheduled for June 17 through the 22. Fifty one
nations, representing 150 million people, are members to the UNPO, and they
recognize and support the Indigenous Embassy, according to Blackfeather. "

Another book of great interest is, the ' DOCUMENTS OF AMERICAN INDIAN
DIPLOMACY, Treaties, Agreements, and Conventions, 1775-1979 Volume Two, by
Vine Deloria,Jr and Raymond J. DeMaillie. This can be purchased through
Borders Book Store and perhaps the online book stores as well. ...Erth


[ Edit | View ]

PLEASE READ -- Anonymous, 09:45:45 06/07/01 Thu

















ISSUE FORUM HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE UNITED STATES:
THE UNFINISHED STORY CURRENT POLITICAL PRISONERS - VICTIMS OF COINTELPRO
PART 2 : THE LEGACY OF WOUNDED KNEE

MR. ELISON: As I was introduced before, my name is Bruce Elison. I am a criminal defense lawyer that is currently based in western South Dakota, where I have been for 25 years. On behalf of Leonard Peltier, who is now a grandfather, and my own children, I hereby want to thank the members of the Black Caucus, and particularly Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, for conducting this meeting here today. I mean, this is fantastic. Congresswoman McKinney, you have done what the Senate Intelligence Committee under Frank Church decided not to do, and what the Congress failed to do, despite strong recommendations of the necessity of such an inquiry by the chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and Amnesty International.

I came to western South Dakota to be a staff attorney with a group called the Wounded Knee Defense Committee back in 1975, and I came from an urban Jewish upbringing in the New York City area. I was raised to believe in the importance of justice for all people. I was raised to believe in the importance of our democracy and our fundamental rights to free speech, freedom of association, and freedom to seek redress of grievances. From what I have seen over the last 25 years, Native Americans have many legitimate grievances, as do others in this country.

Educated as a lawyer, I was taught that our courts exist to promote and preserve justice, our Congress to enact responsible legislation, and our executive branch to enforce the laws of our country. What I have experienced since my move West has both shocked, amazed, and terrified me as a citizen of this country and, more importantly, as a father, and I remain so today.

I prepared a written text, since I understand that is what you are supposed to do when you testify in front of a congressional hearing, and I forgot my glasses, so you are going to have to bear with me.

FBI documents and court records in the thousands, together with eyewitness accounts, show clearly that beginning in the late 1960s the FBI began a campaign of infiltration and disruption of the treaty and human rights movement which calls itself the American Indian Movement or AIM. FBI operations were directed towards the destruction of AIM and its grassroots supports in the urban and reservation communities containing the survivors of America's wars against its indigenous population of the last 400 or more years.

Particular emphasis was directed by the FBI towards the descendants of the Lakota, who stopped the campaign of slaughter by General Armstrong Custer and the Seventh Cavalry, who now reside on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and some of the surrounding reservations. FBI operations against AIM began with surveillance of peaceful demonstrations of people calling for the enforcement of treaty rights, for human rights, for equal opportunities for jobs and housing and medical care, and for justice in America's courts. It soon led to the infiltration of informants and agent provocateurs, to the manipulation and use of our criminal justice system, and ultimately, out where I live, to state-sponsored terrorism in the Indian communities within this country. Documents show the FBI was assisted in the suppression of domestic dissent by agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the State Department, military intelligence, often enlisting the aid of State and local police and intelligence agencies throughout the country.

It was a period in which the groundswell of people's movements in our communities were regarded as a threat by the Federal Government, perhaps due to its magnitude and intensity and the righteousness of the grievances being aired. The FBI targeted the voices, the members, the supporters, and the funders of those who stood up and visibly tried to obtain fundamental correction of the ills affecting millions of people across America.

The FBI acted as if terrified by any signs of bridges across the barriers of color and ethnicity and the joint recognition of common problems and collective solutions that we could all work together to accomplish. Many of the documents that I have reviewed, that we obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, talk about the concern around the time of Wounded Knee, and between then and the firefight in Oglala, of the connections between the American Indian Movement and the Black Panther Party, particularly in California.

After the 71 day siege at Wounded Knee in 1973, our criminal justice system became but an improper tool of the Domestic Security Section of the Intelligence Division of the FBI, in its efforts to destroy AIM. The man in charge of the Domestic Security Section at the time, whom others present today are well familiar with, was Richard G. Held.

Based in Chicago, Held secretly came to Pine Ridge during the Wounded Knee occupation in 1973 to directly supervise FBI domestic security operations against AIM in the field. While claiming in documents that AIM members were engaging in acts of sedition, the Bureau sought to arrest hundreds in the aftermath of Wounded Knee, in the hopes that it would tap the strength and resources of the Movement and make it go away. It soon concluded that this approach was insufficient. As one FBI document stated, "There are indications that the indian militant problem in the area will not be resolved or discontinued with the prosecution of these insurgents."

Most Wounded Knee criminal charges brought against hundreds of AIM members were eventually dismissed by Federal court judges for illegal use of the United States Military. The FBI then began to fund and arm and equip a group of more western-oriented Lakota men and women who called themselves the Guardians of the Oglala Nation, or the "goon squad" on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

As many as 60 men, women, and children were killed in the period of political violence which then followed, and this is out of a population of 11,000 people. These were mostly members of AIM, members of their families, supporters, their friends, and sometimes simply people who were neighbors of those people involved in the movement. I remember staying in homes in Pine Ridge during this period where men felt compelled to keep loaded weapons nearby while they and their families, including children and elders, slept, fearful of the real and immediate danger of an attack by the goon squad in the night. People whose families lived for years in fear of immediate serious bodily injury or death in their homes, their yards, or walking in the streets of their community.

And we are not talking at this time of random acts of mindless violence by those who are angry, mentally ill, desperate or lost in this country, but violence directed at them and their families because they believed in the traditional indian ways of their ancestors and belonged to or supported the American Indian Movement.

One instance I personally witnessed involved FBI agents and a Bureau of Indian Affairs SWAT team escorting carloads of goon squad members and their weapons out of the community of Womblee after a day and night of armed attacks on the community. This resulted in the ambush murder of a young AIM member, and the burning and shooting up of several homes.

One of the killers was given a deal by the FBI for five-year sentence in return for his testimony that two goon squad leaders had acted in self defense in their attack on four men who were unarmed in a vehicle. I investigated this murder at the request of the tribal president-elect, and was horrified by this deal, and the main killers went free.

I represented a 14-year-old who was physically handicapped at the time, who was forced to face an adult sentence in adult court, charged with murdering one of three goons who had just threatened to kill him as one of them attacked him. Court testimony revealed that he had previously witnessed his brother being shot in the streets of a nearby town, his obviously pregnant sister being beaten in the stomach by a rifle butt, and his family hugging the floor of their rural home for nearly five hours while members of the goon squad fired semiautomatic and high-powered rifle bullets through the walls of their home.

There was no investigation by the FBI of those responsible, although they were identified in each instance. This child's brother was involved in the American Indian Movement. That was the only connection the family had.

I represented a young mother and AIM member named Anna Mae Pictu on weapons charges. She told me after her arrest that an FBI threatened to see her dead within a year unless she cooperated against members of AIM. In an operation previously used against members of the Black Panther Party, the FBI, through an informant named Doug Durham who had infiltrated AIM leadership, began a rumor that she was an informant.

Six months later her body was found on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The FBI said she died of exposure. They cut off her hands, claiming that this was necessary to identify her, and buried her under the name of Jane Doe.

We were able to get her body exhumed, and a second, independent autopsy revealed that rather than dying of exposure, that someone had placed a pistol to the back of her head and pulled the trigger. When I asked for her hands after the second autopsy, because she was originally not buried with her hands, an FBI agent went to his car and came back and handed me a box, and with a big smile on his face he said, "You want her hands? Here."

I myself have been personally and directly threatened by agents of the FBI for my efforts to expose what the Bureau did on Pine Ridge and within the courts of our country. They seem to be fearful of what daylight could bring to their conduct in the past, and perhaps their plans for dealing with dissent in the future.

U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Gerald Heaney, after reviewing numerous court transcripts and FBI documents, concluded that the United States Government overreacted at Wounded Knee. Instead of carefully considering the legitimate grievances of Native Americans, the response was essentially a military one which culminated in a deadly firefight on June 26, 1975, between Native Americans and FBI agents and U.S. Marshals.

While Judge Heaney believed that the "Native Americans" had someculpability in the firefight that day, he concluded the United States must share the responsibility. It never has. The FBI has never been held accountable or even publicly investigated for what one Federal petit jury and Judge Heaney concluded was complicity in the creation of a climate of fear and terror on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

The resulting firefight near Oglala was preceded by FBI documents internally declaring AIM to be one of the most dangerous organizations in the country and a threat to national security. It followed by two months the issuing of a position paper entitled "FBI Paramilitary Operations in Indian Country," a how-to plan of dealing with AIM in the battlefield. It referred, used such terms as "neutralization," which in the document it defined as "shooting to kill." It included the role of the then-Nixon White House in handling complaints as to such military tactics being utilized domestically.

It followed by one month the build-up of FBI personnel on the Pine Ridge Reservation with mostly SWAT team members from various divisions of the FBI. It followed by three weeks an inspection tour of the reservation by senior FBI officials and the reporting of concern by those officials for the widespread support enjoyed by AIM in the outlying communities on the Pine Ridge Reservation, such as Oglala.

The FBI headquarters document further referred to an area near Oglala which reportedly contained bunkers and would require the use of paramilitary forces to assault. Three weeks later a firefight broke out on the ranch of elders Cecelia and Harry Jumping Bull which lasted for nearly nine hours. FBI documents describe as many as 47 people being involved in the battle with SWAT teams of the FBI, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and State police agencies.

Three young men lost their lives that day, each shot in the head, two FBI agents and one AIM member. And one thing, and I will detract from my notes for a moment, that I have always felt was so critical about the way the FBI has looked at that firefight and the way the American Indian Movement has looked at that firefight, is that for AIM people that day, before they left that area, before they were able to escape, they sat and prayed for the three men who died that day, all three. The FBI has always only considered that only two men died that day, their own agents.

One of the agents had in his briefcase a map of the reservation. It had the Jumping Bull ranch circled with the word "bunkers" written next to it. The bunkers turned out to be aged and crumbling root cellars that one wouldn't want to defend in a spitball fight behind.

Leonard Peltier and other AIM members from outside the reservation had come into the Jumping Bull area to help them celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. They had come in to join other local AIM members because the climate of violence on the reservation had gotten so intense that people felt the need to gain assistance from the outside, so men and women came in, including Leonard Peltier, and they brought with them their single-shot 22's and their rusted shotguns and a few hunting rifles that they were able to get, and they were in a camp on the Jumping Bull ranch.

The government used the incident to increase its campaign of disruption and destruction of the American Indian Movement. FBI agents, dressed and equipped like combat soldiers, searched homes and questioned Pine Ridge residents at gunpoint. Armored vehicles patrolled the reservation, as did SWAT teams and National Guard helicopters.

This was accompanied by a public disinformation campaign by the FBI, designed to make Oglala residents and their guests appear to be the aggressors and, in fact, terrorists. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights would soon report, "It is patently clear that many of the statements released to the media regarding the incident are either false, unsubstantiated, or directly misleading."

You know, we used to think of, during the anti-war days of the war in Indochina, we used to talk about "bringing the war home." Well, I think the FBI kind of thought that that was really a good idea, and many of the tactics that they used in Indochina and Central America and other places in this world, they decided to try out on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Noting Leonard Peltier's regular presence and involvement in AIM activities throughout the country, the FBI targeted him for prosecution from the desks of its agents. According to FBI documents, about two and a half weeks after the firefight, the Bureau was going to, in its own words, "develop information to lock Peltier into the case," and it set out to do so.

The FBI eventually charged four AIM members, including Peltier, with the killing of the agents. No one has ever been prosecuted for the killing of AIM member Joe Stuntz that day. After hearing testimony of numerous eyewitnesses to the violence directed at AIM members by the goon squad and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, two of Leonard Peltier's codefendants were acquitted on self-defense grounds by an all-white jury in the conservative town of Cedar Rapids, Iowa--truly a remarkable thing, but people who were willing to keep their eyes and their ears open and listen to the truth, and were able, by a judge who had the courage and willingness to learn himself, to allow this evidence to be presented.

However, after those acquittals, the FBI analyzed why these two men, these two long-haired indian militant men could be acquitted by an all-white jury, and decided a new judge was needed. FBI documents show that a meeting in Washington, D.C. at FBI headquarters, there was a decision made to "put the full prosecutive weight of the Federal Government" against Leonard Peltier.

Evidence shows the government used now admittedly false eyewitness affidavits to extradite Peltier from Canada. This would catch the attention of Amnesty International and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, but only a little bit.

The Court of Appeals would call such conduct "a clear abuse of the investigative process by the FBI" and gives credence to the claims of indian people that if the government is willing to fabricate evidence to extradite a person in this country, it is willing to fabricate evidence to convict those branded as the enemy. Well, absolutely true, but Leonard Peltier remains in prison.

At Peltier's trial the government presented evidence and argued to the jury that he personally shot and killed the agents. To do this, the government presented ballistics evidence purportedly connecting a shell casing found near the agents' bodies with a rifle said to be possessed by Peltier on that day, and the coerced and fabricated eyewitness account of a terrified teenager, claiming that the agents followed Peltier in a van, precipitating the firefight in Oglala.

Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that the ballistics evidence was a fraud; that the rifle could not have fired the expended casing found near the body. Further, the FBI had suppressed evidence showing the agents followed a pickup, not a van, into the compound, and thought someone else, not Peltier, was in that vehicle.

Citing the case of Leonard Peltier as an example, Amnesty International has called for an independent inquiry into the use of our criminal justice system for political purposes by the FBI, other intelligence agencies in this country. Amnesty cited similar concerns for other members of AIM and other victims of the COINTELPRO-type operations by the FBI.

I will submit to you, when the government can select a person for criminal persecution because of their political activity, when they can fabricate evidence against that person and suppress evidence proving that fabrication, and go ahead and prosecute a person and put them in prison for any amount of time, let alone for life, you have a political prisoner.

Upon disclosure of these documents, a renewed effort in a new trial was sought from the courts. While concluding that the suppressed evidence "casts a strong doubt" on the government's case, our appellate courts denied relief. The U.S. Attorney's office has now admitted in court that it had no credible evidence Leonard Peltier killed the agents, and speciously claimed it never tried to prove it did. Under our system, if there is a reasonable doubt, then Leonard Peltier is not guilty, yet he has been in prison for nearly 25 years for a crime he did not commit.

The FBI still withholds thousands of pages of documents in this case, claiming in many instances that disclosure would compromise the national security. In the absence of such disclosure, no further efforts in a new trial are possible. And Leonard Peltier is not alone in his imprisonment for his political activities. We have heard about some of the other people today, and I am hearing more every day. Kind of isolated, out in South Dakota, from some of the things.

Despite congressional interest in an investigation of the tragic events at Ruby Ridge and Waco, the committee of Congress with subpoena power has yet to hold full and formal hearings on what the FBI did to suppress the indian movement in the 1970s, as well as the human and civil rights movements in the black and brown communities of this Nation. This meeting today is an important first step, Congresswoman McKinney, to make sure that we truly have freedom of speech, freedom of association, and the freedom to seek redress of grievances in this country.

I would respectfully submit that the FBI's involvement in the suppression of dissent within our country is a cause for great alarm. Its use of the criminal justice system, disruptive campaigns, and outright condoning and support of terrorism in our communities must be investigated and never allowed to happen again.

On behalf of Leonard Peltier and my own children, we would urge a full congressional investigation, and we would urge the granting of executive clemency to those activists from the '70s, '80s, and '90s who have yet to gain their freedom.

Thank you.


[ Edit | View ]

FBI Agent can be tried in court -- Anonymous, 09:36:48 06/07/01 Thu

The current Idaho Supreme Court is considered more conservative than any prior Idaho Supreme Courts in regard to States Rights (is a big change from some prior courts), which means they jealously protect their sovereignty, including the right to prosecute anyone for violations of Idaho law, seems to me for us this is good because if Idaho can prosecute so can any of the various Tribes, Bands and Nations.

The U.S. Supreme Court has the ability to pick and chose most of the cases it reviews, in this instance the U.S. Supreme Court is free to review or not review. I hope they review it and allow prosecution of Federal law enforcement and other Federal personnel by the various States. If this occurs if any tribe with a backbone will also be free to prosecute Feds of all types for criminal acts within their jurisdiction. This has been an issue since the 1866, will be nice to see it resolved with in a manner that serves the interest of justice and this would require those committing crimes to answer in the jurisdiction the crime was committed and this has been a long time coming.

Of interest, from what I heard recently the prosecutor who advanced the issue of prosecuting the Fed sniper has been audited by the IRS as well as being the target of other Federal agencies.


----- Original Message -----
From: kat_klaws11@hotmail.com
To: ndn-aim@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2001 1:35 PM
Subject: [ndn-aim] Re: FBI Shooter in Ruby Ridge Killing Can Be Tried-Court


Charles,
What is your feeling on how the Supreme Court might rule if they
review this. Do they HAVE to take this case if it is presented? And
what is the political make up of the Supreme Court as opposed to this
State of Idaho Appeals court?


[ Edit | View ]

Suspended Seminole Leader Sues Tribe -- Anonymous, 09:34:10 06/07/01 Thu


Wednesday, June 6, 2001

Story last updated at 03:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 6, 2001
Suspended Seminole leader James Billie sues tribe



The Associated Press

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - James Billie has sued the Seminole Tribe of Florida, saying the Tribal Council did not have the authority to suspend him as chairman.

The lawsuit - filed in U.S. District Court - asks the council to reinstate Billie and give him back pay dating to his suspension, said Billie's attorney, Robert Saunooke, on Tuesday.

Saunooke said he plans to argue in court that the tribal constitution has no guidelines for suspending an elected leader. There are guidelines for removing a leader with a recall petition, but those were not followed, he said.

Billie, 57, led the tribe for 22 years and developed its highly profitable gambling operation. He was suspended indefinitely on May 24 after Christine O'Donnell, the tribe's former director of administration, charged in a federal lawsuit that Billie had gotten her pregnant, forced her to have an abortion and then fired her.

Billie was initially reluctant to file the lawsuit, Saunooke said, preferring that the tribe consider his case.

The lawsuit, which was filed late Monday, names the tribe, Tribal general counsel Jim Shore and the four other members of the Tribal Council as defendants.

Information from: The Miami Herald


[ Edit | View ]

FIGHT FOR LEONARD -- Anonymous, 09:16:00 06/07/01 Thu

----- Original Message -----
From: "LPDC"
To:
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2001 5:38 PM
Subject: Letters to the Editor Week - Peltier


> REMINDER:
>
> JUNE 9-15 IS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR WEEK IN SUPPORT OF LEONARD PELTIER
> AWARNESS MONTH!
>
> Dear Friends,
>
> Below is a new sample letter to the editor for next week's awareness
effort.
> Many of the last letters you submitted did get printed, so the word is
> getting out and our new campaign is picking up pace. This letter takes a
> new angle - so hopefully the papers will find it of interest. As always,
> you can personalize this letter, write your own, or use the text below.
> Again, check your local paper's word limit for letters to the editor
before
> sending yours in. The sample letter is 300 words. If your letter is
> printed, please send us the clipping for our files. Thank you!
>
> In Solidarity,
> LPDC
>
> SAMPLE: LETTER TO THE EDITOR
>
> Little Attention Given to People of Color Victimized by FBI Misconduct
>
> Recent disclosures of FBI misconduct have justifiably prompted significant
> outcry from the public. However, few acknowledge those who have probably
> been most affected. In the 60's and 70's the FBI sought to destroy many
> civil rights organizations and leaders committed to uplifting their
> communities. Activists of color were commonly targeted for undue criminal
> prosecution during that era and many still languish unjustly in prison
> today.
>
> One of the most daunting examples is the case of Leonard Peltier, the
> American Indian Movement leader who has spent 25 years in prison following
> his controversial conviction for the murder of two FBI agents. The agents
> and one Native man were killed in a shoot-out on the Pine Ridge
Reservation
> which occurred during a three year period of brutal conflict. During that
> time, the FBI maintained a large presence on the reservation, but did
> nothing to stop the violence. Instead, they collaborated with vigilantes
who
> killed over 60 AIM members and supporters.
>
> Peltier, long under surveillance by the FBI, was unfairly targeted for
> conviction. Despite vast evidence against several other suspects, the FBI
> chose to "put the full prosecutive weight of the US government against
> Peltier." The FBI withheld over 18,000 documents during trial, coerced
> witnesses and manufactured evidence to gain his conviction. 6,000 FBI
> documents remain secret today. The government now admits they do not know
> who killed the agents, yet Peltier remains behind bars, a symbol of US
> repression against Indigenous Peoples. (www.freepeltier.org)
>
> By locking up civil rights leaders and subverting their organizations, the
> FBI has hampered positive change for communities of color. We must prevent
> such abuses from continuing. If we do not, the road to true racial
justice
> will be very long.
>
> Name
> Address
> Phone #
> e-mail
> (contact information not for print)
>
>


[ Edit | View ]

Mescalero -- Anonymous, 09:00:23 06/07/01 Thu

Mescaleros move to eliminate lead dust in classrooms




June 05, 2001




MESCALERO - Mescalero Apache Tribal President Sara Misquez said in a news release Monday that the tribe is moving quickly to eliminate a possible health hazard in its Early Childhood Program area after lead dust was found in one of the rooms
In a letter sent to parents earlier this week, Early Childhood Program Director Dr. Gina Langley said that the problem was discovered just before school let out, and that state and federal health authorities were notified immediately.

The news release said Misquez directed work to begin immediately to remove or resurface walls, flooring, and any other areas that might contain lead dust, to make them safe for occupancy. The Early Childhood Program rooms should be finished in time for summer sessions, the release said.


"We are testing all of the rooms in that building, which is an older building, and we will take whatever steps are necessary to make sure it is safe for the children," Misquez said in the release.


Dr. Langley said that the Indian Health Service Hospital is testing children who may have been in the room long enough to be exposed. She said that in tests done so far no children have shown levels of lead that would cause concern. But parents can request that their children be tested whenever they go to the Well Child Clinic or for any other hospital visit.


The risk can be reduced for children who may have been exposed, by making sure they drink plenty of liquids and get vitamin C and calcium. A Department of Health brochure was sent home to parents regarding lead, symptoms and treatments.


©Alamogordo Daily News 2001


[ Edit | View ]

American Indians have a new will to survive -- Anonymous, 08:57:43 06/07/01 Thu

American Indians Have New Will To Survive
by AP, The Associated Press


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Oklahoma City (AP) - A stronger will to survive and preserve their culture will make up for a bleak socio-economic outlook for American Indians this century, an expert believes.

A recent international report on human rights concluded that American Indians have the lowest incomes, highest unemployment rates, least education, shortest life span, worst health and housing conditions and highest suicide rates of any race in the United States, said Richard West, the keynote speaker at Monday's opening of Sovereignty XIV, a statewide symposium on American Indian sovereignty.

West said he is "not disheartened" by the statistics, since "a seminal and historic shift has occurred in the thinking of native people about their future."

West said as executive director of the National Museum of the American Indian, he and the staff try to focus on the size, depth and contributions of native communities that lived "in what is now known as the Americas."

West, a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, said demographers estimate that in 1492, the year Christopher Columbus arrived, 75 million native people lived in the Americas. Six million to 9 million of those lived in what is now the United States.

West said American Indians had thriving cultures and huge settlements at the same time Rome was "literally nothing more than a minor, largely rural village."

When Europeans arrived, he said, thousands of native communities exhibited 700 distinct languages and cultures. But in less than two generations, that diversity was cut in half.

The number of people in the most densely populated native area, Central America, declined 75 percent.

"Entire civilizations and communities that had time depths of thousands of years were destroyed and eliminated, quite literally wiped out in a generation through disease and military action," West said.

By 1900, the first year American Indians were counted in a U.S. census, it was estimated only 250,000 remained in this country, he said.

After West's address, Neal McCaleb, a Chickasaw tribal member and President Bush's nominee to run the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, spoke of sovereignty and taxes.

"Sovereign governments must have tax revenues," he said. "If we are dependent on another government ... we are subordinate to that government."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


[ Edit | View ]

Supreme Court On Navajo Tax -- Anonymous, 07:27:10 06/03/01 Sun

> Overturning an appeals court decision, the Supreme
> Court on Tuesday struck down a tax that has brought in
> $1.2
> million in annual revenues to the Navajo Nation.
>
> In a unanimous decision, the Court ruled that the
> tribe's hotel occupancy tax (HOT) is an unlawful
> exercise of its
> sovereignty over non-tribal members. The tribe cannot
> force non-Indian businesses located on non-Indian land
> to
> collect the tax from customers, said the Court.
>
> "Indian tribes are unique aggregations possessing
> attributes of sovereignty over both their members and
> their
> territory, but their dependent status generally
> precludes extension of tribal civil authority beyond
> these limits," wrote
> Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
>
> "The Navajo Nation's imposition of a tax upon
> non-members on non-Indian fee land within the
> reservation is,
> therefore, presumptively invalid."
>
> The Court's ruling brings an end to a eight-year
> debate over the legality of the tax. First instituted
> in 1992, the 5
> percent tax was raised to 8 percent in 1994.
>
> The New Mexico-based Atkinson Trading Co., which owns
> several businesses located within the borders of the
> three-state Navajo Nation, protested the tax as early
> as 1993. The company argued its Cameron Trading Post
> hotel in
> Cameron, Arizona -- which is billed as a way for
> visitors to experience Indian culture -- could
> possibly collect the tax
> from Indian customers, but not from non-Indians.
>
> The Navajo Nation court system and a federal court,
> however, sided with the tribe. In May 2000, the 10th
> Circuit Court
> of Appeals upheld the tax as a valid exercise of
> sovereignty over non-Indians.
>
> But the Court yesterday said that ruling was
> incorrect. In overturning the decision, the Court said
> the tribe failed to
> satisfy either one of two criteria that are required
> to establish authority over the actions of non-Indians
> on non-Indian
> land.
>
> First, the tribe failed to show the hotel or its
> guests entered into a consensual relationship to allow
> the tax. Even if
> the tribe provides police, fire, and other services to
> hotel guests, the Court said no relationship exists.
>
> Next, the tribe failed to show the hotel's operation
> directly affected its political integrity, economic
> security, or health
> and welfare. The hotel employs tribal members and
> happens to be surrounded by Indian land, but doesn't
> affect the
> tribe directly.
>
> One of the lawyers who has represented Atkinson
> welcomed yesterday's ruling. "We think that the Court
> struck the
> appropriate balance between the rights of private
> landowners and the sovereignty of the tribe," said
> Charles Cole of
> the Washington, DC-based Steptoe & Johnson.
>
> The tax imposed on the Cameron Trading Post brought in
> about $84,000 yearly for the Navajo Nation. A lawyer
> for
> Atkinson said the tribe should reimburse his clients
> the amount they've paid so far.
>
> A spokesperson for Navajo Nation President Kelsey
> Begaye referred all comments to the tribe's Department
> of Justice,
> who were unavailable yesterday.
>
> The Court's ruling is expected to have an effect on
> tribes throughout Indian Country. A federal judge in
> Montana struck
> down the Crow Tribe's 4 percent hotel resort tax last
> August.
>
> The 9th Circuit last year also struck down the Crow
> Tribe's tax on utility companies. The Crow Tribe
> declined to appeal
> the case to the Supreme Court.
>
> Get the Decision:
> Atkinson v. Shirley No. 00-454 (US Sup Ct May 29,
> 2001)
>
> In Depth:
> Atkinson v. Shirley: Legal briefs, oral arguments, and
> more (3/27)
>
> Relevant Links:
> The Supreme Court - http://www.supremecourtus.gov
> The Navajo Nation - http://www.navajo.org
> Cameron Trading Post - http://camerontradingpost.com


[ Edit | View ]

Court Ruling on Case -- Anonymous, 07:25:36 06/03/01 Sun

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear an
appeal of an Acoma Pueblo man convicted of murdering
his
girlfriend's 16-month-old son.

The decision lets stand David Edward Chino's
conviction on assault and second-degree murder charges
in the death of
Zachary Vallo, killed in July 1998. The 10th Circuit
Court of Appeals in January upheld Chino's concurrent
sentence of
12 months with one year of supervised release on the
assault counts and 210 months on the second-degree
murder
count with three years of supervised release.

Claudine Ann Vallo, Chino's girlfriend and mother of
Zachary, was sentenced to 240 months with three years
of
supervised release. She did not join Chino's appeal to
the Supreme Court. Chino was not Zachary's natural
father.

The couple resided on Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico at
the time of Zachary's death. On July 25, 1998, Chino's
mother
brought Zachary to the Acoma-Laguna-Canoncito Clinic
where a doctor observed he wasn't breathing. He also
appeared
to be having a seizure, said the doctor.

Zachary was immediately flown to a hospital in nearby
Albuquerque. Doctors there found that Zachary had
subdural
hematomas, or internal bleeding, on the sides and the
back of his brain.

In court documents and testimony, the doctors said
these injuries were consistent with child abuse.
Zachary's
condition deteriorated and he died on July 28.

An autopsy confirmed brain hemorrhaging as well as
bleeding around Zachary's eyes, consistent with having
been
shaken. He also had evidence of a prior brain injury
and had a total of 41 bruises over his body.

Chino, then 20, and Vallo, then 25, did not go to the
clinic with Zachary. Chino's younger brother, home at
the time in
question, called their mother, who took the the baby
to clinic.

The couple also did not immediately go to the
Albuquerque hospital and when officers showed up, both
fled on foot,
according to a complaint filed at the time.

Vallo's children were among those called to testify on
abuse at the couple's home. Irene Thompson, then 6,
testified
that she saw Chino shake her brother and drop him into
a crib. Joseph Thompson, then 9, said Chino once put a
bag
over Zachary's head when he wouldn't stop crying.

In an interview with authorities, Chino admitted
having problems controlling his temper around Zachary.
He also said
he dropped him on an occasion prior to his death.

On the day in question, Vallo had pushed Zachary out
of his high chair for not drinking his milk. When
Chino came
home from work, he shook Zachary but observed no
response.

Vallo said she didn't seek medical attention for fear
of being accused of child abuse. An FBI agent said the
night
Zachary was taken to Albuquerque, the couple went out
drinking.

Shaken baby syndrome is one of the most underreported
forms of child abuse. Unless accompanied by evidence
of
more serious abuse, it is often hard to detect.

Several high profile cases in recent years have
brought attention to the problem.

Get the Case:
US v. Vallo Nos. 99-2328, 00-2078 (10th Circuit
January 23, 2001)


[ Edit | View ]

Daschle Honored -- Anonymous, 07:23:53 06/03/01 Sun

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com

Daschle honored at American Rivers exhibit

By Lisa Hilton, Associated Press Writer

SIOUX FALLS — Soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle was honored in
Sioux Falls on Wednesday at the opening of an exhibit that retraces the trail
of Lewis and Clark.


The ceremony kicks off a national three-year, 25-city tour of the
"Discovering the Rivers of Lewis and Clark" exhibit in anticipation of the
bicentennial of their exploration.


During the ceremony, Gov. Bill Janklow thanked the Democratic leader for
fighting for the Missouri River in Congress. He also thanked him for his
friendship the past 10 years.


"You bring an integrity to what you do," he said to Daschle. "I speak for the
people of this state when I say we're proud of you."


Daschle, who assumes the role of majority leader Tuesday, said the state is
lucky to have Janklow's leadership and friendship.


"Over the years, I have come to admire him," Daschle said.


In a political environment that often tears down the other guy, Janklow has
supported him, he said.


Daschle also gave much of the credit for the river restoration to Janklow.


"Bill Janklow cares about that river more than anyone in South Dakota,"
Daschle said.


In recent years, Daschle has become good friends with the Republican
governor, and they have cooperated on many issues including restoring the
river.


In January, the two met in front of the South Dakota Legislature to sign an
agreement linked to a federal law that transfers federal land along the river
to the state and two American Indian tribes. The land had previously been
managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.


That transfer put the river back in the hands of those who live along it and
should have responsibility for it, Daschle said Wednesday.


American Rivers promotes U.S. river conservation. It has named the Missouri
River an endangered river for seven years, and twice the Missouri has been
listed as the most endangered river in the country.


American Rivers President Rebecca Wodder presented the Lewis and Clark Corps
of Recovery Leadership Award to Daschle to recognize the work he has done to
protect the Missouri.


"Because of the leadership of Sen. Tom Daschle, the future looks brighter for
the Missouri River than it has in many years," she said.


After the ceremony, Daschle was followed closely by members of the national
media, including crews from CNN and NBC.


Although his name has been mentioned as a potential candidate for president
in 2004, Daschle said he will focus on his new role as Senate majority leader
for now.


He assured South Dakotans he will not forget who put him there.


"I still strongly believe I'm a South Dakotan first," he said. "It's good for
me to come home and recharge my batteries."


He said he will again tour all 66 South Dakota counties this year.


The exhibit will be on display at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls this
Friday through June 24. It is sponsored by American Rivers, the Corps of
Engineers and The History Channel, and includes material donated by National
Geographic.


The exhibit will stop in Pierre and Yankton later this year.


[ Edit | View ]

Seminole's -- Anonymous, 07:22:05 06/03/01 Sun

A former employee of the Seminole Tribe of Florida
told an area newspaper that she has been questioned by
the FBI
about gifts Chief Jim Billie reportedly gave her.

Maria Santiago, 23, said the FBI wanted to know where
Billie got the money to pay for the gifts, which
included $1,100
in rent, Rolex watches, jewelry, a truck and a car.
Santiago also said the FBI asked her about trips she
made in the
tribe's corporate jet.

In a police report, Billie's wife Lesley is accused of
threatening Maria last October.

An attorney for a former tribal employee who is suing
Billie for sexual harrassment on Wednesday said she
has been
questioned as well.

The tribal council has suspended Billie indefinitely


[ Edit | View ]

Mescalero Fire halted -- Anonymous, 14:34:47 04/11/01 Wed

April 10, 2001

Firefighters Halt Blaze's Progress

The Associated Press
MESCALERO, N.M. — Firefighters have stopped flames from moving forward as they worked Tuesday to get fire lines around a 2,000-acre wildfire on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, fire officials said.
Winds that gusted up to 60 mph Monday afternoon fed the fire, but crews were able to keep it from burning more of the south-central New Mexico reservation, fire information officer Karen Lightfoot said. High winds grounded a helicopter that had been helping fight the fire.
Weather forecasters posted a high-wind watch for the area until Tuesday evening.
"Right now, the wind is a pretty big concern," Lightfoot said.
Crews managed to dig a brush-free perimeter around the fire Monday, but officials did not estimate a containment schedule for the blaze, Lightfoot said.
The blaze, dubbed the Turkey Well Fire, broke out about mid-afternoon Sunday in grass and ponderosa pine and moved into areas of pinon-juniper. It is burning in steep, rocky terrain.
Several hundred people are either fighting the fire directly or are working on support efforts, aided by seven engines, five bulldozers and three water tenders.
The blaze appeared to be human-caused, fire officials said, but they had no exact cause.
They said it was not related to a small blaze in Upper Indian Canyon that began Saturday as a fire to eliminate logging debris. That smoldering pile was put out by a firefighter who responded to the call with an engine.
Travel through the reservation is restricted — meaning no stopping or parking is allowed along the roads, including U.S. 70 and N.M. 244. Anyone violating the closure order can be fined, the tribe warned.
Fire restrictions also are in effect on the reservation. No outside fires, including charcoal fires, are allowed, refuse burning is prohibited and smoking is allowed only indoors or in enclosed vehicles.
No injuries have been reported and no homes were threatened, but officials said Monday some archaeological sites are in the fire's path.
The Lincoln National Forest was hard hit by wildfires last year. The Cree Fire near Ruidoso burned 8,650 acres and the Scott Able Fire near Weed blackened about 16,000 acres last May.


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