Wotanging Ikche--nanews07.037

Gary Night Owl (gars@netcom.com)
Wed, 8 Sep 1999 19:11:21 -0700 (PDT)

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_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ O
' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) O o O
/ / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ O o O
(_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' O o o o o O
____ _ , ___ _ , ___ VOLUME 07, ISSUE 037 O o O
/ ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' September 11, 1999 O o O
/ /-< / /--/ /-- Dine' gathering of crops moon O
__/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, Osage all yellow flowers blossom moon
KANOHEDA ANIYVWIYA Ha-Sah-Sliltha Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin Un Chota
Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min Aunchemokauhettittea
Ximopanolti tehuatzin, inin Mexika tlahtolli
( N A T I V E A M E R I C A N N E W S )
This issue contains articles from Big Mountain, FOL-L, Innu-L, Triballaw,
Minn-Ind & NatFilm Lists; Newsgroups: alt.native,own.natives,
soc.culture.native, soc.religion.native-american; UUCP email;
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/stories/Story1252369.html
http://www.azcentral.com/news/reid/navelder.shtml
http://www.ap.org/ ; http://www.aics.org/justice/camp.html

Articles appearing have been previously posted for public dissemination
and/or permission for inclusion has been secured.
Letters of authorization are on file. A list of those granting permission
to repost their words in this issue are listed at the end of part A.
I thank each of you for allowing your words to be shared with the people.

IMPORTANT!!
-----------
To all who send copywrite protected articles, make very sure you have
permission from the copywrite holder (a newspaper, the AP, a magazine, an
author) because a new law is now in effect that says you can be prosecuted
even if there is no monetary gain. Just because a newspaper has a website
where it posts some or all of its editions does not grant permission for
their redistribution. Be careful and be sure you pass on the items you do
with full permission.
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, all material appearing in
this newsletter is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a
prior interest in receiving this information for educational purposes.
<----<<<< >>>>---->
This newsletter is a way of keeping the brothers and sisters who share our
Spirit informed about current events within the lives of those who walk the
Red Road.
++ It may be subscribed to via email by sending a request from your own
internet addressable account to gars@netcom.com
++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org
++ There is also a hyperlinked version of the Current Issue at
http://bearvisions.com/NativeNews/NEWS.html

Borries Demeler advises AISESnet doesn't exist anymore, instead there is now
NativeNet where people can search for archives of Wotanging Ikche issues:
_ All past AISESnet archives (1992-1998) can now be found in:
http://aises.uthscsa.edu/discussion/
_ All new messages will be archived in:
http://nativenet.uthscsa.edu/archive/nn-dialogue/archive.html
The mailing address for AISESnet/NativeNet the lists have changed.
Please make a note of the new address.
The old address aisesnet_discussion@listserv.umt.edu should *NOT*
be used any longer. Instead please use:
nn-dialogue@nativenet.uthscsa.edu

Downloading Wotanging Ikche on AOL From: MAANG1419@aol.com <Valentina>
Just thought I would share some info. I could not download on to a .txt
because I kept getting the message (when I tried to retrieve it) that the
text editor could not handle the volume. This time I downloaded it on to
a .doc and when I retrieved it out of file manager, IT WORKED.

"[A man] who was in the habit of beating his wife, was lead to a red-hot
statue of a female, and requested to treat it as he had done his wife.
He commenced beating it, and the sparks flew out and were continually
burning him. Thus it would be done to all who beat their wives."
__ retelling of a cautionary Haudenosaunee tale
from the Code of Handsome Lake

O'siyo Brothers and Sisters!

Our ancestors tried to make it clear to the invaders that it was the
Sacred obligation of all true human beings to let those who have crossed
over remain in their resting places undisturbed. The blanket of Mother
Earth should remain as it is, so that they might continue their Spirit
Journey in a good way.

After two centuries of struggle and bitter confrontations, public law
101-601 was finally signed into law in 1990. This law, better known as
the Native American Grave Protection Act (NAGPRA). While this law does
much to deter some open, malicious grave robbing it is not a cure all.
The Wal-Mart stores built on our Ancestor's bones at Hickory Log Village
in Georgia and several other locations are evidence a well financed and
determined developer can circumvent the law.

Further, there are more of our ancestors remains still in museums that
have not been returned than there are living Native Americans. This is a
sad commentary on the preoccupation the invaders have with collecting and
destroying all they see in what they refer to as progress.

The humiliations they have inflicted on the our ancestors with pseudo-
scientific tests is mute testimony to their legacy of users and abusers.

Our ancestors and our elders have told them this was a dangerous path.
They laughed it off as superstitious nonsense from backward people.
However, I recently learned truth has come to them, as it always does,
cloaked as the grim reaper. In their zeal to discover the diseases that our
ancestors carried they drilled into the bones, and made two unwelcome
discoveries. The bones only carried signatures of diseases the invaders
had brought from Europe. And... three cases of small pox were inflicted
on the researchers.
=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=
Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1999 13:55:11 -0500
From: Rob Callahan <rob@robworld.net>
Subj: UNITY RIDE UPDATE #3 - New Stop Added

http://www.robworld.net/unity
Having finished the sundance at Pipestone and returned to Lower Brule
Tribal Ranch for their horses, the riders prepare to set out again. A
new stop has been added to the ride in Mankato for the Mahkato Wacipi,
September 17,18 & 19. Wiyohin Ya Ta Ta Omohie became sick after the
sundance and the ride will not start again until his condition
improves. The riders are currently camped in Lower Brule, SD.
Photos of the ride provided by Joanne "Jake" Kaufman, one of the human
rights observers at Oceti Sakowin...
http://www.robworld.net/unity/frambois.html

Peace! Night Owl
, , Gary Night Owl gars@netcom.com
(*,*) P. O. Box 672168 gars@nanews.org
(`-') Marietta, GA 30377, U.S.A. gars@crl.com
===w=w== Fax: 770-528-9643

----------- News of the people featured in this issue ----------
- Cherokee Elder Dies at Age 115 - Vancouver Island Accountability
- Call Gov. Davis September 9! - Indian Culture Focus
- Navajo Lodge Lauds of Business Luncheon
Telescope Ruling - Red Road a Lonely
- Forced Shutdown of TNAT Challenge for Elder
- Election for Eastern Band - New Mexico Tribes Have
Principal Chief 30 Days to Claim Remains
- Tensions Raised by - Tribal Membership
Killings in South Dakota Disputes Heat Up
- Vermont Utilities Want to - Florida AIM Questions
Scrap HQ Pact Media Racism
- Innu Nation takes - British Columbia
Federal Government to Court Child Abuse Court Ruling
- Chief Ominayak's Letter - Arrests Now Being Made/
- International Demonstration Help Needed
for Dineh - In Memory of Jason
- People's Resolution - Slain Navajo's Kin Seek Answers
for the Dine'h of Black Mesa - Native Prisoner
- Tulsan Takes Seat - Pueblo Bread at Isleta
on Creek Nation Supreme Court - A Hundred Years Ago
- Ousted Tribal Chief - Old and Alone on the Reservation
Loses Sac & Fox Election - Daughter Elects to Bring
- Cherokee Nation Enjoys Mother to Live in City
Peace with New Chief - Poem: The Grandfathers Weep
- Annual Festival - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days
Marked by Fewer Protests - Upcoming Events
- The Wendat Confederacy Reaffirmed - Native America Calling

--------- "RE: Cherokee Elder Dies at Age 115" ---------

Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1999 09:03:33 -0500
From: berryj@okstate.edu
Subj: (FWD)Indian News 09-04-99
Roger Iron Cloud
FirstNations Listserv
202.358.3252
rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov

Cherokee elder dies at age 115
By ROB MARTINDALE
c. Tulsa World
9/3/99
She was the oldest known Oklahoman.
TAHLEQUAH -- Medicine, people, snuff and fishing marked the life of
full-blood Cherokee Nancy Lawhead, the oldest known Oklahoman until her
death this week at the age of 115.
"She is the oldest known in the Centurian Club of Oklahoma, and we would
know if there is an older person in Oklahoma," said Richard Ziglar of
Tulsa, a club board member and the coordinator for northeastern Oklahoma.
Lawhead, a medicine woman whose life centered around hunting and fishing,
died Wednesday, according to her family.
Funeral services are scheduled at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Reed Culver Funeral
Home. They will be conducted in the Cherokee and English languages. Burial
will be at Greenleaf Cemetery.
"The medicine woman or medicine man is a dying breed," said Hastings
Shade, deputy chief of the Cherokee Nation and a student and teacher of
Cherokee culture.
"There are some left," Shade said, "but every time we lose an elder,
that part of what they know is gone. Sometimes they have mentored someone
and, hopefully, that person will carry on."
Lawhead's daughter, Rosie Lee Armstrong of Tulsa, said her mother was
born March 12, 1884, at Braggs.
Armstrong, who generally spoke with her mother in Cherokee, said the
full-blood Cherokee was fluent in English but didn't necessarily like the
language.
Armstrong said the family got by hunting and fishing in the Illinois River
in the hill country outside Tahlequah. Lawhead, whose first husband died
shortly after they were wed, was married twice.
"They did what little work they could find. They were country people and
we were born and raised on a river, hunting and fishing. There were no
jobs," Armstrong said.
"She loved to fish. She could knock the eyeballs out of a perch" with
her fishing rod, her daughter said.
Lawhead also raised her grandson, John Lawhead of Tahlequah, and got him
through school. He refers to her as his mother.
Armstrong, who said she is "scratching for age 70 in January," said her
mother primarily was an Indian herb doctor or medicine woman.
As a medicine woman, Armstrong said, her mother would use herbs from
roots and tobacco to cure patients of everything from broken toes to broken
marriages. Lawhead treated persons of all races and didn't ask for
compensation.
"She didn't say this will cost you $10 or $15. If they didn't give her
money, it was perfectly all right," Armstrong said.
During her latter years, Lawhead lived in quaint housing constructed by
the Cherokee Nation on Stick Ross Mountain Road southwest of Tahlequah.
She was bedfast for the last 10 years of her life, Armstrong said.
Lawhead, the daughter recalled, gave credit for her long life to
"dipping old Garrett snuff and eating salt meat."
She was a member of the Greenleaf Baptist Church, never drove a car and at
one time weighed 353 pounds.
"She never turned her back to anybody. She never closed the door," said
John Lawhead, 54, who recalled that his grandmother "doctored a lot of
kids and people who had been given up on at the hospital. Some are still
living."

--------- "RE: Call Gov. Davis September 9!" ---------

Date: Fri, 3 Sep 1999 15:00:57 -0700
From: "Save Ward Valley" <swv1@ctaz.com>
Subj: Call Gov. Davis September 9! Save Ward Valley now!

CALL GOVERNOR DAVIS ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 AT 916/445-2841!!!!!! Tell
him to delay no longer and end this project once and for all!! Lets flood
the Capitol's switchboard with calls!!! We also encourage you to write
Gov. Davis at: State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA 95814.

VICTORY AT WARD VALLEY? NOT QUITE!!
By Molly Johnson
Despite all of the victories achieved in the fight to Save Ward Valley
over the last few months, the war is STILL not over. Until the State of
California withdraws the application to purchase the land from the
Department of Interior, Ward Valley is not truly safe.
Because of Gov. Gray Davis' long-standing opposition to the dump project,
it was felt that when the US District Court in Washington, DC ruled that
there was no binding contract to transfer ownership of 1,000 acres of land
to California for the purpose of building a nuclear waste dump that Gov.
Davis would withdraw the land application and stop the project once and
for all.
So far, that has not happened.
On June 6, 1999 Gov. Davis issued a statement saying California would not
pursue an appeal of the aforementioned court ruling. US Ecology, however,
despite the fact they had originally stated they would not appeal when the
decision was first announced, have appealed and are still requesting the
land.
At the time of the announcement that the state would not appeal Gov. Davis
also announced a panel of experts and environmentalists would be established
to explore alternatives for the disposal of nuclear waste. Unfortunately,
rather than choosing a neutral expert on radioactive waste to head the
panel, he chose University of California President Richard Atkinson. The
University of California is a producer of radioactive waste and a proponent
of Ward Valley! The Governor also made no mention of including the Tribes
of the Lower Colorado River, those people most affected by the project, in
this panel.
The Colorado River Native Nation Alliance and the Ward Valley Coalition
have contacted the Governor's office and protested the exclusion of the
Tribes. They have requested the panel be comprised of all stakeholders--
Native American Tribes, social justice and environmental organizations and
independent scientists. They have also asked for meetings between tribal
leaders and the Governor. Those requests have yet to be granted.
In fact, despite thousands of phone calls, letters, faxes, e-mails, and
postcards asking for the immediate withdrawal of the land application and
thus the end of the project, the silence from the Governor's office has been
deafening. We ask, "What is the delay?" The court has ruled, the California
State legislature refused to provide any funding for the proposed Ward
Valley dump in the new budget, the people have spoken loud and clear. The
only action left to be done is the withdrawal of the land application.

CALL GOVERNOR DAVIS ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 AT 916/445-2841. Tell him to
delay no longer and end this project once and for all!! Lets flood the
Capitol's switchboard with calls!!! We also encourage you to write Gov.
Davis at: State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA 95814.
For more information contact the Save Ward Valley office: 107 F St.,
Needles, CA, 92363 ph.: 760/326-6267 fax: 760/326-6268
e-mail: swv1@ctaz.com

--------- "RE: Navajo Lodge Lauds Telescope Ruling" ---------

Date: Sun, 05 Sep 1999 02:09:14 GMT
From: "AliceH" <AliceH@gte.net>
Subj: Navajo lodge lauds telescope ruling; Smithsonian sweats it

Newsgroups: alt.native
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/stories/Story1252369.html

Story by
Stephanie Innes
Citizen Staff Writer
Sept. 4, 1999

Navajo lodge lauds telescope ruling; Smithsonian sweats it
When Cayce Boone leads his regular, semimonthly intertribal sweat lodge in
Montosa Canyon on Monday, he will begin with a prayer of thanks to the U.S.
Forest Service.
"For a year and a half now we've set our other projects aside to work
against this telescope site," Boone said yesterday . "I am relieved."
An unexpected decision from the U.S. Forest Service this week put a stop to
the Smithsonian Institution's plans to build an ambitious gamma-ray
telescope system at the base of Mount Hopkins in the Santa Rita Mountains,
on a site near Boone's sweat lodge.
The range is south of Tucson and east of Green Valley.
Coronado National Forest Supervisor John McGee's decision to deny the
Smithsonian's request surprised both Boone and Smithsonian officials, who
had not expected a decision so quickly.
A formal public review process had not yet begun, though McGee said he had
already received numerous public comments about the proposed project.
"I let the process run. I listen to everybody. I get as much information
and facts as I can," he explained.
McGee said those who oppose the project made a convincing case that the
telescope might conflict with the operations of the sweat lodge and American
Indian religious practices.
Boone had argued that under the U.S. American Indian Religious Freedom Act
of 1978, American Indians are entitled to practice their religion
unencumbered.
"(The Smithsonian) should have been more sensitive that we were in the
area," said Boone, a 45-year-old member of the Navajo Nation who has
operated the Montosa Canyon sweat lodge for the past eight years.
American Indian "sweat" ceremonies involve sitting in an earthen hut with
hot rocks. Participants pray in a circle and rarely take breaks. The sweats
typically last six to seven hours, requiring stamina through concentration
and prayer.
"We all want to express our thanks to the Smithsonian representatives -
they are not bad people," Boone said. "The Forest Service made the right
decision."
The lodge site is about 1,000 yards from a 12-acre parcel in the Santa
Ritas where the Smithsonian had hoped to build its Very Energetic Radiation
Imaging Telescope Array System.
"We had researched various sites and we are convinced this (Montosa
Canyon) site is the best one," said Trevor Weekes, a senior astrophysicist
at the Smithsonian's Whipple Observatory on Hopkins.
"We feel the objections from the sweat lodge operators are really based on
a lack of understanding about astronomy. Telescopes are very passive. All we
do is receive radiation. We don't disturb."
Dan Brocious, a spokesman for Whipple, said two less desirable alternative
sites both are on Coronado National Forest land.

--------- "RE: Forced Shutdown of TNAT" ---------

Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 12:36:19 -0600 (MDT)
From: joseph c winter <jwinter@unm.edu>
Subj: forced shutdown of TNAT

Please let your readers know that the University of New Mexico
administration has taken away the little bit of support that they have
provided for the Traditional Native American Tobacco Seed Bank and
Education Program (TNAT), and that they have forced its director (Joe
Winter) to shut it down. Among other things, they have questioned the
"propriety" of a university-based public service program providing
traditional tobacco seeds, traditional tobacco and other sacred plants,
educational material, and related items to Native American prison inmates
and other Native Americans who need them.
I am appealing this decision, but in the meantime I have had to shut
TNAT down. As a consequence, I have had to suspend shipments of sacred
plants to over 100 Native American spiritual groups in prisons and other
locations. In addition, I can no longer provide traditional tobacco seeds,
leaves, educational material, and related items to Native Americans who
request them.
Regretfully yours,
Joe Winter

--------- "RE: Election for Eastern Band Principal Chief" ---------

Date: Mon, 06 Sep 1999 08:59:20 -0400
From: Biah Yazzie-Seminole & Michael Cloud-Butler <yona@infi.net>
Subj: ndn news fyi monday 9-6-99

Dugan Upset by Jones in Election for Eastern Band Principal Chief,The
Associated Press State & Local Wire, 3 September 1999, AM cycle.

[CHEROKEE, N.C. -- Challenger Leon D. Jones defeated incumbent Joyce Dugan
Thursday to become principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
Jones, 63, received 1,699 votes compared to 1,285 for Dugan, according to
unofficial results. The challenger won each of the Cherokee Indian
Reservation's six districts en route to the victory. . . . Dugan, who was
seeking her second four-year term, said she was disappointed with the loss.
. . . Jones, a former Tribal Council member and chief magistrate, said his
No. 1 priority would be to find help for the Eastern Band's cash-strapped
hospital. He also predicted there would not be any sweeping changes to the
tribal government staff.]
http://www.ap.org/

--------- "RE: Tensions Raised by Killings in South Dakota" ---------

Date: Mon, 06 Sep 1999 08:59:20 -0400
From: Biah Yazzie-Seminole & Michael Cloud-Butler <yona@infi.net>
Subj: ndn news fyi monday 9-6-99

Kafka, Joe. "Tensions Between Whites and Indians Raised by Killings in
South Dakota,"
The Associated Press State & Local Wire, 3 September 1999, PM
[PINE RIDGE, S.D. -- It's been nearly three months since two Sioux men
were found slain in a culvert near the Nebraska line, and many Indians
doubt authorities even care whether they solve the crime. In fact, some
Indian activists say the apparent standstill in the investigation only
confirms their suspicion that white Nebraska lawmen helped kill Wilson Black
Elk Jr. and Ronald Hard Heart or helped cover up the crime to make it seem
as if Indians were responsible. "It's just two dead Indians to them," Tom
Poor Bear, who was Black Elk's half-brother and Hard Heart's cousin, said
of the FBI. "If these were two white people who were murdered, this place
would be swarming with FBI agents. They'd be turning over every blade of
grass." The deaths have led to a violent protest and heightened
long-standing tensions between whites and the Oglala Sioux from the poor
and desolate Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The FBI says it is doing all
it can. And the sheriff's department in Sheridan County, Neb., denies
having any role in the killings or discriminating against Indians. But
those statements do little to diminish the distrust on the reservation. . .
Many of the bad feelings are left over from the American Indian Movement's
1973 armed takeover of a trading post at nearby Wounded Knee in a protest
over the government's handling of complaints about Indian affairs. In 71
days of unrest, two Indians were killed and a deputy marshal was wounded.
Distrust of law officers also run high on South Dakota's eight other
reservations, where unemployment often is staggering and alcoholism
widespread.]
http://www.ap.org/

--------- "RE: Vermont Utilities Want to Scrap HQ Pact" ---------

Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 07:55:35 -0300
From: Larry Innes <innuenv@web.net>
Subj: News: Vermont utilities want to scrap HQ pact

Mailing List: Innu People Forum list <INNU-L@YORKU.CA>

August 31, 1999 19:37
Vermont utilities want to scrap Hydro-Quebec pact
By Robert Melnbardis
MONTREAL, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Vermont utilities went to international
arbitration on Tuesday to challenge the cost of long-term electricity
distribution agreements from neighboring Hydro-Quebec.
The Vermont Joint Owners, 15 electric companies lead by Central Vermont
Public Service Corp. and Green Mountain Power Corp. , said they want to
scrap a multi-billion dollar, 30-year supply contract with Hydro-Quebec.
They are arguing that a January 1998 ice storm and widespread power
blackout showed that Hydro-Quebec's transmission system is unreliable.
Citing a 66-day interuption in power supplies from Hydro-Quebec stemming
from the January ice storm that crippled the big utility's transmission
lines, the Vermont group is seeking a decision before an arbitration panel
that began hearings on Tuesday in Burlington, Vermont.
The panel is expected to produce an opinion early next year.
The 335 megawatt contract in question is worth about C$180 million a year
for Hydro-Quebec, North America's largest electrical utility. It represents
more than 20 percent of Hydro-Quebec's C$800 million of annual power exports
and accounts for 38 percent of Vermont's power supply.
The Vermont utilities want to get out of the power purchase agreement, and
then either renegotiate it or turn to other power producers in the region.
"Our first option is, of course, to renegotiate the agreement with
Hydro-Quebec," Green Mountain Power spokesman Stephen Terry told Reuters.
The group's argument centers on a January 1998 ice storm that cut power
to more than three million people in Quebec and stopped Hydro-Quebec's
exports to Vermont for 66 days. At the height of the catastrophe, much of
Montreal was blacked out for three days.
Outlying Montreal areas were without power for several weeks. Hundreds of
Hydro-Quebec's high-tension power pylons collapsed and thousands of smaller
power distribution poles toppled or were broken.
"The ice storm revealed the weakness in the design, construction,
operation and maintenance of Hydro-Quebec's transmission system," the
Vermont group said in a statement.
Hydro-Quebec officials quickly shot back, saying the Vermont utilities
are using the ice-storm as a pretext to pull out of the contract.
"We are not surprised that the Vermont Joint Owners are using the
ice-storm of 1998 to try to get out of their obligations toward Hydro-
Quebec," Michel Gourdeau, executive vice-president of energy services,
told Reuters.
"It is a pretext or a negotiating tool to force Hydro-Quebec to lower
the contract prices."
Hydro-Quebec said the ice-storm, which over five days deposited record
amounts of ice on the utility's vast transmission and distribution network,
was an "act of God."
That allowed it to declare "force majeure," a legal term meaning it
would not be able to guarantee meeting its commitments on power contracts.
Hydro-Quebec is selling the Vermont group electricity under the contract
at 6.4 cents each kilowatt-hour in 1999, whereas market prices for power
in the northeastern United States are 3.5 cents.
"We knew we were paying a substantial premium and we were willing to do
so, but only for a guarantee of firm power," Terry said.
During the 66-day lapse in supply during from Hydro-Quebec, the Vermont
utilities had to purchase spot power on the open market at substantially
higher rates than under the Quebec utility's contract, Terry said.
($1=$1.49 Canadian)

--------- "RE: Innu Nation takes Federal Government to Court" ---------

Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1999 09:58:02 -0300
From: Larry Innes <innuenv@web.net>
Subj: News: Innu Nation takes Fed Govt to Court over Voisey's Bay

Mailing List: Innu People Forum list <INNU-L@YORKU.CA>

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
INNU NATION MOUNTS COURT CHALLENGE OVER VOISEY'S BAY PROJECT
(Sheshatshiu) The Innu Nation is going to the .Federal Court of
Canada in an attempt to reverse a recent federal government decision
that will allow the proposed Voisey's Bay project to proceed without
land rights being settled or an impact and benefit agreement (IBA)
being in place.with Voisey's Bay Nickel Company (VBNC).
In a court application filed on September 2nd, 1999, the Innu argue
that the federal government was wrong when it decided that it could
not commit to concluding and ratifying a land claims agreement in
principle, or to negotiate equivalent alternative measures with the
Innu. The application also states that the government promised to
consult and negotiate with the Innu Nation, and that it acted in bad
faith by approving the project without allowing a proper opportunity
for that consultation. The government also made an error when it said
that it had no legal means to compel VBNC to conclude IBAs with the
Innu Nation and Labrador Inuit Association (LIA).
The Innu Nation is asking that the federal decision be quashed, and
that no authorisations be granted to allow the project to proceed
prior to land rights being settled and having IBAs in place.
The federal environmental assessment panel appointed to consider
VBNC's application under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act
had recommended these conditions in order to mitigate the effects on
the Innu and Inuit communities. If they cannot be implemented, the
Innu are asking the court to refer the matter back to the panel so
that it can consider whether the effects of the project will be too
significant to allow it to proceed at all.
"This is an important case not only for the Innu, but also for
aboriginal groups across the country who are faced with industrial
development on their land," said Innu chief negotiator Daniel Ashini.
"It is important because in ignoring the panel recommendations on
land rights and IBAs, the government has essentially said that the
independent environmental assessment process is not important, and
the decision on whether or not to allow a project to proceed is
purely a political one. It's a shame that we have to go to court in
order to uphold the panel's recommendations, but somebody has got to
do the right thing here."
Mr. Ashini also made it clear that the decision of the Newfoundland
Government to approve the project without requiring that a Innu Land
Claims Agreement and an Innu IBA be in place will also be challenged
in Court. That case is being prepared to be filed to meet appropriate
court filing deadlines.

Background
The Innu Nation is an aboriginal government representing the Innu of
Sheshatshit and Utshimassits (Davis Inlet), Labrador. The Innu Nation
is presently engaged in treaty negotiations with the federal and
provincial governments.
Voisey's Bay Nickel Company (VBNC) in trying to open a Nickel,
Copper, Cobalt mine at Voisey's Bay, which is located 80 km from
Utshimassits. This area has seen extensive historical and current
Innu land use, and is subject to the comprehensive land claims
currently being negotiated with the governments.
The proposed mine underwent an environmental assessment governed by a
four party memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by the federal
and provincial governments, Innu Nation and Labrador Inuit
Association. The assessment was conducted by a five member panel
which held public hearings and issued a report containing 107
recommendations, including:
- That Canada and the Province conclude and ratify land claims
agreements in principle with the Inuit of Labrador, represented by
the LIA, and the Innu of Labrador, represented by the Innu Nation,
before issuing any project authorisations, or, failing that,
negotiate equivalent alternative measures before issuing any project
authorisations, which must provide for Innu and Inuit consultation
and compensation in respect of the project in keeping with the
fiduciary obligations of the Canada and the province.
- That no project authorisations be issued until LIA and the Innu
Nation conclude Impact Benefit Agreements with VBNC.
These recommendations were both rejected in federal and provincial
responses to the panel report, without consultation with the Innu
Nation.
Further information on the Innu Nation's response to the Voisey's Bay
as well as other issues facing the Innu people can be found on our
web site: www.innu.ca

--------- "RE: Chief Ominayak's Letter" ---------

Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 10:49:14 -0500
From: fol@tao.ca
Subj: Chief Ominayak's letter

Mailing List: FOL-L <fol@tao.ca>

Friends of the Lubicon
485 Ridelle Ave.
Toronto, ON M6B 1K6
e-mail: fol@tao.ca

September 1, 1999
What follows is a letter from Lubicon Lake Indian Nation Chief Bernard
Ominayak to Alberta Premier Ralph Klein regarding the pending timber sales
in Lubicon traditional territory.
Friends of the Lubicon
______________________________
August 25, 1999
Ralph Klein
Premier of Alberta
Room 307 Legislature Building
Edmonton, AB T5K 2B6

Dear Mr. Klein;

When Daishowa was first granted permits to clear-cut Lubicon traditional
territory, senior Alberta officials assured Daishowa that Lubicon rights
would be settled well before Daishowa intended to begin logging. Needless
to say, Lubicon aboriginal rights and titles including land and resource
rights were not settled then. Nor are they settled now.

At that time we made it very clear that until Lubicon rights are settled,
no further logging will be allowed to take place within our traditional
lands. After an international boycott which lasted seven long years and
cost Daishowa - by their own estimates - over $20 million in lost sales,
Daishowa committed in writing not to cut or to buy wood cut within Lubicon
traditional territories until Lubicon rights are settled and an agreement
is negotiated respecting Lubicon wildlife and environmental concerns in the
Lubicon traditional territory.

But despite our well-known opposition to clear-cut logging in our unceded
traditional territory, and despite the hard-won promise from Daishowa not
to proceed with clear-cut logging in that territory, we understand that
Alberta is once again making a significant portion of our traditional
territory available for logging.

We understand further that there are plans to sell these timber rights in
unceded Lubicon territory to other First Nations in the surrounding area as
part of a transparent provincial government strategy to put other First
Nations in the front lines of provincial government efforts to undermine
and subvert Lubicon rights. Using supposed economic benefits as bait to
play poor aboriginal people off against each other and steal valuable
aboriginal lands and resources is a classic colonial divide and conquer
tactic which will be recognized and condemned as such by people around the
world. It's also the type of tactic which people around the world hoped the
Alberta government had abandoned with negotiation of the Grimshaw Accord.

Moreover we understand that Daishowa is involved with these plans and would
be obtaining the resulting timber despite Daishowa's agreement that
Daishowa "will not harvest or purchase" timber from unceded Lubicon
territory pending settlement of Lubicon rights and negotiation of an
agreement with the Lubicons respecting Lubicon wildlife and environmental
concerns. As with the Alberta government, these kind of tactics are not new
for Daishowa but people around the world hoped Daishowa had learned from
the $20 million Daishowa boycott that all the slippery subterfuge in the
world will not prevent people from seeing through what Daishowa is doing
and holding Daishowa accountable for it.

When your government first sent us an invitation to submit our comments on
the prospect of renewed logging within our traditional territory we wrote
to Dan Wilkinson, Regional Director of Alberta Environmental Protection,
and made it clear that unceded Lubicon territory is off-limits for further
logging until Lubicon rights have been resolved.

Yet only one week after Alberta's negotiator John McCarthy met with us to
restart negotiations between our governments, your government announced
that Alberta is now seeking bids for that same timber. Selling off the
resources which are the subject of talks even as you sit at the negotiating
table does not indicate any serious desire on your government's part to
resolve these issues. That underhanded approach to dealing with Lubicon
rights prolongs continuing uncertainty to the detriment of not only the
Lubicon people but to the detriment of all people with interests in the
area who need a settlement of Lubicon rights to be able to proceed with
their lives in an orderly, predictable way.

I am again enclosing a map of the Lubicon traditional territory for your
information. We trust you will advise anyone wishing to log in those areas
that our respective rights in traditional Lubicon territory are subject to
negotiation and that rights to the resources in those areas are therefore
not currently available for sale.

Sincerely,

Bernard Ominayak
Chief, Lubicon Lake Indian Nation
cc Chief Federal Negotiator Brad Morse
Chief Provincial Negotiator John McCarthy

--------- "RE: International Demonstration for Dineh" ---------

Date: 5 Sep 99 04:37:04 EDT
From: SENAA <senaa1@netscape.net>
Subj: INTERNATIONAL DEMONSTRATION 2-3 OCTOBER FOR DINEH]

Mailing List: Big Mountain List <BIGMTLIST@onelist.com>

TO ALL CONCERNED
On Saturday and Sunday, 2-3 October 1999, an international demonstration
will take place in Sweden, England, the Netherlands, and the United States
east and west coasts. Demonstrators from other nations are expected to
participate, as well. This will be a peaceful demonstration to protest the
ethnic cleansing and human rights violations being committed by the United
States government within its own borders.
The Southeastern Native American Alliance (SENAA) is now organizing a
protest demonstration to protest the human rights violations and attempted
genocide of the Dine'h people at Big Mountain, Black Mesa, Arizona. We will
hold simultaneous demonstrations in front of the United Nations building in
New York City; in front of the White House and Capitol Building in Washington,
DC; and at Los Angeles, California, on the U.S. Pacific coast. In England, the
Netherlands, and Sweden, at the same time as U.S. demonstrations, protests
will be held in front of the U.S. embassies in those countries. On the nights
of the 2nd and 3rd, candlelight prayer vigils will be held to invoke Creator's
power to help the Dine'h--to help us all.
If you have seen the video, "VANISHING PRAYER Genocide of the Dine," that
SENAA currently has on http://www.freespeech.org/senaa , then you have some
idea why SENAA has organized this protest demonstration. If you wish to know
more, or are unfamiliar with the ordeal that the Dine'h (Navajo) people are
facing and the impact that it can have on every living American citizen, SENAA
urges you to visit its web site Newsletter at:
http://members.xoom.com/senaa/index2.html

also visit Robert Dorman's web site at:
http://www.theofficenet.com/%7Eredorman/welcome.html
for links and other articles concerning the Dine'h at Big Mountain.

Everyone who values his or her freedom and rights to "life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness," is urged to join SENAA and other supporters
in these demonstrations. If you are in a nation other than England, the
Netherlands or Sweden, but you value liberty and human rights, SENAA urges
you to organize a peaceful demonstration of protest in front of the U.S.
embassy in your nation's capitol and join us in telling the United States
government that we cannot and will not tolerate their practices of genocide
and human rights violations, whether those violations occur within its own
borders or elsewhere. It is hypocritical, to say the least, for the U.S.
government to join NATO forces in bombing Kosovo because of human rights
violations when the U.S. is guilty of exactly the same behavior inside
its own national borders.

I, SENAA's president and founder, will be at the DC demonstration. Ellis
Smith (smithorg@bellatlantic.net) is in charge of the UN demonstration,
Matt Davison (mattanne@gte.net) is organizing the Los Angeles
demonstrations, Fred Buma (hfcbuma@xs4all.nl) is organizing the
Netherlands demonstration, and Jim Bomford (mongoose@gn.apc.org) is
organizing the London, England, and Sweden demonstrations. Canadian
supporters are planning to demonstrate, also, but no word yet on where
or who is organizing the demonstration there.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. Thank you in advance to
those of you who decide to join this demonstration. We need your help in NYC,
DC, in Los Angeles, the Netherlands, England, Sweden, or wherever in the world
you plan to participate in this demonstration.

Sincerely yours
Al Swilling
SENAA President/Founder
senaa1@netscape.net
Visit our home page at:
http://members.xoom.com/senaa/
Visit our newsletter at: http://members.xoom.com/senaa/index2.html
Online Video: "VANISHING PRAYER Genocide of the Dineh"
at: http://www.freespeech.org/senaa/
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You are on the BIGMTLIST, a moderated mailing list of Big Mountain
relocation resistance information (not discussion or debate). .
For non-list members receiving this post as a forwarded message, you
may subscribe by following this link:
http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/BIGMTLIST.
For Big Mountain and other activist internet resources, visit "The
Activist Page" at
http://www.theofficenet.com/~redorman/welcome.html
Also, for great internet tools please visit:
http://www.msw.com.au/cgi-bin/msw/entry?id=1271
------------------------------------------
This message was sent to you by
Name: BIGMTLIST
Email Address: redorman@theofficenet.com
IP Address: ppp-66.odienet.net

--------- "RE: People's Resolution for the Dine'h of Black Mesa" ---------

Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 11:31:01 -0700
From: "Save Ward Valley" <swv1@ctaz.com>
Subj: Fw: People's Resolution for the Dine'h of Black Mesa
to the United States of America, July 7, 1999

Each and every one of you out there should add their name and/or
organization to this resolution. Also, please print it out and get
signatures and forward to all.

NOTE: Reply to isco@efn.org not Save Ward Valley!!!

From: Indigenous Support Coalition of Oregon <isco@efn.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 1999 11:46 PM
Subject: People's Resolution for the Dine'h of Black Mesa
to the United States of America, July 7, 1999

If you want to add your name to this resolution, please reply *without*
including a copy of the resolution (but keep the subject header) and type
in your full name, city, state, and zip. Thank you, Beth, ISCO

People's Resolution for the Dine'h of Black Mesa to the
United States of America, July 7, 1999

Attention: Sen. John McCain; Christopher Bavasi, Executive Director,
Office of Navajo-Hopi Indian Relocation; Kevin Gover, Asst. Secretary of
Indian Affairs; Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of Interior; Janet Reno, Attorney
General, Department of Justice; President William Clinton, United States
of America:

We, the People of this land now known as "America" have witnessed the
ongoing forced relocation of traditional Dine'h (Navajo) families from Big
Mountain and other communities in the HPL of Black Mesa, Arizona.

We have asked you many times to repeal PL 93-531 and PL 104-301 and to
stop the genocidal forced removal and ecocidal coal strip-mining. We have
gone to Congress, the US District Court, the Ninth US Circuit Court of
Appeals, the Department of Interior Administrative Court, and the United
Nations Commission for Human Rights. We continue these efforts.

You have staked out and reduced Dine'h lands, allowed the ripping apart of
their shrines and burial grounds, destroyed their way of life, made it
Misery.

You have served the Dine'h with livestock impoundment notices and made a
show of force by counting sheep with multiple heavily armed BIA units.

You have served the Dine'h with 90-day notices to sign leases and give up
their ancestral rights to their lands, or to relocate to polluted New
Lands.

We, the People of this place now called "America" are serving you notice.
We are here today to warn you, what you are doing is wrong. We are here
today to tell you, we want full repeal of both PL 93-531 and PL 104-301
and we have waited long enough. Here are our set of demands:

1) Repeal Relocation: US House of Representatives and US Senate to fully
repeal PL 93-531, Navajo-Hopi Indian Land Dispute Settlement Act of 1974
and PL 104-301, Navajo-Hopi Indian Land Dispute Settlement Act of 1996.

2) Commitment to Reparations: Inter-Agency plan with full funding to
restore the livestock, land, water, sacred sites, and Dine'h returning
home.

3) US Accountability: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian Health Services,
Department of Interior and Department of Justice to give a full accounting
of misappropriated Indian trust lands and funds, as well as owning up to
this and similar genocidal atrocities, while reasserting Native
Sovereignty and supremacy of Natural Law, including giving an accurate
portrayal of history.

4) Again we have waited a long time for justice. We are continuing to
try every legal avenue to stop forced relocation of the Dine'h. We are
planning to stop impending forced evictions whether they are attempted
before or after the next deadline, February 1, 2000. You are hereby
warned that what you have been doing is wrong and to stop it. If
necessary, we will intervene to bring about a Direct Repeal of Relocation
by the People of "America."

Signed,

Elizabeth Howard, President
Beth Newberry, Chair
Alice Scherp, Secretary/Treasurer

Indigenous Support Coalition of Oregon
PO Box 11715, Eugene, OR 97440
(541) 683-2789 isco@efn.org

--------- "RE: Tulsan Takes Seat on Creek Nation Supreme Court" ---------

Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 08:29:44 -0500
From: berryj@okstate.edu
Subj: (FWD)Indian News 09-01-99
Roger Iron Cloud
FirstNations Listserv
202.358.3252
rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov

Tulsan takes seat on Creek Nation Supreme Court
c. Tulsa World
8/31/99
OKMULGEE -- Tulsa attorney Larry Oliver took his oath of office Monday as
a member of the Creek Nation Supreme Court, which has appellate jurisdiction
over disputes and litigation involving the tribe, its members and property.
Oliver, 63, a member of the Creek Nation, was appointed by Principal Chief
Perry Wheeler and confirmed by the tribal council.
The court has six justices.
Oliver has been a trial attorney since 1964, primarily engaged in tort
litigation and criminal defense work. He will retain his law practice.

--------- "RE: Ousted Tribal Chief Loses Sac & Fox Election" ---------

Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 08:29:44 -0500
From: berryj@okstate.edu
Subj: (FWD)Indian News 09-01-99
Roger Iron Cloud
FirstNations Listserv
202.358.3252
rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov

Ousted tribal chief loses Sac & Fox election
c. Tulsa World
8/31/99
STROUD -- An ousted former Sac & Fox tribal president has lost her attempt
to oust Chief Don Abney.
Abney received 293 votes in Saturday's tribal elections, while Dora Young
received 172 votes. The tribe has about 2,500 members.
Abney defeated Young by one vote in an election in 1995.
Young was removed by the tribe's general council in 1997 for allegedly
denying tribal members the right to freedom of speech. Abney then won in a
special election.
Also Saturday, Sac & Fox voters picked Merle W. Boyd over Darrell L. Gray
for second chief. Boyd received 241 votes; Gray received 217 votes.

--------- "RE: Cherokee Nation Enjoys Peace with New Chief" ---------

Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 08:29:44 -0500
From: berryj@okstate.edu
Subj: (FWD)Indian News 09-01-99
Roger Iron Cloud
FirstNations Listserv
202.358.3252
rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov

Tribe enjoys peace with new chief
By RENEE RUBLE
c. Associated Press
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. ? It's been two years since the Cherokee Nation has acted
like a tribe, they say, and only time will determine if their new leader is
a chief or a politician.
Until then, they will remain silent with the past acting "like a hound
that keeps snipping at the back of your legs."
Like the Vanbuskirks, many members of the Cherokee Nation are
optimistic, but still leery, as Chief Chad Smith completed his first phase
of transition into office.
When Smith was elected, the tribal legislative council was inactive, law
enforcement was shut down and how much money the tribe had was uncertain.
Thirty days post-Smith, the council has met, action has been taken to
regain tribal law enforcement and records show that the tribe is in debt
about $2 million to $6 million and not $18 million, which Smith estimated
in his campaign against former Chief Joe Byrd.
"It's work ? long, hard work," Smith said. "But, our goal is to keep
an eye on the vision."
Elaine Philemonof said it is a good sign that she has not heard anything
coming from the tribal office just a few blocks away.
"It's been pretty quiet. I guess my vote mattered this time," the
Cherokee gift shop worker said.
The fighting began in 1997 with allegations of misspending in Byrd's
office. Byrd then fired the marshals who were trying to serve a warrant to
search his office. Tribal leaders took sides, bringing ouster attempts and
boycotts that kept the tribe's legislative body from meeting and brought
the federal government to take over law enforcement.

Cherokee Chief Chad Smith
Smith, a 48-year-old lawyer, still faces county charges of inciting
a riot and assaulting a police officer for trying to stop Byrd from closing
the tribe's courthouse.
Now as chief, Smith said his top priority is writing the tribe's first
fiscal budget in two years. The tribe has been allocating money on a
continuing resolution since fiscal year 1997, which has frozen funds to
that year's allowances.
A fiscal year 2000 budget lets the tribe adjust its roughly $150 million
budget to include increases in government funds and other programs. The
hard part has been trying to determine how much money the tribe has and
needs, said Julian Fite, acting Cherokee general counsel.
"We have found very lax and confused policies of who has had the
authority to enter into contracts," he said. "Everyone was doing their own
thing We anticipate large shortages of money."
Fite said former Chief Joe Byrd's administration did not clear
construction projects with the finance office, including $1.5 million for a
new emergency services building. As a result, Smith's administration is
working on a policy that requires department heads to clear "significant
amounts of money" through the finance office.
Kathy Harmon said the last two years have been especially hard because
Byrd is a full-blooded Cherokee. Smith is a half-blood.
"I don't believe you are a better leader because of your blood, but it
was so disappointing with Byrd," she said at a Cherokee museum. It helps
her that Deputy Chief Hastings Shade is full-blooded.

Cherokees dance at the annual Cherokee National Holiday
Heading into the second transitional phase, Smith said his goal of
the 60-day phase is to fill administrative jobs including positions in
education, community development and operations.
The third and final phase is 120 days to look at function details of
the tribe. Smith said the transition should be complete in 18 months.
"In 50 years from now, I don't care if they remember my name. I want
them to remember we had a dynamic team," Smith said.
Indian art store owner Valorie Hughes is optimistic.
"If anyone knows," she said, "the Indian people know how to survive
adversity."

--------- "RE: Annual Festival Marked by Fewer Protests" ---------

Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 08:29:44 -0500
From: berryj@okstate.edu
Subj: (FWD)Indian News 09-01-99
Roger Iron Cloud
FirstNations Listserv
202.358.3252
rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov

Annual festival marked by fewer protests
By M.L. LYKE
c. SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
August 30, 1999
NEAH BAY -- Even small things hint at a change in this drizzly, sea-faring
Native American town.
Makah women knit wool hats with "5-17-99" woven into them.
Refrigerator magnets read: "Vegetarian: Indian word for 'lousy hunter.'"
A tribal mom has an image of a canoe, the canoe, tattooed on her arm.
"It hurt where they shaded it," said Misty Sprouffske, stopping during a
stroll through this past weekend's Makah Days '99 celebration to show a
tattoo-in-progress of the Hummingbird, the hand-hewn cedar canoe used by
Makah hunters to kill a gray whale May 17.
"The hunt brought back our tradition," said Sprouffske, pointing to her
5-year-old son Dakota. "He will be one of the next generation of hunters."
Just outside the Makah reservation, at least 25 animal-rights activists
gathered yesterday to protest both hunt and hunters, carrying signs that
said, "Neah Bay (whale killer) you betray your own" and "Friends don't let
friends kill whales."
Many attended an anti-whaling rally Saturday in Port Angeles organized by
Peninsula Citizens for the Protection of Whales. "We celebrated the life of
a gray whale, unlike these people, who celebrate the death of a gray whale,"
Sandy Abels said yesterday.
The protesters, who temporarily tied up traffic in and out of Neah Bay
yesterday, vowed to return if the Makah carry through with plans to mount
another hunt this fall. "If they resume, we'll be back out here with our
boats in full force," said Erin O'Connell, with the Sea Shepherd Society.
"We'll do everything possible to protect the whale."
Some boastful tribal youths said they looked forward to another showdown
between whale-eaters and "whale-savers."
"The whale-savers, they just can't do it themselves, so they are mad,"
said 13-year-old T.J. Reamer, who hopes to heft his own harpoon some day.
"They know they can't win."
Despite weekend demonstrations, the 75th annual Makah Days was a low-key
contrast to last year's event, when law officials worried the war of words
between tribal members and animal activists would erupt in battle. The town
filled with outsiders, journalists camped out, waiting for a scoop, and
National Guardsmen, alerted to threatening phone calls describing the Makah
as "murderers," were posted at tribal boundaries.
This year, the tribal people called "Kwih-dich-chuh-ahtx" -- "people who
live by the rocks and seagulls" -- reclaimed the streets. They moseyed past
booths selling baskets and tanned hides, abalone jewelry and Native American
blankets, and they sampled various fry bread vendors. Whale meat was not
for sale -- to the disappointment of some visitors -- but locals happily
described the steaks and shish kebabs, smoked jerky and stews made with
meat from the 30-foot-long female gray whale killed in May.
"I like it roasted -- it's like braised beef," said Crystal Hall, the
19-year-old Queen of Makah Days, who was crowned wearing a red-and-black
button robe and beaded headdress at the high school gymnasium. The crowd
provided a drum roll by pounding their feet on the gymnasium floor and
bleachers.
Hall said the hunt has brought a new unity to the Makah, the only tribe in
the continental United States with whaling rights written into its treaty.
"After the hunt, life went back to normal, but you could tell something was
different -- very different," she said. "For one day, we had forgotten all
our little squabbles."
The hunt was the first in more than 70 years for the tribe, whose whaling
tradition reaches back more than 1,000 years. "It's something I never
thought I would see in my lifetime," said Arnie Hunter, wearing a Makah
Nation T-shirt that said "Pass the harpoon!"
"It has brought back something missing to our heritage and brought people
closer together."
Makah Days '99 included three days of traditional songs and dances, a
spectacular $10,000 fireworks display, bone-game competitions that
continued into the early hours of the morning, salmon bakes and softball
tournaments.
Sixth-generation Makah babies and teenage beauty queens rode on car hoods
and truck beds in a parade down the narrow main drag, with reservation dogs
crisscrossing in front of them. Moms cupped their hands over infants' ears
as the local ambulance passed, sirens screaming.
Sinewy paddlers showed their skills at canoe racing. The vaunted 32-foot
Hummingbird easily aced the seagoing competition.
A new whaling canoe, the 37 1/2-foot "People of the Cape," remained under
wraps in a shed.
Hunting families are running sea trials with the recently completed
"People of the Cape," practicing for a fall hunt of the gray whales, which
head back to Mexico from Alaska to breed each winter.
Under International Whaling Commission guidelines, the tribe can take up
to five whales a year for a total of 20 through 2004.
"The meat's all gone, so we're going to go get some more," said Wayne
Johnson, whaling captain on the Hummingbird.
The 30-foot whale killed in May by Johnson and crew was butchered on the
beach, the meat distributed among tribal members.
The whale's skeleton and baleen, now soaking in an ammonia solution, will
eventually be on display at the Makah Cultural and Research Center. Despite
intentions to use all of the animal, the intestines had to be thrown back
into the sea, Johnson said.
Whaling captain Johnson said he'll do things differently on the next hunt.
"We'll probably take the whale directly to the fillet plant, instead of
butchering it on the beach. We probably lost a lot of oil when we cut into
it."
He'll also shorten the lines on the harpoon and buoy -- "The whale sank
on us."
Johnson said the community is just now recovering from the press of media
and outraged protesters that descended in the spring. He knows the
disruptive scene could repeat itself with the resumption of hunting.
But he also understands the change that has settled over this remote town
at the tip of the Olympic Peninsula, linking a past to a future.
"We started something and accomplished it," the hunter said. "The
community has a little more faith in us now."

--------- "RE: The Wendat Confederacy Reaffirmed" ---------

Date: Thu, 2 Sep 1999 08:08:02 -0500
From: berryj@okstate.edu
Subj: (FWD)Indian News 09-02-99
Roger Iron Cloud
FirstNations Listserv
202.358.3252
rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov

The Wendat Confederacy Reaffirmed
27 August 1999
Midland, Ontario
Over ten generations ago, the Wendat people were driven to many directions
from our beloved homeland. Today, 350 years later, we stand with our
children and grand children at our sides and come together once again to
affirm the Wendat Confederacy. With gratitude to the Creator and the
reverent thanksgiving of kinship, we light the council fire and invite all
who come in a spirit of peace and brotherhood to enjoy its warmth.
The Wendat tree of brotherhood has sent out four strong roots to form four
nations, each on separate and growing in different directions, yet each
adding strength to the whole. These four roots feed the branches of our
families and clans so that the Wendat people may endure and flourish through
ten more generations. May we sit in the shade and watch the council fire
as we meet together to affirm the bond of the Confederacy. May our hearts
be pure and our minds clean as we act in a manner that will bring honor to
the ancestors and hope to our children.
The Wendat Peacemaker once outlined the path toward unity. Leaders were
admonished to never disagree seriously among themselves, for to do might
cause the loss of rights of their grandchildren. May we always cultivate
feelings of friendship, love, and honor for each other so that the good
tidings of Peace and Power of Righteousness will be our guide.
May our leaders endeavor to serve each nation in a manner that will bring
peace, happiness and prosperity for all the people. May the thickness of
our skin be seven spans - which is to say the span should protect against
anger, offensive actions, and criticism. May our hearts be full of peace
and good will and our minds filled with a yearning for the welfare of the
people of the Confederacy.
With endless patience, may we fulfill our duty, and may our firmness be
tempered with tenderness and compassion. May neither anger nor fury find
lodging in our minds; and may all our words and actions be marked by calm
deliberation.
Finally, if any nation of the Confederacy should ever need help. let it
call out the others to come to its aid. We vow to attempt, to work together
in a way that the embers of long ago council fires may be fanned into a
flame of kinship, culture and love that
will warm countless generations of Wendat people.
Chief Willie Piccard, Huron Wendat of Wendake
Chief Leaford Bearkin, Wyandott Nation of Oklahoma
Second Chief Jim Bland, Wyandott Nation of Oklahoma
Chief Janith K. English, Wyandot Nation of Kansas
Spokesperson Steven A. Gronda, Wyandot Nation of Anderdon

--------- "RE: Vancouver Island Accountability" ---------

Date: Sun, 05 Sep 1999 17:47:14 GMT
From: St'eque Kwasun <lwsr@my-deja.com>
Subj: Vanc. Island Bands - Wanting Accountability

Newsgroup: alt.native

Hello - This message is to announce the new Vancouver Island Accountability
Coalition Website - for First Nations people on Vancouver Island BC, Canada
who are looking for accountability from their government and, from the
Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. http://www.cow-net.com/tiltulum/
Basically - after a year of trying to apply gentle pressure to our band
Cowichan Tribes - to meet just basic accountability levels to us -as our
elected representatives, the newly formed Somena, Governance Society wishes
to share what we have learned
with our relations up and down the island.
The Vancouver Island Accountability Coalition is a branch of the Somena
Governance Society. We are not affiliated with any government program - we
are self-supporting through our own contributions - we have NOTHING to do
with the First Nations Accountability Co-alition although we did attend one
meeting where a representative from there was invited. We were not impressed
with the cozy relationship between the FNAC and
the Reform Party.
(I will elaborate on the farce that occurred at this meeting if somebody
wishes to ask about it)
Essentially - we at the Somena Governance Society have one goal in
mind. We want to Help Cowichan People Help Themselves.
This means we take an active involvement in helping people who's voices
are being ignored by our Band Government - who are being railroaded by
DIAND policy - who's land is being stolen by greedy Band Office officials,
who are being discriminated against in the band office in areas of Social
Assistance, Land, Housing, and Membership. People whose lives are being
directly adversely impacted by incompetent
government.
We don't believe the solution is to just keep rotating new people into
power. Our goal is to apply enough pressure to our government so that the
people already in power have to do what they were supposed to do, namely
represent the interest of the people, and not their own private personal
interests.
We could be viewed as a Watch Dog group - or a Political Lobby or even
simply a First Nations citizens advocacy and empowerment organization.
If you are from a First Nation on Vancouver Island and are interested in
finding out more about the Somena Governance Society - or the Vancouver
Island Accountability Co-alition - please feel free to visit the website
http://www.cow-net.com/tiltulum
Ha Ce Qa
Meaghan Walker

"Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look
upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest."
-- Mahatma Gandhi, "Gandhi, An Autobiography", M.K. Gandhi, page 446

--------- "RE: Indian Culture Focus of Business Luncheon" ---------

Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1999 09:13:35 -0500
From: berryj@okstate.edu
Subj: (FWD)Indian News 09-06-99
Roger Iron Cloud
FirstNations Listserv
202.358.3252
rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov

Indian culture focus of business luncheon
c. Tulsa World
9/4/99
Indian culture and spirituality in business will be discussed Thursday at a
luncheon of the American Indian Chamber of Commerce of Tulsa.
The 11:30 a.m. luncheon will be held at the Downtown DoubleTree Hotel at
616 W. Seventh St.
American Indians have been doing business with other Indians for
centuries, but today they also do business with non-Indians who operate
under different value systems, a chamber spokesman said.
Discussing these differences at the luncheon will be Curtis Zunigha,
former chief of the Delaware Tribe, and Clark Inkanish and Ann Dapice,
president and vice president of T.K. Wolf and Associates.

For further information, contact Herschell Dancy at 245-3767.

--------- "RE: Red Road a Lonely Challenge for Elder" ---------

Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1999 09:13:35 -0500
From: berryj@okstate.edu
Subj: (FWD)Indian News 09-06-99
Roger Iron Cloud
FirstNations Listserv
202.358.3252
rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov

Struggles of the spirit: Red Road a lonely challenge for elder
c. Toronto Star
9/3/99
The Red Road is a tough path to follow, but Cree elder Vern Harper welcomes
anyone who wants to walk it. "It's a religion, but we don't use the term
religion. We like to use `Indian spirituality,' " the 65-year-old youth
court worker says.
"A lot of people find the Red Road difficult in that it's a very
disciplined belief system, because we're totally opposed to drugs and
alcohol. There is no occasional glass of wine or bottle of beer. Nothing."

Beyond 2000
Home to the world
The Red Road has far more impact than numbers would suggest, he says. Only
a handful of people, maybe 30, are Red Road practitioners and several of
those are non-native. But there are lots more who practise their traditional
spirituality underground, he says.
The sweat lodge is "the church" of the Red Road. One has to crawl on hands
and knees to enter. "The thing with our culture, people have to go to it, it
doesn't go to them. We do not believe in recruiting, we do not believe in
converting. It's kind of a very individual, private thing, our
spirituality," he says.
As a youth court worker, Harper acts as a liaison with young natives in
trouble, defence lawyers and crown attorneys, arranging for native
translators, negotiating alternative sentences to jail or simply raising
issues to highlight the unique circumstances and needs of aboriginal teens.
"If you look at statistics today, we have one of the lowest (populations)
but one of the highest percentages in the prison system. That's changing,
but it was racially motivated - Indians didn't know the system and the
system would just devour them," he says.

That is what happened to him.
When Harper was 4, his mother died and his father bolted. He, his twin
brother and two older brothers were raised by white foster parents in
Toronto.
His brothers went to school but not Harper - because child-care workers
labelled him mentally handicapped. No one recognized he was fighting
assimilation by being deliberately unco-operative.
"I resisted everything. I only spoke Cree and couldn't speak out in
English, but I used to hear the word `retarded.' I didn't know what it
meant, but knew it wasn't something nice.
"My schooling was the radio," he adds, crediting afternoon soap operas
and shows like The Green Hornet, The Shadow and Jack Benny for teaching him
English and training him to be a storyteller. "It's only been recently that
I've learned to read and write." At 15, he hitchhiked to his reserve in
Saskatchewan to live with relatives and learn his Cree culture. Later, he
was an amateur boxer, turning pro after coming home from a tour of duty in
the Korean War as a Canadian soldier.
"I was a good fighter but the drinking interfered with it - I couldn't
handle success," says Harper, who was Saskatchewan's light heavyweight
champion in 1963.
It was downhill from there, including being jailed for five years for an
armed robbery - a crime he says he didn't commit. "We didn't have legal
aid or anything. If you didn't have a lawyer, the crown defended you and
prosecuted you," he says. "That happened to a lot of Indians in '50s and
'60s - you were just considered guilty."
His jail time "messed my life up completely," Harper says. "I came out
very bitter, very angry. I hated white people and I hated my own people.
I was a drug addict and alcoholic for something like 15 to 17 years.
"I started to turn my life around in 1970. I really believe it was my
culture that saved my life."
Because of his experience with the criminal justice system and his battle
with the bottle, Harper empathizes with native convicts. Twice a month, he
travels to the federal prison outside Belleville to conduct sweat lodges
and give spiritual counselling to members of the Indian Brotherhood, an
inmate organization in jails across the country.
In March, Harper will celebrate 30 years of being drug and alcohol free.
"Alcohol has done such damage to our people, to our nations," he says.
"It has almost destroyed us."
Christianity did even more damage, Harper says, blaming child abuse,
broken families and forced assimilation ("being de-feathered" as he puts it)
on the church-run residential schools. "Up until recently, no one could make
it in the system unless they were de-feathered - they couldn't identify
themselves as a native person."
But in the last 20 years, Harper has seen a "spiritual revolution. We have
a good community in Toronto and it's all due to the youth wanting to belong
and wanting to be Indian."

--------- "RE: New Mexico Tribes Have 30 Days to Claim Remains" ---------

Date: Tue, 07 Sep 1999 03:43:38 GMT
From: "AliceH" <AliceH@gte.net>
Subj: N.M. tribes have 30 days to claim remains, artifacts

Newsgroup: alt.native

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/stories/Story1252412.html
Story by
The Associated Press
Sept. 6, 1999
N.M. tribes have 30 days to claim remains, artifacts
ZIA PUEBLO, N.M. - Tribal leaders of this central New Mexico pueblo are
leading an effort to repatriate hundreds of American Indian human remains
and thousands of funerary artifacts from Mesa Verde National Park in
southern Colorado.
An inventory of the remains and artifacts has been published to help New
Mexico tribes repatriate their ancestral remains.
The 25-page inventory, which was mailed out to tribes last week, took the
U.S. Park Service nearly five years to complete. It lists more than 2,000
items taken from Mesa Verde starting in 1906 that date back to the period
between 750 and 1300.
Now, a 30-day clock is ticking for the tribes to claim the items from the
national park museum's 2 million-piece collection.
"It's a long process," said Zia Pueblo administrator Peter Pino. "We would
like to do these things as quickly as possible."
Pino said tribal leaders have been consulting with the Park Service for
six years regarding the repatriation. He said the pueblo is committed to the
project and other pueblos have allowed it to take a leading role in the
effort.
Zia tribal officials have already filed to repatriate remains from Mesa
Verde under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
Many of New Mexico's 19 remaining Indian pueblos trace their ancestral roots
to the southwestern corner of Colorado and the adobe cliff dwellings erected
there 1,000 years ago.
In all, 24 tribes have been notified about the inventory, a catalog of
excavations by archaeologists from the University of Colorado and the
Smithsonian Institution. The excavated sites include Burnt House, Adobe
House and the Lancaster House.
Tribes that may have an interest in repatriation from the national park
extend beyond New Mexico to the Navajo and Hopi in Arizona, the Southern Ute
Indian Tribe and Ute Mountain Tribe of Colorado and the Ysleta Del Sur
Pueblo of Texas.
The Hopis and Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico filed for repatriation before
the inventory was released last week.
The inventory represents a small fraction - 1 or 2 percent - of the Mesa
Verde collection, said Linda Towle, chief of research and resource
management at the park.
At least two people have worked full time for the past five years
cross-checking museum catalogs with original field notes to properly
identify all the remains and objects.
"It's been an incredible amount of work," Towle said.
Research workers often found that records did not properly indicate the
burial sites from which objects were taken, she said.
Towle said the Park Service has been meeting annually with tribes
interested in the Mesa Verde remains since 1995 in an effort to forge a
cooperative relationship.
Zia Pueblo tribe's persistence has already paid off once before under the
repatriation act when it repatriated artifacts and remains from a Santa Fe
highway project.

--------- "RE: Tribal Membership Disputes Heat Up" ---------

Date: Thu, 2 Sep 1999 08:08:02 -0500
From: berryj@okstate.edu
Subj: (FWD)Indian News 09-02-99
Roger Iron Cloud
FirstNations Listserv
202.358.3252
rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov

Tribal Membership Disputes Heat Up
By NEDRA PICKLER
.c The Associated Press
9/1/99
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (AP) - For 20 years, Wallace Chatfield has
periodically brought a bulging collection of birth certificates and census
counts to the headquarters of the Saginaw Chippewas, hoping to join the
tribe he already feels a part of by blood.
While other family members, including his parents, are recognized
Chippewas, he says shifting birthplace rules have long been cited in
keeping him off tribal rolls.
The distinction means Chatfield can't share in tribal benefits, which last
year included $30,000 to each member from the Chippewas' highly successful
Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort.
"They are trying to keep the number of membership as low as possible,"
said Chatfield, 52, who lives on the tribe's reservation. "They aren't
going to let me become a member because that's one less dollar they are
going to receive."
In tribes across the nation, experts say similar disputes are brewing,
especially in those with casino riches to share.
"Where there is a big pie to fight around, that's where you tend to find
these kinds of issues," said Robert Williams Jr., a professor of law and
American Indian studies at the University of Arizona.
In August, differing membership philosophies among the 2,500 Saginaw
Chippewas boiled into a dispute that led to standoffs with police, federal
intervention and lawsuits over tribal control.
Tribal spokesman Ronald Jackson, who said he isn't familiar with
Chatfield's case, said new Chippewas won't be designated until after fall
tribal elections triggered by the membership debate.
"There's the problem of sudden wealth, and that raises all sorts of
issues about your identity," said Jeff Corntassel, a member of the
Oklahoma Cherokee tribe and Virginia Tech law professor.
"It can pit tribal members against each other. It's sort of like a
divide-and-conquer strategy of colonial times that has been detrimental to
Indians," he said.
Tribal membership not only entitles Indians to benefits such as education
and health care, but citizenship in an Indian nation, voting rights and
other cultural entitlements.
"There are people who have some sincere beliefs that tribal membership
defines who you are," Williams said. "It should be no surprise that
people get upset with this."
The constitutions of most tribes require a certain blood quantum - or
proportion of Indian lineage - for membership.
Earlier this year, the Tigua Indian tribe near El Paso, Texas, banished
about 10 families from the reservation after they couldn't prove a
one-eighth blood quantum requirement. An effort to confirm Tigua
membership began just before the tribe distributed the first payments from
its Speaking Rock casino in December 1997.
And in July, members of the Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde, which
operates the 4-year-old Spirit Mountain Casino west of Portland, Ore.,
voted to tighten membership requirements after a 40 percent increase in
membership followed the casino's opening.
The tribe amended its constitution to require that a member's one-
sixteenth blood quantum must come from Grand Ronde tribes. Before, a
quantum from a combination of any federally recognized tribes was accepted.
"I think you should be a member of a tribe because of your ties to it,
not because of what it can provide for you," said Tracy Dugan, director of
the tribe's public information office.
Robert Clinton, a judge for the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska and the
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, said the quantums are a
bureaucratic legacy of colonialism, not an indigenous Indian policy.
Further, he said, the federally-prepared blood quantum test records are
"notoriously inaccurate because of language problems, inaccurate reporting
and a misunderstanding of Indian kinship."
And Corntassel, who calls the quantums "silly," asks: "Is someone who
has a one-eighth quantum more Indian than someone who is 1/64th?"
Corntassel said tribes historically skirted rules by allowing for
"adoption" of those who didn't qualify under membership standards. But
the move is increasingly rare, he said.
Andrew Lee, an Indian government expert at Harvard's John F. Kennedy
School of Government, said it remains important for tribes to continue to
set their own standards for membership, despite disputes.
"This is what sovereignty is all about," he said.

--------- "RE: Florida AIM Questions Media Racism" ---------

Date: Thu, 2 Sep 1999 09:39:34 EDT
From: Wanige@aol.com
Subj: Fwd: From Mike Wicks
------- FORWARD, Original message follows -------
From: KandiGolds@aol.com

http://www.aics.org/justice/camp.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: August 26, 1999
CONTACT: Sheridan Murphy, State Executive Director/Mark Madrid, Information
Director
PHONE: (727) 826-6960
FAX: (727) 550-2207
<<...>>

FLORIDA AIM QUESTIONS MEDIA RACISM/BIAS
Saint Petersburg, FL- The American Indian Movement of Florida is inquiring
of Florida media outlets how many Indian lives equal the life of one
non-Indian.
In the past year more than a dozen Lakota people have been murdered
in White Clay, NE; Mobridge and Rapid City, SD. The crimes in White Clay,
NE are undoubtedly hate crimes and a suspect includes a Sheridan County, NE
Sheriff deputy. Further the situation in White Clay includes an effort by
the Oglala Lakota to reclaim the land taken illegally from them.
The news media in Florida provided widespread coverage of the brutal
killing of a gay college student in Wyoming and the revolting slaying of an
African man in Texas. Yet no news outlet in Florida covered the hate crime
murder of Ronald Beartrack in Ada, OK in 1995. And not one single story has
covered the hate crime murders of John Means, Wallace Black Elk Jr., Ronald
Hard Heart, Dennis Cross, Llewyen Long Soldier, Francis Thunderhawk, Rich
Big Crow, Thomas Twiss, Don Bourdeaux, Martin Young Bull Bear, Ben Long
Wolf, George Hatton, Allen Hough, Royce Yellow Hawk, Randall Two Crows
and Lauren Two Bulls. Or Ronald Many Horses. And what of Gabby Daniels,
Ronald Beartrack, Mike Berry, Leroy Jackson, Randy Headbird.........ad
infinitum?
Recently it has been alleged that three Lakota youth brutalized a
young white male. This allegation has received much national and local
attention. Less than a dozen hours after the incident the law enforcement
folks had the Lakota young men in custody. Two decades later do these same
law enforcement officers know anything about the murders of Anna Mae Aquash,
Joe Killsright, Pedro Bissonette, Richard Oakes, ...ad infinitum.
It therefore appears that a simple mathematical equation equaling
unquestionable racism exists. That equation is that the lives of at least
three Lakota's killed in hate crimes in White Clay, NE and perhaps a dozen
others around the region do not equate to the life of one white man. So our
question now, to the newsmedia is how many Indian lives does it take to
equal the value of the life of one white person in the eyes of your news
organization?
We ask all human beings to notice this discrepancy, this vile
racism, call your local media outlets and voice your outrage and react to
this racism by the media accordingly.
http://www.aics.org/justice/camp.html

--------- "RE: British Columbia Child Abuse Court Ruling" ---------

Date: Mon, 06 Sep 1999 17:41:39 -0700
From: "Frank LaFountaine" <lafountaine@justicemail.com>
Subj: British Columbia Child Abuse Court Ruling

Mailing List: TRIBALLAW (triballaw@thecity.sfsu.edu)

The following article is from The Vancouver Sun newspaper in Vancouver BC.
Its website is at http://www.vancouversun.com.
Ottawa, church found liable for residential school abuse
A B.C. native wins a precedent-setting lawsuit over sexual assaults dating
back to the 1970s.
Daniel Sieberg Vancouver Sun
After suffering years of sexual abuse at a native residential school,
Floyd Mowatt Sr. says he finally feels vindicated by a precedent-setting B.
C. Supreme Court ruling that found the federal government and the Anglican
Church directly liable.
Madame Justice Janice Dillon ruled last week that although both entities
were responsible for negligence, the church was deemed to bear "greater
fault" because it attempted to cover up the abuse. The court assigned 60
per cent of the blame to the church and 40 per cent to the government.
The decision was a long time coming, Mowatt, 39, said on Sunday from his
home in Hazelton, about 200 kms northeast of Prince Rupert. He was just
nine years old when the incidents of sexual abuse began. He said the
ruling has allowed him to sleep easier at night and helped him feel
"reborn."
"My life of horror started when I was very young. And why this was even
allowed to go on, I have no idea."
Mowatt is among many former students to file individual or class-action
lawsuits to obtain damages for their suffering.
But this is the first time a church and the government have been found
directly liable because they failed in their duty to protect a student. It
is also the first time the church has been held responsible for the
majority of the blame.
Allan Early, one of Mowatt's lawyers, said Sunday that during a previous,
similar case in B.C., a court found there to be "vicarious" liability, but
didn't conclude there was evidence of direct knowledge and a cover up.
Early hopes the Mowatt case, although not binding, will lead to similar
rulings in the future.
"It is a very important decision," he said, noting that it emphasized
that law and morality are not exclusive ideals.
"Clearly, according to Madame Justice Dillon, the two are not
inextricably divided," said Early. "The law and morality come together
when the church undertakes to be in charge of somebody's moral upbringing
and to protect them and then fails to do so."
Early would not disclose the amount of the settlement under terms of the
agreement.
Mowatt said he was forced to submit to countless sexual assaults from
his supervisor, watched other students attempt suicide and experienced
fights and aggression throughout his turbulent time at St. George's Indian
Residential School in Lytton in the 1970s.
Derek Clarke, Mowatt's dorm supervisor, has since been jailed for the
molestation incidents.
"These people convinced me that I was not a good person," said Mowatt of
his time at the school. "I've got a battered body now, but I'm alive. I'm
still kicking hard. That's one thing they couldn't take away from me -- my
will to live."
In her decision, Dillon stated that: "Both the Anglican Church and the
Crown failed unreasonably to protect the plaintiff from harm."
Dillon also cited the behaviour of Andrew Harding, the principal of the
school. She said Harding was molesting students too and attempted to cover
up Clarke's activities.
The ruling went on to say the "social architecture" of the school and
"Anglican hierarchical ethos" allowed Clarke to prey upon the nervous and
shy new students.
No one from the Anglican Church of Canada or representatives of the
federal government were available for comment Sunday.

--------- "RE: Arrests Now Being Made/Help Needed" ---------

Date: Tue, 07 Sep 1999 19:39:01 GMT
From: "SMITHORG" <smithorg@bellatlantic.net>
Subj: CAMP JUSTICE- ARRESTS NOW BEING MADE-HELP NEEDED

Newsgroups: alt.native,own.natives,soc.culture.native,
soc.religion.native-american

Tom Poor Bear just called us and there is some information he wants people
to know and asked me to post it as widely as possible. The events of the
march this past Saturday never made it to the media, and people need to
know the truth.
Tom said that the alcohol-selling establishments in Whiteclay close down
during the marches but then re-open and there is not any change in that -
he is tired of them not listening and he and other marchers stayed in
Whiteclay to keep the sale of alcohol from happening. After 3-4 hours the
law enforcement people moved in and 3 state patrol cars and the sheriff
arrested Tom and charged him with trespassing. Tom was the ONLY person
arrested. He spent 6-7 hours in jail before the people could raise enough
money for his bail - the bond was $1500.00 and he needed $150.00 bail money.
Tom also addressed the issue of the Internet and postings there. He has no
direct access to the Internet and stated that he has told people that there
is no "authorization" for anyone - he does not use that word - his word is
that anyone who can print the news from there truthfully on the Internet so
that people will know what is going on, please do. He stressed "truthfully".
There is an URGENT need for money for posting bails for marchers to
Whiteclay. Tom wants people to know that they are starting to arrest the
marchers. They need bail money to get out of the jail. Please help
them!!!!!!!!! If you can send a dollar - if you can send ten dollars -
whatever you can send please do now. I am outraged that Tom had to spend
6-7 HOURS in jail while they tried to raise $150.00!! There are people who
could and should be helping and aren't. Please go to your local pow-wows
and ask the people for help. We need warriors who are willing to commit
themselves to this fight, even if it means getting arrested. My husband's
words: "If there were true warriors there they would have surrounded Tom
and said, 'if you take him you take us'. Where are the true hearts?"
Camp Justice
C/O Tom Poor Bear
PO Box 823
Pine Ridge, SD 57770
Pat
http://wolfseeker.com
http://www.InsideTheWeb.com/mbs.cgi/mb629759
http://www.sunlink.net/~wlfskr

-- Ellis Smith - North American Desk - ONE GLOBAL ONE- -AMERI-ADVOCATE - - Amsterdam - New York - Santa Cruz - New Zealand News, Views and Actions Visit us at http://members.tripod.com/~ellis_smith/ameri-advocate.html * ICQ# 22499125 * AOL-IM - SMITHORG *

--------- "RE: In Memory of Jason" ---------

Date: Thu, 02 Sep 1999 10:37:21 -0500 From: not@inthe.game (justanoldman) Subj: In memory of Jason

Newsgroup: alt.native

d'laan'te'.. Some folks, both NDN's & non, seem to behaving trouble realizing why First Nation people have trouble asserting their rights & using their initiative to advance their own well being. I can speak of how things are in Canada.. The fact is that the First Nations are still, for the most part, in chains. Chains created by the federal government bureaucracy, the thickest chain of which is the Department of Indian Affairs. First Nations are still designated "wards of the government", & not allowed to sign their own contracts with non-Indian individuals or corporations. Most leases of Indian lands, to homeowners or to oil companies, timber or mining interests, are usually handed out by DIA at ridiculously low rates of payment. And royalties from resource extraction from Indian lands are token sums, less than 5% of the royalties paid to non-Indian landowners. Payments for lands or resources from Indian lands go into "trust accounts" managed by the federal govt. It is the only account not subject to audit by the federal Auditor-General. (As in the USA, it's the subject of a lawsuit by the Nations for an accounting by the "trustees". The feds say there's $1.8-billion in it, the Nations say there should be close to $6-billion. It's been in court for almost 20 years now.) Indian Nations have to beg for any of this, their own money, & it can & does take up to 10-15 years to get any, for any need. My father-in-law's request for $5000 from his trust for down-payment on a tractor was approved.., 18 years after he applied & 7 years after he died. Indian Nation government budgets are absurdly inadequate, & meant to be so, because if life in an on-reserve community was any good at all people would stay, & the federal government has the obligation to provide the local governments with enough cash to provide minimal community services (eg, health, education, housing, water, sewage, etc) for on-reserve populations. The more people they can drive off reserve, where the people somehow stop being Indians & become a "provincial govt responsibility", the less the feds have to shell out. So they play games. Housing's a good example; the federal govt has studied the housing markets in Canada &, in their brilliance, comes up with $19,626.32 for use of the Nation to build a 3-bedroom home for those that need homes. For $19,000 these days, what kind of home can be built? And when the nation governments dip into their meagre other funds to make up such shortfalls (digging a hole to fill a hole) they are crucified & vilified by the foaming-at-the-mouth racist fools in the Reform Party & other right-wingnuts by the score, all of whom work hard at maintaining their high levels of ignorance as to the facts of life for First Nation people.

Here's a story that puts it all into perspective, I hope. By coincidence, today is one of the few days each year I dedicate to the memory of a little Cree boy named Jason Sumner. Jason Sumner died in a house-fire but was actually murdered by the bureaucracy that rules the lives of every member of every First Nation in Canada with an iron hand. I've always drawn inspiration from his story & wanted to keep his lesson more visible in peoples' hearts, but couldn't figure out how until now. I've found a potential donor who MAY be willing to set up a (substantial) endowment/scholarship in First Nation Self-Govt Studies in Jason Sumner's name. Maybe I can do it, maybe not. We'll see. Here's Jason's story. Do you think his story should be remembered? A Cree Nation community in Manitoba. Some time since 1990 .. A small fire traps Jason (age 7? 10?) in the house while his mother was hanging laundry in the sun & all of his brothers & sisters were playing outside. Jason was studying his schoolwork. The volunteer fire-dept of his community responded immediately, simultaneously calling in the fire dept with the only operable fire truck in the area from the nearby little farm town (less than 10 miles down the road). The fire was burning slowly in the front of the house, not endangering Jason (who was in a back bedroom) too much for at least 20 minutes, but its location effectively cut off any chance for a rescue attempt through the doors & the window to that bedroom was boarded up from the inside as the family couldn't afford to replace a broken pane. Afterwards, everyone agreed that if the fire truck from the nearby town had not been ordered to halt & turn back when they got to the boundary of Jason's reserve, he would undoubtedly have been saved. But the volunteer fire brigade was ordered to return to the town, & Jason died horribly as his family watched.., waiting for the arrival of the siren they'd heard on the wind.., the siren that never arrived. Less than a year before the tragedy, the community had been given a good, govt-surplus pump truck, & the community volunteer fire crew trained in its use. But when the band asked DIA for funds to be added to its capital budget so as to build an insulated/heated garage for their new pump truck, their request was refused. Even though they drained the truck before winter, there was enough water left in some small lines to burst them when it turned to ice. And their requests for funds to buy new lines were refused, as it was decided by DIA that it was 'damage due to owner neglect'. The community was disappointed, but since the nearby town had always provided fire services before they'd been given the pump truck, they weren't too worried about it. They would hold bake sales & blanket-dances later in the year to see if they could raise the cash to spend on the new parts. Indian Affairs, however, had cancelled the contract with the nearby town for fire service provision. DIA Regional office also decided that there was no need to inform the band, since it was "obvious" now that they owned their own pump truck that DIA no longer needed to spend the huge sum of $2000/yr for that service contract. So when the town fire truck got to the reserve boundary they received a radio call from the Reeve of the town (it's too small to have a mayor), ordering them back since without a contract their insurance while on call was null & void on reserve. Now do you see what I mean folks? Bureaucracy killed a little boy named Jason Sumner... The same bureaucracy that has smothered initiatives by the First Nations to improve the well being of their people for many years, the same bureaucracy that has killed many, many Indians, young & old, in every First Nation in this country, & which continues to kill more each day. I hope that you give a few minutes today to pray for Jason's rest, & that the bureaucratic chains that are killing people are broken someday soon. masi:cho... jaom/e'ne'thekwe' In Memory of Jason Sumner, child-casualty killed in the ongoing war against the Indian Nations.. R.I.P.

--------- "RE: Slain Navajo's Kin Seek Answers" ---------

Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 03:11:05 -0700 (MST) From: chris@U.ARIZONA.edu Subj: Slain Navajo's kin seek answers: A late-night request, a knife, a claim of A late-night request, a knife, a claim of mystery (fwd)

http://www.azcentral.com/news/0816navajo.shtml

Slain Navajo's kin seek answers

A late-night request, a knife, a claim of self-defense and a grand jury's action make a mystery By Mark Shaffer The Arizona Republic Aug 16, 1999 FLAGSTAFF - Sandie Wilson thought the request more than a little strange. It was nearly midnight on a chilly, late May night, and her husband, Alonzo, 38, comes home with this off-the-wall story. Their friend, Craig Darnsteadt, is demanding the immediate return of a Bowie knife he had given Sandie two years before as a gift. Alonzo takes the knife and goes back to Darnsteadt's trailer in the remote Alpine Ranchos area, where Wilson is blasted in the abdomen with a shotgun. He dies a day later at a Flagstaff hospital. At first, Darnsteadt and his friend, Gary Netzley, both White, tell sheriff's deputies that Wilson, a Navajo, had shot himself. Then Netzley admits that he was the trigger man, but it was self-defense, you see. Wilson had a knife. However, Netzley tossed the shotgun from his car as he hauled Wilson to the hospital, and no one can find it. Meanwhile, Wilson's chances of survival are going down the drain as the normal one-hour drive to Flagstaff takes the men three hours. After his release from jail, Netzley moves rather suddenly to Colorado, but not before allegedly leaving baggies of methamphetamine and marijuana in a patrol vehicle that brought him and Darnsteadt to Flagstaff for questioning. Is something amiss here? Not according to a Coconino County grand jury. Earlier this month, it returned a no bill, buying the notion that Netzley acted in self-defense. Netzley had been charged with aggravated assault shortly after the shooting but that charge was dropped. All of which has enraged Wilson's friends and family on the western part of the Navajo Reservation, 400 of whom turned out for his traditional funeral in the Wide Ruin area. Wilson's kin are pushing for a federal investigation of his death. Kenneth Begay, chairman of the Tribal Council's judiciary committee, is leading that drive. Edison Wauneka, a member of the tribe's public safety commission, also said the group is concerned about Wilson's death. "I knew him and there's no way that he would pick up a knife and harm someone," Begay said. "We can't leave a situation like this blank. We need to have a legitimate answer and we are requesting the appropriate federal authorities to do something about it." Sandie Wilson, a reporter for the Flagstaff weekly newspaper Navajo-Hopi Observer, says federal investigators would find a clear-cut case of premeditated murder. She thinks her husband was ambushed, noting that his last words to an emergency room physician were, "Somebody shot me." She believes Darnsteadt and Netzley plotted to kill her husband and waited until he returned that night with the Bowie knife in hopes of justifying the shooting. "Gary told some tenants on our land two weeks before the shooting that they needed to move because "things aren't going to be safe around here,' " Sandie Wilson said. "A friend of mine told me that they both said they were going to kill Alonzo one night when they were sitting around a campfire." Sandie Wilson said she's not prepared to call the shooting a hate crime. But she says many of her in-laws have remarked to her that there would be little doubt about what would happen in a case "where there are two Indian guys with a shotgun and a White victim." But Lt. Doug Cathey of the Coconino County Sheriff's Office said investigators have established nothing even resembling a motive to explain why the two men would have wanted Alonzo Wilson dead. "I'm not going to say that this was self-defense without a doubt," Cathey said. "I would like to have the weapon and have this all be more cut and dried. But nothing points to any culpability that we could establish. "As far as we are concerned, it's a closed case." Netzley and Darnsteadt told investigators that they had been drinking with Alonzo Wilson earlier in the evening of the shooting and had argued over a tent they accused him of taking from a friend's property. After going home to fetch the knife, Wilson visited one Alpine Ranchos resident and asked whether the resident would go with him to the two men's trailer and whether he could borrow the resident's weapon. Wilson was denied on both requests, the man told investigators. Netzley claims that Wilson returned and attacked him with the knife. Darnsteadt said he was sleeping inside the trailer and awoke to the two arguing but couldn't see whether Wilson had the knife in his hand. Sandie Wilson isn't buying any of that. She also said that it's a particularly sad ending for a man who had struggled mightily to turn his life around after wandering the downtown streets for years as a homeless alcoholic. "The county doesn't give a (expletive) about Alonzo's death," she said. "But I'm hoping that others will."

--------- "RE: Native Prisoner" ---------

Date: Sun, 5 September 99 0817:10 GMT From: Janet Smith (evestar@juno.com) Subj: Contacting those in the Ironhouse

Tell a Native American Prisoner someone cares! The following is a portion of the list of Native American Prisoners incarcerated in prisons throughout the United States. The full list is found at the Native Prisoners Pen Pal list the following web site: http://www.brooks.simplenet.com/penpal.html. The list is compiled from contributions by Wotanging Ikche readers, other friends and from Laura Brooks' research on Native American Spiritual Freedom in Prison. If you know of a Native prisoner who would like to be included here, please e-mail Janet Smith at jans@atlcom.net. My thanks to Laura Brooks for giving this list a home on the web.

Date: Wednesday, September 01, 1999 2:42 PM From: Linda <feather1@midusa.net>

Hi Janet, I am getting ready to do a banner page, if you & Gary have one for the paper if you will send it to me I'll add it. I've got you on my links page.... The prison is really showing their ignorance.....one by one they've gotten all the older stronger guys wrote up and to the hole.....so I am in the process of trying to find a lawyer to go into there. I've called Bruce Ellison and waiting for him to return my call. If you know of anyone else in South Dakota that might take this' would you let me know please...? It's got to be someone who isn't caught up in the politics. They have (the prison ) broken a few civil rights with what they have done the last 3 weeks....We could see this coming. In Spirit Linda May you walk in light & love //members.tripod.com/sapawiyaka/ feather1@midusa.net ------

Laura Brook's website is being updated and old pages moved to a mirror site temporarily. The current address for Laura Brooke's Native American Prisoner pen pal archive list is: http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/9118/penpal.html. I'll try to keep an eye on the page to see where it finally ends up and let readers know immediately. Reminder and Caution: It is common for prisoners to be moved abruptly. If your correspondent suddenly quits writing, don't assume it's by choice. Inquire about his location and situation -- often the prison chaplain can help you with this. If you know a prisoner on our list has been moved, please let me know. If your correspondent requests that you send him anything, particularly ceremonial items, check the prison to ensure the requested items are not contraband. Sometimes items of religious significance that are ordinarily banned may be given to the prisoner by the chaplain. --------------------------------- Please especially remember - this is the "Year of Leonard". Leonard Peltier #89637-132, Box 1000, Leavenworth, KS 66048 --------------------------------- Write Eddie Hatcher directly at North Carolina Central Prison: Eddie Hatcher, 1300 Western Blvd., Raleigh NC 27606

--------- "RE: Pueblo Bread at Isleta" ---------

Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 14:30:12 GMT From: "rustywire" <nfcambridge@hotmail.com> Subj: Pueblo Bread at Isleta

Newsgroup: alt.native

I worked for a time in the Pueblos along the Rio Grande. It was during a time when hippies were running around, there were anti-war protests and activism was the byword. I was in Isleta and other puebles and put in plumbing, repaired houses and did some work for the communities there. I used to stay in a small room in a three room apartment with a dirt floor on the westside of the plaza at Isleta. Isleta was settled by the Pueblos back in the 1400's and it is still right there on the banks of the Rio Grande, just South of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Early in the morning you can lay there and the smell of hot bread comes through the door and into your room. It smells good. I would look out across the plaza and see the central area covered in dirt. On the northside of the plaza was the Catholic Church, an old adobe building typical of the Southwest. Just next to it in the Northeast corner there was a small L shaped house, an Isleta home with two outside ovens, hornos, they are called and you could see the smoke from there going up in to early morning air. The Isleta Pueblo family, the Jojollas, would get up early and I suppose the night before and worked on the dough, kneading it and getting it ready. The father would go out and put in cedar and pinion inside the two ovens and start a fire, It would really blaze and so they would wait until the fire had died down and coals were left there. These would be scooped out leaving the earth ovens hot. You knew it was ready when a corn husk was thrown into the small opening at it shriveled up in a second. The ovens are ready. A long handled board is used to put the dough in and the door is sealed with tin and so it cooks. This all happens when you are still asleep. When I got dressed I would walk across the plaza in the early morning air and feel the small pebbles. I wonder how many others had made this walk across this plaza, the dances held here, the celebrations. Some of the families told us of the conflicts with the Spanish and a fight, it sounded like it was the other day, but it was in the 1600's, a long time ago. These people are an ancient people and I am a visitor here. I got to the door and their home, what would be their living room is a small bakery shop, you can go in and there find a cup of coffee, a cold milk and some hot bread. Mrs. Jojolla would serve you, while her husband tended to the outdoor overs. In those days it was 75 cents, and there it was hot bread. It came right out of the oven, fresh, warm and inviting. They did all this for the sake of people like me. I would buy the round shaped hot bread and go outside and sit down against the wall. You have to understand this ia a pueblo so everything is adobe, it is an old place. I would sit down and get ready to eat this gift. I could see the butter running out of it and took a bite. There is no taste like it. Something about being cooked outside, maybe an ancient recipe or the wood, don't know for sure but it tasted good. I sat there and ate the bread and drank some milk. It was a good time, early in the morning, the plaza lay out before me and you could hear the birds singing. Yes, there is nothing like Pueblo bread. You know that place is still there on the plaza just like it was when I was 21. It is still there, just last Friday morning I went there again and did the same thing in the same spot. If you get a chance get there early at 6:30 or 7:00 AM and get a loaf, it costs $1.50 now. There is nothing better that Albuquerque and the area has to offer than that Pueblo bread. So if you get a chance, go there. They are making it and in that spot have done so for 30 years or more and a lot longer. Yes I can taste it now. Wish I had some for lunch, yes I would sit out on the street right outside and eat and make everyone coming by wish...yes nothing like Pueblo bread.

--------- "RE: A Hundred Years Ago" ---------

Date: Mon, 06 Sep 1999 14:42:36 -0700 From: Kriete <dotchuck@epix.net> Subj: [NAT-FILM] History: A Hundred Years Ago - Carlisle - Week 119

Mailing List: NAT-FILM <NAT-FILM@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> [Editorial Note: These reprints are being included in this newsletter so that you might know the mind of those who ran institutions like Carlisle.]

THE INDIAN HELPER ~%^%~ A WEEKLY LETTER -FROM THE- Indian Industrial School, Carlisle, Pa. ================================================ VOL. XIV. FRIDAY, August 4, 1899 NUMBER 41 ================================================ FOR THE INDIAN HELPER] TO A WILD ROSE FROM THE BATTLE FIELD OF WOUNDED KNEE, SOUTH DAKOTA. --------- Thou dainty rose, close pressed with tender bud, Where thou wast plucked, has been the scene of blood,

In brave array thy mates deck all the land, Wherein the long ago, roamed many an Indian band.

The wild free life that once the Red Man knew, Was simple as thine own, 'neath sun and dew.

Careless and free, no piteous shade of doom, Obscured their lives with fatal, fateful gloom.

E'en as the plow lays low thy stalk and stem, Leaving thee withering, dead - so 'twas with them;

Torn from their haunts, they knew not where to fly, Robbed of their own, they knew naught but to die.

Hast all the warm rich blood shed near thy bed. Enriched and nourished thee, thou wild rose red?

Both Red and White men's lives in thee have share, Changed but in form art they - and thou art fair.

Art thou the token of a higher life, Art born to shadow forth the end of strife?

May it be so! Bloom, sweet wild roses, by the limpid stream! Proclaim with fragrant breath the glorious theme.

Of brotherhood of Man! The lives that blend in thee, Waft now this message o'er the miles to me.

MARY ALICE HARRIMAN. ==================== THE "HELPER" GOES THIS WEEK TO THE VERY HOUSE WHERE "MARY, WHO HAD A LITTLE LAMB," WAS BORN. ------------ Our esteemed friend, Miss Pomeroy, of Sterling, Massachusetts sends a new subscription for the HELPER and writes in her letter of transmission in a very unique and interesting manner. MY DEAR HELPER: We enclose a sufficient sum for your fare, so please don your traveling suit and start for the following destination - William F. Sawyer, Sterling, Massachusetts, and you will soon find yourself in the house, yes, in the very room, where "Mary, who had a little lamb," was born and married, and on the farm where the lamb lived its happy life, until it met its tragic fate on one Thanksgiving morn by being tossed on an angry creature's horn. The lamb ran to Mary and died in her arms, and you can imagine her deep grief after having loved and cared for it so tenderly. It is a pleasant place and you will meet with a cheery welcome from the relatives of Mary Sawyer, who later became Mrs. Tyler, and resided in Somerville, Mass. We once wrote a short sketch for you, and perhaps a few more words may be of interest to tell you how the world wide incident came to pass. Mary's brother Nathan, in a playful mood, proposed that she take the lamb to school, and offered his aid to lift it over the stone walls, across lots. It was a twin lamb disowned by its mother, and had not yet grown very strong. Mary consented, not dreaming that the lamb would make any disturbance, and it cuddled down under her desk, very quietly, until she went to her class, when soon to her mortification, she heard its little hoof taps. Of course, the scholars laughed, which increased her discomfiture, so she turned it out and took it home at noon. A college student was present and the next morning handed her the lines which have become so famous, or at least a part of them; it is claimed they were added to by some one else. Mrs. Tyler was a very good and a very beautiful woman. We have seen her, and was well acquainted with a brother and his family, and other relatives are very pleasant friends. The family were very musical, and would have appreciated the singing of the song by your band. We little know how far the influence of even a trifling act may extend. Surely a bit of fun, in this case, has been ================================================ (page 2) THE INDIAN HELPER ------------------------------------------------ PRINTED EVERY FRIDAY --AT THE-- Indian Industrial School, Carlisle, Pa., BY INDIAN BOYS. ---> THE INDIAN HELPER is PRINTED by Indian boys, but EDITED by The man-on-the-band-stand who is NOT an Indian. ------------------------------------------- P R I C E: --10 C E N T S A Y E A R ================================================ Entered in the PO at Carlisle as second class mail matter. ================================================ Address INDIAN HELPER, Carlisle, Pa. Miss Marianna Burgess, Manager. ================================================ Do not hesitate to take the HELPER from the Post Office for if you have not paid for it some one else has. It is paid for in advance. ================================================ Mary Barada likes her home at Ocean City. Miss Botsford, Superintendent of the Potawatomi School, Kansas, was at Chautauqua at the same time that Mrs. Given and Miss Carter were. The new arrivals - Mrs. DeLos, Mrs. Ewbanks and Miss McIntyre seem to settle down to the Carlisle ways very comfortably and are already a part of us. Genus Baird and Jacob Horne have joined the boys at Beacon-by-the-sea, while Frank Beale has gone to take Louis LeRoy's place in the country the latter having come back to the school. Edgar Rickard writes from Sanborn, N.Y. that he is getting plenty of fruit to eat at home and that one of the things he enjoys most is not having to begin to eat when the bell rings and stop when it rings. "Patrick Henry" is himself again, now that Mrs. Given has returned. He is a wise cat, and has been known to go the nightly round of inspection to see if all the small boys were in their proper places. "I wish to give her special mention for her kindness with the children," is what the Man-on-the-band-stand read on the monthly report that came in about Minnie Finley, class '99, who is out temporarily. Miss Bowersox sent blue-berries on tiny bushes by mail to Miss Peter who was formerly a resident of the plains country, and never saw the berries growing. The former reports that Snyder county is a great place for "blackberries and stones in the valleys and huckleberries and stones on the mountains." From latest advices, Major and Mrs. Pratt and daughter Miss Richenda spent Sunday at some hot springs on their way from San Francisco to Klamath Agency, Oregon, where they will remain a few days, thence to the largest Indian School on the Pacific Coast - Chemawa, Oregon, then to Portland, Tacoma and other places of interest on the Puget Sound; then east, to stop at several places on the Great Northern. We have another nice letter from Mrs. Cook, who is at Pasadena, California, with her little son. She speaks in highest terms of the Teachers' Institute at Los Angeles which closed on the 25th. She says that the "Carlisle school exhibit was greatly admired. Levi Levering packed it up for shipment back to Carlisle. When he had driven the last nail, a gentleman came in and looked about with a disappointed air. He said he had hoped to get some of the school work to take back to Stockton with him. 'It is better work than we do in our school,' he said, 'and I thought a few specimens would stimulate our pupils.' This may be regarded as high praise, for I heard several of the teachers say that the Stockton exhibit at the N.E.A. was extremely good. The art work was looked over and over with doubts as to its being done by Indians. I had to assure more than one person very emphatically that is was wholly the work of Indian pupils." She says the general verdict was that the Institute was the most interesting of any held so far. ------------------ Florence George and Emma Skye had a recent trip to Willow Grove, through the kindness of Miss Kate Allen, so Florence writes, and they all had a delightful time, as there are so many things of interest at that near resort to Philadelphia. Damrosch's famous orchestra is one of the attractions, and a beautiful electric fountain. Oh, it is not ALL work and no enjoyment for our pupils in country homes, and the authorities at the school wish to thank the patrons of the school for the individual interest they take in their Indian charges. Miss Seneca, of the Medico Chirurgical, Philadelphia, and class '97, Carlisle , who has been visiting at the school, was taken by surprise last Friday evening when a few of her friends were invited over to the hospital to partake of refreshments with her about half an hour before her departure for her New York home where she will spend the rest of her vacation. She said she enjoyed her visit at the school for the short time she was here, and she thanks those who so kindly remembered her. Miss Senseney just before she left Marblehead, Massaachusetts, where she was attending summer school, says she has been very hard at work in the school room, but after each days' duties were done they frolicked like young lambs. "There are so many interesting old fashioned sights, that one could spend a long summer here and not tire," she says. The Loysville Orphan School was represented at the Lutheran picnic last week by their brass band. Returning from Pen Mar they stopped off to see the Indian School and played some very creditable music on our band stand. The band is composed of very young boys, and the drummer was not much larger than the drum he carried. Band practice these evenings is usually held in the shop court where plenty of light and air prevail. The group is quite picturesque in appearance not to say grotesque, dressed in all sorts of athletic and work apparel. ===============================